Page 40 of Condemned to You

Birdy gave vague instructions on the meeting location. I stood in a parking lot, dressed in an all-black hoodie and jeans. Keeping my head low so I’d go unnoticed, I realized it was the same parking lot as the bodega when I first met Bethany. Whoever this MC is, made me question everything in the city I thought I knew inside and out. It wouldn’t surprise me if the mystery man chose this location for a particular reason. Everything he did seemed to have a purpose behind it.

A white 2005 Chevy Astro Cargo entered the parking lot and pulled up beside me. The door slid open and there was a man with curly blond hair and Birdy welcoming me in. The man had to be in his 20s, and was holding a blindfold and rope. There were only two seats – the driver and the passenger. The door that slid open was empty and looked like it survived a horror scene.

“You’re fucking with me,” I spat out. “I thought I was part of the team.”

Birdy smiled, “That’s up to MC.”

Rolling my eyes, I stepped into the van and had Birdy tie the blindfold around my head to cover my eyes and tie my wrists together with the rope behind my back. Seated on the floor of the van, I leaned my back against the cargo as I thought to myself; either this MC was extremely paranoid or he was bat shit crazy.

Birdy and the blond jumped to the front of the cargo and we began moving.

“Goldilocks, you think he’s as good as they say?” Birdy asked the blond as though I wasn’t even there.

“Quit with the Goldilocks,” the young man replied annoyed. “I heard he held a man by the balls over the Willis Tower because they crossed the DeCarlo family.”

I smirked to myself as I leaned my head back against the van. There were a ton of wild stories about me and most of them were true.

Birdy scoffed, “There’s not a chance in hell a man would survive that. Bless the hearts of the idiots who believe it.”

I smirked to myself as I let out a breath of air. They were trying to get under my skin. Defending myself wasn’t my thing. Whether you believe the stories or not, it didn’t take long to learn not to mess with me. The more people feared me, the more the stories became believable.

“I hear he has 10 kids now,” I chimed in.

“Exactly,” Bird spit out not amused, “It’s all bullshit.”

The entire ride Birdie and the blond were chatting, trying to get inside my head but I took note of every stop and turn. If I was right, we should be at the dock. That couldn’t be right. Why the dock? Luca had men all over the place here to secure his shipments. The vehicle stopped and both men get out first. I heard their doors shut and their footsteps fade away from the vehicle. When it was deadly silent, I attempted to pull down my blindfold using my shoulder and looked out the windshield. We were at the dock just as I predicted.

The sound of footsteps approached the van so I pulled my blind fold back up. The door slid open and I felt the gust of wind on my skin and the light from the sun shining through the blindfold. Then I collapsed.

As the fog of unconsciousness began to lift, I slowly blinked my eyes open, the world around me coming into focus like a hazy dream. The sharp ache at the back of my head throbbed with each heartbeat, placing my hand there and finding a bit of blood. Confused, I tried to sit up, my limbs feeling heavy and uncoordinated, as if I were wading through water. The dim light of the room made everything appear surreal, and the faint sound of distant voices echoed in my ears, merging with the pounding in my skull.

What a piece of shit. I got dragged into a van, blindfolded, and taken to a place only to get out of the van and end up here. Going to the docks was a ploy. They wanted me to believe I knew where I was and now, I had no idea.

“He’s up,” that raspy voice clamoring through my head.

Getting to my feet, my eyesight was slowly coming into focus and I saw Birdy with Goldilocks walking toward me.

“Was that necessary?” I commented.

“Don’t mind Birdy here,” a voice came from behind both men, “I thought it would be fitting to introduce myself but needed to hide my whereabouts.”

Both Birdy and Goldilocks stepped aside so that the man could come into view. He was middle-aged, with salt and pepper colored hair neatly slicked back and determined brown eyes, casually holding a gun in his hand placed at his side.

“You must be the big shot MC,” I said crossing my arms across my chest.

We were in some kind of warehouse but there were no windows making me think this could be underground.

“I’ve been watching you for quite a while Emilio.”

“Typically my stalkers are women. This new territory for me.”

He laughed as though we were friends. “I hate to have to force you into this but maybe this can be a positive exchange.”

“Why don’t you start with what you need from me before I consider anything positive about this. Don’t waste my time.”

“Your time is now mine.” He approached me close enough to make his message clear yet far enough so that I couldn’t lung at him.

“The only thing I agreed to so far is meeting you. The rest is still up for debate.”