“Delilah?”
“Yeah! Who else would it be?” When the door flew open, I only got a quick glimpse of Danny’s pale, panic-stricken face before he turned and rushed down the hall. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve run into a little trouble.” I followed his voice into his bedroom and was surprised to see that there were various bags spread out across his bed. “I’m gonna have to get out of town for a little while.”
“What are you talking about? What kind of trouble?”
“I don’t have time to talk about it, Dee.” He shoved the rest of his clothes into one of the duffle-bags and zipped it up. “I’ve gotta get out of here while I still can.”
“You can’t just walk out of here without telling me something, Danny,” I fussed. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
He turned and grabbed a handgun out of his closet, carefully slipping into the back of his waistband. “Nothing that I can’t handle.”
“What the hell, Danny!” I screeched. “You need a gun to ‘handle’ the situation?”
Before he had a chance to respond, there was a knock at the door. The blood drained from Danny’s face as he muttered, “Fuck. They’re here.”
“Who?”
“You need to get out of here, Delilah ... Now!”
Panic surged through me as I heard him cock his gun. “Where the hell am I supposed to go? We’re on the third damn floor!”
Whoever was standing at the front door started pounding on it as they shouted, “We know you’re in there, Danny. Open the goddamn door before we knock the motherfucker down.”
“Oh, my god, Danny! Who is that?”
Without answering, he grabbed me by the arm and shoved me into the corner. “Stay here. Don’t move until I come to get you. Understand?”
I nodded, then watched as my brother stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. Moments later, I heard the front door open and then booming voices filled the small apartment. Hoping to figure out what the hell was going on, I leaned towards the door and tried to listen to what they were saying, but with all the screaming and shouting, I couldn’t understand a word. I was a nervous wreck and nearly hit full-blown panic mode when I heard one of the men shout, “Put that fucking thing away, Danny.”
Remembering that he’d gotten a gun out of his closet, I quickly opened the door and found my brother with his gun aimed at two menacing looking men wearing biker vests. I knew Danny rode a motorcycle with a group of friends, but I’d never seen these guys before. They were much rougher, meaner looking, than any of the guys Danny rode with, and if their fierce expressions were any indication, they were pissed that Danny had drawn his weapon. I was just about to call out for him to stop when he snarled, “Already told you ... I didn’t have nothing to do with that shit.”
“Well then, you shouldn’t have a problem discussing that fact with Viper.”
“I ain’t going nowhere with you two. Now, get the fuck out of here!”
“You know damn well we aren’t leaving here without you.”
When the guy on Danny’s left took a charging step forward, Danny pulled the trigger, firing two shots and hitting the guy right in the chest. I held my breath as I watched the man flail backwards and hit the ground with a hard thud. The room fell silent as we all stood there in complete shock and horror. Unable to control myself, I mumbled, “Oh god, Danny ... What have you done?”
When he turned to look at me, the second man used the opportunity to lunge towards him, tackling him to the ground. The gun flew from his hand, and a fight ensued. While Danny tried to fight him off, he was no match for the tattooed angry beast, and it wasn’t long before he was rendered completely helpless. Even after Danny quit fighting, the guy kept hitting him, over and over, and after one hard blow to the jaw, he was knocked unconscious. Fearing the guy might kill him, I rushed towards him, pushing him with all my might as I shouted, “Stop! Get the hell off him!”
“Holy shit!” The guy gave me a firm shove, forcing me off him. “Where the fuck did you come from?”
I should’ve been terrified of the guy. He was three times bigger than me with biceps the size of tree trunks, but I was too worried about my brother to care what he might do to me. I could almost feel the adrenaline surging through my veins as I lunged towards him once again and shouted, “Get off him!”
“Back the fuck off, lady.”
“I will as soon as you leave him alone. He’s already unconscious. If you don’t stop, you’ll kill him!”
“Would serve the motherfucker right.” With that, the guy stood up, leaving Danny still sprawled out on the floor, unconscious. He was out cold, bruised and swollen, but I was relieved to see that he was still breathing. “There. I’m off the piece of shit. Happy now?”