I stare at the screen in front of me, the legal mumbo jumbo giving me more of a headache than the past week has. I hate talking to lawyers. The fan whirls around, like normal, pushing the muggy air, scented with fresh hay and sweat. Such a pleasant smell. To be fair it's the smell of my childhood, something I grew up enjoying. It's familiar. "Kota?" The radio clicks on, moments of static follow.
"What's up Cowboy?" Digger has finally upgraded to carrying his very own radio. Not that it's been super amusing to him. He's had quite a few disturbances and interruptions needing his attention.
"Axel is here for your meeting." I grunt and rub the bridge of my nose in thought. It's not like I wasn't waiting for this, I called him this morning with curt instructions to be here at ten sharp.
"Send him up please?" I'll admit, I tacked on the please as an afterthought. One could say I'm slowly reverting to the soldier in me, you could also say I'm just gearing up for war.
"Do you want me to hang around?" Digger asks almost blandly, already guessing my answer. I offer him a soft chuckle and shake my head.
"Not right now Cowboy, don't worry, I promise your boy's safe, I won't jack his jaw again." He offers me his own chuckle.
"It's his skin, he can watch his own back." I can only imagine how much Axel is grumbling right now, probably even flipping me off. "He's headed up, holler if you need anything Little Lady." With that the radio falls silent, I'm left to sit in silence, it doesn't take long before the rickety steps start to creak. This should be interesting to say the least. A strong knock sounds on the door making me turn slightly to it.
"It's open." His shadow clouds the window for a moment before he pushes the door open and stands, the overcast sky leaving him completely visible. His appearance shocks me, the mellow, nearly subdued look is a sharp turn from his typical stern expression. Maybe something did click in his head. Axel's dark green eyes are filled with an understanding I've never seen from him, the large welt on his jaw marred by an ugly bruise.
"Dakota..." He clears his throat before shutting the door with a sigh and shoving his hands into his pockets, taking on a vulnerable stance in my eyes. His normal swagger gone, I stare at him slightly intrigued.
"Axel." I greet calmly, watching him as he stands in front of the desk, it takes him a moment to meet my eyes again.
"I'm sorry." When he meets my eyes I see something I've never seen in his eyes before, a look of clarity, acceptance.
"I don't want apologies." I shrug it off simply watching as he shakes his head.
"Please? Let me get this out?" The troubled look makes me stare at him, weighing my options carefully.
"Axel, there's nothing you need to get out." To me this is something of the past, it's not important to me.
"Yes there is." He asserts and meets my eyes in a long self-assured stare. "Dakota, I know I fucked up. I was angry and trying to blame someone, was it right? No, hell no. I thought if I had someone to blame it'll make it easier to deal with my mother's death, to deal with everything." Axel gets out steadily and drops into the chair, resting his elbows on his knees.
"You were young, we both were young." I shrug off and earn a look from him as he shakes his head.
"That's not it, I was blaming you for my pain and suffering in any way possible. When you asked me to drive you I thought... I thought I knew everything, your silence on the matter made me question it all. I figured he... Knuckles got to you like he did everyone else." He grunts making me stare at him silently. That night still haunts me, I was hot headed and thought I could take out the old man. He was missing an arm, I underestimated him... It was my mistake.
"I didn't exactly handle myself much better. I was pissed and kept poking you, I figured keeping you away would be better than the other outcome." It's true, I wasn't exactly clear in my plans, I was still a newbie jughead.
"Dakota, I get what you were doing, you saved my skin time and time again. I can't take back what I did and or said." He leans back in his chair meeting my gaze. "I shouldn't have taken out my anger on you, I didn't have a right to say what I did the other night." It's my turn to look away and sigh, rubbing my face. I fight the urge to hide more. This is just as hard for him as it is for me. Axel's never accepted his mother's passing, never accepted the report that was written. I can't say I blame him, it's too easy to pay someone off in this town.
"We were young back then, you lost your mother and I wasn't exactly easy to deal with. We both did stupid then, I can't say I regret much of what I did, but I can say you weren't the only one who's at fault. It takes two people to have a fall out. Having you drive me to the clinic was dumb, I should've told you more, not let you run wild with assumptions." I didn't know what I was doing, I was terrified, and thought I could deal with it. Boy was I wrong.
"No, it wasn't. Dakota, it's your body, I shouldn't have judged you for something I didn't know. I thought you were getting an abortion because you didn't want your child." He breaks off and looks at the floor. "I didn't think that you were... raped. Didn't think that it wasn't an option." He stops and stares at the desk, lost in thought for a moment.
"How could you have known? It's not like I said a damn thing to anyone. I told two people, that's it, I didn't say it to my CO, to my Momma, to anyone." I shake my head and turn to look at the computer. "Truth is I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. I thought I could handle it all." I shrug after a moment of silence to look at him. "I was scared that day, I was coming to terms with keeping the baby, then that happened." He looks at me for a long moment.
"Angel explained to me what... what that meant." He murmurs and I stare at him.
"Ask what you want to know Axel."
"Did you know you were pregnant?" It's my turn to look away.
"Not at first, I thought it... ended quick enough. I only realized I was pregnant when I went to the doctors about some pains I would get in the middle of the night. I was already seven weeks along." I shrug as I stare at the ground. "I had to apply for some time off, before I could do anything about it. When I did manage to get the leave it was... already in critical status. Nothing could save the pregnancy." The rupture happened on the way to my appointment, it was something I ignored and paid the price for it. I didn't want it on the record, too many questions, not enough time to answer them.
So I did what I thought best... turns out it wasn't. "Oh..." I nod in thought, thinking about that day. "Dakota, I'm sorry, I want to put this behind us, at least as best as we can. I know friends is a stretch but. I don't want to fight, I want to end this here." My eyes trail over to him and I just stare at him.
"I've put this behind me ages ago Axel, I never blamed you for my actions or lack of actions. I don't think friends are in the cards, business partners? I can work with, if you are willing to work with me." I offer him a shrug. To me this is shit that's been buried, it's not something I'm looking to fight with. I have much bigger problems to be battling.
"Yeah, business partners, I can work with that too." He stands and sticks his hand out making me shake my head as I stand and grab his hand for a handshake.
"Partners it is." He chuckles and shakes his head as he drops down into the chair and nods to me.
"You did call me here for a meeting, so what did you have in mind?" That a drink would be killer right now.
"As long as my family owned the land we've had fail safes to keep it safe, to protect it no matter what." I start off by saying before turning to look at him having pushed the document towards him. "The lands never belonged to one person, it's a shared property, anything that's done needs to have been agreed on by every party. With Papa dead, he's already passed his portion to Digger, I want to add a third clause."
Axel arches a brow as he grabs the document reading over it slowly before he stops to stare at me in confusion. "You want me to be a third clause in what?" I lean back in my chair as I stare at him.
"I have plans, every good plan has fallbacks, safes in place. If something happens to me, in any sense, that takes me from my position here. You are given a part of my vote in the land, you will have some control at any table discussion 25% of any decision will be weighed in on by you." Ryan's going to be pushed into a higher position as well if things come to it. I'm not sure how sideways things will get, in any of this mess. I'd rather have my ass covered completely.
"Wow... That's a lot... Is the land really worth this much?" He asks as he pauses on one portion of the document."
"Last time it was appraised was back when Papa and Uncle Gary took over. I'm sure the number has changed since then." It's an astounding number on paper, I'll be honest I try not to look at it, because well, I'm not looking to sell this place, ever.
"Damn..." He shakes his head as he stares at the document.
"To keep matters clean you'll earn a passive income, becoming a silent partner in the property, you can choose to be involved, but it's not necessary. I only really want you to be a politician in this whole mess." Lord knows I'm not politician material. He arches a brow amused.
"How the hell am I politician worthy?" I shake my head amused with him.
"I'm not talking bloodsucker, just bullshitter. I need someone running distractions, keeping noses away from the ranch. Shit's gonna get interesting and well, I don't need snoopy." I'm not telling a soul what my plan is, no one else needs to know, no one else needs to be involved in black ops. I intend to get blood on my hands.
"I don't need money." I wave my hand at that.
"The money just looks good on paper, makes it more believable in what's going on. Granted this is all a clause, your name won't pop up until I've been removed from the picture. The majority of this is just a cushion for my ass to hit when things get flying sideways." He looks back to the paperwork.
"My names not gonna hit public records right?" I nod easily.
"Nope, your name isn't gonna hit records, as of now, this is just my will in a sense." Axel stops and stares at me with an arched brow.
"Why the hell do you need a will?" You'll see.