Jesus, she was gorgeous. And way younger than me, but how much younger?
“I’m willing to take my chances if it means you won’t let them hurt me.”
“Have they hurt you?” I inspected her body, searching for signs of abuse.
She shook her head. “But if they catch me, I’m dead.” Her pleading eyes bore into mine, touching a part of my soul no one had gotten close to encountering. If her life was really in danger, I couldn’t just leave her here.
“The tow truck will be here in thirty minutes,” Slay hollered.
“There’s a spare tire,” Javi said, while digging in the trunk. “Want me to fix it and send her on her way?”
“Thirty minutes is long enough for him to find me,” she said. “Please help me. Just get me into Oregon and you’ll never see me again.”
“Prez?” Fucking Slay was pissing me off. I appreciated him doing his job as the enforcer and keeping me safe. But this woman needed my help. I wasn’t about to throw her to the wolves.
“Hop on, sweetheart. I’ll get you to safety.”
3
Silvia
“Hop on, sweetheart. I’ll get you to safety.” The biker reached his hand out to me. Something flashed in his eyes as he stared at me. He seemed to be attracted to me, but I couldn’t be sure. I was so inexperienced, I didn’t know how to tell one way or the other.
Going with my gut, like the sisters used to tell me, I took his large hand. Yup, I was throwing caution to the wind and trusting God to protect me.
“Prez, are you sure about this?” The guy who seemed to be the president’s right-hand man asked. “She can ride with me.”
“Hell, no,” the Prez snapped, then looked at me. “I’m El Jefe. And you are?”
“Silvia. Why do they call you El Jefe?”
“It’s my road name. Do you know what it means?” He got on the back of his bike, took a helmet out of a bag on the side of his motorcycle and placed it on my head.
“The boss.” I had taken Spanish in high school. It was a weird road name, but I didn’t honestly care. I climbed on to the seat behind him. My T-shirt crept up and I had to hold the hem down between my crotch, so my panties didn’t show.
“That’s right. Good girl.” He winked and gave me a disarming grin.
My heart raced at his smooth, husky voice. The way he praised me made me tingle. What was that feeling? Something I’d never experienced before. I sort of liked it.
His Harley rumbled beneath my thighs and a thrill I’d never felt before jolted inside me. The next thing I knew, we were zooming down the road and headed towards the mountains. I should have asked him where we were going. I should have done a multitude of things differently. But alas, I didn’t. This was me throwing caution to the wind. And trusting God to protect me from this man and his crew.
“Are you okay back there?” he shouted over his shoulder.
“Yes, I’m fine. I think.”
“Just hold on tight and we’ll be at my club in less than an hour.”
The next thing I knew, he was taking my hand and wrapping it around his waist. He didn’t let go, holding me right where he wanted me. I had to admit; I liked the control he took without asking.
I also liked being on his bike, feeling the air rushing through my long locks, and having no idea where I was going or if I would survive the day. If this was what freedom felt like, I wanted more of it.
Eventually, the rain stopped, and the clouds vanished. And the sun was finally making its appearance. I welcomed this little bit of peace. To be out in the world, away from the monastery, and away from my brother’s control was liberating.
El Jefe stayed off the interstate, taking the back roads. I liked being surrounded by rural land. Horses and cattle grazed in the open fields, tractors were plowing, people were working hard in the fields. I imagined this was what an honest day’s work looked like. I appreciated their labor and dedication.
Farmers and the pickers were the ones who fed us. Sister Lupita always prayed for them when she said the blessing atdinner. She had told me to never take migrant workers for granted. That the jobs they performed in the hot sun were backbreaking and they didn’t even receive minimum wage.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the people in the fields. Men and women alike. Many were wearing straw hats and long sleeve shirts. It was summertime so it made sense for them to cover up as much as they could to avoid getting sunburned. I’d never want to do what they were doing and that thought made me feel awful.
