To Love, To Fight, To Win

Chapter 4

"I want to help you, Riley," the man said, and the grip on my gun grew tighter. He kept his hands raised, trying to show me that he was not going to harm me. "I don't want anything from you except to help you."

My grip on my gun grew tighter than I had. "How do you know my name?" I asked harshly, and he flinched. I set my jaw and stopped the feeling of guilt that I felt.

"I know everything about you," he said. "I..." He sighed and cleared his throat before he shook his head and grimaced. "I was a friend of your mother's. Please, put the gun down, and let's talk."

"Ok, then talk," I said and gestured for him to say what he needed to say.

The male cleared his throat and gestured towards the road with his hands up. "Should we talk in private?" he asked. "They might be closer than you think." He gave me a pointed look, not caring that I was holding a gun to his chest.

My whole body grew tense when he said "they," and I had a feeling as to who he was talking about, but I didn't know how he knew about them. "Who's they?" I asked and narrowed my eyes at the male. "And how do you know about them?"

The male smiled sadly, and his brown eyes were filled with warmth and compassion, something that I had never seen in a stranger's eyes before, especially one that had sought me out first. He was quite on the chubbier side, so I had no idea how he had gotten to the alleyway so fast, but I knew better than to judge him on his looks, especially since I had dealt with many types of men over the years. "You know who," he said and gave me a pointed look. He was about to move a hand through his graying hair but stopped when I held the gun a little higher, pointing it at his head.

"Don't move," I warned. I wanted him to tell me who he was talking about because I wanted to know if they had found me or if I was safe. I needed to make sure that I wasn't putting others' lives in danger, even though I knew that was a possibility with my line of work. "Who?"

The man paused in moving a hand through his hair and stared at me with wide eyes. Uncertainty and hurt filled them, and I could tell that he thought that I would shoot him. "You... don't remember me," he said and hurt filled his voice. He was ignoring my question, and I couldn't tell if he was doing that on purpose or not.

"Well, having my head a couple of times can cause some memories to disappear," I replied coldly. "So, of course, I am not going to remember you, especially if you had only shown up at my place once or twice."

The male flicked his eyes as if to nod because he knew that he shouldn't nod with a gun pointed at his head. He kept an eye on the gun, but he started to relax slightly as if he knew that I wouldn't hurt him unless he gave me a reason to. "You used to call me Biggie B," he said, finally stating his "name."

He cleared his throat and looked around, making sure to keep an eye on me with the gun. "I do wish we could find a safer place to talk freely," he said and looked at me after he was done surveying the area. "There are people that are trying to find me, and I know that there are some people that are trying to find you."

I paused for a moment, wondering where the best place was to take him. I had multiple hiding spots around town that not a lot of people knew about. I was not going to take him back to my place because I did not want him to know where I lived.

"Well?" Biggie B asked and raised an eyebrow. "Will we go somewhere safe?"

Hesitantly, I lowered the gun and nodded. "Yes," I grunted, and he slowly started to relax and lower his hands. I instantly pulled the gun to his head again, and he raised his hands with wide eyes. "One wrong move and I will blow your head off of your body. Deal?"

Biggie B relaxed and nodded, smiling. "Deal." He placed his hand down, and I let him.

I pressed my tongue to the bottom of my lip and nodded. I stuffed the gun back in its spot, making sure that the safety was on. "Let's go then," I said. "Keep up."

And with that, I walked away, not caring if he stayed near me or not. I had other stuff that I needed to do, so I didn't have time to wait for him.

Hopefully, he wouldn't keep me waiting long.

***

"That was a long walk," Biggie B said and panted while he wiped his forehead. Sweat beaded across his forehead, and he looked drained and tired. Again, he wiped his forehead while he cleared his throat and looked around to see where I had brought him.

A small frown appeared on his face, and his eyes were filled with concern when he looked at me. "Do you live here?" he asked and gestured around the dreary place that I called a hideout.

I snorted and shook my head, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "No," I said. "I didn't trust you enough to bring you to my house," I said and ignored his flinch as if I had slapped him across the cheek. "Look, like I said before, I don't trust you. I have no recollection of you from the multiple head injuries that I had received as a child."

Biggie B nodded and cleared his throat. He tried to hide his hurt, but I could tell that he was hurting because I didn't remember him. "My name is Bartholomew," he said and cleared his throat. "I..." He cleared his throat again and shook his head, and I could tell that he was debating on whether or not he should tell me something.

He sighed and shook his head while he smiled sadly. "Let's... just say that I used to be a friend of your mother's."

I frowned and raised an eyebrow. I could tell that he was lying about something in that statement, but I had no idea what. However, I wasn't going to call him out on it just yet because I had a feeling that he wouldn't tell me. "Why did I call you "Biggie B?"" I asked instead.

Biggie B had a soft smile on his face, and his eyes held a dazed look while he thought about a past that I had forgotten. "I used to make Big Bird noises to make you smile," he said and looked at me. He smiled and cleared his throat while he shook his head. "So you used to call me Biggie B because you couldn't say, Bartholomew," he replied, and I nodded.

He cleared his throat and looked away from me before he looked at me again. His eyes were filled with tears, but they didn't fall. He cleared his throat again before he shifted on his feet and sighed. "Now," he said. "I guess I should explain as to why I wanted to talk to you. Hmmm?" He raised an eyebrow.

I bit back a snort and nodded. "Well," I said sarcastically. "That'd be nice."