Chapter 17

He hit you with what?

"The door, he hit me with the fuckin' door!"

Snarling, and a glare when Maddox tried to pass him another wad of tissues. This had the potential to go very bad at a cataclysmic rate of speed.

"No, not Archer, his fuckin' boss. Mr. Balfour! The asshole whose bike you've been trying to fix. If he drives like he opens doors maybe the whole town would be better off if you left it in pieces!"

One hand pressed the tissues to his nose, the other kept the phone pressed to his ear. His voice was muffled, distorted by blood, tissues and what was probably a broken bone. Maddox couldn't even be mad at the ranted threats he aimed at his Harley, not when he was worried about how many feathers he was going to have to unruffle before he got right with either brother.

"No, I don't want you to come down here, you've got to watch all three shops for the rest of the day now. Just leave the doors open between them and listen for the chimes. You should know which side is which by now."

When River turned and saw Maddox watching him, he effortlessly flipped him the bird without having to move the tissue from in front of her nose, leaving Maddox to shrug and shake his head at the raccoon-eyed man glaring at him.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'll be home when I won't leave a path back that even a nose-less monkey could follow."

The slight widening, then immediate narrowing of his eyes left Maddox chuckling, right up until the point when River turned, saw the smile on his face, and flipped him off again.

"Yes, there are nose-less monkeys!" River grumbled. "They live in the Himalayas."

Okay, now there was no way to hold back the snort and laughter that forced its way past the hand he'd pressed to his lips.

"I surf the internet, that's how."

Maddox lost it then, missed the edge of the table he'd been about to sit on, and landed on the floor where he sat chuckling before River promptly upended a box of tissue paper over his head. Laughing from inside the box might not have been the best idea and he wouldn't have been surprised to be kicked or stepped on with how pissed off the youngest brother was. Someone was going to have their hands full dealing with him, but it sure as hell wasn't going to be Maddox. For as much as he liked fire, he wasn't ashamed to admit that River would be too much even for him.

"No, they are not part of the yeti family and no I'm not bullshitting you, my face hurts too much to bullshit anybody right now! Why the fuck am I even still talking to you? Just keep things running, don't burn the place down and don't smoke up all my product!"

With that he disconnected the call, groaned, then sank down in the chair Maddox had offered him moments after he'd attempted to help River inside only to have his nuts threatened if he so much as sneezed in his direction. The vehemence in the man's eyes, despite the circles already darkening beneath them, had convinced Maddox that he was serious and likely carrying something that could get the job done if Maddox even thought about testing him on that.

It was an interesting mix, this family's temperament. To make a full comparison, he'd have to spend more time around Meadow, the oldest of the bunch, but he'd already seen a wide spectrum between Archer, River, and Haven. River would straight up cut a bitch, no questions asked while Archer was the type to try to go around a situation and make a bigger mess in the process, rather than confront it head on. With Haven, all that bluster was more for show, like armor to keep the world at arm's length so he wouldn't be hurt again. Even more reason it wasn't sitting right with Maddox that he was the one who'd done time in prison.

Something was rotten in Mudville, or in this case, Foggy Basin. River's presence might be a bloody, painful one, but it could also be an opportunity to learn a few things if Maddox played his cards right.

"Would you like a glass of ice water?"

"I know you've got something better to offer than that after practically maiming me."

"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?"

River's raised eyebrow told Maddox that he most certainly did not.

Okay then.

Heaving himself to his feet, he considered offering him one of the CBD infused energy drinks, then decided that giving caffeine to the already excitable man wasn't the best idea, so he grabbed them a couple cannabis infused creamsicle sodas, popped the tops and passed one across the table.

"Much better," River replied in leu of a thank you. "Did you see the catalogue; they're coming out with three new flavors. One of them better be strawberry, or at the very least, pineapple."

"I saw that," Maddox admitted. "Personally, I'm hoping for grape."

"You and Haven both. Bring him grape flavored anything and you'll have a friend for life."

"Good to know."

"Don't make me regret telling you."

"Right now, I somewhat regret attempting to leave my shop."

"Only somewhat?" River glowered. "If I'd been the Widow Thomas, you'd have smeared me all over the sidewalk."

"Doubtful, she'd have come in through the front door like a normal visitor."

"Archer told me to come through the back," Haven admitted. "He claimed he wanted to talk to me, but I'll go out on a limb and assume he's not here, since he hasn't come to roll around on the floor and laugh at me."

"Somehow I doubt he'd have found the situation funny."

"Then you don't know my brother very well."

"I'm beginning to see that."

"Good. I knew I liked you for a reason."

Maddox raised an eyebrow at him. "Even if I'm partnered up with him?"

"If I admit that getting involved in a business venture with Archer wasn't high on my to do list when you originally presented the idea, will you tell me what made you decide to make him your partner?"

"Fair enough," Maddox replied. "Not that there's much to tell. He's a hard worker. I've spent the last five years training him. He worked hard to save up the money to buy in. As long as he doesn't make me regret it, I've got no reason to rethink my decision."

"I guess."

"If you were so against it, what convinced you to finally sign the paperwork?"

"Easy," River replied as he wadded up a small piece of tissue and stuffed it up the nostril that was still trickling droplets of blood. "What you were offering to pay us was roughly what we needed to finish refitting the garage to bring it up to code. With Haven getting out it was a no brainer."

Maddox nodded in appreciation at that. "You two are close."

"Always."

"So, what's the deal with him and Archer?"

"Typical big brother, little brother stuff. Archer didn't like him tagging along and Haven wasn't one to be brushed off when he got it in his head that he wanted to do something."

"I bet they got up to some shit."

"Sometimes," River confirmed. "Mostly it was Haven and Jeremy tearing around on dirt bikes and spying on their older siblings."

"You ever join them?"

"Sometimes."

"Uh-huh. More times than you're willing to admit, I'll bet."

River shrugged and left it at that as he sipped his soda.

"Did you guys hang out with Andy Robles too?"

"Fuck that bitchass lying little shitwad!" River snapped, the wad of bloody tissue flying out of his nose to land on the table between them. "He's the dickless snitch that said Haven stomped the crap out of him."

Maddox leveled a stern gaze at him that River didn't flinch away from. "Did he?"

"Haven said he did, so I guess he did, but all that tells me is that Andy deserved it."

"I guess Andy didn't think so." Maddox remarked, his dry tone certain to rattle River's chains and sure enough, that scowl returned as he glared at him over the neck of the bottle.

"Yeah, well fuck him."

"Whatever the issue was, I hope it's over now," Maddox said. "At the very least, I hope your brother will refrain from kicking his ass again before he's got my baby back together."

"You really love that bike."

"Yeah, I do. I don't have a pet, my stepfather and my ex-blub brothers are the only ones who consider me family, and I've been alone for a long time without a partner until your brother took pity on me and my somewhat in your face approach and decided he wanted to be mine. That bike has never failed to fire up when I've needed her to. Anytime my head gets scrambled up, I get on her and ride until I've either figured shit out or run out of road. There's no pressure, there's no expectations, there's just me and a machine that until recently was in peak performance condition."

"Sure it's a bike and not a blow-up doll?"

"Any answer I give to that will probably be taken wrong."

"Oh, come on, not even a snarky little quip about how you'd like to blow my brother?"

"If you want to go there, then it would be me telling you how much I want your brother to blow me."

"Hmmm sounds like you need to up your sixty-nine game if you can't manage both simultaneously."

Snickering, Maddox shook his head. "Alright, I'll let you have that round, considering how difficult it's going to be for you to blow or get blown until you can breathe properly."

"I hate you so hard right now."

Maddox took a drink and studied him while River studied the label on the bottle, looking a thousand miles away.

"I know he says he did it, and I know I'm supposed to take him at his word, but I've always felt like there was something wrong with the story Haven told," River admitted at last. "I don't want to press him, ‘cause right now he's home hanging out with me every night when he's done with your bike and that's better than being off brooding somewhere and me worrying about him. All I know is something cost me six years with my big brother, and I don't think he's been honest about what it was."

"If it's any consolation, I don't think he did it either," Maddox offered. He knew he was taking a chance meddling the way he was about to do, but after what he'd heard Archer say about Andy during the phone conversation he'd overheard and learning that Andy had been the assault victim Haven had done time for, he had a pretty good idea of who had really cost Haven those six years.

Skeptical eyes glared across the table at him. River didn't trust easily, none of the siblings seemed to, which was a little odd to him, when he weighed it against what he thought he knew about small town living. It was enough to leave him wondering about the siblings' upbringing and just how on the fringe their little family had been during their formative years.

"How can you say that so easily when you barely know him?"

"I haven't survived this long without learning how to read people and Haven has a softness to him that he wouldn't have if he'd done what he went to prison for," Maddox said. "He tries to hide it, but it's there and it's glaring sometimes, even if he doesn't realize it."

"It's weird, because I know where he's been. I visited as soon as I was old enough to go see him, but he's the same Haven who never cared that I tagged along, even when I knew I was getting on his nerves. He still cares more about other people than he does about himself and maybe it makes me an asshole, but I wish he wouldn't. I wish he'd have done whatever it took, even if it meant throwing someone else under the bus, to stay home and finish growing up with me. I needed him. I know that's selfish of me to say, but he was always my biggest protector. So don't be surprised if he cusses you out the next time he sees you, even if I could have saved myself if I'd been paying better attention and not wondering what the hell Archer wanted that he couldn't talk about where our siblings might hear."

"You should ask him that when you see him next, though something tells me you may not like the answer."

"I haven't liked most of the answers he's given me in the past few years, so nothing new there. I should get back to the dispensary before Haven smokes me out of business," River grumbled. "I might not be able to help out much, but I can sit behind the counter with an icepack on my face and at least keep an ear on things."

"He hits it that hard, does he?"

"Only when he has to deal with people," River admitted. "Most have been awesome, but a few stare and my brother has a bad habit of writing their dialogue in his head without them having to say anything."

"I've been guilty of doing that a time or two myself."

"He grumbles, but he likes it when you come by the shop to work on your bike with him," River admitted. "I don't know if it's because he misses working with Pops or it's just the thing you two have going on, but those night you didn't show up, he was miserable, broody and a pain in the ass to talk to."

"Really?"

"Dude. Don't do that again or I'll have to come find you and unleash all this awesomeness on you in the most outrageously public way possible. I guarantee you'll never stand him up again."

"You make it sound like we had a date."

"Maybe not an official one, but you showed up five nights in a row then you ghosted him," River said. "What's the guy supposed to think?"

"Point taken. I do appreciate you helping him with the Chinese though," Maddox admitted. "And for the record, him showing up that way went a long way towards helping me get my head out of my ass."

"You know what would be better than your appreciation?"

"What?"

"The two of you figuring out what you want to make and cooking it together," River suggested. "Trust me when I say it can be a real bonding experience."

"As soon as I get a place of my own, that's exactly what we'll do."

"Where are you staying now?"

"An apartment," Maddox admitted, "with Archer for a roommate."

"Yeah, you'd better wait on the whole making dinner together thing then," River said. "Whenever those two are around each other, it's like there's a glacier in the room and the Titanic is on a collision course with it."

"I got that impression too."

"Whatever they're hiding, I hope they get it out in the open sooner rather than later before one of them explodes," River admitted, shuddering a little.

"Something tells me those fireworks are a long time coming."