by Jayne Blue
I’d heard that and versions of it right before I’d left home for college. Now that I was back, I tried to remember the latest. I remembered Daddy saying there was some sort of trouble, but I hadn’t listened to details.
I wish I had. Whatever. I could use Ryder’s fast bike and clear appreciation of my looks to get as far away from the church as possible. He’d told me to hold tight, but I didn’t need to. I could have driven this bike myself. I held on but only just enough.
And I kept looking back. I envisioned the scene. Ross would be in deep shit when my Daddy realized I’d slipped away. That gave me a pang of guilt, but I brushed it aside. He’d have to fend for himself just as I was doing.
I squeezed my eyes shut and blocked out the scene. I didn’t want to imagine the rage I had set off in my Daddy.
I had to stay in the present if I didn’t want to be dragged back by my hair to that damn church. For a brief second, I let myself enjoy the ride. Enjoy Ryder. He smelled good. He felt good, and he was handling this bike well. Fast, confident, but also careful. He was making sure I had a good ride. Which I noticed as he smoothed out the curves and avoided the constant Michigan potholes.
I put my head on his shoulder. I shouldn’t have. But it felt right, and it helped me think. It helped me plan. I had to stay out of sight. Was this campground Ryder was headed to also a good idea for me?
I mulled it over for half a second or less. When I felt, Ryder pull up on the throttle. I looked to see why up ahead. And then I looked behind. There were two bikes on our path and one behind us.
Fuck.
The Devil’s Hawks had caught up to me. Shit. The two bikes were stopped and blocking our progress. Ryder had no choice but to stop. He enabled the kickstand of his bike. He looked at me and said in a low cold voice, “Stay right here. These are some bad dudes.”
“But...” he didn’t give me a chance to explain.
“I’m badder.” And he flashed that smile at me. Shit. He had no idea what he’d done by picking me up.
Daddy had sent Boone and Headlock. They were mean, tough, and stupidly loyal. If Daddy said jump, they did. Behind us was a guy I didn’t recognize. I didn’t focus on him. I needed to warn Ryder. Ryder didn’t know what they were capable of. I did.
I knew Boone and Headlock were deadly.
Ryder spoke up first.
“You’re gonna want to move out of the way.” His smile was still there, but his eyes had changed. The sexy flirt was gone and instead Ryder was something else. There was ice in his eyes now.
“You go from Devil’s Hawks to this piece of shit Great Wolf?” Boone was looking in my eyes and ignored Ryder’s request.
“This isn’t your business Boone,” I said, and Ryder looked at me.
“You know these meatheads?” Ryder asked me and I caught the surprise in his expression.
“Oh, we know you don’t we Jules? Not as much as we’d like. Kept that pussy locked up tight but not after we get you back to the church, right?” Boone said.
“Don’t be such a pig, Boone.” The other Hawk was rustling behind us. God. Did they plan to shoot Ryder? Force me to go with them? I struggled with the question of just how far Daddy’s guys would go to bring me back.
“Maybe we take a little side trip on the way back to the church.” Headlock apparently took Boone’s disgusting lead.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, but this lady doesn’t have to go anywhere with you.” Ryder put a hand behind him and around me. Jesus I was going to get this man killed five minutes after meeting him.
I decided to end it right then. I wasn’t going to risk it. This was my problem and running away had failed. I’d come up with something else.
“Ryder thank you, but I can’t let you get in any trouble because of my situation. I shouldn’t have dragged anyone else into this.”
I walked out away from Ryder and toward Boone and Headlock. I looked at the other Hawk, who was now next to Ryder. We were really penned in. I looked at the smallest of the three Hawk’s patch. Dirt. His name was Dirt? Ugh.
“I’ll ride back with Dirt.” I figured that was one way to keep my distance from Boone and Headlock. They looked like the worst of the three evils.
Ryder stayed on guard. The situation was about as tense as it could get but once I got on Dirt’s bike, I’d be okay. Well, Ryder would anyway. I’d be screwed again.
Almost paralyzing disappointment washed over me. I had a moment when I was running when I had hitched a ride when I thought it was going to work. I was going to escape before they knew I was gone. I hoped for that moment that I had pulled it off. But as soon as these three showed up, I knew I was going to have to give myself up. I wasn’t going to drag this handsome and kind stranger into my drama. I felt guilty that he was even here.
“Listen, Jules you really don’t have to go with these three,” Ryder said, and I kept getting farther from him and closer to Dirt.
“Thanks, really, please, this isn’t your problem. You don’t want to get involved in this mess.” I said, and Ryder looked skeptical, and I’d almost say hurt. Of course, I’d only known him for a few minutes. I was clearly projecting.
“I don’t mind a mess.” He said, but I turned away. He had no idea. And it turned out neither did I.
Dirt smiled at me. He was one of Daddy’s yes men. A soldier. He was one of the dozens. But Dirt was better than Boone or Headlock. They’d already said what they thought ought to happen to me.
As I got closer, Dirt reached into a bag that he’d stashed behind him. Before I had time to even process what I saw, he pulled out a finger. Not his finger. An actual severed finger!
I felt revulsion so strong that it nearly knocked me over.
“Dirt? What did you do? What is that?” I screamed.
“Oh, it’s Ross’s. That’s what you get when you fail the Devil’s Hawks.” Dirt took a step toward me with his horrific and bloody prize. This was my fault. I had caused this. I had slipped out of Ross’s fingers, and now Daddy had shown me in the most violent way what that meant. Ross had suffered because of me.
But I couldn’t go with Dirt, Boone, or Headlock. They were monsters in my eyes, barbarians. The finger was still bloody, still recognizable. Oh God, poor Ross. I just wanted to run away. Run into the woods. I forgot about Ryder, Boone, Headlock, only Dirt, who stood in front of me we the evidence of my Daddy’s brutality, was in my mind. Daddy’s brutal visual aid was like jet fuel.
Dirt took another step forward, and I bolted. I didn’t have a plan or a strategy, just get away. Get away fast.
Dirt was clumsy. When he grabbed for me I had already started running. I had a ton of wedding dress slowing me down, but I didn’t care. I leaped over the ditch and into the field next to the road.
I landed on my hands and knees and looked back. Ryder! He’d wound up and punched Dirt so hard he had to be unconscious. It had allowed me to put more distance between me and all of them.
But Boone and Headlock were closing in fast on Ryder. They were going to overtake him for sure.
“Ryder LOOK OUT.” And he turned around to find both of Daddy’s goons coming at him. I really should have taken the moment to keep running. To head to the tree line. To run like hell until my heart exploded. I should have said sorry about your luck Ryder.
But I couldn’t. My selfish focus on my own trouble had already claimed one victim, Ross. I couldn’t let it claim another.
I watched Ryder kick a gun out of Headlock’s hand and then pummel him in the nose. Ryder, who seemed so easy going and fun, was anything but. He’d be a more challenging target for Daddy’s goons then they’d expected. But still that he was a target at all was my fault.
I was stunned as I watched Ryder handle Headlock with a few more devastating blows. I also saw Boone take out a handgun and aimed at the two of them. He was getting ready to shoot. I suppose he only hesitated because Ryder and Headlock were so close. Plus, if Boone killed Headlock, he’d have to explain that to D
addy. Daddy decided who lived and died.
I had a second of indecision. I could run back and try to get the gun from Boone. But I knew I was no match for him physically. And in a wedding dress no less. What I did have was a good arm.
I looked around quickly and there it was. A rock that fit right in my fist. I stood up and took aim.
I may not be big, but I was a pitcher on my high school softball team. I knew how to throw. I launched the rock at Boone. His head was my target, and I hit it. The rock I’d launched landed squarely on his temple.
It stunned him and distracted him from Ryder and Headlock. He lifted a hand to his now bleeding head and changed his focus to me. Good. I had Ross’s blood on my hands. I didn’t want Ryder’s too.
Boone turned the gun on me. Fine. Ryder at least wasn’t in the crosshairs now. Just me. Now and probably forever. Damn Daddy.
“Take another step and I’ll shoot you,” he said to me.
“Daddy won’t be too happy if I get shot.”
“He told us to bring you back. That’s all. Didn’t tell us not to wing you.”
What the hell? Would Boone really shoot me? I didn’t know. But I wasn’t stupid enough to test it.
I was no match for Boone in any category. Boone was fast, huge, and accurate. He closed the distance over the ditch in about three steps. In an instant, he had his strong hand wrapped tightly around my arm and yanked me forward.
He barked in my ear. “That’s enough of your bullshit. Let’s go.” And he dragged me along.
He also made an incredible misstep. He’d put his back to Ryder. Ryder had taken care of Dirt for good it appeared, and Headlock was also now in a heap.
Somehow, in my flight from the Devil's Hawks, I’d stumbled onto a one-man wrecking crew, and he was pissed. The smile and the sexy flirt were gone.
I hadn’t seen anyone in my entire life as lethal looking as Daddy until this moment. And his name was Ryder.
“Get your fucking hands off the lady.” He said in a low voice that scared me and got Boone’s attention.
“Stay out of it, Great Wolf. She’s not your business.” Boone squeezed tighter, and I winced. His whole hand fit around my bicep.
“She is now,” said Ryder. Boone had me in one hand and a gun aimed at Ryder in another. I knew Boone was going to kill him. I’d underestimated Daddy’s club. An underestimation that had already lead to gruesome violence.
I looked Ryder in the eye. I hoped he sensed what I was throwing at him.
With all the strength I had, I pulled away. Boone’s grip didn’t loosen, but I did pull him off balance. And his gun off its target.
Ryder didn’t hesitate. He grabbed for it, and Boone was forced to let me go. I fell to the ground and watched Boone and Ryder struggle against each other as I crawled to get the distance between Daddy's men and me. Ryder had grabbed Boone’s wrist. Their bodies clashed as they wrestled for the gun.
Then it went off. It cracked the quiet of the countryside with a loud pop sound and stopped the struggle between the men. Was it Ryder? Had I caused another man to be hurt today?
The two men separated. Ryder didn’t have the gun. It was still in Boone’s hand. He’d somehow shot himself. He grabbed at his thigh, and I saw a red splotch stain the denim of Boone’s jeans. It had ripped a hole in the side, but it looked more like a scratch.
“You fucking son of a bitch.” He spat the words at Ryder and dropped to one knee as he examined himself.
“It grazed your leg you pussy,” Ryder said and then he was a blur of aggression. Ryder kicked the weapon out of Boone’s hand and then kicked it again into the field. He wound up again and struck another devastating blow across Boone’s jaw. Boone went down. In the space of a few minutes, he’d rendered all three Devil’s Hawks unconscious.
He didn’t go for the gun that had landed in the field. Instead, he put a hand out to me. I was in shock, stuck to the spot on the ground where I’d fallen. I was mired in wedding dress fabric. I was also confused by all that had happened in the last few moments. Ryder took a deep breath and walked closer
“You are the craziest bride I’ve ever seen. And you are trouble. For sure. But hurling that rock? That was the ballsiest shit I’ve ever seen a woman do. Come on, I’ll help you get out of here.” Ryder’s eyes locked onto mine.
I didn’t know what was happening between us, but I felt a connection. I felt a desperate need to put my hand in his and then run. I should go back. I should marry David Wexler. I should do all those things to keep everyone around me safe.
What I should do and what I needed to do were two different things. I wanted to be away from Devil’s Hawks. Something had put Ryder in my path to help me do it. Daddy expected me to tow the line. But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.
“I’m huge trouble. I can’t let anyone else get hurt on my account.”
“Do I look hurt?” he said, and I looked at him. He was leather, muscle, and handsome hero topped with swagger and a Mohawk.
And no. He didn’t look hurt. Three men had come at him, and he didn’t so much as have a scratch on him.
I put my hand in his, and he gently tugged to help me to my feet.
“Are you okay?” He asked me in a different tone than the one he’d used on Boone just seconds ago.
“I think so.” We were close. He put another hand out so I could stand straight. I couldn’t but notice it was the same stance, hands in hands, that I was supposed to be in with David Wexler right now. A sacrifice at some altar at a church I couldn’t name. Instead, both my hands were in Ryder’s and my heart was beating a mile a minute.
“Good.” Then Ryder leaned in and put his lips on mine. It was as savage as the punches I’d seen him deliver. It was unexpected. And it sent a shock through my body from lips to toes. I yielded to his lips and felt a gasp escape mine.
Then he pulled back.
“Let’s go.” Ryder scooped me up, giant dress and all, and sat me on his bike.
“What about that, uh, mess?” I didn’t know how else to refer to the three men my Daddy had sent who were now in various states of consciousness.
“Good news is it’s their mess to clean up. They’ll be busy with it for a while. So we need to go. That one’s waking up.” He pointed to Boone, and he revved the engine.
“Did you touch Boone’s gun?” I suddenly worried that Ryder would be wanted by the cops because of me.
“Nope, fucker shot himself. Now hold on Princess.” I did, the bike surged forward, and I held on.
I didn’t look back. Daddy had tried to stop me, but he failed.
I knew it was because of Ryder. Luck or fate had put him in my path. Where that path was leading now, I had no idea. And it might be lucky for me, but I feared it was unlucky for him. But there was no turning back now, my ride out of town was Ryder.
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