by Dex, Trace
“I have no fucking idea, it’s just some dumb broad. Do you know her?” said Sid.
She didn’t seem surprised or shocked about being dragged into here. She actually looked like she was smiling a bit. “Rainer?” she asked.
Interesting, she knows my name. I knew that voice; I’d heard it before. I took my time walking towards her, my eyes locked on hers. Why did she sound so familiar? I stopped directly under the lamp from above. I took in as much smoke as possible then put the cigarette out in my palm before tossing it towards the floor.
I stare into her eyes but I didn’t recognize her. She didn’t really look like anyone I knew, but her voice sounded oddly familiar. “Who are you?”
“Hey,” she said, her hands trembling as she lifted one up to wave. Her voice was soft and high pitched, but not so high that it was annoying. Sid quickly pushed her hand down and she clenched her fists and closed her eyes. After a moment she opened them, one eye first, then the other. “U-um, Rainer? It’s me! Do you remember me?” She spoke confidently but I could tell it was an act. She could barely look me in the eyes, let alone stand straight. The way she shivered reminded me of a rattlesnake, just less scary and kind of cute.
“It’s that girl,” said Lanvin. “You know, the one from last week? The one we thought was—”
“Oh, now you fucking recognize her?” said Sid.
“Yeah of course. I actually use my eyes, Sid,” said Lanvin, smirking.
“Well well well, I’ll be damned. You’re back?” I said as I pulled another cigarette out of the box from my back pocket. I placed it in my mouth and smiled. “Had so much fun last time, you just had to come back, didn’t you? Or maybe you have some sort of death wish?”
Lanvin gave me a light while Sid held onto the girl. I inhaled and paced back and fourth, thinking about all the reasons she’d come back here. Her knees were touching each other and her hands were awkwardly by her side as if she didn’t know how to stand. The look on her pretty face didn’t scream fear. She had a sort of nervous smile going on. I couldn’t think of a reason she’d possibly come back, nothing that made much sense, at least.
Sid shoved her towards me, then lifted his gun and placed it to the side of her head. Lanvin hesitated for a moment, but eventually pulled his gun out and aimed it at her thighs.
I stopped pacing back and fourth, “Now now, gentleman,” I said, motioning them to put the guns down. “Is that any way to treat our guest?” I inhaled then exhaled into the light above. A cloud formed above her and she let out a soft cough as it disappeared into the air. I moved as close to her as possible and looked down at her eyes. She took a few quick glances at me but quickly looked down whenever our eyes would meet. She was about a foot and a half shorter than I was. “What was your name again, beautiful?“
“Candace,” she said. I remembered her name, but I didn’t want her to know that. She was still a potential threat so I didn’t want her to feel too comfortable.
“Ah, Candace, Candace, Candace,” I smiled. “Curious Candace, the curious little monkey…” she glanced up for a second and quickly looked back down, then nodded. The crease in her eyes let me know she was smiling. I didn’t get the best look at her eyes when they were covered before, but after seeing them now, her eyes definitely did not disappoint.
“Tell me, Candace, is there a reason you’re here or are you just completely bananas.”
She bit her lip as she looked at Sid, then Lanvin, then up at me, and back to the floor, “I-I just wanted to say thanks.”
I couldn’t tell what she was thinking from the look on her face. Was she scared? Was she nervous? Maybe she was shy? She was an odd one, that’s for sure. I placed a finger gently under her soft chin and lifted her head upwards to get a better look. Her skin looked soft and pale, and her face was prettier than I remembered. She had a sparkle in her light brown eyes that seemed to have some sort of calming effect on me.
“Thanks for what?” I said.
Her shoulders were tensed like she was stuck in a shrug. “Thanks for letting me go.”
Sid started laughing and Lanvin joined him. So she came all the way here to say thanks? Was this girl serious? I removed my finger from her chin and glanced at her hands, which were still awkwardly at her side. “Did you check her?” I asked.
“Fuck yeah we did,” said Sid. “She’s not armed. She ain’t got nothing.”
“Well, Candace, you’re very welcome—” I said, lifting a finger at Sid and Lanvin just as they were about to start laughing again.
“Is that all you came here for? To say thanks?”
“Well,” she said, her voice a bit shaky. She bit her lip and fumbled with her fingers, “I was wondering if somehow… hopefully, I can join your group? Or, like, can I at least hang out with you guys? If that’s okay? Sorry if that’s weird to ask—”
This girl was something else. I wanted to laugh but part of me actually felt bad because I knew she was serious. Sid and Lanvin already couldn’t contain themselves.
I took another smoke and paced back and fourth, letting the light illuminate my body each time I moved in front of her. “Candace, Candace, Candace.”
I stopped under the light just a few steps further than before. “Come here,” I said as I beckoned her over. I watched her closely as she stepped directly into the light. She held her hands together and the tip of her shoes touched one another. “So you want to be part of our group, huh?”
“Yeah. I mean, if that’s okay with you guys?”
She looked serious but something seemed off. I’d never seen anyone come in here to ask that, especially someone we kidnapped before. Not even the scariest looking guys I know would do such a thing. “And what group might that be, Candace?”
“Crisis, right?” she said, biting her lip as she attempted to look past me as though she could read the back of my vest from where she was standing. “Crisis, the motorcycle gang you’re all in.”
“We aren’t a gang, you stupid bitch!” said Sid.
“Whoa now, no need for name calling,” I said.
“Oh… I’m sorry. Is it club? Is that more appropriate. I don’t know that much about these things.”
Lanvin started laughing but stopped once he realized nobody else was laughing. I glared at the both of them and shook my head.
“You seem like a smart girl, Candace,” I said as I circled her in the darkness while she stood under the light. She was still and moved her head to follow my feet. “And I hate to say this, but we don’t accept females into the “gang”. But don’t take it the wrong way, it’s nothing against you, sugar, it’s just how it’s always been.”
She had a disappointed look on her face. And just when I thought she’d given up, she looked up and smiled, “Well, would it be possible to like, hang out with you guys or something?” I had to give it her, for a girl, she had a lot of balls. Persistent as fuck. Why she would want to hang out with people like us was beyond me, but she must have really, really liked us or something. Consider me intrigued.
“Rainer just give me the word and I’ll blow her fucking brains out,” said Sid, placing his barrel behind her head.
I loved Sid like a brother, but sometimes he could be a little trigger-happy. We grew up together and he’s always been a little angsty.
I placed my hand on top of his gun and pushed it towards the ground, “A little jumpy today, are we?”
“She’s wasting our—“
“Shut the fuck up!” I snapped. “Not another word from you, Sid. I mean it.” We glared at each other for a moment but eventually he put the gun away and took a seat in a nearby chair.
“Now where were we,” I said. “Ah yeah, you wanted to hang out? With us?”
“Y-yes,” she said.
“You seem tense, Candace.”
She relaxed her shoulders and stared at the ground. “That’s because I am.”
I ran my fingers through my hair, “So tell me, why would a pretty girl like you want to hang out with a mess like
us?”
Her cheeks turned red instantly, “I’m not sure, exactly,” she said. “I just thought it would be fun, I guess.”
“Fun?” I said as I finished the last of my whiskey. “How old are you?”
“Legally old enough to drink and make my own decisions.”
I smiled and glanced over at Lanvin, who appeared to be nodding in agreement for no apparent reason. Sid sat by himself, sour-faced like some kid who was in a time-out.
“You know who else can drink? Anyone with a mouth,” I said. “Even a newborn child can drink off his mom’s tits, unless, of course, the kid has some kind of defect.”
“I meant drink as in alcoholic drinks,” she said.
“So let me get this straight — you assumed that we knew what you meant, even though you didn’t make it clear, darlin’?”
Candace put her head down, “Sorry.”
“Kind of like how you assumed we’d take you in just because you asked, right?” I said.
I watched her closely as she desperately tried to hide her frown. “So tell me, Candace — what exactly do you think we do around here?”
“I don’t know… badass crime stuff, like kidnappings and drugs and all that.”
Ah, with the stereotypes. I couldn’t blame her, she wasn’t exactly wrong. “What do you do for a living?” I said.
“Well, nothing right now. I mean, I had an interview last week but I couldn’t make it. I had my hands tied.”
I shook my head in disappointment as I circled her, then stopped right in front of her and stooped down. “If you can’t commit to that, what makes you think you can commit to what we have going on here?”
“Sorry, I meant that I was literally in here, blindfolded, with my hands tied, so…”
Lanvin started laughing and so did Sid, who stopped himself when he noticed I was looking at him.
“You’re funny, Candace.” I said before I took a smoke. “Has anyone ever told you how funny you are?” I let the smoke flow slowly out of my mouth. “Maybe you should become a comedian, Candace. Comedy Candace, Miss CC.”
She stared at the ground for a moment, and then with an excited look on her face, she stared deep into my eyes. “What if I help you find that girl. The one you thought was me? I mean, I found you guys so that’s got to be worth something, right?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Your tracking abilities are impressive, I must admit. And before we move forward, I would just like to apologize, on behalf of all of us, for causing you to miss that interview.” I took a drag and exhaled towards Lanvin and Sid.
“Oh, it’s okay, really,” she said. “I didn’t really want that job anyways, I just wanted a change.”
“Well now I feel better. It seems like some good can actually come from a kidnapping,” I said. “Good job, you two.” Sid glared at me and shook his head and Lanvin looked really happy, but it’s probably because he never seems to detect sarcasm that well.
“Now as for finding the girl: thanks for the offer, but I’m afraid you’re too late.”
“Too late?” she said.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Lanvin raise his gun, aiming it directly at Candace.
“You two are really jumpy tonight,” I said. “Put it down, Lanvy, that wasn’t your cue to shoot or anything.”
“Oh I just thought—“
“It’s okay Lanvy-boy, you don’t have to explain.”
I placed my hands above her shoulders and moved my face as close to hers as possible. “Follow me, candy girl.”
With a slow but loud squeak, I pulled the closet door open, revealing Rocket with his gun aimed right between Zella’s eyes.
***
Candace
“Is she… the girl?”
I stood there in a bit of shock. She was crying and it reminded me of when I was in the same position just a week before. The girl kind of resembled me but not by much.
“Ding Ding Ding,” said Rainer as he slapped his hand against the wall, causing a loud thud that made the girl shiver. “Correct.” Even though I caught a blurred glimpse of Rainer before, he didn’t look like I had imagined. He seemed younger, possibly a few years older than me. And his hazel eyes were so intense that it made me a little nervous but excited at the same time. I didn’t want to admit it, just because Mandy would give me a lot of shit, but he was attractive. Scary, but still pretty good looking.
“I guess she does kind of look like me,” I said as I looked over at Rainer.
“Yeah, if you were run over by a freight train and set on fire,” said Rainer who glared back at Sid and Lanvin.
I shifted my eyes back to the girl, “So what’d she do?”
“That’s none of your fucking business,” said Sid. I’m not sure what stick was up his ass but he was so rude. I could tell from his whiney voice that he was the guy who wanted to kill me last time I was in here.
“It’s best you don’t know the details unless you want a bullet in your head, too,” said the guy with a gun.
“That wasn’t the cue, right guys?” said Lanvin, who pointed his gun in my direction.
My eyes shot open and I looked at everyone, but they all looked at him and shook their heads.
“Brother, this is Candace. She wants to join our gang,” said Rainer.
“His name’s Rocket,” said Lanvin from across the room.
Rocket didn’t say anything; he just kept his gun aimed at the girl.
A million questions raced through my mind as I stared at the girl in the chair. It was strange that Rainer seemed so open about using everyone’s names in front of me, too. Either he doesn’t care, or he doesn’t plan on letting me walk out of here alive so it wouldn’t matter if I knew their names. My heart started to race as I focused on that thought.
The girl had her hands tied behind her back and was sweating like she had just run a marathon. The wet stains around her pits, neck, and crotch seemed like it almost covered all of her clothes. Her black shirt was ripped in specific areas and so were her jeans. She had on flats and her exposed ankle had blood dripping down. The dark circles under her eyes and her heavy eye bags made me wonder how long she’d been in here with them. I felt bad, but I was glad I wasn’t her.
“What about the other guy that was in here with me? Who was he?”
“You mean that scorching hot guy that lay beside you on the floor?”
“I couldn’t see if he was hot or— oh…”
I watched as Rainer reached into his back pocket, expecting something terrible, but all he pulled out was his box of cigarettes, which he smacked against his palm.
“Ah, that guy,” said Rainer. “That was Zella’s husband.”
“Who’s Zella?”
Rainer moved toward the girl and kicked her chair, causing her to squirm. “Her.”
Rainer placed his palm against her cheek, kneeling down in front of her. He smiled and ripped the tape that covered her mouth off slowly, allowing the pain to linger. Rainer moved back and the girl managed to cough out the cloth that was stuck in her mouth.
“Where is he?” said the girl, her voice coarse.
Rainer tossed the tape he just removed back at Zella and it stuck to her arm. “Get him, brother,” said Rainer with a smirk on his face as he nudged him.