Crotch Rocket: A Bad Boy Motorcycle Club Romance (4 page)

I gripped Ms. Richards hand firmly in mine.  Her skin felt like the thin tracing paper I had used to outline my favorite cartoon characters as a kid.  It was balmy and waxy and her bones felt frail and fragile beneath its surface.  Her hands shook and her teeth chattered as we made our way back to the storage room. 

“It’s going to be ok,” I tried to tell her as we passed through the heavy rubber doors. “Jacob is going to keep us safe,” I reassured her despite my own worries.  I didn’t want Jacob up there alone fending for our safety.  I had seen the men, he was outnumbered.  I didn’t know what I would do if he were hurt.  I’d thought about him all these years, and now, just when things were coming together, the store was under attack and there was no one here to save it but him. 

I could hear the heavy thud of something being thrown at the front doors.  I prayed that they would hold.  With each new thud I felt certain that I would hear the sound of shattering glass.  With the third thud I heard the glass give way and I knew the men would be on top of Jacob in seconds. 

“Ms. Richards,” I said trying to get her to focus on me.  “I need you to stay here, ok?” I said as I moved a couple of cases of beer to a hidden corner and helped her to sit down upon them.  “I need to go check on Jacob.  You’ll be ok,” I said slowly and sternly.  She gave no indication that she heard me so I grabbed her face and forced her to look at me.  “I need you to tell me you understand,” I said looking directly into her eyes.  “You need to stay here.  I’ll come back for you.”

She didn’t say a word but managed to nod her head.  Her whole body shook and quivered but I couldn’t wait any longer.  I felt guilty for leaving her but deep in my gut I knew I needed to go see after Jacob.

I tried to exit the back room as carefully as I could.  I pushed lightly on the heavy rubber doors and peeked out into the store.  I didn’t see anyone but my view was limited.  I had no choice but to summon up my bravery and hope that there was no one on the other side.  I stepped one foot out and then the other.  I glanced around the dairy department to ensure that I was alone and then quickly scurried to hide at the end of a long aisle.  I prayed that the metal shelving was enough to hide me from any searching eyes.  I could hear the sounds of a scuffle up front by the register.  The low sound of grunts and the crashing and shattering of items that had once been on the shelves. 

I tiptoed from one aisle to the next until I could move forward without being seen.  I edged around the corners and snuck glances around the canned goods until I had a decent view.  I gripped the shelving fiercely with my fingers as I watched the scene unfold.  I could see the back of Jacob clearly.  His muscles bulged and stretched the thin fabric of his shirt as one of the El Diablo Rojas members stepped back and pulled something from his pocket.  I could see the glint of brass knuckles as the man pushed them down over his fingers.  My worry for Jacob grew.  I only saw two men before him and had been certain there had been three.  I looked out to the parking lot and saw four bikes, three were theirs and one was the bike that Jacob had ridden.  I had no way of knowing where the other man was and my blood ran cold when I considered where he might be.  I had hidden Ms. Richards well and hoped she had stayed that way.  I couldn’t go help her now, I needed to help Jacob if he ended up needing it.

Jacob was tall and towered over the other men, but I worried that wouldn’t be enough in a two versus one battle.  I know he was raised a fighter but two against one is difficult for anyone.  If they caught him off guard, they could get the upper hand and could seriously injure him.  I didn’t let my mind wander to the other more permanent thing they could do.

My breath hitched in my throat as the second man stepped forward and took a swing.  Jacob angled back skillfully and the jab missed.  Jacob swung out with the broken broomstick in his hand and landed a heavy hit to the man’s torso.  The other man lunged at him, the weight of his body hit Jacob like a truck and sent the two men flying to the floor.  They wrestled, the other man cheering his club mate on as they each got in their punches.  Jacobs nose was bleeding but he seemed to be getting control.  Seconds later he flipped the other man and began to pummel his face.  He was fast and with each punch I could see his anger rising.  I don’t know if it was the adrenaline, but it was the hottest thing I had ever seen.  Jacob was doing all of this for me, for my parent’s store.  He could have run away, he could have gone to get help and left me here alone, but he didn’t.  In the scuffle the front of his shirt had ripped and I could see his abs flexing with each hit.  They rippled and glistened with sweat and I could only tear my eyes away from them long enough to notice that the other man was moving in.

I grabbed a can off of the shelf and hurled it at the man’s head.  The tomato soup went flying and knocked him right in the forehead.  He turned and glared at me as he wiped his hand across his forehead.  A small streak of blood ran from his temple to his eye.  In the same moment Jacob looked up and realized that I was there.

“You need to go!” he yelled as the man underneath him sucker punched his stomach.  He doubled over and growled “Get out of here” as he climbed off of the man and went after the one I had hit with the soup can.  The man went to punch him but swung wide.  Jacob came up with an undercut and hit him square in the jaw.  I could hear the sound of his teeth as his mouth snapped together and his head swung backwards.  Just as Jacob was about to pursue, the other man from the ground tackled his back.  I knew I should listen, I knew I should go find Ms. Richards and hide, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Jacob.  I couldn’t leave him alone.

Jacob swung the man on his back around and slammed him into the register counter.  Watching him was like watching the Hulk, the only thing missing was the fact that he hadn’t turned green.  It was mesmerizing watching him move.  He seemed to know their plan of attack before they’d even made it.  He dodged most of their punches and managed to land almost all of his.  The men were panting, bloody, and bruised but they kept diving in for more.  Jacob wiped his mouth and continued his attack. 

I turned to grab some more cans to throw, but just as my hand clasped around some cream of mushroom, the third El Diablo Rojas member grasped my wrist.  His fingers dug into my skin painfully as he jerked my arm behind my back.  A pained yelp escaped my lips as he torqued my arm upwards forcing me to bend forwards toward the ground.  I tilted my head to look up just in time to see Jacob stop and stare.  He stood completely motionless.  The look on his face was a mixture of fear and anger.  I knew he was trying to work out what to do next but he took a millisecond too long and as I watched, the man with the brass knuckled hit him hard between the shoulder blades.  Jacob cried out and lurched forward. 

He had been winning.  He had been kicking their asses, and now, because of me he was going to lose.  The two men tackled him and pushed him to the ground.  He sank to his knees and then was forced down onto his stomach.  I squirmed the best that I could and tried to escape.  I wanted to run to him so that I could help him, but the man just pulled my arm harder and clasped his other hand over my mouth. 

He leaned forward and gripped my jaw.  He turned my face so that I was forced to look at him.  When he began to speak his breath made me want to vomit, it was rancid and appalling as he moved his mouth closer and closer to my cheek.  “If you don’t stop making noise I’m going to tell my boys to kill him.  We’ve sent you plenty of notices about your little store, and now we’re done playing games.”

My eyes went wide in fear.  They couldn’t kill him; I would never forgive myself.  When he asked if I understood all I could do was nod my head in agreement.  If they needed to take me so that Jacob could live, then I would go.  I couldn’t bear the thought of being the one responsible for the pain he was currently suffering, and if they killed him I feared that I would never be the same person again.  That isn’t something I could ever get over.

I glanced down at Jacob and shook my head again when the man nodded his chin down.  “Ok then,” he said with a wave to the other men.

“What do you want us to do Rodrigo?” the one with the knuckles asked as he lifted Jacobs head up from the floor by pulling back on fistful of his hair.  Jacob groaned as the other man held him down with a heavy boot on his back.

“We’re gonna kill him, right?” the other one chimed in with a sadistic smile on his face. 

“Nah.  No, we’re not gonna kill him.  Just fuck him up real good, send a message to the Mischief Makers.  They should have known better than to fuck with the truce.  Angel, show him what the Diablos are made of.”

Angel…the one with the brass knuckles.  If I hadn’t been utterly terrified, I might have found some irony in the name.  Angels, the bringers of light, peace, and beauty, and this man, this beast that was going to destroy the most beautiful man I’d ever known.  It was disgusting that he shared the name.  I know I had been told not to say a word but I couldn’t stop myself.  As Angel and the other man began to kick and punch Jacob I couldn’t help but plead for them to stop.

“Please, stop!  He’s not even in the club,” I said grasping for anything that might matter, anything that would make them stop.  “Take me!  Do what you want to me, just please stop hurting him,” I begged as my tears began to run down my cheeks. 

They turned him onto his back and continued striking at him.  His face was bloody and one of his eyes had swollen shut but he kept his single good eye focused on me.  I grew silent as I held his gaze.  In that moment it was as if a million years passed.  In that one glance it was as if everything I had ever wanted to say to him passed from me to him.  Suddenly I realized, all the years, all that time I’d been silently wanting him, he’d been wanting me too.  He winced and bit his lip as he took another blow to his kidney.  I felt as if my heart were ripping apart as I watched them hurting him.

Rodrigo began to pull me away.  With my one free arm I reached out towards Jacob.  “Stop, stop!  I can’t leave him.  Look what you’re doing to him.  Please stop…” I begged as I sobbed.

“Shh…it’s ok,” he said through his cracked and bleeding lips.  “I’ll be ok.”  He reached his bloodied and swollen hand out to me, and just before I was pulled back, his fingertips brushed mine leaving a slight red stain.  I wanted to hold him.  I wanted to rock him in my arms and tell him that everything was going to be ok.  I wanted to clean his wounds and help him to heal but I could do none of that.  I had no idea where Rodrigo was going to take me but the only life I feared for was Jacobs.  “Don’t struggle,” he said, “You are meant to be mine, and I will stop at nothing until I find you again.  I’ll find you.”

“That’s enough talking,” Angel remarked just before slamming his fist into Jacobs temple.  I watched as his body went limp and all signs of life left him.  I knew he wasn’t dead but he’d been knocked out cold. 

Rodrigo pulled me away with almost no effort.  I would have kicked and screamed but as Jacob went silent so did my sense of self preservation.  Rodrigo lifted my listless body as if I were as light as a child.  It angered me but all of my energy had been spent.  I wanted to fight, I wanted to hurt him but I was helpless and lost.  The sight of Jacob crumbled on the ground had left me heartbroken.  I didn’t struggle as the Diablo dragged me through the shattered front doors and out to the motorcycles. 

“It seems we have a little bit of a dilemma,” he said with a nod towards the bikes.  “You and I know that I cannot trust you to behave.  If you were a good girl I’d let you ride bitch but since you can’t be trusted I’m having to consider some alternative methods.”

“Do anything you want, just please tell the other men not to hurt him anymore.”  I mistakenly thought these words would persuade him. 

“I can already do with you as I want.  I don’t need your permission,” he said as he thrust me forward over the seat of the bike.  He held me steady with a single arm as he rummaged in one of the side packs.  Before I knew it his hand was clasped tightly over my face, a wet white rag held over my nose and mouth.  I struggled and tried to breath but each inhale came with an intoxicating feeling.  Within seconds the world was swimming and I could feel my body betraying me to whatever poison he’d made me inhale.  I closed my eyes and the world went dark.  My last thoughts were of Jacob lying on the floor as the two mean beat him for trying to help me.

I awoke groggy and confused.  The whole world felt as if it were swirling around me and for several minutes I couldn’t grasp the difference between what was up and what was down.  I could hear myself groaning but the pain from the beating had not yet registered.  When everything finally came into focus and slowed to a standstill I could see the old and wrinkled face of Ms. Richards hovering above me.  She stooped before me clutching her skirt in one hand as she used the other to press on my shoulder.

“Uhh…” I moaned unable to form a coherent word.

Ms. Richards entire body shook with worry as she continued to jab at my shoulder.  “They’ve… they…they’ve taken her,” she finally managed to get out.  “You must help her,” she fretted as she poked harder.

“Ugh…,” was all I could manage as I tried to roll myself over.  The second I moved the world began to tilt again.  My head was pounding and I was beginning to feel the pain of at least one broken rib.  I could only manage to open one eye.  I lifted my hand to my face and felt the damage.  My left eye seemed swollen and bruised but was otherwise ok.  It would heal easily enough.  I gingerly prodded the rest of my body to assess the damage as Ms. Richards continued to babble.  I knew she could see the state that I was in but she was immensely worried about Lauren.  A worry that I couldn’t hold against her since it was one I shared.

I laid on my back on the floor, my muscles growing stiff and my skin becoming sticky from the drying of my blood.  “Do you think you might be able to help me up?” I asked the old woman as I attempted to hoist myself up into a sitting position.  She nodded her head and placed her hands to my back.  She was little help but I couldn’t fault her for having tried her best.  I leaned forward and gripped my head in my hands.  My hair was a matted mess and my head was booming.  I turned to look at Ms. Richards.  “Do you think you could go into the store and find me some aspirin and a bottle of water?”  She nodded yes and shakily stood up.  I worried that she would fall back down at the rate that she was wobbling but she managed to hold herself steady and headed back into one of the far aisles. 

I closed my eyes and took a moment to think back on everything that had happened.  I had told her to hide. 
Why didn’t she listen?
  Now the El Diablo Rojas have her and there’s no telling what they plan to do to her.  I wished I’d fought harder.  I wished I’d told Lauren that I had known who she was all these years.  I’d always thought she was too good for me so I’d let her be.  I’d left her alone and had instead gone after the easy catches, but now, now she had been within my grasp and instead she ends up kidnapped.  I was angry at myself.  If I’d brought a gun or some sort of weapon, anything, then things would be different now.  There’d be three Diablos laying on the floor instead of me and Lauren would be here in my arms.  As I sat on the floor I vowed that I would do anything to get her back.  Those bastards were going to pay and Lauren was going to be mine.  I would show her that I could be the kind of man that she needed. 

Ms. Richards returned with the aspirin and water.  I chugged down five little beige pills and began the painful process of standing.  It was uncomfortable but not as bad as I thought it would be.  I winced a bit but the main problem was my head, as soon as the aspirin kicked in I would be ok. 

“Thank you,” I told her once I was standing on my own.  “Did you see what they did with her?” I asked hoping she would give me some idea about how much they had hurt Lauren.  I was hoping they hadn’t harmed her but it was better to get to the truth of the matter from the start.  I knew I was going to have to get the club and that we were going to have to act quickly but if she was in already in serious pain then we would have to move even faster.

“No…” she said her voice no longer trembling.  “I heard all of the fighting and I snuck out of my hiding spot, but most of it was already over.  You were on the ground with the two men and the other one, the bigger one, he seemed like the leader I think.  Anyway, he was dragging Lauren outside.  The best I could tell he held something over her face until she was no longer moving and then strapped her to his bike. My eyes aren’t so good anymore, you know, so I could be mistaken.  All three left together and headed south.  You were passed out on the ground so as soon as they were gone I came up here to try and help you.  I had to push on you for quite a long while you know.  Are you sure you’re ok to be standing?”

I forced a smile and placed my hand on her shoulder.  “I’m alright.  Thank you for helping me.  Are you ok to get home on your own?”

“I’m ok.  It’s not far, I just walk.  Couple blocks at most.  Should I call the police?” she asked as she waved her arm at the mess and the shattered door.

“Nah.  Don’t worry about it.  I’ll get some guys from the club to come down and clean up the place.  If you need I can get one of them to escort you home.”

“No, I said I’m good.  I might be old but I can still manage to walk on my own.  I know you want to get out of here.  Go get your girl.  You two are meant to be together.  Just be careful, you hear?” she said with a knowing smile that caused a few lines of wrinkles at the edges of her eyes. 

“How’d you know?”

“I know a match when I see one,” she said with an added wink.  “Now go get her before those men do something really nasty.”

I started to nod my head in agreement but stopped when it sent a shock of pain down my neck.  “You be careful too,” I said as I headed out the front door.  It took another fifteen minutes for me to make it back to the club.  Staying up on the bike had been rough until the pain reliever kicked in and then some of the pain started to dissipate.  My determination probably helped dull some of the pain as well.  It didn’t matter how badly my body was hurting, I needed to find Lauren.  We had to get Lauren and if that meant sucking it up until we found those scumbags and had her safely returned, then that was what I was going to have to do.

Hog came running up as soon as he saw the bike round the corner.  I pulled to a stop and he took a step back.  I guess my appearance left something to be desired.

“What the fuck happened to you?” he asked.  “I told you just to go to the store not go start a war.”

“I did just go to the store, and it wasn’t me that started the war.  Lauren, you know the young girl, the owner’s daughter?  She told me they’d been getting threats from the El Diablo Rojas.  I told her not to worry about it that I’d mention it to you guys and that it would be taken care of.  Care to guess who sent a warning crew while I was heading out?”

“Ah fuck.  How many?” Hogarth asked as he stepped forward to help steady the bike as I lifted my leg over the seat.

“Only three, but I was completely unprepared.  I sent the girl and an elderly shopper to go hide in the back but of course she didn’t listen.  Look, we’ve got a big fuckin’ problem.  They took Lauren.  Those goddamn motherfuckers took her.  We have to go get her.”

“Listen man, I gotta tell you something first before you go rushing in to the rest of the guys.  I know you’ve been knocked about pretty bad but you remember that we were having the meeting right?”

“Yeah.”

“Your dad, James, he just isn’t budging.  He insists that you stay out of the club.  I’m not on his side, you know that, but maybe, maybe this thing with the Diablos.  I’m thinking, what if you show your worth, that you can take it.  They might be hard asses about allowing you to come, because this is clearly a club matter, but if you stress that you’re going no matter what and that they’ve got the girl, I think they’ll have to let you.”

“Should have fuckin’ known he wouldn’t change his mind.  Of course the club is fine for the old man but it’s never gonna be ok for me.”  I tried to shake my head but the movement sent a wave of pain radiating through my frontal lobe.  “I’m going.  They agree to let me, or they don’t, but either way I’m going to be there.  The rest of the shit will just have to work itself out later.  If the club doesn’t value me, then fine, I’ve got bigger problems right now.”

“I hear ya.  Let’s get you inside and cleaned up cause you’re not going anywhere in the state you’re in right now.  You look like someone ran you over and dragged you behind a truck down a bumpy back road.  Chris is inside.  He may be a few beers in but he’ll be able to fix you up.”

Chris was the go to guy whenever someone ended up injured.  Prior to joining the club, he had planned on going into nursing so that meant he was the best the club had when it came to a doctor.  Something was better than nothing and he had enough knowledge to fix most injuries.  A few beers in meant he wouldn’t be up to his best and any suturing was probably going to hurt.

Hogarth helped me into the bar and sat me down at one of the makeshift tables.  Most of the place was put together with items that people no longer needed from their homes and had donated to the club.  A mismatch of anything and everything.  The table I was at had once been a cable reel.  It served its purpose so it was good enough.  As I sat and considered all the places my body hurt, Hog went and found Chris and explained the situation.  He came over to inspect my bruised and battered body and then called out to one of the other men to go and fetch the supply kit.  Tammy the woman I’d been with earlier in the morning brought me a cold beer and attempted to keep me entertained as Chris began to suture my forehead.

I waved Tammy away and told her I wasn’t interested.  It was enough of a movement that Chris chastised me and told me that I was a poor patient.

“Keep the fuck still unless you want to end up looking like fucking Frankenstein.”

“You know Frankenstein wasn’t the creature right?  Frankenstein was the guy that created the monster.  Everyone always has it wrong.”

“What’s your fucking point?” he said as he pulled another suture through my forehead.

“My point is that I wouldn’t be Frankenstein.”

“What the fuck ever.  You know what I meant.  I didn’t realize I was fixing up a world scholar over here.”

“I just thought you should know what you were talking about is all.  Besides, do you think you might be able to hurry this up a bit.  Just stitch up what you have to, or whatever else you think you need to do.  I don’t have time to sit here all day.”

Just as I was starting to get restless Hogarth returned from having spoken with James. 

“Hold your horses Jacob.  Your father says we can’t head out until tomorrow morning at the earliest.”             

“That’s not good enough,” I countered.  My mind turned to Lauren.  I couldn’t imagine her being stuck with the Diablos overnight.  There was no telling what they may do to her, what they may have already done to her.  “No.  I can’t wait.  We need to leave right away.”

“That’s not going to happen.  James says that they’ll at least send a ransom or some other form of communication before they would move to kill or otherwise harm her seriously.  We have to prepare.  We can’t just go in there all willy nilly or we could end up losing more than your little girlfriend.”

“I don’t care if I die!  I’m not ok with Lauren being hurt or raped, or worse, by those bastards,” I spat.  I tried to rise to show Hogarth that I meant business but Chris put his hand firmly on my chest and pushed me back down.  I winced at the pain to my abdomen and allowed the pressure to force me back into my seat.

“I see you have a bit of trouble with some ribs too,” Chris said.  “Did you just sit there and let them go at you or what?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what happened.  I just stood against the wall and told them to do their worst.  What the fuck do you think?” I said getting angrier.  “You don’t understand.  Lauren is a good girl, she’s not like the women we have here.  She’s not used to these kind of men.  She won’t know how to deal with them.”

“It doesn’t matter what she’s used to.  All she has to do is be smart enough to keep her mouth shut and behave until we can manage to get there and save her ass,” Hogarth said.  “James is right; we have to prepare.  We can’t go in half-cocked.  You know it too.”

I tried to rise again but he stepped behind me and pushed my shoulders back down.  “Now stay in your seat and do as your told.  We’ll get your girl but its gonna take a little bit of time.” 

“Someone needs to go talk with her family and watch over the store until they get the front doors fixed.  They’ll be worried,” I said as I accepted that the guys wouldn’t be letting me up again any time soon.

“We’ll send someone,” Hogarth promised as he kept his hands steady on my shoulders.

“Make sure that they know we’re going to get her back.”

Hogarth rolled his eyes.  “Like we wouldn’t fuckin’ mention that.  Jesus, just sit tight, shits under control.”

Chris finished stitching the more serious cuts, and wrapped my torso to help my ribs.  He said they seemed cracked and not broken and that I needed to take it easy or they could easily become broken.  Yeah…taking it easy wasn’t going to be happening for at least a couple of days.  He splinted two of my fingers together and then I was as good as new, at least for the most part.

Chris slammed the first aid kit shut and began to laugh, “I think the cuts and bruises might actually be an improvement on your ugly mug.”

“You think so huh?  Are you saying you’d like a few of your own?” I countered.

“Nah, I’m pretty enough already but thanks for the offer,” he said with a sly wink as he wandered off.

“C’mon, let’s go talk to James about the situation so we can come up with a plan.  But forewarning, he isn’t going to want you to come along,” Hogarth said as he helped me to stand.