Beretta (MC#1)

Chapter 6- Her

"I'm fine", Julia shrugs off the biker holding her by the shoulders.

"No. you're fucking not", he says, sitting her down in a nearby plastic chair. Another biker hands her a cold glass of water.

Seeing them being so kind to Julia is so opposed to their overall image. I mean, what would one expect from men built like gods, with faces strained and hostile stances. I'm pretty sure each one is carrying at least one weapon.

"Hi...?", I say with a practiced innocent smile towards the least aggressive looking one next to Julia. Julia gives me a look that says 'shut the fuck up, bitch. We're in deep trouble' and along the lines of 'If they kill me because of you I'll kill you'. The smile stays stuck to my face.

"Is everything alright, gentlemen?" I try again assessing each and every one. There's a total of 4 men here. And by the formation they're standing in; they must be the top dogs here.

"Just fucking peachy woman. Now you tell me who the fu-", The man shouts, stepping away from behind the President.

"Don," I say reading his name off the patch on his leather vest. "First of all, that's no way to talk to a lady. Didn't your woman teach you some manners?". He fumes at the question, opens his mouth to speak, to possibly be even more of an asshole. But I'm not having it.

"Second, now you've pissed me off. So, I'm not answering any questions for you. Go learn some fucking manners first", he moves towards me in a blink and raises his hand as if to strike me. Only instinct has me staring right at him in challenge. There's nothing I can do about it. I like pissing him off.

"Don!", Harlow (where did she even come from?) has the asshole's arm in a death grip, "What are you doing!?", she shrieks

Another man- Blaze, apparently from his patch- helps pull Don off me. I suppose the drugs haven't worn off yet as I feel almost no pain in my shoulder despite the jostling. Whatever they gave me must've been fucking strong.

Finally Blaze and Harlow manage to drag Don to the opposite side of the room. I feel my temper rising at the audacity. At the idea that this is the kind of men I'm surrounded with; men who think striking a woman would make them compliant, men who can even think that hitting women is okay. Suddenly, they all look very ugly to me. Despite their obvious appeal, they are the ugliest creatures in the room. Memories- ugly moments rush back to and I can't look at them without composing myself. Or else they'll suspect me even more than they probably already do. So, I look at the wall behind their head.

"Apologies about that, miss. It wasn't our intention to unsettle you after hours of being shot", I instantly recognize him. The President. He's probably the most sensible person here. And he recognizes when I'm close to tears. Just not for the right reason.

He shoots me his version of a comforting smile. And it's so familiar. So goddamn familiar is that lift of the mouth, the slight twitch of the lips. No teeth and the slightest hint of crow's feet around his eyes. I'm looking at the younger version of an old face. My eyes glass over and the lump in my throat makes It hard to breathe.

He waits for me to speak and I still don't look at him. I can't

Blaze whispers furiously to Don. Harlow just looks out the window, eyes clamped shut, shoulders drooped, turned away from her fiancé. And I wonder has he hit her too? Has he hurt her the way he would've hurt me had he not been stopped?

I don't care, I tell myself.

"It's okay. We can't expect animals to act like humans", I finally meet the President's eyes and Blaze comes to stand beside him. Behind them, Julia is being tended to by the biker. She looks exhausted and I feel guilty for not caring earlier.