“Yes.”
Hours passed like water, the clock ticking by until I had to get back to the airport, with Dad driving me, which he insisted on doing to save the cab fair. He didn’t quite get that I was making really good money from the band now. Or maybe he just liked doing fatherly things for me still, which was nice.
“Thanks so much, Dad,” I told him, when we pulled up to the airport.
“Come back soon, yeah?” he said, as he dropped me off at the terminal.
“I’ll do my best.”
I’d be getting back to Seattle later that same morning. Time seemed to turn backwards like Superman as I flew.
My mind was so tired that I felt alert again, and unable to sleep short of a blow to the head. I pounded Holly’s number into my phone the second I had landed but I got her voicemail again.
Once I had reached baggage claim, my one bag came around on the oversized belt. It was a lone duffle bag among the wheeled suitcases and assorted instruments, marked with Loki’s Laugh stickers.
It was then that I decided to call my band members, since I’d had no luck getting through to Holly.
“Hey, need a ride?” they all asked, as soon as they picked up.
“Yes. Thanks, guys.”
Once I was in the familiar, if a bit wiffy, confines of the van with them, Ragnar delivered me at Holly’s doorstep.
Another surprise was waiting for us at her front door, though.
“Who’s this fucking asshole?” Ragnar laughed. “The way he leans over with his elbow sticking out like that is so weird.”
“Holly’s ex,” I said. “He does have a jaggedly style of walking and standing. But he’s no joke. Fuck.”
“That’s the one who hurt her?” Varg asked.
“That’s him alright.”
“Right.”
Tires smacked the curb, as the driver’s side door opened, with Varg in one of his states.
“Should we—?” Ragnar started to say.
“Just wait,” I cut him off, wanting to see what Varg was going to do to Keith.
Whatever it was, I was confident that Keith would more than deserve it— coming back around here after I’d warned him to stay away from her.
Sensing danger, Keith turned at Vargs’s approach and snarled, as if ready to start some shit with him.
“You! I know who you are and what you did,” Varg yelled out.
“Oh, fuck off, Bjorn, I know about you and your stupid little friends, too,” Keith said. “Your little buddy there wouldn’t even hit me unless I went and hit him first. The wimp doesn’t believe in unnecessary violence.”
“I do, though, and I’m good at it, too,” Varg told him. “Unluckily for you. I did time for nearly killing a guy who grabbed my sister’s ass. Here’s a picture.”
Not one to bluff, Varg actually showed him his mugshot. It was a download to his phone that I thought he’d deleted years ago. Like most mistakes, though, it was coming back up again, although this time it was a good thing.
“Shit!” Keith hurled.
“Yeah, that’s blood. I really lost it on him, you know? Just couldn’t help myself. I’m a bit calmer now and don’t have my ax anymore, but I’m more than willing to crack your skull open with my bare hands if necessary.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would, if you give me half a reason to. You ever touch her again, and your arms are going to start and stop at the shoulders, understand?”
Keith looked at Varg, then to Ragnar, as he unfolded himself from the driver’s seat. He was even bigger and scarier than I was— the sort of guy who gave nightmares nightmares. And he was coming right at Keith, following the attempted murderer who was already up in his face.
“Yes,” Keith said. “I understand.”
“Never again?” Varg pressed.
“No, never again.”
“We will be watching. If it isn’t me, it will be one of them. Do not fuck with us.”
“No, I won’t, I promise.”
Keith was nearly crying, as if it was finally dawning on him how much shit he was in. Varg wasn’t just making empty threats. Both he and Ragnar could really fuck him up and, at that moment, I was afraid they might.
We all liked Holly, even if I was the only one in love with her.
She was like family to all of us, and no one could mess with her without messing with each and every one of us.
“What’s going on here?”
We all looked up to see Seth arriving at the head of a troop of four cops, their cars lined up behind the van. Quick as you please, Varg hid his phone, putting on his most winning smile.
“Wow, they got here quick,” I marveled.
“I texted him and he said he had already been talking to the cops about Keith based on a meeting he had earlier with Holly,” Ragnar explained.
“What’s up, Seth? We’re just chatting with this criminal here,” I said, so as to cover for Varg and not get him in trouble for his threats of violence. “He thought it would be a good idea to break the restraining order Holly has on him once again, but we were explaining that that would not be in his best interest.”