“You’re not coming in, Anna. You can wait out in the car.” We’ve been fighting about this for about fifteen minutes now, and still Mack hasn’t let up and faced the facts that I’m not letting him go in there without me. “Zeke will tell Riley he’s got you a few blocks away, and I’ll do the rest.”
“No,” I answer back swiftly. I’ve already explained my point at least ten times and Zeke has agreed with me as well. Riley isn’t going to fall for a bait and switch. Either I come in and show him I’m ready to deal and play along or we don’t go through this at all. I understand Mack’s side of it too. Hell, I’m shaking worse than I was this morning before the tattoo convention. The idea of being back in the same room with Riley and on his turf is more terrifying than anything.
What’s worse is that it’s not about me. While Mack is hell-bent on trying to keep me safe, I’m more worried about him. I can’t just let him go in it alone. This whole thing started because of me, and it’s going to end with me. Mack isn’t going to lose any more blood because of how he feels for me or because he’s tying it into his dad’s revenge. I have to be there to keep him equally safe as he could keep me.
Mack doesn’t have a chance to argue with my reasoning. Zeke slowly pulls the car over to the side of the road. Like the Dragons’ headquarters, Riley’s home of the Knights isn’t anything to really look at either. An old, faux-Victorian style home, it probably looked amazing in its prime. But tonight, even in the city’s damp fog, I can’t get past the black towels dangling from windows as makeshift blinds or the pile of empty beer bottles lining the barbed wire fence. Even the front door has signs of wear and tear well beyond just regular aging. Parts of it have been kicked in and splintered so that it only locks by the handle.
“Jesus. This ain’t what it used to be,” Zeke says as he peers up and over the steering wheel, studying the place. “I remember when this home was the most feared in the city. No one got near it with the guards outside and the lines of bikes parked in the street. Now…”
“It looks like a damn drug den.” Mack finishes his observation. He too leans his head out the window to get a better look at two women just slipping out through an elevated basement door looking worse for wear. They adjust their shimmering, skin-tight dresses and rub their hands up and down their arms. Neither look at the other, their eyes fix onto the ground until they are well around the corner.
Jesus Riley, I think to myself, what the hell have you gotten yourself into here? I can’t believe that I’m feeling pity for him, but this is a pretty big hole to fall into for a guy who was relatively well put together just months ago. The old boyfriend I knew and actually cared for was long gone with the shot out windows of this place.
“Are we ready to go in?” I ask, breaking up the chatter in my head that’s forcing me to remember the times with Riley in which I didn’t feel like killing him. “We can’t sit in this car all night, and I’m not arguing anymore about the plan.”
“Wait a minute,” Zeke says as he pulls out his cellphone from his pocket. “I need to check with the backup that they’re close by and in position. If we’re all going in, there better be a rescue team just in case.”
Mack looks back at me, huddled in the middle seat of the car. His chin slides back and forth before he stiffens himself up and hands me a small, black and silver gun. I don’t take it. After the run in at the tattoo shop, I’m not exactly eager to be packing. If I can go my whole life without seeing another gun, I’ll be happy.
“Take it. I’m not letting you in there unless you’re protected.”
“Then give me a knife or something. I am not carrying a gun. Plus, it’s not like I have a purse or something to put it in.”
He clicks a button the side of the gun and then forces it into my lap. “The safety is on. Tuck it into your bra or stuff it down your waistband. Like I said, you’re not going in without the damn gun.”
“But I don’t understand why I ha—”
“Anna!” Mack shouts. Zeke stops talking and places the phone down. We all stare ahead, away from the other as he calms himself down. After a few deep breaths, he says through gritted teeth, “I know you don’t know how the fuck this works, but I am the Dragon's president, and I have done nothing but protect you and keep you safe. Now I’m telling you that you’re going to take this gun and use it if necessary. And you’re not going to fucking question me about this ever again. Do you understand?”
I peer out the side window, doing my best to avoid making even a half-second of eye contact with him. While I entirely understand his point, it doesn’t mean that I have to even pretend to be happy about his trying to control me like this. I’m not some kind of sock puppet for him to put his hand up my ass and move me around on a stage. I’m a fucking person—I have the full capability to make up my own damn mind. Still, I take the gun and slide it down the side of my pants, using the flannel shirt I tossed on at the cabin to cover it up. Mack spins back towards the front and pulls out something from the glovebox. The light catches as he reaches over his shoulder, still not looking back at me.
“You said you want a knife, Anna. Here you go. Put it in your bra just in case Riley tries something or someone tries to grab you.” More grateful than before, I take the small paring knife from his hand. It’s not the sharpest one I’ve ever seen and the beat up and worn wooden handle gives me a hint that it hasn’t been used all too often in recent memories, but it weighs me down less than the gun sitting between my stomach and hips.
“Are you set? We need to move now in case this is only part of their gang. The boys are ready to go. They’re sitting on four corners of the block. Their ETA inside is about three minutes give or take, so if we need to stall, you know how long you’ve got to talk Riley out of it.” Mack looks back at me and then over again at Zeke. So this it. We’re doing this—again.
Mack opens his door first and then mine. I slide out of the car quietly, unsure if I should duck and cover or stand proudly and walk in like a warrior with her tribe. I choose the latter, with my chin held high into the air and my feet pounding into the ground. If I’m going to go down, I’m going to go looking out into the world.
Zeke’s intel is spot-on. There’s practically no one around headquarters to stop us from just walking through the front door. The only concerned look we get was from another woman exiting the basement door. She looks straight at me, dazed and bewildered. A warning is smeared all over her bruised face and tattered clothes. I nod at her slightly, recognizing her pain and suffering. I know what kind of monster Riley can be.
Mack looks towards the door, studying the lock. Back and forth, Zeke and Mack whisper low to themselves until Mack declares, “I’m going to bust it. Get ready.” He stands back at level with me right at the first step of the porch, but before he can ram his body into that shabby piece of wood, I grab hold of his arm, spinning him down towards the sidewalk again.
“No!” I nearly shout, getting the attention of both my men. “We’re not going in that way. It would be an ambush and we’d be dead before we got ten feet in. Have you noticed that the women are getting in and out that door towards the basement? We go in through there and pretend to be junkies and whores. It’s the best way to make sure we come out alive.”
Zeke looks at me, stunned. Each way has its risk, but mine is way worse off for me than it is for the guys to slam through that door and pray no one’s waiting for them on the other side. Both of them communicate silently, eyebrows arched until Mack concedes. “Fine. But we’re going in that way with you. I’m not sending you in there alone to meet up later.”
I reach over towards him, pulling up the hood of the brown sweatshirt he borrowed from the cabin’s stash of relatively clean laundry. “Cover yourself up,” I say as resist the urge to run my fingers through those soft tendrils of curls. “You don’t want to get yourself killed right away.” The palm of my hand rests on the back of his neck, rubbing softly as if to remind him that it will all be okay—this is my choice.
I too pull up the hood of my own sweatshirt and unbutton the flannel shirt just so the tops of my breasts show. The knife slips between the strap and my arm, out of sight for now, but I can still feel the tip of it dig a tiny hole into my flesh. I then take the lead, trying to remember those girls’ gates, the way they sashayed their hips tiredly and rubbed their skin back to life. I couldn’t be too sexy or play it too drugged. I just had to fit in.
The door to the basement is wide open—a rush of warmth runs towards me as I casually slide inside. No one notices me or the men standing a few feet behind me. The group of three men continue counting their cash on the table while a fourth strokes the backside of some hooker’s ass out in the open. He slaps her hard across the darkened skin as she lets out a small yelp of surprise.
He’s the first one to notice me, licking his lips while the girl presses her head into his shoulder and the wall they’re leaned up against. “What you here for, honey?”
I lower my voice to nearly a whisper. “I’m here for Riley. He sent for me.”
“You don’t look like his usual girl, and who are those fuckers you brought with you?”
“I’m not… I’m not his girl. She sent me to come since she couldn’t make it tonight… something with her mom. She said he’d like me enough. And those guys came with. They wanted to—”
“Crystal,” Mack interrupts. “Our friend told us you all had crystal. We came to buy from Riley.” He lies much easier than I can. My voice shakes while his plays the part expertly. He doesn’t give the guy any time to even register. And luckily for us, he’s too distracted by the woman spreading her hand down the front of his pants.
“Mmmm…” he grumbles to himself, the woman’s charm taking over him. “The president is in the next room to the right, but I doubt he wants to see you fuckers tonight.” He looks directly at Mack and Zeke as he adds, “He’s had a bad day with pisspoor plans. I wouldn’t negotiate with him anyways.” He reaches over towards the door and opens it with one hand. The other pushes the woman’s hand further down his pants, showing her how he wants to be stroked. I look away as I pass by and move out towards the dank and dusty basement hallway.
One light flickers overhead. Zeke goes through first, following shortly behind me. He spins left and right, surveying the area, but there’s little to see. Besides the men we passed, too occupied with pussy and money to bother too much with us, there’s not a soul to be seen. All that we can hear are the men’s groans and the sound of Riley shouting at some faceless person.
“Five of our guys, Charlie! FIVE OF OUR GUYS! How the fuck did he pull that off? Now we’ve got to answer to the cops when they get their plates read and IDs done. Do you know how much we’re going to pay for this fuck up? I should have your head on a fucking platter! And what about that tattoo shop owner? How the hell did he manage to survive? I told you to kill him and whoever else showed. Instead, I get a guy with his arm clear shot off by our mark!”
“With all due respect, Riley, maybe we should just drop this hunt for that girl. The Dragons are too large of a force and Mack knows what the hell he’s doing with this kind of thing…”
“And you think I don’t!” All three of us lean in closer to the opened door, watching his shadow pace back and forth on the cement floor. He approaches the second shadow and unleashes a punch so hard that the man flies off of the chair. “Don’t you fucking dare question my ability to lead this group again! You hear me, you sonofabitch!?”
“Yes, yes sir,” he answers, picking himself up. Mack counts the shadows on the floor, and holds up his hand towards Zeke. It’s three against three. If we’re going to go, it has to be now, while he’s distracted and low numbered. But neither of us move. We’re completely frozen in our places—Zeke trying to listen in, Mack looking for an alternative route, and me completely unsure of what to do next.
But someone has to move so again, I take the lead. Knocking on the outside of the door, I lower my head and press my hands to my hips. “Hello? Riley?” Behind me, Mack whispers no over and over again, realizing what I am doing, but I’m too far gone to go back now. “Your girl sent me.”
I don’t dare look up at him. I just keep my head down, and my breasts up and out. I know him well enough to know that he won’t resist a girl like me, even if I’m not his regular piece of action. “Miranda sent you?” he asks me, standing up a bit straighter. I watch as his boots come a bit closer to me. “You look like fresh meat to me. You new at this? Does Angelo know that you’re here?”
“No one knows I’m here. I’m not part of Miranda’s gang,” I lie, moving myself closer into the room. “But I don’t have much time. I’ve gotta get out of here soon to go back to my job.” I hook my hands in the belt loops of my jeans, revealing more of my skin and hip bone. Riley flicks his fingers and the men slowly gather their things, pushing past me with loads of second glances and once overs. I move to the side of the wall, knowing what would have to come next.
As the hood of my jacket falls, the noise in the hallway changes from the dead silence of before. I hear Mack shout for the men to stop, but one has already charged him. A gun goes off and someone falls without so much of a scream. Mack screams, “Get down! Now!”
I turn to look, but he’s on me. Riley grabs me by the stomach, forcing me inside the small basement room. The places smells like vinegar, but his hand around my neck reeks of blood and sweat. “You had to come find me, Anna?” he says into my ear. “You know I have to kill you now and your little bitch boy.”
Mack storms in the room, a gun in his hand. “Let her go, Riley!” His large chest caves in and out as he wipes away a bit of sweat from his forehead. Zeke is nowhere in sight. Is he the person I heard fall to the ground? I try to shift my way out of Riley’s grip to see, but he pulls me away again, this time pressing his own gun to my forehead.
“Well, well, well… Look what we have here. I should have known you would be a damn fool to come find me after the stunt you pulled earlier today. I will say it was impressive of you to manage to kill my guys on the road like that and somehow manage to make it look like an accident. When I started the Knights, they told me that you were going to be the one I need to look up to. I guess I’m going to miss out on all your little secrets when I shoot you through the head.”
“Let Anna go, and you can do whatever the fuck you want to do with me.” Mack keeps his eyes on me, readjusting his finger on the trigger every second or two.
“This whore? You’re really falling for this skank?” He lets out a guttural, belly laugh that rocks up against me. His grip grows tighter around my neck as he spills, “I’m guessing she spread her legs for you like the little bitch that she is? Good. At least you got to enjoy that pussy before I kill you both. It’s a shame to let a piece of tail and a nice set of tits like that go to waste.” Riley’s hand scoots under my shirt and towards my bra as I cry out.
“Oh, don’t worry, Anna,” he says, backing down slightly. “I’m not even thinking about touching you like that. Now that I’m president of my own motorcycle club, I’ve got so much better hoes on speed dial. None of them have those perky tits like yours, but they sure do fuck better than you.” He looks straight at Mack as he asks, “Has she ridden you yet? Did she tell you about how we had sex on that bus to California. Right in the daylight too… the girl didn’t hold back for a dick like mine. Mmmm… Or that time we were in the shower, and I—”
“Shut the fuck up, Riley. Let Anna go and let’s deal with this like men.”
“Touchy, touchy. Someone must be a little jealous of me claiming this chick first. You can have her, Mack—or at least what’s left of her.”
Suddenly, I feel myself falling fast towards the ground. I manage to catch myself with the palm of my hands, but a searing pain shoots through my wrist. I turn back to see Riley standing above me, his legs straddling my hips. The gun is still pointed right at my temple as he squats down before me. I press my arms together, protecting myself. I hear Mack scream something incoherent, but all I can make out is Riley saying, “This is all your fault. If you would have stayed with me, I wouldn’t have had to kill you… or him.”
I watch in horror as he turns the gun away from me. I have no choice but to take the dagger I hid in my hands towards him. I strike his arm first and pull back. It’s covered in blood, but he still manages to shoot. I don’t even look. I continue to slash and slice my way at him. Pieces of his black shirt stick to the side of my blood-soaked hand. He tries to retreat, but I corner him. “No! No! No!” I shout, avoiding looking back. I can’t bear to see it… to see him…
“Anna, we’ve got to go. They’re coming.” Mack takes me by the shoulder, forcing me off of Riley who has fallen in a ball. In my red rage, I haven’t really seen the damage I have managed to make, but the streaks of blood covering my arms, chest, and jeans tell the story. I did my job. I defeated him. The knife drops to my side as I feel my legs buckle. Every bit of energy I had, every stored up dash of adrenaline shooting through my body went to the carnage on the floor. Over the noise, whether in my head or real, Mack cries out my name again. “Anna! Let’s go!”
He tears me away, pulling me back towards the hallway where we came so that I am being dragged on the ground. I hit something hard, a boot and a leg. I look over just in time to get a glimpse of Zeke sitting against the wall, his mouth covered in blood, his hand across his chest near his heart. “Zeke! Oh my God! Zeke!”
“Go…” Zeke calls weakly towards us. Mack doesn’t stop moving. We both listen as he calls towards us, “They’re coming. They’ll be here.” He can’t go on anymore. The color of his skin mutates from tan to pale and purple. I see the life leave him second by second.
Mack cries out, still pulling me alongside of him, “We’ll see you on the other side, brother.”
“I can’t wait,” Zeke says softly before looking away and down at the ground. His head slumps and an arm falls to the side next to the bodies of two men I don’t recognize.
We pass by the room where we came in from. It’s empty now, all except for the girl the man was with earlier. She grabs hold of the strap of her halter dress and dashes for the door. She looks down at us clutching one another and says dreamily, “They’re upstairs getting their guns. If I were you two, I’d be running.”
“Anna…” Mack says, trying to get through to me, but the woman’s warning was enough. I let go of my grip of Mack’s sweatshirt and pull myself forward, throwing myself into the first room. Grasping at the wall, I follow Mack up the stairs and through the open door, Mack pulling me down before the first shot is fired. It ricochets off the metal handle, just inches from where I am.
“They don’t know it’s us! Get the fuck down so I can call them.” He takes out his phone and begins to dial. It rings loudly over more gunshots directed at our only way out.
“We don’t have time, Mack! They’re coming!” I whisper urgently. “We have to go!”
Mack turns his head away and places a finger to his ear. “It’s me! We’re in the basement trying to get out. Stop shooting for a minute and just cover us. I need a car at the entrance right now. Do you hear me, Rico?”
The phone drops to the ground, shattering at his feet. Mack spins towards the entrance of the door to shoot at a shadow I didn’t even notice. It falls with a yell I’m not sure is even human. Mack doesn’t look back as he screams at me, “You need to run, Anna! Get the fuck out of here!”
“I’m not leaving without you!” The sound of men tearing down the basement steps becomes louder. Their boots echo off the cinderblock walls and through the long tube of a hallway. I grab hold of Mack’s neck, making it clear that I’m not going anywhere unless he’s with me. It’s the promise he made me, and I’m going to give up just yet.
“Anna! Now! Move it!” He pushes me aside and with the back of his boot, slams the basement door open. Outside, I hear them shouting—Mack’s club surrounds the building with tribal yells and signals I am guessing are directed to their president. With Mack firing his gun again, this time striking someone square in the chest, I have no choice to go anywhere but up. I pull him with me as I climb the stairs, Mack shooting off his gun until the last bullets left.
Outside, it’s begun to rain again. The smell of soaked autumn leaves, acid, and warm copper settles around me as the wind picks up. For a moment, I stand there in the dark, soaked and disoriented. Mack grabs my hand, pulling me into him. I feel his hand slide down my shirt and to my pants. He pulls out the gun I had forgotten I had, and then pushes me away. Over the rain hitting the tin roof of the porch before us and the shouts of men coming in every direction, he says, “You’ve got to run, Anna! I’ll be behind you! Don’t look back, and don’t stop!”
I spin and find two headlights in the near distance. It’s about a two-hundred yard sprint, and I don’t look away for one second of it. My mind closes to everything but those lights. I blank out the sound of Mack screaming, the pings of bullets striking the fence and home, the blue and red streaks of police coming from down the hill. I just run. I run for Zeke who still lies on the bottom of that cement floor, for Riley whose flesh is in my fingernails and on my clothes, and for Mack who disappears from my side with my gun as his only companion.
I run until I find those two lights. Without even thinking, I slip myself into the backseat and turn towards the lawn. Everyone is running now, trying to make it out before the police can nab them. Black figures dart across the street and through puddles. It’s hard to tell if anyone is your enemy or your friend. Rico turns the heat up of the old beat-up Mazda before turning back to me to say, “We’ve got to go Anna.”
I pull myself forward, grabbing his shoulder. My stained hands leave red marks on his cream colored shirt. “No, Rico! We’re not going without him.” I hold him there in a makeshift chokehold, knowing that he could overpower me if he tried, but he doesn’t and together we stare out at the grass until he appears at the back door of the car.
“Anna!” Mack screams at the door, his hands pressed against the glass as he attempts to see in through the tinted window and the streaking rain. His fists pound again into the side of the car. “Anna!”
I push the door open, slipping out of the car. “You’re alive! Mack! You’re alive!” Despite everything, he wraps his arms around me and pulls me in as tight as he can. And I say the only words that I can manage, “I love you, Mack. I love you so much.”