“No, it wasn’t a girl.”
“Do you mind?” I asked as I started to lift his sleeve.
“Would you be satisfied if I said no?”
“I already know what’s there. I just don’t know the story behind it.”
He nodded slowly, giving me permission to look at the disfigurement on an otherwise perfect arm. I pushed the sleeve upward, exposing his shoulder in the moonlight. I could see the pink tail of the scar where the bullet must have grazed before piercing through the muscle. He had closed his eyes as I inspected the place on his arm, his breathing deep and quiet as my fingers traced from the tail to the rounded indention. It dawned on me that it must have traveled completely through and exited along the triceps, so I carefully felt the back side of his arm with my free hand. Once again I found a scar, but it wasn’t quite as rounded as the one on the front. He flinched as my fingers brushed the marred skin. “Does it still hurt?” I asked, surprised that what appeared to be an old wound might still be sensitive.
His eyes opened. “No, I’m just not used to having someone touch it.”
“How did it happen?”
Indecision was so clear on his face I could almost watch the internal struggle as he weighed what he wanted to tell me.
“If it’s not the truth,” I added quietly, “I don’t want to know.”
His eyes closed again. “You’re a fine one to add that little disclosure—I don’t even know your last name.”
That remark stung. “But—but, I can’t…” Stupid emotions! I sat upright and wrapped my arms around my legs once again. I couldn’t continue the conversation if I couldn’t control my feelings. I wasn’t one of those ‘I’ll cry to get what I want,’ kind of girls, and it infuriated me when I could do little to stop the tears from appearing every time my feelings bruised.
He sat up, brushing the sand from my back. “My car seats are never going to forgive me for this,” he said as he continued wiping me off.
My chin was resting on my knees at this point and I was starting to gain a little composure.
“I was in a fight with someone,” he said hoarsely. “I had him down on the floor when he pulled a gun and shot me through the arm.”
“You could have been killed,” I said, clearly shaken at the truth of what he was revealing, and I was certain this was the truthful version.
“I thought I was dead when that gun when off,” he admitted. “It didn’t hurt as much as it burned like he’d slammed a piece of red-hot steel through me. My ear was in so much pain, I thought the bullet had gone through my head.” He looked at me and could tell I didn’t understand. “The sound of the gun going off that close ruptured my eardrum.”
“What happened after he shot you? Did he leave you there or was he sorry…”
He gave a gruff sound like a strangled laugh. “Yeah, he was sorry he did it,” he said tersely, “when I got finished with him.”
“What did you do?” I was asking, but I wasn’t really certain I wanted to know the outcome. he turned to me with those eyes. Those eyes that I knew were dark green, but out here away from any lights they just looked like deep black pools.
“I killed him, Leese.”
My heart seemed to stutter to a hard stop and then took off a million-miles-an-hour. He just told me he actually killed someone. My mouth had become so dry that it was as if I had grabbed a cup of beach sand and filled it. I was struggling for anything to say, but I could only think of one thing. “Did you have to go to jail?”
“No,” was his abrupt answer.
All I could think was that it must have been self-defense. That would have been the only logical solution to have kept him out of jail.
“Now you understand why I said you were taking a risk being with me.” The way he said it was utterly somber.
“Evan, you aren’t going to shoot me,” I said as if he had slipped a mental cog.
He was expressionless.
“Unless I wreck your car tonight,” I added, trying hard to get away from the subject that I’d brought up.
That broke the void stare and he laughed, “Actually, I think I’d just make you pay for it. You could do that, right?”
I grimaced, “Yeeeah, I could—unless you would take my Porsche in trade?”
“That would be quite a deal,” he seemed to be considering it. “Mine was forty-three thousand. How much was yours?”
I winced a little, “A hundred and thirty-eight.”
“Barring you killing us both, have fun driving my car tonight,” he said with an enormous grin.
CHAPTER SIX
By a quarter to midnight everyone was ready to go home. We doused the fire and put the chairs back into the building. Then we cleaned the area well enough that no one would ever be the wiser that we had been there. Ryan led the way, once again, but this time I was second in our train, as we drove back up to the gate. But, to everyone’s surprise, the gate was blocked by an older Buick that had pulled in sideways. A pickup truck and another older car were also in the circle and a group of six men and two women stood around leaning against the vehicles drinking. They looked mildly surprise to see a group driving out of the woods.
Ryan leaned his head out and yelled, “Hey, buddy. Would you mind moving your car so we can pull out?
The tallest of the group sat down his beer on the bumper of the pickup and gave a fake smile holding up one finger as if to say to give him a minute. He climbed into the car as one of the other men approached and spoke to him. The Buick pulled away from the gate and continued around the large circle stopping on the opposite side blocking the road out.
“Well, that’s stupid,” I muttered. “How does he expect us to get out?”
Evan began to stiffen in the seat, “That isn’t good.”
Skeeter came up from the car behind us and hurried to unlock the gate. The remaining five guys that had been standing around drinking began moving toward the car that was now blocking the exit. Ryan pulled through and over to the left, I pulled to the right, allowing Carlie and Bethanne to come up in the middle and Andrew bringing up the rear.
My training with Tony Dix was starting to yell in the back of my head, but this scenario wasn’t anything I expected to encounter. The road behind me was of no use since it dead-ended into the beach. The large rocks on either side of the roadway blocked me from making use of the shoulder around the Buick. The only other option, if this should turn bad was using the car as a battering ram. The problem was the car I needed to be in would have been the Buick because Evan’s little Nissan would hardly stand up against the clunky metal beast. I swallowed as I considered, by the time this night was over, I might actually need to get the keys to my Porsche to replace Evan’s car.
With everyone in the circle, Skeeter locked the gate and hurried to the car he was riding in. Ryan and the guy from the Buick were standing there talking when Evan opened his car door.
I reached for his arm. “Don’t get out. That’s what they want.”
“Sit still, Leese. It might be nothing.” But the sound of his voice clearly told me he really didn’t think this was going to turn out to be nothing.
I could see Nate crawling out of the back seat of the Trans Am. His tall black frame caused the other men to slow their walk toward Ryan. Then as Evan came into the picture, it appeared the men almost stopped their approach. I rolled down the window, listening to what was being said. The guy from the Buick sounded friendly enough. He was talking about Ryan’s car, saying he’d really like a peek under the hood. Ryan was politely refusing saying everyone in our group was tired and we were on our way home. But the guy just kept talking.
“That’s a bunch of good-looking women you boys got with you tonight,” I heard one of the men say as he sauntered up to the budding group.
I could see Carlie in her little Suzuki Sidekick, her eyes wide and panicky. Jewels simply looked annoyed. I couldn’t see Natasha. Bethanne, in her Saturn with Skeeter and Lori, all looked upset (I had a feeling Skeeter was more
upset with the fact that these idiots had scattered beer cans around the parking lot), Andrew was climbing out of his Dodge Dakota much to the dismay of his girlfriend, Tina.
Then I heard one of the drunk women, yell, “Whoohoo, look at them pretty little boys.”
There were six men that looked like they attended barroom brawls for relaxation, next to our six high school guys. Kevin had opened the door to the Suzuki and was wisely standing there and not approaching the group. Andrew, a senior, slim built and wiry, was making his way toward them, while Skeeter, a junior but no bigger than Kevin, approached the group half way. The only threatening ones were Nate, a medium built, 6’2” ball player, Ryan a well-built 6’3” and then there was Evan who was the only truly menacing guy on our side. Just over 6’ tall he had at least twice the muscle mass with broad shoulders and sculpted, thick biceps. So for all intensive purposes it was a two to one ratio, in favor of the other men.
I heard Evan say, “Just move your car, man.” And then the voices began to escalate. I looked up in the rearview mirror and saw the drunken women bothering Tina as she sat in Andrew’s truck, but I noticed she’d prudently locked the doors. I looked back just in time to see one guy put his hand on Ryan’s chest and the melee was on.
I simply couldn’t believe what was happening before my eyes. I’d never seen something like this in real life. This was only supposed to happen on television. My heart instantaneously began to pound, and the blood rushed so hard in my body that it was like a great roaring in my ears. I could hear myself yelling, “NO!” as if my shouting was going to interrupt what was happening and then suddenly I was standing outside Evan’s car. It was as if the motion to open his car door and step out was so automatic that I didn’t even know I’d done it.
Ryan had thrown the first punch when the guy pushed him, sending the man staggering only to come charging back. Evan wasted no time in taking out the guy closest to him with a tremendous punch that was so loud, I could hear the crack of his fist on flesh and bone from where I stood. The guy went to the ground and never moved. Evan had knocked him out cold and was on to the next one. Nate had stepped up beside Ryan in an apparent attempt to stop the fight, but one of the other guys jumped him and they were rolling on the asphalt, punching and kicking. The largest guy in the group was now fighting with Evan, but Evan clearly out-skilled him. That’s when the other two guys in the group jumped Evan. When he suddenly became outnumbered, Andrew and Skeeter didn’t need any other provocation to join the brawl and they were running toward the group.
I was in motion, but before I moved two steps, I heard a screeching behind me. I turned to see that the two women had Kevin up against the Suzuki, yelling, “Give me your wallet!”
Carlie was screaming for them to leave him alone and in my peripheral vision I could see that Jewels was out of Ryan’s car and heading toward them. Tina was out of the truck and also moving toward the new battle that was erupting in the center of the parking lot. Everything was happening so fast. We were only seconds into this battle, but yet my mind was clearly separating every piece as it occurred. The second woman whirled around, fists clenched, as I came rushing up. She took several steps in my direction when the realization crossed her face that I wasn’t stopping. I knew that the momentum of my entire body was a huge force. She didn’t even have time to swing as I hit her with my forearm and shoulder in her chest. She was knocked, breathlessly, into the back of the Suzuki and then hit the ground.
The other woman turned from Kevin to me. My hands went up and my body automatically assumed the fighting stance I’d learned in martial arts. I knew this was no sparring match, and the other person would not be aiming just to make contact. I’d have to remember what I’d been taught to do in this situation; hold nothing back.
The other girls had almost reached me when Kevin jumped on the woman’s back, wrapping his whole arm around her throat in a choke hold and held on for dear life. She was reaching back scratching and clawing, knocking his glasses to the pavement, but she was rapidly running out of air as she went down to her knees and then almost face down rolling and thrashing to try to get Kevin off her back. It was no use—that boy had a tiger by the tail and he wasn’t about to turn loose until she passed out. Her eyes began to flutter as she stopped flailing.
Tina was yelling that it was enough, “Don’t choke her to death!” she screamed.
But I knew better. If Kevin was to let her go at that moment, she’d come up swinging. “Hang on Kevin,” I commanded. “Don’t let go until she’s out.” Tina was still shouting as I grabbed the first woman that I’d knocked senseless. She was trying to stagger to her feet when I kicked her back to the pavement and rolled her over in one quick movement. I pulled her arm into a sharp “V” behind her back and twisted her wrist and palm so that it almost touched her spine. “Hold her,” I ordered Tina. “Here,” I said, showing her how I expected her to hold the arm. “If she moves, just pull her hand upward; trust me, she’ll stop.”
Kevin’s woman was completely out at this point and I quickly positioned her arm the same as the first woman’s. “Jewels,” I yelled. “Hold this,” I said indicating the woman’s arm. I repeated my instructions. I looked up at the faces around me and then glanced toward the two other vehicles. “Bethanne, see if their keys are in their cars; throw them in the woods.” She gave me a nod and then I was headed toward the men.
I could hear the shouts behind me to stop, but I was no longer in control of my sense of direction. It was like I was being pulled to the main fight. Nate had given his opponent enough of a battle that the guy was backing off. Ryan had gotten the upper hand on the man who had started the entire thing, and that guy was crawling back into the Buick. Ryan, Skeeter and Andrew jumped in to pull the three guys off Evan. As they gave Evan a seconds worth of breathing room, he was able to deliver the same powerful punch that knocked out his first victim—down went another guy from a tremendous blow. One of the men took off running into the woods, and that only left one and he quickly realized what his fate would be if he kept fighting, so he backed away toward the guy that had given up fighting against Nate.
I was amongst the group of men by that point when I saw it.
“Evan, look-out!” I screamed as I watched in terror. The guy from the Buick whirled around with a knife and charged toward him.
It wasn’t conscious, but everyone in the group seemed to back up, leaving Evan and this obscenity-shouting man facing each other. The guy charged, swinging for Evan’s body. There was a slash, but then as the arm was extended, Evan grabbed the guy’s wrist. Evan’s knee came up as the wrist was slammed down, causing the knife to fall from his hand and hit the pavement. He had the guy’s arm in an unnatural position as he brought the full force of his strength down and a sickening crack was heard. The man screamed in pain and then crumpled to the ground. He had broken the man’s arm at the elbow.
That was when I heard the sound of a car cranking. Kevin had slipped around the back side of the Buick and crawled through and cranked the car. He backed it a few feet and then put it in drive, crashing it among the big rocks on the shoulder. The sound of tires popping and metal crunching as it came to a stop was gratifying. Kevin jumped out the passenger’s side and yelled for everyone to get moving.
Evan was at my side pushing me toward his car. I went automatically for the driver’s door and he didn’t try to stop me. He bailed into the passenger’s side and we were moving. Ryan had driven out in front of me, then Carlie as she picked up Kevin. I fell into line, but looked into my rearview to make sure Bethanne and Andrew were following.
Ryan drove to the base of the big bridge about two miles away and pulled over under the street lamps by the fishing pier. It was a chance to make sure everyone was okay, ending the adrenaline rush of what had happened.
Jewels came running toward me and I met her half way. She gave me an excited hug. “That was freaking wild! You were like BANG! And that woman went down! And Kevin, oh my god, Kevin was like freaking wre
stle mania!”
“Calm down, Jewels,” I laughed. Suddenly, my nerves were giving way and I felt giddy and jelly-legged.
“I hope they aren’t following us,” Natasha was saying.
“No way,” Bethanne chimed in. “I pitched their keys. They’ll never find them in the dark.”
Everyone was talking at once, replaying what they had seen. Evan’s name was clearly coming out of the conversation as the hero for snapping that guy’s arm and knocking out two others.
He didn’t get out, but Ryan came around and gave him one of those arm-wrestling kind of handshakes.
“Awesome job, my man,” Ryan was saying. “I think we’re gonna have to get you one of these ‘born to kill’ tattoos.”
He smiled mildly, “No, that’s okay. I don’t want them to know what’s coming.”
It took Ryan a split-second and then he laughed, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
I was doing a quick damage assessment. Kevin had a couple scratches, but his glasses had survived. Nate had some road-rash where he’d been down on the pavement, but nothing serious. Ryan had a bruise darkening around one eye and a bloody and swollen lip, but (to Jewel’s relief, I’m sure) his nose wasn’t damaged. Skeeter and Andrew looked fine. I sat back down in the car with the door open, still listening to the jumble of voices as everyone spoke at once. I looked over at Evan, and saw surprise written all over his face.
“What?” I asked as I surmised his injuries. He had several bruised places on his face and his lips were swollen, those scarred knuckles of his were bloody and ripped open, but it was how he was looking at me that had me worried. “What?” I repeated.
“You were in the fight?”
It evidently hadn’t occurred to him that while he was trying to do the incredible hulk with three guys on his back that I had gotten involved.
“Well, yeah—those women jumped Kevin and I had to do something,” I sounded as if I was defending my actions, but I didn’t think it should be necessary.
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