Luke changed the tire in what had to be record time and jumped in the driver seat next to me. We were on the highway before he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed someone. “Tiny. I need an escort. I’m on South 45 just outside of Tupelo. I need somebody yesterday. Yeah it’s Leaders of Hell. They got me on the side of the highway, but I’m good. I don’t think they will be coming back, but just in case. I’ll check in with ya later.” Luke ended the call and waited anxiously, as did I.
Less that fifteen miles later, I heard the rumbling once again. Unknowingly, I grabbed onto Luke’s leg and looked behind us, fearing for the worst.
“They’re with me. We’re good.”
I immediately relaxed. Four motorcycles pulled ahead of us while four fell in behind. Already I felt safer. I took note that the guys were not wearing the same cut Luke wore. It was completely different. He must have noticed the confusion on my face.
“They are a support club. They help out when we need them. There is a local chapter in Monroe County, so I knew they wouldn’t be long.”
I nodded my head in agreement, but I still couldn’t find any words to say. Luke was visibly more relaxed too. He reached over and took my hand into his. Just like him, there were times I really just didn’t want to talk. This was one of them.
I leaned forward and turned up the volume on the radio. I found a rock station and the music matched the mood. I let the shredding of an electric guitar help me relive what had just happened. I’m not sure if it was the rock music or the fact that I had handled that gun like a pro, but it made me feel like a complete and total bad-ass. I looked over at Luke and gave him a smirk. I was rewarded with his signature smirk and a new name title to this fucked up life we were living, “Bonnie and Clyde.”
Chapter 21
Six rock songs later Luke finally broke the silence. “You still reliving it?” he asked with no emotion in his voice. I nodded my head and smiled. I turned to face him in the truck pulling my legs under me.
“I feel like I should be crying or scared right now, but in all reality I feel fucking awesome.”
Luke laughed, “You ain’t right. I bet you have re-enacted that scene ten times and each time you think of something a little more bad-ass you could have done.” He knew me too well. It was actually a little freaky. I had thought about what would have happened if shots had been fired. I envisioned myself moving like a ninja and me and Luke killing everyone then riding off on the motorcycles. I day dreamed that we were like the people in the movie The Matrix and could dodge bullets by moving our bodies or holding our hands out so the bullets fell to the ground before they reached us.
I was such a pathetic loser, but I didn’t care. It was better than curling up into the fetal position and crying myself to sleep. “Yeah, something like that,” I said laughing.
“You did great baby. Thank you,” he said taking my hand and kissing my knuckles. “But, if you ever pull a stunt like that again I’m going to spank you,” he said seriously.
I smiled my big goofy grin. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep and don’t rain on my parade. Admit it-I’m awesome,” I said slicing my hands through the air like the karate kid.
“Does it not occur to you how bad that situation could have gone?” he said trying to hide his smile.
“Not really. I don’t want to think about it,” I responded shrugging, and I didn’t. I knew these guys were bad and I had watched enough T.V. to know that they would retaliate, but we would cross that bridge when it got here.
My day dreams took over once again and I could see me and Luke at a standoff with these guys. This time I had some cool power that kept them from moving; freezing their limbs while Luke hypnotized them making them think they were puppies.
“Hey! Snap out of it princess. This isn’t the Wild West and it’s not T.V. You seriously could have gotten hurt. You don’t realize who these guys are.”
“Yeah? Well I’m aware I could have gotten hurt, but I didn’t and I wasn’t going to just leave you out there to get jumped or whatever the hell it was they had planned to do to you,” I said getting defensive. He should have stopped at “thank you.”
“They were not going to hurt me, Dallas. Maybe rough me up a little bit, but that would have been the worst of it,” he said unconvincingly.