Without a second of hesitation, I threw my weight into the door, tearing it free from its rotten hinges in a burst of splinters and debris.

There she was. Angel was looking up at me from the floor with wide, glazed eyes full of surprise and sudden recognition. Her scream had been cut short by my sudden arrival, but a new sound had risen up in its place.

“Who the fuck are you?”

The voice was cold and fierce, but as I turned, the man who spoke them looked neither of those things. He was older and frail, but Old Greg had been wise enough to give me a physical description of Angel’s monster. Without another word, I knew what a piece of shit I was staring at.

“Hello, Roger,” I grit my teeth.

Confused and furious, he tried to clamor to his feet from the recliner. I was faster, knocking his ass straight back into the chair. With his filthy, oily head slumped to the side, Roger was out like a goddamned light.

He deserved worse. It took every last ounce of self-control to resist snapping his thin little neck in front of her.

“Get up, Angel. We’re getting out of here,” I said, looking back to my girl against the floor. She didn’t respond or make any move to climb to her feet.

“…Angel?”

Something was very, very wrong.

Angel was mumbling to herself as I kneeled down next to her. I could already see that she was a pale reflection of her former self… as if the life had been sucked out of her.

“What the hell did they do to you?” I questioned, hauling her up into my arms. Her limp, dead weight brought my rising worry to new, horrified levels.

Angel’s head rolled to the side, but she weakly shrugged her shoulder to the side. When she did it again, moving her head with the motion, I followed the direction to the bottle of pills.

They fucking drugged her.

“Stay with me. I’m getting you out of here.”

I thought quickly, deciding I’d need to show this bottle to someone. Maybe I could get her a counteracting agent if she didn’t pull back from this soon… and it would certainly give us ammunition against her parents.

We can cross that bridge when we come to it.

She smiled weakly as I snatched up the pills, then walked her out to the bike and secured her on the back of the seat. My suspicions were confirmed as I held her steady – there was no way in hell that she’d be able to hang on. Improvising, I pulled my belt off and used it to strap her tighter against the backrest. Climbing on, I fired up the machine and felt her grip me weakly.

We have to get out of here.

Out of this town, out of this goddamned state…

As I twisted the throttle and started down the road, the blast of a shotgun went off behind us. Frail bastard that he was, Roger must have managed to get up out of his goddamned chair.

“Hang on!”

I gunned it around the first turn and blasted down the nearly abandoned roadways. Angel’s arms tightened around my chest just enough to let me know she was there. I sure as hell wasn’t going to waste my time looking for police in this Podunk little town. I needed to get Angel somewhere safe, then we could figure out what happened back there.

The biting wind seemed to bring Angel back, miles ticking by as she pressed herself against my back, her strength ever so slowly returning.

That’s my girl…

I rode long and hard, putting as much distance behind us as I could. My destination was well in mind. Angel and I were leaving Alabama behind… tonight. But there was no way I could do that without giving Old Greg another chance to see his granddaughter, safe and sound.

“You came for me…” Angel whispered softly as we came to a stop outside the old Riverton Bar. Her legs shook lightly as she stepped off the bike, but she quickly gained her footing. She didn’t even need to lean on me that much.

Sure, the motorcycle had presented a logistical problem at first… but the wind had done wonders to snap her back out of that drug-fueled cloud.

“What the hell did they do to you, Angel?” I asked, looking her over. “Are you hurt? Did he harm you?”

“I think I’m okay now. Mom gave me some of my anxiety pills…” She sounded weak still, but at least she could hold a conversation. It was progress that I was willing to take. “She said she just wanted to calm me down. I didn’t really have any withdrawal symptoms before, but I guess my body forgot how to hold them like I used to…”

“And that sick fuck, Roger?”

“I think he was going to kill me,” she replied, her voice quiet and fearful.

“That will never happen,” I snarled. “There’s no statute of limitations on the things he’s done. Soon as we get back, you’re reporting that bastard. I don’t care what it costs, I don’t care how long it takes, we’re taking him down.”

Angel glanced up at me, strands of her hair falling in front of her eyes. I was afraid that she was going to resist me on this, but the night had sapped her strength. Instead, she surprised me: “Do you really mean that, Trent?”

My resolve hardened. Even if I hadn’t just walked in on a complete atrocity, the forlorn, hopeful look in her eyes only made me more infuriated. How can someone hurt somebody like this? “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my entire fucking life.”

Quietly, a small smile crossed her lips.

I took Angel by the hand and walked her away from the bike, my other arm around her shoulder. Her footing only slipped slightly twice as we crossed the gravel towards the front door of the old, decrepit saloon.

Old Greg was tending at the Riverton Bar when we stepped in from the darkness. Angel was still a bit shaky on her feet, and he faltered at the sight of her, instantly abandoning his patrons. A silence fell over everyone as they turned and recognized their usual, plucky bartender – trembling and clutching onto me in the doorway for support.

“Angel!” He held back tears, hobbling around to greet us. “You’re back!”

She looked at him strangely for a moment, then back to me. “Old Greg, I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have left without saying goodbye. I just couldn’t look you in the eye.”

“You look like hell,” he muttered huffily.

“Thanks a ton,” Angel grumbled in return.

I glanced between them, confused and only growing angrier by the second… until I realized that the two of them were softly smiling.

“Tell me what those people did to you, girl.”

Angel looked away, unwilling to speak.

Old Greg peered at me curiously, instead.

“There was trouble,” I answered carefully.

“You saw what was happening to her,” he stated bitterly. Not as a question, but a recognition. I wasn’t sure if he really wanted to have this conversation, particularly in front of his patrons, but I nodded sternly.

“First time something out of the ordinary happens, I always write that up as a fluke,” Old Greg told me, “but when it happens again, there’s a pattern. You are no fluke. You’ve saved my Angel again.”

“If happens a third time, I definitely don’t want a shotgun involved.” I allowed the corner of my lip to curl up, watching his reaction harden with realization. “It was cute when she did it the first time, but I’m getting real sick of that.”

Before Old Greg could open his mouth to retort, Angel chuckled weakly. “I think it’s your turn next time, Trent.”

“I’ll just rely on my fists, thank you,” I grinned.

Old Greg’s lungs heaved with a deep, reflective sigh. “The last time we spoke, I sent you from this place a different man than the one who entered. Tell me, Trent… have you decided what kind of man you are?”

“I have,” I nodded.

“And what kind of man is that?”

For the first time since meeting, I looked at him for who he really was. He wasn’t an obstacle to a sexual conquest. Nor was he a crotchety, elderly fool in a rundown bar, or a hurdle in my quest to find her.

Old Greg was a mentor…and a friend.

“The kind that will keep Angel safe and protected for as long as she’ll have me, and even past that,” I told him. “I give you my word that, no matter who I was before…Angel will always be safe with me.”

He stared me in the eyes, searching for any chink in my resolve. After a moment, he finally nodded. Angel seemed confused, but she hadn’t said a word.

“I don’t expect miracles, son… but I see how she looks at you, and how you look at her… and it makes me believe.”

He extended his hand.

I thought back to when I made that gesture to him. He’d seen me for what I really was, back then. I’d been an idiot, fueled by the erection in my jeans, eager to take and use whoever came crawling my way. Angel hadn’t mattered to me. She had just been my latest sexual conquest, ripped away from me before I could claim her. Old Greg had me rightfully pinned as a lecherous snake from the start, and had ignored my grasp before.

With these thoughts in my head, I gratefully, appreciatively shook his hand.

I was a changed man…

No longer the king of the filth.

And it had only been because of them.

“Thank you for bringing her to me,” Old Greg smiled, the first sincere expression of joy he’d had towards me, “and for giving me one last time with my Angel...”

He pulled me in close, whispering in my ear.

“And promise me, son, that you will never let her step foot in this state ever again.”

“You have my word,” I solemnly agreed.

I saw unmistakable sadness flood his expression. It was only there for a brief moment, before cold, hardened resolution replaced it. It was the only sliver of weakness I ever saw penetrate this old, hardy man.

Old Greg nodded curtly, gave Angel a quick but emotional hug. This time, when he and Angel parted, I knew that it had happened the proper way – no stealing away in the middle of the night with a hastily scribbled note.

I knew that they could both live with this.

We parted ways for the final time, before he turned back towards his patrons. As I held the door open for her, proud that she didn’t need my support now, I glanced across at him for one last moment. With a grave expression on his face, Old Greg never once looked our way again.

It wasn’t until I got outside that I realized he hadn’t come clean. He never told her who he was, or the history they had together before the bar.

Maybe he just wanted to stay forgotten.