Adversaries by T.L. Hodel

Idon’t know how long I ran for. There was no direction or place I was trying to reach. I just wanted to get away, away from Chase who was calling my name, the people who supported him, and my dad.

My feet pounded against the ground along with my heart, but no matter how fast I ran or which way I turned, I couldn’t outrun that voice.

‘She’s just a girl.’

Daddy wouldn’t pass me over like that. I knew he wouldn’t. He just wasn’t going to give into my abductor. Never give in to terrorists. That was his motto years ago when I told him about Ryker, and it was still his motto now.

The only time people had power over you was when you gave it to them. Crying over something that already happened wouldn’t change anything. It just made you look weak.

I broke through the treeline at the back of the compound and hunched over to catch my breath. This place was a lot bigger than I thought. I couldn’t hear the rumble of bikes anymore or any of the people calling, and I still hadn’t reached the end of it.

Or maybe I had? It was possible the chain link fence didn’t surround the entire place, and I did run through a group of houses.

I highly doubted a motorcycle club would have houses on their property. They were a bunch of rowdy guys that liked to drink and fuck. Not exactly Pleasantville material.

The setting sun cast a pink glow across the water in a small lake to my right. I watched two birds take flight, heading for a small cluster of trees on the other side.

They flew overhead, twisting and turning around each other as if it was a game. Perhaps it was?

I envied those birds playing in the sky, without a care in the world. Who did they have to impress? Their world didn’t rely on a carefully perfected persona. No one cared what they wore or how they acted. They were free to be who they wanted and do what they liked. I didn’t even know what I liked.

A glint to the left caught my eye. That’s when I noticed a house. The green roof was barely visible through the treeline.

The forest wasn’t as thick here, but in the fading light, the building blended into the plant life. If the sun hadn’t sparked, I might never have seen it. I dusted my hands off on my jeans and walked towards it.

Maybe they had a phone I could use? Daddy would come and get me if I called. I mean, I did get myself into this situation. So, it was up to me to get myself out of it. Part of that, I could blame on Ava and her incessant need for spring rolls.

But like the day I chose to talk to Ryker in the park, none of this would be happening if I’d just ignored Chase.

I entered the backyard and paused when I stepped on something hard. One good thing about the cheap sneakers Chase bought me, I could run. They were thin as hell, though.

I could feel every dip and groove in the ground. In this case, the groove was a hammer. At first, I thought someone had forgotten to pack it up until I noticed that it wasn’t lying in the grass. The grass had grown around it. And the hammer wasn’t the only tool I saw.

Screwdrivers, chisels, and a toolbox lay around the rusty pieces of a swing-set. One of the swings and part of the slide had been put together and then just left. My brow furrowed at the house.

One of the chains on the swing was broken, leaving the wooden bench to rest lopsided on the deck. Other things stood out to me. Crooked shutters along with a dried-out hot tub. The gutter was well maintained, though, and there wasn’t a speck of dirt on the deck.

It was weird. Like someone cared about the place but didn’t. The perfect two-story house with an eerie ambiance in the middle of the woods. This was the kind of place people walked into in horror movies.

Luckily for me, I wasn’t in a horror movie, and mutated, cannibalistic hillbillies didn’t live in South Miami. A fact I almost reconsidered when I opened the back door.

There wasn’t a crazed killer waiting on the other with an ax in hand or human body parts on the table. The interior was actually kind of homey. It had everything a house like would. Refrigerator, stove, and cute furniture.

Like the small kitchen table, complete with a highchair and vase in the center. That’s not what threw me. It was the long-dead flowers in the vase and layer of dust coating everything.

The entire place was like that. Room after room of empty, forgotten memories frozen in time. Where had everyone gone, and why were there still clothes in the closet? I ran my hands over one of the dresses hanging in the master bedroom.

Whoever the woman was that lived here, she was about my size and had decent taste. The blue material wasn’t something I would wear–it was probably last in style about nine or ten years ago–but it was cute.

My suspicions were confirmed when I found a bottle of Emeraude on the dressing table. That perfume had been discontinued for some time now. Bottles could still be bought online, however, most were knock-offs, which I could smell from a mile away.

What was in here was the real deal and probably worth a pretty penny. It wasn’t something someone would just leave behind. Especially a woman. When we found our fragrance, that was it. We would kill someone to get our hands on the last bottle.

Who were these people?

My curiosity led me deeper into the dwelling. Searching through rooms and opening doors, I stopped when I came upon a nursery. In the corner of the room sat a toolkit toybox full to the brim with toys.

The other side housed a changing table fully stocked with diapers and creams. My heart just about broke when I looked in the crib and lifted the blue blanket. Nestled underneath was a stuffed Harley.

It was tucked in so perfectly I could see the baby’s arm tightly wrapped around the body of the bike. I could even smell the baby powder in the air.

The rocking chair in the corner creaked against the floor, drawing my attention to blue block letters resting on the dresser. Maddox. The same name I saw on Chase’s arm. I walked across the room and swept the dust off a picture on the wall.

My breath hitched when I was met with a pair of familiar dark eyes. A younger Chase stood in front of this house. Next to him was a woman with sandy hair and dark blue eyes, but it was the baby in his arms that I couldn’t stop staring at.

“You shouldn’t be in here.”

Startled, I clutched my chest and sprang back. Tanner was standing in the doorway, with his shoulder resting on the frame. His eyes weren’t sparkling like they usually did. They were dripping with sadness as he stared at the picture I’d cleaned off.

“Her name was Sam.” He pushed off the doorframe and stepped up to the portrait. “She was a good woman, took me in and treated me like her own. No one had ever done that for me before. I was disposable to everyone, but not her. Or Chase.”

I looked past him to the eyes of the woman. They seem almost familiar?

“I’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for them.”

I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “What happened to them?”

“They died.” Tanner let out a long breath and spun around. “Chase’s brother killed them.”

His brother? Why would he do that? They were his family too. Chase was his brother. How could he do that to his own brother?

Family was supposed to stick together. Lift you up when you fell down, and be there to help you through the hard times. They weren’t supposed to be the hard times.

‘She’s just a girl.’

My gaze tipped to the crib and stuffed Harley lying inside. “How old was he?”

“Six months.”

God.

I swept a tear off my cheek and sucked in a breath.

“You ever seen a man spiral? I mean really spiral. Completely destroyed with nothing left to lose? Cause I have.” Tanner picked up the stuffed Harley and continued, “I watched this destroy Chase. I saw him paint the streets red with blood,” his eyes rolled up to mine, “and then I saw him give up.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

He sighed and crossed his arms. “Because I think you can fix him.

What?

“You’re crazy.” I scoffed, “I can’t fix him.”

The man lost his family. No one could fix that.

“Yes, you can,” Tanner insisted. “I used to think it would be Riley that pulled him back, and for a time, she did. But the way he looks at you is the same way he used to look at her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Now I know you’re crazy.”

Chase hated me, which was fine. I hated him too.

But do you?

“After everything you’ve seen, you still don’t get it.” Tanner snorted and shook his head.

“Get what?”

“Look at this place.” His arms swung around, spanning the room. “Chase hasn’t been able to look at this house, let alone step inside. It hurts too much. Micha risked his life for Riley, hell, even Logan. He handed himself over to the monster from his childhood to protect his girl.”

Ava told me about all of that. How Ryker came back and took Riley and then Shelby. She was scared, and I couldn’t blame her.

What he did to her was nothing compared to what the rest of us went through. What any of that had to do with this, I didn’t get.

“Ryker’s dead.” I pointed out, “and I highly doubt he had anything to do with what happened to Chase.”

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t put it past that sick bastard to hurt a baby, but Chase didn’t show up in Ashen Springs until like eight or nine years ago. Around the same time, that dress was new.

“How can someone so smart be so stupid?”

“Hey!” I’d been called a lot of things bitch, cunt, uptight, but stupid wasn’t one I’d stand for. “I was in the top ten percent of my class, on the honor roll, and was asked to attend three ivy league colleges.”

I was not stupid.

“Alright,” Tanner sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Let me ask you a question.”

This should be good.

“What’s the most important thing in life?”

Pfft. That was easy. “Reputation.”

“No, Princess.” He shook his head. “There’s only one thing that makes this shit life worth living.”

I huffed and crossed my arms. “And what’s that?”

“Love.”

Really? That’s what he was going to come back with?

“Love doesn’t exist.”

At least not in the way he was talking about. The very idea of soulmates was ridiculous. Marriage was an agreement, a business deal between two people. Humans were social creatures.

No one wanted to be alone, so they found someone they could tolerate, and even that only lasted so long. That’s why infidelity and divorce rates were so high. Everyone was so desperate to believe in love.

Problem was, people weren’t destined to be together. They simply put up with each other.

It was a man-eat-man world. The only person one could truly rely on was themselves. My father taught me that because he didn’t want me to grow up with some romanticized idea of how things should be.

“If you can look around this house, see all these pictures and memories covered in dust, and still tell me love doesn’t exist,” he shook his head and walked out of the room, “then you’re more broken than him.”