Page 125 of Irons

“What’s wrong?”

He looked like he was about to explode and didn’t answer me. He stepped on the gas and flew down the road then pulled over and jumped out. I could hear him puking from inside the car. “What the fuck?”

Magnus looked behind us. “Yep, he’s blowing some chunks.” He turned back around and looked at me. “What?”

“I know he’s getting sick, but why? What’s wrong?”

Magnus groaned. “With the way things are going back at Creed’s Lake, I’d say there’s a chance you knocked him up, Carlson. And that wouldn’t be the most fucked up thing I saw this week.”

I burst into laughter and couldn’t help it. He might have been serious.

Travis got back in and still looked terrible. “I need to get a drink, please don’t ask me to speak.”

“Want me to drive?” I offered.

“No, just don’t ask me any questions yet.” He threw it into drive then pulled over at the gas station and hopped out before he had it all the way in park. When he came back he had a soda and put the Tahoe in reverse. “Call your dad and ask him to meet us at his house. I need a shower now. Please tell me I still have clothes there. I can’t wait until I get to the hotel.”

“Yeah, but just a pair of jeans and a shirt. I left them in case we had to stay the night for some reason or another. I left some for me too.” The plan was to eventually go back to dad’s and stay.

“Thank God.” He said.

When we got to dad’s, Travis went flying into the house. Magnus and I both scrunched our nose, Travis smelled really bad.

“He smells like death.” Magnus said.

“Yeah, I recognized it too.” I took off my seatbelt then saw my dad standing at the door looking very confused.

Twenty five minutes later, after I introduced Magnus to dad, Travis walked downstairs and had his clothes in a plastic bag. He took them outside and I presume he put them out in the trash. He still didn’t look well, but went straight for the fridge to get a beer and we hadn’t even had lunch yet. All three of us, especially my dad, were clueless.

“Are you feeling better?” I asked as Travis took a seat at the table with us.

“I don’t think she showered for a very long time. She had sores and they had to be abscesses. All I can think of ismaybe its caused by her immune system and not taking care of herself. Like, maybe she had…I don’t know, but that’s not all aids patients. She was something different. She asked me to come upstairs to show me what she needed to take with her, and I took one step in that room and needed to hurl. She’s depressed, I’m not sure she changes her clothes after shitting herself. I’m also thinking bed sores maybe, I don’t know but it was like there was this…” He paused and swallowed. “Oil in the air that stuck to me. Brock told me he has to force her into a shower. There’s no way we could possibly fly that woman to Indiana or take anything from that bedroom to that apartment. She is going to need new everything. The downstairs wasn’t bad, but the upstairs was unbelievable. Tricia is going to have one hell of a mess on her hands.”

My dad stared at Travis. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Travis shook his head. “Never mind anything you just heard, it’s private. We're here to talk about your fucked up situation.” Travis was cold toward him.

Dad crossed his arms over his chest. “Exactly what fucked up situation are you referring to, Travis?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe everything we learned yesterday? You know as well as me that was not leverage she gave me. She knew I could never use that against her! She knew I’d protect you and Wrenly!” Travis was not in a great mood anymore. “I love your daughter so damn much, Clint. What hurts her kills me! She has suffered enough grief, she doesn’t deserve to grieve for you!”

Magnus spoke up. “This is emotional for you, Travis, and I get that, but how about getting yourself another beer and letting me talk with Clint?”

Travis pushed back in his chair, making a loud noise. “That’s why you’re here.” He stormed over to the fridge. Travis was disturbed by what he experienced at Emma’s, angry and scared for my father just like me, and his brain was probably at max capacity. He stormed out to the back patio, and I let him have a few minutes to calm down.

Magnus sat back and let my dad tell his story. It started with a dirty councilman, that was the first shake down. The man was having inappropriate relations with a teen girl. Dad filed the report the parents called him to file, had evidence to back it up, then it all disappeared. From then on, dad and Tony made copies of evidence as backup. It all grew from there, but then my mom brought me to dad’s and told him about the man that touched me. Then she disappeared with me and that man’s house was the first place they checked. They went all the way to Montana to find me. Not only did they find pictures of me in his house, but also other little girls. They got the run around by the local police in Montana, so they made that guy disappear, making it look like he took off out of town. They didn’t do it again for a few years, but eventually they all got sick of the monsters and the failure of the justice system and made a pact. Eventually the Dark Knights MC grew, and they even had their equivalent of the police Superintendent join. Even a few internal affairs agents. Then a few FBI and it just kept growing. If Travis would have just stayed inside and listened he would have gotten the bigger picture, but he was outside brooding. I had hopes Magnus could talk some sense into him. Especially since Creed and the others were hard at work back in Indiana working their magic. Creed and Travis came up with a plan to help my dad.

A Venture

Travis

The steaming hot shower felt as if it were burning the sickness off my skin. I scrubbed and scrubbed but couldn’t get the oil off me. I knew it was likely psychological, but I couldn’t help myself.

We were back at the mansion hotel after finishing with Clint and making a quick visit to Brock at work. Though he didn’t smell of his mother, the thought of it turned my stomach all over again. Despite my discomfort, Brock’s reaction to the news we delivered was priceless. Not only that, but his reaction to Magnus seeing his work for the first time was also priceless. It was fucking weird because the moment Magnus saw my kid brother, it was like bros at first sight or kindred spirits or some shit.

It was before I gave Brock the news, it sparked the minute Magnus saw Brock working under a masterpiece of an Oldsmobile. Magnus fired off questions as Brock’s eyes lit up with pride and excitement. Magnus was genuinely awestruck with my kid brothers work. Wrenly yawned a few times as Magnus and I looked under the hood of an old GTO, Magnus’s dream car. Magnus didn’t just want that car, he had a lust for it.

Wrenly finally had enough of it and demanded we talk shop later and get to the point of the visit. After having a seat inthe break room, I finally got down to business. I did have some worries that Brock would be pissed at me for going to his mother behind his back, but he was calm and cool about it. I was sure he was ashamed of the state of his mother and the second floor of his house, but that seemed to fade as I told him the agreement I made with Emma.

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