Kara

 

Kara’s heart pounded as Franco led her into the dilapidated housing complex he’d taken her to somewhere on the south side of Chicago. Dozens of bikes were packed onto the streets in front of the building, and handfuls of drunken bikers were lounging here and there on the front porches, beers in their hands and lascivious looks on their bearded faces.

 

“We’re here, sweetheart,” said Franco as the two stepped towards the front doors of the middle building.

 

“That the new meat?” asked one of the bikers, his eyes latching onto Kara’s breasts.

 

“I call dibs,” said another one, his hand outstretched to cop a feel of Kara’s ass.

 

“You ain’t calling shit,” said Franco. “This is our bargaining chip; we’re gonna keep her nice and close until Ryder decides to give us what we want.”

 

The lobby of the building was just as rundown as the outside of the place. Bikers were here and there, swigging from whiskey bottles and smoking cigarettes. As Franco stepped into the space, a pair of men approached him.

 

“This her?” asked one of them, a red-bearded man with tattoos crawling up his neck.

 

“Startin’ to see why Ryder’s so sweet on her,” said the other, a scrawny, rat-faced man with a shaved head.

 

“This is her,” said Franco as he stripped off his suit jacket and tie and tossed them into a corner. “And I’m looking forward to gettin’ to know her really, really, fuckin’ well.”

 

“Fuck you,” said Kara, the words shooting out of her mouth and coming as a surprise even to her.

 

“Whoa!” said the rat-faced man. “Girl’s got spunk!”

 

“She will when I’m done with her,” said the bearded man.

 

“All right, you fuckin’ horndogs need to calm it down. Plenty of time for all that shit later. Right now, I need to make sure you guys got your heads in the fuckin’ game. We’re gonna move in on the Hunters at sunrise tomorrow, and you motherfuckers better not be too hungover to fulfill your ends of the bargain.”

 

“Take it easy, Franco,” said one of the men. “We’re just as eager to take down Ryder and the rest of those pricks as you are. We’ll be ready.”

 

“Really?” asked Franco, looking around. “Because it’s lookin’ to me like your crews are gonna be too drunk to even get half of their piss into the toilet next time they gotta take a leak.”

 

“Just chill out,” said the rat-faced man. “We outnumber them, and we’re gonna have the element of fuckin’ surprise. It’ll be like nothin’.”

 

Franco’s expression turned grim.

 

“Don’t you assholes get it?” he asked. “The Midnight Hunters aren’t some shithead gang of corner boys; they’re one of the toughest crews in the entire goddamn state! You should’ve seen ’em last year when they wiped out half of my fuckin’ boys; it was a goddam nightmare.”

 

“Well, that was you,” said the bearded man. “We’re gonna be more than they can handle, just you wait.”

 

“This overconfidence bullshit is gonna be the death of us if you shitheads aren’t careful.”

 

“Just relax, man,” said the bearded man. “We got the girl, and we’re ready to rock. Tonight’s all about cutting loose before the fight ahead. Getting’ a little wasted’s good for morale, you know?”

 

Franco shook his head. “You’re comin’ with me,” he said to Kara.

 

Kara was too frightened to say a word as Franco led her up the stairs of the apartment. They eventually reached unit on the second floor. Franco pulled her in and shut the door behind them.

 

“What … what you going to do to me, asshole?”

 

Instead of being intimidated, however, Franco only laughed.

 

“Damn, girl,” he said. “You’ve been spending too much goddamn time around bikers. You’re getting a fucking mouth on you.”

 

“Tell me,” said Kara.

 

“Well, we had a little complication. You see, plan was to use you to keep Ryder and the rest of his crew off our fuckin’ backs until we could make our move. But thing about that is that when I told Ryder that I had you, he didn’t seem to be too worried.”

 

“What?” asked Kara, her tone one of disbelief.

 

“You heard me, doll-face. I told Ryder I had you and he reacted like I just told him that I was thinking of going to community college to get my degree or some shit. Just an ‘okay’ and that was it.”

 

“You’re lying,” she said.

 

Was it true? Kara couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that Ryder didn’t give a damn about what happened to her. She’d sworn that over the time that they’d known each other that … something was there between them. Sure, things had started out rocky, but she’d felt herself open up to him in a way that she’d never thought she would after what Leon had done to her. Was she just imagining things? Was Ryder just using her for sex, and maybe even for bait? The idea was too painful to consider.

 

“Believe what you want, but that’s how it all went down. So, I’m wonderin’ just how useful you’re gonna be for what I got in mind.”

 

He looked away in thought for a brief moment, his ugly face contorted in a thoughtful expression.

 

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun with you first.”

 

With blinding speed, he rushed towards Kara and grabbed her by the wrist.

 

“Come ’ere,” he said, yanking her off the couch and pulling her towards the bedroom.

 

“Get the fuck off of me!” she shouted, struggling to break free of Franco’s grip.

 

He was too strong, however, and Kara only managed to hurt her wrist in the process of trying to get free. Once in the bedroom, Franco tossed her effortlessly onto the bed.

 

“That was quite a fuckin’ sight when I saw you in nothing but your little bra and panties. Ryder’s got good taste if he’s been getting up in that perfect little ass of yours. Can’t blame the man one bit.”

 

Franco reached down and began to unfasten his belt. “And you know what? I get to take his woman and wipe out his gang all in the same day. What a lucky fuckin’ guy I am.”

 

Franco whipped the belt out of the straps and stuck his thumbs into the waistband of his pants. Pulling them down slightly, Kara caught a glimpse of a messy tangle of pubic hair. She retched a little, the thought of what he had in mind almost too much for her to bear.

 

“Aw, come on,” said Franco. “I know I’m not some pretty boy like Ryder, but I know just how to make a girl scream.”

 

But scream was just what Kara wanted to do. She closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and prepared to let out a deafening wail.

 

Before a noise could come out of her mouth, however, a boom sounded from outside of the building.

 

“What the hell?” asked Franco before turning his attention to the windows.

 

Another boom sounded, then another, the sounds followed by the roaring of a mass of motorcycle engines. Kara opened her eyes and looked around, wondering just what the hell was going on.

 

Then a banging sounded at the apartment door.

 

“Franco!” came a voice from the other side. “Yo, Franco! We got a fucking situation!”

 

“What kind of goddamn situation?” shouted Franco. “Better be fuckin’ good—I’m in the middle of something!”

 

“It’s the Hunters!” shouted the voice. “They’re here!”

 

“What?” exclaimed Franco. “How the hell do they know where we are?”

 

He pulled up his pants, stumbling around as he did.

 

“No idea, but you need to get out here now!”

 

Franco turned a furious gaze to Kara. “You stay right there, bitch,” he said. “You move a muscle and you’re not gonna like what happens when I get back.”

 

“If you get back,” said Kara, a smirk forming on the corner of her lips.

 

Franco rushed over to her, pulled his hand back, and brought it against her face in a hard smack. The pain flashed through Kara’s skin, and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

 

“Not another word out of you, bitch,” he said, his finger extended towards her.

 

“That’s the last mistake you’re going to make,” said Kara, her hand on the stinging skin. “Ryder’s here to make sure of that.”

 

“Fuck off and stay here!”

 

With that, Franco ran out of the room and out of the apartment.

 

Fuck him if he thinks I’m going to stay put, thought Kara as she bounded out of the bed. Outside, Kara could hear the chattering of gunfire, and she realized that this wasn’t a game—people were dying out there. She walked carefully out of the bedroom and into the hallway of the apartment building. A commotion sounded from downstairs as the men who’d been lounging and drinking only moments before hurried out onto the front lawn.

 

Kara couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer. She crept towards a window looking out over the front of the property, gasping at what she saw. The dozens of bikers were all in a massive melee, fists and knives swinging through the air. Grunts and yells sounded, and the occasional pop of gunfire cut through the chaotic sounds. Kara scanned the crowd eagerly, looking for the one man she wanted to see.

 

After a moment, she saw him. Ryder was there, standing in the middle of the fight, effortlessly cutting through the bikers who tried to take him down. Her heart soared, and tears of joy formed in Kara’s eyes.

 

I knew he’d come for me, she thought, running down the hallway and then the stairs.

 

She knew the smart thing to do would’ve been to stay put, to not let herself get into harm’s way. But she couldn’t help it—she needed to see Ryder again, to let him know that she was safe.

 

Downstairs, the main entry hall was empty, bottles of booze lying here and there among other random garbage. Taking a deep breath, she stepped towards the front door and opened it up, revealing the frantic battle up close and personal.

 

Ryder was only dozen or so feet from her, and his eyes locked onto Kara right away.

 

“Kara!” he shouted, his eyes flicking to her right.

 

“Ryder!” she yelled.

 

But before she could get out another word, a hand reached in front of her and took hold. She glanced up and saw that it was Franco. He pulled her close and tight, the smell of his ripe body flooding into her nostrils.

 

“Let her go, now!” shouted Ryder as the chaos unfolded all around him.

 

“Not a fucking chance!” replied Franco. “No fucking way I’m going down without taking her with me!”

 

Ryder reached slowly behind him and pulled out a pistol. Franco responded by reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a razor-sharp knife, the blade of which he pressed to Kara’s throat. The knife broke the skin slightly, a sharp, bee-sting feeling radiating out from where the knife touched her.

 

“I swear to God, Franco,” said Ryder. “You hurt her and it’ll be the worst goddamn mistake of your life.”

 

Kara’s heart pounded, fear running through her like a hot wave. Her eyes were fixed on Ryder as he held the gun and stood fast.

 

“I don’t give a fuck about the rest of these assholes,” said Franco. “But I’m getting the hell out of here, and I’m taking her with me. Got it?”

 

Right at that moment, however, that strength that had bloomed in Kara before, the one that she didn’t know she had, came back. She felt strong, capable, and like she could do anything. Pushing her fear aside, she shot her arm forward, crooked it into an “L” shape, and brought it back, slamming her elbow right into Franco’s gut.

 

The word “fuck” flew out of his mouth on the back of all the air that was in his lungs. His body curled forward, and the knife dropped out of his hand and onto the ground.

 

Ryder didn’t waste a second taking advantage of this opportunity. Franco’s grip on Kara loosened and she squirmed away from him, giving Ryder a clear shot. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Ryder raised the gun, leveled the shot, and fired twice. Two pops sounded, and by the time Kara was able to turn on her heel, Franco had already hit the ground in a heap, two red splotches expanding on his shirt by the second.

 

The eyes of the nearby bikers, still in the middle of hectic combat, all latched onto Franco’s body. They stopped where they stood, taking in the sight. Finally, one of them spoke.

 

“Franco’s fuckin’ dead!” came a gruff voice from the crowd.

 

The men on Franco’s side all looked at one another, none of them seeming like they knew what to do with themselves. The head of the beast had been cut off and the body was left confused.

 

“Uh, let’s get the fuck out of here!” cried another voice.

 

Kara watched as the dozens of Franco’s men who were still left standing shared the same expression of agreement before turning tail and fleeing the scene as fast they could. Booms of motorcycle engines sounded, followed by the squeal of tires against the pavement. In the span of a few moments, the crowd had dissipated, leaving no one but Kara, Ryder, and his crew.

 

Ryder looked at the gun in his hand for a moment before tucking it into the back of his pants. Kara was shocked by the violence she’d witnessed, but a flood of relief washed over her all the same. Without thinking, she rushed over to Ryder, throwing her arms around him. That manly scent, the smell of musk and adrenaline, swirled around her like light fabric.

 

“You came for me,” said Kara, her face pressed against Ryder’s chest.

 

“Of course, I came for you,” said Ryder. “You think I was gonna leave you to this asshole?”

 

“I … don’t know. I didn’t know if you’d risk it just for me.”

 

“I did, and I would again. And now this shit is finally over with.”

 

“I can’t believe Franco’s fuckin’ dead,” said one of Ryder’s men.

 

“And I can’t believe we’re still standing here after a fuckin’ murder. Let’s go!”

 

Ryder nodded, seeming to snap back into reality.

 

The men climbed onto their bikes and rode.