Page 19 of Wanting More

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

Sapphire nearly jumped out of her skin as she both heard and felt the banging noises from below. Each deep thumping sound felt like nails being driven into her heart one after the other. Looking to Blanche, Sapphire wanted to silently signal as to what that sound could be. Whatever it was, it was below them, off to the right, almost where her room would…

"Goldilocks! Come out to play!" the man's voice shouted.

Sapphire could feel the blood drain from her face. Standing completely still, she tried to listen past her own hammering heart in her chest as the man called out again.

"Come on! Come out to play. I want to huff and puff and blow my load inside of you!" There was a chorus of laughter behind that.

She felt as if she was going to be sick. Half walking, half stumbling, she made it to the other dining room chair and sat heavily in the seat. Dear God, they wantedher! But how? Why? Clutching the sides of her head, she buried her fingers in her hair as her frantic mind tried to think. She did everything she was told. She came home early with the intention of staying inside all night. Earlier, when she went to the grocery store for Blanche, she even hid in the tree line by the road just to make sure no one would see her.

"You're an idiot," another man shouted with a laugh. "That's Three Little Pigs, not Goldilocks and The Three Bears."

"What are you a preschooler? Who gives a fuck?" Sapphire could hear the angry sneer in the man's voice just before the pounding at the door to her room started up again.

This couldn't be happening. Reaching down in her pocket, she pulled out her phone. She needed to call the po-

"What the hell you doin?!" A familiar irritable voice interrupted her thoughts. Looking up, she caught Blanche's terrified eyes as they both listened to Herman yell at the bikers. "Get the hell away from there!"

A man laughed, and Sapphire was certain it was the one that had been banging on her door. "Ooh, old man, you look angry."

With her hands shaking, Blanche reached over to the green plastic phone sitting on the nearby kitchen counter and typed in the three familiar emergency numbers.

Sapphire couldn't sit still any longer. It felt as if her fear and curiosity were going to smother her alive if she sat frozen to the seat one minute longer. She crept to the windows and stood to the side just as Blanche spoke desperately into the phone to the dispatcher. Moving the curtain only a fraction of an inch, Sapphire pressed herself to the wall and peeked down at the scene below.

Gathered around the entrance directly beneath her, Herman was surrounded by three motorcycles. Their bikes were parked in an almost semi-circle around the entrance. Two of the men were off their bikes, one standing directly in front of Herman and the other standing off to the side, smirking. The other biker, who was still on his bike, sat astride the chrome machine, smoking as the bike idled beneath him. There was something about their relaxed postures that sent frissons of cold fear into her veins. It almost felt as if they were having fun.

Holding a dark shape in his hand higher, Herman stepped toward the man directly in front of him. "If you don’t-" he began to threaten, but his words were cut off.

"Shut the fuck up," the man snarled, taking his own threatening step closer to Herman, ignoring the weapon in the old man's shaking hands. “There was a girl. I saw her running inside of here earlier this afternoon. Where is she?"

Sapphire's heart leaped in her chest as she watched Herman take a hesitant step back. From this angle, she wasn't able to see the motel owner's face, but she could see the biker's face perfectly. She imagined Herman's usually gruff expression falling in fear at the sight of the violent bastards in front of them, and it made her want to go down there and snatch the gun from his hands and use it herself.

"She ain't none of your concern. She was just dropping off something. Now you just leave," Herman angrily commanded.

"Now, why don't I believe you?" With his thin receding hair pulled into a tight ponytail, the man in front of Herman leaned in closer to the older man. "You see, I was down here earlier this week, and I saw that same piece of hot ass walk into that there room. I think you're lying to me, old man. And everyone knows how I feel about liars."

Taking another step back toward the door, Herman grabbed the side for support but kept the sawed-off leveled at the man with his other hand. "I told you she ain't none of your concern. She's Joel's and Hayden's girl, and if you say another thing about her, I'm going to call them right now," he rasped, and Sapphire could see his narrow shoulders heaving under the strain of the moment.

The other two men shifted uneasily at that and looked at one another. The man in front of Herman only seemed to grow more agitated at the news. His ugly face contorted in fury and fear as he looked back at his friends' worried expressions before looking back at Herman.

"You're lying," he hissed.

Herman didn't say anything, and Sapphire could only imagine Herman giving the man a smug expression that said he wasn't.

Stepping back, the man with the ponytail looked back at his friends whose relaxed postures had disappeared, replaced by shifting looks of unease. Sensing their apprehension, the man tried to reassure them. "He's lying! Why the fuck would Joel or Hayden have their girl in this piece of shit place?" he said, waving to the motel.

The man on the motorcycle just shook his head and threw down his unfinished cigarette, and sat up straighter on this bike. "Look, the chick ain't here. Let's just get down to the bar. There are plenty of women down there."

Anger warped the main biker's face. "No," he snarled, his spittle gleaming in the light of the bike's headlight. "I want this one." Turning, he grabbed Herman by the collar, ignoring the gun between them. "I'm going to see for myself what you're hiding," he promised with an insane grin.

A pair of headlights shined up the road, and Sapphire looked longingly up, straining to see through the sliver of curtain she allowed herself. Please let it be the police. But the lights, she realized, were singular, each one belonging to a motorcycle, and they weren't coming from the direction of the station. Her heart sank and froze once more in the pit of icy fear in her chest as she realized it was more bikers.

Out of the darkness, the bikes pulled up with a deafening twin roar and slid to a halt. Once again, her heart leaped to life as Sapphire recognized the big figures swinging off the bikes.

Her elation was not shared by the other men.

"Ah shit, man." The man that had been seated on the bike whined just as he grabbed the handles of his bike and twisted the throttle. With a spluttering of gravel and dirt, the man was skidding onto the road as Hayden and Joel came closer.