“Oh, no. You're not getting away. Get in the car, boys! We got ourselves an asshole to run down!”
“Clint!”
Her voice seemed so far away, but that was the point. Give her a chance to run before leading these guys off somewhere else. I threw my leg over my bike, not worrying about my helmet. I cranked up the engine and sped out of the parking lot, hearing my gear shifter groan and flailing my leg to get the kickstand up as I took off.
It worried me when I didn’t see that headlight turning toward me in the rearview mirror.
“No!”
Rae’s shriek told me everything I needed to know. I whipped around, revving my engine as I raced down the road. I saw the car hopping the curb, blowing past that fucking tree. I saw it racing up the street before the headlight illuminated Rae’s form on the side of the road. She was climbing the chain-link fence around the elementary school playground, hopping it before the boys even got out of their fucking car.
I grabbed my helmet off my handlebars and pulled up behind their car, whipping the helmet at their rear windshield and shattering it into a million pieces.
That got their attention.
“You son of a bitch!”
Rae yelled, “Clint!”
“Get him!”
“You’re dead tonight, fucker! I just replaced that damn thing!”
I laughed. “Gotta catch me first, assholes!”
Rae cupped her hands over her mouth. “Clint! Don’t do this!”
“Get yourself safe, Rae. For fuck’s sake, just stop fighting!”
I saw the car back away and turn around. It swerved, showing that the boys were more drunk than before. I turned and raced off, letting Rae’s voice fade into the background as we peeled away from the grocery store, weaving in and out of the small parking lots. I didn’t want to take this shit to the main roads. I didn’t want anyone getting hurt. I just wanted to cause enough ruckus to get someone’s attention. Anyone’s. A police car driving by. Some innocent bystander who would call 9-1-1. I’d gladly go to jail and do time as the adult I was if it got these drunken, horny bastards away from my girl.
I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to fix my relationship with Rae, though.
After something like this.
I felt an empty beer can clink against my bike and something wet sprayed my back. The car’s engine revved, catching up with me. I throttled it through a parking lot and hopped another curb. My bike went airborne for a second before landing onto a small back road. I heard the car behind me practically falling apart in order to keep up with me. I knew if I looked back, I’d see something hanging off that piece of shit.
I tried looking around for Rae, but it was no use. I circled back to the grocery store but she wasn’t near the elementary school or back inside the store. I didn’t see her walking along the streets or heading into the gas station. I had no fucking clue where she’d gone, which meant I now had to solve the other issue on my hands.
“I see you!”
The four fucking maniacs chasing me in their rundown car.
The main roads were empty at this time of night. Half past ten, in the middle of the work week. I blazed a trail up the main roads, trying to get away from the goons. I soared through yellow lights and took sharp turns on red lights, hoping and praying to trigger a cop from out of nowhere. But, of course, there were none to be found tonight. Fucking hell, I’d torn through this town and gotten clocked by more cops than anyone else. Yet the one damn night I needed them to clock me, they weren’t anywhere in sight.
That’s some fucking karma, if I’ve ever witnessed it.
The closer they got to me, the more panicked I became. Rae was safe, and as long as they were tailing me, I knew she’d stay that way. They were drunk. They’d probably been to some dumbass party of hoes and gangly dickweeds from their high school. But I knew how volatile guys were when drunk. Roy and I had destroyed many lives while drunk. We’d wreaked many hours’ worth of havoc with alcohol in our systems. And it seemed that no matter how hard I pushed my bike, they pushed their car just a tad bit harder.
The only way I stayed out of their reach was to take sharp turns.
Because their car couldn't handle them.
We blazed a trail through town before I took a sharp right. I rumbled over some abandoned railroad tracks and blazed into the darkness. A massive stretch of road that didn’t have lamps hanging overhead. Nothing but dilapidated houses and abandoned parks where children used to get their kicks before growing up and moving away. I heard the car behind me sputtering as they continuously threw beer cans and bottles at my fucking wheels, trying to get me to careen off the damn road. And when that didn’t work, they moved over into the other lane in my rearview mirror, approaching me with their windows rolled down.
“Nice bike you got there!”
I peeked over at the guy who had tossed Rae to the ground last week.
“Think I could fuck your girl on it?”
I reached out with my hand and hooked my fingers up his nostrils, pulling at him until he was hanging halfway out of the car, screaming as the driver started swerving, trying to see what was happening. His hand wrapped around my wrist, clinging to me for dear life as he yelled in horror. I chuckled and smiled widely before releasing his nose, shoving him back into the car with my hand.
Then I slammed on the brakes of my bike, whipping a U-turn and kicking up burnt rubber before speeding off in the other direction. And for a while there, the car wasn’t even in my rearview mirror. Did I shake them? Were they gone? I had enough time alone to breathe a sigh of relief.
Until I saw a light click on in the corner of my eye.
“Holy shit!”
“You motherfucker!”
I heard the boy behind the wheel of the car screaming as he careened out of the fucking woods. I slid my bike close to the asphalt, twisting away from him as he shot himself across the damn street. It took me a few seconds to get my bike back underneath me before I sped off again, and it was those few precious seconds that enabled them to catch right back up to me. On my tail again, like they had been.
And for the first time in my life, I had no idea what the fuck to do to shake these assholes.
39
Raelynn
“Clint!”
I watched his bike speed off into the distance with the car behind him. I rushed across the elementary school playground, doing my best to try and figure out where the fuck he was headed. My lungs burned. My legs ached. I clutched my purse, wrapping it around my neck and shoulder before reaching for my phone. I pulled it out to see if anyone was listening.
But all I saw were a bunch of random numbers pressed into my phone.
“Shit,” I hissed.
I could have sworn I’d pressed that damn red emergency button. Fucking hell, did I have to screw every little thing up? I kept running, feeling my purse slamming against me as the revving of Clint’s engine started coming closer to me.
And as it barreled by the elementary school, I was still half a football field away from the road.
“Clint!” I roared.
I felt my voice growing hoarse. I saw the car rush by just as I got past the school building. I bent over, panting for air as I watched the car full of angry drunken idiots swerve down the road. Were there not any cops out tonight? At all? The hell was that about?
I had to get to Clint.
I fumbled with my phone as I stood up, throwing my head back, trying my hardest to catch my breath. Even for someone who enjoyed P.E. and sports, I still couldn't keep up. I grumbled to myself as I clutched my phone. I looked down, hovering my finger over the red emergency button. The dial-out to 9-1-1. The number that would surely bring people to help out this situation.
But then I heard laughing in the distance. I heard Clint’s bike revving before the rickety sounds of the train tracks were heard.
If I called the police, would Clint get in trouble, too?
“I can’t get him in trouble for this. It’s not his fault,” I murmured.
Instead, I dialed Michael’s number. Hoping beyond all hope that he’d pick up the phone. I knew he was done with my shit. Done with me and the idiocy surrounding Clint and me. But Michael was the one with the car. Allison hadn’t gotten her driver’s license yet because of some weird fear of making herself motion sick, so her parents still carted her around.
I put my phone to my ear, listening to it ring as I started jogging toward the road that connected the parking lot of Grady’s Groceries and the elementary school.
Michael chuckled, answering the phone. ”Hey, Allison and I were just talking about you.”
I panted for breath. “Michael. Please. I need your help.”
“Wait, what? Rae, what's wrong?”
“Me. And Clint. It—I’m at the—”
“Clint? What the fuck has he done?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. He—he’s in trouble and—”
“Why are you out of breath?”
I groaned. “Do you have your car at Allison’s?”
He paused. “Uh, yeah?”
I drew in a deep breath. “Please. I need you to come get me. I’m standing outside of the elementary school. We have to go after Clint. It’s important.”
“And why should I give enough of a damn about him to do something like that?”
“Look, I know you’re sick of his shit. And my shit. I know you’re sick of me, despite the makeup session we kind of had in the cafeteria. But I need you to come get me. It’s a very serious emergency, and explaining it only wastes time.”