Big Yellow Taxi
Chapter 43
Grey Wolf finally slowed his truck down as he pulled up in front of his house. Two unfamiliar vehicles were parked in his driveway. A motorcycle. And a large yellow VW bus. He sped the entire way home from the casino. Derek insisted that Rowan had been kidnapped by some crazy Nazi biker. But the security guards that saw her on her way out told a different story. One that Grey Wolf could see now was probably true. Especially since Rowan was sitting on his large wooden porch, showing absolutely no signs of having been kidnapped or molested in any way.
A little girl was throwing a tennis ball for two of Rowan's giant dogs in his front yard. She regarded him with a skeptical glance when he passed her on his way to the porch steps.
"Hi dad!," Rowan called over, giving him a little wave. Hi dad? What she needed was a hi dad to the side of her head, making him worry like this. Grey Wolf stopped at the top of the stairs and regarded the odd assortment of people on his porch. The gay couple that Rowan was friends with was there. He recognized them. There was a pretty woman with gray hair he had never seen before. Another man that he suspected was the Nazi biker Derek was complaining about. And Daryl. The asshole that stole from his daughter and broke her heart. Rowan was sitting in the chair with him, her legs across his lap and one of his hands sandwiched in between hers.
"Isn't this the wasichu that stole from you?," he asked, gesturing to the man his daughter was draped all over.
"Actually that was me," the other biker said, raising his hand like he was in grade school. Grey Wolf noticed that the thief in question had not only made himself comfortable on his porch, but that he was also drinking one of his beers. He decided to ignore that for now and turned his attention back to Daryl.
"You're the one that beat up Rowan's finance?," he asked.
"Naw, that was me again," Merle announced, looking rather pleased with himself. "And you outta be thankin' me fer that. That fucker was workin' yer daughter over when I got there, tryin' to force himself on her."
Grey Wolf turned to his daughter, looking for confirmation that this was true. She nodded her head before turning her attention back to Daryl, who was visibly upset and angry. Grey Wolf could see that his daughter had clearly changed her mind about getting married. Which didn't surprise him that much. Rowan was always fluid with her decisions. But he had no idea something like that had happened. It took him a moment to process the information. If he thought Derek was capable of something like that, he would have never brought the man around his daughter.
"Oh," Rowan added, "...and he was only marrying me so you would back him when he ran for chief. Then he was going to sell out a bunch of reservation land to some development company." Rowan's father didn't respond to that. But she could see the shock written across his face. Shock that was slowly giving way to anger. He stomped into the house, letting the door slap shut behind him. He came back out with a bottle of beer in his hand, half of it already gone.
"Are you okay," her father asked. Rowan nodded. Then she returned the question, asking him if he was okay. He shook his head.
"I will be when I kick that motherfucker's ass," he announced. From the looks of the other men on his porch, he guessed he wasn't the only person that felt that way. But the rest of them were going to have to get in line. Behind him.
Merle sipped his beer, hiding a grin. Little brother sure picked quite the family to fuck his way into. Not only was this girl's mother the scariest bitch Merle ever laid eyes on. Rowan's father appeared to be a genuine psycho as well. His face was turning red and the knuckles of his free hand were almost white from how hard he was clenching his fist. Since his brother was speaking to him again, Merle already got what he came for. The rest of this mess was just free entertainment for him.
Everyone on the porch straightened up a little when another car pulled into the drive and parked behind the truck. Writing on the side of the vehicle marked it as belonging to the reservation police. A young man with a long feathered mohawk stepped out from behind the wheel. Rowan was on her feet in a split second, waving at him.
"Hey Tony!," she hollered. The man waved back, giving her a big smile.
"I heard you were kidnapped," he teased. He remembered Rowan from the summers they played together as children. She was only about a year older than him. He was worried when he heard something might have happened to her. But now that he could see she was perfectly fine, the situation was humorous instead of scary.
"No. I just decided I didn't feel like getting married today," she said. Especially not to that asshole, she thought. But decided to keep that to herself. Tony shook his head at her and laughed as he headed up onto the porch. Grey Wolf took him inside to get him something to drink, explaining as they went that he was sorry for the misunderstanding and for calling them in such a panic. Tony didn't seem concerned and returned a few moments later with a can of ginger ale in his hand. He spoke into a small radio that was pinned to his uniform, telling whoever was on the other end that he found the missing girl and they could call off the search. He asked Rowan and her father a few more questions, mostly about what happened to Derek's face and why he was attacked.
A few minutes later, another patrol car pulled into the driveway behind the first. Rowan didn't think much of it at first. Until she saw who was sitting in the passenger seat. He must be a special kind of stupid to come here after what he did. Derek stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind him. He looked like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone. The punches he took to the face made his left eye swell shut. His lips were split and bloody. And his nose looked broken. Rowan was surprised at her total lack of sympathy for the man. Instead of feeling any pity, she felt like the man got exactly what he deserved. His outsides match his insides now. After taking in the extent of Derek's injuries, Rowan's eyes went immediately to her father. His body was tense and his hands were clenched, his now empty beer bottle discarded on the porch railing.
"WENDIGO!," he hollered, pointing at Derek. Rowan heard Tony curse under his breath. The man moved quickly, blocking her father from heading down the steps. When her dad started grabbing at Tony, trying to shove him out of the way, Rowan pushed in. She grabbed her father by the arm, trying to help Tony keep him back.
"You call me Wendigo!," Derek hollered back. "You ought to be thanking me for being willing to marry your little slut of a daughter!"
Rowan was so focused on her father she didn't see Daryl leap from his chair until he had already cleared the railing, landing on his feet in the dry crabgrass of her father's front lawn. He barrelled across the yard, slamming his body unto Derek's and sending him bouncing off the side of the cruiser. Daryl slammed his hands into the taller man's chest again, screaming into his face. HIT ME! GO AHEAD! HIT ME YOU FUCK! He shoved at Derek, pushing him while he taunted him, encouraging the larger man to fight him. Derek finally responded to the prodding, cocking his fist back and slamming it into Daryl's face. His hit landed hard against Daryl's cheek, snapping his head to the side.
Rowan screamed bloody murder the moment she saw Daryl get hit. She was ready to rush in and defend him. But now instead of her grabbing at her father, he was holding her back. Both the dogs were barking. Sophia had Tank by the collar, keeping the large dog back. He could easily have shaken the girl off and charged, but Rowan could tell Tank didn't want to hurt the little girl. He would allow her to hold him back as long as no one was hurting Rowan.
It only took Daryl a moment to shake off the hard hit he took to the face. He wasn't sure about his opponent's fighting experience. But it sure wasn't his first time taking a punch. He brought his fist up hard into the other man's gut, doubling him over as the air woofed out of his lungs. Once he was leaning forward, Daryl punched Derek hard in the face. Then he shoved him, pushing him down onto the gravel drive. Daryl desperately wanted to jump on top of the man. He wanted to hit him again and again. He wanted to knock out his teeth and smash his face unrecognizable. But instead he forced himself to unclench his fists and take a few deep breaths.
"What're you doing?," Derek moaned from the ground. He glanced at the officer that drove him there. Then he pointed at Daryl. "That fucking wasichu just attacked me. Aren't you going to arrest him?"
"I don't know Derek," Tony said, approaching him. "Looked to me like you hit him first." Tony turned to his fellow officer. "What'd you see?"
"Looked to me like Derek swung first," the man confirmed.
Tony flipped Derek over onto his back, cuffing the man's hands behind his back in spite of his loud protests. The two officers hauled him onto his feet and stuffed him into the backseat of the larger patrol car. Tony knew the man was angry he was being arrested. But the way Tony saw it, he was doing the asshole a favor anyway. He was better off down at the station than he would be if Grey Wolf got ahold of him.
Daryl felt Rowan's arms wrap around him as he watched the two cruisers back out of the drive and pull away. He hugged her tight, hoping that the incredible fallout from everything that happened was finally over. They walked back up to the house together. Rowan's father was still standing on the porch steps. Rowan let go of Daryl and let the man pull her into a hug.
"Sorry Hekaza," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I had no idea."
"It's okay," she assured him. "It's over now. I love you."
"I love you too."
He released her, smiling when she immediately reattached herself to Daryl's side. The three of them walked up the steps together. Grey Wolf looked over the small group of misfits for the second time. But this time his eyes lingered on the unfamiliar woman with the short gray hair. Her daughter had clambered back up onto the porch at some point during the confrontation. She was sitting in the chair with her mother, her thin arms wrapped around the woman. Tank was sitting next to them, his giant head perched on the armrest of their chair. Grey Wolf hadn't taken much notice of the woman before with all the craziness that was going on. Expect to register that she was unfamiliar to him and not someone he regarded as a threat. Now he took a better look at her. She was small for a woman, bordering on petite. But not overly skinny. Her hair was cut severely short, like she shaved it off herself. But it didn't detract from her looks. She was very pretty. And he guessed she was slightly older than him. Which he found appealing. Rowan's mother, his first and only real love, was ten years older than him. He approached the woman, offering her his hand and a handsome smile.
"I don't believe we've been properly introduced."