Chapter Seven
I slept through most of the morning and when my eyes finally fluttered open again, the sun was high in the sky. It was probably late afternoon and I groaned softly, knowing this was going to royally screw up my sleeping schedule. Oh well, I could just take some Nyquil and knock myself out later tonight. No harm, no foul, right?
I slid out of bed and went to the closet, pulling out some clean clothes. I was still sore from all of the activity from the night before and I felt like death. It was sticking to me in all the wrong places. I slipped into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, opting for comfort rather than style. It was still one of my days off and my classes didn’t start until the evening, so I wasn’t really planning on going anywhere.
I hummed softly to myself and wandered downstairs, expecting dad to be gone. He worked odd jobs as a handyman and it was enough to keep him above water, though it apparently became more difficult when I got thrown into the mix. He’d insisted I get a job the second I’d arrived in Atlanta. I moved here when I was eighteen and that was enough of a reason for me to have a job, according to him. It didn’t really matter that I was taking classes.
When I reached the bottom step, I was surprised to find my dad in his chair, chewing on his thumb nail as he watched the TV. It was still one of those stupid car shows. God, how long did those shows run for?
The floor creaked under my foot and he turned to face me, smiling sadly. His face was tanned and full of wrinkles and little scars here and there. He looked like a rough guy, but the bushy, greying beard somehow softened his face. It made him seem less …. scary.
“Hey……kiddo. You finally up?” he asked, his voice surprisingly soft.
He was talking to me like he had bad news and wanted to break it gently. I didn’t like the tone of voice and I frowned softly, looking him up and down.
“Yeah, I uh, I was out late last night,” I murmured, looking away as I wandered into the kitchen to make coffee.
His chair creaked under his weight as he pushed himself up and followed me into the kitchen, leaning against the door frame.
“I was surprised that you weren’t home last night.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him and shrugged a little, stirring the milk into my coffee.
“Yeah, a friend wanted to go out and celebrate. She just finished her finals and she wanted to unwind,” I explained, not feeling too bad about lying to him.
I’d spent most of my adult life lying to my dad, I didn’t see why I should stop now. Besides, I didn’t want him to know I was at the biker bar. At the end of the day he was my dad and I felt some guilt about ignoring the note he’d left for me.
He just nodded at my explanation and glanced at my coffee. “Why don’t you put that in a to-go cup?” he said, his voice strangled and weak.
I frowned deeply and glanced down at the coffee. “Why? Are we going somewhere?” I asked curiously.
He took in a sharp breath and nodded. “Yeah, we’re actually going on a trip. We’ll be staying overnight at a hotel. ”
I blinked, surprised by the statement. Mike and I avoided each other at all costs the majority of the time, and it was strange that he seemed to be showing a sudden interest in me. I furrowed my brow and looked down at my coffee, hesitant in giving my answer. I was like any other girl, honestly. I’d always wanted to be a part of my father’s life; he just wasn’t interested in me being part of his. At least, that’s how I felt.
As I tapped my spoon on my cup I felt hope well inside of me. Were my dad and I finally going to patch things up? Was he going to try and be the dad he should have been all this time? I turned to him and smiled, finally nodding.
“Yeah, that sounds nice. I’ll go pack a bag,” I said, running back up to my room and throwing a few pieces of clothing and my shampoo in my backpack.
I didn’t even care where we were going. It would be nice to finally have some time with dad that didn’t include him smoking, drinking, and shooting up. Maybe we’d go fishing or do whatever normal families did.
He offered a strained smile and I didn’t put much thought into it. He was probably hung over and crashing. He always looked just a little bit uncomfortable, mostly when he’d gone too long without a beer. I was used to the strained tone, so it wasn’t strange to me at all.
I poured my coffee into a travel mug and followed him out to the bike but he shook his head and pointed to his work truck.
“We’re going to be driving a while. I don’t think taking the bike is the best idea,” he said softly.
I was a little shocked and gave the bike a second glance but shrugged and smiled a little. “Okay,” I said softly, hoping into the truck and leaning against the window, a happy smile dancing on my face.
He looked at me, face full of guilt. I could only assume that it was over all the days he’d lost with me and all of those times he left me on my own.
He put the truck into drive and headed down the road. “Let’s get going, Kiddo.”
Chapter Eight
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was a quiet summer day and the birds and bees were fluttering through the trees. Everything was so green here. I hummed and tapped my fingers against the door of the truck, watching the trees flash by. After a moment I turned to my dad and smiled.
“So where are we going exactly?”
“We’re going to a small town near the Tennessee border,” he said, his voice stiff.
“What are we going there for?”
“There’s some, uh, good camping,” he murmured, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.
I frowned a little and sat up in my seat, eyeing him up and down. “Camping?” I asked, putting my hands on the dash. “What do you mean? We didn’t bring any camping gear.” Actually, come to think of it, we didn’t own any to begin with. “And you said we were staying in a hotel.”
“We’re renting a cabin,” he said, his tone harsher than I expected.
I frowned but leaned back into the seat, closing my eyes. The sun was warm and I was still a bit sleepy from the night before. It wouldn’t hurt to catch a few more hours of sleep. We were still quite a ways from the Tennessee border.
I wasn’t sure how long I dozed off for, but when I opened my eyes, the car had come to a stop and I could hear muffled voices outside. I lifted my head and was shocked to see that we had pulled over into what looked like an abandoned farm. A group of bikers stood around my dad, chatting and smoking. Anger flooded every inch of my body.
How could I be stupid enough to believe that my dad would actually want to spend time with me? He didn’t want to spend time with me! He was just dragging me to one of his stupid biker meetups. What was the purpose of this?
After a moment I unlocked the car and kicked the door open, storming out to where my dad was standing.
“What the hell is going on?!” I demanded, the anger clear in my face.
My dad seemed shocked to see me out of the truck and laughed nervously. “What are you doing out here, angel?”
“Dad, what is this?” I asked, throwing my arm out and motioning to all the other bikers who were standing around, staring at us.
He offered a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “What do you mean, angel?” he murmured.
“Why are we here? You said we were going camping.”
The disappointing click of someone’s tongue was the response to the question. The sound came from behind me and I swung around, trying to see who it was. I came face to face with the same man who’d saved be before. Dylan.
He smiled down at me, his piercing blue eyes staring right through me. “You told her you were taking her camping? What a cruel lie, Billy,” he said, addressing my father.
I turned back around to look at my father, my eyes wide. “Lie?” I whispered, though I was hardly surprised. “What does he mean? What’s really going on here?” I asked, my tone lowering as I became more afraid now.
Dylan spoke for my father, taking a few steps around me and turning to face me. “Your father has some unpaid debts,” he said simply, his cold eyes trained on me. “He owes some bad people a lot of money,” he murmured, frowning at my dad. “You aren’t safe with him so we’re taking you under our wing, much to my dismay.”
“What?” I whispered betrayal washing over me like a flood.
“Your daddy used to be one of us, so we don’t have a choice. Law of the land kind of deal,” Dylan grunted, crossing his arms over his chest.
“No! If you don’t want me around then don’t take me!”
“Alex. If you don’t go with them you’re going to end up dead,” my dad said sadly. “You need to go with them. They can protect you.”
“Dad?” I whispered, staring at my dad with wide eyes.
“I’m sorry Kiddo,” he choked as two of the larger men grabbed me by the arms and started carrying me over to one of the bikes.
I struggled against them and when they finally let me go I screamed, my heart pounding in my chest. “I’m not going anywhere with you!” I screamed, my chest heaving with fear.
“Oh yes you are,” one of the men grunted.
I immediately recognized him as the man named Snake. He grabbed my arm. My heart dropped into my stomach and my face drained of all color. I whimpered and slowly straddled the bike, still staring back at my dad. He looked fucking pathetic and didn’t bother to stop what was happening. Even if he was protecting me from some immenent danger, the least he could do was tell me the truth to my face. I wasn’t sure if this was for my own safety or not. I didn’t know what was true and what was lies, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. If I ran, they’d just catch me again. We were in the middle of nowhere and I knew they were packing guns. It didn’t leave me a lot of options.
I turned my head away, not wanting my dad to see me cry. I didn’t want him to know how scared I was and how hurt I was. I felt betrayed and I felt tossed aside. Was I really that disposable to him? For the first time since I’d arrived in Georgia, I had a desperate desire to be with my mother. She would never have put me in this situation. I should have gone back to live with her. I should have sucked up my pride.
Damian came back into view and got on the bike I’d been forced onto. The bikes roared to life and jolted forward as we took off. I was forced to wrap my arms around Dylan’s torso, closing my eyes against the sting of the wind. Even with my hate for biker gangs, I had always loved being on a bike in the past. This time I felt nothing more than a deep fear.
I took one last look over my shoulder, my mind spinning. I knew that my life, as I knew it, was coming to an end and there was nothing I could do about it.