Chapter 4

When I woke up, I had no idea of how much time had passed. I tried to move my arms and couldn't. I looked around and found out that I was tied to a chair. It was all I could do to avoid laughing. I knew where I was. I was in the condo that Charlotte had bought for her loser lovers. The beer bottle was still embedded in the flat-screen TV.

I looked around the room, and the three of them were sitting there, like monkeys sharing a branch.

"Hey Ray, he's awake," said one of them. Ray the guy I had punched in the mouth, came in front of me. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like I got clubbed in the head," I smirked.

"Here, take these," he said. He showed me a sealed bottle of Motrin. He took the top off and then unsealed it and gave me two of them. I swallowed them and then he actually held a cup up to my mouth so I could sip water to wash them down.

"Why are you being nice to me?" I asked.

"Anna does not want you hurt in any way," he said. "She hired us to keep you safe and out of her way, that's all." I noticed that they called her Anna, not Charlotte.

"Yeah she was already pissed at us for hitting you over the head," said the first guy. I later found out that his name was Bob.

"Anna doesn't have any money, how is she paying you?" I asked.

"First off, she didn't need to pay us, we'd have done it for free," said Bob. "We all lost our wives and kids, and most of our money, in our divorces. We only had to get divorced because you got pissed abut us fucking your ex wife. That means we owed you some payback. But Anna is also letting us hit that sweet pussy of hers, for helping her. She's not as good a fuck as your ex. But she's a lot tighter. It's almost as if nobody has used that pussy."

"Hey dumbass," said Ray."You talk too much. Nobody was supposed to know we're fucking her; especially, not him."

"So how long are you supposed to be keeping me here?" I asked. They seemed to be upset that the news of them fucking Anna hadn't bothered me.

"Not long, just until the guys Anna hired get done. She figures the fire won't be enough, so she hired someone to finish the job, after the fire forces the old lady out of the house," said the third guy.

"Now who's talking too much," said Bob.

I yawned as if I could barely stay awake, and started nodding. "Can you untie my hands, I think my circulation is cut off," I said. "I just want to lie down on that couch." I wanted then to think I was far weaker than I actually felt.

"You can lie down but don't go to sleep," snapped Bob. "And remember asshole there are three of us."

"Why can't he go to sleep?" asked Ray.

"Because the reason he's sleepy just after waking up might be that he has a fucking concussion," said Bob. "I don't want him to go to sleep and not wake up."

"Maybe we shouldn't let him lie down then," said the third guy, Frank. "Whenever I lie down, I go to sleep."

"That's because you're a fat, out of shape loser," snapped Bob. "Speaking of losers, I wouldn't want to be this guy. Every chick he falls in love with, wants to fuck us."

I staggered over to the couch with Bob just behind me. My head was beginning to clear and I knew I had to do something. Amanda was depending on me. The chair I'd just gotten out of was a possibility. Across the room there was a computer.

Just as I got to the couch I moved. I went from pretending to stagger, into lightning fast motion. Ray was still right behind me; as if he was making sure I didn't run. The last thing he expected was for me to move closer to him. I elbowed him in the stomach as hard as I could. Then turned and brought my knee up into his face, as it descended when he doubled over from the elbow to the gut. My knee smashed Ray's face, knocking out his front teeth again. Then I leaped for the computer. I snatched the keyboard off the table and smashed it into Bob's face snapping his head backwards. I followed up by kicking him in the nuts as hard as I could. Both of them were out of the fight.

Frank was just getting up. He was a big one. I picked up the chair I'd been sitting in and crowned him with it, before he could get off the couch. He was hurt but still conscious.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked. "We weren't going to hurt you. Anna really did tell us to be as gentle with you as possible. If she didn't show up we were just going to let you go. We didn't even tie you up, she did."

"Look moron," I snapped."Anna is trying to kill her mother. If she succeeds, you'll all be accessories to murder." His eyes got big.

"We didn't know that. We didn't know she was serious. We thought it was just some kinky sex thing that you guys do. She told us that you got off on being tied up. She also said that after you caught Bob with his Dick in Charlotte's ass, that it was a turn on knowing that someone else had fucked your woman. And those two are liars. None of us has ever fucked Anna. Bob was just saying that to get back at you for messing up his life. He figured that if you thought he'd fucked Anna, it would break the two of you up." he shrugged his shoulders.

"We did know she had a mad on for her mother. But we didn't know that she was going to kill her. She told us she was just going to drive her out of the house, and then kidnap her, to get the old lady to sign over control of her stock. Then you wouldn't be able to control the company and you could get married and live happily ever after, and pay us a shitload of money. We'd also be helping out with true love. She's obsessed with you."

I had no time for this, so I left him there and ran out into the streets. It was already dark outside. I was about 4 miles from my apartment, and I didn't have my phone. I ran down the road looking for anything I could find. After running a few blocks I found myself outside of Manny's. I went inside and desperately looked for any of my employees. I saw a couple of them in the back.

"Hi guys, this is an emergency, I need a ride," I said. We were outside in less than a minute. Bill Foster quickly took me over to his car.

"I'm not getting into that thing," I snapped, as he pointed to his Toyota Prius. Kurt, the other guy, had already gone back inside. I was worried about Amanda, so I bit the bullet and got into the steaming pile of shit disguised as a car. He started the car and the engine sounded so anemic that I couldn't tell it was on. He lit out of the parking lot in an awesome display of speed, power and handling.

We must have been doing in excess of four miles per hour. I scrunched down in the seat so no one would see me in the car, if you could call it that. "Are we in electric mode," I asked.

"Nope, that's the motor you're hearing," he said. "We're going much faster than if I was in electric. I stifled the desire to stick my feet out of the door and try to pedal the car to get us going faster, ala Fred Flintstone. Luckily, we only had to go about three miles to get to my apartment. But I swore, if any bikes or mopeds passed us, I'd bail out and get a ride from them. My greatest fear though, was that the rubber band that powered the Prius' motor would snap and leave us stranded. Finally, after what seemed like hours later, but was only a few minutes we made it to my building. I saw my car out in front.

"Thanks Bill," I said. "I'll give you a raise if you buy a real car with it." I knew that Bill was serious about recycling and saving the planet, but if I had to drive a car like that, I'd have to let the planet go.

I felt under the Mustang's front quarter panel and got my hide-a-key out. I started the engine and immediately felt better as the Big V8 announced its presence. I had borrowed Bill's cell phone and called Amanda.

"Who is this?" she asked tentatively. She was whispering.

"Amanda, it's Press," I said.

"Preston, I need your help," she whispered.

"I know, I'm on my way, where are you?" I said.

"I'm hiding in the hedges in front of the house," she said. "I have to keep moving so they don't know where I am. But don't come here, it's dangerous. Press, I can't stay here for very long because the house is on fire. I called the fire department..."