I held onto Axel tight as we sped through the desert on his motorcycle. I had never been on one of these things before but it was the most exhilarating experience I had ever had, at least the most positive one.

The desert heat couldn’t fight against the wind in my face and hair, and even after Axel had held me in his room I was comfortable enough around him to wrap my arms around his waist as rode. I was starting to understand his perspective, and I fully believed that once he saw my situation he would realize that I was telling the truth to him.

I just wish I didn’t have to go back, that I didn’t have to see that place again, that I didn’t have to see him again. Just thinking about it made me so angry I wanted to throw something.

I thankfully was able to take the dress off, and even if my new clothes didn’t fit me right getting out of that dress made me feel so much better. Axel had given me an oversized t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that he said had shrunk in the washing machine, the pants fit me way too well to be men’s pants so I had to assume they belonged to a past lover however many years ago. Shame he didn’t have something a little more temperature appropriate for me to wear but at this point I’d risk another heat stroke over wearing that godawful pink dress again.

It was hard for me to remember the directions to get to where we were going, and I didn’t have an address either. All I remember was stealing that car and getting off on the first highway exit I saw, frantically driving for as long as I could until my car ran out of gas.

“I hope you know where we’re going” Axel called out, I felt his abs tense against my hand as he spoke, I never even knew a man could be so muscular.

“Of course I do” I lied. I was banking on my general sense of direction somehow getting us there, or at least seeing a landmark that I recognized. All I could remember was that I was driving for half an hour once I got onto this road, didn’t exactly help when I had no idea what speed I was going at.

I heard the motorcycle start to become louder and louder and suddenly we began to pick up speed. I looked over Axel’s shoulder, only to realize it wasn’t his bike making the noise. I spotted 4 bikers, coming at us head on as the distance between us became shorter and shorter.

“What are you doing?!” I called out as Axel hit the throttle even harder. I was terrified but I couldn’t look away, watching those bikers coming right at us lined up side by side. My hair whipped around behind me as I held onto Axel for dear life. What the hell was going on? Why was this happening?

I tried to grab his arm to pull us away and let the other bikers pass but Axel held firm, my hand couldn’t even wrap around his bicep let alone pull it to influence our direction. We were playing a game of chicken and he was determined not to give up.

We kept picking up speed and it looked like none of the four bikers coming at us intended to pull away. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest when I realized we were close enough to see their bloodshot eyes.

I was so afraid I couldn’t even scream, I clenched my grip tight onto Axel’s side as the distance between us and the bikers became mere feet.

My adrenalin was so high I felt like I was seeing things in slow motion, all I could think about was how if nobody pulled away and we crashed into each other I would be dead on impact.

At the very last possible moment one the biker on the inner right side pulled away, hitting the biker to the outside of him and causing them both to slide on the ground.

I looked to the other side as we passed the two bikers who managed to stay firm on their ride, they immediately slid to a halt as their biker brothers lay injured on the ground nearby.

Axel slid to a halt, we were all going so fast that it took several feet before the bike finally came to a complete stop.

I let go of him, realizing that I was shaking from what just happened.

I looked over at the bikers just a few feet away from us, the two who had made it had dismounted their bikes and were staring at us while the other two who had crashed tried to shake off their injuries and rise to their feet.

“Fucking Scorched Satans…” Axel muttered as he stepped off his bike.

“You all trying to prove something?” Axel called out to the bikers. They were all wearing bandanas around their faces to hide their identities, yet as one of the injured ones got up we made eye contact. He had deep piercing green eyes that seemed familiar, almost like I had met him somewhere, if I told Axel that then there would be no way he would ever believe that a club didn’t send me.

Still, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I recognized him, but as we made eye contact I realized that he didn’t know who I was. Maybe I was just imagining things.

One of the Scorched Satans drew a pistol, pointing it at Axel as we stood only about 20 yards away from each other.

“What you think you have the fucking guts to kill me?” Axel shouted as he clenched his fists.

The Scorched Satan brothers remained silent as the other two finally got to their feet and realized that their bikes were still good enough to ride.

“Come on! Do it!” Axel yelled as the gun shook in the biker’s hand.

I watched the Satan close his eyes as he fired off a round, I let out a scream as the bang filled my ears. I saw the wind from the bullet ruffle Axel’s hair a little bit, but he stood there completely unhurt and unphased. I looked at him in amazement as he still stood as solid as a rock, as if he wasn’t just 3 inches shy of death.

“Fucking amateurs” Axel muttered as the other three bikers got on their bikes and quickly rode off. The final biker kept his gun aimed at Axel for a few more seconds, seemingly contemplating whether or not to take another shot, before he finally grunted in frustration and rode off with his brothers.

I immediately got off the bike and ran towards Axel, as soon as he turned around I ran up to him and started hitting his chest as hard as I could.

“You could have gotten both of us killed! What were you thinking!?” I screamed as my hands flailed against his muscular chest causing him absolutely no harm.

He grabbed both of my wrists and waited for me to calm down, my breathing was short and quick as I tried to pull myself together. I had never been through something like that before.

“I know how to call bluffs” he said. “I’m not going to show weakness or let them intimidate me, you pull some shit like that and you better be ready to back it up.”

He walked over to his bike and mounted it, inspecting it for a moment to make sure it wasn’t scratched.

“Besides” he said “they wouldn’t hurt one of their own.”

“I’m not one of them” I replied. “You’ll see, I have no idea who those men are.”

“Then prove it.”

---

Once we hit the road again it didn’t take long for us to find something I was familiar with.

I had spotted a skid mark on the side of the road, I remembered when I had saw a desert rabbit run out onto the road and I swerved to try not to hit it. I sighed in relief, we had to be close to the exit.

We were starting to enter more populated areas of the state, I couldn’t believe that I had been kept a secret for so long surrounded by so many people.

“There!” I shouted pointing at the exit, I couldn’t believe that I had only been gone from the place for a few hours and I was already on my way back. Just thinking about it made me upset.

Axel pulled off of the road and we entered into a neighborhood, he slowed down as I looked side to side trying to recognize what house I had left just 12 hours before.

“This better not be a setup” I heard him growl as I pointed at him to make a turn. “I already dodged death twice for the day, I don’t want to try my luck a third time.”

“You’ve trusted me this far, just give me a few more minutes.”

I spotted the house and my heart started beating so fat I thought it was going to explode.

“We’re here” I said not taking my eyes off of the place. Axel pulled into the oil stained driveway and turned the bike off, looking around the seemingly normal neighborhood before turning around and looking at me confused.

“Are you really telling me that you had a bad night at prom, stole your dad’s car, and ran away from home?”

“I wish I could tell you that, I wish I could take back what happened to me but what’s done is done.”

I looked at the house and rubbed my wrists feeling where the chains used to be, I could barely hold myself together as I stared at it. The place where I had been for the past year and a half, the place where that sick sadistic asshole Edgar held me.

I guess I have some explaining to do.

“If you’re not just some runaway then where’s the proof?” Axel said crossing his arms.

I took a deep breath as I began to shake “it’s inside.”

Axel looked around the neighborhood again as he got off the bike and walked to the door with me following him. He pulled a gun out but I put my hand on his arm, feeling the warm skin of his bicep against my frail fingers.

“I promise you, you won’t need to use that.”

He looked at me in the eyes and after a few seconds it actually looked like he began to trust what I was saying, he put his gun back in his belt before motioning me to lead the way.

I walked up to the door to see the lock broken, I guess when I rushed out I had ran into the door harder than I thought. I was just so ready to get out of there, desperate, starved, I needed to.

I walked into the house and felt shivers up my spine, it was completely silent, a stark contrast to the yelling and screaming that normally went on while I was here. The place smelled like cat litter, Edgar didn’t even have a cat, I could only assume that he did it to mask whatever other smell came out of this house.

Axel walked in behind me looking around and making a face once the smell set in.

I walked past the broken glass and shattered pottery on the floor, Axel didn’t have any shoes for me to wear so unfortunately I was still barefoot. Just meant I had to be more careful.

I walked over to the basement door, although it was more than just a door to the basement, it was the door to the place I called home for 19 months. 19 long months, a year and a half of my life that I would get back, it was the real end of my childhood, and I knew that it would scar me forever.

“This… this is my proof.”