As if this was not the first time to a scene that was staged the way they needed it to be found, the other biker came running around the back of the car. “I got the tank leakin’. Set this bitch on fire.”
Art grabbed the back of my shirt I was laying on and dragged me across the dirt while Red pulled a pack of matches from his front pocket. Also backing away, he lit the whole package then threw it underneath the car. Waooom! The car set ablaze.
Stunned. I was absolutely stunned. “W-What the hell are you guys doing?”
Art yanked me up from the ground. “Diesel must have had a change of heart.”
I don’t know when he had pulled up, but another biker was there, talking over his rumbling Harley. “He said get your asses out of here. Now. They’re comin’.”
Everyone was rushing, dragging me toward the truck. I asked, “Who’s on their way?” When no one answered, just kept hustling, covering their tracks, I figured it out. I begged, “Wait! Let me see her! I need to tell her I’m sorry!” But no one bothered to oblige.
I was shoved into the truck, and we raced away.
CHAPTER TWO
“Let me out!” I screamed, banging on the inside of the barn doors, but no one would release me. It had been days. Every now and then, I would hear bikes coming and going. Food and water were delivered, but I had the feeling they were merely keeping me alive until they made a decision on what to do with me.
“Is she okay?” Not knowing anything about Delilah’s well-being was making me erratic and edgy – that along with my guilt for the part my personalities played. Not that anyone cared. Still, no one answered. I rattled the doors like a madman. “Just fucking tell me if she’s okay, goddamnit!”
Red finally replied, “Jesus, Kenny! It’s fucking hot as balls out here. Can you please shut the fuck up?”
Sweat dripped from my chin. Georgia’s heat was getting brutal. “You’re hot? I’m fucking melting in here! But all I want to know is if she is fucking okay!”
“Damn, you’re a pain in the ass. V is by her side like glue, if that helps.”
Viola was tough as nails but had a soft spot. She adored Delilah. No matter how I felt about V, there was no denying her loyalty. I was finally able to take a deep breath of relief. “It actually does. Thank you.” After a pause, I asked, “Do you think—”
“No. I don’t. You can’t see JB, so save your breath.”
For obvious reasons, his answer didn’t shock me in the slightest. “Red, think I might be able to at least get some fresh air.”
“Red?” the biker laughed.
“I had to get creative. You haven’t exactly formally introduced yourself to me.”
He chuckled again, but it died out as if realizing there was no humor in my situation. “Kid, I don’t know what happened to you, but you’re in a hell of a mess.”
“That’s the thing.” I leaned my forehead to the warm wood door. “I don’t know what happened either.” Desperate for any bit of hope I could find, I asked, “Does she know where I am?” When his silence was my only answer, I tried, “Come on, Red. Throw me a bone, even if you think I don’t deserve it. That girl… she’s my world. I swear it, dude. I don’t know exactly what I did, but I can assure you, no one is suffering over it more than me and her. No one.”
As if he somehow knew firsthand information that made my statement true, he exhaled. “No. She don’t know where you are.”
I felt pain swim across my chest. I knew she would be worried about me. She couldn’t help but care. It was her angelic way when it came to me. Even after Viola had yelled at me the other day, for what I had done, Delilah showed signs of forgiveness and empathy. “Is she looking for me?”
“Not exactly.”
I laid my cheek on the door as my heart pounded. “She will worry. I mean it. Just tell her I’m okay. Lie. Anything to save her worry. I don’t deserve her love, but it’s there. Promise.”
Such remorse echoed in his voice and words. “I know, kid. She has a heart of gold. Diesel will be making a decision soon.” I heard his lighter flick a flame. After a drag of his smoke, he finally said, “Name is Scorch, by the way.”
Sweat dripped into my already watering eyes. “That road name making fun of your hair?”
“I wish.” His voice lowered. “No. It’s how the club found me. Scorched.”
Scorch and I didn’t speak any more that day. Not even when he slipped me some more food and water. I didn’t talk to anyone until Diesel opened the barn doors late that night. Standing at the opened doors, I squinted at the bike headlights. When my eyes cleared, I jolted.
Diesel had a gun pointed right at my forehead.
My breath caught in my throat, but, slowly, I raised my hands.
He lowered the gun and growled, “Walk and talk time, asshole.”
Walking through the field felt liberating. Fresh air hit my sweaty face and overworked lungs.
“Kenny, I won’t think twice about shooting you if you don’t stay calm with what I’m about to tell you.”
I nodded because I knew the man well enough to know killing me for Delilah was something he was most capable of.
“Art thinks he saw a few of your ‘personalities’ in Daytona.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I was confused with what he wanted. So, I wondered if we were having a conversation or if I was to stay quiet. “May I speak?”
He looked at me like I was a dipshit. “Why the fuck you think we are having an el conversation-o?”
Diesel reverting to his joking around with broken god-awful Spanish, I actually sighed with relief. The old Diesel was present again. It was comforting. Up to this point, I had been so lost and confused, seeing an old role model was very welcomed. Even though he preferred me dead, it was all I had.
As far as Daytona, Tuck, V, Delilah, and I had spent spring break there earlier that school year. Tuck, preparing for college, talked his dad into letting us go be young and free—with a powerful biker club watching over us.
I told Diesel, “I, uh, blamed my blackouts on the alcohol, but I just don’t know the truth anymore.”
“Thanks for being honest. It helps. I want to kill you.”
Again, I nodded. “I don’t blame you.”
“The girls won’t tell me shit.” He lit a cigarette. “Won’t even let Tucker in.”
I took a sharp inhale. “Those three are the OG Amigos.”
Blowing smoke into the night, he nodded. “For fucking sure.” He stopped walking. “Jesus, Kenny, what happened?”
Not my manliest moment, I burst into tears. “I don’t fucking know. I don’t remember shit. It’s like someone keeps fucking with a light switch in my head. Every time it’s off, I don’t know what I’m doing. Like, not until the switch is back on and someone tells me what I’ve done.”
“Has anyone told you?”
I wiped snot from under my nose. “Only Delilah and your sister.”
His eyes widened for some reason. “They told you?”
“Well, the day all this went down was my first clue of what may be happening to me. After I brought Delilah home because of cramps, so she claimed—”