“Cabron,” I hiss, calling him an asshole. It naturally rolls off my tongue without any forethought.
I’m used to switching back and forth between English and Spanish. Especially when I’m miffed about something. Hopefully he doesn’t understand my lingual interpretation of my homeland’s language because if that’s the case, he may become more heavy handed and that wouldn’t work in my favor.
When he doesn’t make a comment about my foul language, I relax a smidgeon.
“Where’s your registration documentation?” the man who tossed me to the ground asks, growling in my ear.
“What documentation?” I ask, crying out as he places his knee in the middle of my back.
“Your citizen paperwork,” he presses, digging his kneecap deeper into my flesh.
“I don’t have any!” I holler. “I’m an American, born and bred in the United States. I have a driver’s license, social security card, and birth certificate in my purse.” Thank God I decided to carry those items on my person. The world has turned to shit and if you don’t have pearly white skin, your status as a citizen is questionable.
“Grab her purse and find those things,” the fucker issuing orders decrees.
Unfortunately, the man who has me anchored to the ground doesn’t remove the pressure from the middle of my back, andthe pain is becoming intolerable. I can feel welts on my knees, scrapes on my stomach, and blood in my mouth—I must’ve hit my jaw without realizing it and bit the inside of my cheek because there’s a spot that’s tender. I’m pretty sure an ulcer will form in the next hour, which is typical seeing as it always happens when I accidentally bite myself chewing food or laughing.
I hate the invasion of the person who’s rifling through my purse and wallet but cross my fingers that when they find my documentation, they’ll get the fuck out of our house and never harass me again.
“It’s all here, boss,” the invader says.
“Are they forgeries?” the leader inquires. “Take a photo of each one then send them off to be scanned and run through our program. Our informant said that she’s using forgeries courtesy of a hacker.”
My eyes slam shut and I begin to pray because they are fabricated. It was the only way I could safely be away from my family and start a new life for myself. But the guy who made them and handed them off to me is not a novice, he’s experienced, helping so many people before me start over from domestic violence situations.
“Get her off the ground and set her on the couch, she’s not going anywhere and it’s going to take a bit before we hear back from our IT guy,” the leader tells the guy who’s on top of me.
I’m lifted up like I weigh no more than a feather and plopped on the couch. It’s only then as I stare down at my tennis shoes that I remember Booker planting life alerts in the soles of all of the old ladies shoes for instances such as this. It’ll cause his computer toblare with alarms, letting him know that I’m in trouble and he’ll send out a large-scale text to the men, which in turn, will have them showing up here en masse. I lift up my right foot and slam it into the ground to activate it. That doesn’t go unnoticed by the troop of men who look at me as if I’ve got a screw loose.
“Leg fell asleep,” I lie, hoping they’ll buy it.
“Tie her feet together. I’m not taking any chances since she’s connected with the Kings,” the bossman edicts.
I’m eternally grateful that he didn’t think of that before I remembered I had a way to get the men here without the use of my phone. What has this world come to that someone doesn’t feel safe behind the walls of their own house? This is my sanctuary, my refuge from the evils around me, and they’ve ruined that for me.
Once the motherfucker has my feet secured, he shoves my shoulder which has me leaning to the side and my face burying into the pillows. Thank goodness the fabricisforgiving and I can breathe without too many issues. Suffocation is not the way I want to leave this world. But right now, that’s a true fear of mine because all it’d take is a press of his hand on the back of my head for that to happen. Hopefully, they have a moral compass even though they are dickheads, big, fat ones that I hope drown in their own spit.
I don’t know how long I lay there with my head buried before I hear the sweet sounds of motorcycles revving their engines. As I predicted, they all came at once. One giant cluster of pissed off testosterone. Even with not being able to see them, I can feel their aggression. One of their own is at the mercy of law enforcement, and I know shit’s about to hit the fan. This alphabet unit who’s detaining me is not one they havea relationship with, so they’re going to have one helluva time getting to me.
I hear my Viking roar as the slamming of a truck door permeates the air. I shiver because there’s a shift in his demeanor. I canliterallyhear the difference in who he is now compared to the man that left here not too long ago. The atmosphere around me turns ice cold. I’m uncontrollably freezing, there’s no warmth left in my core to account for the decline in my body temperature—my being is finely tuned into his mood and reacts in kind. This is Icer coming out to play, the enforcer has reared his head and things are about to get ugly.
Really fucking ugly.
I hope one of his brothers can reel him in or this is going to get bloody pretty damn fast.
“Where’s my woman!” Icer roars. When he acts like this, I reference him by his road name. Because there is a difference between the two in my eyes. One is easygoing and holds me like I’m precious porcelain, the other is as prickly as a cactus and will stick you like a thorn, poisoning you with his barb.
“Sir, we’re going to have to ask you to step back,” the leader says. I know it’s him because I’ve memorized his voice since he’s the one holding the deck and issuing all the orders.
“I’ll step back when you and your army make me,” Icer barks. In this instance, he’ll add his bite and I’m already making a mental list of everything I’ll have to do to make sure he doesn’t live the rest of his life behind bars.
We’ll go on the run, live in a country that doesn’t do extraditions. I’ve had my papers falsified once, I can do it again. It’s no skin offmy teeth—I’ll do whatever it takes, even living a life on the run, if it means he stays free.
Riptide rumbles something to Icer, before taking charge. “What’s the purpose of you being here?” I overhear him ask. “Where’s your warrant to search the property?”
There’s a lot of back and forth happening, but I don’t pay attention to what they’re saying because none of them are my man’s voice. His is the only one I want to hear, he’s what will ground me and remind me that no matter the circumstances or what I’m going through, I will be okay because he’ll make sure I am.
Since this entire ordeal is out of my hands, I meditate to keep me from freaking out. This isn’t the time for any sort of panic attack to take over. I need to be fully functional while the men figure out a way to get me out of this predicament.
