Red Hot Bikers, Rock Stars and Bad Boys

by Cassia Leo

  “Thank you.” She released him.

  Matt took another drink of his beer. “Yeah, yeah.”

  *

  “You got the look about you,” said Saul Ford, one of the workers that Heath was now sharing the tenant house with. “You a gypsy?”

  “Not really.” Heath pushed past him, carrying a box of his worldly possessions. He was glad to be moving back into the tenant house, as far as that went, but he wasn’t about to act grateful, like Cathy wanted him to. Letting him live here wasn’t some big concession on Matt’s part. It was only restoring what he’d had before. And even then, he wasn’t restoring it all, not properly, because he was sharing the house with three other guys.

  “That’s good,” said Saul. “Never play cards with gypsies myself. They cheat.”

  Great. More racist bullshit. Heath stomped up the stairs, determined to ignore Saul. He threw his stuff into one of the bedrooms. The smallest one.

  He went back to close the door, but Saul was there.

  “You know how to play cards?” Saul asked.

  “I don’t know,” said Heath, leaning on the door. “What game?”

  “Poker, of course,” said Saul. “Is there another game?”

  “I don’t have any money,” said Heath. “Thanks, though.”

  Saul got his wallet out of his back pocket. “Five dollar buy-in. I’ll spot you, if you want. You can pay me back.”

  Heath furrowed his brow. “Why would you do that? What are you trying to pull?”

  “Trying to be friendly,” said Saul. “Besides, the game’s better with four people instead of three.” He slapped the five dollar bill into Heath’s hand.

  Heath looked down at it. “I never played poker in my life.”

  “Well, it’ll probably be a short experience for you, then,” said Saul. “Like most things you do the first time.” He chortled.

  “All right, I guess I’ll play,” said Heath.

  “Good,” said Saul.

  Heath followed him out into the hallway.

  “How old are you, anyway, boy, that you never played poker in your life?”

  “Seventeen,” said Heath.

  “Seventeen. Shouldn’t you be in school or something?”

  Heath wasn’t going to spin his personal sob story to this guy. “Fuck school.”

  Saul laughed.

  They descended the steps to the living room, where the other two workers were smoking cigarettes and drinking cheap beer. One of them was shuffling cards.

  Saul was right. His first experience playing poker was short. He lost his first hand and the money that Saul had lent him. But he watched the next several hands, and he started to see that the game was less about what cards you were dealt and more about how you let those cards affect you. And about how much of the effect showed on your face.

  Later, all of them with more beer in their bellies, someone spotted him another five bucks and dealt him back in.

  He didn’t clean up, but he did better. He made enough money to pay back the ten dollars he owed and then some.

  He went to sleep feeling satisfied with himself for the first time since he’d pushed Floyd Earnshaw down the stairs.

  *

  Cathy opened the door of Eli’s shiny blue car and slid inside. “I wasn’t sure if you’d come today.”

  She had been halfway down the driveway when he’d pulled up, heading for the bus stop, even though she usually just sat on the porch until Eli showed up to pick her up.

  “Here I am,” said Eli.

  The backseat was empty. “Where’s Isabella?”

  “I made her take the bus,” said Eli. “I wanted to talk to you alone. I feel like we never get to do that. You keep inviting Isabella whenever I try to ask you on a date. You turned homecoming into a group thing. And then you ran off with that Heath guy on Friday. What’s up with all that, Cathy?”

  She sighed, scrunching down in the front seat. She wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t know what was going on with her. Everything was too confusing. She felt like her life was simply sweeping her along, and it was all she could do to react to every crazy thing it threw at her.

  She didn’t answer, and they drove in silence for several minutes. They left the farm behind, and the scenery outside the window changed to houses and trailer parks. The leaves were falling off the trees.

  “You gonna give me the silent treatment?” asked Eli. “You think that’s the right thing to do in this situation?”

  She laughed. “The right thing. That’s all you do, isn’t it, Eli? Whatever’s right?”

  “I try to.”

  “You wear your preppy little clothes and spike your hair and drive under the speed limit and listen to girls when they tell you they want it to be a group thing. You’d never do anything… deviant.”

  “You’re saying that you want me to not do what you say?” He sighed. “You are the most confusing girl I’ve ever met.”

  “So, why bother with me? Why’d you pick me up?”

  “Because I can’t stop thinking about you. Because you intrigue me. Because you’re like this force of nature, this storm or something, and I want to get caught up in you.”

  A force of nature, huh? That was almost poetry. Heath never said anything that sounded remotely like poetry.

  Of course, she did remember the way it had felt when he’d told her he loved her. Like her insides had all been crushed for an instant, leaving her breathless and ruined.

  But Heath wasn’t here, was he? And… it wasn’t like she and Eli couldn’t be friends, was it? They weren’t doing anything wrong.

  “Turn here.” Cathy pointed at the next road.

  “What?” said Eli. “That’s not the way to school.”

  “Let’s not go to school,” she said. “Let’s do the wrong thing today, Eli. Blow it off.”

  He looked startled. Then nervous. “I don’t know. They call your parents to confirm your absence when you don’t show up, you know?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Forget it. I should have known that you’d never go for it. You play things too safe.”

  Eli clenched his jaw. He turned the steering wheel hard.

  The tires squealed. They barely made the turn. Dust kicked up behind the car. Cathy was thrown into the window.

  She squealed.

  “Whoa,” said Eli.

  Cathy threw back her head and laughed. “All right, Eli.” She grinned at him.

  He looked back at her, flushed and triumphant. His blue eyes were like the ocean in summer.

  *

  Cathy handed Eli a cigarette. She fumbled with her lighter. She wasn’t used to lighting her own smokes.

  Eli turned it over in his hands.

  They were sitting at the top of a mountain on a windy, country road. Cathy knew this place, because you could climb down over the guard rail and sit on the rocks. Then you could see the whole town laid out in front of you.

  She hadn’t been sure if Eli would go for it. She thought he might be too afraid. Of falling. Of getting his clothes dirty.

  But he’d surprised her, climbing down without any qualms, grinning the whole time, like he’d never had so much fun in his entire life. The wind had blown the gel out of his hair, and it looked actually messy, not artfully so.

  “You never smoked before?” Cathy said, discovering that lighting a cigarette on her own was actually easy. She sucked in the smoke.

  Eli put the cigarette in his mouth. “Never.”

  She handed him the lighter.

  He lit the cigarette and took a drag. Immediately, he began coughing.

  Cathy laughed. “That’ll happen the first time.”

  He tried again. Coughed again. “These things are disgusting,” he wheezed.

  “Yeah.” Cathy contemplated hers. “I might quit, actually.”

  Eli put his cigarette out. “Not for me, I don’t think.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  “Does that diminish me in your eyes?” he asked. “You think I
’m a big wuss now, ‘cause I won’t smoke a cigarette? I noticed that Heath guy was puffing away.”

  Cathy looked out over the cliff, down at the tiny houses so far beneath them.

  “What’s going on with you and him?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” He laughed in disbelief. “You were, like, mating with him.”

  “I wasn’t…. we don’t…” She sucked on her cigarette. “It’s complicated.”

  “You’re with him. Why’s that complicated?”

  She blew out smoke. “He’s always been around. We grew up together, you know. And he takes care of me. But sometimes… sometimes, it feels like I’m inside this balloon, and someone’s sucking out all the air, and it gets smaller and smaller and smaller. And Heath is just part of all of that. But you…” She looked at him. “You’re outside of it all. You’re different.”

  “So you want to break up with him?”

  “We’re not together,” she said. “I mean, we are, but…”

  Eli let out a long, slow breath. “So what you’re saying, Cathy, is that you want me to wait around while you figure out what you’re feeling.”

  “You don’t have to do anything,” she said. “I’m not forcing you into anything. You can do what you want.”

  “I want you,” he said.

  The wind blew her hair into her face. She pushed it aside.

  “If you don’t want me back, then tell me. Put me out of my misery.”

  She took another drag from her cigarette. “I want to be able to breathe. I want to get out of this town. I want to go to a city. I don’t want to be tied down to anything. To anyone. Not Heath. Not you. Is that wrong?”

  “I don’t know. Does it matter? I thought we were doing all the wrong things today.”

  She stubbed out the cigarette. “We are.” She turned to him. And before she could talk herself out of it, she pressed her lips against his.

  It was a short kiss. Just lips on lips, the wind whipping around them in the fall morning, the leaves crumbling as they were whisked through the air. And then she pulled away.

  Eli touched his mouth.

  Cathy hugged herself. She shouldn’t have done that. If Heath knew…

  Heath was stuck working the fields. Maybe she’d gotten him back into the tenant house, but everything was shitty for Heath, and she was skipping school and kissing other boys, and she was probably the worst person that ever lived. What the hell was wrong with her? She’d practically told Heath she was ready to have sex with him. Shouldn’t that mean that she wouldn’t feel anything for Eli anymore?

  She got up. “I want to go to school. I just remembered I have a test in French.”

  Eli shook his head. “Oh, man. Cathy, you’re going to fuck me up, aren’t you?”

  ***

  2013

  Thera spent the first four hours screaming and pounding on the door of the room she’d been locked in. Then, realizing that no one was coming to help her, she curled up on the bed and cried.

  Heath had taken her cell phone. When she looked out the window, she saw that he was moving her car too, as if he wanted to erase any trace that she’d ever even been there. Was he going to kill her? She couldn’t help but feel as if she’d somehow stumbled into a horror movie. Would Heath dress her up in her mother’s old clothes before he slit her throat?

  Maybe he’d set her loose on the farm at night. She’d run through the fields in the darkness, trying to get free, but he’d be behind her, laughing that deep laugh of his, always on her heels. He’d wait until she got tired, and then he’d pounce on her like a wolf. He’d rip her apart with his bare hands.

  She watched the sunset out the window.

  It grew dark in her room.

  There was only one lamp, a small one by her bedside. She turned it on, but it only illuminated a tiny circle of yellow light.

  She should have listened to her father. Eli had told her that Heath hated her. But she’d thought the idea was too ludicrous to consider. Now, she was trapped here, and she didn’t know what was going to become of her.

  There was a rattle at her door, the sound of a key in the lock. The door opened, and a boy came in.

  Well, actually he was older than a boy. He must have been a few years older than she was. He wore a baseball cap, and his ponytail stuck out the back of it. His face was grimy, and he had an unkempt beard and mustache. He might have been halfway attractive if he wasn’t so dirty.

  She let out a little cry.

  “Dinner,” he said.

  Dinner? They were letting her out for dinner? Or was this a trap? Were they going to lure her downstairs to their workshop of pain, hang her by a hook, and carve out her entrails?

  The guy looked up at her from underneath the bill of his cap.

  His eyes looked almost kind.

  She scooted forward on her bed. “Do you know what they’re doing to me? You’re not one of them, are you? You could help me. Get me out of here, get me to my car. Please.”

  He looked down, the hat obscuring his expression. “Dinner. Come on now.”

  On the other hand, maybe she’d completely misread his expression. Maybe he was simple or something… mentally handicapped.

  She folded her arms over her chest. “Tell Heath I’m not hungry.” She was starving. But she wasn’t going to make anything easier for her captors. She was going to fight.

  “Come on now.” He gave her a plaintive look.

  “Is that all you can say?” she asked. “That, and ‘dinner’?”

  He sighed. “Just come on.”

  “No.” She lifted her chin.

  He crossed the room to her and grabbed her upper arm, forcing her to her feet.

  “Ow, you’re hurting me,” she said.

  He was strong. She tried to fight but couldn’t. He dragged her across the room, and she let him.

  “Come on now,” he said.

  “What are you, some kind of retarded lackey for Heath? Do you even know what he’s making you do?”

  The man’s nostrils flared. He made a growling noise in the back of his throat. He looked at her, his expression intense. “Shut up.”

  She quaked. Okay, whatever he was, he was scary.

  He yanked her down the steps, through the little hallway at the bottom, and into a dining room. He shut the door behind them.

  Heath and Linton were already sitting at the dining room table. It was covered in a red velvet tablecloth. There was an elaborate candelabra in the center, lit with candles that dripped wax down in white rivers.

  Thera turned, scrabbling for the door handle.

  The man pulled her away. He dragged her to a seat across from Linton. And then he sat down too.

  “I see you’ve met Gage,” said Linton, his blue eyes sparkling.

  So that was the oaf’s name. She shut her eyes. “I don’t appreciate being fetched down to dinner like a dog. And perhaps Gage would be better off in a facility or something. He’s clearly not all there mentally.”

  Gage glared at her.

  Heath roared with laughter.

  Linton giggled. “You see, you idiot, even she thinks you’re stupid.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with Gage’s mind,” said Heath.

  Oh. Thera was embarrassed. “I-I’m sorry,” she said to Gage.

  “Fuck you,” said Gage.

  She blinked. Why was she being polite anyway? She was a prisoner here. These people were holding her against her will. She pressed her lips together in a firm line.

  Heath passed her a platter of summer squash. It had been sautéed and buttered. Her stomach growled at the smell of it.

  Defeated, she dipped some onto her plate.

  “He likes being stupid,” said Linton. “He dropped out of high school and everything. Doesn’t do anything but work on cars and play poker.”

  “Nothing wrong with poker,” said Heath. He passed her some wild rice.

  She dipped that onto her plate as well.

  �
�Gage does as he likes,” said Heath. “He’ll always have a place here. I’d never turn him out. I’m not his stepfather.” He turned to Thera. “Would you like some wine?”

  Thera felt like she might be going crazy. This twisted domestic scene was disturbing. She didn’t like these people at all. “What I’d like is to leave.”

  “Gage, take your hat off at the table,” said Heath.

  Gage removed his baseball cap. There was a line of dirt around his head, marking where it had been.

  Thera turned to her food. “If you kill me, people will find out. My father will have the police hunt you down—”

  “Don’t be dramatic, Catherine,” said Heath. “I’m not going to kill you.”

  “Father isn’t going to kill you, Thera,” said Linton. “We’re just going to keep you here. And toy with you a little bit.” He leered at her.

  “Linton, shut your mouth.” Heath shot a withering glance at him and then turned back to Thera. “Ignore my son. Really, you should consider yourself a guest.”

  “A guest who can’t leave?”

  The sides of Heath’s mouth twisted into something resembling a smile. “You really haven’t given the place much of a chance. It may grow on you. Perhaps even Linton will grow on you.”

  Linton eyed her hungrily.

  Thera cringed. She didn’t think so. She really didn’t think so.

  “I want to get to know you, that’s all,” said Heath. “You might not be aware, but I used to know your mother very well.”

  “That’s what Linton says,” said Thera. “But I don’t believe it. You’re a horrible man, and my mother could never have loved you.”

  Heath laughed. “Oh, but she did. Very much. Admittedly, she had a funny way of showing it sometimes.” He picked up his fork. “Of course, I guess I did too.”

  ***

  1993

  Cathy stood at the bottom of the steps in the farmhouse. Eli was at the door, looking at her. His eyes were so blue, it was painful.