Yeah, Lizard can be quite a laugh. But what if the inappropriate things he says aren’t deliberate, but unintentional because of injuries in his head? Doesn’t affect the way I think of him but is worrying instead. Has my brother been struggling and I haven’t fucking noticed?
“If we accept her story at face value, I don’t like that she needs support, and the man who should give it can’t step up and provide it. Christ, if I wasn’t around for Theo, I know everyone here would help.”
“She’s a brother’s woman. She’s got his name on her back. That shows at one time he was fucking serious about her.”
Demon nods at me. “It would appear so. But why does he block her out now? She’s a good-looking bitch, but you say he didn’t look twice at her?”
“Maybe he doesn’t fancy her?”
I bark a short laugh at Beef’s suggestion. “She’s got tits, an ass and a pretty face. When have you seen Lizard want more? No, anyway, what I meant, there was no recognition there at all.”
“Fuck.” Demon lowers his head into his hands. “What happens when a brother cuts an old lady loose? Never experienced it, so don’t know. Do brothers step up if they just grow apart? If she’d stepped out on him, it would be different, but if we’re to believe what she says, she’s been faithful to him all these years. It isn’t her fault the man who made vows to her can’t keep them himself.”
“Are you saying, Prez,” Beef starts, “that we’ve got responsibility for her?”
“I think,” says Demon slowly, “that we need to handle this with kid gloves. If Lizard is still recovering from a serious brain injury, I think we need to step carefully. Confronting him with the truth might do more damage than good. But I don’t want her to leave thinking we’re not going to help her. This is Lizard’s kid we’re talking about. What if one day he remembers, and he discovers his boy in juvie, jail, or worse, six feet under when it could have been prevented?”
Put like that, I agree with Demon. What do we do when a brother isn’t around to do what needs doing, or, in this circumstance, can’t cope? We step up.
Demon raps the table twice. “We’ll get her to bring him here, tomorrow after school. They can stay for the weekend.”
“Er, Prez, it’s party night tomorrow and Saturday. I’m not sure that’s suitable for a kid.”
“Oh come on, Mace. You can keep it PG when he’s around. The kid will have to go to bed at a reasonable time. Vanna and Cas can have my room. Vi and I don’t use it much, it’s easier with Theo to stay at the house.”
“So he stays for the weekend, what then?” Beef sounds confused.
I, too, look at Demon, interested in where his thoughts are on this. I’m listening as he replies to the VP. “Sounds like the kid needs to learn a few home truths which his dad isn’t in a place to share. So, we take him under our collective wing.”
How the fuck do we do that? Well, hopefully Prez has got some ideas even though his lad can only just walk. I suppose we were all Cas’s age once, guess we’ll have to fall back on that.
A quick text to Vi brings Vanna back to the office. When we tell her the plan, she’s at first overwhelmed, then thankful when we give her our reasoning, then her face falls.
“Lizard might not recognise Cas, but Cas will recognise Lizard. Or will when he hears his name. Demon, this will not go well.”
We hadn’t thought of that.
“Mace.” At my name said in that tone, the words following bound to be an instruction, my eyes snap to Prez. “You go to Denver, tomorrow. Speak to Cas, explain about his father, then bring the boy and Vanna back here.”
“Me?” Christ, I’m no child whisperer. I know fuck all about talking to a kid.
“Yeah, you, Mace. You know everything. You’ve met Vanna. You know Lizard. And you because you’ll lay it on the line for him and won’t speak down to him. Kid who’s hotwiring cars and looking at juvie? He needs to hear it as it is and not with sugarcoating.”
Vanna’s face has hope written there for the first time since I met her a few hours ago. She turns to see my reaction. What can I say but raise my chin and give them a yes.
As Vanna gets up to leave, Demon asks, “You okay to drive tonight?”
A fleeting smile. “Roads will be quieter so, yes. Lindy said Cas wouldn’t mind waiting up for me, he’s playing Call of Duty right now.” Her face twists as if she’s not too happy with that. But hey, he’s a kid, and like any others ignores the eighteen-only label.
She leaves, Demon indicates I should stay. He’s quiet, thoughtful for a moment, then he says, “We can’t risk mentioning any of this to Lizard. Fuck knows I don’t know how to handle someone who’s got such a huge fuckin’ hole in his memory. I’ll get Cad digging into his medical records, see what he can find out.”
“Do you reckon his therapist would talk to us?”
“No, but he might talk to Vanna. Lizard won’t be seeing the same one as he’s not in the same area.”
“Fuckin’ therapist told her to stay away.”
“Might have been the right advice for his patient, Beef.”
“Yeah, but not for his kid. It’s all fucked up, Prez. Sounds like that kid needed his dad in his life.”
“Kid’s got us now, Beef.” Suddenly, I’m determined to help.
“Cad knows and the three of us.” Prez’s eyes rest on me, then Beef’s. “Let’s keep this to just us four for now. Liz won’t want his business spread around the club, and I don’t want people treating him differently or making allowances for him. To us, Liz is the same man he’s always been. We’ll see how this plays out, and see how we can help this Cas, whatever way the cards fall.”
My thoughts have gone from thinking Vanna was playing some game to get, I don’t know, support for her kid that maybe wasn’t even Lizard’s, to agreeing we’ll step up and do what we can to fill the void that Lizard can’t.
She seems a decent enough woman, one who’s cared for Liz from a distance all these years. Could we somehow thrust them together, even if he never remembers the past? Get this family unit mended?
Problem is, I just can’t see it. Lizard has always been adamant he doesn’t want a wife or a kid, so how can we push both onto him? A grown kid at that, who’s trouble by the sounds of it.
I walk out of Demon’s office and the first person I spy is Ink. I’m halfway over to him with the greeting of Leatherneck on my lips, which will garner the response of Ground Pounder as I was in the Army, and he in the Marines, when it hits me. Lizard was a Marine, yet I’ve never been tempted to tease him in the same way. Why not? Probably because Ink and I discuss our service and are proud of the time we served. Liz is far more reserved about his tours. Because he can’t fucking remember. With new information in my head, I realise a lot of things suddenly make sense.
The next day I take my truck which I use more often in winter and try to avoid for the rest of the year, and drive to Denver, the GPS guiding me to Vanna’s house just as she’s leaving.
“I’ll be back soon. All I’ve got to do is pick him up from school and bring him here, probably having some argument on the way. Make yourself at home, there are the makings of coffee in the kitchen—”