Do You Want to Go to Jail Today?

  Ryder and Brody were slowly walking toward us with their hands above their heads and guns aimed inches away from their spines.

  As soon as I was within his reach, Ryder yanked me behind him, shielding me from danger. I peeked around his tall frame at the weasel–like man in front of us. He was greasy and unkempt. I could actually smell him from a few feet away. His beady eyes peered at me but his weapon of choice, a pistol, was pointed steadily at Ryder’s stomach.

  “Open the fucking tailgate!” the leader yelled as he kept his gun trained on us.

  I looked around frantically, terrified. All four men were now aiming at us with itchy trigger fingers. We were overpowered and unarmed. There was nothing we could do.

  Ryder lowered the tailgate but continued to stand in front of me, practically stepping on my toes. He wasn’t going to leave me exposed to these men.

  The leader motioned behind Ryder to me. “You there, crawl in the back and throw everything on the ground. NOW.”

  My hands shook and my rib screamed with pain but I managed to throw one leg up onto the tailgate.

  Ryder stopped me with a hand on my waist. “She’s hurt, I’ll do it.”

  “Don’t fucking move, boy, unless you have a death wish,” the leader snarled, taking a step closer. “Back away from the truck before I fill you full of lead!”

  Ryder took a step away, reaching out to grab my hand and pull me along with him. I tried to follow, wanting to stay as close as possible to him.

  “Oh, no, sweetheart, don’t you move a pretty little muscle. I want only your boyfriend to move away,” the leader said, cocking the gun pointed at Ryder. He thrust his chin at Brody. “You too, pretty boy. Move over next to him.”

  The leader studied the two of them for a second. “That ain’t goin’ to do it. I don’t trust you two fuckers. Move over there on the grass,” he said, motioning with his head toward the side of the road.

  Ryder glared at the leader before slowly following Brody to the ditch. Two homicidal looking inmates followed them with guns pointed. Greasy (my new name for the smaller man) snickered. The sound made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

  The leader and Greasy moved closer, now fixated on Eva and me. The hot metal of the tailgate was pushing painfully against my spine but there was nowhere else to go. The temperature was climbing and the sun was burning high in the sky. Another hour and this heat would be deadly to anyone standing outside. Maybe these guys would keel over from heat stroke.

  I managed to hide my fright when Greasy stepped in front of me and grinned. His body odor was revolting. The whites of his eyes were yellow and a drop of drool hovered in the corner of his mouth. His breath reeked of decay and the teeth he had left were yellow and rotten. I tried not to gag with disgust.

  “I ain’t never seen such a pretty girl before, Elrod,” Greasy said, leaning closer to sniff my hair. “Ain’t she a tiny little thing? And look at all that dark hair! I always had me a thing for girls with black hair!”

  I turned my face away, repulsed. My eyes instantly found Ryder’s. He looked ready to kill with nothing but his bare hands. I prayed he would keep his hot temper in check and not do something stupid.

  “Can I touch, Elrod? I’ve always wanted me a college girl. And look at all this perfect skin,” Greasy said, reaching out a finger and running it up my arm.

  A shiver ran through me. As he leaned closer, I felt bile rise in my throat. I had to do something before Ryder exploded and all hell broke loose.

  Somewhere deep within me, the strength rose to stand up to this slime ball. My survival instincts kicked in.

  “Back off,” I said in my best kick–ass voice, glaring at him with hate.

  Greasy started giggling like a little girl. The sound was terrifying.

  I thought I had put him in his place when the laugh suddenly died on his lips, replaced with an evil look that could’ve killed. He raised the pistol and aimed it within inches of my forehead. The sound him cocking the gun made my blood run cold.

  Terror had me frozen in place. The kick–ass girl in me was long gone.

  “Leave them alone!” Brody yelled.

  He got a gun butt to the stomach for his outcry. Eva and I watched with horror as he doubled over in pain. She reached out to grasp my hand tightly, panic behind her grip.

  “She has some spunk, don’t she, Robbie?” the leader chuckled, looking me up and down. “I ain’t saying I ain’t interested but we just want their shit for now.”

  He motioned to Eva with his gun. “You don’t look hurt, sweetie. Crawl up in there and get that stuff out. Now.”

  Eva dropped my hand and hurried to crawl into the bed of the truck. Maybe the faster we handed over our supplies, the faster we could leave.

  I took a chance and glanced at Ryder. His hands were balled into fists as he stared at Greasy with pure rage. His eyes flickered over to me once before moving back to Greasy.

  One by one our bags were dropped to the dusty ground at my feet. Eva climbed out of the truck bed as Greasy bent down to open the bags and backpacks.

  “Clothes.” He pushed one backpack out of the way and moved on to a duffle bag. “Shitload of food and bottled water in this one,” he said, tossing the hefty bag to the leader. He went through the other backpacks, finding only our clothes.

  The leader chuckled as he bent down to search through everything. “You kids are prepared, I’ll give you that!”

  He squinted at us against the sun. “No weapons?”

  Eva and I both shook our heads, afraid if we spoke, we might get the same treatment Brody did.

  “I can pat them down, Elrod. Be my pleasure,” Greasy said with excitement, keeping his eyes and gun trained on me.

  “Another time, Robbie,” the leader mumbled, motioning Ryder and Brody back over.

  They walked toward us slowly with the other inmates following. Ryder’s eyes never left Greasy. If looks could kill, Greasy would be long dead by now.

  The leader held up a hand, stopping Brody and Ryder a few feet away.

  “Tell you what boys, you let me have the food and water and I’ll let you go with the clothes. On foot,” he said, cradling the shotgun in the crook of his arms and standing with his legs spread apart.

  “We’ll die! You can’t take our food and water!” Brody exploded in outrage.

  The leader seemed to take offense at Brody’s outburst. “Let me tell you a story, boy. These men,” he motioned to each inmate, “have been locked up for years. You know what that means? Hmmm? It means they ain’t had a girl for a long, long time.”

  He waited for that to sink in with us. “So I’ll take all your supplies and the truck and you get the clothes.” He paused and swept his eyes over Eva and me. “If you have a problem with that, well, let’s just say that my men will have a fine time with these young things.”

  The evil expression disappeared from Greasy’s face as his eyes ran over me. “Please. Please. Please,” he pleaded, giddy.

  “Take it all,” Ryder growled.

  “Good decision, kid,” the leader said with an evil smile.

  With panic, I watched him pick up two of the bags and turn to leave.

  “Wait!” I shouted.

  Ryder glared at me, silently telling me to shut up as the leader turned back around. I swallowed hard past my fear as I tried to ignore Greasy and the gun in my face.

  “We…” I was too afraid to talk. Taking a deep breath, I tried again. “Can we have some water? Please?”

  It had to be over a hundred degrees. Without the water, we wouldn’t last very long in this heat.

  The leader regarded me with indecision before reaching into a bag and tossing four cans of vegetables and four water bottles at my feet.

  “Good luck, sweetheart. You’ll need it,” he said, walking off.

  Greasy hadn’t moved away from me yet. His pistol was still pointed at my head. I realized that with one little slip of his finger, I would be dead.

  “Maybe next time, ba
be,” he said with a giggle. “You and me will have a little party and get to know each other better. When this shit blows over, I’ll look you up.”

  Instantly, Ryder was there. In front of me, protecting me, standing in front of a gun for me.

  “Don’t look at her, asshole,” he said, fiercely. He towered over Greasy by at least a foot and could easily break him in two with one powerful hand.

  But Greasy had the gun.

  Greasy’s laugh disappeared as his gun moved slowly from my head to aim at Ryder’s forehead. Now that Ryder was the target, I started to shake with terror. It was one thing to have a gun pointed at my head, it was another to see it pointed at someone I loved.

  A full minute passed as Ryder and Greasy stared each other down. Ryder stood his ground, not flinching and not scared of the gun in his face. I knew him too well to know that he was probably bloodthirsty by this point.

  “Start walking, kids!” the leader yelled from a few yards away.

  Eva and Brody picked up the backpacks, stuffing the bottled waters and cans of food inside. Greasy kept his gun on Ryder, refusing to back down. Ryder stood deathly still, protecting me with his body.

  Greasy finally took a step away and motioned off in the distance with his gun.

  “Git!” he barked.

  Ryder grabbed my hand and took two backpacks from Brody. Pulling me with him, we followed Eva and Brody at a quick pace.

  We hurried past the vehicles, trying to ignore the convicts. I avoided looking in their direction but I could feel them, watching us, waiting to open fire if we made the slightest wrong move.

  I couldn’t help but glance over at Eva’s truck. She had driven that thing since she was 17 years old. It was her pride and joy. I hated to see it left behind with a bunch of criminals but more than that, I hated to see our only form of transportation disappear.

  She started to cry silent tears. I let go of Ryder’s hand to wrap an arm around her as we walked down the road.

  “What are we going to do now, Maddie?” she asked, tearfully.

  “I guess we walk. What choice do we have?”

  “Walk? It’s summer in Texas! We won’t make it with only four bottles of water!” she cried, hysterically. Brody hushed her, afraid we would draw the men’s attention.

  Without breaking his stride, Ryder looked over his shoulder, giving Eva and I a warning look.

  I glanced back at the men. We were a safe distance away from them now but they still watched us closely with their guns ready.

  As we walked, the heat pressed down on us from the merciless sun. I could feel the sweat rolling down my back as the afternoon temperature rose to dangerous levels. Up ahead some trees formed a canopy over the road, providing some shade. I tried to focus on that one spot and not think of the long walk ahead of us.

  Ryder walked ten feet in front of us, moving at a faster pace. His long legs covered more ground than mine despite the backpacks on his shoulders.

  I hurried to catch up with him, ignoring the hitch in my side.

  “I’ll carry my backpack now, Ryder,” I said, holding out my good hand to take it.

  Ryder scowled at me. “You’re hurt. I’ve got it.”

  Not only was my skin beginning to blister from the heat but also it had my blood boiling. I stopped in the middle of the road, causing dust to swirl around my feet.

  Eva and Brody stopped when I did but Ryder ignored me and continued walking.

  “What is your problem, Ryder?” I asked in frustration.

  He stopped and turned to face me. The expression on his face said it all; he was fuming mad. With a few steps, he was towering over me angrily, invading my personal space.

  “What’s my problem? My problem, Maddie, is that you’re hurt, we have no car, it’s freakin’ hotter than hell, we have very little water, hardly any food, and we still have miles until we get home!”

  I stared into his ice blue eyes, unafraid.

  With frustration, he threw the backpacks down on the ground, covering our shoes in dust.

  “And I’m mad as shit that you took it upon yourself to stand up to those assholes! What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking we needed water!”

  “Well, I had to stand there and watch that jackass eyeing you and touching you! So what the hell do you think my problem is?” he yelled.

  “I’m okay! He didn’t hurt me so calm down!” I snapped, growing angry too.

  Ryder put his hands on his hips and glared down at me. “I’ll calm down when your ass is safe at home!”

  My patience snapped.

  “I’m not your responsibility! How many times do I have to say that? Not. Your. Responsibility!” I yelled, poking my finger into his chest with each word. “Just because we had sex doesn’t mean you have to take care of me!”

  I saw Brody turn away in embarrassment. I didn’t care. This was too much. I couldn’t handle this anymore. I was barely holding it together as it was.

  “I’ve been taking care of you for fifteen years! I’m not about to stop now just because we screwed!” Ryder yelled, taking a threatening step closer.

  I flinched at his choice of words. That’s all I was to him — someone he screwed?

  Brody swore softly. “Hey, man, back off. We’re all freaked out here. Don’t take it out on her,” he said, grabbing Ryder’s arm.

  Ryder shrugged him off. “Don’t touch me,” he said coldly, glaring down at me. He picked up his backpack and left mine on the ground at my feet.

  “Take care of yourself, Maddie. I’m done.”

  Then he walked away.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I watched him walk away. His shoulders were rigid and tension made his back even straighter.

  Tears threatened to fall. My throat felt clogged. I suddenly had trouble swallowing. Screw him! I didn’t need him anyway! So why did the sight of him walking away hurt so much?

  Eva put her arms around me. “We’re all scared here, Maddie. What happened with those men just shook him up. He didn’t mean it.”

  “You’re supposed to be on my side, Eva,” I said as tears fell silently down my cheeks. I wiped them away and felt grime on my fingertips.

  “Well, he’s an ass but I don’t blame him for being pissed. You took a big chance standing up to those men.” She leaned closer and whispered, “He may be an ass but he loves you so, damn it, I have to tolerate him.”

  I cringed at her words. Ryder wasn’t capable of feeling love, not even for me. That was apparent when he walked away.

  “Now let’s get the hell home,” Eva said.

  I took a deep breath, trying to build the courage to face what was in front of us. We had to walk. It didn’t matter if it was hot, I was sore, or Ryder was furious; we had no choice — we were walking home.

  Shading my eyes against the sun, I watched as Ryder continued down the road, walking further and further away from me.

  I swung the backpack onto my shoulders. The pain in my hand and ribs was agonizing but I was determined to carry my own stuff. I didn’t need Ryder taking care of me anymore than he needed me.

  ~~~~

  Two hours later, I was wishing for some suntan lotion. And a pair of sunglasses. And a meal. The dry dirt under my feet swirled with each step. The sun was like a giant fireball, blazing unmerciful. Empty farmland surrounded us while the sounds of grasshoppers and locusts echoed around us.

  No one talked as we walked. Like me, Eva and Brody were suffering from the heat. It was better just to focus on putting one foot in front of the other than on the sweat rolling off of us.

  The hot weather kept my mind off Ryder, now far ahead of us. Not once did he slow down or look back. It hurt but I was too miserable to dwell on it.

  I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go on. The heat was taking a toll on my injuries. My cracked rib was screaming in agony. I took shallow breaths, afraid if I breathed any deeper it might cause excruciating pain. Even my broken finger throbbed with each beat of my heart
and each step I took.

  We hadn’t eaten anything, afraid of consuming what little amount of food we had until it was absolutely necessary. It was now almost twenty–four hours since I ate. With nothing in my system, my energy level was dwindling fast.

  I had to stop.

  I almost toppled over from the weight of my backpack but caught myself in enough time. When I wiped the sweat out of my eyes, the motion made me dizzy and I almost fell again.

  “Maddie?” Eva asked, stopping beside me.

  “I have to stop, Eva,” I said, weakly.

  “You don’t look so good.”

  “I’m okay, just too hot.”

  I didn’t tell her it was more than the heat bothering me. The pain was intolerable. I had to sit. My legs couldn’t hold me anymore. I let the backpack fall to the ground. That simple movement caused pain to radiate through my body.

  I collapsed next to the bag, not caring that there was only hot, dusty blacktop beneath me.

  “I run three miles every day. Walking should be a breeze,” I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.

  Eva kneeled down in front of me. “You have a cracked rib, Maddie. Give yourself a break.” She started rummaging in my backpack. “Where’s your water?”

  “Front pocket.”

  Pulling it out, she looked at the half empty bottle of water. “You need to drink more.”

  I had been taking small sips for the last hour, just enough to keep my mouth moist. If this bottle was all I had, I needed to conserve as much as possible. But I knew she was right. I needed more water.

  “Guys! Hold up!” Eva yelled. Brody stopped but Ryder continued walking as if he hadn’t heard.

  “Ass,” Eva said under her breath.

  I weakly laughed and then winced with pain. Eva wasn’t afraid to speak her mind on a normal day and this was far from a normal day. But I was surprised that’s the best she could come up with.

  “What’s wrong?” Brody asked, closing the distance between us. He looked hot and exhausted, just like Eva and me.

  “Maddie’s having trouble,” she said, squinting at him in the sunlight.

  “Do we need to walk slower?” Brody asked before taking a drink of his own water.