Ridge Creek (2 page)

Stepping closer to me again, his voice rumbling from above
my head, he asks: “Can you walk?”

“Yeah.  I can walk,” I advise as I turn to climb back over
the log.  “Bending forward to place my hand down on it, I hear the click and
the torch turns back on.

Ignoring Hulk making a loud hissing noise from behind me, my
fingers contact the log and I clamber back over.

“What the fuck happened to you?”  His rumble now sounding
more like a growl. 

I’m guessing my ass IS hanging out.

“My boyfriend beat the shit out of me and then he raped me
with a gun to make sure I got the message.  I then had to throw myself out the
back of a moving truck in the middle of fuck knows where to save myself the
pleasure of being shot in the head.”

Should I have actually told him that?

“Fuck,” I hear him grunt behind me.  “You’ve had a fuckin’
bad day.”

“You could say that,” I mutter to myself as I send another
silent prayer to God begging him to have sent me a trustworthy biker who
doesn’t plan on doing me more harm.

But then again, what have I got to lose?

Ignoring the alarm bells sounding in the back of my mind, I
continue to shuffle towards the outline of the motorcycle on the side of the
road.

*****

After what turns out to be a couple of hours of
excruciatingly painful riding on the back of Hulk’s motorcycle, I am relieved
to hear him rumble that we are almost there.

Slowing down on the outskirts of a small country town, I
watch as a sign welcoming us to ’Ridge Creek’ slides by. 

The town itself is still mostly asleep.  At four in the
morning, there is only the occasional light to be seen among the many old
Victorian weatherboards lining the streets skirting the main township.

Slowing down further, Hulk seems to be trying to keep the
roar of his bike to a minimum as we rumble through the center of town.  
Passing several small shops and a supermarket, we roll through a red light at
what looks to be the only set of lights in the main street.    With no traffic
to contend with, he turns right and then a short time later left into a small
laneway running next to a shop front.

The shop front is small and well lit with security lighting
pointing direct on two shiny bikes sitting in the front window.  The bikes are
surrounded by signs, tubs and knickknacks all displaying the famous Harley
Davidson logo.

As the shop front slides past my eyes, we idle slowly down
the alleyway until we hit a dead end with a huge roller door.  Revving his
motorcycle once, I watch in awe as the roller door slowly slides upwards
flooding light into the laneway.  The light reveals a potbellied old man
wearing only a pair of loose fitting shorts and a pair of thongs.  He is
pulling the chain that is lifting the roller door.

He has long white shaggy hair that is hanging messily around
his face and a long white beard that stretches down to the middle of his
chest.  Grinning at the sight of Hulk, I watch as his grin soon turns to a
scowl as he spots me.

Exhausted and relieved that we are at last somewhere other
than next to a log on the side of the road, I stare tiredly at him as we roll
past.

Gliding to a stop, Hulk flicks the stand out on his bike and
leans it over.  Slumped against his back, I hear the sound of the roller door
going down again behind me at the same time as I hear Hulk ask, “Can you get
off on your own?”

“I honestly don’t know,” I mumble into his back, not moving.

And I don’t.  There was a point about an hour ago where I
swear every cell in my body swelled and locked everything into place.  My whole
body is now just a constant throb with my only focus for the past hour being to
keep my feet on the foot pegs and my good arm clamped around Hulk’s waist.

I’ve been silently chanting don’t let go, don’t fall off,
for a considerable time.

“Pops,” I hear Hulk rumble.  “You’re gunna have to lift her
off.”

“On it,” I hear the old man’s voice from behind me.  “Fuck
girl, are you okay?”

Nodding silently, I try to turn my head to see him behind me
but can’t get it to move.  With big hands much stronger than they look, ‘Pops’
grasps me either side of my waist and lifts me off the back of the bike.

Groaning in agony, me feet touch the floor and I feel my
knees crumbling as my legs try to take my weight.  More pain shoots through my
body as I feel the familiar numbing of my brain sliding into place.

Hearing two voices grunt, “Fuck!” In unison, I once again
pass out.

*****

I wake up lying on my back staring at a picture of a mostly
naked woman with her legs spread wide open.  I say mostly naked because she is
still wearing a pair of killer, spiked heel, red, knee-high boots.

This picture is on the roof above me.

I can hear voices yelling. 

“I told you to help her off the fuckin’ bike Pops.  Not drop
her on her ass on the concrete.” 

I recognize Hulk’s rumble coming from my left somewhere.

Turning my head, I see him standing just inside an open
doorway.  Catching my first real sight of him I let out a silent gasp.  Now
only wearing a tight, black short sleeved t-shirt, I can confirm that his
broad
is indeed all muscle.  With arms like tree trunks, each muscle appears to be
more clearly defined by the many tattoos spiraling up them towards his neck. 
He has a tribal tattoo starting behind his ear that runs down the left side of
neck.  He also has an eyebrow piercing above his left eye.

He has shiny, raven black hair that hangs in loose waves
down to his shoulders.  He is tanned like he spends all day in the sun and my
guess he is aged in his thirties somewhere.  In profile, I can see he has a
strong square chin and heavy brow.

Not usually one to take notice of biker men, I find myself
instantaneously converted.  I should have been paying more attention all these
years.  If these are the sorts of guys hiding under biker outfits, I’ve been
missing out.

This is one
hawt
biker.

Dragging my eyes from the visual pleasure that is ‘Hulk’, I
see Pops is standing in the doorway looking forlorn. 

“I didn’t expect her to just drop like that.  Fuck.  It was
when I saw her arm.  That on top of her ass and back and I was afraid to
fucking touch her in case she screamed or something.”

“You’re fucking useless,” Hulk growls as he swings back to
look at me.   I blink slowly at him and watch as he registers that I am awake. 
I register that his eyes are a bright iridescent green.

Holy shit.

“Why the fuck did you bring her
here
anyway?”  I hear
yet another voice coming from my right and I swing my head slowly to see where
it is coming from.

My eyes catch sight of another huge hulk looking guy.  This
one has short cropped dark hair and vivid blue eyes.  He is only wearing a pair
of jeans that have not yet had their top button done up and I gasp again as I
stare at the best set of washboard abs I have ever seen.

Fuck, I died and went to heaven.

“Are you my angels?” I whisper softly as I drag my eyes from
hulk number two’s chest to look longingly in his eyes.

“Huh?” He grunts as he knits his brows in confusion and
steps closer.  Stooping towards me, I watch as he roams his eyes over my face. 
He winces and then looks over towards Hulk number one near the door.  “I think
her head’s as fucked up as the rest of her.”

“Fuck,” I hear Hulk number one say.  Turning my head towards
him I watch as he moves closer.  He too now leans closer and I watch as his
green eyes scrunch with concern.  “Arianna, you okay?”

Trying to put a smile on a face that feels like it might be
swollen twice its size, I announce, “I’m having a bad day.”

“I’m getting that,” he says as he swings to look at Hulk
number two.  “She’s fine.”

“How the fuck you get the words ‘she’s fine’ from what I can
see lying there, I don’t know brother.  She doesn’t look fine to me.  Why the
fuck
did you bring her here anyway?  She needs to be in intensive care or
something.”

“She begged me not to take her to a hospital, a doctor, a
police station or any place public.  What the fuck was I supposed to do?”

“Fuckin’ ignore her stupid ass request and take her anyway.”

“No!” I yell as I struggle unsuccessfully to lift myself off
the bed. “No hospitals…”

My words are cut off by Hulk number one instantly planting
his hand in my chest as he pushes me back down onto the bed.  “I told you. 
I’ve got this Arianna.”

Staring up helplessly I fall quiet and stay put.

“Call in a marker.  We need a doctor.  Here.  Under radar,
no questions asked.”

With a huge sigh of relief I stare thankfully up at my new
savior.

“Thank you… um…”

“Jake.” Tipping his head towards hulk number two he says,
“Zane.”

Straightening his huge body back to its full height he lifts
his chin to Zane and they both stride towards the door.  Passing through, I
watch as Pops leans back in, grabs the door handle and pulls the door shut
behind him.

*****

Jake…

“What the
fuck
were you thinking brother?” Zane asks
me as we walk together through the maze of rooms attached to the back of our
Harley store.  Arriving at the main communal area, I walk across the room to
stand behind the timber bar.  Stooping down to look along the shelves lined
with liquor bottles, I spot a bottle of Jamieson.   Latching onto the neck of a
bottle, I tag three shot glasses from the end of the bar and line them up.

Quickly pouring three shots, I watch as Pops and Zane settle
into stools opposite me.

Each picking up a shot glass, we tip them back, swallow and
then drop the glasses to the bench again.  I refill them as I feel the burn of
the whiskey sliding down the back of my throat.

“I was thinking that tiny little strip of a woman lying in
there had just told me she’d been bashed, raped and had to throw herself out
the back of a moving truck to avoid execution.  Not only had she told me that,
but she also told me she’d rather die on the side of the road than go anywhere
public.  It didn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to work out someone wants her dead.”

Zane slams his second drink and pushes his shot glass
towards me for another.

“My point exactly brother.  Someone wants her fuckin’ dead. 
Fuck, take a look at her.  She
should
be dead.  Didn’t you stop to think
that someone might come lookin’ for her?”

Nodding my agreement, I drink my own drink and wait for Pops
to catch up.  Pouring us all another round I reply, “Yeah I considered it.  But
fuck me boys, look at her would ya?  She’s about five foot nothing, wouldn’t
weigh more than fifty fuckin’ kilo’s and someone has opened a serious can of
whoop ass on her.  I’m pretty sure a fair few of those injuries were already
there when she threw herself out of that truck.  Most men wouldn’t have
survived what she’s been through.  Getting  raped on top of all that,  the
woman’s got some fuckin’ grit.”

Pops nods slowly, “Now there’s a fact.”

“How far away is the Doc?” I direct my question to Zane who
has just spent the last five minutes making calls and pulling markers to get us
a doctor willing to work ‘private’ at five in the morning, no questions asked.

“He said he’d be at least thirty minutes.  He was about to
go running but hadn’t left yet so was heading straight to his car.  He warned
me he couldn’t get anesthetic…”

“Fuck,” I curse as I realize what he’s saying.  Arianna
thinks she’s having a bad day.  It’s about to get worse.

“Pops, I’m gunna need you to ring Ma.  Don’t take any shit
from her.  Tell her what’s going on.  We need a woman in there.  Zane, you
might want to roll us a couple of strong ones.”  Holding up the Jamieson bottle
I add, “I’ll take this in there and see if I can get a couple down her before
the Doc gets here.”

Nodding in solemn agreement I am about to leave the bar and
head back to Arianna when Zane asks, “How’d the other business go?”

Of course, the reason I was out there in the middle of
nowhere in the middle of the night in the first place.  To set up a new
hydroponics system in an old farmhouse that we’ve kitted out with both solar
and wind power.  One of our new ‘green’ houses as we call them.  Green covering
both the energy we generate and the pot we grow as a sideline.  This particular
sideline uses the Harley shop as a business front.  This was now the third
farmhouse we had set up as ‘green’.  So far, without massive energy bills being
detected by the power companies, our hydroponics setups were flying safely
under police radar.

“Sorted.  No one saw us coming or going.  The batteries were
all charged up and everything was running as expected.   We got all the shit
set up and were out of there by one-thirty.”  Pausing, my mind jolts as a piece
of Arianna’s puzzle falls into place.  “That’s why she threw herself off the
side of the road.  I was following the truck back.  She thought it was the
truck she’d just leaped from.  Fuck.  I still can’t believe I caught her out of
the corner of my eye.  At the time I almost convinced myself I was seeing
things and I nearly didn’t stop.”

Shaking my head in amazement, I head back through the maze
of rooms to my bedroom where I hope Arianna is sleeping.  She’s gunna need all
the sleep she can get.

Hell On Earth

Arianna…

Listening to the quiet murmurs of men talking somewhere else
in the house, I nod off.  Startling suddenly out of sleep, I sense movement to
my left.  Gasping in fright, I swing my head to the left but am relieved to
find it is just Jake dragging a chair closer over to the bed.

Watching him as he moves about, I find myself in awe of the
sheer power that is Jake.  Moving with ease, he looks like a man who knows
every bulging muscle in his body and how to use them.