Rambler (Brothers of Chaos)

Rambler reached out and hauled her into his arms.

Thunder rushed forward. “What the fuck?” he shouted as Rambler wrapped his arms around the girl he never thought he’d see again, in this lifetime.

Rambler walked back over to the table and sat down with her in his arms.

Thunder followed while feeling confused and frustrated. “What the hell is this all about?”

“We’re as surprised by her appearance as you are boss,” Bearcat explained. “Mike called us when she got here. He said there was something about her that seemed familiar. Then when she came out here and sat down she took off her jacket and he saw her tattoo.”

“What tattoo?” Thunder growled.

Rambler shifted her in his lap and showed the tat on her shoulder.

Thunder took a moment to stare at the ink on her skin. Then he found himself looking at the patch on the table. With trembling hands, he reached out and reverently picked it up. He seemed to study the bloody patch and a moment later, he crushed it in his large hand. “What did she tell you?” he asked calmly.

Rambler and the others looked uneasy at his tone. Those who knew him well knew the man had a hell of a temper. That was how he got his road name but when he was calm, that was when he was the most dangerous.

“We didn’t get that far but she claims she doesn’t remember her own name,” Hunter said. “I think she was remembering that day and she panicked then ran into you.”

“What did she say about what happened to them?”

“She said someone took them after shooting Mac,” Rambler explained. “And they drove to the Big Bend National Park then took her out into the desert and smacked her around a little bit then wrapped a rope around her neck and left her there to die. She says some old man named Moon rescued her and brought her back to his cabin but that’s all she told us.” He nodded at the patch in Thunder’s hands. “That’s when she showed us the patch. She said she didn’t remember where she got it from but just now, she mentioned Mac’s name.”

Thunder reached over and moved the scarf she had tied around her throat and he saw the scars of rope burn there on her neck. Nothing about this made any sense to him. If this was his daughter where had she been for the past twelve years. If she was alive, was her mother still alive as well?

Thunder just stared at her. He still couldn’t believe she was here. He looked around the square, it was pretty much empty at the moment but he wanted this to be just club business, no one else needed to witness what was going down. “Get her back to the club but don’t let her out of your sight. I don’t want her seen by anyone until we know what’s going on here.”

“What about her car?” Bearcat asked motioning toward the only car in the parking lot.

“Take it back with you. She came back here for a reason and I want to know what that reason is.” Thunder growled as he stood up. Looking at Rambler he said, “You are in charge of her until we get the answers we need.”

Rambler felt confused for a moment. He didn’t say a word. An order from the prez was just that… an order and you always followed it. All he could do was to just watch as his president turned and stomped away. He looked over at Bearcat who just shrugged.

The men had all been surprised by Thunder’s actions. It was almost as if he wanted nothing to do with his daughter if this girl was indeed, the child he lost twelve years ago.

Rambler looked down at the woman in his arms. She had been just a child when she and her mother disappeared, but she wasn’t a child anymore. Now she was all woman. Her dark hair flowed over her shoulders like a waterfall of black ink and while her eyes were now closed, he could see the shadows underneath them.

Bearcat had gone into the coffee shop to get Mike’s help to load Rambler’s ride in the back of his truck and get it back to the clubhouse. Mike often worked for the club and this was one of the things he did.

Rambler hitched the still out Phoenix up in his arms and walked her over to her car. Settling her in the front passenger seat, he turned and one of the men handed him her purse and jacket. He rummaged the purse for her keys and then pulled her wallet out to look at her driver’s license. The name of the card read Phoenix Moon. He couldn’t help but wonder about that but he tucked it back into her purse and got behind the wheel.

Hunter and Raven were their escorts as they rode on each side of the car.

While driving her out to the clubhouse, he kept sneaking peeks at the girl. How odd that she just shows up after all these years. With a blank memory no less.

One time when he looked over, her eyes were open and she stared back at him. “Where are you taking—me?” she whispered brokenly.

“Thunder wanted you at the clubhouse.”

“Why?” she asked. “He didn’t seem to believe me, why would he want me there?”

“We all have questions as I’m sure you do.” He shrugged. “We really do need to know what happened that day and who shot my brother. We also need to know why it took you twelve years to find your way home again.”

“I don’t know the why to any of that!” she exclaimed in frustration.

Rambler held up his hand. “Save it until we get back. Then you can tell everyone when we’re all together.”

Phoenix crossed her arms and stared out the front of the car. “I’m beginning to regret coming here.”

“Well, it’s too late now for regrets, sweetness.” Rambler drawled.

“So, will you tell me something?” she asked timidly.

“If I can.”

“What did the club think happened back then?”

Rambler hesitated for a moment then decided to be honest with her, “You remember what I said before? How Thunder thought he had a good woman in your mom?”

When she nodded, he went on to tell her, “Well, when you were about eight I think, she began to act really off. No one knew what was going on with her. She was trying to hide something. Then she began  the lies. And let me tell you something up front, your mother couldn’t lie herself out of a wet paper bag. She was basically an honest person, so when she lied everyone knew it. The day my brother died, Thunder knew something was going on, so he sent a man with the two of you. If she was meeting up with someone he wanted to know.” He shrugged. “The next thing we knew, Mac was shot down in the street, and you and your mother were gone. We didn’t know what happened then and we still don’t know what happened now.”

“Yet, you think my mother shot someone to get away from the club don’t you?” she reasoned.

“That’s what it looked like to us back then.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Maybe she decided to go back to her other lover, the one Thunder took her away from. He was the president of another MC in Texas, the Blood Vikings. Thunder almost started a war with them over her. There were sightings of one of his men around town just before she disappeared. What would you think?”

Phoenix stared out the window for a moment. Then she turned her head to glare at him. “I think I would at least give her the benefit of the doubt. That I would at least look for her and ask her about what was going on and I don’t know… like give her the opportunity to explain what happened. But hey, that’s just me.”

Rambler scowled at her. “Hey, nobody here forces anyone to stay if they don’t want to. She was free to go if that’s what she wanted. No one had to die that day.”

“And me? I was his daughter too. He just let her take me without saying anything?” she whispered. “Tell me something, did he ever look for me, even once in the last twelve years?”

Rambler went silent.

Yeah, she heard his answer loud and clear. She turned back and stared out the window the rest of the way to the clubhouse. When they got there, she held out her hand for the keys.

Rambler glowered at her as he dropped them in her hand.

Getting out of the vehicle, she went over to the driver’s door and waited for him to get out.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m getting the hell out of here. I don’t know why I ever came here in the first place.”

“Thunder isn’t going to allow that. He wants answers, answers to what happened twelve years ago.” Rambler crossed his arms over his massive chest.

“That’s the real rub isn’t it?” Phoenix grumbled. “Whatever happened is gone. Whether it was the bullet that creased my head or the shock of seeing someone shot dead in front of me or then being smacked in the head and being left to die in the desert, I don’t know, but I can’t tell him or anyone what happened back then. Because I don’t know. I don’t fucking remember what happened! So I’m leaving.”