by Sara Crest
“Samara, club Samara, it’s worth a shot. Which direction is it?”
“Go like 4 blocks that way and then 6 blocks left and it’s probably there, I think” she said pointing.
She thinks, guess it’s better than nothing. I revved the bike, causing the girl to squeal and jump to the side out of the way. Normally I would have helped her out, especially since she helped me, but my life and Viktoria’s safety were on the line here.
I made a U-turn and hit that throttle harder than I ever have in my life. “4 blocks, left, 6 blocks” I repeated to myself over and over. God I hoped she was right, pretty young thing like her doesn’t deserve to be kidnapped by her dad’s enemies when she’s gone her whole life locked away.
I pulled a sharp left, skidding along the pavement and barely regaining control of my bike. “Come on baby don’t fail me now.”
Off in the distance I saw a line of people, as I got closer and closer I made out the words “Samara” in neon lights over the door.
I pulled over on the opposite side of the road. “Is this really a place she would want to go to? Not like I have any other leads...”
I got off my bike and started walking towards the club, with a line of people that long it looked like the wait would be at least 30 minutes. I didn’t have that kind of time.
I walked to the front of the door but was blocked by the bouncer. He was my height but goddamn this guy large, must have had a good 60 pounds on me.
“First of all there’s a line, second of all you’re not allowed in here with a t-shirt, jeans, and boots. Go home, change, come back and try again.”
“Look buddy I don’t have time for this, I just need to check and see if someone is inside, I’ll be in and out just like that.”
“You think I haven’t heard that excuse before.”
“It wasn’t an excuse, it was an order, move out of the way.”
The bouncer dropped his clipboard and rolled his sleeves up, stepping forward.
“You wanna try saying that again big man?”
“I said I got business to take care of, move out the way.” I put my hand on him to push him, big mistake.
He swung at me, hitting me hard in the face but with all the adrenalin rushing through my body I hardly felt it. He stepped in to take another swing but missed completely, losing his balance. As he tried to regain his footing I landed a solid hit to the side of his head, knocking him down but not out.
Before I could even tell what was going on the whole line of people started cheering and rushing into the club through the door. The bouncer was quickly getting up, I had to take the chance given to me. I ran into the crowd and followed them through the door into the night club.
Once I actually go in I was stuck in the crowd, forced to move where they moved as they poured into the club. Just when it seemed like I was wasting my time I saw her, off on her own in a corner sipping a cocktail.
I fought through the crowd to get to her, each foot was a struggle as I pushed people aside to get to her. I couldn’t believe it, I really couldn’t believe it, I found her. She was safe and sound without a scratch on her.
I snuck up behind her and put my hand on her shoulder. She practically jumped out of those high heels of hers.
She turned to me, startled. I couldn’t believe my eyes she somehow looked even more drop dead gorgeous all made up. I had half a mind to not tell the guys I rescued her and have some fun with her here in the club, I’m sure I could show her a better time then what she was having right now.
“Just get her out of here, Jack” I thought.
“You! You’ve put me through hell tonight and you’re coming back with me right now.”
I looked over the crowd and saw two large men heading our way, “shit, must be more bouncers. Come with me.”
I grabbed her by that hand and pulled her with me, surprisingly she didn’t put up a fight, in fact she squeezed my hand hard when I took it.
I took her to the back of the club, desperately looking for a way out. I turned around and saw the two men getting closer and closer. I looked around for any possible way we could escape but the only door was to the women’s bathroom.
“Here goes nothing.”
Chapter Eight
(Viktoria)
He pulled me into the women’s bathroom, the few women that were in there screamed and quickly ran out the door.
He let go of my hand and ran over to the opposite wall. There was a small window high up that was about 2 feet wide.
“It’ll be a small fit, but it can work. Viktoria, come here. We need to get out of here before those bouncers catch us.”
He turned to me and looked me straight in the eye “and don’t think you’re off the hook, we gotta have a talk you and I.”
Part of me was relieved that Jack was here, the club scene just wasn’t the place for me and it started to make me feel overwhelmed. The other part of me was upset that I had wasted my one shot of freedom, there was no way he was going to let me out of his sight after this debacle. And chances are he would be so mad at me that he probably wouldn’t want anything to do with me physically. Was any of this worth it?
The door burst open and two men walked in, one was wearing a turtleneck sweater, the other a suit jacket. They almost seemed familiar.
“Look fellas, this is a big misunderstanding” Jack said. “I only fought that bouncer outside to get to my friend here, now that we’ve been reaquainted we’ll be on our way.”
“Silence yankee” he barked at Jack in a thick Russian accent before turning to me.
“Viktoria Petrov?” he asked.
“Yes? Do I know you?”
Both men pulled out handguns, pointing them directly at me.
Jack tackled me from behind, saving me from the initial shots of my would be killers
He scrambled from on top of me, pulling the legs of the two men and bringing them to the floor.
“Viktoria! Run!” he screamed, trying to hold the men down.
I rushed to my feet, struggling to run out of the door in my high heels. I didn’t want to leave Jack behind but there was nothing I could do to help him.
When I got back into the club the whole building was in panic, people were struggling to pour out of the front door out of fear from the gunshots they had heard. I took my high heels off, there was no way I was going to get anywhere quickly with those things on. I barely knew how to walk in them properly let alone run in them.
I struggled to fight my way through the crowd, trying desperately to get outside. At least I blended in with the crowd making it more difficult to find me. We all poured out of the building and people started scattering. There a motorcycle on the other side of the road that I could only assume was Jack’s so I rushed as quickly as I could across the street.
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I felt someone grab my hand and start pulling me. I struggled thinking it was one of the men trying to kill me but was relieved to see that it was Jack. “Come on, we have to get out of here now!”
We mounted the motorcycle, I had never been on one of these things but I guess I was about to get a crash course. I turned to the opening of the club to see the two men coming out of the door. Through the crowd of frantic people they spotted us, one raised his gun but the other stopped him from shooting, I can only guess that they didn’t want to accidentally shoot anyone in the way and have unnecessary collateral.
Jack started up the motorcycle, yelling at people to get out of the way as I saw the two men get into a car. They began honking their horn to get people to move just as we began to speed away.
I will never forget the first time I felt the rush of that motorcycle. The wind on my face, my hair blowing back, the sense of freedom it gave me, my arms wrapped tightly around Jack’s waist so that I wouldn’t fall off. I only wish that it was under far better circumstances.
Jack turned his head around, he immediately looked frustrated and began speeding up. I turned out of curiosity only to see that
the two men had been able to get through the crowd and were hot on our tail.
“Oh god I should have never left my room, I should have never gone out, what was I thinking now I’m going to be killed all because I’m my father’s daughter. Why was I given this life it isn’t fair, I didn’t even get to enjoy my only night of freedom.”
Jack was making the bike go faster than I had ever gone before, but for some reason we weren’t heading back towards my house. It actually seemed like we were heading out of the city. I turned around to see the men that were chasing us slowly fall behind, we were actually losing them.
At the speed we were going Jack was practically weaving in and around the city blocks, running through red lights, and narrowly dodging traffic. I felt more alive in those few moments than at anytime in my entire life. The roar of the engine, the sound of the cars whizzing by us, the feeling of knowing that we were actually trying to escape from immediate danger. I never had a rush like this.
We hit the outskirts of the city, still weaving in and out of traffic at speeds so fast I could feel my hair whipping around in the wind behind my head. I turned around and our pursuers were gone, I breathed a sigh of relief but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen them before. I mean they sounded Russian, right? With all the time I have to listen to my father and his men talk you’d think I’d be better at picking up the different Russian and Eastern European accents.
We pulled off onto a side road, at this time of night in this area there were no cars to be seen around here. I recognized the area, dad owned a shipping business that he used for money laundering and they used to operate around this area. The place was full of abandoned warehouses and other run down buildings, maybe dad told him to bring me here in case something went wrong? You know like a safe house?
Jack drove us behind one of the warehouses and stopped, turning his bike off and taking a deep breath before stepping off the bike. He pulled out his phone and made some calls, telling his men that him and I were safe and to go back to the suite and stay put for a couple of hours until we came back in the morning.
I got off the bike, waiting for him to get off the phone. As soon as he hung up he turned around, ready to yell at me. I immediately rushed towards him, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face in his chest. The adrenaline from the bike ride was wearing off and a sense of overwhelming regret and fear began to wash over me. Someone was actually out to kill me, I could have actually died tonight if it wasn’t for him. I began to cry, burying my face further into Jack as I began shaking from fear.
“Jack, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for something like this to happen.”
Chapter Nine
(Jack)
I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting this. I thought she was going to act all pouty and disappointed that I ruined her night out. I guess I assumed that she was just a rich brat spoiled from daddy’s money and an invincibility complex, I didn’t realize that what just happened would have brought her to tears.
I slowly wrapped my arms around her, massaging her back and trying to comfort her as she sobbed into my t-shirt. I wasn’t actually expecting to have any real physical contact with her during this job but hey, I wasn’t complaining.
She held onto me tighter, squeezing me as she pulled herself closer to my body. I felt a sharp pain shoot up my side when she squeezed me and backed away. I lifted my shirt up to see a cut on the right side of my body, just to the right of my abs. I recognized what it was immediately, one of their bullets had grazed me. Thank god it was minor… doubt it would even need stitches.
“Oh my god Jack you’re hurt, I’m so sorry” she said in between sobs.
“Calm down I’ll be fine. I’ve been through this before, it’s only a slight graze so it’s to be worried about.” Actually I had been through worse, even when meth addicts and crackheads were stoned out of their mind they were still pretty good shots. If anything coming out of a shootout with just a graze was pretty damn lucky. As I looked at it closer I saw that it messed up one of my tattoos. “Damn, that was one of my favorite ones too, now I gotta get it redone.”
I reached into the bag I kept on my motorcycle and pulled out a bandage, wrapping it around my core to put pressure on the wound. “Could have been a lot worse.”
I looked at her, standing there with tears streaming down her face. I was the one with a gunshot wound and yet I was feeling sorry for her. I didn’t know what her life was like but it couldn’t have been too great if she ran off the first chance she got. Girl that pretty should be seen by the whole world not locked up in some high rise suite day and night.
“Jack… I… I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry, tonight wasn’t supposed to end up like this. Please please please don’t tell my dad about what happened tonight.”
She took my hands in hers and squeezed them, pausing for a moment to catch her breath and to try and stop her crying. “You don’t know what it’s like, I’m stuck in my father’s house almost every day. When I do go out I am constantly surrounded by men who are there to protect me but are also there to make sure I can’t leave. I have no freedom, I have never driven a car, gone on a real date, or even hosted a party. You have a level of freedom that I could only dream of…”
I looked in her eyes to try and see if she was manipulating me. I wanted to see if she was trying to get me to take my guard down so that she could use me, it’s happened to me before. When I looked in her eyes I didn’t get that though, she was being sincere and why wouldn’t she? The life of a mob boss’s daughter wasn’t exactly the best.
There was something about this girl, something that was making me feel drawn to her. When I first saw her picture I just thought it was a physical attraction but now I realized it might be something a little more than that. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline from the most dangerous ride of my life, my disbelief from narrowly avoiding death, or just the way she looked in the moonlight all made up even with dried tears on her face. All of this could have clouded my judgement, but as I stared at her and our eyes met I could feel an unspoken bond. A bond that told me that what was going on wasn’t right.
There must have been a reason she was opening up to me, or at least that was the excuse I was giving myself. For the first time in my life it felt like I could truly help someone, that I could do more than just be the guy that chases rivals off of Iron Horses MC turf. She wouldn’t have treated me in this way if she wasn’t feeling what I was feeling.
I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t nearly as free as she thought I was. I wanted to tell her that every day I was thinking about abandoning this stupid failing motorcycle club and riding solo, but as she looked at me right then and there I didn’t want to do anything to change her admiration of me.
It was just the two of us, all alone. Whatever I did then and there I wouldn’t ever have to answer for. Now was my chance. “Looks like there’s two things we won’t tell your dad about” I whispered to her.
I took her by the back of the head and pulled her towards me. Without any hesitation she opened her mouth and embraced me, our lips intertwined as I felt her melt in my arms, I ran my hand up the back of her body until I firmly gripped the side of her neck. I was kissing the mob boss’s daughter and it felt so fucking good. I ran my other hand up and down her body, thinking about how no other man had felt her before me. I thought about how furious Petrov would be if he found out the pure little daughter he left at home was locking lips with the biker he hired to protect her. More adrenaline was pumping through my veins in that moment than any time I had ever ridden my bike.
What the hell was I doing.
Chapter Ten
(Viktoria)
He pulled away from me, my lips already began aching for his touch. I leaned in for more but he stopped me, holding me back with a tight grip on my neck.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, running my hands up and down the arm he was using to hold me in place. I had never been that intimate with anyone before and I could feel my
head spinning, I wanted nothing more than to feel him against me.
“This is too dangerous. Your old man hired me to protect you, I can’t be running around behind his back being involved with you no matter how good it’d feel.”
No, no no no this can’t happen. It was all going so well and now my the fear of my dad was getting to him. I wanted to make him forget, I just wanted to feel his lips on mine again.
“He did hire you to protect me, and right now I need the most protection of all. We can get on that bike right now and ride out of here, I’ll never be in danger from the men trying to hurt him and if anything does happen you’ll be right there with me.”
“Whoa there girly, even if I am trying to get out of the Iron Horses that’s not a risk I can take. Besides he hired me to protect you and then deliver you back safely to him once the week is over. Even if we did run away you think he wouldn’t send men after us?”
He was right, I hated to admit it but he was right. If I ran off with him my father would chase us to the ends of the earth.
I pushed past his arm and hugged him. “Jack I can’t, I can’t go back there. I can’t go back to that life it’s stifling I feel like I’m being suffocated.”
“I’m sorry Viktoria, it’s just the way things are.” He sounded annoyed, not annoyed at me but annoyed with the situation. Maybe what I saw in him when he first walked into my home was that unlike the other men who had protected me before he wasn’t just in it for the money. It was all too soon to tell.
“Come on, the sun’s coming up we need to start heading back.”
I sighed and let go of him, I was about to turn and get back on his bike but he stopped me and put his hand on my chin.
He pulled me in for one more deep kiss, intertwining our lips again for just another moment before pulling away, like the first one it sent shivers down my spine, it felt like I could melt into his arms at any moment.
