Hell Has A New Name

20

Juan was rushing around trying to get his shit together. They had to leave, go where he didn't know but they couldn't stay here. He packed all of his stuff, and let himself into Ambers room.

"Hey. Amber. Amber! We gotta go. C'mon, get up let's go." He was pulling at her, she sleepily looked at him like he was insane. Maybe he was.

"Micheal, what the hell is going on?"

" I don't even know how to explain. Come on, I'll get you back to Miami. It's not safe for you to be with me. I promise to keep in touch, I'm taking you to the airport okay." He was speaking fast, rushing around the room.

"Are you high!" She yelled at him, annoyed by his behavior.

He stopped moving and looked at her pleading. "No. I just got a phone call, not a good one. We have to go."

She stumbled from the bed and pulled in her jeans, before excusing herself to the bathroom.

He would drop her off at the airport and then he'd go to any state, a random state. Fuck Louisiana would be good, right? There are no Sons there, he could leave the country but where would he go? He made the trips to the car loading up their few items, and then walked down with her to the car.

"I'm sorry about all of this. I'll explain a little more in the car okay?" He rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably.

Once they were on the road, she was quiet for a moment. They pulled out of town, taking the exit for the interstate and she sighed. "Spill. I want it all." She was deadpan, no bullshitting. He could tell she wasn't going to let him go without knowing.

"Let me decide if I'm safe or not. Tell me the truth, if I want to go home I'll tell you." She was pissed, he could tell. He hated having people be mad at him, it's what got him in this mess to begin with.

He sucked air between his teeth and let it out slowly. He wished he had a smoke, but he'd given it up.
"What I'm going to tell you isn't going to be pretty."

She laughed a bitter laugh. "None of it has been so far. Sooo. Don't fuck around with me Micheal. I'm a great friend, but I'm a horrible enemy." Something sparked in her eyes, and he could tell she wasn't joking. If she found out on her own, and she likely would, she ruin his life.

"Okay. Gonna rip off the bandaid." He paused for effect, giving her a second to back out. She didn't so he continued. "I'm supposed to be dead, technically I am dead. I was killed, in prison. Took the fall for some shit, went inside to do a job. My obituary is online, I've read it a million times. Coming to Miami was my resurrection of sorts. I was given documents naming me Micheal."

She was stunned, his heart was racing. If she didn't hate him already surely she would now.
"Okay. I'll keep going." He responded to her silence.

"I accidentally gave up some information on my club. They wanted me dead because of it. The president gave me a way back in, doing the job inside. He lied, I was a means to an end, he'd pawned me off to the man you call my boyfriend. I completed the job, was then turned into a bargaining chip for that group wanting retribution. Instead I offered myself to the Nazi, letting him take the green light. Apparently he was a little too fond of me because he missed, and got me out of there."

She looked horrified. "What was the job?"

He looked at her sympathetically. "I had to kill the head of the other group. It was my club, yellow and the Nazis. The Nazi basically owns me, even now, but I still followed through for my club. I started the mess."

She was confused, and scared, her eyes reflected it back at him. "Why would they want you to do that?"

"The presidents wife, was killed by his mother. I saw it. Tried to help her cover it up, said it was their guys leaving the house that night. Didn't want him to lose his wife and mother in the same night. Looking back I know it was stupid, I should have just minded my own business. But it started a huge war between us and yellow, finally landing inside."

Fury flashed behind her eyes. "So some guys, your club, whatever that means, got pissed at you because the leaders family was a fucked up version of the Jerry Springer show? They sold you to a Nazi, and asked you to murder a man who was basically innocent?"

He was floored, yeah she was missing the details the fine lines but essentially that was the summary. Said that way it sounded really dumb. "Yeah. Basically. I mean there's more to it. But yeah."

"That man that calls you, why do you call him Papi?" That question stung, Tully was a fresh wound, one he wanted to bury but kept rubbing salt into instead.

"Survival inside. You learn to play the game. I was his play thing essentially for as long as he could keep me. Till I had to die. I mean really in some fucked up way, I think he liked me. Like for real, as much as he could anyway. I'm just a spic punk, but he kept me around longer than he had too. He would read these fucking poems to me, kept me high so it didn't hurt as bad, used lube. He was almost gentle about it like he gave a fuck. Anyway, you learn to play them back, I learned weaknesses, got him to take it easy. Got him wrapped around my finger basically. He foots the bill for now. I mean, I wish I had died on the floor, but I didn't. So he is paying my way to a new life. Someone double crossed him though, so we're all in purgatory till he calls again."

She looked completely appalled. "I understand if you hate me and never want to see me again Amber. I really do."

She sighed. "I'm too involved now. I know too much, leaving me behind would be a liability on your part. So you're either going to kill me also, or you're going to stick it out with me till I have to go back for next semester. In which case, you will have learned to trust me."

He slammed on the breaks, pulling them off on a shoulder. "Amber, I already pulled a gun on you one time, why do think I wouldn't again?"

She looked him dead in the eye. "You're not a killer Micheal. Just because you've killed to survive doesn't make a you a killer. Once you've lost the will to even survive, what's the point? I've danced with the devil Micheal, I've seen him, felt him, you sir... you're not him. Now, you can either prove me wrong and blow my head off now, or you can get your head out of your ass and let me fucking help you. Up to you."

Her voice held no semblance of fear despite Juice being sure she had to be. She turned it off, checked out, he recognized the look in her eyes. That same look Tully would get when he came into his cell. Juice wasn't the only one who checked out during their visits, the Nazi bastard did too. He was as much a puppet on a string being willed to perform, and so he did. Just like Juice, he was trying to survive. Amber had been through some kind of darkness, her eyes said it all. She had let go of the present and welcomed death, welcomed rage, whatever he threw at her she was walking head high unafraid into it.

Here he was again, wondering who the hell she was, and how he'd gotten her out of all the people.

He burst out laughing like a deranged crazy person. "You might be more insane than me." He pulled the car back onto the road, both of them laughing at the situation.

"Yeah well, don't piss me off and you won't have to find out." She winked, before smiling and looking back out the window.