Even with the roar of the bike between them, Hannah could feel the energy coming off of her mystery savoir. She wouldn’t really call him a savior, actually, he looked like the type of guy seen on the cover of some bodice ripping pirate porn novel. He had that sort of chiseled handsomeness about him with more than a dash of attitude. Still, he gave her his helmet, though he hadn’t said a word to her since getting on the bike. He did shout several times to his companion whose name, if she heard correctly, was Moose.
Part of her knew it was just as stupid to get on the back of this bike as it was to get on the other. She knew the good cop-bad cop routine and she knew all about Stockholm syndrome (she had an entire unit on it in her first semester). He could easily be trying to play into her trust when faced with the possibility of rape from the alternative option. She wasn’t going to so easily fall into a trap like this. She kept her body stiff and her mind alert. She didn’t trust the man driving this bike any more than she trusted the man who all but tried to toss her on his bike. Still, it was obvious they didn’t like each other and the enemy of my enemy…
The problem was she wasn’t sure which one exactly was the enemy. She had a choice though, she could sit there and be terrified of the man who was both her protector and capture or she could funnel that all into a much more productive source of energy: anger. The latter made her feel a bit more powerful, so she went with that, trying not to grip too tightly into the driver’s shoulders as she thought of how pissed off she was at the whole situation.
She was going to law school to change her life, and change the lives of those around her. Now she was going to miss God knew how many classes to play hostage while her brother scrounged for money he didn’t have to pay back some dangerous men.
Not her idea of a good future for herself.
Her brother was safe, at least. Well, she was pretty sure he was safe. His debts were, currently, accounted for. She was proof of that. That didn’t mean someone else wasn’t banging down the door or some new idiotic temptation wasn’t coming to cause more problems but for the issues she knew of, she at least had a sense to know he was well protected and safe.
They rode for hours and she felt like her legs were both going to turn into jelly and completely stiffen up at the Hannahe time. Her muscles were both cramped from gripping at the seat and holding onto the drive tight and shaken up like a smoothie from the vibrations of the bike’s engine. Just when she was sure her arms and legs were just going to fall right off on the spot, they pulled off the side of the road and into a gas station.
“You want anything?” Moose said, getting off his bike and pointing into the small convenience store attached to the gas station.
“Coffee, black. You want anything?” he turned and looked at Hannah.
She was actually starving. But she didn’t want to give them the power of knowing that, of providing her with food. She shook her head.
“Get her some trail mix or some shit,” he said despite her answer.
She scowled. She was both mad and relieved. Now she was facing the new trial of whether or not to eat it in front of him.
“You got a name, lady?” he asked, pumping his motorcycle full of gas.
She wanted to ignore him. He didn’t get to know her name. That would be even more power for him and a slippery slope that lead to too much trust. She kept her mouth shut and he sighed.
“My name is Chance,” he said. “Williams.”
He was trying to build trust, make himself the vulnerable one. She’d seen this all before in several hostage case studies, it’s the way things like this operated, tit for tat, give a little to get a little. She wasn’t going to buy it.
“Fine,” he said. “Be anonymous. Whatever.”
He didn’t say anything after that, pumping the gas in silence and accepting his black coffee in silence. Moose handed her a bag of peanuts and she did her best not to devour them despite how hungry she was. Before they got back on the road, however, Chance pulled her aside.
“I want it made clear, I’m out of town on business and you’re a inconvenience,” he said. She scowled.
“Gee, I’m sorry that you taking me hostage is such a problem for you,” she said, crossing her arms.
“I’m dropping you off at our motel and then we’ve got things to take care of tonight—”
“People to murder? Bodies to bury?”
“—I trust you’re not going to run off anywhere because you’re still, like it or not, collateral, no matter how nice I treat you.”
“You certainly do think highly of yourself.”
He didn’t say anything else, got back on the bike and waited for her to do the Hannahe before driving off without warning.
***
They got to the motel just as the sun was setting. He made a show of how he had to rent an extra room to toss her in so she’d feel comfortable and not threatened by sleeping in the Hannahe room as two strange men. She told him thank you and glared. It wasn’t exactly like having two dangerous men sleeping only feet from her was some invalid fear of hers.
“You’re an idiot, I just want you to know that,” he said as he dropped her off at the room before leaving.
“Really?” she said, crossing her arms. “Any other observations you’d like to make?”
“You offered yourself up as biker bait. Do you know what happens to those girls?” he asked.
“Yes, actually, I do. I’ve talked to plenty of the Satan’s Knights sexual assault victims in my volunteer work,” she said. “I know what you guys get up to.”
“Then why the hell did you offer yourself up to Ben like that?”
“I did zero offering,” she said. “I went with him willingly but it was only after he said it was that or my brother’s brains were going to get blown all over the living room right in front of me. Maybe you should learn to control your dogs a little better.”
He shook his head, told her to have a good night, and walked out.
She waited until she was sure he was out of earshot, the sound of his motorcycle fading into the distance, before taking a pillow and leveling a scream into it that was muffled but still let out all her energy. When they got out of this, she was going to kill her brother herself. He never listened, he was selfish, and now she was trapped in a dangerous and incredibly miserable situation with only the promise of an angry looking psychopath that he wasn’t going to come back and murder him in his sleep anyway.
She settled for a bath. That usually calmed her issues. It didn’t make them go away, but she could think with a little more calm and a little less speed when she was sitting in a bathtub. The bathroom didn’t look as dirty as the motel label might suggest. She put the plug in the bottom and began to the fill the tub with steaming hot water, dropping in whatever two cent soap was sitting on the counter. It was better than nothing.
She peeled her clothing off, taking care to take everything off individually, savoring the feeling of stripping down, focusing on the task. It gave her a way to think, to meditate on things. She felt a little bit calmer for each piece of clothing removed, each button she popped open. Eventually she was stark naked and shivering, just slightly, in the chilly air as the top layer of her skin erupted into goosebumps and the tiny hairs across her arms and the back of her neck stood on end.
The sensation met its opposite when she dipped a foot into the tub and shivered for how good the warm water felt against her chilled skin. She dipped down completely into the water, sighing as she did so. She took a deep breath and let the water wash over her as she dipped her head below, just once, and resurfaced. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander. She thought about school, about her future. She thought about one day getting out of that apartment with her brother, helping those kids the gangs so greedily wanted to recruit into their ranks for cheap labor.
She thought about the term ending and the freedom the summer would bring to her. She thought about everything outside her hotel room, outside her prison, and away from the fucked up world her brother dragged her into. She thought about it for so long she didn’t even notice when she passed into a deep sleep.
***
She was awoken by the slam of the door. The first thing she noticed was that her steaming warm bath had turned to lukewarm, borderline chilly water. Her hands were pruny in virtually every corner and she’d be paying for that for weeks with a moisturizer regiment. Standing over her was Chance Williams, glaring and uncaring that she sat naked from head to toe below him.
“You’re a fucking idiot,” he said. “Did you want to die by drowning or by leaving the door unlocked and letting anyone waltz right in here?”
He threw a towel at her as she rose out of the bathtub and marched after him.
‘I’m not some pawn in your gang you can just order around and insult whenever you want, you know,” she said, hotly. “I happen to be the top of my class. I also happen to do that while being employed fulltime as a waitress and cleaning up after my brother’s messes. My name, by the way? It’s Hannah. Hannah Bremer and you better get used to it because one day I’m going to be defending kids from scum bags like you who want to take advantage of their lack of future.”
“Don’t talk about me like you know me.”
“Don’t order me around. You’re the one dragging me God-knows-where over some goddamn money. You and your gang act like fucking children when it comes to crap like this. I’m not going to go quietly along as part of your dick-measuring contest,” she said. “Now get out of my room, I’m going to bed.”
He obeyed, slamming the door behind him and she tried to pretend her face was flushed from anger alone and not from the way he’d been staring at the bounce of her breasts beneath the towel.