Punk

         She found him on the back acre of her family’s farm. Ripped jeans and tight black tee covered in mud. His motorcycle was a few yards away, lying on its side and looking like it had seen better days. He was propped up against one of the giant oak trees that bordered the small road. Pale and still she would have thought he was dead if it hadn’t been for the steady rising and falling of his chest. She crouched down beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly to wake him up.

         He cracked his eyes open and groaned “Where am I?”

         “What’s the last thing you remember?” She asked him. She hoped he didn’t have a concussion or anything.

         “Um…I was riding, something jumped in front of me. Did I wreck?”

         “Yeah, it looks like you did. As for where you are, you’re laying in the back of a cow field.”

         “Oh.”  He rose up and groaned, dropping back to the ground with a thump. His hand came up to his ribs and he winced. “Ow!”

         “Here let me help you.” She said and grabbed his hand, gently hauling him to his feet. He wobbled precariously before getting his balance. He looked over and made a slight noise of distress when he saw his bike “My bike! It’s ruined!”

         She cocked an eyebrow at him “Your bike is the last thing you should be worried about, who knows what kinda injuries you have!” He ignored her and limped over to the totaled piece of metal. “How the hell am I supposed to get out of here? That’s the only thing I had!”

“You aren’t leaving until I make sure you aren’t seriously hurt, so just forget about it.” He turned to look at her, an odd expression on his face. “Do you even know who I am?”

“No why?”

“You don’t watch the news much do you?” He asked with a smirk. She shook her head. She had a TV and cable but she preferred spending the day outside. As for watching the news, well her parents called her when they felt she needed to hear something. As if thinking about her parents was a cue, her cell began to ring. With an apologetic look to him she walked a few feet away and flipped open her phone.

“Honey are you at home?” Her mother’s overly shrill voice asked.

“No I’m back on the farm, why?”

“Well I happened to turn the television on and I saw the most dreadful and frightening thing.” Her mother had always been prone to exaggeration.

“What is it mother, I’m kinda busy.” She said with an exasperated sigh.

“Fine. There is a dangerous man on the loose honey; I think the police said his name was Luke.”

She looked over at him, trying not to show her sudden spike of fear. While he didn’t look exactly harmless, he didn’t look especially dangerous either. He looked at her and cocked a black eyebrow, and she wondered if he knew what her mother was telling her. “Thanks mom, I’ll be careful.” She slid the phone back into her pocket and faced him. “You didn’t tell me your name.”

He smirked at her and took a small bow. “My apologizes. My name is Luke, but I think you already knew that.”

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Luke knew she was scared of him. He could tell by the look on her face. He wondered what her mother had told her. When she took a few steps back, like he was going to lunge at her he frowned. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m hurt and even if I wasn’t I still wouldn’t.”

She narrowed her brown eyes at him “Why not, my mother said you were dangerous.”

“She hear that from the cops?” He asked with a sneer. He hated cops. Always had, the ones he had dealed with didn’t care if you were innocent or not, if you looked the part you were obviously guilty. When she nodded he laughed cruelly “Damn cops only care about solving the case, even if it means arresting the wrong guy.”

“You mean that you haven’t done anything?” She asked, but before he could answer he shuddered in pain and gripped his midsection. She gasped and ran to his side “I forgot you were hurt! Do you think you could make it to my truck?”

He looked at her “You’d actually trust me enough?”

She nodded “If what you implied is true I don’t have to worry, if its not, well you’re in no shape to hurt me.” She threw his arm around her shoulders and supported him as he limped toward the truck she had parked on the other side of the trees. She pulled open the passenger door and sat him down in the worn seat with a thump. She went around and jumped in the driver’s side, starting up the old engine. As they pulled onto the main road he looked over at her and asked “You didn’t tell me your name either.”

She smiled “Lily.”

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They sat in silence until she pulled up to her small house. “You live here?” He asked, surprise coloring his voice.

“Yeah, why?”

He shrugged “It seems kinda tourist cabin to me.” She chuckled “That’s what it was, until I moved in.”  She pulled as close to the house as she could, not wanting to cause him more pain than necessary. Hopping out she helped him out and practically dragged him inside. Laying him on the small couch in the middle of her living room she stepped back and looked at him critically. He cracked an eye open and stared back at her “What are you staring at, I can’t look that good.”     

“You don’t” She replied “That’s why I’m staring at you, trying to figure out what the hell I’m gonna do with you.” 

“What do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes at him “Well I obviously can’t take you to the hospital and I have no way of knowing how hurt you are. It’d suck to wake up and fine you dead or something.”

His eyes widened, he might have been what some would call a thug but she was starting to scare him a little. “Can’t you just poke at me and see if anything is broken?”

She sighed “I can try but it’ll probably hurt.” She knelt down beside him and gently eased the shirt over his head, wincing at the pattern of developing bruises across his chest. She ran her hands down his sides and across the front of his chest, feeling for anything that felt out of place.  He flinched twice, once when she ran her hand over the bruise on his side and again when she pressed down on his sternum.

“I think you’re just bruised. Anything else hurt?”

Luke was silent for a moment, he didn’t like showing weakness, it never turned out well. But something told him he could trust this woman, and he always followed his instincts. “My right leg, hurts when I move it.” She nodded and slid down to his feet, pulling the clunky biker boots off and trying to roll his pant leg up. She cursed under her breath and looked up at him sheepishly “They’re too tight; I can’t get it up far enough.”

         He blushed, which was something Luke didn’t do much of and his hands went to the button fly of his pants. Quickly undoing the four buttons, he shoved the pants down as far as he could, letting her tug them off the rest of the way. She didn’t look up at him as she poked and prodded at his knee, pulling her hand away when he hissed in pain. She ran her hand across it, and looked up at him “Nothings broken, you probably just landed on it wrong.”

         He grunted and shivered as his body registered the change in temperature in the cool room. She rose up from her knelt position and pointed a finger at him “Stay.” And walked briskly into another part of the small house, coming back with a warm looking blanket. She threw it over him and curled up in the chair next to the couch. “Why are you running?” She asked suddenly.

         “Does it matter?” He replied gruffly.

         “Yeah, I’d like to know if I’m harboring a murderer or something.”

         “Not murder. Wanna know, turn the TV on I’m sure you’ll find out like your mother.” He said, eyes never leaving the spot on the ceiling he’d been staring at. She said nothing, but grabbed the remote and flicked the small TV on, leaving it on the local news channel.

“In other news, state police are still looking for gang member Luke McCarthy in connection to the death of two unnamed civilians. McCarthy, also know as ‘Lucifer’ among his gang, is to be considered armed and dangerous. Please call….” She turned the TV off with a click and looked over at him, caution and fear in her eyes. “Not a murderer?”

         “No.”

         “Wanna tell me why I shouldn’t call the police and have them haul your ass out of here?” She asked with a small growl.

He sat up and glared at her “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all you need to know.”

She made a disgusted noise and rose from the chair, storming out onto her porch, the door slamming behind her. He sighed and slowly swung his legs off the couch, raised up and limped after her. He leaned on the doorframe and watched her stare out. “Got the name Lucifer because I was ruthless and kept the others in line, and well my name is Luke. When those two people were shot, I really was in the wrong place. Just riding by    when…pop…pop…I didn’t know who was shooting or who they were shooting at I just got the hell out of there. Someone saw me speeding out and called the cops, after all I’m not exactly a saint. The cops just added two dead bodies and a well know gang member fleeing the scene together and made the assumption that it had to be me, even though I’ve never hurt a civilian in my life.” He limped over and stood beside her, leaning over the railing. She looked over and stared at him, deliberating whether to believe him or not. “Alright then, no reason for me to call the cops.” She paused then asked “You know you’re out here in your boxers?”

         He smirked down at her “So?” Before limping back into the house, Lily trailing in behind him.

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         Luke slept on her couch for three days before he was awoken by a frantic Lily. “What the hell?” He grumbled as she pulled him up off the couch, dragging him along behind her.

         “My mother is on her way over here. I’ve got to hide you.” She hissed at him, pulling him into her bedroom. “Stay in here, she knows not to come in here, it should only be a few minutes.” Pushing him down onto the bed, she turned and ran out the room, locking it behind her when she heard the persistent knock on her door. “Coming mother!” He could hear her call.

         Lily pulled the door open and was engulfed in a hug. When she pulled herself free her mother pushed past her and dropped her bag onto the couch. The still made up couch. Lily prayed that her mother wouldn’t notice and breathed a sigh of relief when she stomped into the kitchen. “What was so important that you had to see me at nine in the morning?”

         “Can’t I just want to visit my daughter?”

         Lily raised an eyebrow and looked at her mother. “No.”

         “Well I had a visit from a state trooper this morning and it seems they found a crashed motorcycle on the edge of our property. I was wondering if you know anything about it.”

They both heard a small crash come from the direction of her bedroom. Her mother turned her narrowed gaze onto her “Lily, do you know anything about this?”

         Lily withered under her mother’s steady gaze; she never could lie to her. With a sigh she turned and walked to her room, her mother following behind. She stopped at her door and turned to her mother. “Mom, please let me explain before you do anything ok?”

         Mother and daughter stared at each other until the older sighed and gave in. “Alright.”

         With a tiny nod, Lily unlocked the door and swung it open, revealing Luke kneeling on the floor, clutching his knee in pain. Forgetting about her mother, she ran to his side and gently helped him off the floor. “What happened?”

         “I fell landed on it.”

         Lily rolled the leg of the sweat pants up and winced at the look of his knee. Bruised and swollen, the dark black and blue stood out against his pale skin. She was afraid that it was worse than she had thought. She stretched his leg out on the bed and looked at him in apology “I’m sorry.” She whispered. 

         “I don’t want to go to prison.” The underlying fear in his voice made the guilt flare up. Had she figuratively signed his death warrant?  She swallowed and turned back to her mother, who was still standing by the door in shock. “I found him three days ago, He had crashed his bike.”

         “I have to call the police Lily, he’s a killer.”

         “No he isn’t” “No I’m not!” They both protested. “Mom, please, he’s hurt, can barely walk. Just sit down and let us explain. You promised.”

         When she had sat in the rocking chair that took up one corner they started explaining……

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         An hour later Luke finished with “….and that how I ended up here.” He stared at Lily’s mother, Mrs. Johnson. Would she run out and call the cops or would she believe him?

“That’s quiet a story you know.” She said finally.

“I know, but it’s the truth.” He replied quietly. He really, really didn’t want to go to prison.

After a few tense seconds she looked away from his face and focused on his knee. “That looks particularly painful.” She said with a grimace.

They both sighed with relief, knowing that she had chosen to believe them at the moment. “It is, can’t really walk on it.”

She looked up at him like he was crazy “And you shouldn’t be! It won’t get any better with you limping around on it.” She turned to her daughter who was setting next to him “Lily, don’t you have ice packs? Surely you know better than that!” She shooed Lily out of the room and stood beside the bed, looking down at him. “My brother is a lawyer.” She stated suddenly.

“You’re going to help me?” He asked in surprise. He barely knew Lily and had just met her mother, why would these strangers help him, a gang member? When he asked these questions she smiled at him “You have a good heart, I can see it and Lily can to, she wouldn’t have brought you home is she couldn’t.” She looked back to see if Lily was coming back before bending down to whisper to him “And I think she likes you too.”

Luke blinked in surprise, Lily liked him? He had thought that she was just keeping him here until he could walk; after all he’d been enough of an annoyance in the last three days. He thought hard about the young woman, she was beautiful, with her expressive brown eyes and deep almost black brown hair. She was powerful in her own right as well, one of the few people able to get him to back down without a fight. Admittedly he didn’t relish getting hit with a spatula as she had threatened the first time he had disobeyed her commands. But it wasn’t his fault she was taking so long cooking breakfast! The sound of her coming back into the room broke him from his musing.

         Luke watched as she laid the ice pack and an ace bandage on the bed beside him. She lifted his leg and placed it in her lap, taking the bandage and carefully wrapping it around it, stopping halfway to tuck the ice pack in, the numbing sensation the ice brought felt good on his bruised flesh, but it was the her gentle touch that he enjoyed the most, in all his years, even before the gang, when he had had family, he couldn’t remember being treated with such care. “Thank you.”  He said softly as she began to rise from the bed.

She smiled at him “You’re welcome.” Lily didn’t know why she was so shy and hesitant around him all of a sudden, she’d been putting up with his whining for ever since she found him. But his soft and genuine thanks made her turn to mush. She did not care for that at all. He yawned and she let loose a quiet giggle, drawing a smile from him, she pulled her comforter over him “Go back to sleep, I woke you in a hurry.” He nodded and snuggled down into her pillows, a sound of contentment coming from him as he fell back asleep. Mother and daughter quietly left the room, leaving the misunderstood punk to sleep.

“What are you going to do?” Her mother asked when they sat down on the living room couch.

“I don’t know, I really didn’t think that far ahead. I just couldn’t leave him.” Lily said with a frustrated sigh. She knew she couldn’t keep Luke there forever and that at some point in time he would have to leave the house…which would lead to his arrest.

“I told him about Mike.” Her mother said finally.

“Uncle Mike the defense attorney?” She asked with surprise. Her mother really believed Luke was innocent?

“Yeah, if anyone could get the charges dropped it would be him. But Luke would have to turn himself in first, and he physically can’t.”

“Could we get him to call and tell the police where he is, and that he can’t walk? Would they understand? We could have Uncle Mike here, just in case.”

“That’s a good idea, but will he do it?”

“I don’t know, he really doesn’t want to go to jail and he doesn’t trust any law enforcement.” She said with a sigh.

“We’ll talk with him when he wakes up. Speaking of which, the snuggling really doesn’t do much for his dangerous gang member personality.”

Lily giggled. “I know, he’s so cute looking!”

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         Several hours later Luke woke in a comfortable bed for the first time in a week. Stretching out as much as he could without hurting his knee, he yawned and wiped the sleep from his eyes. It was up in the afternoon as far as he could tell and he could hear voices coming from the other side of the door. Two female voices….and a male one.

         Tensing up, he hesitantly called out “Lily? Mrs. Johnson?” He heard three sets of footsteps approach the door and his body tensed up more, causing his knee to throb. The door opened and Lily her mother and a man he didn’t know filed in. Lily sat on the bed next to him and her mother in the chair. The man stood at the foot of the bed “So you are Luke McCarthy?”

Luke said nothing, just nodded tersely. He didn’t look like a cop and wasn’t carrying a gun, but you never knew.

“I’m Mike Steward, Lily’s uncle.”

“The lawyer?” He asked warily.

“Yep, the girls called me into help you.”

Luke looked at Lily in shock “Help me? How?”

Lily smiled at him and grabbed his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. “We have a plan to get the charges dropped. You probably won’t like it, but Uncle Mike agreed that it was the only way.”

“I’m listening.”

“You have to call and tell the police where you are. The detective in charge will come to the house and Uncle Mike will talk to him, we’ll have to get you to the station without hurting you more them Uncle Mike will do his thing.”

She was right. He didn’t like this plan. It sounded too much like just turning himself over to be sent to prison. “Are you sure it’s the only way?”

“All three of us have thought about it and it’s the only solid plan that will work. You won’t be there long, and you won’t be alone.” She said.

He stared at her and saw the conviction and assurance in her eyes. Turing to the others he said “Someone give me the phone.”

Mike handed him his cell phone and seeing the number already on the screen Luke took a deep breathe and hit call.

Morgan County Police Department, how may I help you?”

“This is Luke McCarthy, I’d like to speak to the person in charge of my case.”

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         It wasn’t long until they heard the sirens. Mike and Mrs. Johnson had left the room to prepare, leaving Lily and Luke alone. She sat beside him, her hand entwined with his and his head was on her shoulder. “I’m scared.” He whispered.

         “It’ll be fine.” She whispered back. “I won’t let you go to prison. I won’t”

         They heard someone the cops banging on the door and Luke lifted his hand and cupped her face. “Three days and I’ve fallen.” He whispered kissing her gently, seconds before the door was opened. The detective was a hard looking man, with a scar across his cheek and eyes that made Lily shiver. “Detective Greene.” He introduced himself “They said you were hurt.”

         Lily pulled the cover back to expose his leg and Greene nodded. “What happened?”

         “I wrecked.” Luke said simply.

         “I see. And did you come here or did se bring you.”

         “I brought him. I wasn’t going to leave him out there.”

Greene made a sound that made it obvious he thought she should have left him. Picking up on this Lily glared at him and scooted closer to Luke, silently telling the Detective where she stood.

         “Mr. Steward says that we have the wrong guy. Personally I don’t think so, but I know his reputation so I’m giving you a chance. They both said you can’t walk, is that true?”

         “He can’t put much weight on it and it won’t heal if he walks on it a lot.”

         “But can he walk?”

         “Not if I want mind numbing pain to go along with it.” Luke said impatiently

“Well you have to come in so, I guess we’ll have to carry you.”

In the end it was Mike and Greene who helped get him to the waiting police car, with Lily hovering close, making sure they (Detective Greene) didn’t cause him any further pain. They lowered him in and he scooted into the seat, not liking having to ride in the cop car. Lily stood next to the door and turned to Greene “Can I go with you?”

“In the squad car?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

”I don’t trust you.” Was her simple answer. With a disgruntled and frustrated sigh Greene relented and Lily slid in next to Luke.  “You didn’t have to come with me.” He said quietly, so Greene couldn’t overhear.

         “Yes, I did. I told you, you wouldn’t be alone and I meant it.”

         He smiled at her and grasped her hand, thankful that they had forgone the use of cuffs due to his injury. She laced their fingers together and smiled back, ignoring the grumbles coming from the front seat.

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         Lily sat in the uncomfortable chairs at the precinct nervously. It had been almost three hours since they had taken Luke back and they had seen neither Mike nor Greene yet. “What are they doing?” She asked her mother finally, tired of sitting in silence.

         “Who knows? Stop worrying, Mike will get him out of there.” She replied, not once looking up from her book she had brought along.

         Lily sighed and sunk into the cracked leather of the chair, she hoped her mother was right. Ten more minutes pasted when the door the three had gone thru earlier opened. Lily jumped from her chair and watched as Mike came out the door, stopping once he cleared the frame. His face was expressionless and after a few moments Lily began to fear the worse when he smiled and stepped aside, revealing Luke standing behind him with a pair of old crutches.

         She squealed and ran to him, quickly hugging her uncle before wrapping her arms around Luke, careful not to knock him off balance. He chuckled and let one crutch go, wrapping an arm around her and returning her hug. “Your uncle’s a genius! He crushed every argument Greene had!”

         “So you’re free?”

         “I’m free.”

         She backed out of his embrace and looked up at him with a bright smile. “Three days…and I’ve fallen too.”

         Luke smiled wider than he ever had before. She had understood what he meant! It had come to him after he had called. That in three short days he had fallen in love with a woman who should have handed his ass over to the police but didn’t, instead choosing to hide him, therefore committing a crime herself. He had never seen someone so selfless before. Adjusting his crutch, he leaned down and kissed her softly. He was done with life on the street, done with ordering others around and dodging bullets. He would always be a bad boy, a punk, but he’d found something more exciting and daring in the form of a spitfire named Lily.