Remember Me [Jalex]

.12.

I wanted to black out but they didn't have the mercy to let me do that. Every time I gave in to the swimming darkness, they would stop and wake me up roughly then they would continue their torture on me. Somewhere along the lines, the chair I was in had toppled. They cut me loose to get more of me to hit and kick but I was too weak to fight back or even attempt an escape. So I laid there, feeling every part of my body bruise and swell as the blows kept coming down on me.

I let my mind wander, detaching myself from the pain as much as possible. And wander it did. It went to familiar places. It went home to the bedroom where I first regained my memory. It went to each and every drinking joint we owned. It went to Jack, the only thing I could remember from my past ten years and the safety he brought to me.

It also wandered off to places I've never seen before and scenes I don't remember living. In my mind's eye, I saw the first time Jack and I got involved in the underworld business. We started off as young followers, sent to beat people up whenever our group leader felt like it. We fought our way up the ranks, sucking up to superiors and sabotaging peers. We were good at what we did and never asked for too much. Soon, we were the appointed successors to the big boss and he retired to focus more on his branch in Las Vegas. We expanded our reign here in Baltimore, growing stronger and overtaking competition.

We were as good as legends, the two of us. Nobody has ever ruled the underworld of the city at such a young age. But we did it, with Rian and Zack to help us. We were fair. Strict and ruthless, but fair. Those who hired our girls made sure to pay what they owed or suffer dire consequences otherwise. The girls were well taken care of with a reasonable cut from the pay of their services and lodgings if they needed it. We made sure our men never brought harm to the innocent citizens. On the contrary, we made sure that they were protected from other gangs. As long as they were roaming our territories, their safety was our responsibility. Everybody lived by our rules and things were peaceful.

Carlile's company used to be the biggest in the city until we came along and he has been wanting his throne back since forever. For a few years, he had been building up his army, not causing much harm save for a few skirmishes here and there. Now, he was strong again. He was strong enough to take us on head to head. That was when the ugly fights started. More fights happened in the streets at night and people were starting to be too scared to be out after dark.

There was that one particularly nasty fight and I was in the thick of it. Carlile's four favourite cronies had brought their best men. It didn't happen at night, they challenged us in broad daylight. Somewhere away from the city. We fought. I had Rian with me. Jack and Zack stayed back to look after the joints in case the fight was a diversion.

We were evenly matched. They fought dirty. Then again, there were no rules. I was fighting two against one and a split second distraction when I heard Rian yell got them a stab to my abdomen. I felt the blow to the back of my head shortly after and I saw stars. The last thing I remember before going black was seeing Rian slash the short redhead across the face. Ashby. That was his name. He was the one who nearly killed me. It was because of him I lost my memory.

Suddenly, I was thrown back to the present. There was a loud bang that thundered through the room.

"Let him go," I heard Jack demand.

If I had any energy left, I would've cried with relief at the sound of his voice. The kicking and punching stopped and I finally relaxed, every muscle in my body screaming in pain.

"Oh look, Romeo has come to the rescue the pretty princess," somebody sneered. "Or, rather, prince," he added tauntingly.

I rolled over slightly and saw the scene play out at an angle. Behind Jack stood Zack and a handful of other men, all of them braced for a fight. Ashby walked up to Jack and barely came up to his shoulder. He was second in command to Carlile, I remembered. It explains why he didn't seem to be intimidated by Jack's height advantage.

"Carlile wants to talk to you," he told Jack.

"Tell him to kiss my ass," Jack snarled back.

"Oh? I wouldn't test my luck if I were you," Ashby warned. "Boys, pick him up."

Without a moment's hesitation, I was hauled up to my feet and supported by two of the men. My head felt heavy but I held it up just long enough to see the look of fear flash in Jack's eyes. It was there and gone so fast, nobody else would've seen it even if they were staring at him the whole time.

"Don't touch a hair on his head," Jack warned. "Or you'll regret it."

"You tempt me so," Ashby started to laugh but choked to an abrupt halt.

I raised my head slightly and couldn't help a small smirk when I saw what happened. I would say that it even gave me strength. Jack had Ashby by his collar and lifted him up until the tip of his toes were just brushing the floor. I've never seen Jack so angry before. Not even in my newly recovered memories. His eyes were hard and flashing hot. A regular man would've been burnt to ashes under his glare.

"I'll tell you one last time, Ashby," Jack growled menacingly. "Let him go, or we can tie you up and give you a taste of you own medicine."

I couldn't see his face but Ashby lifted a hand and the two men who held me up let go of me. I stumbled a little but I had regained enough strength to stand upright on my own and make my way slowly towards Jack and the others. Once Jack was happy with the distance between me and the other men, he let Ashby go but none too gently. I reached him and gave him a look, silent reassuring him that I was alright.

The ginger dusted himself off and cleared his throat, gathering up his lost dignity. He lifted his chin and grinned smugly as if he had won this round. I knew that he wouldn't have an easy time explaining to his boss how his prisoner got loose. The smugness was a mask. Still, it didn't stop him from being an annoying little son of a bitch.

Just as we turned our backs on him to walk out, he called out one last taunt. "We'll get you someday, you homos," he sneered. Except he didn't say 'homo' specifically. He said the f-word.

Beside me, Jack stopped and sighed. "I didn't want to do this," he shrugged. Then he nodded at Zack, who in turn, signalled the others and they filed into the warehouse.

I heard the sounds of yells and struggles as Jack ushered me out of the warehouse. I glanced back to see Zack and the others holding the four of them down and tying rope around their hands and ankles. Rags were produced and stuffed into their mouths and whoever tried to fight back earned a blow to the guts. I wanted to laugh but I was in too much pain to do so.

Once we were out in open air, I realised it was still dark out. It felt I was in there for ages. Jack looked around.

"I wonder where's Carlile," he muttered.

"I dunno," I replied hoarsely. "He was here just now."

"I guess he wasn't expecting us so early," Jack said grimly. He looked at me in the dim amber glow of streetlights around. "Zack and the others can handle things from here," he told me. "Let's get you home."

"Yes, please."

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This one took slightly longer because I was having a few busy days. Sorry for that. 

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