Star
Tova and Star had been there for a little more than an hour, and Tova was already dragging Star's life story out of her.
“So, what happened next?” Tova asked as Star came to the end of her story about her disastrous prom experience with her high school sweetheart, Nick.
“Well, he was so drunk from the Mad Dog 20/20 that he and his buddy had snuck in that he couldn't figure out how the window worked,” she said, stifling a bit of laughter. “And, well, he puked Strawberry Kiwi all over the inside of the car, because he couldn't get the window down in time.”
Tova burst out laughing, clapping her hands as she rocked back and forth on the old aluminum folding chair they'd managed to dig up for her.
“That car stunk for weeks,” Star added, between fits of laughter. “I used everything I could think of, and I still never got it to smell right.”
At the time, having her boyfriend puke all over the inside of her car hadn't been a funny experience. But, putting more than a few years between you and something so depressing always seemed to lighten the tone, no matter what the situation was.
“What'd you do?”
“I drove around for a couple hours with him drunk in my passenger seat, until I finally got hold of my friend Patricia. Then, she helped me take him home.”
“So, did you take him inside?”
Star laughed and shook her head. “I was so pissed, we just pulled up in his front yard and left him there, face down so he didn't choke if he threw up again.”
Still chuckling, Tova wiped a tear from her eye. “I bet that relationship didn't last long.”
Star's laughter slowed. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “He was headed off to college, anyways. This was after my dad had started doing time, so I didn't exactly have a college fund anymore. Heard he got herpes while he was there, though. Kind of makes me feel better.”
Tova reached out and touched her hand again, patting it in a motherly fashion. “Well, hon, everything happens for a reason.”
Star covered Tova's hand with her own. “I know, Tova. I know.”
“Just look on the bright side. All those things happened, and they led up to you meeting my son.”
Star smiled as she looked at the older woman. “Yeah,” she said, “I know.”
Tova was patting her hand still when they heard the car pull up outside the warehouse. Gravel, rock, and dirt crunched under its tires.
“Blade, maybe?” Tova asked as she and Star both looked reflexively to the entrance. The older woman's eyes were wide with fear, with uncertainty.
Star shook her head, but said the opposite. “Sure, I guess.” She got up from the chair, a sense of overwhelming dread filling her.
If the car was Blade's, they would have heard the other guys with him. Bikes would have been pulling up outside to join him. But, there weren't any bikes, no rumbling or revving engines. Only silence and the sound of car door slamming shut behind the driver as he got out.
Tova reached out and touched her hand. “I don't like this,” she whispered, even though they were alone in the warehouse. For now.
“I don't either,” Star whispered back.
They both got up from their chairs, as if by a silent cue, and headed farther back into the warehouse, away from the door.
“I didn't tell you earlier,” Tova whispered, “but I came armed. Just in case.”
“Armed?” Star hissed. “Like a gun?” Star hated guns. Always had, always would. Honestly, they scared the living shit out of her, and she wouldn't have known the first thing to do with it. Point the barrel at the bad guy, she guessed, and pull the trigger..
Beside her, Tova nodded in the stark light of the overhead neon tubes. “Pops' revolver.”
The front entrance creaked open. Footsteps crunched on gravel outside, then the sound of boot heels thudding on the concrete floor as the door closed behind their unknown visitor.
Together, their hands gripping each other tightly, the two women ducked down behind a big set of shelves and headed back to the office Star had found earlier.
Boot heels sounded again as their visitor walked slowly through the building. Metal clanged on metal, scraped.
“Hello ladies,” a man's voice, a voice Star recognized immediately, boomed out to the nearly deserted warehouse. The growling, heavy voice was one she remembered from her more recent nightmares: Aaron's voice.
It was him. It was the man who'd kidnapped her and tied her to a tree in the middle of the woods. She tightened her grip on Tova's hand as fear shot through her body and her teeth began to chatter.
Tova gripped her hand back. “Listen,” she whispered harshly, “we'll get through this. Tanner and the boys'll be here soon. You hear me?”
Star tried nodding, but realized she couldn't move her head or neck enough to do make the gesture. She'd frozen in place, the fear creeping up out of her belly like an ice cold hand that wrapped itself around her heart and spine. It was fight, flight, or freeze. And freeze had won.
“Hope you two ain't betting on your men showing up anytime soon,” Aaron crowed, his voice haunting as his words echoed around inside the nearly empty building. “Cause I sent those boys of yours on one merry little chase.”
Oh no. They were here alone, with no hope of the men riding to the rescue. This wasn't some goddamn movie, this was real life. This was real fucking life, and it was about end in a miserable, shitty way.
“I can't do this,” Star chattered, her teeth clicking together uncontrollably as memories from that night flooded her mind. The way his hands had been like vices, how he'd dragged her roughly through the woods, how he'd forced her onto her knees and tied her hands to that tree. This was going to be just like that, but worse. So much worse. Aaron was done just taunting Tanner. He was done flicking his nose and teasing him. He was going to hurt her and Tova this time. Really hurt them both. And maybe more than that.
“You mean you've been through all that shit in your life,” Tova whispered back, a bit of come-to-Jesus in her voice, “and you can't get through this last little bit?”
More metal scraping, more footsteps. They were slowly coming closer.
Star flinched at the noise, her eyes still dead ahead, her teeth clacking together like noise-makers. Yeah, she'd come through some shit, seen some things. But none of that had prepared her for a crazy biker stalking them in an abandoned warehouse!
“I've got a plan,” Tova said, squeezing Star's hand as she leaned in closer and looked her in the eyes. She told the younger woman what part she needed her for. “Can you do that for me?”
Star peered back into those aged eyed, at the lines that crisscrossed her face. The smile lines at the corners of her eyes, the frown lines around her mouth. If she didn't do this, if she didn't help make this plan work, she might not have a chance to look in the mirror and see lines like those grow on her own face. She turned her head and looked away. She breathed deep and exhaled. She could do this, she could handle this.
Tova shook her hand and drew Star's attention back to her. “Hey,” she whispered harshly. “Can you do it?”
Star nodded, despite her overwhelming fear. “Yeah,” she said. “I can do it.” Seemed like things were “do or die,” at this point. Tova's plan wasn't great, but it was at least something. And something was always better than nothing.
Tova gave her a weak, wan smile that looked just as terrified as Star felt. She squeezed her hand one last time and let go.
Star nodded and stood up, walked out from the little abandoned office and darted into the forest of shelving units.
Aaron whistled a slow, but jaunty tune as he continued to search through the warehouse. He was clearly enjoying himself, taking his time. He must have been pretty confident about his prospects of being alone with them for a while longer. He must have sent Tanner and the guys on one wild goose chase all over the county.
She ducked around some shelves, staying low. Up ahead, not fifteen feet away, she could see his legs on the other side of some junk that had been piled up on the floor.
“Don't worry, Star,” he said, the mirth undeniable in his voice. “I won't leave you alone out in the woods this time. I'll stay with you all night long. Did you enjoy that, though? Your little trip communing with nature?”
Star took a deep breath, willed her spine to steel itself.
“Or was it a little too chilly for you?” he continued. “Guess I could have lit a fire for you. Or kept you warm some other way. Seeing as how much you got that biker-lust in you.”
“Or let me grab my coat,” Star finally said as she stood up and circled.
“Oh ho!” Aaron exclaimed when she appeared in front of him. He held a big, heavy crowbar in his hands. That must have been what he was banging against the shelves and scraping along the concrete. But this man in front of her, he didn't look the same as before.
His beard was gone, replaced by a clean-shaven face with heavy features. Not unattractive, but certainly not as straight-up sexy as Tanner, either. Just sort of, well, plain. He'd bleached his dark hair blonde and cut it short. He looked completely different.
All except the eyes, of course, and that damned Roaming Wolves vest of his. Those crazed, intense eyes were still the same. The eyes of a psychopath. The eyes of a frothing-at-the-mouth predator.
Every nerve in her body screamed at her to run, to flee. If they'd been on the Serengeti, he'd have been the lion, and she'd have been the gazelle. And she'd have been dead by now. Star swallowed down her fear, though, and only took a single step back. She had to control herself, had to keep herself from breaking.
He took another step as he whacked the metal tool against the palm of his hand. “Speak, and she shall appear,” he said as he walked slowly towards her.
Star struggled to keep her fear down. “Wh-what do you want?” she asked as she walked backwards with a measured pace, one hand extended behind her to make sure she didn't get entangled on anything or bump into any of the shelves that lined either side.
“Just to talk, little Miss Star,” Aaron said in a chiding tone. “Is that too much to ask?”
“You need a crowbar for that?” she asked, her voice cracking.
“Nah, you're right,” he said, flashing her a wicked grin. “You caught me, I lied.” He put out the hand holding the crowbar and playfully slapped the back of it with the other hand. “Bad Aaron.”
“Tanner'll be here soon,” she said, glancing behind her and avoiding a box full of abandoned screws and washers. “You should go, now, and I'll forget this happened.”
“Oh? But, then I'd miss out on all the fun with you and Mommy. Wouldn't I? And you don't want me to miss out on my playtime, do you?”
“J-just go,” Star stammered, as he took two more steps forward, closing the gap a little more. “I promise, we won't tell him. We'll just let you go back to the Wolves and forget this ever happened.”
“Speaking of mommy Rainier,” he said with a wild grin, “where is the wheezy old bag, anyways?”
“Right here, motherfucker,” Tova said from somewhere on the other side of him. Her words were followed by an audible click as she drew back the hammer on Logan Rainier' revolver. “Now, stop right where you fucking are, or I'll put two bullets in your back without even fucking blinking.”
Just like magic, that evil grin of Aaron's dropped from his face as he finally realized what he'd stepped into. What kind of trap he'd entered through his own over-confidence.
“Drop the crowbar,” the older woman rasped, then coughed.
He dropped the tool on the ground, and the metal on concrete echoed loudly throughout the building.
“Kick it to Star.”
He followed her orders, saying, “You know I've just been messing around, right? I was just funning.”
“You know we're not laughing, right?” Star replied as she bent over and picked up the heavy metal bar.
“You just messing with us when you got my boy hooked on smack?” Tova spat at him. “Or when you kidnapped Tanner's ol' lady?”
Aaron gave them both a weak shrug. “Oops.”
“Oops?” Tova asked, shaking her head. “Star, hon, go get one of those chairs. I saw some duct tape in that back office, too. Guess we're going to get to play cops and murderous psychopaths today, ain't we, Aaron?”