by Sara Crest
I pushed away from him for a moment, looking into his eyes “if you mean everything you said, then I’ll come with you when you go.”
He smiled as his eyes gleamed, he pulled my head towards him and brought me in for another kiss. The warmth of his lips sent tingles over my body as I embraced him.
Just then Johnny’s phone started ringing, he broke his kiss and looked into my eyes for a brief moment before excusing himself and answering the phone.
He walked into the bathroom to continue the conversation, a quietly followed him in order to listen in.
I put my ear to the door but could only hear muffled chatter, frustrated I gave up and went back to the couch. My frustration didn’t last however as a few seconds later Johnny came out of the bathroom .
“That was Max, he told me he found a place for the gang to hide out for awhile. He’s coming over here so we can discuss how to move forward.”
“Did he mention any plans?”
“No, he said we’ll figure something out once he gets here.”
I felt a little uneasy, with all the unrest in the gang it seemed as if now wasn’t the best time to willingly let other members into my home and around Johnny, but Max was someone that Johnny said he trusted. Johnny did call Max his right hand man, and they were working together to stop the chapter from splintering, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that things weren’t the way they were supposed to be.
Johnny looked at me “everything will be fine” he said as he held the side of my face in his hand. He must have noticed the look of concern on my face to come over and reassure me.
“Just… just don’t let your guard down” I replied as I kissed his palm.
“When you deal with the type of men I deal with your guard never goes down.”
A few minutes later we heard the sound of a motorcycle pulling up outside the building. Johnny walked over to the kitchen window to see Max pulling in on his bike, parking it out front.
Johnny frowned as he watched Max walk towards the building. “He has a gun on him.”
I peeked out the window seeing Max’s empty hands. “How do you know? His hands are empty.”
“He has it concealed. Look at the way he’s walking, he’s keeping one of his arms unnaturally close to his side as if he’s hiding something. That side of his vest is also lower than the other which means it’s heavy enough to weigh it down.”
He sighed and closed the blinds of the window just as Max entered the building.
“Does he not normally have a gun on him? Maybe he’s just protecting himself from a possible attack.”
“I’ve known Max for three years and he’s never carried a gun without the full intent of using it, he’s been in far more danger than this and never carried one on the grounds of self defense. He’s here to kill me.” Johnny had a stern look on his face, but I could still see that he was disappointed “to think I called that man my brother.”
I felt my anxiety shoot through the roof, Johnny had invited a man over and he had the full intention of killing us. “Johnny we got to get out of here we can’t just sit here and wait for him to come and kill us.”
“No, I’m not going to run. I need to hear from the son of a bitch why he’s betraying me. When he comes to the door you answer and let him in, I’ll take care of him the second he walks through that door.”
“But Johnny he has a gun!”
“His only advantage is the element of surprise and we just took that away from him, just trust me on this one.”
Before I could voice more qualms with the plan I heard a knock on the door. I walked to the and looked through the peephole, seeing Max on the other side. He had his hand in his jacket, seemingly ready to draw the pistol the second Johnny opened the door.
I slowly opened the door, practically shaking at the thought of him hiding a gun. I gave a fake smile to him as Johnny moved behind the door and waited.
“Is Johnny around?” Max asked, his voice sounded heavy. He took his hand from out of his jacket when he didn’t see Johnny, guess I wasn’t important enough to kill.
“Yes he’s in the bathroom” I said trying not to show how nervous I was, come inside you can wait for him.
“I’d prefer to wait out here actually” he said sternly. My palms immediately became sweaty, he wasn’t taking the bait and I had to think of something fast.
“Oh then let me get you some water while you wait” I said with a fake grin on my face.
“That isn’t necessary” he replied.
“Oh don’t worry it’s not any trouble” I said as I turned and walked to the kitchen. I got a glass and began filling it up with water, looking over at Max standing in the open doorway and smiling at him.
“God I hope this works” I thought.
I began walking back to him with the water in my hand. Just as I walked by my center table I purposely caught my foot on the leg of the table and pretended to fall hard onto the floor, faking a cry in pain.
Max took the bait, he walked inside to help me up, reaching out with both of his hands to lift me off of the ground. Johnny didn’t hesitate, he lunged from behind the door and grabbed max by the collar of his shirt with his left hand, landing a solid punch to his face with his right.
Max stumbled and fell over, disoriented from the hit. Johnny shut the door and pinned Max to the ground, Johnny must have been at least 50 pounds heavier than Max and held him in place with ease. He dug through Max’s jacket and pulled out a pistol, he extended the pistol out to me, I hesitated but took it from him.
Johnny raised his fist to punch Max again but stopped, seemingly unable to hurt a man he once trusted so dearly.
He grabbed Max by the collar with both hands, hovering just inches away from his face as he stared at him intensely. “Tell me why you came here.”
“You’ve lost control Johnny, we’re under good authority that the state and federal police are gonna be on our ass soon enough, there are some of us that could go away for a long time. You’ve let this chapter split up for far too long, if it kept going it could spread.”
“When I drag your ass to the other Raiders they’re gonna have your fucking head” Johnny snarled.
“You idiot, you think I’m acting out on my own? The whole damn chapter thinks this is for the best, half of them are on their way right now to make sure I finished the job.”
“You’re bluffing” Johnny replied.
I began to hear the sound of engines in the distance, similar to what I heard the first day the gang came into town. I ran over to the window and opened it up, the room filled with the unmistakeable sound of dozens of motorcycles closing in, the sound of their bikes was only drowned out by their chants and hollers. I rushed back to Johnny “He’s not bluffing Johnny the whole gang is on their way right now.”
Johnny didn’t budge, he stayed on top of Max glaring at him.
I pulled Johnny by his shoulder “come on Johnny this is serious let’s go!”
“They could just be here to make sure I’m ok, I’m not abandoning my club!”
“Then why wouldn’t they call you? Johnny you either stay here and risk the lives of both of us or we leave the gang behind and get out of here with our lives.
“Ahhh!” Johnny yelled in frustration as he got off of Max. He took Max’s gun from my hand and put it in the waist of his jeans. He turned and kicked Max hard in the stomach, causing him to grunt in pain on the ground. “Let’s go” Johnny said as he took the gun from me and grabbed me by my hand, bolting out the door. I turned to look at my apartment, wondering when I’d get to return.
We rushed down the stairs and out the back door just as the gang was pulling up to the front of the building. Their noise was practically deafening as Johnny kept his cool and led me to the bushes where he hid his bike.
“Hey he’s over here!” a gang member yelled out as he came around from the side of the building.
“Shit, hop on!” Johnny said as he turned the key in his bike and brought it to life. I
jumped on behind him and held onto his body tight, he wasted in no time speeding out of the bushes, driving across the grass on onto the road.
I looked behind us to see some of the gang members chasing after us on their motorcycles. I tapped Johnny on his side and pointed behind us. Johnny took out Max’s gun and fire it into the air, scaring our pursuers off.
As we raced down the road and onto the highway I looked behind us to see the town slowly disappearing from view, its light fading as we sped towards the night. It had been years since I left the town and now, for my own safety and for my own good in the long run, I was leaving. Yet as I squeezed Johnny’s body against mine, as the wind blew through my hair, and despite all that had happened... I still wasn’t sure if I was making the right choice.
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