Page 78 of The Chase

Carmelo raised an eyebrow. “A disabled kitten?”

Colt grinned. “Yep. I’m going to take your phone number, too. Your personal one.”

Carmelo raised his eyebrows, a hundred questions swimming in his eyes. “Does that mean you are going to take on the MC-”

“No comment.”

Carmelo sighed. “Right, the disabled kitten and the health hazard of an old sofa. Got it. I’m gonna make some calls. I’ll be back.”

Colt rolled his eyes. “Alright Arnie,” he said dryly, as Carmelo flipped him a wave over his shoulder without looking back.

Despite himself, Colt found himself smiling. Carmelo may be a police Sergeant, but Colt had a distinct feeling that despite the stereotype pulling him to hate him, they could actually be friends.

Colt wasn’t left alone long. As soon as Carmelo had exited, Colt’s door opened again. And in strode Blue.

Colt sighed. The man had an aura about him, a presence. You could take the Prez title away from him, but he still carried himself like he was the President. Regal. Demanding respect. Colt’s insides gripped, like they always had done around Blue, like they probably always would do.

He came close, sat down on the side of Colt’s bed.

Colt wasn’t sure what he could say. Something like, ‘Hi Blue, we decided to come find danger after all. I crashed the car she was in into a building then she shot the former Prez…’ Fuck.

Colt was painfully aware of the danger he’d put April in. He’d crashed a car with her in it into a building. On purpose. She was now bleeding, hurting. They could have asked him for witness protection, rode off into the sunset and lived a quiet, happy life. But they didn’t. They’d borrowed a car and pointed straight at the monster’s nest. Colt had done that. Colt looked down and nervously plucked at the edge of the blanket in front of him.

Blue reached out his hand and let it rest on Colt’s shoulder. And Colt felt it, right to his core. The heat of Blue’s palm. The weight of his arm. Like the weight of the world. A father’s love. For both him and April. So he just felt Blue’s hand, the heat, the weight, both luxuriated in it and also cringed under it. And the shared silence hung around them, like fog.

Blue cleared his throat and spoke first. “You know, I met April’s mother when I was VP,” Blue began. Colt could tell Blue was in storytelling mode. His voice was deep, strong, like a fine whiskey. And in Colt’s book, it was never too early for whiskey. He sat back and breathed out, happy to listen. “She was beautiful. You know, that smile... lit up the whole fucking bar. Her hair... long, glossy, so fucking soft, all the way down to her ass. And that ass of hers...” Blue let out a long whistle. “She hung out at the clubhouse all summer. And we were all panting for her, I can tell you. Dogs in heat. But I was the one to bag her. She was young, too. Turns out she’d run away from home. Too many arguments with her mom. She attracted trouble, like bees to honey. She was beautiful, but boy, Marisa could make some terrible decisions. Terrible judgment. She saw good intentions and wanted to be nice to everyone and it landed her ass in trouble with the wrong kinda people. Fuck, and I’d run around trying to fix her, and the trail of devastation behind her. That summer... the best time of my life and the fucking worst…one minute on cloud nine, the next raging at something stupid she’d done. Anyway, she gets pregnant. It’s mine of course. She told me she was on the pill, turns out she wasn’t... we argue. I claim her, try to make a go of it. I thought sticking a ‘Property of Blue” label on her back would calm things down. It didn’t. She fucked up and fucked off. It was September. I thought I’d cut my losses and get on with my life. She turns up again next summer with a little baby in tow, and fucking track marks all down her arms. She said she didn’t use during the pregnancy. It was only to help calm her nerves afterwards. To help her sleep. Raising the baby was too hard... yada yada. Excuse after excuse. We took the baby, we made her go cold turkey sober...” Blue teared up.

Colt hadn’t heard all of this before. Hadn’t seen this side of Blue. A young man in love. A young father, trying to do what was best for his little baby.

“Marisa fucking died. Seizure, her body couldn’t cope without the drugs she’d been taking.” Blue paused, cleared his throat. Colt saw a single tear fall off his face. It created a damp stain on the bed sheets. “I took the baby to Marisa’s parents. They nearly died of heart break. They didn’t know. They said to come back on the baby’s birthday. Baby April. I did. I fucking came back every year on her birthday. I took her out when she was older, to the mall, to the ice cream parlor. I sent all my money to her. Told Marisa’s parents to send her to good schools. Keep my little girl far away from low lives like me. I wanted her to have a good life. Full of happiness. Her own family, one day. A good job, nice house. That’s what I wanted for her.”

Colt felt himself cringe, guilt eating his flesh. He looked down. “Blue, I-”

“If that ring on her finger is there for real, to stay-”

“It is.”

“If you can keep her safe, make her happy...”

“I will.”

“MC Prez or not-”

“MC Prez or not, April comes first.”

Blue paused, cleared his throat and took a breath. In and out. And again. Blue regarded Colt carefully. His ice blue stare inspecting him with a fine tooth comb. Colt stared back almost defiantly but trembled inside. “I trust you to do right by her, Colt.”

Colt let out a breath. Shaky. “I’m… grateful. She’s... everything... always has been.”

Blue shook his head. “I was stubborn and blind, I didn’t see it... I mean, I saw you were panting after her as a kid but I didn’t see much more...” Blue shook his head, awash with emotion. “Marisa, April’s mother, I should have chased after her, stopped her from leaving in the first place. If I hadn’t been so proud… hell, I was VP at the time, life was good. I thought I was the cat’s pajamas, booze every night, the town respected us, money, good times… I thought she’d come back. I should have fought for her, supported her. Like what you did for April. I should have gone back and made her battles my battles. I should have chased her to the ends of the earth-”

“Sometimes it’s hard to know what we are actually chasing,” Colt said.

“Amen to that brother,” Blue said, nodding slowly, lost in thought. Then he seemed to remember who he was talking to and flicked Colt a look.

“What?” Colt asked suspiciously.

Blue cracked a smile then, for the first time. “My boy’s got me in check mate. Well done, son, well done.”

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