by Sadie Savage
He knew his terse answers felt cruel. He wanted to reassure her that he was not being unkind but given that he could not trust her and he certainly couldn’t seem to trust himself with her, he stayed silent and finished dressing.
As he made his way to the door he added, “The man who lives in the big house up front is delivering you groceries. He should be here with them at any minute in fact. Stay inside and stay out of sight. I don’t think I need to tell you that Walker knows by now that someone ratted out his plan. You did not go home so he would have to be a complete idiot not to know was you.”
Julia’s already pale skin turned an even whiter shade. She said, “But I don’t even have anything to wear. The clothes that I wore yesterday are dirty.”
Ace paused on his way out of the door. “I will make sure you get some clothes today.”
Julia asked, “When are you coming back?”
Ace couldn’t look at her. He knew that if he did he’d be right back in that bed with her, making love to her and forgetting about everything and everyone else. He said, “I’m not sure because I have a lot to take care of right now. I will be back. You will be safe. I know you’re frightened, and I’m sorry that I can’t stay. But I can’t.”
He went out the door and closed it behind himself. As he began to back his bike out of the driveway the door that sat on the side of the house opened and the same large man that had looked out the night before came outside, holding up a hand.
Ace paused. “How are you Randy?”
Randy’s eyes narrowed a little bit as he looked back at the guesthouse. “Good. I sent Jenny to the store for some groceries. She will be back any second. Anything else you need for her?”
Ace slung a leg over the bike. “Yeah have Jenny pick her up some clothes would you? And keep a good eye on her, as much as I want to trust her I really don’t.”
Randy asked, “How could you possibly trust her given who she is?”
Ace said, “Get out of my head man. I was just asking myself that very same question.”
Randy shrugged. “I will call Jenny right now and tell her to pick up some clothes. She looked to be about Jenny’s size, at least from the glimpse I got of her when you rolled past last night.”
Ace said, “No, I think she’s a little bit thinner and a few inches taller than Jenny.”
Randy said, “Well, Jenny can figure that out.”
Ace nodded. His eyes went back to the guesthouse. The blinds were still tightly drawn but he had a feeling that Julia was inside watching him. He cranked up the bike and rode off, heading back toward Greenpoint and the business that he had to attend to that day.
Chapter 9
Julia had indeed been looking out at Ace. She was anxious and now that the sex was over she was also slightly bored. She knew she should not feel that way, especially considering the circumstances but she did.
Ever since she had turned sixteen and had been able to get regular jobs as well as modeling jobs her days had been packed full. Between work and school she had never had very much time on her hands to just do nothing.
She knew that Ace was right. She had not gone home the night before and Walker had to know that someone had let Ace and his crew and on Walker’s plan. Walker was not stupid, and a new set of worries came to her as she made her way into the bathroom and took a fast shower.
When she emerged, clean and wrapped in a towel, it was to see a woman standing in the kitchen. A short, sharp scream burst from her mouth before Julia could stop it. The woman turned around and gave her a wide, sunny smile.
The woman said, “I’m so sorry. My name’s Jenny. I live in the house in front of this one. Ace had me pick you up some clothes. I had to just guess at the sizes, sorry. I think they will fit though.”
Julia clutched the towel tightly around herself. Gratitude filled her. Ace had had someone to get her clothes? That was very kind of him and she was happy to hear that she no longer had to wear the same clothes that she had worn the day before. “Oh I’m sure they’ll be great, thank you so much for doing that for me.”
“Oh, no worries.” Jenny went back to lifting things out of the grocery bags on the counter. “I didn’t know what you liked so I tried to buy things that were sort of everyday items.”
Julia spotted a shopping bag from a discount retailer on the sofa. She went to it and began to lift the clothes out. She found three T-shirts in various colors, several pairs of jeans, underwear, a bra that looked to be a reasonable fit, and some comfortable looking sneakers. Nothing that she would’ve chosen for herself, of course. That she would not have chosen them for herself did not lessen her gratitude.
She hastily took out an outfit for the day and dashed back into the bathroom to dress. When she emerged that time it was to find Jenny making coffee and munching on a delicious looking Danish.
Jenny waved a hand at the counter. “I got several of these. You’re going to have to forgive me for taking one, my husband isn’t allowed to have sugar anymore so I have to eat it when he’s not around.”
Julia went to the box and helped herself to a large and dense pastry filled with a decadent amount of creamy cheesy filling. “Take as many as you want, you bought them.”
The two women poured coffee and took seats on the sofa. Jenny finished her pastry without another word. After the last bite was gone she took a large sip of coffee, Acecleared her throat, and said, “So, you’re our new guest.”
Julia gave her a questioning look. Was it common for Ace to bring women there and to ask Jenny and her husband to take care of them? That was probably not the question she should ask and she knew it, if that was the case she didn’t want to know.
Instead Julia said, “Have you lived here long?”
The other woman nodded. “Yes, about six years now.”
Julia realized she had nothing else to say and she sat there feeling slightly uncomfortable she had the uneasy feeling that Jenny was checking her out, trying to find something out about her without coming right out and asking questions. The silence spun out. Julia had a terrible urge to simply speak, to say something just to break that silence but she remained quiet because she had long since learned not to speak.
Walker often put her in a literal corner, crossed his arms, and said nothing. When she had been much younger Julia had broken under that treatment. She would babble out all sorts of things just to fill the silence. It took her years to understand that that was his intention the entire time. And everything that she said was just one more thing that he could use against her.
Jenny finally stood. She said, “I should get back to the house. It’s nice to meet you. I brought along a lot of fresh produce from the little stand down the street. If there’s anything I didn’t get that you would like to just let me know.”
Julia stood as well. She wrapped her arms around her body, feeling like she had just missed the opportunity to make a friend. Inwardly she was cursing herself for that. A sense of defeat filled her. Walker’s cruelty to her over the years had left her unable to trust anyone. The few friends that she had when she first moved in with Walker had been lost to her. She had been so ashamed of her new circumstances and so afraid that someone would see how he treated her that she had stopped trying to make friends.
All of the people that she met after moving in with Walker and the rest of her family seem to fall into two categories; those who were terrified of the crew and wanted nothing to do with them, and those people who only wanted to be her friend because her brother was Walker.
Julia said, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do just sit here and… Well, it’s just that I’m sort of out of everything that I know and I’m a little bit confused today.”
Jenny gave her a sunny smile. “Oh I’m sure. It’s okay, I was just happy to be able to sit here and munch out on my Danish. I’ll come holler at you later if you like.”
Relief filled Jenny. “I’d like that, thank you very much.”
Jenny departed. Julia went back into the kitchen to
see what all Jenny had brought. There was indeed plenty of fresh produce for salads or even just for steaming. There were ripe bananas, beautiful apples, and some plump grapes. There were also various boxes on the shelves and a rotisserie chicken as well as a very nice cut of steak in the refrigerator.
Julia helped herself to an apple and another cup of coffee, thanking the heavens that Jenny had bought both regular milk and cream. Now that Jenny was gone she found herself at even more of a loss. What was she supposed to do all day? She really had no idea at all.
Julia went to her purse and fished out her phone. She didn’t have classes that day but she needed something to do so she tapped the screen, meaning to open a page that would let her read up on one of the current topics she was studying. Her fingers paused and her mouth dropped open as she saw that she had dozens of unread text messages as well as a dozen missed calls.
Oh my God! I turned the ringer and sound off yesterday while I was in the store and forgot to turn it back on! Her heart sank all the way to her stomach as she realized that all of the messages were from Walker. Her hands shook so violently that she could barely get the text messages up. She staggered backward and the back of her knees hit the sofa and she sat down heavily.
Julia’s eyes went down the column of texts while her heart hammered so hard in her chest that she was afraid, truly afraid, that she would have a massive heart attack at any given moment.
The text messages were vile. Walker was clearly pissed off.
Where the fuck are you? You better be dead. You were supposed to be here two hours ago. If I find out that you are out screwing around I will kill you. You know who you belong to.
The messages just got worse from there. Tears dripped off Julia’s face as she read them. She had known something was wrong when she left yesterday, there was just something about the way that Pete had leered at her as she had gone out the door. Looking at the text messages it became very clear to her that Walker and Pete had finally come to some kind of agreement, and that her agreement had been deemed unnecessary.
The text messages from that morning were worse. Walker was furious that his little plan to intimidate the street leveled drug dealers in Ace’s territory had not gone well. Ace had been right, Walker knew damn well that somebody had betrayed him. None of the text messages from Walker came right out and said that Walker thought she had done it. Walker didn’t have to come right out and say he thought she had done it for her to know that she was in a whole lot of danger and trouble.
Those thoughts had barely crossed her mind when she heard some odd flat reports coming from outside. A frown wrinkled her forehead as she turned toward the window that looked up through the driveway toward the house in front. Those dull cracking sounds came again. Julia’s stomach dropped as she realized exactly what those sounds were.
Gunshots.
Terrified and scrambling she grabbed her purse and headed for the small bathroom. There was a window there, a very small one that led into the alley behind the house. It was her only chance and Julia knew it.
The door rattled and shook. She could hear voices now, and they were voices that she recognized. Her blood raced through her veins as she ran for the bathroom door then closed it tightly behind her as quietly as possible.
How had they found her? She managed to pry the window open and then start to crawl out of it. She got all the way outside before she heard a shout. She turned her head to the right to see Pete racing toward her with a drawn gun in one fist.
Too afraid to scream Julia hurled herself over the short fence. She ran up the alley, suddenly grateful for the plain and unadorned shoes that Jenny had bought her. Jenny! Had she been killed? Julia was terribly afraid that she had been.
She ran on, her purse banging into her hip and her phone in her hand. She could hear the sound of bikes cranking up and a car whizzed past her, sliding up along the curb and onto the sidewalk that she was now racing down. Two guys from her brother’s crew jumped out and raced towards her, clearly meaning to intercept and capture her.
Julia threw the phone at one of them as hard as she could.
The phone spun through the air and she felt a wild satisfaction as it connected solidly with her pursuer’s face. The edge of the phone hit him squarely between his eyes right at the bridge of his nose. He let out a long howl of misery and she managed to grab a large and very full trashcan and tip it over into the path of the second man, slowing him down somewhat.
Julia ran onward. She could hear Walker and Pete shouting as she jumped fences and crossed streets, her eyes scanning everything in an attempt to find a safe space. She saw nowhere that she could hide and terror kept her running despite the burning stitch that had flared into life on the right side of her body.
There was nowhere to go and she knew it. Walker would find her and as soon as he did he was going to kill her. That thought just made her run faster. Everything that Walker had ever done to her, surged up in her mind. All of his cruelties, both large and small, came floating back up into her memories.
With those memories came hatred. That hatred was so huge, so dark and vicious that it blotted out the fear that threatened to freeze her into place. That hatred gave her the will to keep going even though her body screamed at her brain that it was done, that she had nothing left in the tank.
Her breath hissed in and out of her burning throat. Her eyes stung and watered as sweat poured down her face. The intense heat and humidity baking down from the sky and up from the sidewalks threatened to send her toppling, and even though Julia knew deep in her soul that there was no way that she could out run Walker and his crew, that he would catch her, that the heat and her own body would eventually betray her and send her crashing to the ground, she refused to give up. She would run until there was not a single breath left in her.
The sound of a motorcycle, a loud angry throb that beat the air, filled her ears with its sound and her heart with utter despair. The bike came hurtling toward her and one look at the rider on the back of that raging chrome beast sent long shudders through her entire body.
Ace rode right up beside her but did not slow down. He held one hand out and Julia grabbed for it. Ace’s skill was so great that he managed to swing her off the ground and onto the bike behind him with one hand and in one long smooth motion.
Julia’s right leg kicked up high as her legs and feet left the ground. That leg went over the bike and she settled in behind him, her face going into his jacket and her arms going around his waist.
She had been terrified of riding on the back of a motorcycle just the night before. She had been stiff and unresponsive as he had taken them to the little house she had just fled from. She was no longer afraid of the bike or of the man riding it. He and his bike were the only things standing between her and certain death.
Julia took her cues from Ace’s body. When he leaned she leaned with him. When he moved forward she moved forward. It came to her as he rode hell-bent for leather that riding that bike with him was a whole lot like making love with him. Even the vibrations coming up from below her, those vibrations that stroked her most sensitive areas and made her highly aware of them despite everything that was happening at that moment, were highly sexually charged.
She looked back, her eyes widening as she saw Walker and Pete and the other guys from the crew following behind them in the car. Horrified and sick from her long run through the heat and the fear that had propelled her all Julia could do was shout, “They are right behind us!”
Ace jumped the curb, hit the gas and roared into a small business section that featured block after block of restaurants, schools, and stores. He zoomed down an alley and came out on the other side then passed a blot of traffic. Julia looked back again. The car was still coming though not as close as it had been before.
Ace went down another road and Julia hung on, clinging to him for dear life. Ace stopped the bike. He pointed to a doorway, “Go through there. Go all the way to the fourth floor and up onto the rooftop.”
She stared at him. “What?”
Ace goosed the bike forward. “I said go God dammit!”
Julia went. She ran through the door to find herself faced with a tall staircase. There were doors on all sides and she passed them as she raced up the stairs. The stitch in her side grew with every step and by the time she reached the third floor her energy was completely gone. She staggered and fell, rolling several feet down before crashing onto a hard landing that would have sent her body tumbling down the next flight if she had not managed to catch on to one of the posts of the staircase.
She made it to her feet and started upward again. Her breath sobbed in and out of her mouth. She could barely walk, and bruises were forming all over her skin. Pain lacerated through her side and her left foot. She kept going, not just because she was afraid but because Ace had told her to. She had to trust that he had a plan.
On the fourth floor she found exactly two doors. One was locked and had a number written on it. The other was unlocked but when she opened it all she found was a large but empty apartment.
Sobbing and desperate Julia went back out into the hallway, turning from one direction to the other until she finally spotted a very narrow and practically invisible doorway set into a series of panels along the wall. She opened the door to find a steep spiral stairway.
She climbed that staircase slowly barely able to drag herself upward. Sunlight hit her face and she stumbled along the rooftop, crying and trying to tamp down her fear and her pain long enough to think.
She huddled in a small patch of shade, dragging long heated gulps of air into her lungs. She got her bearings finally and as she sat there with her legs spread in front of her she began to hear the sounds coming from below. When she tried to stand her foot gave way and she tumbled back to the rooftop.
Her foot was broken, there was no other way around it. Julia did not know if she had broken it during her run or during the fall. What she did know was that the adrenaline had finally worn off and now she was feeling every inch of agony shooting through that foot.
