I distantly registered the word love in my mind before adrenaline surged into me as I rushed towards the bikers.
A loud rumbling sound suddenly filled the humid air and I stopped in my tracks. I turned and saw an old beat-up Cadillac with a f**ked up muffler spewing smoke out the back. It stopped in the street by the row of bikes with its headlights illuminating the fight.
A man stepped out of the car and whistled so sharply I thought it’d burst my eardrums.
The bikers all suddenly stopped and dropped their fighting stances. Even Jax froze, still gripping onto one of the bikers' jacket.
Jax’s fiery eyes went wide as the color drained from his face.
It looked like he was staring at a ghost.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ONE SMALL LIE
Jax
Twenty-two years ago.
Jax’s breaths were coming fast. His skin was too hot. He was running with all his might, desperately hoping he wouldn’t get caught. But he was getting tired and his legs were beginning to feel a tingliness and burning in them. His chest felt sharp and achey. And worse of all, he knew the person chasing him was faster.
He looked to his left and saw a wall of gray not far off; he looked to his right and saw the same. He had nowhere to go except forward, but forward was full of big colors he couldn’t run through. He had to make a difficult choice: climb the big colors or try to run around them.
It would slow him down if he climbed, but Jax was good at climbing. He’d climbed up the huge tree in his backyard many times whenever he was scared because it was safe up there. There were a lot of leaves he could hide behind, and it was high enough that nobody could reach him.
If he continued running, he knew it would eventually be over for him.
I can’t get caught. I can’t let him catch me.
He dashed up the brown steps and lost one of his shoes. The sticky straps on both of them had broken off long ago. He felt lucky that his shoes had stayed on his feet for this long because they usually fell off quickly whenever he ran.
He didn’t look back or try to get it. He had to keep moving. He climbed another set of steps and raced toward the yellow and orange striped entrance he’d been looking for.
When he got there, he sank down to his butt, his nerves on fire. The noise in his ears sounded like roaring. His eyes widened as he looked down.
This is it. I’m going to make it. I’m going to get away. If I just push myself forward . . .
He pushed himself forward, but a strong grip on his shoulders stopped him.
"GOTCHA!"
Jax turned his head to look behind him and saw green eyes and a giant grin. He recognized the tiny spots across the boy’s nose and cheeks.
"Nooo!" Jax screamed, kicking his legs and flapping his hands in disappointment that his friend, Michael tagged him.
Michael laughed. "Gotcha. Cops win!" Two fingers pressed against the back of Jax’s head. "You’re under arrest!" he heard Michael cry followed by a spitty explosion sound as the two fingers fired.
Jax laughed and slid down the bright red to the bottom, all the while patting his mouth with his hand as he tried making the sound that Indians make.
Michael followed him with his hands raised in the air in victory and crying, "YIPPEEEE!"
Jax turned to Michael. "Okay, you got me, Michael. My turn now?"
Michael looked down at Jax’s feet and pointed to his sock with a hole in the front, large enough for the big toe to poke through. "Haha! Jax, you lost your shoe again!" Michael slapped his own knee and bent over, continuing to laugh.
Jax looked at Michael’s shoes. They looked clean, and they looked so cool because they had Transformers on them. Jax wished he could have shoes like those. Moments later, he went to get the shoe he had lost and came back to Michael.
Before they could start another game, there was a loud, screeching sound. Jax saw Mrs. Appleton blowing the whistle around her neck. "Okay children! Recess is over. Your mommies and daddies are here to pick you up!"
Michael cheered and ran to the entrance where his mom was standing. She had yellow hair and a big smile on her face. She hugged him when he got over to her. Then she gave him a cone with white swirly ice cream on top.
Jax saw his dad’s black car sitting on the other side of the street. He couldn’t see his dad inside because the windows were dark, but he was pretty sure Daddy was inside. He could tell it was Daddy’s car because Daddy’s car was always the one with the fins on the back so it looked like a shark.
As Jax was leaving the playground, he heard his name being called.
"Hey Jax!" Michael’s mom said. "We have an extra one. Do you want it?"
Jax’s eyes lit up. He nodded eagerly and rushed over. "Thanks!" he said as he took the ice cream.
After Jax and Michael said their goodbyes, Jax took a few licks. It tasted so good, he couldn’t imagine anything tasting better. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had ice cream.
Jax carried his treat as he walked across the street to Daddy’s car, careful to watch out for other cars driving by. He walked around to the other side and opened the door carefully.
He stood on the curb, staring at Daddy in the driver seat, unsure if he should get inside. Sometimes Daddy got mad when he got inside without asking first. But then sometimes Daddy also got mad if he didn’t get inside quick enough.
"Hi Daddy," Jax said, as a sort of question.
"Get inside," Daddy said.
Jax released his breath and hopped inside. It seemed like Daddy wasn’t in a bad mood right now, which made him happy.
"So, how was school?" Daddy asked.
"Awesome!" Jax cheered. "We made pictures. And we made them with wet, icky stuff that had a lot of colors. Mrs. Appleton said we have to let them dry, so I can’t show you today. But tomorrow I can show you."
Daddy chewed something in his mouth for a moment. "You play with that other boy?"
Jax put his finger to his mouth as he thought about his day and who he played with. "Um, who?"
"You know, the one with the mom over there," Daddy said pointing out the window. "That hot lady with the nice butt."
"Oh! That’s Michael’s mom! She gave me this!" Jax held up his ice cream.
Daddy kept his gaze out the window. "Yep, that’s the one." Daddy rolled down the window a little bit and spit brown stuff from his mouth.
"Yeah, I played with Michael. We played cops and robbers!"
"Who won this time?"
Jax hesitated. He’d had so much fun playing with Michael that he’d forgotten that he should’ve taken it more seriously. He thought about telling the truth, but was afraid of how Daddy might respond if he told Daddy that he lost. "I won, Daddy."