HOW TO RUIN YOUR LIFE (LGBTQ+)

37

"Where are we going?" Persia asked, her voice high pitched and shaking.

    She, Joe and his son, Mike, were in the backseat of Sterling's truck. Sterling was driving, with a couple unrecognizable men sitting next to him. Locke wasn't there. He'd been dropped off some time ago.

    Sterling's fingers were clenched over the steering wheel. "I'll tell you, but you'll have to wait until I get to the final destination until I can give a solid explanation. You can trust me."

    Persia and Joe were silent for the rest of the drive.

    They finally arrived at their destination, an old building that neither of them recognized, and Sterling ushered them inside along with his two companions. Mike was brought to a room and put to bed, and finally, Persia and Joe stood face to face with Sterling.

    "Explain, now." Persia's voice was icy.

    Sterling leaned back against a wall, and Joe's eyes lingered over the men and women in the room. They were all hard and strong looking, but weren't paying them much attention.

    "Asa's involved in some serious shit right now. I've brought you here to protect you from the possible repercussions of her actions."

    "Repercussions, huh," Joe snickered a little, no humor in his laugh.

    Sterling looked grim. "Locke got a call just within the past hour from his girlfriend, who was at Asa's house. People are dying right now." He lit a cigarette, then offered it to the siblings. Persia took one, to Joe's surprise, and Sterling lit the end of it with a flourish.

    "My husband has disappeared, we've been taken from our homes, and now our lives are in danger?!" Persia said.

    Sterling nodded.

    "What's the situation?" Joe asked, almost not wanting to know.

    "Asa has attracted some bad attention from a gang she used to be involved in. It seems that they mean business, and..." Sterling swallowed. "I...shit." His cig hand was shaking, and he held it up to his mouth, inhaling a lungful of smoke. "I'm leaving you both here for now. You can trust these people."

    "Wait, where are you going? How long are you planning to keep us here?"

    Sterling shrugged. "I just know that Asa would kill me if I let you two go with the possibility of you getting hurt or dying. So just stay put, okay?"

    And just like that, he disappeared.

-

My eyes fluttered open at the sound of the basement door. Heavy footfalls thundered down the staircase, and I chuckled to myself.

    Is that how I sounded to Cleo?

    "Oi, wake up, Asa," Max said, his boot landing on my ribs.

    I gasped, my eyes snapping open at the sharp pain, my hands lifting to grab at his ankle, but he pressed down harder.

    "Why is it that my men can't find your sister or your brother, who was supposed to be bedridden in the hospital, hmm?"

    I looked up at him in surprise. What?

    "Did you have them hidden before I got here?" he pressed down harder, pushing the air out from my body.

    My vision went blurry as the pain intensified. He was putting massive pressure on my cracked ribs. It was only a matter of time before one of them-

    "Ahhh!" I cried out, my eyes watering as a couple of my ribs audibly broke. My hearing dulled, and I sagged against the ground, my hands falling away from Max's ankle.