When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand
Stand by me
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He glanced up as she entered, noticing that the night had given her time pull herself from the emotional turmoil of the night before. She looked better...calmer, more collected, and more confident. He was glad to see it. The woman he'd married had never been weak, and he'd always admired her adaptability.
"Me too." He watched as she went behind the bar. "Sure, that'd be good. Thank you." He'd been unsure of what he was facing staying on the stranger's house, and had been relieved when the whole ordeal was over. He was planning to see if the town's apartment complex had any week to week apartments available after this meeting...something temporary until he figured things out.
He turned slightly in his seat, one elbow propped on the bar as he turned his attention to her. "Thanks. Kinda feel like it, too." He said dryly, absently rubbing a hand over the day-old scruff that shadowed his face. He'd not bothered shaving this morning...his mission had been to get up and get out as soon as possible.
He lifted the glass of water to his mouth, taking a drink. The moment was uncomfortable--here they sat, two people with so much history, made into strangers by the expanse of time that had elapsed between them. Time was a thief who knew no limits.
"I'm not going to sit here and taint what little we have left between us with lies, Angelina." Mocha eyes shifted to her. "So I ask that you hear me without doubt, because things that made sense ten years ago make little now." The lines of his jaw were tight, and his brows narrowed some as he struggled with where to even start when it came to the mess that had started it all. Best to work his way from the beginning."That night...the night we left...Sphinx was bouncing. Some girls were talking, and he overheard one saying that her dad was going to be bringing down a large car theft operation, right here in the city...the next day. He called Tumbler, and they got everyone together. I was shocked to see them, when I came in. They both were in a panic." He'd never forget the look on the two large men's faces...the proverbial deer in the headlights look. It had been almost terrifying to see, considering these were men who seemed to fear nothing. "They said if we scattered, we had a better chance of keeping the dogs off our families. They figured if there was no evidence, and you all kept it hushed, that there'd be no repercussions for you." Uprooting his family in the middle of the night, to have to live a life in hiding hadn't seemed like a good idea back then...and didn't even now. "So Toby threw what scrap he could from incomplete projects in his car, and Sphinx went into the garage with a can of gasoline. the financial records went with Freb." From what he'd understood, there had been a ridiculous amount of money disbursed in accounts throughout Europe that was in Tumbler's control.
"The Feds must have gotten wind of the breech, because from what I understand, they showed up just as Sphinx was driving off. Tumbler intercepted them...purposely led them on a chase, and got caught. That gave the rest of them enough time to get some distance." Himself included, though each and every mile had been harder than the last. "You have to understand, Angelina, I was not nearly as seasoned as the rest. I wasn't into boosting, wasn't experienced with hiding from the law. But I've been friends with those guys a good long time...and that was what was incriminating. I ditched the car I had and hitchhiked to some little desert town. I bunkered down for nearly two weeks there, positive I was going to be caught." He hadn't cared so much about that...it was more his fear to find that his wife had gotten caught somehow as well. That they'd missed some crucial piece of evidence.
"I made it to Chicago...and just...blended in, kept my head down, and was careful. I had no way to get in touch with the crew, and I was positive the lines at the house had to have been tapped." A good amount of time had been spent sleepless, sick with worry over his family and with regret for ever having let it go so far. "I kept hearing things on the news and in the paper. Every time I thought I might chance the trip back...news would surface about some lead, some sighting of the crew...and I knew I couldn't risk it."
He stopped, taking another drink of water. Talking was thirsty work, and he'd done a lot already. "Time wore on...I had gotten a little gig as a fry cook for a diner in the city. It paid cash, and the owner was a don't ask, don't tell kind of guy. I kept telling myself when I had saved enough, I would come back to you and Des...we'd pick up and move to London, or Paris...just disappear." If only it had worked that way. She'd have been mad just the same, but the emptiness that was between them would not have had the chance to materialize.
"I was taking the trash out one night at work, when a guy grabbed me. Put me up against the wall. I didn't recognize him at first...but then I realized it was the leader of the Chicago group that the crew's mentor, Dusty, had always been at war with. The very guy who everyone had known killed Dusty...but had never been able to prove it." The crews mentor had had a hand in his sobriety, along with Tumbler and Sphinx...so the mystery had always been a sore spot with him. "He said he knew who I was. The circle I ran in. He wanted information on Memphis and Sphinx...I don't know why for sure, but I assume he wanted to either sell them out, or try to blackmail them into being a cohort of his. Either way, I didn't know the answers. So he blackmailed me instead." The ensuing years had been utter hell. Had in fact, drove him to the bottle. "He threatened me with making sure a tip was called in on my whereabouts...and that he'd find my family. That terrified me worse than anything. He wanted me to work for him, and to leak any information on the whereabouts of the others to him. I did work for him...I was one of the guards of an off-the-beaten path garage." He didn't know why he just hadn't left...gone to the police, and made a deal. He supposed the threat to his family had accounted for a lot. "That ring got busted...something about the ringleader being prone to young girls." He winced, disgusted. "I got the call from Freb two days later, that Tumbler'd struck a deal, which led to the bust...and also got us off the hook. So I came home."
There. It was out, the summarized version, anyway. He wouldn't withhold anything from her...doing so was pointless. But if she had questions, she'd have to ask them. He'd done his best to lay it out there, done his best to make her see that while he'd been misguided, his intentions had been as pure as they could be, given his age and state of mind at the time.
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