rtbpdf (15 page)

Adriana

I pulled into a parking lot, which was across
the street from Club Hideaway, and parked the car. Then I texted Krystal. She
called me right away.

“Perfect timing. The shit is about to hit the
fan. Jason is heading toward the door with some girl, and we’re getting ready
to follow him.”

“I’ll wait out here. I don’t want him to see
me.”

“Good idea. I’ll call you right back,” she
said, hanging up.

I stayed in my car and watched the front door,
anxious and scared at the same time. A few minutes later, I saw Jason step
outside with a girl. He had his arm around her shoulders. I noticed that she
was lucid and actually seemed to be enjoying their conversation. It made me
wonder if I was wrong about everything.  Sure, he’d been an asshole, but had he
really drugged me?

As they walked toward the parking lot, where I
was hunched in my car, the club doors opened again. This time, Trevor, Tank,
and Krystal stepped outside.

Blowing out my breath, I watched as the three
kept their distance and followed them into the parking lot. Just as Jason
approached his car, which was a couple of rows away from mine, Trevor
confronted him.

***

Raptor

“Excuse me, Jason?”

He turned around and looked at me.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” he asked.

“No, but I think you know her,” said Tank,
nodding to Krystal.

Jason’s face turned pale. “Ah, hey Krystal.
What’s going on?”

Krystal smiled coldly. “Heard you abandoned my
friend last night. After you tried raping her, you fucking asshole.”

The girl standing next to Jason, took a step
back. “What? Jason, what is she talking about?”

“Nothing, Michelle. Get in the car. I’ll handle
this.”

“But-”

“Get in the car,” he said firmly. “Please.”

Sighing, she opened the door and slid into the
front seat.

Jason turned back to us. “What’s this all
about?”

“You slipped something into Adriana’s drink
last night,” I said. “What was it?”

His face darkened. “That’s bullshit. I didn’t
do any such thing. Is that what she told you?”

In three strides I had him by the throat.
“Look, you ass-fuck,” I spat. “That shit could have killed her. What the fuck
was it?”

He tried clawing at my fingers. “I didn’t,” he
croaked. “Let me go.”

I reached into my jacket and pulled out my
revolver. I held it to his head and cocked it. “Tell me or I’ll blow your head
off, mother fucker.”

“Oh my God, no!” hollered Adriana, who was
running toward us. “Don’t!”

I lowered the gun and shoved it into his nut-sack.
“Don’t worry, Jason. I’m not going to kill you. Just remove the source of your
problem.”

“Please,” he begged, holding up his hands. “It
wasn’t me. Seriously. It was Lucas. He did it. For Gary. It was his birthday.”

I glared at him. “Explain.”

“Lucas just wanted him to get lucky. The shit
was just supposed to make her horny. That’s all I know.”

“Gary wasn’t interested in having sex with any
of us,” said Krystal, looking horrified. “Don’t put the blame on him.”

“I’m not. I mean, you’re right. He didn’t even
know about it.”

“But you did,” I said sharply. “And you tried
raping her.”

“No,” he lied. “I swear…”

“Say goodbye to your little friends,” I said,
mimicking Al Pacino.

He began to cry. “No! Please! I’ll do
anything.”

I heard the sound of sirens in the distance.

“Time to leave,” said Tank.

Swearing, I slammed my fist into Jason’s face
and heard the distinct sound of his nose breaking.

He sank to his knees holding his nose. “I think
you broke it. Oh my God!”

I grinned. “Good. It looks like it’s your lucky
day, fuck-face, because that’s all I have time for. Now, I know you’ve heard of
the Gold Vipers and now we’ve heard of you.”

Jason’s eyes moved to my jacket and the
realization of who I was associated with, made him look like he was going to
shit his pants.

I grabbed him by the collar and looked down
into his face. “I ever hear of you or your friends drugging these or any other
girls, you’re dead. You feel me?”

He nodded quickly.

“I mean it. You’ll be ten feet under and I’ll
bury you myself if I have to. I have plenty of shovels.”

“I won’t. I swear,” he cried.

Although I still wanted to beat the fuck out of
Jason, I released him.  

“Let’s bolt. The cops are getting close,” said
Tank.

I turned toward Adriana, but she wouldn’t even
look at me. Sighing, I grabbed her by the elbow and began ushering her to the
car she’d gotten out of. “Meet me at my house,” I said, when we stopped.

“No,” she said, pulling her arm away.  She
continued to avoid my eyes. “I can’t.”

“I’m coming with you, Adriana,” said Krystal,
approaching the car.

“Okay,” she answered.

“We need to talk,” I said, feeling the tension
between us. I couldn’t understand why she was pissed. The guy got off with a
broken nose. Shit could have been a lot worse.

She didn’t say anything, but I could tell the
wheels in her head were turning rapidly.

“Raptor,” said Tank. “I’ll meet you back by the
bikes.”

“I’m right behind you, Brother.”

Tank held up his hand. “Call me, Krystal.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I will.”

“So, you have a gun,” blurted out Adriana, looking
angry.

“Yeah, so?”

“Yeah,
so
?” she said, laughing coldly.
“I guess that my mother was right. You’re not just trouble, you are fucking dangerous.”

I tried to remain calm, but it wasn’t easy. My
adrenaline was still on overdrive. “Not to you.”

“Famous last words.”

“Bullshit. I would never hurt you,” I said,
staring at her in frustration.

“You’ve got that right. Goodbye, Trevor,” said
Adriana, getting into her car.

I wanted to stop her, but I could see the
cherries from the cops heading down the street. Swearing, I took off running.

Adriana

“Wasn’t that insane?” said Krystal, digging
around in her purse. 

“Very.”

“God, I need a cigarette.”

“I thought you were quitting.”

“I was, but after that scene, can you blame
me?”

I smiled grimly. “No. I guess not.”

“Do you have some cash on you?” she asked,
pulling out her wallet. “All I have is a five dollar bill and I’ve already
maxed my credit card.”

“Another reason why you should quit smoking.”

“Don’t be a drag,” she said, laughing.

I rolled my eyes.

“Seriously, can you borrow me a couple of bucks
for a pack of smokes?”

“Yeah, fine.”

“Thanks.”

“Where’s your car?”

“At their club house.”

“Where is that?”

“A couple of blocks away from Griffin’s.”

“You want me to drop you off there, right?”

“If you could?”

 “Why not? I’ve got nothing else going on.”

She sucked in her breath. “Is that the necklace
from your dad?” she asked, leaning toward me.

I touched it and smiled. “Yeah.”

“I can’t believe you’re wearing it. It’s
beautiful.”

“Thanks. I have to admit, I was nervous wearing
the thing.”

“I would be, too. If someone found out it was
real, they’d try and steal it.”

“Speaking of which…” I told her about Breaker,
from when I first ran into him, at the gas station, to where he chased me after
work.

She stared at me in horror. “Oh my God, are you
serious?!”

“Yeah. It was scary. I headed toward the police
station and he must have knew what I was doing, because that’s when he left
me.”

“That prick. You should call Raptor and let him
know.”

I shook my head. “Oh, no. I don’t want
anything
to do with him.”

“You know, he has the hots for you.”

“I don’t care. Raptor is fucking crazy,” I said
firmly. “You saw him back there. He could have shot Jason.”

“Why do you care? The guy is a douchebag.”

I looked at her in surprise. “Don’t tell me
that you’re condoning murder, now?”

“No, of course not. But, Raptor was just trying
to scare him. Now he’ll think twice about drugging girls for sex.”

“After that, you’d think so.”

We pulled into a nearby gas station. She ran
inside and bought a pack of smokes. When she got back into the car, she asked
me if she could light one up.

I grunted. “Seriously? I just bought it. It
still smells new.”

“What if I open the window?”

I frowned. “You know that doesn’t really help.”

“Fine,” she pouted, shoving the cigarettes into
her purse.

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Do you want me
to pull over somewhere, so that you can have one?”

“No. I’ll just wait until we get to my car,”
she said, looking out her side window. She was silent for several minutes and I
knew something was definitely wrong.

“You mad?” I asked.

“No,” she replied, looking back at me. “I’m
just thinking about Tank. I’m afraid of what he’s going to do when I break it
off with him.”

“So, you’re really going to do it?”

She nodded.

“Good. They’re both bad news. I’m sure Tank carries
a gun, too.”

“He does.”

“Great. Well, if I were you, I would definitely
do it over the phone.”

She smirked. “I was planning on it.”

“So, where is this place?” I asked, as we
neared Griffin’s.

She directed me past the strip joint to a
warehouse district, about two miles away. We pulled up to a set of gates.

“Great, how do we get in there?”  

“Very easily. It’s not locked,” she said,
opening the car door. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.”

Krystal got out and ran up to the gate. She
unlatched it and pulled it open. I drove through it and waited for her to get
back in.

“My car is just over there,” she said, pointing
to a row of vehicles that were parked near the side of an old warehouse.

“So, this is where these guys usually hang out,
huh?” I said, driving slowly. “The building looks abandoned, except for the cars.”

“Most of those belong to the club whores,” she
said, wrinkling her nose. “The guys keep their bikes inside of the building.
There’s a garage door in back.”

“Why are the windows all boarded up?” I asked,
stopping behind her car.

“Because of the shit that goes on inside,” she
said, picking up her purse. “It’s like a playground for men, in there. They’ve
got this wrap-around bar with hundreds of bottles of booze.
Hundreds
. A
couple of wide screen TVs, some video and pinball machines.” She smirked.
“Hell, they even have a stripper pole.”

“Why does that not surprise me?”

“I know, right? Get this, some of the girls walk
around naked, like it’s no big deal.”

 “Classy.”

“Exactly. Anyway, I’d better go,” she leaned
over and gave me a hug. “I’m just going to go home and crash, I think. I’m
still a little hung over from last night. I tried the old ‘Hair-of-the-dog’
thing, but it’s not working.”

“Okay. Call me, tomorrow.”

“I will.”

Krystal got out and walked over to her car. As
I watched her get inside, my cell phone went off.

Trevor.

I ignored his call but then he began texting
me. Sighing, I picked up my phone and called him.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“I just dropped Krystal off to her car and now I’m
on my way home,” I replied, backing out of the parking lot.

“Wait there for me. I want to talk to you. I’m
only a couple minutes away.”

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“Yes. We do.”

“Look, I’m grateful for what you did, picking
me up in the middle of the night and letting me stay at your house, but it
can’t go any further than that.”

“That’s not what I got from that kiss, earlier.”

That was before I saw you almost kill someone.

“Things have changed,” I said, driving away
from the clubhouse. Knowing that he was almost going back there, I wanted to
put as much distance between him and my car as I could.

“What do you mean?”

“I think you know exactly what I mean. That
thing with Jason…”

“He needed to be taught a lesson.”

“You broke his nose.”

“Yes I did”

“And you threatened him with a gun.”

“Of course I did. He needed to know we meant
business.”

I sighed.

“Did you expect me to ask him nicely?”

“No, but I didn’t expect that!”

“Look, Kitten, he deserved a lot more than what
I dished out, believe me.”

“He wasn’t even the one who slipped me the
drug.”

“No, but he knew about it and tried to use it
to his advantage, didn’t he?”

“Yes, but-”

 “And then he threw you out of his car, in the
middle of nowhere, without giving a shit. You’re probably lucky to be alive. Are
you really going to stick up for that asshole?”

He had a point.

“No. I’m not. I just don’t like the way you
handled the situation.”

“I did what I had to do, to ‘handle it’. And
because I scared the fuck out of him, College Boy will think twice before
trying something like that again. I guarantee it.”

“I’d say.”

“Now, if that’s all you’re pissed at, then I
need to see you, Kitten. Tonight. Are we good?”

“I… um…I guess so. I’m kind of tired. Maybe we
could have lunch or something, tomorrow?”

“Lunch?”

“Yeah.”

He chuckled. “Hell, we can do that, too. I’ll
see you soon.”

“But-”

“Meet me at my place.” He hung up.

I stared at the phone and realized this was the
second time, in twenty-four hours, that he’d cut me off when I’d tried to say
‘No’.  He obviously didn’t do well with that word.

Sighing, I put my phone down and headed toward
my own house. If he wasn’t going to listen to my protests, he’d sure as hell
hear my actions loud and clear.