Chapter 24

Sage P.O.V.

As expected, the joyful reunion only lasted so long. I managed to make it through the night without anyone asking questions, but I could tell they were itching to find out what all happened.

Dally and I ended up crashing at the Curtis house along with the rest of the gang. It was almost like they were afraid if they left, I would disappear again. I couldn't move than five feet without one of them following me, but I told myself that they mean well.

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of bacon with a hint of chocolate cake mixed in with it. I got up off the couch and looked to see the rest of the guys passed out in various places in the living room. I knew at this point Darry was the only one up and as much as I wanted to snag a piece of bacon, I didn't know if I was ready to face his disapproving stares. After a short internal debate, I decided the bacon would be worth the discomfort.

I silently stepped over Two-bit and Steve who were sprawled out on the floor and drug myself to the kitchen. Darry's head turned towards me as I rounded the corner and he gave me a warm smile. "Mornin'. How did you sleep?"

I walked over to the counter where the bacon was laid out on a plate. "Better than I have in a while."

He nodded his head and started to ice the cake he had pulled out of the oven not too long ago. He glanced down at my hand and saw the rope burn. It had almost healed, but a red mark was still noticeable. "What happened?"

I looked down at my hand and smiled, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." At this point Dally and Soda walked in with Steve not too far behind. Two-bit must still be sleeping.

Soda came and grabbed my hand to look at it. "Looks like a burn of some sort."

I nodded my head and Dally asked where I got it from. I hesitated not knowing exactly how to tell this story. "Ah, well you see, Angela wanted to get out of the hotel room and somehow we made it down to a rodeo."

Dally chuckled, "You hate rodeos."

I slowly nodded my head, "It wasn't like we had much else to do down there. Anyway, Angela found herself a guy which left me to figure something out. Out of nowhere this one guy had come up and started asking questions and next thing I knew, I was riding a bull."

They were all staring at me in disbelief and Dally held up a hand. "I'm sorry. I thought I heard you just say you rode a bull."

I nodded my head and looked down at my hand. "He said girls don't ride bulls and I wanted to prove him wrong."

Steve laughed, "Poor guy had no idea who he was dealing with when he said that. How long did you last?"

I smirked, "8 seconds. The rope slid out of my hand as I was trying to get off. Left a small burn. I got second though, if that counts for anything."

Soda was looking at me with a mixture of amusement and awe. "So, you are tellin me that my girl rode a bull and lived to tell about it?"

I nodded my head with a smile and heard Two-bit's voice from the living room, "Hot damn we got ourselves a badass. You plan on entering bull riding events here?"

Dally said no before I could even open my mouth. Steve and Soda were laughing at this point and Dally shook his head. "I swear you don't think sometimes."

Everyone grabbed some breakfast and watched Mickey for a while. Pony and Johnny left to go hang out at the lot at some point, which left me with the rest of the guys. I could tell they were all starting to get restless and I caught them giving each other glances every now and then. It was only a matter of time before the questions started.

I was sitting on the couch leaning against Soda with my feet laid across Steve's lap. Dally walked back in the room after grabbing a beer and leaned against the wall. "Alright kid. What the hell happened?"

I felt Soda tense up next to me and I let out a deep breath. "As you know, Angela and I were going to walk the last little bit to Buck's because we convinced the guys to walk ahead. By no way was it any of your faults. Shit just happened. We were almost there when a mustang pulled up next to us and two guys got out. If were anyone else but them, it wouldn't have happened I swear. But seeing their faces and hearing their voices really messed us up. They were drunk and looking for a fight. I wanted to make a run for it because I knew it wasn't going to end well. But Ange pulled her switch out and I couldn't leave her."

I had to pause to take a few deep breaths. My hands were shaking at this point and Soda saw. He grabbed one of my hands and started to rub circles on the back of it with his thumb.

"It was like a blacked out. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I couldn't get that night out of my head. Once we realized what we did, we went to Bucks to figure out what the hell we were going to do. Dal and Tim got involved shortly after, but we made a decision not to tell them what happened. Which resulted in Dal storming off because of how much of a bitch I was being. Tim gave us some cash, told us where Dally kept his heater, and told us to lay low. We had almost made it out of there until we ran into Steve. And for what seemed like the millionth time that night, I talked him into letting us go. We went to the bus station and hopped on a bus to a different state."

Everyone was silent for a minute, taking in everything I had just said. Nearly everyone had a hand in letting me walk away with zero questions and I think that is what was eating at them the most.

Two-bit asked where we went. "Angela wanted to find herself a cowboy, so we headed down to Texas." He nodded his head and looked like he was in a daze.

I shook my head at them, "I made all of my decisions. None of you could have stopped what happened that night. You all know me. I wouldn't take no for an answer."

Soda squeezed my hand and Dal said he needed to talk to me outside. I gave him a confused look, but slowly followed him out the front door. He leaned against to porch railing and lit a cigarette.

After a few drags of it he turned to me, "Look kid, I'm sorry for how I've been treating you. You've changed a lot since I last saw you and it feels like I don't know you anymore. I guess that's my fault for leaving you behind, but I did it because I thought it would be for the best. Dad hated my guts, but he seemed to leave you alone. Or at least I thought. You had friends and a life there. I didn't want to screw that up by bringing you here. Then you showed up out of nowhere and scared the shit out of me. I see how Darry is with those boys and I knew I couldn't be that for you. I thought maybe if I pushed you away you would head back to New York. Then the whole murder thing happened."

He shook his head and took another drag. "I should've been there for you. I know that now."

I looked out at the street and sighed, "I made life hard for you. I went out of my way to piss you off and it worked. No of this is your fault. I knew exactly what I was doing the whole time. But after what happened last week, I want things to change. I don't want to keep going down this same path. I escaped all of that in New York and wanted to start fresh here. But it seems like it followed me."

I could see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye. "What did happen back home for you to come here? And I know it ain't dad."

I looked down and tried to think of the best way to tell him. I knew this was something I couldn't keep in for much longer. "I got in with the wrong crowd. Fell for a guy who make you look like a saint. I don't what happened, but next thing I knew he killed a kid because he thought I was flirting with him. I could deal with dad beating the shit out of me. I could deal with my boyfriend using me as a punching bag as well. Honestly the bruises helped me look tough and you know out on those streets you need to look like you can do some damage. But what I couldn't deal with is him shooting some kid on my front doorstep because of me. So, I called the feds on him and ran. Haven't looked back since."

Dally was tense now and was struggling to keep his temper in check. After a minute of him pacing, he asked what his name was. "Mark Peters." Dally stopped pacing and his head shot up at me. "Mark Peters?"

I nodded my head and started to get this sick feeling in my stomach. "What's going on, Dal?"

He ran a hand though his hair, "Tim told me this kid from New York tried to join his gang. He said he seemed too wild for him to want to keep an eye on. Last he heard he ended up with the Brumly Boys. He said his name was Mark Peters."

I took a few steps back from him and felt my blood run cold. He found me. I was stupid to run back to my brother. He knew that's where I would be. And the worst thing about it is that I led him straight the people I love. God how could I be so careless?

Dally grabbed my face in his hands and said, "Talk to me, kid."

My whole body was shaking at this point. "He is going to kill me, Dal. He is going to kill me and there is nothing I can do about it."