Page 30 of Spike

“He got his bellrang pretty good, and required staples to close up his head, but he was okay.”

“But you got introuble,” Trixie said.

I nodded.

“But it wasself-defense,” she hissed. “That boy was throwing rocks at you.”

“The school didn’tgive a single shit about that. They decided to enforce their zero-tolerancepolicy and expelled both me and Mac, but that would soon become the least of myworries, because then came the cops and the lawyers. Mac claimed that I was theone and only person to hurt anyone that day. He said that I hit Jeff with therailroad spike first, and then when he tried to break up the fight, I attackedhim. After that, Jeff was excluded as a witness.”

“What aboutPhillip?”

“The MacCourtfamily paid him off just like they paid off Danny’s family. Next thing I knew,Phillip was somehow relieved as a biased witness, and he moved to Vermont withhis family. I’ve never seen or heard from him since.”

“Instead of payingme off, The MacCourts made sure I was the one who was gonna pay. My day incourt came and it was the ADA and the MacCourt’s family lawyer against mypublic defender. I got smeared all over the courtroom floor and the judgesentenced me to four years at Lakewood for aggravated assault. Beforeadjourning, he said I was lucky I wasn’t charged as an adult with felonybattery, and he would have gladly given me ten years in a maximum-securityprison.”

I could tellTrixie was fighting back tears.

“By the time I wastransferred from County to Lakewood, the rumor mill had blown the story of mehitting a guy with a railroad spike in self-defense up to an epic tale of mebeating three guys to death with the railroad spike I carried at all times.” Ishrugged. “But the story kept most of my fellow inmates from messing with me,so why ruin it with the truth. Everyone at Lakewood called me Spike from dayone and that’s who I’ve been ever since.”

Tears flowed downTrixie’s face.

“Hey, it’s okay.Don’t cry,” I said, cupping her face. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not yourfault. I just wish I could have been there. I mean,someoneshould havebeen there to protect you.” She bit her lip. “Maybe if I’d known you back then,I could have found help from someone in our church.”

“Yeah, I didn’t exactlysee the line of good Samaritan lawyers lining up to come to my defense backthen.”

“You’re clearly avery strong person to have gone through all of that and end up as great as youhave.”

“Is that a joke?”

“Not evenremotely,” Trixie said. “Why would you think that?”

“Most peoplewouldn’t think of an ex-con, biker, welder, covered in tattoos as a guy who’son the winning side of life.”

“Who cares whatthey think? They don’t know you, do they? I see a young man who’s overcome aton of adversity, become highly self-educated, learned skills along the way andparlayed them into a thriving small business. Plus, you’ve built a life foryourself that gives you the freedom to ride and spend time with your adoptedclub family.”

I sank furtherinto my seat. “You really aren’t like anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Same goes foryou, Spike.” She smiled. “What ever happened to your friend that was with youat the dance? Screech, was it?”

“Screek,” Icorrected.

“Oh, that’s right,because his name was Dawson.”

I nodded at thebittersweet memories flooding back. “Screek was released about six months afterme and was doing okay for a while. But before too long, he started using again,and within a year was incarcerated. Since he was an adult, they sent him to theOregon State Pen. He’d been popped with a loaded weapon, while dealing, so itwas not good.” I took a deep breath, steeling my emotions. “He’d always been awiseass and had only been inside for a matter of months before he popped off tothe wrong guy who just happened to be a high ranking member of the AryanBrotherhood. Screek couldn’t stand racists, so I’m sure whatever he said to himwasn’t good. In fact, it got him killed.”

“What happened?”she asked.

“The guards foundhim in his cell, he’d been stabbed to death. They were never able to prove whodid it.”

Of course, whatshe didn’t need to know what that I’d found out who did it, and Ropes and I’dgot the nod from Cutter to take care of them, which we did.

“Oh, Spike, I’m sosorry.”

“It was a longtime ago and he had a lot of demons but he’s at peace now,” I said, forcing asmile. “Okay, I held up my end of the bargain, now it’s your turn.”

She cocked herhead. “My turn? What are you talking about?”

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