Page 110 of Straight to Me

“When we get outside, you run with me as fast as you can to my ute, okay?”

“Okay,” I sniff, quickly wiping my tears from my face.

“I won’t let you go. I promise.” Jack takes my hand in his as his free hand slowly turns the doorhandle.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone outside between us and the cars we can see parked up. “Mine's the blue ute, see it?” I look, spotting the only blue vehicle out there. Jack’s chest rises and falls quickly, the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Nodding at him, he opens the door fully, then whispers for me to run.

My bare feet move as fast as I can get them to carry me. But the noise from inside is impossible to ignore. Loud pops and cracks sound as bullets hit walls and flesh. I spot dead bodies outside near the patio area. Only an hour ago it was teaming with bikers all enjoying themselves.

“Get in,” Jack barks, unlocking the truck.

Opening the door, I shut it quietly behind me so as not to draw any attention. “Mads, under the seat, grab the gun, hurry. Keep your head down.”

It’s all so overwhelming. Jack starts the engine as I crouch off the seat. Reaching for it, new tears run down my face as I pull the cold lump of steel down from its holster. I’m holding a gun for the first time in my life. It feels alien in my hand. “Do you know how to fire it?” Jack asks, reversing before putting the car into first gear.

“I’ve never fired one before.”

A gun fires, kicking up dust on the track in front of us. “Shit, they’re shooting at us! Get down Mads!”

Looking to the direction of the gunfire, I see VP run towards a man wearing a Sodom Saviour cut. He points the gun, then fires. My heart stops as the gunman hits the floor with a thud.

Jack moves the truck but my eyes don’t leave VP. The man I love. The outlaw. He ducks behind another car as gunshots are fired at him.

“Wait, Jack, we have to help him!”I have to tell him I love him!I curse myself for not saying it before now. What was I so afraid of? I only held off out of fear. Fear that something would come along and challenge the bubble we’d placed around ourselves.

But that something had already happened. What if I don’t get another chance?

“We have to get out of here, Mads!”

“Don’t leave him, please! He needs help!”

I’m not thinking straight. My hand lifts to the door handle, determined to help VP. “Mads, no!” Jack grabs my t-shirt, pulling me back into my seat roughly. He speeds up, driving hell for leather out of the clubhouse vicinity.

“Go back! Turn around now! Jackplease!”

My hand grips the handle again.

“Are you crazy? Do you even know what the fuck would’ve happened if you’d got out back there?” I stare ahead as we tear down the gravel track, my hand grips the handle tighter. “Mads, they’d kill you. They’d do it slowly, just so they could hurt Dean. You’d have got him killed too if you’d got out!”

Jack’s half shouting at me as he keeps his eyes on the road. “They probably already know who you are to him! If they’d have seen you, he wouldn’t have thought twice about giving himself up to save you! Dean will kill me if I let anything happen to you. And you willingly want to throw yourself in harm’s way? These aren’t normal men, Mads. They’re outlaws! They don’t give a fuck about people like you and me, we’re just collateral damage. Don’t be fucking stupid!”

My hand lets go of the handle. The other still holds the gun.

At the end of the track, Jack swerves onto the main road. We’re driving so fast, I grab at the seatbelt, clicking it shut across me.

“Where’re we going?” My voice rattles as the words come out.

“As far away from here as I can get you.”

“What do I do with this?” I hold the gun towards him, hoping he’ll take it from me.

“Keep it. If anyone in a Sodom Saviour cut even comes close to you, you kill them. Don’t cry, don’t hesitate, just fucking shoot. Got me?”

Don’t cry. Don’t hesitate. Just shoot.

I stare out the front window. From behind, a single headlight approaches in the side mirror as dusk settles in the sky. “Jack, someone’s coming.”

Whoever it is, is definitely on a bike. Could it be VP joyriding to catch up with us? I look around, watching the lone rider as they get closer.

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