by Brook Wilder
I sighed and clicked the T.V. back on, welcoming the comforting noise it provided. I sat there, solid as a rock for hours until Charles announced he was turning in for the night. With no sign of Emmett’s return, I grabbed a blanket and laid down on the couch, opting not to unfold the sofa. I kept the T.V. while I stared up at the ceiling, willing sleep to come to me. Tears were what came, however, and I ended up crying myself to sleep that night. When I actually passed out, I couldn’t say. I was only aware that I had fallen asleep when I awoke to Charles’ hand roughly shaking my shoulder.
Chapter 27
“Olivia! Wake up!” Charles hissed. His face was only inches from mine and his grip tightened on my shoulder as I stirred.
“Huh?” I said, trying my best to pull myself out of the fog of sleep. Confusion covered me in a blanket as I tried to remember why I was here and not in my own bed. “What’s wrong? Did Emmett come back?”
“Get in my room and do your best to hide! Quickly!” he said. "Someone ratted us out."
He pulled me to my feet, and, with a small push, I stumbled toward his open bedroom door. I heard the sound of footsteps walking up the path to his front door before a loud banging sound finally snapped me out of my trance. I pulled the bedroom door shut behind me not a second before I heard the front door open. I crouched down and listened to the conversation unfold. The reality of the situation had finally started to sink in, and I was terrified.
“Where are they?” I heard a low voice growl.
“Who?” Charles replied in a cool voice.
“You know damn well who, Chuck,” a second voice yelled. Unlike the first voice, this one sounded familiar. “I don’t know how they’re not dead, but we all know that you’re hiding Emmett and the girl!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Tex,” Charles said, his voice now carrying an edge of panic.
“Really? Cause the old lady next door said she saw a tall man and a dark-haired woman yelling their heads off at each other out on your front lawn,” Tex replied.
“Look, man,” Charles said. “They were here earlier, that’s true. They were looking for a hiding place, and I told them they weren’t welcome here. You know as well as I do that Capone would put a bullet through my head if he thought I was harboring someone he wanted dead.”
“If that’s true,” the first biker said, “then you won't mind us taking a look around.”
“I absolutely mind, Buster, this is my house! You can’t just tromp through here!”
“We ain't the police, Chuck,” Tex growled. “We can do whatever we like. I think I’ll start back there.”
I heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall toward me and I scrambled backward, looking for a place to hide. The only furniture in the room was a lumpy mattress on the floor and a chest of drawers in the corner. The room didn’t even have a proper closet. It looked like Charles just kept his clothes scattered about on the floor. I scanned the walls, noticing the high windows. I wouldn’t be able to get a one open in time and besides, the drop down to the ground outside was probably too far. My only hope was to hide in the bathroom and pray that they didn’t look too closely. I jumped into the tub and pulled the shower curtain shut as I heard the bedroom door creak open.
“Room looks clear,” Buster called out. I almost let myself relax when I heard him back away from the door, but I knew I wouldn't be safe until they actually left the premises.
“What about the bathroom, you idiot?” Tex said as he stormed into the room.
I pressed my back as flat against the bathtub tile as I could, but it was no use. Tex ripped the shower curtain off its rings, greeting me with a frightening smile on his face. With a growl, he grabbed my hair and started to drag me out of the bathroom. I tried to fight back, but the pull on my scalp was too painful. All I could do was cling to his arm to lessen the strain on my hair.
“Looks like you’re a liar, Chuck,” Tex said as he threw me to the ground in the kitchen. I sprawled out like a rag doll, my face resting on the cool linoleum. Charles was standing with his back to the sink and both bikers had placed themselves between us and the front door. We were trapped.
“Where’s Emmett?” Buster asked.
“I don’t know, he left earlier and didn’t say where he was going,” Charles replied.
“That’s funny. For some reason, I don’t believe you,” Tex said, planting a sharp kick in my side. I let out a strangled yelp as pain blossomed in my ribcage. Nothing felt broken, thankfully, but it hurt like hell and I was certain that Tex wouldn’t hold back if he kicked me again.
“It’s the truth, I swear!” Charles said frantically. Both bikers pulled out their guns and pointed them at Charles. “I would tell you if I knew!”
“Where. Is. He?” Tex growled.
“I don’t know!” Charles yelled.
There was a deafening bang and Charles crumpled to the ground clutching his arm. I screamed and tried to scramble to my feet. Tex knocked me back down and stood over me, his gun now pointed at my face.
“Where’s your boyfriend, girlie?” he asked. He had a twisted grin on his face like he actually enjoying the pain he inflicted.
I didn’t reply and, instead, kicked my leg up toward his groin as hard as I could. He yelled out as my foot made contact and his whole body crumpled under the pain. I jumped up before he collapsed onto me and wrenched the gun out of his loosened grip.
“Hey! Put that down!” Buster yelled when he saw I had disarmed Tex.
“Not a chance,” I said, keeping the firearm trained on Tex’s crouched body.
“She’s not gonna shoot anyone,” he growled as he stood and began to lumber toward me. “A prissy bitch like her doesn’t have the guts.”
Time seemed to slow down and all I could hear the low whoosh of blood pumping in my ears. Without a second thought, I squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet into the floor beside his foot. He jumped back in surprise but then started toward me again. This time, I aimed the gun at his leg and pulled the trigger again. I hit my mark, sending the bullet into the top of his foot.
“The bitch shot me!” Tex howled as he collapsed to the floor.
“What did you think was gonna happen?” Charles asked as he pulled himself up.
The other biker stood still, his face frozen in fear, and let Charles stumble over to my side. Tex continued to howl but I kept the gun trained on him.
“Make another move,” I said in a surprisingly cool voice, “And I’ll aim for your head.”
Both the bikers listened this time and stayed put as Charles and I went around them and backed toward the front door. I kept the gun trained on them the entire time and only dropped my arm once we crossed the threshold of the door. As soon as they were out of our sight, we ran toward Charles’ bike and climbed on. I gave his arm a worried look as he started up the engine, but a small shake of his head told me he’d be alright, for now at least.
“Where are we going?” I shouted.
“Anywhere but here,” he replied as we pulled out onto the street. As we sped away, I shot a glance behind us to see the two bikers running out of the house toward their own bikes.
Chapter 28
Charles took a meandering route through town to shake the two bikers off our tail. Once we were certain we had lost them, Charles steered us toward the highway. As we sped away from town, I wondered what destination Charles had in mind. We only slowed down slightly when we saw a headlight cresting over a slight rise on the road ahead. It was obviously another bike, and fear rose within me. Whoever it was, they were alone and that gave me hope that we could just slip past them.
“Hide your face!” Charles shouted back at me.
I buried myself into his back as the other bike roared past. Once I was sure the other rider was behind us, I snuck a glance backward. The bike looked awfully familiar and so did the blond hair streaming in the wind.
“Charles!” I yelled. “That’s Emmett!”
“Are you sure?” he yelled back.
“Positive!”
Charles hit the brakes and made a swooping turn in the middle of the road. Emmett was moving pretty fast and Charles had to push his bike to catch up with him. When we finally overtook Emmett, Charles pulled up beside him and motioned for a stunned looking Emmett to pull off onto the shoulder. He did, and we parked right behind him. Both men killed their engines but left the headlights on. The lights of Black Rock glittered distantly down the road and a light wind sent my hair fluttering around me. I strained my ears for the sounds of engines but heard nothing. Maybe we really had escaped without anyone following us.
“Charles! Liv!” Emmet said. “What the hell are you two doing out here? And why are you bleeding?”
“The found us, Emmett,” Charles replied. Despite the dim, angular light from the bikes, I could tell from Charles’ washed out face that he was really starting to feel his injury. “Tex and Buster barged into the house and found Olivia. Apparently, a woman next door heard you two arguing and ratted us out.”
“How’d you two get away?” he asked.
“Can we tell you the rest somewhere other than the highway?” I asked. I felt very exposed just standing here on the side of the road and it would only be a matter of time before another biker found us.
“Sure, follow me,” Emmett said as he climbed back onto his bike. “We’ll head for The Palms.”
We pulled into the parking lot a half hour later and I’d never been so happy to see a dingy look motel before. Charles stumbled slightly as we walked toward the lobby and I was glad we were all going to get a chance to rest and plan our next move.
“We need a room around the back,” Emmett told the man at the desk. He slipped him a couple of bills before continuing, “And if anyone asks for us, we aren’t here.”
The attendant gave a solemn nod of understanding and handed Emmett the room key. We scurried to the room and Charles collapsed into a chair as we entered. Emmett and I sat on the bed and I scooted as close to him as I could. Despite all that had happened and the fact that he’d abandoned me, I was still overjoyed that he was unhurt.
“Now can you two tell me what happened?” Emmett asked as he filled the ice bucket with warm water, handing it to Charles.
Between the two of us, Charles and I relayed the events. Emmett only broke his stony expression once to give me a look of awe when I told him I’d shot Tex. When we finished the story, he sighed and stood to hand Charles a fresh towel.
“I’ve had a bad feeling in my gut about leaving you two since I’d crossed the town border,” Emmett said. “My initial plan was to scan the highways before stopping here for the night. I kept going until I just couldn’t ignore it any longer and I swung back to check up on you.”
“Well, I’m glad you came back,” I said. “Maybe next time you’ll take me with you instead of ditching me.”
“Look, I know I made a mistake,” Emmett said. “But you don’t have to rub it in.”
“Fine, I’ll drop it,” I said tersely as I stood from the bed. Emmett sighed but Charles ignored us and kept cleaning his wound. “What’s the next step?”
“We still need to find Knox,” Emmett said.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Charles said. “I think you two would be better off going to Lizzy and making sure she’s safe.”
“I stopped by a payphone while I was out riding and called me ex. I warned her about Wendell and she’s going to stay with one of her aunts up in Nevada. It’ll take them a while to find her so I’m not too worried. What’s important is we stop Wendell now. He’ll only keep coming after us if we run.”
“I’m all for stopping Wendell, but why find Knox?” I asked. “What good would he be to us, other than put us more at risk? All he’s done since this whole mess started is run and leave you with the clean-up.”
“If we find my brother, he might be able to help us,” Emmett said tightly. “We also don’t know if he’s still alive, and I need to know if my brother’s okay.”
“Do you know where he might have run off to?” Charles asked. His arm was clean now and he was using a couple of band-aids he got from the front desk to close the wound as best he could.
“I have a couple ideas, but nothing solid,” Emmett said. “I figured I could go out tomorrow and look again. Maybe I’ll have better luck in the daylight.”
“I’m going with you this time, Emmett,” I said. “Two sets of eyes are always better than one.”
“No, you’re staying here with Charles,” Emmett said.
“Like hell, I am,” I spat back. “Look what happened to us tonight! We split up and Charles ended up getting shot.”
“Exactly. He’s hurt and needs to rest a little and heal up. Neither of you could fend off anyone by yourselves, so I can’t justify leaving either of you alone. Besides, no one should know where we are.”
“No one knew where we were before, but they still found us!” I said. “We have no idea if someone managed to follow us or if the guy at the front desk might rat us out despite your bribe!”
“I mean it, Liv,” Emmett yelled as he stood. His face was red with anger, but his eyes were filled with regret. “I’m going out alone tomorrow. End of discussion.”
“And I meant it too, Emmett,” I yelled back. “I’m not staying in this hotel room like some damsel in distress. If you don’t take me with you tomorrow, don’t expect me to be here when you get back!”
Suddenly Charles stood from his seat and walked toward the door.
“I’m going to take a walk while you two hash this out,” he said as he turned the handle.
We stared at him dumbly as the door closed. I felt all of my anger flow out of me as his footsteps trailed away from us and I turned to see an equally calm Emmett staring down at me.
“Look, Emmett,” I said. “I’m sick of yelling and arguing. Can we just talk through this?”
Chapter 29
“Look, Liv,” Emmett said. “The biggest reason for coming back was that I missed you. I was worried about you, and it turns out I was right. I’m sorry for abandoning you, but I thought it was for the best at the time.”
“I can see why you did that,” I replied, “but we’ve been doing this together from the beginning. We need to protect each other, Emmett. Besides, I think we’ll all be safer if we stay on the move.”
“You do have a point. We’ll have to wait, though, and see how Charles’ is doing. I’m honestly surprised he made it all the way out here, considering how pale he looked when we ran into each other.”
“I think he’ll be okay,” I said. “You should’ve seen what I did to Tex, though. I think you’d be proud!”
“Yeah?” Emmett said with a small chuckle. “To be honest, Liv, I never thought you were capable of shooting anyone.”
“Well, I guess I’m just full of surprises!”
We both sat back down on the bed and I felt the tension leaving the air between us. I made a mental promise to put aside any issues I had with him for foreseeable future and, instead, focus on getting us out of this mess alive.
“You know what?” he asked as his gaze slid toward me.
“What?”
“The entire time I was riding I thought about our dream, you know, for afterward,” he said.
“You mean us living by the ocean?”
“Yeah. At first, I thought it was just a fantasy, but the more I think about it, the more I actually want to make that happen.”
“Where are we going to go?” I asked dreamily. “There’s the pacific coast, the gulf coast. We could even go as far as the Atlantic…”
Instead of answering my question, Emmett reached out and pulled me into a passionate kiss. There was no trace of delicacy in the way his mouth worked against mine, only a raw hunger for the taste of my lips. I returned the favor and felt a jolt of heat run through my body as I slid my tongue forcefully into his mouth. He groaned and we began a rough exploration of each other, taking breaks here and there to nip lightly on each other's lips
. It was when his mouth released from mine and began to nibble its way from my jaw to my collar bone that I decided to let go of my anger. I certainly wasn’t forgetting what Emmett had done or what had happened between us, but I decided to use that anger to fuel the passion growing between us. I could tell by the escalating roughness of his touch that he was thinking the same way.
After he bit me a little too hard at the base of my neck, I pushed him away as hard as I could. Since he was so much bigger than me, I had hardly any effect on him, but he obliged me and flopped down on the mattress below me. Without speaking I started to tear at his belt and jeans, pulling them off as quickly as I could while leaving his boxer briefs on. While I worked on his pants, he whipped his own shirt off and started to pull at my clothing. We were soon sitting there, unclothed to our underwear, and I straddled him once more, bringing my hips down on his rock hard manhood.
