Days had gone by since that dangerous afternoon. Shepherd and his gang hadn’t come back and I was glad about that. However, I had also not heard anything from Lee. I figured that once we started our casual sexual relationship, he would at least want to continue it, but I guess that wasn’t the case.

I pretended that I wasn’t disappointed, but I was. I had agreed that emotional ties weren’t what I was looking for but that didn’t mean I couldn’t change my mind. Lee and I shared a similar background and frankly, I didn’t care about his past. He seemed to be paying for it with the internal demons he was obviously running from. We were both pretty much alone in the world and I had thought it might bring us closer, but apparently Lee thought otherwise.

I was deep in thought and if it weren’t for the smell, the scent of stale beer, that assaulted my nose, I wouldn’t have known that the man was there. I reacted instantly, turning around to deliver a blow to his face when something hard collided with my skull and the world around me went black.

I woke up slowly with a splitting headache so bad that I felt I would die from it. After a few dry heaves, as nausea set in, I managed to open my eyes. I was in a barely lit room and as I turned my head, I realized that we were in some sort of abandoned schoolhouse. I tried to touch the spot on my head that throbbed but I found that my hands were tied behind my back. I was restrained against an old basketball goal. For the first time, I realized that liquid was dripping down my forehead and from the old cans of beer that were haphazardly thrown around me, I realized that it wasn’t blood, but beer. Apparently they had used me as a human garbage can while I was unconscious.

My eyes finally trained on the door I could see from a distance. I heard voices and looked around for anything to use as a weapon. I was just grateful that they hadn’t tied my feet. I wouldn’t be able to get away, but at least I could use my feet as a weapon to protect myself. I swallowed back the tinge of fear I felt as the voices grew closer and then Shepherd and Vicki appeared and their men filed in behind them.

Vicki’s arm was in a cast. I guess Lee had broken it after all. I smiled a little to myself at the thought.

“What are you smiling about?” Vicki snarled as he came closer. I ignored him and said instead, “Well, Shepherd, it’s always a pleasure to see you. You know, if you wanted to date me you could have just asked me out like a normal person.”

Shepherd was clearly not amused. He didn’t reply, instead he slapped me hard against my face and then took his gun out and pressed it against my temple.

“I will cover this gym in bits and pieces of your brain. So be careful what you say to me. Lee ain’t here to save you this time.”

I didn’t flinch. It wasn’t the first time someone had threatened to kill me. I had spent my years in the military preparing to die. I wasn’t scared of Shepherd, but I would play it smart because after all, I did want to live.

“Now do I have your attention, Ms. Angelica?” He said mockingly before spitting in my face. I instantly closed my eyes, enraged to the point that I could only think of one thing and that was ramming my fist into Shepherd’s mouth and knocking all his teeth out.

“You’re going to give your little boyfriend a call,” he said in a soft voice, as he stroked a hair back from my face.

I gave him a look that clearly said I wanted him dead. “You want Lee here, then get him here yourself. I’m not helping you kill him. You’re a coward. You want him dead, then go find him yourself.”

“I told you she was going to be difficult,” Vicki whined. Shepherd looked at his brother, shook his head and then turned to me and smiled beatifically, his weak jaw and sallow eyes looking ominous and insane, “This will hurt.”

He punched me then. In my gut. The pain was so bad I started coughing, trying to breath.

“Now you’re going to call Lee or I will beat the hell out of you. When I’m done you won’t be pretty anymore ever again.” He brought out a blade and traced the blunt end down my face and then abruptly flipped the knife over, cutting into my chin. I didn’t even flinch as blood began to flow down my face, eventually ending up as droplets of red on the floor.

“Do what you want. I’m not calling Lee.” I had been tortured before. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I knew that I was probably going to die there in the old stale smelling school gym, but I wasn’t going to pull Lee into this. Because if I called Lee and they killed him, who would Avani have? I had no one but my grandparents, when my parents died. Avani would end up in foster care somewhere and I feared that reality for her more than I feared death.

“Suit yourself, I’ll get him here anyway. You’re just a bonus prize.”

Shepherd kept his eyes on me as he dialed Lee’s number. No one said a word. All was silent as we waited for him to pick up. And then suddenly ringing was coming from somewhere else, from somewhere behind me.

The other men apparently noticed it too and then I saw Shepherd’s eyes widen as he stared at something past my shoulders.

“What happened Shepherd, you didn’t want to invite me to your party? I’m sorry for crashing it. But look you’re calling me, aren’t you?” Lee said stepping into my line of vision just to the left side of me, looking down at his phone and smiling broadly. The smile didn’t look humorous. It looked deadly. “I’m sure you’re calling to offer me an invitation. So nice of you. I don’t feel as left out anymore.” Lee concluded, sounding nonchalant and cold.

“You’re one stupid dude for showing up here,” Vicki said, suddenly feeling tough.

“You really think I’m the stupid one?” Lee said softly.

Shepherd slowly raised his hand and pointed his gun at Lee. “Your kid sister is going to be so sad. First her dear mommy and now her little brother. I feel so sorry for her. Hey, who knows? Maybe if she ends up in foster care, I’ll adopt her and bring her into the fold.” Shepherd said with a sick smile on his face.

“I’ll drag you to hell with me before I let you get within a foot of my sister,” Lee said, his voice so full of conviction that I could easily imagine Satan himself stepping out of Lee’s way to let him take care of unfinished business.

“Then hell it is,” Shepherd said and then I heard it. The roar of motorcycles approaching and from the sound of it, there had to be hundreds of them.

“Do you know whose territory you’re on, Shepherd?”

Shepherd looked confused for a second, “Shit,” he mumbled as he looked from Lee to Vicki who was now looking afraid, not nearly as cocky as a second ago.

“You can kill me and Angelica, but you know if I don’t walk out of this building alive, as soon as you do, you’ll end up a living target. Now think about it. Do you want to leave alive or do you want to die?”

“Let’s get out of here, Shep,” Vicki said nervously licking at his lips.

“Shut up, Vicki!” Shepherd yelled clearly frustrated and not knowing what to do. The vein on his neck bulged and he looked torn.

“I’ll be back for you, Lee.” He said turning away and walking towards the exit doors with his crew. Vicki scampered behind him.

“No. I don’t think so,” Lee said softly watching them leave.

When they were gone, I sighed and said, “Think you can untie me now?”

Lee turned towards me, took a knife out of his back pocket and cut me loose. I lowered my hands and was about to express my gratitude when someone burst through the backdoor.

“Lee! You in here, buddy? You okay?”

The man looked from me to Lee and then back at Lee again.

“Who’s this?”

“Angelica. This is Quentin. Quentin this is Angelica. Quentin helped me get out of the gang years ago.”

“Shhh...not so loud,” Quentin said looking around. He was almost the same age as Shepherd, but while Shepherd was lanky and looked emaciated, Quentin was built like a bear.

“I saw Shepherd practically run out of here like he saw a ghost or something. They hoped on their bikes and rode out of here so fast that my men were disappointed. I promised them there would be some action.”

“Tell the boys I’m sorry, but thanks for looking out.”

“We got your back, Lee. You might be out of the gang, but we’re still your brothers. Oh and I don’t think Shepherd will be bothering you again. It seems he’s wanted on a murder charge back in Alabama and someone happily told the police where he could be found. Something tells me poor little Vicki’s going to be holding on to his big brother from a jail cell.” Quentin gave a chuckle and then just like that he left.

“Your old gang?” I said when he was gone.

“Yeah.”

I was silent for a moment, “Thanks for coming for me.”

“I heard what you said back there. You’re definitely not a coward.”

“I might be a lot of things, but coward isn’t one of them.”

“Shepherd would have killed you.”

“I wasn’t going to let him use me to go after you. Avani needs you.”

Lee’s jaw tightened and he nodded, studying me carefully, his eyes grave.

“I’m sorry for getting you into this. Avani was skipping school again and saw them dragging you out. She called me and I ---.” He shook his head, seemingly at a loss for words.

“This is why I don’t do emotional times. My world is dangerous. It sickens me that they took you. It sickens me to think of what they would have done to you if Avani hadn’t seen them take you.”

I didn’t say anything, I just stared down at my hands, trying to find the words that I felt would reach pass Lee’s stubbornness and pride. He had this need to protect me, but I didn’t need to be protected, at least not from him.

“My life was endangered. That’s your fault.”

He closed his eyes briefly and then nodded in resignation, turning away from me.

“But you also risked your life to save mine. If anything, I would say that we’re even.”

Lee slowly turned back around towards me. “Even after all this you still want something to do with me?”

“Call me crazy, but I have a thing for dangerous men who are strong enough to turn their lives around.”

He walked slowly back to me and held my eyes, as he buried one of his hands in my hair. “I wanted to kill them all for taking you.”

“And I would have let you.” I said dead serious.

“I think that makes both of us very dangerous people.”

I smiled at him as I nodded slowly, “We might as well be together, after all, who else would want to take us?”

He laughed, “You have a point. So were you scared? At all?”

“That they were going to kill us?”

“Yes.”

“No. I knew once you arrived that there was no way you were going to let that happen.”

“You have too much faith in me.”

“If you can’t trust the man you’re falling for, then who can you trust?” I said simply.

“Falling for, huh?” Lee said, a smile now curving his lips. His brown eyes searched mine and then he abruptly lowered his head and gave me a hard kiss on the lips.

“Are you sure you want to be mine?” He said when he finally pulled away for air.

“I don’t know. Kiss me again like that or I might just change my mind.” He lowered his mouth back down to mine, happy to oblige.