I stop and see her run into her room and come out with a long sleeve, black shirt. “Put this on.” She hands me the shirt. “It was Nate’s, my ex. He left it behind. You need to blend better with the dark so you don’t become our first casualty. She is going to kill me when she realizes I brought you with me.” I take off my shirt and slip the black one over my head. “I am not giving you a choice. Now let’s go.” “We have to stop by the garage, I am sure she left the car loaded and she took off on her bike with only the essentials.” I look at her incredulously. “I hate to admit it, but I bet you are right. We need to bring everything she might have left behind. Brianna I arrived at the quarry early enough to survey the entire site again. Ciara and I had come once before, during daylight, to examine how effective this would be to confront Jesse. It is an old rock quarry from the 80’s. It was abandoned because it overflowed with water years and years ago, but with the most recent drought conditions, it’s like a huge solid rock hole, with nothing more than a water pit in the middle. This is all man made. The rock mountain was blasted with explosives to create piles of broken rock. These were transported by dump trucks to a rock crushing machine. Once crushed, the rocks were moved by conveyor belts and metal chutes to transport to various places. All the equipment used to cut and move the rocks is gone. The only things remaining that make this area look like it was a real quarry at one point are some old rusted chutes, a broken down conveyor track and piles of rocks here and there. I am on a high point gravel road that circles the quarry. It was blocked by a fenced gate, but I broke the lock and drove right in. I can see everything from here. I know Jesse tends to be hasty and he’s way too worried with killing me to think about sending a lookout to this place. I am waiting for them, to let them think they got here first and then I will be able to watch while all his men hide and wait to ambush me. I hear an engine approaching on the gravel road. I push my bike and lay it down in the ditch, and then I take cover. I wait for the vehicle to pass by, but it stops instead. Peeking from the ditch, I recognize the truck… What the hell? That is Colton’s truck. Can his timing be any worse? Then I hear a familiar voice – Ciara? Shit! “You can come out of the ditch, bitch! How dare you leave me behind? Cut the lights, Colton.” “What the fuck are you two doing here? Especially you Mr. Walkaway Joe! Get back in your fucking truck and get the hell back to town!” “Fuck no! – That is not happening! I’m not going anywhere so give it up. We will talk about what happened yesterday after this crazy scheme of yours plays out. Ciara got me all caught up. Are you crazy or do you have a death wish? Why would you come out here without backup? Hmm? Start talking.” Shit. This is not happening. I give Ciara a pissy look and her response is to shrug her shoulders. Unbelievable. I better take charge. “We don’t have time to talk, Colton, so don’t get your panties in a wad.” I look at Ciara, “I assume you came prepared?” “Yeah, girl, you know it. We got the rest of the stuff from your trunk. What time is the meet?” “Midnight. Did you close the gate after coming through?” “Yes, and we wrapped the chain around the lock to make it look like it’s still secured. Okay then, it’s almost time. Colton here says he’s a good shot. So I figure he can cover North and East, and I can cover South and West.” “Fine. Please get the rifles and the rest of the weapons out of the truck, Ciara.” I spare a look at Colton and think that he is either incredibly stupid, or incredibly brave. I’m going with the latter because it makes me feel all gooey inside. I don’t need to get any more worked up. Colton takes a step towards me. “Don’t come any closer.” He ignores me and I roll my eyes. “Stop rolling your eyes at me. That doesn’t scare me.” “It doesn’t? Because you should be. Scared, I mean. You should be scared shitless that I am going to kick your ass. You do not get to come here, be all sweet like ‘I fucked up, forgive me’ shit and expect everything to be okay. It does not work that way.” He is right in front of me. “It doesn’t?” I stare at his beautiful blue eyes. He is piercing me in place, looking at me with love, sorrow, want – all rolled into one. Shit. “Brianna…” He raises his hand and puts it around the back of my neck, and then he pulls me into him, so very close that I inhale his breath. Our lips are barely separated by a thin line of air that acts as a connector at the same time. I’m hypnotized. He whispers to me, “I am sorry for everything. Starting this very second, my life is forever entwined with yours. There are no words to express the love I feel for you. Stop pretending that you are mad at me, and kiss me.” And like the horny monkey that I am, I kiss him. I kiss him because he makes me whole, because I love him unconditionally. I kiss him, because we are human and we make mistakes. Because feeling his lips on mine puts me at ease, and I need that. I am loved by a wonderful man who tonight is rescuing me a second time. The first time he rescued me, he did it by falling right at my feet the first day we met, and I didn’t even realize it until now. “Okay, lovebirds, that didn’t take long. Sheez, give it a rest! We need to concentrate on the people we are about to put down! There is no PDA during ambush time.” Reluctantly, I pull away. “No one is putting down anybody. We are not killers. We are only going to disarm and neutralize them. You need to aim for the knees, shoulders, arms… try not to kill anybody! I don’t feel like worrying if the cops get involved.” Ciara hands Colton one of the M39 rifles fitted with night scopes and enough ammo to kill an elephant. Sigh . We notice some lights down at the pit, it’s a large vehicle, like an Escalade, but it is only one. We crouch down and get closer to the cliff in order to better see what is happening. The driver goes around the quarry and drops three armed men, one on the west wall, another on the south wall and the last one on the east. Then the vehicle goes around to the north end and parks. Jesse and another guy step out and I’m almost positive the driver is still inside the vehicle. Looking at him all smug and so sure that he has the upper hand, makes my blood boil. I am suddenly really, really angry. “There are six of them, maybe seven if another one is in the truck besides the driver.” It’s time. Assume your positions. I love you guys.” Colton grabs my arm. He whispers. “Be careful, I know you’ve got this, but just in case, I’ve got your back, baby.” I nod. We smile. I move away to fetch my bike and I let them take cover on their designated areas. I push the bike until I get to the gate, then I start it. When it roars to life, I do too. On the short drive down, I recall all the pain and humiliation Jesse has put me through. I feel ready. Watch your ass, Jesse, ‘cause I’m getting ready to rip you a new one. The only lights in this hole are from the Escalade. I drive at full speed into the quarry, coming to a stop in front of Jesse about fifteen feet away. Easy target. First we need to set the record straight. Maybe we don’t need to resort to violence. Shit! Who am I kidding! I have a mobster monster right in front of me. “Brianna… Nice entrance. I’m impressed. I guess you have learned a thing or two since you left our love nest.” “Jesse… Yes, you can say that I have learned a few things, but what I left behind was certainly not love and most definitely not a nest. What the fuck do you want with me Jesse? It’s been over four years. Can’t you let anything go?” “What you did was not just leaving. It was disrespectful. You know how I feel when someone disobeys the rules.” “What I know is that every time something goes against the current, your solution is always to shove some coke into your nose. That shit will kill you eventually, if I don’t do it first. Now let’s move on to something more interesting… Why did you bring so many men to this party? Are you scared or just high?” “I needed reassurance that I will get my hands on you tonight. Get ready, Brianna, I will beat and fuck you to the brink of death and then I’m going to nurse you back to health so I can do it over and over again. You are my whore and will always be my whore. When I get tired of you, I will put you out of your misery, but in the meantime, this…” he points at the package between his legs, “is the only dick you will be fucking and sucking, for the rest of your miserable existence.” Opening his arms, he fans his fingers, and the driver gets out of the truck, and all the others come out of their hiding places, moving to close in. I casually ease down the kickstand on my bike and climb off. I move front and center, in no hurry. I look around and wait for these three fools behind me to close in so I can take care of them. When they are near enough to hear me, I open my arms to imitate Jesse, wiggle my fingers while looking directly into his eyes, then I smile the most evil smile I can muster, enjoying the look of surprise in Jesse’s face, in the moment he realizes that I am not worried or concerned. He knows that I am going to enjoy this, whichever way it ends. “Jesse, the only way I am touching your diseased, itty bitty dick is when I cut it off and feed it to you. But no worries, I will sprinkle some salt and pepper on it so you enjoy it better. That’s the kind of shit you like, right? Or did you forget what you did to Mary? Because I never did.” There ! I see the fear in his eyes. It’s showtime. I take this moment of surprise to start the attack. I take out two shuriken and throw them simultaneously at the guys on each side of Jesse. The guy on the left gets hit in his right eye, and the one on the right gets hit in the neck. Like an idiot, he removes the throwing star and starts bleeding like a mother fucker. I feel arms coming around me. The guy on my right is holding my arms and pulling them back. I lean back and use his body like a prop so I can spin kick the guy in the middle. He falls back. I hear Jesse screaming obscenities to his men. He may be a little concerned. I am not. The third guy raises his weapon, but before he can use his trigger finger, his hand gets blown off at the wrist – Ciara or Colton were covering me, not sure of which one, but the timing was perfect. This one holding me is getting on my nerves already. The rest of the men are panicking a little because they have no idea how many snipers I have at the ready. I kick the guy behind me in the shin with the heel of my boot and he loses his hold a bit, but not completely. I lean forward as far as I can and then rear back to land a head butt on his nose. It works! He finally drops my arms in order to nurse his broken nose, and I quickly spin around, jabbing him with my elbow as hard as I can. I turn to my right and the guy I had kicked is headed my way with a gun in his hand. Ciara and Colton can’t see it because his back is to them.