“Planning on living up to that name, I guess,” I admitted, then frowned. “But chasing’s no good if you don’t know where your target is.”
“Take it ya mean Mack?” Danny asked.
I nodded.
“An’ what about the Crew?”
I frowned and looked down. “I’m not sure,” I confessed, shaking my head. “But I know we’ll never survive a full-on war against them. The Crew’s got weapons and numbers—a lot of those numbers coming from our dwindling own, no less—and a direct attack would almost certainly ensure their win.”
“Those are facts,” Danny agreed.
I sighed and leaned back. “But the Crew are cowards. From the highest to the lowest. They were created by cowards, and they’ve only ever grown by scaring others into joining. They’re a pirated ship manned by not a single member who’d be willing to go down with the vessel should it start to sink.”
“Those are also facts,” Danny said, nodding.
“So how best to get a ship like that sinking?” I mused aloud.
“Ship’s already sinkin,’” Danny pointed out. “That’s why they’re scramblin’ like mad to patch ‘er up.”
I considered that for a moment, nodding. “Hey… yeah,” I said with dawning insight. “Yeah! The only reason they’re not running for the door is because the chicken-shits in charge are scarier?”
Danny nodded. “Ship’s sinkin’ slow, but the captain’s a crazy asshole with a loaded gun tellin’ ‘em that some loose floorboards’ll patch things up right as rain.”
“The captain…” I repeated, thinking. “The captain…”
“Ya sound like ya got a plan brewin,’” Danny said, and I felt his gaze on me, curious and intrigued.
“Maybe,” I admitted, shaking my head, “but it’s nothing solid yet. In the meantime,” I grunted as I pulled myself to my feet, “I was hoping you might get a few of your sources banded together to track down—”
My phone chimed, and I paused to glance at the notification:
FROM: UNKNOWN NUMBER
Scowling at this, I opened the message, already beginning to shake with rage as I read:
cornr of church
an lyle. 10 mins.
dont dispoint me
boy toy
I growled and shook my head. You’d think a manipulative little turd like that would learn how to spell, I thought, resisting the urge to take out my rage on my phone.
“Everythin’ okay?” Danny asked. “Ya sorta checked-out jus’ then. Mia send ya a dirty picture or somethin’?”
“Cancel that last order,” I heard myself grumble, starting for the door. “I know where he is.”
“What? What’chu talk—No!” Danny was following after me now. “Don’t tell me that weasely li’l rat-fuck…?”
I interrupted him with a nod. “He wants to meet,” I said, offering a venomous grin over my shoulder. “Same way as before—same place even.”
“That’s one dumb motherfucker,” Danny whispered, sounding almost sympathetic.
I nodded. “Sounds like the perfect candidate to be taught a lesson. We’ll worry about the Crew later. First I’m gonna—”
“Waste a bunch of time talkin’ when ya should be on yer bike an’ haulin’ ass out to kick his?” Danny challenged. “Boy, if ya don’t get out there and lay boot heels to that fag-fuck’s butthole I’m’a lay boot heels to yers!”
****
The rain had started while I’d been inside. Now it splattered my face as I sped down the highway, working to keep a steady speed going without hydroplaning off the road. I narrowed my eyes, fighting to see past the sting of the rain as it slapped my face. I had worn the helmet I had usually reserved for Mia, but even with the helmet, my eyes weren’t completely safe from the rain. I continued forward, driving faster and feeling the tires threaten to lose traction of the roads.
“Oh no you don’t!” I yelled at no one in particular, swerving slightly to retain a steady grip on the road.
I continued down the highway, desperate to end this all, but not wanting to risk my life. If I got into an accident, I would be no good to anyone. I hated how trapped I felt as I continued to drive down the highway at a slower pace. I wanted desperately to drive faster. To end all of this now!
“DAMMIT!” I roared over my engine, continuing forward.
I knew that if anyone saw me right now, they’d think I was crazy. They wouldn’t be half wrong, to be fair.
I was crazy.
Crazy to get to Mia.
Crazy to make sure she was safe and in my arms again.
And, sure, probably more than a little certifiable, as well.
But who could blame me? It was a crazy world, to be fair.
The exit for downtown finally came and I took it, crying out as the bike nearly slid right out from under me. At the last second, the bike managed to find its grip again and I held out tight, maneuvering the best I could as I prayed that the bike didn’t hydroplane again.
It didn’t.
I got to the corner in just over ten minutes later. I cursed at this fact, but decided it likely didn’t matter in the long run. I looked around and then down at my phone, unsure if I was expecting to suddenly notice some unseen detail in the first message or if I was expecting to see a new message waiting. In either case, there was nothing there to see. Looking back out, I squinted through the rain, wondering if he was standing somewhere else. I needed him to be there. Needed to end this all.
But there was nobody there.
There was nobody there…
But me.
Alone.
Occupying Mia’s old street corner, standing in the pouring rain, while Mack was out there, somewhere else, probably—
My eyes widened.
Somewhere else?
No…
There was only one place Mack would want to be. It was me who he needed “somewhere else.”
And wasn’t this corner just the best “somewhere else” to put me?
“Mia…” I whispered.
And then I was riding again, leaving rainwater and tears spraying out behind me as I went.
THIRTEEN
~MIA~
Jace certainly knew how to wake a girl up.
I smiled, thinking back to the memory of this morning as I looked through his walk-in pantry, wanting to give him something in return for the pleasure he’d given me this morning. My body warmed as the memory swam through my mind like a scene from a dirty movie:
I cried out, waking up to find Jace’s head between my thighs, the feel of his tongue stroking me entrance perfectly. I shivered, moving my hands to his head, falling victim to the pleasure he so willingly gave. I arched my head back, marveling at just how lucky I was to have a man who would wake me up like this.
“You awake now?” he said, continuing to lap at me even harder.
“I am now,” I said, my voice husky with pleasure.
“Good,” he smirked. “Now I won’t be so gentle.”
I gasped he returned to his “job” with that much more intensity. His fingers joined with his tongue, working me simultaneously and I couldn’t hold on any longer. I fell back against the pillows, arching upward as my body came alive. I screamed out as my orgasm rocketed through me, wave after wave of pleasure wracking my body.
“Jace, I need you inside me! Please,” I panted.
He nodded, moving off me and headed to grab a condom. I took his hand, squeezing gently to stop him.
“Jace, it’s fine,” I said. “I’m on the pill.”
“Are you sure?” he looked over, his face filled with pleasure at my request.
“I want this,” I smiled. “You’ll be my first without any…”
“Thank you, Mia,” he said, leaning down and capturing my lips in his.
Within seconds, he was filling me to the hilt. I panted, loving the feel of him inside me, with nothing between us. It felt so much more intimate and I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him back into anot
her passionate kiss. He began to buck inside me, his cock hitting me perfectly as he did.
“Oh wow,” he panted. “It feels so good, Mia.”
“It really does,” I shivered. “I’m already close!”
“Do it! Come for me,” he groaned. “I’m close too!”
As he increased the tempo, a second orgasm crashed through me and I arched back, gasping at how strong this orgasm was. At the same time, Jace had arched back, groaning at his own release as he began to flood me deep. I moaned, loving the feel of him inside me. I felt that much closer to him and as we both finished together, I fell back, Jace falling beside me.
“Wow,” he panted. “That was incredible.”
“It felt different,” I smiled warmly. “I can see why people complain about condoms.”
He smirked, leaning forward and kissed my forehead. I snuggled closer, knowing he’d be leaving soon. While I knew he wasn’t going to be gone for long, a part of me suddenly felt afraid. I didn’t want him to leave all of a sudden.
I cleared my thoughts at that, still unsure where that sudden emotion had come from earlier. I hadn’t brought it up to Jace, not wanting to seem like a burden and deciding that it was just a residual thought from our earlier separation. Going back to my task, I continued to look through the pantry.
“Get it together, Mia,” I whispered to myself.
I looked up at the sound of my phone ringing and stepped out of the pantry, looking around for my phone. When I found it, I saw that it was Candy and quickly picked it up, hitting the “accept” icon.
“Little early for you to be awake, isn’t it?” I teased.
“Is that how you talk to your best friend ever?” Candy’s voice replied with mock-hurt.
“I guess so,” I said, maintaining the playful back-and-forth.
“Hmm,” she resigned without words, then asked, “So you two okay then?”
“We are, yeah,” I said with a smiled. “Thanks… you know, for everything.”
“Uh-huh,” she hummed, sounding cocky. “Tol’ya it wasn’t forever, didn’t I?”
“You did,” I admitted.
“So you want me to come over?” she asked. “Day’s open—like my door, thanks to your lover-boy—and I was thinking you could treat me to a movie in that private theater you get to call a living room.”
I laughed at that. “Anything to ogle Jace’s place some more, right?” I asked.
“Well, that… and I bet you he has some real good booze hidden there,” Candy laughed.
I remembered the wine from the night before and laughed again. “He does, I can confirm,” I told her. “But it’s not the sort of stuff I can start freely pouring out. Not unless you got ten-grand lying around.”
“Ten-grand?” she scoffed, sounding disbelieving. “You’re shittin’ me, right?”
I told her what Jace and I had been drinking less than twelve hours earlier.
The phone went quiet.
Then she screamed.
“Bitch! I am coming over. Like, right now! I mean, no, we ain’t hittin’ that boy’s top-shelf—he’d probably gut me and drain me just to get it back—but I’m thinking somewhere in the middle.”
I laughed again, decided I liked the idea of not being alone, and agreed.
“Alright, cool!” she said. “Gimme, like, an hour-or-so, kay? Bus schedule’s shit—I’m sure you can remember from way-back-when—an’ it ain’t like I got a pretty biker boy to drive me everywhere. Don’t even got Danny here. Seriously, I been reduced to a fag-hag, and I ain’t even got a fag to hag? Can you believe that?”
“The struggle is real,” I offered with another chuckle.
“Tellin’ me,” she grumbled. “Anyway, I’ll be there soon… ish. Just have a movie and a bottle ready.”
“Kay,” I said, grinning at how easily the word came to me when I was talking to her.
And then the phone was silent.
Smiling, feeling refreshed, I went back to planning out a nice dinner for Jace. Starting to decide on a meal, I realized a few things were missing and pulled out my phone again, typing a message to Jace:
Hey! Could you pick
up some salad mix and
Italian bread pls?
I want to make something
special for you tonight.
Love you :-*
Finished, I set the phone on the sideboard next to me as I went about getting things set up. Outside it had started raining, and the sound, distant and muted through the walls of the condo, was a soft hum that faded off and was easily forgotten. The only real hint of the storm was the lack of natural lighting that I was used to around this time of day. This, however, was what electricity and indoor lighting was made for. Turning on a few more lights and reveling in the sudden safety that a few extra bulbs seemed to provide, I went about working on a sauce for the spaghetti I planned to make.
A moment later, my phone buzzed. I smiled, thinking of how lucky I was that, even with all his work, Jace was so quick to respond to such an unimportant message.
Then I frowned, staring for far longer than the two-word message deserved:
FROM: UNKNOWN NUMBER
knock knock
I was looking around the room before I realized I had no reason to do so. My breathing was coming in jagged bursts, and I worked to get that under control.
Calm down, Mia. Rationalize this!
It was a threat, sure, and I didn’t need to be a genius to figure out who it was. But there was nothing Mack could do over the phone—Just the phone! Just the phone! That’s all he has: just the phone!—and nothing he could do so long as I was here in Jace’s…
Lightning clapped outside, making me jump and scream.
Then, certain I’d feel better if I said this one thing—Just this one thing!—I began typing:
I told you to leave
me alone!
The response came before I’d even had a chance to steady my breathing again:
Shuldv cum wen I sed.
Warned U, dint I?
I was shaking. I was afraid. I was furious for those first two facts. My fingers flew across the digital keyboard of my phone:
Text me again and
I’ll call the cops!
I mean it!!
I pounded the “SEND” key and threw my phone down on the couch. Four rounds of pacing back-and-forth through the living room had my head somewhere in the right place. In the time it had taken me to do that, there’d been no more buzzing; no more messages. I was beginning to feel like the threat might have gotten through to my brother. As I thought this, it was followed by the through that, whenever anybody in books or movies thought such a thing, it was always at that moment that the phone buzzed again or…
Or worse.
A full minute passed in silence, save for the dull-yet-constant hum of the rain outside.
But still nothing happened.
Two minutes.
Three.
Or had it all only been a few seconds?
Time moved slowly when you were holding your breath.
But still nothing happened.
Thunder bubbled outside; every now and again the already brightly-lit condo was made white and blinding with the flash of lightning.
But still nothing…
I decided that I should call Jace.
This, of course, was only a half-truth—one told to myself for the sake of my sanity more than out of hope—as I just as much needed to hear his voice at that moment. Masking it as the right thing to do, the honest thing to do, made me feel a little less pathetic for the effort; it lent a sense of input over the dire need to be looked after.
I started for the couch, for my phone, and turned the little mental mantras into a haphazard muttering of, “Calm down, just a phone, one thing; calm down just a phone one thing…”
I scooped up the phone. It looked like such a simple, trivial thing in that instant. So unbefitting of so much worry.
“Calm… a phone… thing,” I mut
tered, not even thinking about the words coming out of my mouth anymore. “Calm… phone… thing…”
It took a few tries to get the power button to work right. I blamed the phone, but secretly knew my fingers weren’t working right; they didn’t have the strength or dexterity I’d come to expect from them.
“Calm, phone, thing,” I whimpered.
The glare of the awakening phone was blinding, and I wondered if it had always been that bright. A nightmarish thought that, while my back had been turned, somebody—Mack—had been in here—in this very room with me—and altered the settings just to…
“Calm phone thing,” I muttered, finding peace in the strange noise I’d begun making. “Camphon’ing.”
The pad of my thumb, shaky but mine, worked with trembling awkwardness to the tauntingly calm icon of an old-timey phone set against a green square. The white silhouette of a rotary phone seemed to mock me with all that it promised.
“Compho’ing,” I whispered, and, as though I were perched on a rotting ledge and had but one chance to leap to safety, I threw everything I had into pressing the spot on a screen that light and faith told me was a button—a bridge to Jace’s voice.
The contacts list came to replace the screen I’d come to loathe so much, and I heard myself cry out and was instantly embarrassed by it.
Mack…
My son-of-a-bitch brother had me so terrified I was working my brain into a lather over…
Over a fucking phone call?
“M-M-M…” I stammered.
I’d meant to say “Mia, you twit, get a hold of yourself and make the damn call!”
But then a clap of thunder crashed down, earning another scream—this one stifled to some degree—and all I managed was another “Compho’ing.”
Miraculously, I found Jace’s number—easy enough; it rested atop all the others in the “RECENTLY DIALED” list—and, with another hopeful press to an imaginary button, I was soon rewarded with the beautiful chime of ringing…
B-B-B-B-Br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-rinngggggg…
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