by Ophelia Grey
“He is the most handsome man I’ve ever met,” I admitted, thinking of the way his shaggy hair fell over his bright eyes and the bulge of his tattooed biceps under his shirt.
Sarah giggled. “I can’t wait to see him.”
When we arrived outside the church, there were already several families milling about and discussing the various events of the week. Since nothing ever happens in Mercy River, that meant they were discussing things like the weather and their children’s birthday parties.
I stood awkwardly as more and more families arrived and the crowd grew thicker. Then finally, I heard it. The distant roar of the engine grew louder as Liam’s motorcycle pulled into view. The whole crowd in front of the church turned to watch as Liam pulled up and dismounted.
He leaned the bike against a wooden signpost and walked over as the throngs of churchgoers stared in open amazement and disdain. To his credit, Liam had done his very best to fit in. His wild hair was carefully combed and he was wearing neatly pressed slacks and a faded blue button down shirt. Despite his efforts, Liam stood of from the crowd. His hair was much longer than any Mercy River man would ever wear it, and the dark tattoos were peaking out at his collar and cuffs.
I walked over quickly, pushing my way through the throngs of gawking housewives and irritated middle-aged men until Liam could see me. His face lit up with a smile as our eyes met. He opened his mouth to say something, but my family pushed their way forward before he had the chance.
“Mary, it is time to go inside,” my mother said warningly. Her face was a neutral mask but her chilly tone told me the truth.
“Mom, Dad, Sarah, this is Liam. He is in town for a while and I suggested he come by the church and hear one of Pastor Rick’s great sermons. Liam, this is my mom and dad, and my sister Sarah.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Liam said, extending his hand to my father.
My father reached his hand out and reluctantly shook Liam’s hand while my mother shook her head at me. I could tell I was in deep trouble, but I still held out hope that once my parents spoke with Liam they would understand.
“Hi Liam,” Sarah interjected as my parents remained painfully silent. “Nice to meet you!”
“Sarah, Mary, I want you girls to go inside the church right now,” my father instructed. “Liam, I hope you enjoy the service, but I want you to stay away from my girls. We don’t need any fellows like you giving them any wrong ideas.”
Liam turned to look at me with pitying eyes and I felt the anger boiling up inside of me. My father was still treating me like I was sixteen and he was treating Liam like trash.
“Daddy!” I gasped. “How can you judge Liam simply based on your preconceptions when the bible tells us not to judge?”
My father’s face started to turn red, and my mother pursed her lips in that way she did when Sarah or I were about to be sent to our rooms for something we had done wrong. My instinct was to shrink back and apologize for my transgressions. But I was not a child anymore and I knew that I was in the right.
“Mary,” my mother hissed, glancing furtively around at the other families who were now openly staring at our public drama. “You are starting to act like that girl Grace. Stop it right now.”
“Good!” I replied. “Maybe she had the right idea by leaving this town.”
My whole family stared at me in open shock and I saw a smile creep over Liam’s face. It was the first time I had ever stood up to my parents and it felt like freedom. I couldn’t back down now.
“You go to church,” I continued. “I’m staying with Liam.”
My father looked like he was about to explode, but I didn’t give him the chance to rage at me. I grabbed Liam’s hand and walked purposefully towards where he left his bike. Liam squeezed my hand gently and helped me up onto the bike after him.
I turned and gave my family one last look as they stood outside the church staring at their eldest daughter riding off on a motorcycle behind a man they had judged as unworthy before he said a single word. Only my sister Sarah waved and I was pretty sure she winked as Liam and I pulled off onto the small road towards his motel.
As the wind whipped my blond locks against my face, I realized that I had broken something and it couldn’t be fixed. There was a sadness that tinged my newfound sense of freedom. I loved my family, despite their failings. I knew that my parents would never see me the same way again. But I had broken out of a cage that kept me from growing into the woman I was meant to be. Opening new doors always involves closing others behind you.
“That was seriously bad ass of you, Mary,” Liam said as we pulled to a stop in front of the dingy motel building. “I’m impressed with your bravery. I know it must have been hard.”
I didn’t reply, but reached out and squeezed his strong hand. I wanted him to know that it was worth it, and that I did it for myself as much as I did it for him. Meeting Liam had given me the strength to fight for myself and now there was no looking back.
We walked up to the small, dark room where Liam was staying. He didn’t have much, just a few extra pairs of clothes laid out by his backpack. I looked around, trying to compare the freedom of the road to the comforts of home. In truth, the hotel room wasn’t much more dingy than many homes in Mercy River. When the economy crashed, many folks in town had fallen behind on their mortgages and homes had fallen into disrepair. Even my own family couldn’t afford much of the upkeep needed on our house.
“Is it hard, living on the road all the time?” I asked Liam quietly as I surveyed the small room.
“It isn’t so bad,” he assured me. He paused, looking at me carefully. “Mary, you are too good for this town. But it is your home. It is your decision to make.”
“I know, I replied, looking down at the worn carpet. In my heart, the decision was already made. “It isn’t my home anymore though. I want to go with you.”
Chapter 5:
We packed quickly. Neither of us had much to bring. After packing his bag and checking out of the motel, we rode back to my parent’s house. Luckily, everyone was still at church so I had a few minutes to through some clothes in a bag and leave a short note on Sarah’s bed explaining that I had to leave.
I didn’t have time to cry, but I felt my emotions pushing at the dam inside my when I placed the folded piece of paper on my sister’s bed and looked around the familiar room one last time.
Liam’s strong arm snaked around my waist. I leaned against his broad chest as I said goodbye to the only life I’d ever known. A few minutes later we were on the road headed out of town. By the time my family returned home from church, Liam and I had passed the border of Mercy River and were headed to parts unknown.
“So where exactly are we going?” I asked when we stopped for lunch and a pee break.
We had driven past a lot of empty countryside and this diner was the first real sign of civilization we had seen since leaving Mercy River. It wasn’t much, but then again, neither was Mercy River.
“I don’t really know,” Liam replied, taking another bite of his hamburger. “That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? Freedom?”
“Yeah,” I agreed reluctantly. I had assumed that he had a bit more of a plan than that. I thought maybe he had drawn a route on a map that he was following or something of the sort. Having no plan at all, while freeing, also made me anxious.
“I would like to see where you grew up. Can we head there?” I asked finally swallowing the last bite of my sandwich. The idea excited me. I wanted to see where Liam was from, maybe even meet his friends and family.
“No. We can’t.” Liam’s curt reply caught me off guard. I glanced up at him, but he was looking out the window into the cornfields that seemed to spread on endlessly.
“Why not?” I asked. I wasn’t going to be put off that easily.
“Look, Mary, your family wasn’t entirely wrong. There are bad guys who look like me. I used to be one of them.”
“I don’t believe you were ever bad,” I replied teasingly, but
Liam’s quick glance in my direction cut the smile from my face.
“Mary, I can’t go home. The guys I grew up with were all part of a biker gang. When I was old enough, I joined them. Some of them were good guys, once upon a time. But things just got worse and worse. The things they did…” He paused and his eyes locked with mine. “Mary, I don’t want to tell you the details, but it was bad.”
“And you participated in those things?” I asked. A cold dagger of fear entered my heart as I tried to imagine funny, sweet Liam as part of a horrible gang. Had my parents been right all along?
“At first,” he admitted. “I told myself that it was for the good of my brothers and that it wasn’t so bad. But then it got worse and worse. I refused to do something really horrible. I spoke out and they kicked me out, but not before teaching me a lesson.”
“Liam lifted a corner of his shirt and I saw a long, jagged white scar running up the side of his torso.
“Liam!” I gasped. I tried to reach across the table, but he lowered his shirt and stared back out at the cornfields.
“I managed to get away from them,” he finally said in a whisper so quiet I couldn’t tell if he was talking to me or to his self. “But I can never go home.”
“I understand,” I said quietly, placing my hand on top of his. Neither can I, I added in my head.
We rode the rest of the afternoon in silence, watching as the cornfields faded to factories and we approached a small city. It wasn’t much, but compared to Mercy River it looked like a grand metropolis.
I watched the tall, grey buildings grow larger and larger until we shrank into insignificant ants in their shadows. The roar of cars and the hum of conversation drowned out my thoughts. I clung tightly to Liam’s waist until we pulled into the lot for a small motel.
I stood silent as Liam arranged for a room for the night, suddenly coming to the awkward realization that I was going to be spending a night in a room, alone with this man who had only a week before been a complete stranger. Now, he was all I had in the world, and all I wanted, but the old warnings from my past still blared loudly in my head.
Liam opened the door and I breathed a small sigh of relief. There were two twin beds separated by a small nightstand. I felt silly for even thinking that my gallant knight, who rode in a on a black motorcycle and saved me from my repressive life in Mercy River, might even think of taking advantage of me.
I collapsed on the first bed, finally allowing the exhaustion of the day to seep out of my bones and claim my body. The red floral bedspread was scratchy and smelled like smoke, but I had never been more grateful for a place to rest.
Liam smiled down at me as he placed our bags on the chair in the far corner. “I’ll shower first, while you rest.”
I nodded sleepily, wondering if it would even be possible to pull myself off the bed to shower. My eyelids grew heavy as soothing sound of running water echoed from the small bathroom. I stopped struggling against my exhaustion and let the enormity of the day settle around me like a thick blanket, helping me drift off into unconsciousness.
A cool hand on my cheek startled me awake. I blinked, looking around in confusion. Where was my purple bedspread? Where were my floral curtains that I made in home economics class in when I was fifteen?
Liam’s amused face looking down at me brought all the memories surging back. And just as suddenly, the tears started to flow. Silently at first, the warm tears streamed down my cheeks, forming salty puddles against my nose and finally absorbing into the scratchy motel sheets. Liam’s expression changed to concern as I tried unsuccessfully to blink away the onslaught of tears.
“Mary? What’s wrong?” His voice was so smooth, so sweet and comforting, but for some reason it only made my silent tears turn to racking sobs.
Liam seemed to understand, pulling me up against his cool, damp chest. He held me tightly against him and I buried my face into his hard muscles, finally allowing myself to mourn all that I had lost. After a few minutes my sobs subsided and my sadness faded to a dull ache and then finally dissipated.
“I’m sorry,” I finally managed to squeak out, pulling my face from the comfort of Liam’s chest to gaze up into those incredible blue eyes. “I really am glad I came with you. But I guess it is harder to just turn my back on my old life than I realized.”
Liam placed his cool hand on my cheek again. It was rough and calloused, but his touch was more comforting than he could possibly know.
“I know it is hard. I felt the same way when I left my home,” he said finally, staring into my eyes with a cool intensity. “The guys were like my family, even if they eventually turned rotten. They would have killed me if I stayed, but that didn’t make leaving any easier. I know it hurts to run away from a life that was poisonous because home always feels safer than the unknown. But if you want to grow, you need to leave your cage. You are allowed to be sad, Mary. I promise that I’m here for you.”
His lips pressed softly to my forehead. Though the kiss was chaste and sweet, it sparked a fire in me at once. I turned my chin up, my lips catching his in a hungry embrace. Liam kissed me back with full force, his soft lips crushing against mine as his hand gripped a handful of my blonde tresses. His tongue pressed insistently at the seam of my lips until they parted to let him through. He explored my mouth gently until I followed his lead. I reveled in the soft, smoky flavor of his lips against my tongue and sighed against him as I inhaled the sharp, clean scent of soap that wafted from his freshly washed body.
I wanted to have more of him, to finally partake in the mysterious, dirty sins that I had been warned about. But exhaustion weighed me down. I pulled back regretfully from Liam’s peppered kisses on my lips.
“I should shower before bed,” I explained, looking down to hide my creeping blush.
When I looked up shyly, Liam was nodding. The towel wrapped around his waist hid his desire, but I could read it on his face. He wanted what I wanted, but tonight wqs not the time.
I showered quickly, letting the cool water wash the dust and grime of the day from my body. The tiredness and ache had settled deep in my bones, but sleep would help with that. Liam was already settled into his bed by the time I changed into my nightclothes.
I settled into my own bed and let the thick veil of sleep claim me quickly. My sleep was dreamless, or else I didn’t remember them. I didn’t wake up until the harsh rays of midmorning sun shone into the room and I awoke for the first time away from Mercy River.
Chapter 6:
Liam rolled over in his bed and groaned. I felt the same way about being yanked from the comfort of my deep slumber, but I had to smile at the way his tousled brown hair stood up in strange patterns, like a piece of wild modern art.
“Good morning,” I called out cheerfully as I stretched and sat up in the creaky bed.
Liam groaned again and struggled to pull himself upright. “It isn’t fair that you wake up like that,” he complained, gesturing in my direction.
I laughed and hopped out of bed to get ready for the day. I was a morning person by force of habit. My parents would never allow me to sleep in, so I was used to waking up at the crack of dawn and getting straight to work on whatever tasks I had for the day. In addition, my smooth, straight hair and the fact that I rarely wore any makeup meant I didn’t wake up with wild hair or raccoon eyes. It was one of the few perks of being a low maintenance girl.
Liam grumbled but finally pushed aside the blankets and stumbled out of bed. I rummaged through my bag until I found a suitable outfit of jeans and a fitted lilac t-shirt for the day’s ride. I wasn’t sure how long we would be on the road, but I figured I might as well get comfortable.
I quickly changed in the bathroom and pulled my long hair into a quick braid down my back to keep it from flying wild in the wind as it had the day before. By the time I had washed up and exited the somewhat grimy little bathroom, Liam had already changed into his jeans and a clean white t-shirt and had his bag packed and ready to go.
I rus
hed to throw everything in my bag, but couldn’t stop myself from sneaking a few peeks at Liam as he waited by the door. The white shirt made the tan of his skin stand out more starkly, which helped accentuate the gorgeous blue shade of his eyes. He was almost too perfect. The swirl of black tattoos down his strong, bulging arms added a perfect air of danger and mystery. I felt a tingling in my core and had to look away. It was too damn easy to get distracted by him.
“I’m ready,” I finally announced, swinging my bag over my shoulder.
We checked out quickly and followed the same highway as the day before for a few hours. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, my stomach began to rumble. Liam must have felt the same pangs, because only a few moments later, we pulled over at a highway rest stop to grab some food. While I waited in line to order us some greasy burgers and French fries, Liam went outside to make a call. He returned as I was carrying our tray over to one of the food court style tables.
“I was able to get in touch with some friends of mine,” he said as he slid into the seat across from me. Reading my face, he quickly added, “They are friends from a city just a few hours from here. They aren’t part of the old gang. I met them on my recent travels and they would like to meet up later tonight. Would you like that?”
I nodded thoughtfully, twisting a limp greasy French fry in my fingers. Now that I had absconded from Mercy River, Liam was really the only friend I had left. Grace would always be my friend, but she was way off on the east coast and it would be good to meet some new people. Anyone who was a friend of Liam’s was sure to be interesting.
“That would be great,” I agreed.
We rode out again as soon as we finished our meal. The bike rumbled underneath us as we zoomed down the long, flat highway that stretched through middle America. There was a certain beauty to the flat, dusty countryside. This was my new home, I realized. On a bike, on the road, hugging Liam’s muscular back. Everywhere and nowhere. It was terrifying and liberating.
