by Kara Hart
The head of the family spoke first. “You have betrayed us.” he put it bluntly. “Where we’re from, that means instant death.”
“And how would you do that?” I asked, strangely curious. The men scowled at me and took their hats off in disgust. Each of them had long and thin black hair, which reflected off the red light like silk.
“That’s easy, of course.” The man on the right said. “You’d die from pure joy.”
“Joy? Don’t sound too bad.” I said, sizing them up a bit. Hope looked worried. She simply sat staring at the menu, shaking against her seat.
“You ever inhale 50 lines of pure cocaine in under one minute?” the man said.
“Can’t say that I have, but I could always try.” I remarked, winking at Hope.
“Your men killed three of my best warriors.” the man in the center said. “Is that a laughing matter to you, Avery?” The three sat with hands folded, looking calm and poised.
“Well, now that’s the part I don’t think is funny. That I agree with you on. We gotta find the son of a bitch who did that to your crew and we gotta deliver justice to him.” It was the truth. As much as I hated admitting it, Luke deserved the punishment for the crime. He went off on the wrong people and now he was going to get hunted down. Can’t say I didn’t warn everyone about him.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Avery. Us and us only will be the ones delivering his justice. You bring him to me personally in exchange for both of your lives. That is our demand.”
Now that just got my blood pumpin’ a bit. How could he sit there and threaten me, when I had absolutely nothing to do with it? It just didn’t seem right. “Now what the hell, Boys? Was I there when your deal went down? Was I the one who pulled the trigger? Did I even know you all were meeting?” Silence. “The obvious answer is no. No I didn’t. I’ve always respected your crew, right from the get go. Always had kind words to say ‘bout you folks. But now you’re going to go and threaten my life along with the man who’s really responsible? Hell no.” I slammed both of my hands on the table. “I’m starving. Let’s order some food.” I said, irritably.
“Your food has already been ordered, Avery.” As soon as the words were uttered, the chef nervously brought the steak out, complete with red wine. I instantly dove in, ignoring the threat of the Sapo Boys. In the back of my mind, I figured they wouldn't do anything rash. Not at our first meeting at least.
“Enjoying your meal?” One of the men asked me. I nodded chewing loudly. Hope looked mortified. Here there were, three men who were known to be ruthless killers. And here I was, being rude. “You’re being shameful.” Hope whispered. She didn't get it. The Courage MC wouldn't be seen as weak. One of our men made a mistake. That didn't mean I was going to be taken advantage of.
“The terms?” I said.
“Excuse me?” They all seemed to ask at the same time. What an odd gang.
“What are the terms for us to conduct business again? We’re very fond of your product. I ain't going to mess around and lie about that. When can we resume our previous dealings?
“I’m speaking to you in English because it is my understanding that you don’t understand the Latin tongue. This is a shame. Translations turn into mud. We do not discuss terms here. This is a simple meeting. You’ll have to meet with us again if you’d like to know more.” the man in the middle said.
“A second meeting? God dammit…” It was hard not to sock them in the face right then and there. But, as a leader should, I remained calm and collected.
“You seem to forget that we lost many of our men. Their souls were lost at the hands of your self-proclaimed ‘crew.’ We are constantly sacrificing for our product and extreme business ventures. We expect you to give sacrifice as well, Avery.”
“I ain’t here just to eat. Let’s do business. I’m ready to sacrifice. Whatever it takes.” I said, standing up. I started to feel slightly dizzy, as if my blood pressure jumped up too high, too fast. I looked at Hope and her face started to stretch before my very eyes. “What’s happening?” I asked. But before I could even answer, I found myself falling towards the floor. Next thing I knew, I was unconscious.
Hope
“Wake up.” I heard a familiar voice say. I opened my eyes, squinting against the pale light of my surroundings.
“What the hell happened?” I asked. “Where am I?” I looked around myself. Avery was next to me, doing the same. I quickly realized we were in an unknown facility, an empty room to be exact. A mirror on the wall stared back at us.
“They drugged us.” Avery said. “The fucking drugged us!” He kicked the wall, falling over. He held his foot as the pain welled up. He looked like a total idiot.
I was so mad I could choke him to death. Instead, I gave him the best treatment a woman could offer: silence. This, of course, hurt worse than any blow imaginable.
“Well, aren’t you gonna say something? You just gonna sit there all night or are you gonna help me?” He said. I tried not to laugh in his face.
“I can’t believe I trusted you.” I finally said after a few minutes of painful silence. Then it was time to question his authority and leadership. At this point, I figured he essentially had none. After all, his bargaining skills got us here, locked up in some cell in the middle of nowhere. “You really think you can lead your MC? Please. You’ll lead them right into their graves.” I spat out.
He shook his head with maddening rage. “Get me the hell out of here!” he screamed at the mirror in front of us. “I know you’re looking at us, god dammit! ANSWER ME!” Finally, a voice came on an intercom from above.
“You said you were willing to sacrifice, Avery.” It said. I looked at the giant two-way mirror on the wall, attempting to see past it at the faceless viewers. It was no use, of course. We were stuck in a prison of our own mind.
“I didn’t mean…Ah, shit! Just get us out of here so we can talk!” He punched at the mirror. But instead of shattering the glass, it simply took the blow. Avery fell to the ground in extreme agony.
“Calm down…” I whispered. “Let them speak. We need to hear what they want from us.” I said. Avery was smart enough at the street level, but he severely needed a woman to keep him level headed. I’ll handle this, I decided.
“Go ahead, freckles.” He said to me, giving up the fight. It was the first time he pointed out my freckles and I couldn’t help but blush and look away. “Don’t get all weird now. They’re cute, is all. Doesn’t mean your special.” I laughed. They had always been a sore spot for me and my image. My agents hated them and always had a makeup artist cover them up. But as a girl, I had always placed importance on my natural looks. For a moment, I felt good. It was almost as if three insane South American gang members hadn’t locked us in a cage for the night.
I spoke up. “I apologize for my friend. We’re listening.” I said.
The voice laughed lightly. “An American who can listen? Now I’ve seen everything. Very well. We will proceed.” I smiled and nodded, staring right at the mirror.
Avery whispered, “You’re damn right we’ll proceed…” I gave him an annoyed look.
“Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated. Now is the time for your first and last test. It is the test of will. The test of patience. The test of time itself.”
“We are ready.” I said, almost stoically. Truth be told, I was freaking out inside. Gangsters, bikers, drugs, and now this? What the fuck! I had suffered a lot from submitting to a life of fame, but this was something else entirely. Ever since I had met Avery, my life had been thrown into a state of chaos. But I was at a turning point in my thinking. I had to stay strong, because if I didn’t, I would end up worse than my mother or sister. I could end up dead in some ice chest, without a kidney.
Within seconds, the wall opened up and then men walked into the room, handing us cups of hot tea. They simply bowed and walked out of the room, locking us in yet again. “Tea? You want us to drink tea?” Avery asked. Though I could tell by the look in his eye th
at this was no ordinary tea. Whatever concoction this was, frightened him to the very core.
“Yes. You will drink the tea and contemplate the realities of our way of life. You will think about the way you conduct your future business proceedings and the way you treat others when negotiating. This is our offer. If you choose to accept it, we may talk further. But if you don’t, you will suffer the consequences.” The voice said.
“Consequences?” I asked, feeling myself grow nauseous.
“Oh yes. There will be a great deal of consequences. And in the end, you may suffer the same fate that our men did during Luke’s loss of insight.” he said.
“Loss of insight, huh. Luke is a fucking hot head. I hope he rots in Hell. How’s that for insight?” Avery yelled.
“You decide.” The voices repeated. All of a sudden, the intercom turned off, and so did the lights above us. We were now left to decide. Would we drink the tea or would we simply wait and find a better way of escaping? Of course, the answer was obvious. But Avery seemed extremely hesitant.
“We have to do this…” I muttered, smelling the toxic fumes rising from the glass. It looked and smelled disgusting, like it was collected from a sewer somewhere far away.
“Don’t you dare drink that tea, sweet cheeks. You don’t wanna go that route.” he warned.
“Why?” I asked him. “Either way we’re dead. This is our best bet.” I whispered, hoping they couldn’t hear us debating.
“Our best bet is holding onto life. That tea is death in a cup.” He said.
“But how do you know, Avery? How can you possibly be sure?” I cried out, feeling the pressure of the situation turn on me.
“I’ve heard stories. The Sapo Boys aren’t known for their normal ways of conducting business. It’s all a fucking mind trip for them. People have drank from their cup and they never come back. It’s like their souls were lost or something. Some even think that—”
I cut him off right then and there. “Stories? That’s all you know? Avery, The Sapo Boys, or whatever they call themselves, are just another gang. They may have better theatrics than you, but they’re a gang nonetheless. You’re going to let a couple of thugs scare you? Well, I’ll tell you something. I’ve lost everything. And because of that, I fear nothing.” I said. I took the cup and downed it in just a few big gulps.
“NO!” Avery screamed, knocking the glass out of my hands. But it was too late. The burning sludge had already traveled its way past my esophagus. Whatever was in the tea was working its path through my blood stream.
“You see? I’m fine.” I said, trying to retain a big smile. It didn’t matter anyway; in the pitch black we couldn’t see a thing.
“Fuck…” Avery whispered. “It smells like shit.”
“Just take it like a shot. It goes down easier than you think.” That wasn’t true, obviously. If anything, it went down harsher than anything I had tried before. But if we had any chance of getting out of the messy situation we found ourselves in, it was by getting Avery to drink the damn tea.
“Okay, okay. Give me a second, will ya?” I heard him take three deep breaths and say, “Here goes nothing. Bottoms up, baby.” He gulped it down. “What the hell! I thought you said this went down easy!”
“I was lying.” I said.
“What? I can’t believe you. If this turns out to be poison, I swear I’ll … well, I’ll do something. I promise you that.”
“Avery?” I asked amidst the growing silence and darkness around us.
“What is it?” he angrily replied.
“I don’t feel so good. Will you hold me?” My stomach was turning and I started to feel the affects of the tea start to build. All around me were bright and complex shapes of all kinds. My mother and father were above my body as my sister screamed in the corner. It was like a nightmare, only I was living it. My God…I thought, what have I done?
I held onto Avery with everything I had. “Is this the end?” he asked, feeling the effects of the tea just as much as I was. “My whole life … it’s right in front of my eyes.”
“Hold onto the light…” I whispered, falling hard against the concrete floor. “Just hold on…”
We fell into a deep trance together, arms around each other’s warm body. There was nothing left but to ride this out. If we were to die, then we died. But I had to hope we weren’t going to. I had to keep thinking about the positive. Avery, on the other hand, was screaming bloody murder. There were clearly some memories he had to deal with before moving on.
This was torture. This was pure torture. But as time passed and the tea’s effects had faded, Avery’s grip never faltered. “I love you…” he whispered after some time. I love you too, I thought. Was all this a dream? Would I wake up in my house with my career in tact? I know it sounds crazy, but a big part of me hoped I wouldn’t.
Avery
I woke up on the cold cement with a raging hard on and what felt like a broken back. My hand was firmly placed against Hope’s round and full ass and I just had to squeeze it for good measure. “Am I alive?” she asked me. Who knew at this point, but all answers seemed to point to the positive.
“Don’t worry. I kept you safe.” I said. I didn’t have a damn clue what had happened last night. I remember the lights going out, drinking that disgusting tea, and falling into a black hole of endless thoughts. It was horrendous, really. Nothing I recommend, but I had been through worse of course.
She was draped across the cold ground, legs spread ever so slightly. She was so damn sexy, I wanted her now. But I knew I had to wait. Business always came before pleasure. And if you were in our crew, business was a constant stream of bullshit. She looked at me with bedroom eyes and smiled. But her smile quickly faded into an annoyed frown. Women. They were never satisfied with your noble efforts.
“You kept me safe?!” she cried, picking herself up off the ground. “That’s a laugh. You were crying like a little girl last night.”
She may have been hot as hell, but she sure was a ball breaker. “Whatever. We survived. And I’m proud of you, I guess.”
She laughed, still annoyed with me. She’d get over it, presumably. “Thanks. I guess. Although, I’m pretty sure I was the one who got you to drink the tea in the first place.” she sighed loudly.
I looked at the two-way mirror in front of us and shouted, “We did what you wanted us to do. Now it’s time to hold up your end of the bargain!”
The door unlocked and opened. The three men came in the room and sat in front of us, Indian style. “Hope. You showed a great deal of courage last night. We’re very proud of you, as we know this is a new journey you have chosen to embark on. As for you, Avery. We were disappointed by your initial hesitance. But you have been given a gift: Hope.”
“A gift? You mean this hot piece of ass?” I smiled, winking at her. She made a disgusted face at me and pushed me away.
“You lack elegance, Avery. Your whole tribe does. But you did what we asked and for that, we are willing to resume business with the Courage MC.” one of The Sapo Boys said.
“You ain’t gonna inject us with one of your toads?” I asked, half-joking, although I regretted even asking.
“Simple fables. Do you believe everything you are told?” One of the men laughed. The door opened behind them, leading us to an exit outside. “You can find your way home.” they said.
As they left, I turned to Hope. “Sorry, for being kind of an ass lately.” I said.
“It’s okay…” she sighed. “Just treat me with more respect, alright? Who knows, you may need my courage again…” she looked at his tattoo on his arm. I know what she was thinking. That I lacked the main points of what our gang stood for. Well, that goes for all of us. But, as I was finding out, she was right. I needed to hold onto our values a little more. If I were to really become the leader of Courage, I would need her help. This was a new lesson for me, but one I would value for the rest of my life.
We stepped out into the warm sun, ready for the new day. Only pro
blem was, we were in the middle of nowhere. That’s right, the boys were ahead of us in the distance, riding their long black bikes into the sun. “You gotta’ be kidding me…” I muttered through clenched teeth.
Hope looked at me with exhaustion. “Are you serious? What do you propose we do now?”
“We walk.” I said. It was all we could do, really. These were The Sapo Boys in their heyday. Everything they did was a trick, including their sales negotiations.
We must’ve walked about ten miles before reaching a familiar service station. It was a broken down shack near the highway, with an old man out front in a rocking chair. He simply nodded to us as we walked inside.
We loaded up on water and food for the trip back. Though, how we were gonna get a ride was another story. “There are bikers all over these parts, so we shouldn’t worry.” I said. It was true, except for the fact that there also were conflicting chapters and ex-Courage MC’s hiding out around the desert here. We had to be careful.
As I was contemplating all of this, the old man out front bagged all our stuff and had us on our way. “Need a lift?” The old man asked.
I chuckled to myself. “Guess it’s clear our bikes broke down?” I asked.
“Yip. Thought you might be stranded. I can get you all back before sunset if you’re close by. Got a tractor. It ain’t much, but it does the trick.” he smiled, revealing the fact that he had no teeth. Hope nearly jumped out of her new dress, which was covered in dust by the way. My fault I s’ppose.
“Well that would be mighty kind of you.” I said, as cheerfully as I could.
“Sure thing. It’ll just be 100 even.” he said, walking to his tractor.
“100 even? Is he kidding me?”
“Just do it, Avery. Don’t make me leave you for good.” she said. I bit the bullet and accepted the bad deal. Today just wasn’t my day.
* * *
