Rough Rider

by Harley Fox

  But then I heard the sounds of engines. They were far-off and at first I didn’t think anything of it. But then they got louder, and started sounding closer than the dim roar of traffic from the road. I stopped on my way to storming out and glanced back at Jake, and I saw that even he looked concerned. If he’s worried then something bad must be about to happen.

  And then a dozen or so people — all on motorcycles, all wearing leather jackets, and all of them carrying a weapon — pull up out outside of the shop, right in front of us. They’re all thin and scraggly-looking, but that doesn’t make them any less scary. I see there are women mixed in with the men, some of them on their own bikes, some of them sitting behind others with hands around their waists. Most are wearing sunglasses and it makes me think of what vampires would look like if they all got together and became a gang.

  My heart hammers in my chest. I feel my body trying to do a fight-or-flight thing, but I have to hold myself back. I know that if I run then they might try to chase me down, and if I fight them then I’m definitely a goner. So instead I keep as still as possible, like a mouse who spots a cat and just hopes it hasn’t been seen.

  Their engines cut off and an eerie silence falls over us. I can feel Jake still standing behind me, not far from where I am. I hope to God he knows what’s going on, or if not, what to do.

  One of the guys pushes down the kickstand of his bike and gets off while the others stay where they are. They’re all grinning, swinging chains, pointing their guns at us. The guy standing has a big gun with him, and it looks like what might be a shotgun. He takes a few slow steps toward us and stops in the doorway of the garage, a cocky smile on his face.

  “You the guy who runs this place?” the man says in a loud voice. My guess is he’s the leader. He swings the gun up and points it at Jake, and then cocks it. The sound is terrifying and I’m frozen in fear. But when Jake responds he sounds as cool as can be:

  “Yeah, that’s me,” he says, as though the guy with the gun is a Girl Guide looking to sell cookies.

  “That’s the guy, Beaner! That’s him!” says one of the bikers. He’s got one arm huddled next to his body and wrapped up in what looks like a t-shirt. He’s the only one not carrying a weapon. “He’s the guy who fucked up my arm yesterday!”

  I furrow my brow. Jake? I think. Did these guys come here because Jake broke somebody’s arm? And if it was yesterday … was it before we met at that bar?

  The guy with the gun smiles and nods his head.

  “Yeah, I kinda figured,” he says. “Skeeze here said you looked like a piece of shit. And had a shitty garage here to boot.”

  I don’t want to be here. I’m in way over my head. I just want to be back in the safety of my office, not worrying if I’m about to be shot. Even being around Craig would be better than being threatened by an angry gang with guns.

  I try to slip away, moving slowly, casually. I’m thinking that if their beef is with Jake then they don’t really need me here, right? And besides, I’m sure Jake can take care of himself. Of course, the moment I try to take a step, the guy with the gun wheels it over to me and points that scary-looking thing right in my direction.

  “Whoa whoa whoa, where do you think you’re going, skirt?” he asks. I stare at the two black holes at the end of the gun and I swear I feel my heart skip several beats in a row.

  “Leave her alone,” comes Jake’s voice again, still sounding cool but with a hint of a threat in it now. “She’s nobody.”

  “Nobody, eh?” the guy repeats. He smiles an ugly smile and looks me up and down. Then he nods. “Well, that may do us just fine. You see, you hurt Skeeze somethin’ pretty bad yesterday. Almost broke his jerkin’ off arm. And Skeeze here, he likes to jerk off. But if he can’t do it himself, well, we figure maybe he can get somebody to do it for him.”

  I try not to grimace as, behind him, Skeeze smiles and nods behind his own sunglasses.

  “So since you owe Skeeze here a repayment,” the guy goes on, “and this pretty little pussy here is nobody, then maybe we can just take her and the repayment’s made?”

  I can’t believe I’m hearing this. Who the fuck do these people think they are? They don’t even know me, and now they want to take me with them to … rape me and probably kill me? Just over some fucking money? I know I should be scared — I’ve never been in a situation like this before — but instead I just feel angry.

  Fight or flight, huh? I’ve changed my mind. If it comes down to it, I’m going to fight, and nothing’s going to stop me. I’d rather die defending myself than let these little punks have their way with me.

  But then I hear Jake’s voice. It cuts into my thoughts, bringing me back to reality. And all he says is:

  “No.”

  Heavy footsteps and I turn to see him approaching me. He stops beside me and grabs onto my arm, his grip strong but just strong enough to hold me in place — not to hurt me. I look up at him and he looks down into my eyes He’s giving me a look that says, Don’t do anything stupid.

  “No?” comes the guy’s voice, and Jake looks at him again. So do I.

  “No,” Jake repeats. “When I said she’s nobody, I meant she’s nobody to you. She’s my girlfriend. That means if you try to lay a hand on her, don’t be surprised if you soon find that hand separated from your body.”

  The guy’s sneering smile falters and he takes a half-glance behind him, back at his gang. They’re all silent, waiting for his next move. He looks back at us.

  “She don’t look like your girlfriend,” he says. “She looks like she’s a fuckin’ rich bitch who don’t belong here. Plus, she was tryin’ to leave, like she didn’t even want to be here. Like you two were having a fight.”

  “I wasn’t trying to leave,” I start to say, but Jake’s hand squeezes, telling me to stop.

  “It’s none of your business,” he says. “And you don’t want her. You want me.”

  “Oh, but we do want her!” he says, that maniac smile back on him. “After all, if she’s mad at you, then what do you care what happens to her? And you know what I’m starting to think? I’m starting to think she isn’t even your girlfriend! I mean, look at her! What kind of a stuck-up rich bitch would go out with a piece of shit like you?”

  Jake’s grip tightens on my arm, and I feel his anger flowing out of him. He breathes for a second, leaving me wondering what he’s going to do. And then, before I know what’s happening, he spins me on my feet and leans down, planting his lips onto mine.

  The shock of his kiss hits me like a ton of bricks. It’s as though everything is swept away and all that exists is Jake and me. The shop, the guy, this entire situation, it all disappears. Jake shifts, grabbing onto my other arm and pulling me in closer. I lean up into him and feel his tongue enter my mouth. Somewhere in the distance I hear the sound of my purse and the file folder dropping to the ground. I push my own tongue out and meet him, letting them dance together. Down below, in between my thighs, I feel that heat rise up within me.

  But it’s over all too soon as the kiss breaks off and Jake pulls back. I feel him let go of my other arm, keeping his hand where it originally was. It takes me a moment before I remember that I’m supposed to breathe.

  When I can focus again I see Jake staring back at the guy already. His eyebrows are raised, and even the gang behind him seems impressed by what just happened.

  “All right, fine,” the leader says. “So she’s your girlfriend, so what? That doesn’t change anything. You still owe us something, and we can all take a little piece. What I’m thinking is … each of us guys have a turn with her, and Skeeze gets to go twice. And hey, even our ladies can have a turn if they want, I’m feelin’ generous.”

  This guy is disgusting, and there’s nothing I’d like less than for him to get even an inch closer to me. But as he’s talking I feel something strange start to come over me. It’s like I no longer feel scared, and in fact feel a little bit antsy … like I want to do something or get something done. That kiss has
opened up something inside of me, something that I didn’t know was there before.

  “Nobody is touching Merryn,” Jake says. His grip on my arm tenses for a moment and part of me swells at his touch. That desire to act is still moving through me. I look away from the guy with the gun and glance around the garage.

  “Merryn?” says the leader. “What do you know, that’s the name of the first girl I slept with. This is fucking poetic.”

  I see the motorcycle sitting in the middle of the space with Jake’s welding torch on the ground beside it. I take in the large door, sitting on its tracks over our heads. I look at the work bench, at the cupboards on the walls, and at the spread of tools lying on the bench surface.

  And then I spot it. Perfect.

  “I told you, nobody is touching Merryn,” Jake repeats. “If you want repayment for this scumbag, you’re going to have to—”

  “No, it’s fine,” I say loudly, cutting Jake off. I watch with a smile as both guys turn to look at me. I give them a smile. “It’s all right, sweety,” I tell Jake in a soft, lover’s voice. “If it’s going to clear things up between you and them, then they can have me. Don’t worry about me.”

  Jake opens his mouth, undoubtedly to argue, but I reach up onto my tip-toes and give him a peck on the lips. Then I lower myself back down and turn to the guy with the gun.

  “So, how do you want to do this?” I ask him. “Is one at a time okay?”

  The guy swallows, looking from me to Jake and back again.

  “Uh, yeah,” he says, nodding. “Yeah.”

  He looks back over his shoulder at his gang and they look equally confused. I don’t think any of them were expecting this to happen.

  “Okay,” I say with a shrug as the leader turns back to me. I nod over to the work bench. “Come on.”

  Stepping in front of Jake, I feel his hand linger on my arm. I turn back to look at him and now he’s asking me with his eyes, What the fuck are you doing?

  But I just smile and say, “It’s okay, sweety. I can take care of it.”

  I pull my arm from his grip and feel him let go, then turn and walk over to the work bench. My high heels are the only sound in the garage now as nobody else is moving. I stop right in front of the bench and bend forward, resting my elbows and forearms on the surface, amid all the tools.

  I turn my head to look back over my shoulder, but the guy with the gun still hasn’t moved.

  “Come on,” I say with a smile. “I haven’t got all day.”

  I wiggle my ass at him and that seems to kick the guy into life. He hurries forward, gun still in hand, and stops behind me. I see the other gang members start to holster their guns, putting their bats and knives away, as they put down their kickstands and start to dismount. Smiling, I look forward again and see what I want. I slide my hand just a tiny bit forward and then curl my fingers around the handle of the big red monkey wrench.

  “Fuck,” the guy behind me says as I feel his hand on my ass. “Baby, did anybody ever tell you—”

  Gripping the cold, hard steel I push myself back against him and swing around. Everything seems to go in slow motion. I hear his grunt and see him stumble a bit as I swing the wrench hard. Behind him I see Jake watching, his eyes slowly widening as I aim the thing true. And then CRACK! I hit the guy right in the side of the head and see it snap to the side as his eyes fly in two different directions. His body immediately goes limp and he starts to fall back.

  Jake doesn’t miss a beat. He steps forward quickly and grabs the guy from behind, taking the gun from his limp hand before it falls to the ground. By the time the rest of the gang gasps, Jake’s already got the guy in front of him and is pointing the shotgun at the crowd.

  “Nobody move!” Jake yells. There’s still a moment of confused scuffling, but soon they quiet down. Jake glances at me a moment and tilts his head. “Get behind me!”

  I snap back to life, having previously frozen, watching what I just did. I put the monkey wrench back down and go to Jake, hiding behind his massive body. The adrenaline is just now catching up with me and I feel myself start to shake. I can’t believe I just did that! And I can’t believe it really worked! I would never have done anything like that in a million years, but for some reason something came over me … it was something about that kiss. It gave me new strength, or a new …

  Now’s not the time for congratulations. Now’s the time to make sure Jake and I get out of here alive.

  “Listen up!” Jake yells to the gang. I peer around him and see they all look uneasy. Most of them have let go of their weapons but some still hover their hands over their holsters. The guy in Jake’s grip moans and his head lolls to one side.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen!” Jake says. “Two of you are going to come over here and take this fucker from me. Then you’re all going to ride away from here and you’re never going to come back. Do you understand me?”

  Some of them nod; others mumble.

  “Good! Now come get him.”

  They all look at each other, none of them volunteering, until two members finally walk up to get their leader together. They each take an arm and Jake releases him.

  “I keep the gun,” Jake says, and the two gang members nod. They hoist the unconscious man up and drag him out of the garage, onto a bike with somebody else driving. The leader’s head hangs down low on his chest. Then they all mount their bikes and kick the engines to life, and then drive off.

  Jake doesn’t move until the sounds of the engines dies away completely, and only then does he lower the gun. It’s just him and me now. He takes a few steps forward and peers out the door and down the street. I watch him, unsure of what to do. That shakiness from before is gone but now I’m filled with a different kind of feeling: excitement. I can’t stop the smile that comes to my lips.

  “That was crazy,” I say, my voice shaky and sounding strange in the empty garage. “I had no idea that was going to work. I mean, I just looked over and saw the monkey wrench and I figured, why not, right? And then when you grabbed him from behind, it was like we both worked it—”

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” Jake yells, suddenly wheeling around. His eyes are full of anger. “Were you trying to get yourself killed?”

  My happiness evaporates instantly as I look up at him. I furrow my brow.

  “Hey, I just saved us!” I yell back. “If it weren’t for my plan—”

  “Your plan could have backfired! I had things under control!”

  “Oh, you had things under control,” I repeat. “They were going to rape me, what were you going to do? And where are they now, huh? They’re gone, and you have their gun! It sounds like what I did worked.”

  “It was a stupid move on your part,” he says, and I feel myself flare up.

  “What about it was so stupid about it, huh? Was the part where I saved both of our lives stupid? Or how about the part where they all left and we’re still here, safe and sound?”

  “It’s the part where you pissed off a fucking street gang and made yourself their enemy!” he yells. “You tricked them and knocked out their leader, what did you think was going to happen? Now you’re no longer just some girlfriend of mine. Now you’re someone who has to pay for what you’ve done.”

  “I …” I say, but I don’t know what to say to that. I hadn’t considered that they would still hold the grudge.

  “They know what you look like,” Jake tells me, stepping forward. “They know how you’re dressed and they know what car you’re driving. You can’t leave here now.”

  “What?” I say. “What do you mean I can’t leave?”

  Jake’s glaring at me, but it’s not entirely out of anger. There’s something else there too.

  “You can’t leave. They might be waiting for your car, to ambush you. First stop sign you reach, they’ll blast you apart.” He sighs and shakes his head. “You can’t go.”

  “But … but I have to go!” I say. “I have a job! I have a life!”

  Bu
t Jake just turns and looks at the car instead.

  “I know a guy,” he says, “who can repaint the thing and fit it with new plates. He does good work, and he owes me a favor.” Turning back to me, “But it’s gonna take a couple of days, I would think.”

  He walks over to the work bench and opens up one of the cupboards, stashing the shotgun away.

  “What should I do until then?” I ask. I don’t know anyone around here, and the thought of going out to find a hotel just makes me scared.

  But Jake turns to look at me, his eyes scanning me up and down. And then he shrugs his shoulders and says:

  “You’re going to have to come home with me.”

  Jake

  Why couldn’t this have just been a quiet day? Just work in the garage, fix up that bike, go home, jerk off, and go to bed. But no, first that shitty morning, then those fucking Slingers, and now I have to babysit this woman I had a one-night stand with. Merryn … what kind of a name is that? Good at sex or not, I did not sign up for this shit.

  And what the fuck was she thinking, pulling a stunt like that with the monkey wrench? Does she have any idea who these people are? Or who I am?? She probably just thinks this is all a fucking game like in the movies or those bad boy romance books. She doesn’t realize that these people can be dangerous. The Slingers may all be tweakers, but they don’t fuck around when it comes to people who try to stiff them. I’ve seen pictures — it’s not pretty.

  But what really bothers me the most isn’t that I have to call in a favor with Johnny to fix up her car, or that I have to drop what I’m doing to watch after her. No, what bothers me the most is that kiss. I only meant for it to get the Slingers’ eyes off Merryn and back onto me. Just to show them she’s mine and if they touch her, they die.

  I didn’t mean for it to feel so good.

  Now don’t get me wrong: I’ve thought a lot about last night. And every time I do my cock gets hard as a fucking rock and I have to either jerk off or focus on something else to make it go away. But the thing I remember the strongest is how I felt when I was with her. When I was fucking her … beside a dumpster, in an alley behind a bar.