Page 20 of Bleed
I still love her, but I’m pissed that not only did she leave me, but she’s the fucking Recluse. I’m in turmoil over having to kill her and wanting to make love to her. I want to make her pay for what she did to me, but I know I won’t be able to do it when I catch her.
“Fuck my life.”
Luna fires up like a damned goddess on the first press of the ignition, like she knows that I don’t have the patience for anything this morning. She rumbles out loud, echoing her growl around us in the garage, speaking for me before I even have my helmet on and tightened. She sounds like a monster, yelling out my pain into the cement building.
The sounds of her exhaust blast around us as I kick her into gear and race towards the street, spitting out into traffic like a madman, with my thoughts everywhere else besides a safe ride. Horns blare at me, and a car swerves behind me, but I couldn’t give a flying fuck, I need to get to her and get this over with.
I’m tearing through the city, weaving in and out of traffic with my visor open, letting the air blast me in the face, trying to wash me clean of all the shit that swirls in my head as I ride. Cars and trucks move out of my way when they can as I accelerate faster and faster towards the city center and where I know she’ll show up at some point today. I can just feel it. Even though she’ll be grieving the news of her boyfriend and bodyguard.
On highway 277 one vehicle on my left side, a blacked-out Expedition, moves over, and to my surprise a sportbike spits out from the side of it, replacing its place in the lane, pacing me.
“Jesus Christ.” I shout into my helmet as it comes insanely close to me, close enough that if I reached out I could touch the rider.
It’s blacked out too, as is the rider who has on a tinted visor but is riding squid just like me. His black jeans and t-shirt make him blend into the bike, looking like one of the mythical four horsemen riding out from hell.
The SUV falls in behind me, speeding up, until he’s riding my ass like he’s a date rapist who wants to fuck me doggie.
“Motherfucker.”
The bike next to me, a one-liter Beamer swerves closer then recedes to the middle of his lane telling me that this is going to be a two wheeled dog fight, most likely to the death.
“Come on then you cunt.” I yell, pointing at him, letting him know that I know what he’s up to.
He rev bombs the bike, lurching forward, then careens towards me, leaning deep into it, coming within an inch of brushing my leg before he pulls away again.
I grip the handle bars harder and twist the throttle, lurching me forward, getting ahead of him by a tire length, but with his 1000cc bike he’s on me again in less than a breath.
“Fucking A!” I shout, leaning to my right, cutting off the sedan on that side, jolting into their lane to get away from the threat of the biker in black.
I know the Scarpino family sent him and the douche canoe in the SUV behind me that changes lanes with me, knocking the sedan off the side of the road onto the shoulder where it comes to an abrupt stop before hitting the barricades. They’re here for me, because she knows who I am. She sent them, I’m sure of it. Because she knows I’m coming for her.
She’s more conniving than I’ve ever given her credit for.
Slapping my visor shut, I lean forward, flattening myself as low as I can to the gas tank and pull back the throttle as far as she’ll go. Luna screams loudly, and I take off like a bat out of hell, leaving the SUV in my dust. Unfortunately though, the biker keeps up with me. He’s gaining on me again too, and I’m running out of room to go anywhere with the heavy morning, rush hour traffic stopped ahead of us.
I could lane split, but at these speeds and with a tail, it would be more dangerous than anything. Heaven forbid one of the cagers cuts lanes or opens their door, it’d be the end of me in an epic way.
Looking around, I’m out of options besides two of them. Stop and let him have me, which, ummm, fuck no, or take the next break in the sound wall on the right, off the highway, through the grass, over a hill, and onto the pedestrian bridge.
“Motherfucker!” I scream as I launch off the paved road and onto the grassy knoll.
The bike tries to grab the grass, spitting chunks of it out from behind her rear wheel, making me wobble and shake. It’s like being on a really shitty wooden roller coaster, the kind that hurts your back and shakes your insides, and not in a fun way.
“Come on Luna baby, you’ve got this.” I say to my girl, pushing her harder and faster through the tall weeds, trying to keep her forward momentum as they smack at my legs and try to wrap around her chain.
The black biker is behind me, I can hear him, and his bike is struggling just as much as my Luna. I can almost feel the power of his engine moving the air around me as I fight to keep upright and going straight.
The gas tank comes up as I come down over a little bump in the field, smashing up into my nuts, making me expel all the breath in my lungs, yet I still hold on and fight forward. The grass will be ending soon, and the next challenge will be upon us, getting across that bridge without running over hundreds of tourists on the bridge.
“We’ve gotta get him off us baby girl.” I yell to Luna as if she could either hear or understand me. “Any ideas?”
She bucks forward, her handle bars cranking to the left on another divot or ridge in the grassy area and I have to fight her, but then, I realize she’s doing what I asked.
“You have a plan baby girl?”
The ground levels out again and my tires grab the ground, pulling us smoother and faster through the unpaved area, then like hitting glass, we sail out onto the two-lane pedestrian bridge.
I’m hitting the button for the horn aggressively, and waving my arms for people to move, weaving back and forth, accelerating and decelerating trying to avoid a collision with any humans or the little dogs they walk on lazy man leashes.
