They went back to Kat’s house. They’d essentially forced a shutdown of the bar with the bleeding woman on the table and Moose insisted that he be the one to watch over her. They wanted to find her somewhere better than the table of a bar but no one wanted to move her. Her bones all seemed intact, but the last thing needed was to discover some awful break that only showed its head when they tried to carry her out. Besides, Kat wasn’t sure the girl didn’t have internal bleeding and until they knew she wanted to keep her as still as possible. So she was left to rest on the tabletop, Moose stayed by her side with more anxiety than Chance had ever seen him exhibit in his life, and he and Hannah decided to head out and back to the house. At some point in all of this, Ben disappeared and Chance was sure that wasn’t exactly a good sign but he wasn’t going to worry about it now. He had Hannah so close to him again for the first time in days, he didn’t want to waste it chasing Ben Andrews through the town.
They silently got on the back of his bike. It was fascinating how much things had changed over the course of a few weeks. Once she’d been reluctantly putting herself on the back of this thing to escape from the possibility of gang rape. Now she was getting on the back of it willingly, clipping on the helmet like it was second nature. Her arms came up to settle themselves on his shoulders like they’d always been there. It was like they were a perfect fit.
Chance knew that was sentimental and romantic and if the guys heard him talking like that they’d never let him hear the end of it but he meant every word of it as he thought it to himself. She fit so well on the back of his bike, her hands clasped so well to the peak of his shoulders. Her body warmth mingled perfectly with his own at his back. He’d had women on this bike before, girls he was drunkenly taking home from bars and even the occasional girlfriend when he let things get serious. But none of them felt like this. She was intoxicating and perfect and he never wanted her to not be the woman on the back of his bike.
When he started it up and they rode out and into the streets, the soft spring wind coming up to greet them. It kissed at Chance’s cheeks and ruffled through his hair like the world’s softest comb. He was an advocate for safety but he also didn’t mind the feel of the wind all around him with the helmet not there to block it out. He’d take what he could get while he could get it. The sun was very nearly down and it was casting pink and orange light across the town to dazzling effect. He watched the road, but caught every glimpse of it he could because sunsets lasted for seconds, always changing as the light moved around and altered its course.
Everything about this moment felt so perfect. It was the two of them, she was relaxed behind him. Once or twice he was sure he heard her sighing to herself. She was wrapped around him with such care and trust and all the tension of the past few days had been gone in an instant, lost to the winds whipping around them as they bobbed and weaved down the road.
Why had he waited so long for this? It was amazing and perfect and he’d been a coward to not recognize she was just as nervous and scared as he was and they could have been nervous and scared together. They could have talked this out not in some public shithole bathroom while a girl was bruised and bleeding on a table just outside. They could have held each other, touching and connecting physically that had so much more to offer than orgasms and pleasure. He never thought he’d find something like this.
And he would kill the first man who tried to threaten it. What happened to that girl would not happen to Hannah, he’d make sure of that. He knew she could handle herself but he would keep her safe for as long as she would let him.
***
They settled for making some coffee because it had been a bit of a trying evening and they both knew it was probably going to be far from over.
“Here I thought all-nighters were just a college thing,” Hannah chuckled into her steaming mug of coffee.
“I can’t tell you how many nights I lost sleep over crap like this. Waiting to hear about deals, waiting for intel, all of it,” he said, taking a sip of his own drink. “It’s a 24 hour job that I don’t get paid for.”
Hannah sighed. She had never imagined she’d have something like this with Chance but she also recognized it as exactly what she’d been hoping for. Domesticity didn’t seem quite his style and she didn’t want to force something on him that wasn’t natural to him. She didn’t want to be one of those girls that clipped a guy of his wings and forced him to settle down in a place he wasn’t ready for yet. But here they were, wrapped up together on the couch, drinking coffee in his mom’s living room.
“Do you miss school?” he asked and she could hear all the guilt swirling around in his tone.
“I do,” she said because she didn’t want to not be honest for his benefit. “But I’m also on a bit of an adventure here.”
“An adventure that could get you killed.”
“I could get killed crossing the street to go to Starbucks. I’m getting so much more out of this danger than a Venti latte.”
She felt him smile into her hair even though he didn’t say anything. All her stress was gone. It had evaporated, left to go bother someone else. She was in his arms and that was all she’d needed. She didn’t need to read relationship blogs or ask Kat for advice or consult some tarot cards. She just needed to be near him and it all suddenly made sense. That was certainly something new, but not unwelcome.
The reprieve of their quiet was interrupted, however, when Moose was all but bursting through the door.
“We’ve got a problem,” he said, breathless, huffy, and red in the face.
Hannah didn’t have a moment to feel embarrassed about being caught cuddled up in Chance’s arms, Moose looked like he was ready to pass out. She went into the kitchen to get him water from the tap while Chance told him to calm down and got him to sit in the love seat. Hannah returned with the water and Moose guzzled it.
“Where’s Cindy?” Chance asked evenly.
“Your mom is bringing her along, she figured it was probably safer to move her where she could lie down,” he said. “But fuck man, something isn’t right.”
“What do you mean?”
There was a brief pause when Hannah was sure she heard a car pull up but ignored it. Whatever Mormon or solicitor was coming around to knock on their door, they could wait. She moved in to sit closer to Moose while he took several breaths.
“It wasn’t the BD that did this to her,” Moose said.
“What the hell? She get jumped?”
“Worse than that,” Moose said grimly. “Look man, you know I’m your right hand, I don’t lie and I tell you what you need to know to keep our world spinning, right? This is going to sound fucked up and crazy but I need you to hear me out because—“
“Moose, just tell us.”
“Ben did it.”
There was a heavier silence than Hannah had ever felt in her life hanging in the air after he said that. Ben had hurt that girl nearly beyond recognition. She could believe it. That was her first thought, that of course Ben did this because there was something always creepy and a little too dangerous about him. He was something like a jackal or the giggle of a hyena. But why would he do this to some old lady in another gang? Chance voiced that Hannahe question to Moose.
“He wants the club to go legit,” Moose said. “That was really no secret. He was always antsy to break laws and do insane things. But he wants to get a war started with the BD, he thinks that it’ll get the club back on top. So he tried to keep Cindy from talking to us, wanted to stage something.”
“She told you all this?”
“It took a couple hours to get her to stay conscious for long enough to get the info out but yeah, this is pretty much the stretch of what happened to her.”
“Well fuck.”
They had only seconds to pull away, to each delve into their own thoughts on the situation when they heard a shuffle in the kitchen. Chance was immediately up, jumping into the kitchen. He was practically vibrating with how on edge he was and he bumped into the coffee table on the way out, spilling their mugs but Hannah quickly followed him.
Scout was in the kitchen, glaring absolute daggers at Chance.
“I don’t believe you,” she said.
“Scout, you’ve always known something was a little off with Ben,” Chance said.
“He’s not like that,” she said. “He just wants his own shot at things. He’s done nothing but been loyal to you for years and always gets pushed to the curb as a result.”
“Those are Ben’s words,” Hannah said, thinking out loud.
“What do you know about it?”
“I know that Ben wanted to beat my brother to death when he couldn’t pay him back. I know that he wanted to sell me off as some pass around girl until my brother got the money. I know he doesn’t seem to have an ounce of empathy in his body as long as he gets to be the person calling the shots.”
“Shut up,” Scout hissed. “You don’t know a damn thing. You’re just all lovey-dovey with my brother.”
“And you’re not that way with Ben?”
Fight or flight seemed to kick in for Scout. She was faced with horrifying and undeniable facts and now she could choose to lash out, to beat up the thing that was causing her to see a painful truth, or she could run away and pretend it existed in some pocket world she didn’t belong to. Hannah knew that feeling, she’d felt it in spades when her mother died. She remembered what she’d chosen, her hands bruised and bleeding from how many times she’d thrown them into the wall. But Scout chose to run.
Chance hadn’t been expecting the move and dived too late to stop her. Hannah, who recognized too much of her own pain in Scout’s face was unwilling to try. Besides, she wasn’t looking to get a black eye when Scout swung back around and leveled her with a backhand for grabbing her arm.
“Jesus,” Moose said, coming into the kitchen.
“We need to go after her,” Chance said. “Now. Call Link, tell him to meet us.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hannah ran out the door behind Chance, Moose at her tail. She wasn’t going to wait for an invitation and wasn’t going to argue with him. At this point Scout was her friend and she was going after her too. Chance was kind and loved his sister but it was Ben she didn’t trust with any of them. She needed to be there, she needed to see them all and protect them if she could.
So she jumped on the back of the bike and if Chance disagreed, he’d didn’t say anything as he started the engine and took off.
***
All the joy and calmness that Hannah had felt on her way to Kat’s house on the back of Chance’s bike vanished. Now the wind was frantic, the sun was down so their way was dark. They managed to catch Scout’s car and continued behind, though once or twice she tried to lose them. Link appeared at some point during this chase, flying in behind them. Hannah wondered how long they could all keep this up. Who was going to run out of gas first? Who was going to make a wrong turn and end up in an accident? She didn’t let her nervousness show, however. She trusted Chance and she wasn’t going to let her grip or unsteady breathing hint to him anything else.
Eventually, Hannah led them to a warehouse on the edge of town where Ben’s bike was already parked. She was faster at getting out, rushing in to the warehouse and slamming the door shut behind her. Chance practically vaulted off the bike as soon as the kick stand was out, racing to the door while Hannah struggled to get her helmet off and join him.
“Scout, open up!” Link yelled through the door and suddenly Hannah was reminded that he wasn’t just Kat’s husband, he was Scout’s father. And his voice commanded that way.
“Scout we need to talk this through,” Chance said.
There was no sound, Hannah doubted she could even hear them. The door was thick and metal. Well there was more than one way to get in there and get her attention. She grabbed the nearest rock, the size of her palm or so, and launched it through a window a few feet from the door. The glass shattered with several cracks and the men jumped in surprise but took the opportunity as soon as they realized what happened. Moose wrapped his hand in his jacket and punched out what was left of the glass, giving them a big enough hole to crawl through.
One by one, they got through the window and into the warehouse. They were met, however, with a bigger problem. There were no lights in the place and debris littered the floor almost everywhere. Ben and Scout were going to have a massive advantage in here if they didn’t think of a plan fast.
“We need some flash lights,” Link said, pulling out his cellphone and using it to cast a dim light.
“If we do that they’ll see us,” Hannah hissed. “We need some kind of element of surprise.”
“Basically we’re gambling on whether Ben will kill us or we’ll be killed by a broken neck when we trip over all of this goddamn junk,” Moose said. “What was this place anyway?”
“Old bottling plant for the Lemp Brewery,” Chance said.
That explained the stale smell that seemed to just live in the walls of the building. They started moving forward, carefully tiptoeing through the maze of hazards at their feet, trying to navigate around. They kept Link’s dim light pointed directly to the ground, keeping it from being too obvious and using it to avoid catching the ends of overturned desks or slipping on broken bottles.
“Is this Ben’s fortress of solitude?” Link asked with a snort.
“I imagine he comes here to brood about the best way to punch babies or something,” Moose added in.
She couldn’t bring herself to laugh. Ben had always scared her. He’d terrified her the first moment she met him when he practically broke down the front door to get his hands on her brother and shake him for every cent of money he could. She was terrified of him when she got on the back of his bike and felt his energy like a shark in the water and she had a bleeding cut. Everything about him screamed danger. She understood that Chance didn’t want to see the full scope of it because Ben was his friend, his family in many ways. She’d save the “I told you so” for later once they got Scout back. Hannah didn’t believe she was in on any sort of plots with Ben, which meant she was in danger if she went running to him.
“Should we split up?” Moose asked.
“Have you never seen a horror movie?” Hannah asked. “That’s literally the worst idea.”
“This place is huge and we’re never going to get anywhere if we take it all together,” Moose hissed back. “We need to cover as much ground as possible.”
“And what happens when one of us stumbles on Ben all alone and everyone else is three floors up and can’t hear them getting brutally murdered?” Hannah asked.
“She’s got a point,” Chance chimed in.
They turned a corner and heard a sound. It was a shuffle followed by a yelp, a yelp from a female voice. They looked at each other and started moving down the hall with more conviction and speed. Someone was at the end of the hall, one way or another. They didn’t have guns or pepper spray or crowbars. They had nothing to defend themselves if Ben got the upper hand when they turned the corner. But it would be four on one, those were some kind of helpful odds.
The shuffling got louder and the female voice was now accompanied by a man who was angry. Hannah couldn’t make out what he was saying but it was clear to her they were orders. He was shouting commands and the girl’s voice started whimpering. Hannah picked up her pace, fearing the worst for Scout and Chance did the Hannahe at her side. Link all but took off running at the possibility of his daughter in danger. They turned the corner and what they saw was so much worse than they expected.
Ben had both Scout and Cindy on their knees in front of them, a gun in his hand. He was standing poised. He was waiting for them. He wasn’t smirking but his face was more serious than Hannah had ever seen it. Next to her, she felt Chance tense up completely, almost painfully so. She felt the air around them all change. She tried to steel herself. One wrong move could get two girls killed, or worse. They had to play this smart.
“How you doing, boss?” Ben asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm and not a smile to be seen on his face.
“What the hell is going on Ben?” Chance asked. “You’ve got thirty seconds to explain.”
“I only need twenty. I’m not going to watch this club turn into some Hell’s Angels bullshit where we all go about our white collar jobs and occasionally get together on Sundays to ride around. Satan’s Knights are fierce and we were feared when your dad was in charge. This crap with the Black Death is exactly the reason we need to step up our game, remind them who owns this town,” Ben said.
“What’s the point?” Chance asked. “It’s not the 1950’s anymore. Organized crime doesn’t run anything and it doesn’t pay off.”
“It does if you do it right, own a few cops, get the good shipments in.” He cocked his gun. “And make people who crossed you pay.”
“You touch one hair on my sister’s head and I’ll kill you,” Chance said dangerously.
“The Hannahe goes for Cindy,” Moose said.
“Well you’re in luck, gentlemen, I have a solution to both your problems. Trade me the mouse hiding behind the two of and I’ll give you both of these ladies.”
It was like a bomb got dropped inside Hannah’s stomach and she felt like completely throwing up. So that was it then, Ben’s end game here. Was it all just a massive game of cat and mouse or had they all just expertly played into his hands. He didn’t seem smart enough for any sort of chess game. So perhaps it was all reactionary but somehow managed to work out perfectly in his favor.
“Son of a bitch,” Link hissed, stepping forward slightly but stopping sharply when Ben took his cocked gun and pointed it right at Scout’s head, tapping the back of her skull with it.
“Everyone calm down,” Hannah said. “Let’s talk about this.”
She pulled Chance back and to the side but that didn’t sit well with Ben. “Talk where I can hear you.”
Hannah glared at him. “Do it.”
“What?”
“Scout is your sister, Cindy’s been through enough,” Hannah said. “I’m not letting two women get killed when I could stop it.”
“Do you have any idea what they’re going to do to you?” Chance said, stepping closer to her, his eyes doing that Hannahe thing where they seemed to just completely catch fire, even in the dim light of the old warehouse.
“It’s not in my nature to let people get hurt when I can stop it,” Hannah said. “That’s why I’m going to school, that’s why I took the fall for my brother, that’s why I do everything that I do.”
“This isn’t the Hannahe thing as defending someone in court,” Chance said. “God knows what he’s going to do to you.”
“And your sister?”
She saw the look of pure pain on Chance’s face. It was torturing him to be caught in this position and she wished she could make it easier. All she could do was make the choice for him though. It was her body, her life. She could offer it up to save the people she cared about if she wanted, Chance didn’t have a say in that. They weren’t together, they weren’t married, they weren’t even dating. She cared for him, if the roles were reversed she’d be just as confused. But right now she needed to selfish and save these people.
She moved to step away from him and he instinctively moved forward. She shook her head. She turned to face Ben and took a deep breath. “Deal.”
He was back to smirking now, the cackling animal inside him was coming back out to play on his face. He nodded and tapped the gun against Scout’s head, telling her to get up slowly. She did so, her hands up in the air. Once she was standing, however, her eyes locked. Hannah wasn’t sure what Scout was trying to say with her gaze but suddenly, on her way across the room, she tripped. It was just enough, Hannah knew what to do. She rushed forward, not thinking, only moving. Her body collided with Ben’s while he was distracted.
They both went down in a hard thud on the concrete floor. The gun skidded away and Hannah didn’t have time to think about anything else as she launched herself towards it. Someone grabbed her ankle and yanked her back but she claimed her way forward some more, putting the solid bang of her heel into Ben’s face. She reached forward and felt the heavy, cold metal in her fingers. She turned around to see Ben gone and Chance giving chase, jumping over a pile of boxes and rushing after what she assumed must be him.
She felt someone’s hands on her, lifting her up. Before she could turn around to defend herself she saw Scout, wide eyed, checking her over for wounds.
“Are you okay?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“I should be asking you that,” Hannah said.
“He didn’t hurt me,” she said. “You were going to save me.”
“Of course I was. I wasn’t going to let some asshole get away with hurting two innocent girls when I could stop it.”
“You’re innocent too,” Scout said quietly. “Probably more innocent than most of us.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m a little too self-sacrificial for my own good.”
Scout gave her a weak smile and nodded, her cheeks turning just a little bit pink. Moose was already helping Cindy up and Link had rushed outside to try and cut Ben off. But like all good snakes, he managed to get away.