Comin' Home to You (27 page)

Turner Falls in Oklahoma. That was back when we were just dealing weed. I remember going, but I don’t remember pictures.
“That was a long time ago. Your mother was younger than you back then. Your grandmother was kind and beautiful. Oh, she would have loved you,” Owen said, rubbing Austin’s sweaty head. “She would have spoiled you rotten.”

Austin started laughing once Owen spontaneously tickled his grandson. The boy could barely be touched without giggling, and Owen loved to take advantage of that to elate the bot. Once done, they each took a large drink of water, both still letting loose a few chuckles of happiness. While the shade of the pecan tree provided a cool spot in the heat of Old Day’s land, it was still relatively warm under it. Owen let a little bit of the water from his bottle pour onto the top of his head. Streams of water went down the side of his face.

A vibration in his pocket made Owen jump like a freaked cat. Austin witnessed it and started laughing again. With a smile on his face, Owen examined the screen. Seeing who it was, he answered it without delay

“Brother.”

“You gonna tell me what the fuck all of those gunshots were about last night?”

“How’d you hear about that?”

“Your daughter was kind enough to call and tell me. Son of a bitch. I knew I shouldn’t…fuck! I heard Austin took a shot. Is he alright?”

“Yeah. He got grazed, but he’s alright. It could have been worse.”

“Fucking shit. Why were they even there? Is he alright?”

“He’s okay. I think. Ali and Austin just came over sometime after I got home. By Ali’s own free will, if you can believe that. We had a good talk last night. I think things might start to get better between us.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it. But I hope so, Owen. I hope so.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Alright. I’m gonna send a couple of officers to scour the grounds for casings and see if we can’t make any matches with any registered gun owners. Probably useless, bur gotta give it a shot. Let me ask you something while I am thinking about it. You got any idea who took the shots last night?”

“Ali said she recognized one of the voices as someone named BJ.”

“BJ Carter. That guy’s a little punk ass. Runs around with Clint.”

“That makes a lot of sense.”

“Yeah, it does. If he was there, it’s likely Kent Gullett, ot Bird Dog as his dumb friends call him, was with him. I’ll try to bring them in and see if I can’t have them answer a question or two.”

There was a small break in conversation. On the other end, it sounded like Ben was eating something.

“The hell are you eating, brother?”

Ben coughed before giving an answer. “A sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit.”

“Ben continued to chew and smack loudly. After making an audible swallowing sound, Ben popped a smug question. “So how you looking? Black and blue?”

“Like you won’t believe.”

“Oh, I believe it. You get your ass kicked by Scar, you are going to show it.”

Owen let out a brief chuckle. “So guess where me and Austin are currently sitting?”

“Uh, no clue. Where?”

“We’re sitting under that big ass pecan tree on the hill.”

“On Old Day's land?”

“You got it.”

“Damn, that brings me back. You remember when you didn't think you would make it home, and you took a shit under that tree?”

Owen started giggling like a child, but a sudden combination of pain from inside and outside his abdomen stopped it. Even while grimacing, he still had a smile on his face. “I wiped my ass with leaves and everything.”

Ben could be heard laughing on the other end. “Oh man, that was some nasty smelling shit too. We had barbeque and beans that day. Putrid. Ah...hey, hold on a second.”

“What's going on?”

A moment elapsed before Ben replied. “Ah, just a car going 52 in a 45. Not really worth my time.”

“You on patrol, bro?”

“Yeah. We're a bit short-handed today. But hell, it's better than sitting in the damn office all day.”

“I can see that.”

“Anyway, I was just checking up on you. I’ll see what I can do about pulling BJ and Bird Dog in for some questioning. Chances are, they’re hiding out somewhere. But also, I got some bad news about a certain blue truck.”

“Ali already told me.”

“Damn shame. Your truck was a good looking ride.

“Yeah, but better it be my truck than me. Thanks for coming when you did.”

“Ah. don’t mention it. Just doing my job. Gotta go. I’ll let you know if I hear anything more.”

“Alright. Later, Ben.”

Owen put the phone in his pocket. He took another drink of water as he watched the clouds become darker. The ominous sight meant rain, or even a storm, was surely on its way. He was about to check the forecast on his phone when he heard sounds in the tree heavy creek down the hill to his back. They weren’t ordinary nature sounds, but the sounds of syllables and language. Turning around, two figures emerged from the trees a hundred feet away. He was well hidden behind the large tree as the two trotted along their direction. One figure, clearly smaller than the other, chatted to the other one in a higher pitched tone. Owen fully peered from behind the tree as the two were in conversation range. Owen thought his heartbeat may have skipped when he saw who was in front of him.

With trickles of small beads of sweat on his nose, Nicky Suarez gave his acknowledgement by quickly moving his head upwards while maintaining eye contact. Owen’s heart felt like it jumped a bit. Nicky had brought one of his sons with him, but that didn’t cease his fears that Nicky was sent to finish Scar’s dirty work.

Noticing the uneasiness in Owen, Nicky confidently smiled at Owen. “Little jumpy today, aren’t we?”

Owen could only silently breathe while opening his eyes wide and raising his brow in return.

“Hey Austin, what’s up?” asked the boy after seeing Austin next to Owen.

“What’s up, Caleb?”

The two boys rushed together and performed a complex handshake. Owen was clearly alarmed and still shaken, but as the two boys started gossiping, his understanding on what was going on diminished.

Nicky could tell Owen was rattled. “Relax. I’m just out here for a walk with my son.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I just told you. Seems like I ain’t the only one who likes taking walks.”

Owen was still startled. There was no way he could believe the words of Scar’s best friend. At any moment, Nicky could pull a gun out and finish the job his best friend wanted to complete. Just then, Owen realized that he came without any type of protection. After all that happened last night, he silently berated himself for forgetting something that could be used to save his and his grandson’s life. If the gun was still on the table, he might have remembered it. But there was no telling what Ali did with it.

Doing his best to calm himself, Owen tried to continue the conversation. “So, you take walks out here often?”

“Once or twice a week. I take my kids when I do, but only this one wanted to go today. Guess it’s cool that you brought Austin. Sometimes ol’ Caleb gets a little restless out here by himself.”

“I didn’t know the two of them were friends.”

“Yeah, Caleb’s a little older, but they get along well.”

Owen nodded as he watched the two boys wrestling on the ground. For a moment, Owen was worried they were legitimately fighting, but the laughter of the children changed that frame of thought. He took another gulp of water, one so big that droplets of water escaped his mouth and trickled down his chin. It helped calm his nerves considerably. He still kept an eye on Nicky, who had his arms crossed, mocking his own son when Austin got the upper hand in their wrestling war.

Muttering a curse word under his breath, Owen dropped the water bottle and paced toward Nicky. “Can we talk?”

“Ain’t we talking already?”

“I mean a serious talk.”

Nicky looked around before agreeing. “Fine. Go ahead.”

Owen took a deep breath before trying to translate his jumbled thoughts into words. “I know you and Scar and Clint and whoever else want me dead. But you see that boy over there? That boy is everything to me. Fucking everything. And I sure as hell will fight to the bitter end before I die by your hand, or Scar’s, or anybody else’s. I can’t leave that boy alone with Clint and Scar raising him. I ain’t letting him grow up to be just like them. Fuck that.”

Nicky kept his arms crossed and said nothing.

“Well, you got anything to say?”

Nicky shook his head. “Nope. Seems like a noble goal to me. I don’t really know where you think I want to kill you though.”

“What? You don’t?”

“Scar might want to. Clint probably does too. But me, I don’t really care.”

“Alright, let me ask you another question. Did you shoot up my house last night?”

“Nope. Didn’t know anything like that happened.”

“You’re lying. You should know. See Austin’s arm? He got grazed. Scar already knows.”

“I haven’t talked to Scar since yesterday morning. We’re not conjoined at the hip. And if you think Scar would send me to do something that could injure Austin, then you don’t know him at all.”

Owen got to thinking. If Nicky really didn’t know about the events of last night, would he know anything at all about yesterday? “So Scar hasn’t talked to you about anything?”

“Nope. Is there something else I should know?”

Owen quickly shook his head. “Nah, not really. I just thought you might have an idea who the culprits were, but if you weren’t around, I guess I’m not going to know who did it.”

“Sorry I can’t help you. But I’m sure if Scar knows that Austin got shot, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t already know who did it and dealt with them. You don’t fuck with that boy of his.”

Suddenly, Owen felt inferior to Scar. Nicky was right. Scar would burn fields and would leave a trail of corpses to find whoever harmed his nephew. All Owen did was call Scar to complain. But going after small fry and putting his life in danger could have permanently prevented him from his true objective. Thinking about it, he actually created a possibility for Scar to put himself in danger by going after the shooters, but he doubted that would be the case, since he was the untouchable king around here.

Nicky looked to the boys, who were now both up on their feet. Owen found it odd for him to just stare at them the way he was, but it was obvious something was on his mind. However, he didn’t want to ask. It was doubtful Nicky would dare open up to him anyway.

“Well, I best be moving on.”

Owen stuck his pinky finger into his ear and turned his eyes to Austin. “Yeah, us too.”

“Alright. Man, I get what you are saying. I love my kids too. I’d kill someone if they fucked with them.” Nicky stopped to take a strong breath. “So, man, you gotta do what you gotta do in this world to protect them.”

Not expecting motivational validation from Nicky, Owen could only nod in agreement.

Nicky beckoned his son that it was time to go. Caleb said bye to Austin as the father and son walked down the hill and to the creek from whence they came. When it came to strange encounters, Owen chalked that one pretty high on the list. He was sure Scar’s right hand guy would jump on the chance to attack one of his biggest enemies. But he didn’t, nor did he seem to have any intention of doing such a thing. It seemed to be a viable fact that Nicky really didn’t know anything about the events of yesterday or last night. His reason for being there today was to take a morning walk with his son. It was as simple as that. Nicky was always a little different. He was a powerful force as Scar’s right hand man, but he seemed to be a little more humbled and logical, and it appeared that he had great love for his family. That was something Owen could respect.

A rumbling of thunder in the near distance halted any further analysis of this incident. “Crap, it’s about to storm. We better hurry, Austin!”

“What? Scared of getting wet, Grandpa?”

If there was one trait he was pretty sure Austin received from the Grayson line, it was brash confidence. Coming from him, however, just made Owen love his grandson more. “Nah, I just wanted to beat you!”

Austin grinned widely. He hadn’t had a lot of time to remember being shot just hours ago, as most of his day had been filled with smiles. “Bring it on!”

The last thing Owen needed to do was run and throw up his breakfast. With his condition, he might vomit at any given second. But he didn’t want to disappoint Austin. Besides, the challenge had been made, and he wanted to win. “Alright. On your mark, get set, GO!”

Off the two went, both running at a speed just below a full-fledged sprint. They were neck and neck for most of the way, but Austin’s superior conditioning allowed him to take the lead. Panting heavily, Owen didn’t want to give up. He could see his back fence nearing with every stride. It was a mere 100 yards away, but despite his brain urging him to keep pushing himself, his body absolutely refused to. He slowed down to a stop and put his hands on his knees. Up ahead, Austin touched the fence, jumping up and down in victory. Owen’s lips spread into a smile as he gasped for breath.