Once again I was ripped from my dream in the middle of the night, once again I saw that officer’s face smiling at me as I held my gut and watched my friend die.

I clenched my fists tight, I wanted to explode, but after a few deep breaths I calmed down.

I looked over at Hannah who was still fast asleep. After she had cleaned herself up she really was more beautiful than any woman I had ever seen. I leaned over and kissed her on the forehead and she stirred a little bit, I was just happy that she chose to stay with me, although I really did want to make sure that she wasn’t attached to me for the wrong reasons.

I looked out of my window into the night, I was restless, and after that dream I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again.

I got out of bed slowly to make sure I didn’t wake Hannah up. I put on my pants, t-shirt and slipped on my shoes. I took Hannah’s blanket and gave it to her, I had to chuckle to myself, she had been through so much yet she was still so innocent. At least if she woke up she would have that for comfort and know that I didn’t just walk out of here.

I turned and walked out the door slowly closing it behind me so I wouldn’t make any noise. I just needed to feel my bike underneath me for an hour or two, to get my head clear. I wish I could talk to Clay about all of this.

“Can’t believe they did that to you old man” I said locking the door behind me so that nobody could get in. Mason and a few of the guys were able to take his body to a morgue, we all promised not to have the funeral until this was all sorted out. I didn’t want to put Clay into the ground until I fully knew I had avenged him. Clay always said that he didn’t want his funeral to be sad and depressing, he wanted it to be a celebration of his life, not mourning his death. I’d find a way to give the to him somehow.

I took the elevator downstairs and walked outside to a cooler summer night, fully knowing that this could be the last night I ever got to experience.

I got on my ride and turned the key, listening to that engine roar before speeding off.

Our town was so small that at night there was barely any activity, made me feel like I was all alone in the world.

I drove through the empty roads, cruising like I used to back when I was a teenager wanting to show off whatever bike it was that I jacked off of a street corner in Phoenix.

Clay was still pretty old back then too, always used to get annoyed at me whenever I stole bikes but at the same time told me he could see my ambition and drive. Couldn’t believe he was gone.

I drove by Wyatt’s garage, as I passed by I could still hear the faint sound of heavy metal music. It was almost impossible to hear from outside, any passer by wouldn’t have noticed it, but when you specifically listened out for it you could just barely pick it up.

I parked my bike and turned it off, walking to the back door and getting the spare key Wyatt kept pushed into the dirt underneath a nearby cinder block. I figured he wouldn’t mind if I checked up on our little guest, I had Hannah on my mind and I needed to ask Edgar some questions, besides the man needed a break otherwise he might turn deaf.

I never felt like this about a woman before, I never had a girl on my mind for more than a few hours. Most of the women I had been with were just one night stands, at the most I kept them around a few days if they were good, Hannah was something special though. I guess I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

I walked into the garage and turned the light on, the place was completely empty with nothing more than a few cars and bikes they were working on and a couple of unfinished projects Wyatt had lying around.

“Just like Wyatt, always a starter never a finisher. Took me being in jail for two years for him to fix me up a bike” I said chuckling to myself.

I walked over to a table where Mason’s hearing protection was resting, picking them up and putting them on before opening the door to the room where we kept Edgar.

I turned the music off and turned to him, he was still hanging there by his wrists, wide awake with bloodshot eyes as he stared at the floor.

“W-w-wate…” he struggled to spit out. I saw how dry and patched his lips were, guess we hadn’t given him water all day, not like he deserved it after giving Hannah a damn heat stroke.

I picked up a bottle of water nearby and splashed some on his face before putting it to his lips. He thirstily drank half of it before coughing some of it back up onto the floor.

“You didn't think I’d let you spend the night all alone did you?” I said as I leaned against a nearby table and crossed my arms.

“Are you ever gonna let me go?” he asked. He sounded so defeated I almost felt bad for him, almost.

“Were you ever gonna let Hannah go? Or were you just gonna slowly break her in mind, body, and spirit until she was nothing more than a dress up doll you could fuck?”

“What do you care?” he spat out, his bloodshot eyes looked like they could pop out and come right at me. “Like you aren’t gonna do the same thing, I know you biker types far better than you could ever imagine. All you do is fuck and chuck women, moving on to the next one and leaving the last one broken. Are you any different than me?”

I walked up to him and grabbed him by the face, making him look at me straight in the eye.

“I am nothing like you. Yeah I’ll admit I want her, I’ll admit that I want to feel her in the same way that you did, but with me she has a choice and she can walk out of my door at any time.”

“She has a choice? I bought that girl at a secret auction for 10 grand, I know what kind of home she came from, she has nobody to go to. She’s just latched onto you because you’re the only one that would give her any attention, you’re the only one she has right now. For her own sanity she has to stay with you, she has no real choice.”

“The difference is I don’t abuse her! You might not think she has a choice but I’m not the one holding her back, yeah I see her in my future life but I know damn well that if I help her they’ll be a chance that she walks away from me and never comes back. I’m willing to take that chance, for her.”

He looked up at me and then turned his head away, breaking his chin from from my grip.

I backed off for a few seconds to calm down. If that bastard even thought about comparing the two of us again I’d give him much worse than just some loud heavy metal.

“Where did you buy her, what contacts do you have that let you fucking buy another human being?”

“I’ll go to my grave with that info kid, I don’t care how badly you torture me. The people that would come after me if they found out I told would do far worse that you ever could, hell I’d beg you to put me in the ground if I gave them up.”

I stared him down, looking deep in his eyes. He was telling the truth, this was something I really wasn’t going to get out of him.

“I… I will tell you that it’s nearby” he continued. “It’s up in Las Vegas, they bring the girls out one by one and let you make your pick. I could have had any of a dozen girls that were being sold that day, but I chose her.”

God damn, there were more of those girls out there. Wonder why Hannah never mentioned it, maybe they kept the girls cut off from each other so they didn’t try to fight their way out?

“How could you live with yourself knowing that you were keeping this girl against her will in your basement, that you were treating her like she was your toy?” I asked.

“Are you kidding? I revelled in it, I woke up every morning like it was Christmas. The buildup and the anticipation was practically killing me, I was going to let her sit around there for at least another year before I finally-”

“Why did you chose her?” I asked cutting him off, just thinking about him touching her in any way made my skin crawl. “Of all the girls there why did you choose her?”

He looked at me and smirked, a dirty smirk that you’d expect a sick fuck like him to have. It didn’t help that he was still completely naked from before, but he didn’t deserve to wear clothes, he deserved to have his pathetic manhood exposed to the world.

“I chose her because I thought she’d look the best jumping up and down on my cock.”

I punched him as hard as I could on his right cheek, harder than I had ever hit another man before. Part of me thought that he enjoyed pain to some extent, but I knew that no matter what that punch was the single most painful moment of his life.

I pulled my hand back, trying to shake off the pain as I looked at Edgar’s blood that was now covering my knuckles.

I glanced up at him to see he was knocked out cold.

“Mother fucker” I grumbled to myself as I put the hearing protection back on before blasting the music again. I hoped he would enjoy this minute or two of being unconscious because that would be the closest thing he would get to sleep tonight.