Placing my hands on the strange man’s back, I push my upper torso up. His grip tightens on me, holding me in place and I panic. Grabbing his head with both hands, I sink my teeth into his ear, and he hollers before throwing me onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. The wind’s knocked from me, and I gasp, my lungs desperate for oxygen. Crawling along the wet asphalt, I beg for the wind to enter my body, my heart beating harder by the second. Lightning lights the sky and I notice several men standing in the street surrounding me.
Tornado sirens begin to blast around us, sounding out, the strange men laughing and talking. We don’t get tornados in LA but I know the warning sound based on movies. But yet none of these men seem worried about mother nature as they stand outside and stare me down like a wounded animal.
Bugs steps forward and grabs me by the hair, jerking my face upward to look at him. Gritting my teeth, I glare in return. My whole body hurts, my face wet and stinging the most.
“You’re going to fucking die,” I wheeze, he’s playing with the wrong princess.
“By who? Your little club? Nobody is here for you, baby.”
Like a villain from a horror movie, a full belly laugh shakes his whole body before his hand raises and backhands me in the face. A rush of pain splits across my face and I fall to the wet pavement. My fingers dig into the hard cracks of the road, my trembling arms trying to push myself to my feet so I can fight back or at least fucking run. A foot suddenly presses into my back and shoves me back onto the ground. I’m so weak I can’t even get up, everything hurts and my body is giving up.
“Stop!” I beg, rain soaking my hair and clothes and making me cold. I begin to shiver.
He grabs me by the hair again and pulls me to my feet, his little game of cat and mouse making me so fucking angry. I want to hurt him, to slam my gun into his face a dozen times before pulling the goddamn trigger.
“Aw baby, you’re hurt.” The empathy in his voice almost believable. His lips press into the apple of my cheek; kissing me.
“Fuck. You.” I jerk in his grip, trying to get away from his touch.
“Wait a minute… you smell fucking good.” He presses his nose into my hair and sniffs, the guys around him shout and rooting him along.
Tears fill my eyes but I refuse to let him see me cry. I’m not his victim, and I won’t bow down to any Fallen God. In fact, how about this asshole live by his club name, I raise my knee and nail him in the nuts. He shouts, dropping me to my hands and knees, the wet ground bites into my flesh. Ignoring the burning sensation on my kneecaps, I take the opportunity and crawl toward the closed bike shop across the street.
Not making it but two feet into the road, bright lights slip over me and into the street. Wiping the rain from my face and I notice a truck coming our way, the engine at a full roar as it speeds.
Coughing, I raise my hand hoping they’ll stop and help but then the wheels suddenly turn and aim for the men in the street. The truck is trying to hit them! Pushing myself up to the door of the shop, I watch the truck smack straight into Bugs, his body flinging into the windshield, and throwing him to the sidewalk. The other brothers run like a pack of rats, some getting hit by the truck as it does a donut in the middle of the street.
Wait a minute, that truck looks familiar.
Driving up to me, tires screeching, it stops and the passenger door swings open.
“Get in!”
Cowboy hat on, shirtless, and determined eyes looking right at me. It’s Big Chief from my club back home.
Pushing myself to my feet, I run to the truck and jump in. He wrestles the steering wheel and whips the truck around in the middle of the road before I even have my door shut, and speeds away.
“What the hell happened? Are you okay?” Big Chief asks, adrenaline wavering in his voice.
“Ye-yeah. I’m okay,” I reply out of breath, my arms shaking from the excitement.
Looking behind us, I watch to see if any of them jump on their bikes and follow, I stare for a good mile before finally resting back into the seat and letting out a long exhale. My face hurts, my body, my pride. Everything.
“What happened?” I feel him looking at me with concern. The way he asks sounds like he’s angry. I don’t know why he’s pissed, he isn’t the one in pain right now.