He grabbed my hands and thrust them up over my head. I pulled the trigger out of fear, shooting the ceiling and causing the gun to fall out of my nervous sweaty hands.

He pushed me up against a nearby wall and it fully sank in how badly I had just fucked up. I just really needed the money, I didn’t even need all of the $1200 just enough for a full tank of gas and a map to know where I was going.

He held me against the wall until I stopped struggling, it was so hot and I was so nervous that sweat was running down my chest, legs, and arms.

I looked up at the man as he squeezed my wrists tighter, our eyes met and I found myself caught in his deep blue stare. He had this annoyed yet smug look on his face, annoyed that I had tried to do what I did, smug because of how easily he turned this all against me.

I was a fish out of water, in over my head, I didn’t even think there would be anyone in the bar when I walked in. When I saw that it was unlocked I got so excited that I just barged in thinking I could make out with some money, now I was at the mercy of this man.

He had tattoos covering his arms, he was wearing a plain white t-shirt that wrapped tightly around his biceps and stuck to his muscular sweat covered chest. He towered over me, he must have been at least 6’5 although I never was good with heights. He had wavy brown hair and a face that looked like it was chiseled from stone, a man as good looking as him shouldn’t be so dangerous, although I guess it was my fault he was treating me this way since I pointed that gun at him.

He held me against the wall so effortlessly, whenever I struggled he stood strong like a rock, all I had to show for my efforts was a vein that popped out on his bicep whenever I pushed against him. In any other situation he would have been able to get my heart beating fast just by looking at me, in this moment he had the added benefit of holding me down.

Neither of us said a word, staring intensely into each other’s eyes as if we were waiting for the other to break the silence. There was an old ceiling fan that spun over the middle of the room, squeaking with every turn as it tried its best to battle the Arizona heat. I swear the beats from my heart and the squeaking from the fan matched in rhythm.

Finally he broke the silence.

“Who sent you here?”

I stayed silent for a few seconds, I didn’t know what he wanted, why would someone send me?

“What do you mean?” I asked trying one last time to slip my wrists from his grasp only to fail again.

“I can’t believe that a pretty little thing like you put on that ridiculous outfit and tried to rob this place in the early morning… so who sent you here? Were you going to kill me and make it look like you were only here to rob the joint so we wouldn’t track your club down? Which one of our rival MCs sent you after me.”

“Nobody sent me. I’m here because I have to be here, I’m here because I needed the money.”

“There’s something more to that” he replied. “You’re hiding something, I can see it in your eyes. I spent 2 years in jail and 15 years in this club and I’ve learned how to read people, I would be dead right now if I didn’t have that talent. So tell me, what are you hiding?”

I pulled my arms away, realizing that he had loosened his grip. He smirked and let his arms fall to his side, putting them in his jean pockets as he moved closer to me.

“I don’t have to tell you anything” I replied. Even without him grabbing onto my wrists I felt trapped, I had only just barely tasted freedom and now I was trapped again. What would he do to me? Should I make a run for it while I still can? God my feet were aching from the hot asphalt of the road, I didn’t know if I had it in me.

“Just because I let go of you doesn’t mean I let you free, I only just got out of the pen sweetheart I’m itching for a good interrogation.”

He had this smirk on him that just screamed “try me again.”

He ran his middle finger from the top of my forehead down the bridge of my nose until he stopped at my lips, touching them softly. As I exhaled I could feel my warm breath bouncing off of his fingers and hitting my upper lip. He lightly grazed my lips again as he continued down past my chin to my throat and then finally my heaving chest.

“What do you want from me?” I asked him.

“For you to tell me the truth, why are you here? Why should I let you leave so you can tell everyone about how you tried to rob me and I just let you walk? That you waltzed in here in a prom dress brandishing a pistol like you were the Harley Quinn herself.”

He circled his finger on my chest, toying with me, playing with me, feeling my heart beat faster and faster as he stared deep into my eyes.

“So again, tell me who sent you.”

I was exhausted, I was dehydrated, and I could already begin to feel myself break down just from his touch. I could feel him in my head, how was he so good at this? For years I resisted that bastard whose car I stole, I played into his games waiting for my chance to escape, but this stranger that stood before me was making me feel weak in my knees and fuzzy in my head.

“You don’t look so good” he said with a smirk.

I could feel the exhaustion kicking in, I couldn’t play this stranger’s games anymore, I didn’t even have the strength to give him any information even if I wanted to. Why should I tell him anyway? My secrets are my own, I shouldn’t even trust a man ever again after what happened to me.

I could feel myself drifting out of consciousness, the heat was taking me and I had sweat too much on the walk over here. I could feel my muscles beginning to cramp up as my head started to throb, I couldn’t tell if it was from his touch or if I was just that dehydrated. I hadn’t had a glass of water in more than a day and I just couldn’t hold on anymore. God I should have asked for a glass of water before I asked for the money, so much adrenalin was rushing through my body that I just couldn’t think straight at the time.

The heat finally took me as I lost my footing and stumbled forward. The last thing I remembered was the floor coming right at me only for it to be halted in its path. I felt myself being lifted up before feeling the comforting embrace of another person against me, an embrace that I had longed to feel for years, the embrace of this total and complete stranger.

I glimpsed over at the ceiling fan, it’s rhythmic movement was all that was needed to push me over the edge.