Married to the Dragon

by Selina Coffey

  The manager left, closing the door behind him, leaving Julie to cope with Axel in the dark.

  Chapter Four

  Axel woke in the dark. Memories swirled through his head, or were they dreams? He remembered the intense pain when Julie cut the bullet from his shoulder. Then later being too hot, Julie holding a cloth to his head, making him swallow cool liquid. He put a hand on his side where the bullet had gone through. The skin around the wound was cool. No infection. He felt his thigh. No infection there either. He was trying to reach the wound on his shoulder when the light clicked on.

  Axel looked around the little room. He was in the only bed, barely wide enough to hold him. Julie was in an uncomfortable looking armchair next to the bed, her hand on the lamp, blinking sleepily. The only other objects worth speculating about were the two doors. One to the bathroom, the other one the way out, he supposed. The room was dingy and dark. There were no windows. It was the perfect place for him to hide while recuperating.

  “How are you feeling?” Julie asked, getting to her feet to feel his forehead. “I was beginning to think that fever was never going to break.” She lifted his shirt and peeled back the dressing. “This is much better,” She said. “I couldn’t get you to swallow much, so I packed the wound with antibiotic powder. I didn’t know if it would help or not. Roll over a little so I can look at your back.”

  He gritted his teeth as she poked at the wound on his back. It hurt like a SOB, but he’d be damned if he’d act like an ungrateful asshole. He was willing to bet she hadn’t been fully asleep the entire time he’d been healing.

  “How long was I out?” he asked. She sat back in the chair and the light illuminated the dark circles under her eyes, her hands shaking. With fatigue or hunger, he wondered.

  “A couple of days,” she said. “I was scared to death.” She ran her hand through her hair. “I need a shower.”

  “You haven’t showered? What about food? Have you eaten? Slept?” He felt the anger start to flow but he stamped it down. He wasn’t angry at her, so much as the situation. There had been no one to help her.

  “The manager brought me a sandwich, but there’s no shower down here – just a toilet and a sink, so I couldn’t shower.” She closed her eyes.

  “I’ve got some money in my wallet,” he said. “Take it and my truck and get some food. You’ll be all right. Just go straight to the truck and lock yourself in.”

  “I just want to close my eyes for a minute,” she said, squirming around in the chair, trying to get comfortable. An impossibility by the looks of the chair.

  “Come here,” he said. “Slide in beside me.” He moved so his back was on the very edge of the bed and held the blanket up. For a moment she looked like she would refuse, but then she deflated and slid in with him. Whatever her hesitation had been, exhaustion had trumped it.

  He stayed until her breathing was deep and even, then he slid his arm out from under her and got out of bed. He was a little unsteady on his feet at first. He went into the tiny bathroom and splashed some water over his face and the back of his neck from the dirty sink. He found his duffle under the end of the bed and pulled on some clothes, found his wallet and the key to the room and let himself out, locking the door behind him.

  He hoped the thug who’d shot him thought he was dead, but hope isn’t an emotion to act on. He was slow to come out into the daylight, cracking the door open and scanning the throughway before emerging. When he reached the parking lot he stood in the shadows scanning the parking lot for unusual activity. But it was Monday morning, there was only one other vehicle in the lot and it was locked and empty.

  He got in the truck and headed for food. The drug store beside the fast food drive through made him think of the oozing wounds. He stopped at the pharmacy first and picked up supplies, adding a box of condoms to his basket. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten that. Julie had taken him by surprise.

  He drove through the take out joint, bought just about two of everything and drove back to the hotel. He hadn’t been gone more than half an hour.

  There was a second car in the lot when Axel drove in, but he didn’t think too much of it. This place had people coming and going at all hours. Axel grabbed the bags of food and first aid supplies with one hand and the drink carrier with the other, balancing the coffees and milkshakes with ease. He felt good. Happy for the first time in a long while. He liked that he was doing something for Julie now, it felt right to him.

  The good feelings disappeared when he reached the basement room and the door was standing open. Martin was sitting in the chair with Julie on his lap. There was a bright red handprint on her cheek and a gun to her head. Rage threatened to overpower him, but he pushed it back. He needed a cool head to get Julie out of this.

  “You all right, babe?” he asked.

  She looked up and nodded; her eye swollen and purple, her lower lip cracked and bleeding.

  “You should have never left her alone, boyo,” Martin said. “You made it easy for me. Move into the bathroom and shut the door.”

  “I’m putting the food on the bed, bro. You should let her take it with you. It’s been a long time since she ate,” Axel said setting everything carefully on the bed, except the drinks which he balanced on the rickety bedside table. He moved into the bathroom but didn’t shut the door.

  “What do I care if the whore is hungry,” Martin said. “That’s what she gets for leaving me.”

  Martin pushed Julie roughly to her feet and shoved her toward the hall. When she reached the door, she grabbed the handle and slammed it hard on his gun hand. The gun dropped.

  Axel exploded from the bathroom and grabbed Martin around the waist, pulling him away from the door.

  “Run, babe! Run to the office and call the heat!” Axel turned his attention to Martin, who was attempting to elbow him in the gunshot wound in his side. They locked together, both trying for the upper hand. Axel used his height and weight advantages to fling Martin on the floor. He hit the bedside table and the coffee and milkshakes tumbled from the table and soaked him.

  Martin jumped up pulling his soaking and obviously hot shirt over his head. His pants were covered in frozen dairy. He didn't seem to know which end to clean up first. Axel spotted the gun at the same moment Martin started to reach for it. Axel body checked him sideways, away from the gun sending Martin onto the bed and Julie's breakfast. For some reason, the ruined breakfast sent him into a rage. He slammed his elbow into Martins face, knocking Martin silly and causing a massive nosebleed.

  "I've got the gun," Julie said from behind him. "You can get up, Axel."

  He made a fist and slammed it into Martins face. The crunch of breaking nose made him grin. Take that you bastard, he thought.

  "Axel! Stop!" Julie shouted. "You have to stop now!"

  "He ruined your breakfast," Axel said. "That's why I went out, I knew you needed to eat and he's ruined it." He started forward again, the desire to smash in Martins face overwhelming him.

  "I called the cops, Axel. You've got to get out of here," Julie said.

  "I can't just leave you with this guy," Axel's mind was reeling. "I can hide in the bathroom."

  "No. You can't. If you get caught here it will be my fault. I don't want you to go to jail. Please, Axel, for me. He's practically unconscious and I've got the gun."

  The sound of sirens reached their ears and panic sprang onto her face. She looked at him, pleading with her eyes. He grabbed his duffle and ran up the stairs, out behind the motel and over the dusty field to the woods. He'd wait there until everything calmed down and he could go back to claim his truck. He watched as a stream of cop cars pulled in, sirens blaring. Soon the parking lot was full of flashing blue lights and there were cops stationed all over the place, guns drawn.

  He couldn't see them pull Martin out of the basement, but pretty soon the cars started pulling away until only the forensics team was left. It was dark before Axel felt safe enough to make his way back across the field. He stopped in
at the office and paid off the manager. It was the one way to make sure the motel stayed a good place to hide.

  After that he got in his truck and drove. It was time for him to start making some changes in his life.

  Chapter Five

  Julie rode away from the motel in a squad car. She saw Axel's truck in the parking lot, but he was nowhere to be seen, thank goodness. She should have turned Axel in. That would have been the best thing for him. Maybe a little time in jail would have scared him straight. She sighed and closed her eyes, she just couldn't do that to him. If only she didn’t care so much maybe she could do the right thing. She just couldn't seem to stop caring.

  The cops fed her while they were taking her statement. The tall brown haired officer who brought the food said she looked as if she was about to fall over from hunger. He wasn't far wrong. She hadn't left Axel's side while he was recovering. She hadn't really slept or eaten for more than two days now.

  "Why didn't you go to the cops when this guy turned bad?" asked the interrogating officer. "They've got good cops in the city."

  "He would have killed me," she said. "It was easier just to leave town. I didn't think he knew where I was from. I was wrong."

  She sat in the interrogation room for a long time after she gave her statement. Finally, the two men who'd questioned her came back in.

  "The City PD raided his house. What they found matched what you said, so we're letting you go. I expect you'll have to testify."

  Julie nodded and they led her out to the waiting room. Her mother and father were there, waiting for her. Julie and her mother burst into tears. Her father said "None of that," in an especially kind tone and took them home.

  Julie spent a couple of days just eating and sleeping, until one day she woke and finally felt normal. She went downstairs to the kitchen where her mother was drinking a cup of coffee and talking to the dog.

  "Well you look much better," her mom said. "How about some coffee cake?"

  Coffee cake was her mother's food of choice when she wanted to discuss something. Julie sighed inwardly, she wasn't in the mood for a lecture, but she sat obediently.

  "Mom," Julie said when her mother set the cake and coffee in front of her. "I think I want to go to college."

  "Oh thank God," her mother said. "I've been so worried about what would happen to you. What will you study?"

  "I was thinking maybe law, so I could help women like me." She saw the frown on her mother's face and forged on. "You know. Women who are abused and don't know how to get out of bad situations. But I'm just going to start by going to community college and seeing where it takes me - education wise. I don't plan on moving out of here again for a long while."

  Her mother smiled. "I think that is a lovely start, Julie," she said. "Go to college and meet some nice normal people. Your father will like that."

  After breakfast, Julie told her mother that she was going down to the community college to see about registering. She felt guilty as she pulled the mini-van out onto the street. She was going to the college, she hadn't lied about that, but she also should have told her mom that she was going to look for Axel. She wanted to thank him and tell him good-bye. She still really liked him, in fact she thought she was probably in love with him, but she couldn't live that life. She couldn't spend her life running from the law and seeing Axel get beaten up by rival gangs.

  Julie couldn’t tell her mother that. There was no way she'd understand Julie's need to see Axel. She wouldn’t understand her need to have closure. Julie kept an eye out for Axel as she drove through the town and onto the highway, but she didn't see him. She drove 30 minutes south to the slightly larger town, San Markle, where the community college campus was housed.

  Julie parked near the admissions building in a parking lot. It had rows of trees separating the rows of spaces. The whole campus was green and forested, big lawns with trees dotting the common areas. Her heart was beating with anticipation and nerves as she walked into the air-conditioned admissions building. There was a pretty blond woman behind the counter who smiled and encouraged her; the next thing Julie knew she was in a friendly office with a college advisor.

  After an hour meeting with an advisor Julie, was set up with her classes. A returning student showed her around campus, pointing out the buildings where her classes would be held. They wandered into Wilson Hall where the freshman seminar would be held. Julie gaped at the size of the room.

  “How many students are there in Freshman Seminar?” she asked, a small kernel of panic building inside her.

  “I think we had two hundred and fifty in my Frosh class,” The girl said. “It seems big, but it’s not really. There are bunches of T.A.s to help.”

  “TA?” Julie asked.

  “Teacher’s Assistant. They’re pretty good at what they do.” She led the way back out into the sunshine.

  Julie tried to keep the panic down. Two hundred and fifty people in one class, she was bound to fall through the cracks. The other student put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Stop worrying. You’ll be fine. It’s community college, it’s their job to get you through.”

  Julie felt the world start to spin around her.

  “You’d better sit down!” The girl led her to a bench under a tree and gently pushed her head down between her knees. “Stay here,” she said and ran off.

  Julie stayed, feeling foolish. She wondered what people were thinking as they passed by, but it wasn’t long before a paramedic was crouched in front of her taking her vital signs.

  “I’m okay,” Julie said. “I’ve been under a lot of stress is all. I think I should go home now.” Julie went to get up, but the paramedic put a hand on her arm, holding her down.

  “Sweetheart, your blood pressure is unstable. I want to take you in for observation.”

  “But my mom’s car,” Julie cried out.

  “Will be perfectly safe in the parking lot until either of you can pick it up. Now here are my team, we’re going to wheel you out of here.”

  Julie assented and they strapped her onto a gurney and wheeled her to the ambulance. Julie blushed with embarrassment. This was so mortifying.

  She was admitted and held at the hospital overnight. Her mother brought her toiletries and fresh clothing after her collecting the minivan from college.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know, Julie,” her mom said. She was sitting on Julie’s hospital bed, holding her hand. “Your Uncle Henry needs a file girl in his office. It doesn’t pay much, but you could live at home until you get some savings built up.”

  “No, mom. I’m going to college. I want a profession, not just a job. I can do this.” Julie surprised herself. There had been a time when the best she would have hoped for would have been an office job. “I am going to help women and children,” she said. “Even if it takes me ten years to get through school I’m going to do this.”

  “Well okay then,” said her father, “It’s about time you starting standing up for yourself.” He punched her lightly on the shoulder. “I don’t know what happened to you in the city, but if this is the result then maybe it was worth it.”

  “Don’t be silly,” her mother said. “She was in a horrible situation. How could it possibly be worth it?”

  But Julie secretly thought her father was right.

  She was released from the hospital the next day and took the bus down town to search for Axel. She looked in all their old haunts; the coffee shop where he asked her to drive for him, the Old Octopus – the pub where she’d first seen him drinking and coming on to the girls. She tried the carwash and the taco place, but she couldn’t find him anywhere.

  She went and stood on the sidewalk outside the building where Axel lived, but she didn’t have the courage to go in. She didn’t know the apartment number and there was a scary looking guy leaning on the wall next to the door. Not a doorman more like a door thug. She stood there until the thug noticed her and started staring. Then she went home.

  Julie dug in her dra
wer for her old cell phone, the one she’d left behind when she went to the city. She flipped it open but it was dead. She plugged it in and tried to forget about Axel, but she wanted, she NEEDED to say goodbye. To make him understand that she loved him, but she couldn’t be with him because he was a criminal. She believed he could go straight, but only if he wanted it. If he had a reason that meant something to him. She didn’t know what that reason might be, but if he could find it, he could be free.

  The phone beeped, indicating that it had charged. But she had changed her mind. If she was only chasing him down because she believed deep down that he loved her and would change for her, she was destined for disappointment. Surely the city had taught her that. She threw the phone back in a drawer.

  Chapter Six

  The first thing Axel did after retrieving his truck at the motel was to drive to San. Markle and rent an apartment. If he was going to get out from under Eduardo, he needed a bolt hole.

  Then he went back to his first apartment to assess the situation and decide what he owned that he could do without. As he packed his clothes he thought about his plan. Should he take on Eduardo or the cops first? He decided he’d better see the police chief first.

  He carried his boxes and a couple of suitcases to his car. Rog, who was stationed outside the basement door, asked if he was going on a trip. “No,” Axel said, faking nonchalance he didn’t feel, “just getting rid of some stuff.”

  Rog saluted and said “Carry on.”

  On his way back in, Rog stopped him.