Page 168 of Straight to Me

Anxiously I wait by his bike, pacing up and down on the old gravel path. VP’s only been in there nearly three minutes. But that’s three minutes too long by my phone.

The sound of a vehicle’s engine makes me look to the gates we rode through. As it approaches, my gut feeling tells me something’s off. I dial his number, but the call doesn’t connect. Chancing it, I hotstep it in the direction he ran before the vehicle coming sees me. I move closer to an opening in the broken brick wall when a man’s voice echoes from inside.

It’s not VP’s.

I can’t make out what’s being said but I can make out Lauren. She’s sat on the other side of the building with her legs held to her chest and her head bowed to her knees. If she looked up now she would see me.

A loud shout makes me jump, accidentally kicking back a piece of rubble behind me. I press against the wall out of sight, hoping and praying whoever’s inside didn’t hear it. After a minute, I curl my head around the opening again, this time Lauren’s looking directly at me.

From twenty feet away, the dim light catches her wet face. Tears flow freely from her swollen eyes. Holding my finger up to my lips, I indicate to keep quiet as I tread carefully over the bricks on the ground towards her.

I’m crouched low, moving slowly behind a mound of rubble keeping me hidden, when another shout makes me turn my head in its direction. I can’t see VP or the man shouting, but the fact I haven’t seen him or heard VP’s voice makes me start to worry. My hands start to shake. My feet turn to pins and needles as I try to negotiate not kicking bricks as I move closer to Lauren.

When I reach her, she’s freezing cold, shaking all over. I try to smooth her hair off her wet face, but her eyes don’t look at me as I try to make sure she’s okay. Following what she’s looking at, bile rises to my mouth the moment I turn around.

Through a small gap in the rubble, motionless on the ground, VP’s Rippers MC cut faces me, leaving me numb all over.

I can’t breathe.

My lips part but the air simply won’t go into my lungs. I can’t see if he’s moving or breathing. My hand flies to my mouth to stop the scream trying to leave.

Tears frantically fall from my eyes. I want to run to him. I need to see if he’s okay. But the man who’s been talking stands over him. He’s much bigger than me and I realise there’s no way I could overpower him in any way.

I edge closer to the gap, desperate to see VP move. The man stood over him stalks around VP’s body on the ground. I can just make out dark jeans over boots with a balaclava covering the tall man’s face, a zip up hoodie hiding his hair. He strikes his boot against VP’s chest and VP lets out a stifled groan on the floor. That awful sound allows me to breathe, knowing he’s alive. But a cold sweat breaks out on me at the same time.

I have to move; I have to do something to help him.

Grabbing a brick off the floor, I try to work out the best way to use it before the man sees me here. Lauren’s hands grab my arm. I swing my head to look at her as she pulls frantically, silently pleading with me not to leave her. I lean closer to her. “I have to see if he’s okay, Lauren,” I barely whisper. “Don’t move.”

She cries, shaking her head, but her hold drops. I move slowly behind the charred remains of rubble. My heart beats wildly in my chest, my hands shaking as I hold the brick tight in my grasp. Before I get any closer, three Sodom Saviours walk into the building toward VP and the other man.

“What’s taking so long?” one of them snaps.

“He won’t wake up,” the man who kicked him says, poking him with his foot.

VP rolls, moaning. There’s blood coming from his head above his eye. It takes every part of me not to shout at him to open his eyes and get up.

“Shouldn’t have hit him so hard.”

“Couldn’t help myself,” the man laughs, leaning down to pull VP up by his arm.

Another man bends, helping to lift him. They pick VP to his slack feet where his head droops down towards his chest. “Wakey, wakey, shit head.” The man slaps VP’s face, forcing him to open his eyes.

Grabbling with my pocket, I find my phone, unlocking it quickly. I try calling Travis over and over but there’s no signal out here. With no time, different scenarios start flashing before me; stand up, get myself in trouble, scream loudly, run to him?

My eyes then land on Lauren. I need to get her out of here.How is she in this situation?

I look back over the pile of rubble as the men drag VP out through the entrance of the broken building. The old glass ceilings give just enough light for me to see, while still obscuring me amongst the dark and the dirt. With all their backs to me, I stand and VP’s half open eyes catch mine.

Silent sobs leave me. He doesn’t react, but he knows I’m okay. Shaking his head slowly side to side, he tells me not to move.

I do as he says. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know how to help him. All I can do is stand and watch as they take him away. The man I love. It feels like I’m drowning. Everything I’ve ever wanted is being taken away from me.

Once we’re alone, I hurry to Lauren. Above where she’s sitting is a broken glass window that I use to check what’s going on outside. I can just make out a van on this side of the building. The men throw VP roughly into the back. I grip the windowsill. It feels like a knife ripping my heart in two pieces as they close the door on him.

He can’t leave me. He promised he wouldn’t get hurt. There was meant to be an understanding now.

They drive away and we're left alone. Lauren’s sniffle forces my attention to be drawn back to her. I grab her into my arms and hold her. She cries like a child should, her howls shattering me further.

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