CHAPTER 67

I laugh at her comment harder than she realizes and show her my ring, it takes her a second before she flips out and I go into details. Granted it takes a bit to explain as she starts packing up and I amazingly I don't get the standard look from everyone else from Gwen, actually gets it. More and more I'm thinking we never should have been separated but then again I'd never have met Mom, I mean Jean Dad's wife and Liz or any of my girls. I keep that thought to myself and after an hour or two we've got everything up and running in the mid afternoon and while Gwen actually says a few goodbyes it's Alvin who wants to say something. I decided to keep close but let the two have some final words.

"You can still marry me, I'll make sure you have a good life and I can be a good husband," Alvin says, trying to appeal to a love that isn't there.

"Alvin you need to be a little more like your daddy before a serious woman is going to take you seriously," Gwen says, really trying to be nice with him," And all that aside I just don't like you."

I watch Gwen start to walk away when Alvin decides to be stupid, I can see it coming as he winds up and slaps Gwen's ass hard enough that a few of the Devil's Best pause and stare. Looking at Gwen I see something familiar, Loretta looked like that once before and so have I on more than one occasion. Gwen turns fast and I watch probably one of the best surprise punches I've ever seen as she levels Alvin with a solid right to the nose. He goes down hard and I can see him sputtering blood. I grab Gwen and pull her back before she proceeds to beat Alvin like he should have been growing up. We leave Alvin on the ground and after loading Bandit we mount up and head back to town. It's mid afternoon and we settle in at Old Hand's Grill for an early dinner which Gwen decides to pay for. Nathaniel is happy to have the business even when a good portion of his space is taken up by my friends and they don't look friendly. Gwen and I can't be separated by more than a few feet save for when either of us use the bathroom. We make plans to meet up at my hotel tomorrow in the morning and start back to Washington then when I decide to make a phone call that leaves my Dad nearly speechless. He informs me that all arrangements will be made and he'll expect us soon. I have never heard my father excited but as soon as we're back at the hotel Loretta is blowing up my phone hoping to find out why we're not flying. I let her know that we have all her possessions and that she might be looking for a new place to stay. She wants to talk with Gwen but Gwen is nervous and I tell her when we'll be in Washington and that Dad says we'll have a big sit down all of us and try to figure out how to do all this family stuff. I end the call and see Gwen in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. I change my head in the bathroom and change into a pair of shorts so that I can sleep with a pillow on the floor when Gwen grabs the pillow and puts it back on the bed.

"We've slept in the same bed before and I figure you'll be perfectly safe sleeping next to me again," Gwen insists and now I'm in a slightly awkward situation.

I crawl into bed and under the covers and Gwen joins me before rolling me on my side away from her so she can, from what I'm guessing, count the moles on my back. Okay it's weird and odd for me but she's remembering and I feel the poking stop after a while and a light snoring. Waking up the next morning I have Gwen at my back with an arm wrapped around me and for once not only do I feel warm and safe with a woman on me but amazingly I'm not turned on. Thank god too because that would be more awkward than I care to mention. I get up from bed and use the bathroom before changing and come back out to see Gwen doing the 'full bladder dance' outside the door. I let her use it and she showers while I decide to go without. I check out of the hotel and find a small going away group from Trudy and Connie waiting for me next to my bike. I get a hug from both and a plate of cookies from Trudy before exchanging contact information with both of them and promise I'll be in touch. I got to collect more decent people in my life. Gwen drives the truck with her camper while one of Sid's people drives Bandit and I take Pale Horse.

The trip back takes about a day and a half with stops for fuel and some food. All sleep is done by Gwen and I is done in her camper while someone takes over driving our vehicles. We're looking at a Sunday in Washington at roughly noon when, as are in front of my house, there is only one car in the driveway and Gwen is scared shitless. I let her take a few deep breaths and offer to go first but she decides she'll go inside first and after opening the door I let her in as we both see Loretta and Dad standing in the living room just as scared as Gwen is. Loretta, aka Mom, is shocked and Dad is the first one to break into tears. Gwen and Dad hug for the first time in nearly eighteen years before Gwen and Mom do the same. It takes a while before my parents remember me but I don't mind in the slightest.

For the first time in almost two decades my family is whole, I finally get what was missing. The catching up we do takes hours and it's dinner time when the crowd in the house is expanded exponentially by Mom, my step Mom, Liz and all my girls. To say that I get mauled by my girls is an understatement as I'm kissed and damn near dragged back to my room when the new voice in the family speaks up.

"Hey, that's my baby brother ladies and you will have plenty of time to do whatever you need to with him but I still want to talk with him," Gwen barks at my girls.

Everyone laughs a little and my girls go about introductions before Dad and Gwen settle Bandit into better accommodations so that the horse can have some space and room to move. The family dinner is immense as Loretta, Mom, Kori and Rachael all prepare a meal for my whole assembled family. We're all relaxed and fed after a few hours before we settle in and everyone gets to know Gwen and Gwen starts to learn who her family, both original and new is. Mom talks with her about moving down to Texas with her horse and amazingly Dad isn't fighting it but he says they'd need to make decisions later since tonight and the next few days will be about reconnecting. I can only agree with him and as we're relaxing Kori's phone goes off and when she answers it everything starts to stop.

"Heather what's going on…? Yeah he's home but…. Heather slowed down…. What do you mean he's in the hospital…? Heather, you need to slow down and tell me…. I'll make sure he comes," Kori says as she hangs up the phone and has a sad expression on her face.

"Kori baby what is going on," I asked, thoroughly confused and nervous.

"Ben is in the hospital, someone nearly beat him to death and left him in the middle of a park to be found this morning, he's in the hospital," Kori says trying to hold her emotions in check.

Nervous? Not anymore. I grab my coat and mount up on Black Sunshine. I know Dad and Mom are trying to stop me but I cut everyone off.

"NO, I'm done stopping. I'm going to see my friend in the hospital then I'm going to find every one of these motherfuckers and I'm ending this," I yell pulling on my helmet and peeling out of the driveway.

Ben one day earlier

Oh god, oh god I hurt. I'm staggering through the park to get away from this damn monster that the bitch has in her pocket. I was trying to find her for the whole of spring break when I caught a break and cornered her at the park, the same park Guy did his speeches at. I was going to see about getting some answers when she just smiled and that's when he hit me. I know my ribs are bruised at least and my eye is swelling shut but I need to keep moving. I am half way across the open grass when I look up and see 'him' he's almost as tall as Devin but he's built like a steroid monster. How did he get in front of me? I turn to run but he catches me and I'm spun around and lifted off the ground by two massive hands around my throat.

"You will deliver a message to your leader. You will let him know that he will fall. I do this to you now not because you follow him, you simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong woman," The deep voiced monster says with calm resolve.

He hoists me over his shoulder and I'm being carried but I struggle in a vain attempt to get free. I am flung down hard and the wind is driven out of me as I'm on a metal slide gasping. I feel my arm being pulled and when he singles out one of my fingers I try to pull away but it's too late and I scream in pain as he breaks my pinky. I try to pull my arm in to protect my hand but he grabs a second finger, my ring finger and with a quick snap I'm screaming in agony. He finally lets my arm go and backs off of me when the female I was hoping to question crawls over my body.

"He was so pretty, I wanted an eye. Brother let me take an eye," I hear her say and I see the knife in her hand.

"No, when I break his friend I'll let you keep an ear but this one must be mostly whole," the monster says and I start to feel relieved.

My relief is short lived as the knife she is holding goes straight into my shoulder. I can't help but cry and scream as she smiles before pulling it out. I feel faint when I see a large boot set down on my face pushing at the forming black eye.

"You are not strong; your friend is not strong. He is not a monster, I am a monster," I hear the big steroid man say.

The boot comes away from my face and I rest my head against the cool metal before seeing it come back fast and I..