Blood (Dark Riders Motorcycle Club) (2 page)

The touch of the cold wall against my skin burned. It was rough, and scratched me, but I didn't care. Who could worry about a little scrape at a time like this? Who would worry about that before they were going to die?

That was the first time I really admitted it to myself. Somehow I thought I could make it out alive before. Something would happen. Asher would save me. But what else
could
happen now?
 

Venom had been planning to kill me this whole time. What was to stop him now?

There was no way out, was there? I took a deep breath and steadied myself. I had to get ready. I didn't want to leave this earth playing according to his rules. Somehow, some way, I was going to take him down.
Even if it killed me.

Chapter 3

Footsteps echoed down the corridor. So it was time. I swung the door wide open so that there would be no confusion about what had happened. Then I stood in front of it, with my arms crossed.

As Venom walked towards me, his pace slowed. I could see his eyes flick from me, to the open door, and back again. Finally, he stopped walking and stood right in front of me. I met his gaze and didn't flinch.

"I should have known better than to leave you alone," Venom said. "I
knew
you were a tricky one, but I never expected this."

Something was wrong. I had expected Venom to come back in a rage. I expected him to be burning up with anger. But instead he actually sounded, well,
amused
.

The next thing I knew, Venom picked me up by the neck. He slammed me against the cold stone so hard that I could feel my warm blood drip into my hair. Venom pressed on my windpipe so hard that I thought he was going to crush it.

"You're not stupid," Venom said. "You know what I said I'd do. In fact, I think you counted on it."

Venom came close to my face, his nose almost pressed against mine.

"You thought you were going to go out like a hero, didn't you? Selflessly save the girl and sacrifice yourself, huh?" Venom said. "Well, you were wrong. I'm not going to kill you."

He threw me to the ground. I landed on my arm and yelled. The pain shot all the way up to my shoulder.

"Not yet anyway. We don't have time to go look for that bitch, so it looks like we'll have to have a change of plans. "

"Why the hell should I do anything
you
say?" I said. I spat in Venom's direction.

"Why?" he repeated. "
Why
?"

Venom crouched down and lowered his voice to a rumble.

"Because if you don't, I will dedicate
every single member
of this club to finding that girl and torturing her to death in ways that you have never thought possible. A death much more gruesome than the simple bullet we had planned for her.

"And you will be watching. Just like you'll watch while we flay your mother before your eyes. Before we kill you and anyone else we can find who knows about you," he said.

His voice was calm. Not angry at all. It would have been less scary if he yelled. Then, at least, he wouldn't seem like he was enjoying it.
 

"But by all means," Venom said. "Play the hero. I do so love playing the villain."

He stood up and straightened his shirt. Looking down, he spat onto the ground in front of me.

"So?"

I pushed myself off the ground. My body still hurt, but I had no choIce.

"Fine," I said.

"Good girl," he said. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

Chapter 4

Venom dragged me back to the center of activity. The bikers were still rushing around, as if nothing had happened. Maybe they didn't even know anything had changed.

We kept going until we reached Keg. He was standing in front of the door, and opened it for us when we arrived. After we walked inside, he slammed it shut.

The place was simple. There was just a table, a few chairs, and that was it. Oh, and there was a box. It didn't look like anything special. Just your regular, old, every day box.

"Please, sit down," Venom said.

"I'd rather stand," I said.

This time, he gritted his teeth. "I said,
sit down
."

Reluctantly, I pulled out one of the rickety chairs and sat down.

"So this is pretty simple," Venom said. "Your job is to deliver this box to Wild. That's it."

He lifted the lid of the box, revealing its contents. I could see a gun, cash, and bags of white powder we encountered before.

"You'll tell him that these are the things he ordered, and that's all.

"The cops are looking for a transaction, and when he takes the box from you that will be it. Simple, right?"

Venom put the lid back on the box and slid it towards me.

"Oh, and one more thing," he said. "If you deviate from the script at all, I have snipers trained on you who will not hesitate to pull the trigger. Understood?"

I looked at Venom straight in the eyes.

"Understood."

Venom pounded his fist on the table.

"All right then," he said. "We're done here. Let's get this thing going."

He and Keg started to walk out the door, and without thinking I followed after them. When I reached the doorway, Venom grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back in.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" He said and pointed at the box on the table.

I guess even my subconscious didn't want to do it. I walked over to the table and picked up the box. Even though it shouldn't have, it felt as heavy as lead. I tried my best not to drop it on the floor.

"Very good," Venom said. "Now make sure not to drop it, or…"

He raised his thumb and pointed out his index finger while curling the other three fingers backwards. Venom cocked his "gun" at me and made an exploding noise.
 

Yeah, right, I got it. One wrong move and I was a goner. But I was a goner
anyway
, right?

As we walked out the clubhouse and to the bikes my body felt hollow. Every movement I made was a struggle, like pressing against a strong current. Something was pushing me back, making me walk in slow motion.

But that wasn't all. It seemed like everything outside of me was slowed down too. As Venom and Keg joked with each other, their voices reached me with muffled sounds. I couldn't make out the words, and I didn't even want to. What did it matter?

As I got on the bike behind him, Joel said something stupid again. I could only tell by the way he laughed, the harsh noise crashing against my ears. But the words never reached me. I could just see his expression when he didn't get the reaction he wanted.
 

I wasn't going to get angry with him. He wasn't worth it. It was hard to feel angry. It was hard to feel
anything
. But maybe that's just how it was when you were on your way to die.

As we took off, my mind drifted. Like always, Asher came to me. Not Wild. Not this tall, muscular man who took a bullet because of me.
Asher
. The boy who bought me a tiny ring in secret and kept it all these years.

Back then, everyone already knew about my father. Things I didn't even know. One day, a bunch of kids surrounded me during recess. They formed a circle and linked arms so that I couldn't get out. I was trapped.

"
We
know your dad doesn't always sleep with your mom!" they said.

"What are you talking about?"

"My mother saw him leaving Kirsty Calveley's house in the morning!"
 

That was Charlene. Back then she was red-haired and freckle-faced. Until that moment, I had thought we were friends.

"He was wearing the same clothes from the night before! You know what that means!" Charlene said.

"Oooohh!" The group of children hooped and hollered. They closed in on me, a few of them breaking ranks to push me to the ground.

I fell. My knee scraped the gravel and bled. I tried to hold back the tears, but my nose was still snotty and running from the taunts.

"What's the matter?" they yelled. "Why doesn't your dad stay home? Is it because he thinks you're dirty?"

They kicked dirt on me, getting it in my eyes and hair. I coughed, trying to keep it out of my mouth. Then the next time I looked up, there was Pierce. He was holding a big rock right above my head.
 

The other kids had drawn back already, and the group was silent. It was as if even
they
knew that things had gone too far. I closed my eyes and braced myself.

There was a thud. I heard moaning, but it wasn't me. Pierce was on the ground and Asher was on top of him. His fists just kept raining down on Pierce. One after another, without stopping. Even when Charlene tried to pull him off, he wouldn't go.

It wasn't until Mr. Tomlinson picked Asher up and dragged him to the principal's office that the thing was over. By then, Pierce's face was already bloody and bruised way worse than my scraped knee.

He would have been expelled if someone hadn't ratted on Pierce. They said that he was trying to protect me, but he had gone too far, so Asher was suspended.
 

The next time I saw him, Asher had a scar right underneath his left eye. He never told me about it, but I was sure his mom had hit him there. Back then, we never talked about what happened. I never even said thank you. How lame was that?

Well, now I was going to pay him back. Even if it meant giving my life.

This was a ride to the end. I knew I wasn't coming back.

Chapter 5

Joel slowed down right outside of town and kicked me off. I saw his mouth moving, but his words didn't reach me. Eventually, he gave up and drove away.

The sunlight fell through the leaves of the trees and dotted the long gray asphalt road that worked its way through town. Sometimes this place could be beautiful. Even with its car crashing possums and motorcycle clubs.

Before walking, I took in a deep breath. It smelled moist and earthy, as if it had just rained. I closed my eyes. I wanted to remember that smell.

The path to the Dark Riders was too short for all the things I wanted to remember. As I passed the houses and stores, memories flooded back into me. Where Asher and I played hide and seek. Where I stood when I refused to talk to him for a month. Where he taught me how to climb a tree.

My feet were moving automatically, taking me where they knew I needed to go. When the old Dark Riders clubhouse loomed up ahead of me, I almost wanted to turn back and run. The whole club was waiting for me. They stood outside near their bikes, looking expectant.

As I came closer, I could make out their faces. Their eyes widened. And then there was Asher.

"Lily?" He said. "What are you doing here?"

I stopped walking. My feet were glued to the ground. If I kept going, it would all be over soon.

"Joel said that he had something to share with the club," Asher said. "Is he with you?"

I didn't want to, but I lifted my foot. The first up was the hardest. It seemed like it took forever for my foot to reach the earth again. Then I picked up my next foot. They were the heaviest steps I had ever taken. It took all of my strength just to keep going forward.

"Lily?"

I didn't say anything. If I opened my mouth, I was sure that it would all spill out. What? The things that were inside of me. The words that I wanted to say. Like, "I'm sorry," and "I love you." Words that wouldn't let me do what I needed to do.

I held up the heavy box, just like I was supposed to. Next I would hand it over to Asher. I would tell him to open it, and he would see the drugs inside. The cops would come. And they would all go down.

Just according to plan. But whose plan?

I looked down at the box again. And then I looked up at Asher. His eyebrows were knitted in confusion. I glanced at his arm. He was wearing a fresh bandage. Good. He was taking care of it. He was healing. At least I did
that
for him.

I locked on to Asher's eyes with my own.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I love you."

There. I said it. I dropped the box, and it fell to the ground. The noise was loud as the lid fell off and everything inside clattered on the pavement.

Chapter 6

I closed my eyes. The bullet would be coming soon. Maybe it would shoot through my head. Then I wouldn't even know I was dead. Or maybe it would shatter my heart. If Venom
really
hated me it would be a couple of gut shots. I'd get to live out every painful, agonizing step of sepsis for the last few hours of my life.

But that wasn't really what I wanted to know. I knew about
dying
. We learned about it in school. We could study it. But death, that was my
real
question. Did it hurt to die?

I felt it before I heard it. The force pressing, rocketing towards my body. Then the bang, coming from everywhere and loud enough to make my ears ring.

I fell. My body hit the pavement, but my ears were still too shocked to hear the thud. I waited for the pain to start filling my body. For my vision to go dark.

But it didn't.
 

The pain never came. I took a deep breath and wiggled my fingers. I wasn't dead.
Why
?

My eyes slammed open and I looked around. Asher was on top of me, his shoulder bleeding. He smiled as I looked at him.

"I'm getting too used to this, aren't I?" He said.

I took his face in my hands, wiping the dirt off the side of it. I barely made him out through the tears.

"Asher, I-"

"I know," he said. "I always trusted you. Why wouldn't I?"

Sirens wailed in the background. The cars pulled up to the clubhouse, screeching to a halt. Dozens of cops poured out of the vehicles, pointing their guns in our direction.

Just one of them came forward. He held his hand out as if telling the others to wait for his signal.

"All right. We got
two
calls about something big going down here. One claiming there would be a coke deal, and one claiming there would be a set up," he said. "We've been monitoring this whole thing, and this guy over here jumps up and get shot. Nothing makes sense. So will
someone
explain to me what all this is about?"