by Brook Wilder
Robbie ran forward, practically hauling Tex to his feet before reaching for Lori.
“Please, don’t argue!”
He looked nervously out of the kitchen window, but Tex couldn’t see anything outside except the clear Texas evening.
“Capone knows that you’re here,” Robbie said.
Tex’s gaze hardened.
“You told him? You told the president where we are?”
“No! No, I haven’t told a soul. But some crew members came by earlier to pick up a shipment and I think they… suspected. I’m sure that they talked to Capone. It’s the only way he would even guess that you two are here.”
Robbie paused, swallowing hard before going on. But it obviously cost him, and he wouldn’t meet Lori’s eyes.
“I think… No, I know that they plan to take out Lori. They’re going to kill her to make a point to the Grim Riders.”
“Oh my god!” Lori gasped.
Tex had known they were both in danger from Porky, but to know that Capone had put a hit out on her was something else entirely. The crew would stop at nothing to make sure she died.
“Just pack your things as fast as you can,” Robbie was saying, still trying to physically move them from the kitchen. “There’s no time to explain. You’re out of time, Tex. Go. Now!”
Spurred on by the intense look in the older man’s eyes, Tex turned and went to the room they’d been staying in for the past several days.
He grabbed his saddlebags from where they were propped against the nightstand and started packing what he could. Most of it was spare clothes, toiletries, that sort of thing.
While he was packing, his mind whirled over the deaths and the violence that had exploded between the gangs. And he also couldn’t get Robbie’s warning out of his head, couldn’t help but wonder what it meant.
Tex wanted to discount the man’s words altogether. Robbie didn’t know anything for sure. He hadn’t spoken to Capone or the others personally. But a part of him took the threat seriously. Besides, he knew for sure that Porky had been telling him the truth.
His friend had said he would try and help them however he could from where he was at. But what could Porky really do? He couldn’t be seen helping Tex and Lori, not unless he wanted to put himself directly in Capone’s line of fire.
Tex grit his teeth. He’d never liked the guy. Even though he was president of the Devil’s Martyrs, a position that commanded respect on its own, Tex hated the man’s methods.
“Methods!” Tex snorted to himself. “The guy is fucking insane.”
He ruled by fear and fear alone, flying into a mad rage over the smallest thing. No one ever knew what would set him off and, when he was in a state, Capone wasn’t afraid of doing violence to anyone, member or not. And now he was gunning after Lori.
The thought had Tex seeing red. He would get her out of this. He had to. But as he tried to think of where they could go, he couldn’t come up with a single place that would be safe for them. Tex knew that anyone they stayed with would be in just as much danger as they were.
There were a few members of the Devils that he would normally call, but he could still hear Porky’s warning not to trust anyone in the crew. So, those were out. He ran through and discarded several more options, but he still hadn’t reached a decision on any one when Lori walked in.
He glanced up and froze at the look on her face. She’d gone pale again, all the color having drained from her cheeks, and her eyes were big and luminous with fear. He hated it. She looked so alone, so terrified, that it broke his heart.
Tex dropped the shirt he was wadding up in a ball to shove into the saddlebags and went to her. He didn’t hesitate to pull her into his arms, wrapping her tight in his embrace.
“Hey now, sweetheart. Don’t worry so much. It will all be fine. You’ll see. I’ll get us out of this.”
Tex murmured the soothing words against the top of her hair, but she didn’t relax at all. Her body was still stiff and trembling with fright.
“I never thought… I never thought any of this would happen,” Lori whispered brokenly, “I never thought Gears would go this far. It’s my fault. It’s my fault that your friend is dead. It’s my fault that all of this is happening. Maybe… Maybe I should just go back. Turn myself in and all this will stop.”
Tex pulled her over towards the edge of the bed and sat her down before kneeling in front of her so they were face to face.
“No.” He had to fight to keep his own voice from shaking. “You can’t go back.”
“I can’t let someone else die, Tex. Not because of me.”
“It wasn’t because of you, sweetheart,” Tex said. His expression hardened, and his eyes filled with murder. “It’s because of Gears. This is Gears’ fault, not yours. And you need to remember that.”
Slowly, Lori nodded her head, but Tex could still see the doubt in her eyes. There was nothing else he could do now except finish packing and get the hell out of there. Then, maybe when they were safe, he could convince her that she wasn’t to blame.
Tex could still feel the urgency of Robbie’s words, and it spurred him on.
Chapter 13
Lori walked around the small bedroom, grabbing a few of her own things. She went to the dresser and pulled open the top drawer to reveal a few extra shirts. She pulled them out and stopped, staring at what had been buried at the bottom. She picked it up with trembling fingers.
It was the dress that she’d been wearing the night they had showed up at the safe house all those days ago. It still had the rip at the hem and blood splatter and stained across the front. She shuddered at the memory before shoving it back in the dresser. She didn’t want to keep it. She couldn’t imagine putting the thing on again. She’d never be able to wear it.
Leaving the dress behind, she turned back towards the bed. She watched Tex for a moment as he rifled through a messy pile of papers interspersed with dollar bills.
“Are you sure we have to go?”
Lori wasn’t sure what made her ask the question. She had seen Tex’s eyes on the phone with Porky, and later with Robbie. She could see how serious the situation was.
Tex glanced over at her, pausing in the middle of wrapping the papers in a small plastic bag.
“I think so,” he answered slowly, nodding his head. “I think so. Robbie… I trust what he says. I can’t explain it, but if he says we’re in danger, then I believe him.”
Lori was still unsure.
“I just… I feel safe here and I haven’t felt safe in so long.” She snorted at herself. “Me. Safe in a drug house of a rival gang that wants to kill me.”
Tex shot her a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry, Lori. We’ll get through this together.”
“Together,” she echoed, forcing a smile of her own. She just wished it was that easy to silence the warning bells that were going off inside her.
Tex was still packing as she left and headed for the living room, looking for anything else they might need to pack. Lori let out a soft smile as she saw the package of neonatal vitamins that Robbie had gotten for her.
Grabbing them, she walked towards the kitchen. With a sense of sadness, she pulled a few bottles of water into one arm before reaching for some snacks and a bag of beef jerky in the other, just in case.
As she scoured the kitchen for small non-perishables they could carry with them, she kept thinking about where they were going to go. There was no other option with the gangs. Either one would be as bad as the other.
Lori thought about calling Carrie. She knew her friend would let them hide out with her in a heartbeat, but she discarded the idea almost as fast as she came up with it. The last thing she wanted to do was endanger her friend. And if things were as bad as Porky and Robbie claimed, then being anywhere near her or Tex would put anyone else in danger.
Lori was busy digging through the refrigerator when a voice sounded from behind the door. She jumped, straightening as she stood.
“Are
you packed yet? The danger isn’t over yet.”
It was Robbie. He was staring at her with grave concern in his eyes.
She looked over the fridge door at him. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him what kind of danger, but instead she just satisfied herself with nodding her head.
“Just about.”
“Good. That’s good. You can’t wait any longer. It would have been better if you had left already. Yesterday would have been better.”
Lori gave the older man a confused look.
“How could we have left any sooner? We’ve just found out about everything that’s happened between the gangs.”
Robbie suddenly looked away guiltily.
“I’ve known from the minute you both arrived that trouble would be following after you. It was just too… cloudy. I didn’t realize how much danger the three of you were truly in.”
He shot a pointed look at her middle, where even now her baby was growing. Lori wrapped her arms around herself protectively.
“It’s okay, Robbie,” she said hesitantly, trying to comfort him, even though she wasn’t sure what she was comforting him for. How could he possibly know?
“No, it’s not.” Robbie shook his head, his brows furrowing fiercely. “I hope, one day, you’ll be able to forgive me, but in the meantime I hope this will help.”
Robbie held out one hand and in it sat a large brown paper bag, folded over on itself and taped.
“What is this?” Lori asked, tentatively taking the package.
“It’s for the baby,” Robbie explained hurriedly. “Just keep it somewhere safe and hidden until there’s a need.”
“A need? A need for what, Robbie?” Lori opened her mouth to ask but she’d barely gotten the words out before the sound of motorcycle engines in the distance cut her off. The noise was drawing closer, and fast.
Robbie gave her a wide-eyed look before shoving her out of the kitchen.
“Run!”
Lori held the bag to her chest as she rushed into the bedroom. Tex was just finishing packing up the saddlebags and she hurriedly shoved the gift from Robbie inside one of them without bothering to look. Knowing the odd man, it was probably a yoga book or a baby book, or a baby yoga book. None of which would help her right now.
“We have to go,” Lori said breathlessly. “I heard…”
Her words trailed off. The sound of the engine roar was loud enough for Tex to hear it now too. A moment later, Robbie burst into the room.
“I’ll hold them off for as long as I can. Sneak out through the bedroom window.” Robbie gave Lori a quick hug and slapped Tex on the back. “Don’t let them catch you.”
Lori watched him disappear as quickly as he had appeared and terror filled her. It sounded like there were at least twenty motorcycles outside.
Neither of them said another word as Tex slung the saddlebags over his shoulders and pushed the window open. He waved her forward, slipping to the grass outside before helping her out.
The evening was just beginning to set, but there was still enough light from the setting sun to see Tex’s motorcycle. Robbie had told him to hide his bike in that spot, which just so happened to be steps from their bedroom window.
Lori held her breath as they snuck towards Tex’s bike. Through the open window she could hear Robbie talking loudly to someone, slamming doors and coughing violently to cover the noise of the motorcycle engine starting.
She still couldn’t breathe as they took off on the motorcycle. As they made it out to the road, she looked behind her at the large group of bikes parked haphazardly in front of the safe house. Somehow, they had to make it to the highway without being seen.
All Lori could do was hold on to Tex as if her life depended on it. Because it did, and so did the life of their child.
She turned forward again, keeping her eyes locked on the road ahead, and prayed.
Chapter 14
Lori could hardly draw a breath as Tex drove at a breakneck speed to get away from the safe house. Lori let out a bitter laugh to herself at the irony of that. No place was safe for them anymore.
She felt the wind whip away the teardrops, telling herself it was just the speeding pace that was caused them. But Lori knew better, even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself.
She was still wracked with guilt, and it made a vile, greasy mix inside her along with the panic and fear that held her paralyzed. But underneath it all was the urge to protect their child no matter what happened.
Lori clung to Tex’s waist, trying to draw what comfort she could from his big, warm body at her front, inhaling the scent of leather from his jacket. It wasn’t enough to rid her entirely of the overwhelming mix of emotions, but it helped take the edge off.
She had to force herself to look behind them. They had been riding for over an hour without a sign of a chase, but every time she looked she expected to see an army of bikers on their tail. Coming for her with murder in their hard eyes.
But every time she worked up the courage to glance backwards, the road behind them was empty and, as the minutes melted into hours, Lori grew a little more confident. By the second hour on the road, she was sure that Robbie must have been able to distract the rest of the Devil’s Martyrs long enough for them to get away clean.
Suddenly, everything that had happened the past week combined with everything that had happened in the last few hours and sent her lurching forward.
Lori tugged on Tex’s jacket, motioning desperately for him to pull the bike over. He shot her a look with one eyebrow raise before shaking his head, but she didn’t have time to argue. Lori pointed again, stabbing the air with her finger, and finally he did what she wanted and pulled the motorcycle over on to the shoulder.
Lori rushed off the bike, barely making it off the road before she vomited into the grass. Several minutes later she stood up straight and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, grimacing as she walked back towards Tex.
He was waiting for her, leaning against the bike with his legs crossed. Lori looked closely for a hint of a grin, but his expression was serious as he handed her a bottle of water and her toothbrush.
She took them gratefully, quickly rinsing out her mouth, and trying to dry brush away the taste of bile. Lori avoided his gaze the whole time. She couldn’t meet his eyes. She was embarrassed. She knew it was ridiculous and that she shouldn’t be, but that didn’t stop the heat from rising in her cheeks. It made her feel weak, especially knowing that he had given up everything just to help her.
“I’m sorry.” The words came out in a raspy rush as she packed her toothbrush away. She still couldn’t look him in the eye. “I’m sorry that I dragged you into this mess. I’m just so sorry.”
For what felt like the hundredth time that night, Lori found herself fighting back tears, overwhelmed by everything that had happened and by all of the unknowns in front of them.
She nearly jumped as Tex wrapped his arms around her from behind. He pulled her close to his body, but it still wasn’t close enough for her. She wished she could just sink into him and live there, safe and secure. Untouchable.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” he said, his voice deep and gravelly against her cheek. “I made my own choices, knowing full well what would happen.” He let out a gruff laugh that shivered through her. “Well, not exactly everything. I never expected to fall in love. I sure as hell never expected to find my family. My real family.”
Lori swiped at another pesky tear, grateful that Tex couldn’t see, and she didn’t move until she was sure that she’d chased them all away again, at least for now.
“Come on, we need to keep moving,” Tex said, turning back towards the bike. He climbed on and held out a hand to help her onto the back. “We’ll have to drive through the rest of the night until we get to the nearest motel. We can stay there until we hear back from Solomon’s contact.”
Lori threw one leg over, wrapping her arms around him as she settled herself behind him once more.
&nb
sp; “Will we be safe there?” she asked softly, but he still caught the whispered words.
“We don’t have anywhere else to go,” he answered with a deep sigh. “Not until we can talk to Solomon.”
They rode on. The sun sank all the way beyond the horizon and the sky faded into a deep indigo blue overhead. One by one, stars blinked to life and soon there was a shimmering blanket of twinkling lights shining above them. But Lori didn’t see any of it. Her mind was caught up in re-living the past day over and over again in her head.
But as night deepened, exhaustion started to set in. The adrenaline from the near miss with the Devils Martyrs had worn off long before and all she felt was drained. An empty husk where all her emotions used to be.