Bikers, Chains and Bad Boys

Chapter 20

   "That one." He nodded imperceptibly at an older gentleman with light hair that had started to recede. His light brown cardigan was well worn and had oddly placed fuzz balls all over it. He was hunched over a bag as he stuffed something into it, absentmindedly pushing his glasses up his nose as he did.

   "Hm," I hummed in thought, leaning against the counter. "Clark Daniels. Forty-one. No family. He had a girlfriend once, but she left him when he told her his nutcracker collection would unfortunately always come first." Jared snorted, drawing the man's attention and he shifted quickly, looking anywhere else as I smiled. "He's really good at his job at the secondhand store. He's been shooting for a raise these last couple years, but he's more than happy to take the nutcracker items that come into the store for donations as payment instead."

   Jared hid his smile behind his hand as he leaned his elbow on the counter. I grinned, glancing at the man again. "To be honest, he wasn't ready to settle down with Regina, anyway. You couldn't blame him really. I mean," My eyes swung back to look at Jared and I shrugged. "Regina just didn't understand the value of the cracker." Jared let out a bark of a laugh as the teller came back with the deposit receipt.

   "Here you are. Have a nice day now." She turned and left before I could say a word. We turned and made our way back outside. It had taken half an hour to get the deposit done. It hadn't felt that long as Jared and I played our game. It was closing in on six now.

   "Hey, you wanna eat before we go to my house? I'm starving." He shrugged and we headed down to the diner. As we ate, we continued our game for a while, making up stories about each of the other customers sitting around us. I hadn't laughed that much in a long time.

   By the time we were leaving the diner, it was a little after seven or so. The sun was beginning to lower, although it was still quite bright out. The sun was starting to set sooner these days, being the middle of September now, but that didn't mean the heat was going anywhere. The humidity was still a slap in the face as you walked outside.

   I laughed with Jared as we made our way down the street, heading back to work to pick up his bike. He was telling me stories about the torment he and his brother put their mom through when they were young.

   "You did not put mac and cheese in the dryer." I looked back at him, horrified. I was a step or two in front of him. He nodded back, laughing.

   "Oh, yeah. I was grounded for months. Every load smelled like burnt cheese." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Mom kicked it to the curb and every cent I made that summer went straight to a new dryer. I learned my lesson real fuckin' quick." I laughed, throwing my head back.

   A noise came from behind me and I went to turn around but was caught at the last second. A hand went around my mouth and an arm around my waist as I was dragged quickly back into an alley. I struggled hard, kicking my legs out and clawing at the hand on my face. The man holding me grunted but didn't show any other indication of being affected by my actions.

   He shoved me roughly against the brick wall and held me in place with his body. I tried to shove away from it, but he shoved me hard against it. I had to turn my face, so it wasn't smashed straight against the wall and scratched my face hard against the brick. I felt the skin on my cheek tear as it went. "Stop fucking moving or I'm gonna knock you the fuck out." He hissed at me. His hand was still on my mouth and the smell of cigarette breath wafted into my face.

   At the mouth of the alley, I saw Snake dragging a half-conscious Jared into the alley and I tried to yell past the man's hand. He clamped it tighter around my mouth and shoved me harder. 

   "What did I fuckin' tell you?" He looked at Snake. "Where the hell is Dave with the van?"

   Pressing my hands against the rough brick wall, I pushed back as hard as I could, trying to twist out of his grip, yelling out as I did on the off chance that someone might hear me, but he just called for Snake to help him. As Snake made his way over, I saw Jared start to sit up and my eyes widened.