Page 217 of Savior
CHAPTER THIRTY
DEAN
As President of the Saviors MC, it’s fitting that I should take the first shift guard dogging a Safe House. And I can’t imagine not pairing up with Axel, for the task. We park our bikes side by side, under the carport near the house at the head of the driveway. The property is completely fenced in, though there are no signs anywhere to indicate this double family home is anything more than a regular house in this quiet little riverfront neighborhood. The only subtle clue that this is one of the Safe Houses belonging to Medusa’s Gates, is a statue of the serpent haired Gorgon sitting in the rock garden near the first set of doors.
Releasing Serene’s handlebars, I sit back and glance over at Axel. I’m about to strike up a conversation, when a woman in a business suit steps out from the side door and descends the stone steps towards us.
“The Saviors MC?” she asks.
“Yes, Ma’am.” I reply, tapping my fingers to the patch on my cut. “Dean Keegan and Axel Rose Jacobson, reporting for duty.” I pull out the picture I.D. the organization provided us with, showing it to her. Axel does the same.
“Alright. Thank you.” She says. “And you’re familiar with the rules and procedures? That you’re not to knock on these doors or speak to anyone here unless spoken to, first? If there’s a problem, you call the police and then this number, immediately?”
“All is understood, ma’am.” I assure her.
She nods curtly then makes her way to the car parked in the street, closing the gates behind her as she leaves. Once she drives off, I glance back at Axel.
“How does it feel to be back where this all started for you? Minus the purple rain boots, garbage bag poncho and folding chair.”
He chuckles, looking back at me. “Feels good to trade those things in for biker boots, a leather cut and a motorcycle.” He says, then lets out a nostalgic sigh. “I’ve waited almost thirteen years to be here with you like this again.”
“Is it all you’d hoped it’d be?” I joke. “This old house hasn’t changed much, by the looks of it. That tree root growing up under the driveway got bigger, though.” I tilt my chin at the lifted asphalt midway down. “Remember hitting that on your skateboard?”
“Fuckin’ wiped out.” Axel laughs. “I was so embarrassed you saw that.”
“I was impressed you didn’t cry.” I chuckle along with him, remembering his scabbed knees and elbows when I picked him up and brushed him off.
“My dickhead dad hurt me worse than that skateboard ever did.”
I feel the smile slide right off my face. Axel’s words reminding me how memory lane can be a dangerous road to travel down. One never knows what painful reminders lay in wait, right around the corner. There are no Gremlin Bells to protect against the past.
Axel glances back at me. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah… Sure, kid.”
“Did you ever… see my father?”
“I saw him plenty when I escorted you and your mother to your court dates.”
“No… I mean… after all that… I remember watching you. You’d always sit in the back of the courtroom, until that day I had to testify for myself... You sat closer. Where I could see you.”
“I just wanted to make sure you knew you were safe. That you could speak your truth and not have to fear anything.”
Axel nods. “I saw the way you looked at my dad, too.”
I lower my eyes from his, staring at Serene’s gauges, and wait for him to ask the question I’ve dreaded I might one day have to answer.
“My dad meant it when he said he’d never let us go… It wasn’t the court or the Judge that made him leave us alone, was it?” Axel asks. “It was you, right? You made him go away? That’s how come mom got to keep all the money from the sale of our house and buy that new place we left here to go to... He’d put up such a fight… Not wanting her to get anything in their split… And then suddenly…”
“What exactly are you asking me, kid?” I interrupt. “And before you answer that, consider waiting till our shift ends… Neither of us can leave until it’s over. Or we risk everything it took to get back into this organization’s good graces.”
Axel gives me a crooked smile. “You’ve been more of a father figure to me, than he ever was. You’ve been my big brother, best friend and mentor for a majority of my life, Dean… I haven’t heard from, or about my father, since before that day my mom told us we were moving to our own place in a couple of weeks, thirteen years ago… And I haven’t missed him. Not once.”
“If that’s the case… why are you bringing this up, now?”
Axel shrugs. “Maybe being here, where we met. Where everything started. Maybe you actually having a son, soon… I don’t know. It’s something I’ve wondered about, though… Did you meet my father?”
“I did meet your father… And perhaps it’s best we leave it at that.”
