Tate

by KJ Dahlen

  Bender turned and walked out the door leaving the men behind him stunned by what he just said.

  One by one, they all turned to glare at the man they once called their leader. Wave after wave of hatred poured over the bars and everyone in the first cell could feel it.

  Dan moved away from his cousin, as did the other cops.

  Snake laid his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

  Bandit just sat there, not looking at anything or anyone. He just sat there as his sins began to pile up and overwhelm his soul.

  Bender stopped in front of Tate and the others.

  Tate slowly raised his head and glared at him.

  Bender raised his hand to stop him. “Before you say anything, I got something to say first...” When Tate nodded, Bender repeated the story he told downstairs, word for word. He didn’t try to hide his involvement or lessen it. Although it hadn’t been discussed with him before they’d done it, he was still there that day he could have stopped it or gotten help for the women, but he didn’t. That alone made him just as guilty as Snake and Bandit. The fact he took a blood oath on it sealed the deal.

  He did add something at the end that he hadn’t told the boys downstairs. He looked at Tate and said, “Over the years, I’ve been checking on Nita. He set her up in a nice house in Waco and she lives with an older lady. From what I see, they sort of take care of each other. She still doesn’t know who she is... I think cause of her head injuries she got but I think Bandit wanted to keep it that way. He also brings her pills to keep her mind scrambled I think.”

  “Is that all you can say?” Creed growled his fingers tightening into fists.

  Bender turned to face the other man. “I know there’s no excuse for what we did, for what I did. I had no idea Bandit was going after the club back then. His takeover surprised all of us, I think. What he and Snake did should never have happened but they pulled it off. They lied, cheated and killed to get the club away from your family and we let it happen. We covered their crimes and then made this even more possible by keeping it going. He let the greed and the power go to his head but then so did the rest of us. We slowly became just as bad as Bandit and Snake were. Now its time to stop the crazy and face the consequences of what we did.”

  “Do you know what else he had going on?” Tate asked as he felt both joy at knowing his Nita was alive and rage that he never knew she was... battled inside of him.

  Bender nodded. “As his Road Captain, I knew most of it. But even at that, I think the man had more secrets than any one man should keep. The man has no soul.”

  Cobra scoffed. “Then the apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree then. His old man was the very same way.”

  Tate turned his head. “You know Bandit’s old man?”

  Cobra nodded. Looking briefly over at Creed, he turned back to Tate. “Wyatt Westerly killed my brother then was responsible for setting up Lola’s mom to take the fall. We recently found out the truth but we were twenty years too late for the truth to make a difference.”

  Creed looked stunned, as did his brothers. “You mean they’re all part of the same damn family?”

  Thor nodded. “Fraid so.”

  Tate turned glared Bender. “As much as I’d love to wipe you guys from the face of the earth I think each and every one of you should face the courts for whatever you did. Any one of you could have stopped him at any time. That’s what God gave you a brain for. Maybe for every day you spend behind bars you’ll think about what you did. But there is one thing I can and will do. I’m gonna strike through your tat. No other club will take you on and you’ll be locked out for the rest of your days. Most of you won’t breath free air again anyway but the brand will tell everyone you can’t be trusted.”

  Bender closed his eyes and nodded. He opened them again and said, “That's better than we would have gotten from any other man. There is a notebook hidden in Bandit’s bedroom that has a list of everything he had going on. I got my own list of stuff but if you compare the two, you’ll most likely know everything.”

  Tate nodded.

  The young brothers all looked stunned to think their mother was alive and had been for all this time.

  Tate stared at them for a moment. He remembered when they’d lost her. It nearly destroyed his younger kids, like Kimber. It had hit her the hardest. All that grief and misery. All done by one man... well two. Snake had been right there with him all the way. He hoped this news might heal some of the wounds done to his family, his kids, but right now, all he felt was numb. He looked over at Harry.

  He was squatting in front of the fireplace in the main hall. The fire he had going was bright and hot, hot enough to heat the steel of the blade he had shoved into the flames.

  Creed stepped forward, grabbed the man by his shoulders and pulled him over to Harry. Then he grabbed his shirt and tore the sleeve off. Bender’s Sinner’s tat covered his upper arm. Creed held him tight and turned Bender’s arm toward Harry.

  Harry stood holding the glowing blade in his hand. Pressing the blade against Bender’s arm, he burned a strike over the top of Bender’s tat. Bender shuddered but didn’t cry out. Harry removed the blade and they all could see the burn mark obliterating the tat.

  Creed grabbed the other man and hauled him away, back to a chair near Tate.

  Jack was just coming from down the hall holding a journal. “Found it,” he announced to his family.

  Tate nodded at Bender and held out his hand to the man.

  Bender stared at it for a long moment then took his hand and shook it. Tate’s final act of respect was one he would always remember. Bender then turned and walked toward the basement with his head held high.

  When he was gone, Cobra turned his confused gaze to Tate. “Why? Why would you offer him your hand?”

  “We all make mistakes, but it’s what we do afterward that makes or breaks us as a man. He owned up to what he did and offered us what we needed to make things right. He didn’t have to tell us what happened that day and he didn’t have to tell us where Bandit’s book was, but he did. He took the branding without a word or a fight. He knows what he lost today and he knows he’ll never have another day of peace for the rest of his days. He earned that handshake. The rest of them might not.”

  Cobra nodded. “I see your point.”

  But that was four days ago. It had taken him this long to work up the courage to check out the address in Waco.

  Chapter One

  The house itself was small and neat. The yard was trimmed with flowers planted along the front and all the way along the sidewalk leading to the front door. The colors were mixed and matched in a myriad of different textures and scents.

  The outside of the house was painted white but the trim was painted red. And the front door was painted red.

  Tate didn’t know why but every step he took toward the front door was making him more and more nervous. Everything he’d wanted for the last eight years was supposedly behind that red door. So he kept walking forward. He had to know for sure.

  Swallowing hard, he lifted his hand and knocked on the door. A moment later, the door swung open and there she stood. The woman he fell in love with a lifetime ago, the woman he thought had been lost eight years ago.

  She looked at him with a question in her eyes but no recognition. After a moment, she asked softly, “Can I help you?”

  “Nita, I’ve come to take you home,” he told her gently. His heart was breaking in his chest as he spoke. She looked a few years older than the last time he’d seen her. Her hair had a little more grey in it and she had a scar near her temple but otherwise, she was the same woman.

  She gasped and took a step back while her hand went to cover her mouth. “You know me?”

  Tate smiled. “Yeah woman, I know you. I should. I married you thirty-one years ago. We raised a family together and then I thought I lost you eight years ago.”

  “You’re my husband?” she whispered. “Truly? But I don’t know you.”

&nbs
p; “Yeah baby, I’m your old man.” Tate smiled. He could see she was rattled by the information he’d just given her and as much as he wished it could have been said a little differently, he was a head on kind of man. He always had been and that was one of the things she used to love about him.

  “Maybe you should come in so we can talk about this.” She backed away to allow him inside.

  Tate came into the house. When she closed the front door behind them, she led the way to the kitchen.

  When he stepped through the doorway, he felt at home. He remembered this kitchen, or rather he remembered the kitchen they had once upon a time.

  This kitchen was painted yellow where their old kitchen had been a pale blue. He had to smile at the decorations she had, she did love her chicken kitchen decorations.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee while we talk?” she asked him nervously. She was wringing her hands as if she didn’t know what else to do with them.

  “Sure thing sweetheart. You remember how I like it don’t you?” he asked her softly.

  Nita thought about it for a moment then said, “Black as tar cuz it’ll put hair on my chest.” She looked at him in surprise. Her hands went to cover her mouth, “Oh my God!” She sat down hard in a chair and stared at him as tears gathered in her eyes. “I remembered something from my past.”

  Tate smiled gently. He reached out and touched her hand for the first time in eight years. “You really don’t remember me do you?”

  She stared at him and slowly shook her head. “When I first came here, I didn’t even know my name. I woke up in the hospital and the doctors there told me I had been in some kind of accident but I never remembered it or anything else. When I was recovered enough, they allowed me to leave but I had no money or contacts here, so a social worker suggested I come here and take care of her mother, Andrea. It gave me a place to live while I tried to get my life back.”

  “It worked out for you? Staying here I mean?” he asked her.

  Nita nodded. “It actually did. Andrea was just alone more than she should be, she had some health problems, and we sort of took care of each other.”

  Tate knew he had to be very careful with his next question but it was one he had to ask, “So it was just you and Andrea here, all this time?”

  Nita paused then shook her head slowly. “Not exactly. A friend of a friend comes by once in a while. He said he knew my social worker but I never thought he did. He told me he’d seen me in the hospital but he didn’t want to approach me then. He waited until Julie got me settled here before he started coming around.”

  “What was his name?” Tate asked, already knowing it was Bandit.

  “He said his name was Dale Montgomery.”

  Tate frowned. “Dale Montgomery?”

  She nodded. “He’d come over about once a month for the longest time. Sometimes, I thought I knew him but he told me I was wrong. I don’t know why but he sort of gave me the creeps. He’d always ask if we needed anything, always asking awkward questions.” She shook her head. “It was just plain unsettling. And I always few weird for days after his visits. I’m really glad he finally stopped coming around a few months ago.”

  Tate stared at her for a moment then looked around again. “You said you lived here with someone. Where is she? I’d like to meet her.”

  Nita lowered her head and began tracing patterns on the table with her fingers. “She isn’t here. Julie thought her mother needed a vacation from the troubles we’ve been having lately.”

  “Troubles?” Tate scowled. “What kind of troubles?” he reached out and touched her hand. “What’s going on Nita?”

  She shrugged. “Not much, I mean off and on over the years I felt someone watching me but nothing ever happened. Then four days ago, someone tried to break in, in the middle of the night. The alarms went off and we heard footsteps running away from the back door. The next morning we called the police because someone had left damage to a window in the back. The police came but there was nothing they could do. That night, whoever it was tried again and this time, we called the police but when they got here he was gone again. Andrea got so nervous that Julie took her home with her for a while. She told me I shouldn’t stay here either but I didn’t have any other place to go.”

  “Did this lowlife try again?” Tate growled.

  She paused at his expression and the growling tone as she slowly nodded. “He tried again last night.” Her eyes darkened with fear and she rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “I called the cops again but it all ended the same way. Him gone. At least they didn’t call me crazy. He left a mess on the back porch.”

  “What kind of mess?” Tate frowned.

  “The police found a message scrawled in what they think is ketchup. It read something like, I want my money back bitch. Or something to that effect.” She shrugged. “I have no idea what he was talking about and neither did the police. In fact, when you showed up, I was getting ready to go to a motel for the night. It was the best I could do.” She gazed at him with tears in her eyes. “I don’t owe anyone any money and I can’t remember borrowing money. I mean I could have I suppose in the past but I don’t remember it.”

  Tate reached over and took her hand in his. “I’m sure you didn’t. I don’t know who this bastard is but I’ll protect you. Hopefully we can find out who he is and set the record right.”

  “But what if he finds me and this time he gets close to me? What if he hurts me and I won’t even know why?”

  Tate got to his feet and moved around the table then pulled her into his arms. “No one and I mean no one, will ever hurt you again, Nita,” he whispered in her ear as he pulled her closer. “I couldn’t protect you eight years ago but I can damn well protect you now. We’re only an hour away from home and once we get you back there, no one will get to you.”

  She leaned back and stared at him. “Home? I have a home?”

  “You better believe you have a home, along with four sons and a daughter that have missed you so much.”

  “I have five kids?” she looked shocked as she gave a little jump in her seat.

  “We have five kids,” Tate corrected her. “Together, you and I have four kids as Creed was four when we met but he’s always called you his mother and you’ve always treated him like your son.”

  “I have five kids and a husband?” she whispered in shock. Her hand went to her heart and she rubbed the skin on her chest. “This is what I’ve been missing all these years. My family.”

  Tate exhaled deeply. “Honey, I’m almost glad you did.”

  “What? What do you mean, don’t you want me anymore?”

  “More than life itself but so much has happened that’s bad in the last eight years. I’m almost glad you missed it. But let’s get you home safe and I promise I’ll tell you everything.”

  “Promise?” she barley whispered.

  “I promise,” Tate assured her.

  She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Good, because I’ve been so scared for so long now. I don’t know what’s what. I’ve been thinking I’m missing something here but I had no clue what. Then you knocked on my door and tell me you’re my husband and I have a family who thought I was dead all this time. I need to understand what happened.”

  Tate tilted his head at her. “Tell me something, when that man came here to visit did you feel...Well, how did you feel afterwards? Were you worse when he left?”

  “Why do you ask?” She stared at him confused. “Better yet, how did you know that?”

  Tate shook his head. “I was told he was drugging you, in order to keep you confused. He didn’t want you to remember your past.”

  She peeked at him. “You know Butch?”

  Tate nodded. “I know him but his name isn’t Butch Montgomery, it was Dale Westerly. His road name was Bandit.”

  She gasped. “Bandit? Are you sure?”

  Tate nodded. “Yes I’m positive. Why?”

  Nita grabbed her head and began rubbing her temples. Sh
e grimaced almost as if in severe pain. “I know that name. I can almost see his face but it’s like looking in a mirror. I can see the hate in his eyes and then all I can feel is pain and terror.” Looking up at Tate, she pleaded, “Why? Why is that?”

  Tate held her close to him. He had tears in his own eyes and began rubbing his hand up and down her back. “I didn’t want to tell you this, not here and not now but it was Bandit who forced your car over a bridge. He tried to kill you and managed to murder my mother. She was with you that day and when you went off the bridge, she was killed.”

  “Oh, my god.” Nita’s hand covered her mouth. “Is he still out there? Maybe it’s him behind the break-ins.”

  “No sweetheart,” Tate assured her. “Whoever this is.... it isn’t Bandit. He’s sitting in an eight by eight jail cell. He’s going on trial for murder in a few weeks.”

  “Oh....” She gasped. Then she suddenly laid her head on his chest. She went quiet for a long moment then she spoke, “Oh yeah, I remember this sound,” she whispered. “Your heartbeat. I would imagine hearing it at night when I fell asleep.”

  Tate felt another piece of his horrible pain filled past heal inside him. This was one of her more enduring habits. She would often snuggled with her head on his chest just to listen to his heart pounding in his chest before they fell asleep. She would tell him that was better than a lullaby to her. She had told him that the sound told her he was alive and right there by her side and that’s all she would ever ask of him.