Chapter 18 – Gabby #2
“Does she even look like she can fight?” Onika says, still laughing, like this whole thing is hilarious. If her laughter destabilizes me, I can only pray that it has a similar effect on Tylee. But not one that makes her pull out her gun and shoot me in the face.
“What, bitch? I shut you up if I beat her ass myself?”
“Looks like this guy won’t do it for you. I’m guessing you want Isaac back… That’ll be a lot easier if you handle Gabby yourself.”
“Aren’t you her friend?”
“I only give a crap about the Irish mob,” Onika says. “I’m a mother. She isn’t.”
Damn, she’s good. Tylee looks at me for a second, to see my response.
I play up my weak, dejected appearance. Just like Onika and I planned.
See, we both got into Harvard. She got in for under-grad and left several years ago.
I haven’t set foot through those brick gates in Cambridge.
But the two of us black women know that using your damn brain can get you far in life.
“Make her stand up and fight for your husband since she wants to bounce on his dick so bad.”
Okay, Onika… Damn. She scares me with her commitment to this character. But it works to sell it. Tylee practically shoves Scum out of the way. He drops the pliers on the ground, steps back and snarls. “You want me to shoot her, say the word.”
“I don’t need your ass doing shit for me,” Tylee snaps.
Fuck, it worked. She unties me. I’m flooded with adrenaline the moment I get free.
I know that I can’t win in a fist fight against Tylee.
Obviously. But if I reach for a gun, I need to be one hundred and ten percent sure that I’m the first one who gets my hands on one.
“Get up, bitch,” Tylee snarls at me. She’s not that tall.
She’s not that strong. But her tattoos and the lines on her face, not to mention the shit she’s been up to, tell me straight up that this woman is about that life.
Isaac said that she had been a part of this motorcycle club since they were kids.
She stares at me like she wants to beat the life out of me.
But she’s the one who told me to get up.
I stand up and as I rise to my feet, breath trembling while I face Tylee, I subtly move my left foot to knock the pliers across the concrete floor, hopefully within reach of Onika’s fingers.
I don’t know if it’s going to be enough for her to get herself free.
I’ll try to buy her time but soon – I’ll have to lunge for a gun and risk getting shot.
It’s our only way out and neither of us is the type of chick willing to sit around waiting to get rescued.
Tylee looks me up and down with disgust. It’s so crazy to me how pretty she is while acting like this.
Some people might not like the tattoos or the makeup, but she has nice features and a head of thick red hair.
The smirk on her face sends an unfortunate chill down my spine.
“You don’t look like much,” Tylee says. “How long do you think Isaac’s little experiment with you is going to last?”
“I–
What right do I have to look his wife in the eye and tell her that I deserve her man? We don’t have a relationship that’s anywhere near what she has with him. I just… Can’t seem to stay away from Isaac, but I don’t feel like he’s mine. I just want him.
Tylee should anger me more. I know that.
But honestly, I don’t know what happened between her and Isaac.
She scares me, but maybe this fucked up crimiinal world she was born into created this demon.
I wonder how long things have been this dark for her.
Even if she clearly would beat my ass without a second thought.
“I’m just friends with Isaac.”
“You are a fucking liar.”
“It’s true. He only cares about being with his kids.”
“Don’t talk about my kids,” she hisses. “And don’t act like you know my husband. He would never look twice at a woman like you. He would never choose an outsider. Never…”
I don’t like the way she says the word outsider.
“Do you even love him anymore?” I ask her.
“I love him enough to beat your bitch ass,” Tylee says.
Her nostrils flare. She studies my face, but there’s a flicker of fear.
Why is she afraid to hit me? Could it be Isaac?
It’s time for me to push her over the edge.
If we keep this going too long, she’ll notice that Onika has been quiet for too long.
Scum, idiot that he is, has his eyes firmly locked on Tylee’s ass.
Now that he doesn’t have to pull anyone’s teeth out, he’s back to satisfying his baser urges.
“Then do it,” I tell her. “Hit me. Because if you don’t… I’ll find a way out of here and I’ll ride your husband’s dick so hard that his next baby is going to be mine.”
Tylee’s face matches her hair. I’ve never seen a thing like it.
And honestly? I’m lucky that I’m able to see in the future.
The biker chick’s fist comes flying at my face and I let her get one good hit in, even if I know she could knock my ass out.
I stumble back against the pole as my ears ring, but I feel the sign from Onika that our plan worked.
Her thumb and forefingers pinch my ankle gently.
She jumps to her feet while I cry out and lunge forward, swinging blindly at Tylee.
Scum doesn’t know what to do since Onika is screaming and running at him with pliers flailing and he thought she was totally incapacitated.
He doesn’t reach for his gun and Onika gets to his face with the pliers.
Tylee scratches me, but she doesn’t reach for her gun either, because I’m too close.
The element of surprise worked to our advantage.
I take my one shot and grab Tylee’s gun out of her holster, stumbling back out of the storage unit. Where are their guards?
“PUT YOUR HANDS UP,” I scream at the top of my lungs. Scum reaches for his gun and before I can pull the trigger to mine and shoot him, someone else does. Everybody in the storage unit screams because frankly, I don’t know who is shooting or what they’re shooting.
“Cody Hollingsworth. I’ll be taking charge of this situation from this point forward,” the shooter identifies himself once the screaming and the echo from the gunshot fades enough for us to have our hearing.
I keep my gun pointed at Scum and wait for my body to drop, but I just stand there, trembling slightly, finger hovering near the trigger that I was getting ready to touch.
“Everybody, put your guns down.”
“Like shit I will…”
Tylee bends down and fuck. That lump in her boot I suspected was a gun. I forgot about it. And now it’s her turn to have the element of surprise.
“Cody, she’s armed!” Onika cries out. I hesitate too long when I point the muzzle of my gun at Tylee.
I can’t do it. I can’t. I have to kill her to stop her, but I can’t.
The scene slows down in my head, although realistically this all happens in a matter of seconds.
Tylee fires three shots at Cody Hollingsworth. Onika screams.
My fingers tugs on the trigger. I can’t tell if I hit her after her body lurches forward next, but I can’t bring myself to shoot her again.
Onika knees Scum in the balls or something like that in the fray because the next thing I know, Tylee sprints towards the door past Cody Hollingsworth, who definitely got hit.
I can’t shoot now without risking hitting Onika who has Scum’s gun as she chases Tylee down.
“TYLEE GET BACK HERE!” she shrieks, firing into the storage unit hallway.
I walk out into the storage unit hallway, chasing after her so she doesn’t have to go after Tylee alone.
With Scum still lying on the ground, I let my guard down, even if Cody Hollingsworth is still laying on the ground.
Three steps out into the hallway, I hear a voice coming from the hallway behind me.
“Gabby!”
I turn around at the sound of Isaac’s voice. Immediately. He’s covered in blood. Like… everywhere. We both stand there for a second, analyzing each other. Onika and Tylee disappear. My heart stops. We can’t afford to have a moment right now. My chest lurches. I want to hug and hold this man but…
“Cody got shot,” I say to Isaac. “Onika’s chasing Tylee and Scum’s on the ground. I don’t know what happened to their back up but–”
I allow myself to trail off. There’s blood all over Isaac Sinclair. I might not know for sure what happened to the other bikers, but there’s a strange look on Isaac’s face. Then the blood. Then the silence. I might not know for sure what happened to them, but maybe I can guess.
“Okay,” Isaac says, his face softening. “Is Cody dead?”
“No. But… I don’t know how bad it is…”
“Don’t worry,” Isaac says. “We’ll handle this Gabrielle.”
He’s never called me Gabrielle before. And I hate how it makes me feel. I feel guilty about my feelings in general. The second I looked in his eyes, I felt safe. It doesn’t make sense to me that I could feel safe with Isaac – after all this?