My mother found me each night, sobbing into my pillows. “Ya no llores, mi amor.Tienes que ser fuerte.” But how could I be strong when my own blood wanted me weak and at his mercy.
The last thing I heard was that the man who had taken the liberty had been hung and tortured. It was rumored his appendage was ripped off and all I could think was how he deserved that and worse.
Funny thing was, I was more afraid of my brother than I’d ever been of that man. My mother left soon after the incident and Tadeo’s hatred for me shone even more. He blamed me for her leaving, not knowing it was his actions which made her flea. Just looking at me disgusted him, and in order to keep me from being around anybody, he kept me locked in my room.
I wasn’t allowed to speak to anyone, let alone finish high school or go to college. Diego took pity on me, and he provided me with a laptop. I had nothing else to do but read and educate myself and I took a liking to Psychology. I studied it on my own and became proficient with it.
There were times I thought about asking for help via social media, but after a while it just became pointless, and using my newfound knowledge, I became reckless and rebellious. I needed to find a way out, just needed to be smart about it. I was twenty-two and completely alone in this world. Diego was the only one I trusted in all this, and even he was a selfish shit who could only see what he could benefit out of me.
When I had asked for his help, the first words out of his mouth were, “what’s in it for me?”
His eyes glued to my chest as he rubbed his crotch. So, I knelt before him and undid the front of my shirt as his eyes glimmered and he salivated. I looked up at him and said one line.
“I will give you my mouth, but not my body.”
His dick was in my mouth before he could utter a word, and that’s how I’d kept him quiet. It was a matter of life or death, and he didn’t know it, but he held the key to my cage. Giving myself to him was the only way to survive the hell I was in. And with it came little spurts of freedom. I should feel ashamed, but I didn’t. This was my life, and no one had the right to judge me because no one could ever know what I had been through in the last seven years.
As the road swerved, I could hear the soft flow of the river on the right. The sound of crickets echoed around me as the sun set deeper and darkness began to engulf the already dark expanse of the road. I turned the truck down one blind corner to the next and that’s when it happened. I hit the break, but the truck didn’t slow down, and panic hit me. There was no way of avoiding it. It loomed in the middle of the road and I screamed as I swerved the truck to the right, slamming right into a large tree trunk. My head hit the wheel, and the last thought I had was of my mother.
2
Knuckles
I fucking hated making this goddamn trip out to the middle of nowhere just to receive a shipment. Everything had gone smoothly, and I left Riddick and Bandit in charge of the product. Stolen product was the worst, it was months of erasing serial numbers before they were even shipped out to Chicago. This wasn’t what I’d signed up for, but Jameson was right. We needed the money. If we lay low and made the right connections, we’d stay out of sight. For the most part the product was sold via the black market. But I was sick of this. Finding the guns was sketchy and working with these assholes meant we were putting our lives on the line on a constant basis. I had an idea, but I wasn’t sure if Jameson would be prone to accepting it.
I figured I’d put it on the table at our next church meeting. Didn’t hurt to try, and we’d probably be more profitable. I’d need Koyn, the Prez over in Tulsa to help me, but as soon as I got what I needed we’d be on and poppin’.
The road was dark, and the fog was settling in. It became one blind turn after the next. This road had to be the eeriest expanse of desolated highway that ever existed in the United States, and I hated it. By the time I was done getting off it I was completely stressed out and paranoid. You know it’s bad when you’re fucking doing breathing exercises while riding. I was so focused on the turns and not losing my shit that I barely noticed it. It was faint, and my eyes caught the faded brake lights of a vehicle onto the side of the road. Something told me I had to slow down.
It was an old truck that had slammed into a tree on the side of the bayou. If it wasn’t for the tree it would have gone right into the swamps. I focused my headlight onto the marsh making sure no gators or crocodiles were roaming about, then slowly slid off my bike and headed towards the passenger side. The window was grimy, and it was too dark to even tell if there was anyone inside. I reached the driver’s side and pulled open the door. It didn’t budge.
“Fuck.”
I went over to the side of the truck and hopped onto the back. I tried the window and gratefully it was unlocked. I shoved it open and peeked inside. That’s when I saw her. She was slung over the wheel, blood drying on her cheek and the glass of the front windshield was cracked. The bags didn’t deploy, and it looked like she hit her head pretty hard. The front of the truck was completely smashed, leaving the engine exposed and steaming while the dashboard had come down on her knees.
I needed to get her out quickly without hurting her. I searched the truck bed for something I could use, but there was nothing to help me jimmy open the door. I cursed and pulled out my phone. Hopefully Riddick was headed back and could help.
The phone rang twice, and his smart-ass comment made me want to strangle him. “Did you get lost or somethin’?”
“Are you headed back?”
“In a few minutes. Why?”
“I’m out on L57.”
“Yeah.”
“There is a girl in a truck about halfway down the road, along the second curve. Truck is to the right. Looks like she swerved and had an accident. I can’t get to her. I need help.”
“Shit!”
“Bring something we could use to pull open the door,” a moan emanated from within the truck and I cursed.
“Get here as fast as you can, she’s waking up.”
I leaned in through the window and could see she was trying to move. Her moan let me know she was in pain and I could tell she was seated in an awkward position. “You’re gonna be alright, sweetheart. Help is coming.”
It took Riddick about twenty minutes to get over to me and by the time he arrived I was fuming. “What the fuck, man?”
“You said to bring shit.”
The duffle bag hit the pavement in front of me. I gave him an angry glare and then crouched down to search the bag. Scrummaging through it, I found what I needed. He followed me as I pressed the crowbar to the side of the door panel, and he pulled. The door creaked open and we tried again until it finally opened wide enough to get to the girl.
She moaned again and I frowned. “She needs a hospital.”
I stared back at Riddick, a look of annoyance and frustration on my face as he pointed out the obvious. It was mostly due to the situation, but I figured I’d take it out on him.
“Just help me get her out. Carefully.”
Flipping my blade open, I cut through her seatbelt and she fell over into my arms. She groaned and flinched as her knee was trapped between the dashboard and the seat. I signaled to Riddick to see if he could prop it up. Using the crowbar, he wedged it between the seat and the dashboard and the metal groaned.