Love's Inferno

Chapter 15- The Belle of Bedlam

Dante

What we arrived home to was complete and utter pandemonium.

I had thought my personal mayhem quota had been filled thirty minutes earlier, in a verbal sparring match with Lou, trying to get her to agree to sit on the back of my "death trap".

"I'm not getting on that! I'll wait." She looked down at her phone, as yet another Uber driver cancelled her trip.

"My luck cannot be this bad!" she shook her phone in her hand, slipping on her heel. I was off the bike before I knew it, and held her upright - resisting the urge to pull her against me.

"Stop being so fucking stubborn. I can see you're freezing, at least this way you'll get home quicker."

"If I get home at all!" she replied completely flustered and I realised her trepidation was real.

"I'm a very safe driver Shi." I unzipped my jacket and held it out for her.

"Says the man on the back of a death trap. Hu-uh boeta. I won't do it." The wind howled and I watched her body shiver, as she wrapped her arms around herself like a makeshift blanket.

"Lou get on the fucking bike! Please... Just let me take you home." she looked up at me silently, for a long moment, before she relented and let me dress her. I zipped up the jacket, over her crossbody satchel and watched quietly content in a way as she drowned in the fabric. It would smell like her on my next ride. I reached into the cabin and took out another helmet- a spare I hadn't used in years and secured it on her head.

"This is a terrible idea" I heard her say behind me. She sat so far behind me, to the point that I almost didn't know that she was there.

"Yes, it is if you sit that far back you're going to get thrown from the bike on the first corner. Come-" I reached behind me and hooked my hands behind her knees, pulling her closer "here." Now I could feel her weight, the inhale of her breath as her chest rubbed against my back.

"Hold on." she tentatively grabbed the loops of my pants and I figured that was all I was going to get. She'd hold my waist as soon as I picked up speed.

The drive was easy and that's what made me feel uneasy. I hadn't had anyone on my bike since I'd bought it- I should've been uncomfortable but I wasn't. Not even when she wrapped her arms loosely around my midsection. I'd forgotten what it was like to be held.

At the first red light, I felt her shift uneasily and looked down at her feet locked onto the spurs, noticing the way the straps bit into her skin, so I reached back and massaged her ankles. She stilled at first but didn't say a word, so I continued at every red light; tentatively working out some of the pain and stress she held in her body. She folded against me by the third light and it was the first time in my life that I wished I lived in Brighton, no Scotland... nowhere was far enough. I wanted to drive until I had no more gas left, holding her until we'd spanned as much road as possible but I didn't have that luxury. 

I knew she would have to release me eventually, but not yet- I wasn't ready to be without her arms wrapped around me. So I took the longest route home imaginable, looping around the edge of the block thrice before I knew it would become noticeable. As we circled into the block home I picked up speed, if only to feel her grip onto me passionately once. If only to rush towards my fate and ease the wound of being released from her arms.

As I turned into the street I noticed three foreign cars idling in usually unoccupied parking bays. Approaching the building we were confronted with another four, large blacked-out Range Rovers parked in front of the building and occupying my bay. These guys weren't mine, it was all too conspicuous, and they also didn't know I lived here which immediately put me on the back foot. Whoever it was, was an uninvited guest with a commitment to making their presence known and felt. None of the alarms had been triggered but I knew immediately that this presence was an escalation of shorts - a sure display of power. It was a pronounced intimidation tactic and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge, if only because of the knowledge that the threat must have been aimed in my direction. This would be fine if I was alone, but I wasn't. Over the last few weeks, I had made the building my permanent residence which put myself, Uncle S. and Lou at risk- assuming that whoever was inside knew I lived here which I very much doubted but still, it was noteworthy.