The Devil's Harem

*Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Aaahh!” The scream disturbed the silence once again.

The man was a second slower. As soon as Alex struck him with the hairpin, he pulled the trigger instinctively. The good thing was that Alex held onto the man’s hand, pushing the barrel away from his face in time. As soon as the gun was fired, the bullets flew past Alex’s ears, leaving a ringing sensation in his ears.

“Shit!” Alex also cried out following the whistling in his ear. His felt left ear had gone dead, and whether it was momentarily or permanent, he had no way to find out at this moment.

“Why are you doing this, man? Why?” Alex asked, trying to push the hairpin deeper into the man’s nape.

“Aunh... Easy... Easy...” The man fell to one of his knees and said, “Why else? There is a bounty on her head.”

.....

“For some money?” Alex looked angry, “You are doing this for some money? And here I thought she got your son pregnant or something and is now absconding.” Alex said, twisting the man’s arm, trying to resist the gun from pointing at his face.

Alex scoffed and looked at Jessica. But he found her angrily glaring at him, “What? It’s all because of your views on gender equality and equal opportunities. I am sure you would wanna have your partner bear your kid,” Alex said, shrugging. Of course, he was not serious. He was only trying to stall for some time, trying to think of a way to get them out of there without getting hurt.

“You and your damn mouth,” but Jessica took it to her heart, “Haven’t you said enough already? Why are you always picking on me, looking for a confrontation?” Jessica took a step forward and asked.

“That day in the office. In front of Karen and Daniel, you called me arrogant, bimbo, snob and whatnot? Then in that mail of yours, you insulted me again. The hell with all that. Today you took it to another level and spanked the shit out of my ass. You know, even now, when I try to sit, it stings. But I am the ultra-feminist here. Are you not a sadistic, controlling, patriarchal man going by that logic?” By the end, Jessica had turned hysteric. Ignoring the third party present there, she started an argument with Alex.

“Hey, step back... Don’t come any closer,” Alex said as he winked at Jessica, “Are you going to go back on your words now?” Alex hoped that Jessica would understand what he was trying to convey, but Jessica was not in the mood.

“What words I am going back on?” Jessica asked, “If not for this man here and you trying to save me, I would have grabbed a rock and smashed your head, or better, I should just get a rod and plug a hole of yours,” Jessica made a fist and passed it through her palms, threatening Alex.

Hearing her and seeing the gestures, not just Alex but the man got goosebumps, and their ass clenched instinctively, tightening the security around their butthole.

“You are indeed a bimbo,” Alex cried out loud, flustered by her remarks, “Want to plug my hole... Come here... Plug my hole first, idiot,” Alex had it enough. He could not believe that she was unwilling to listen and understand him. But to be fair to Jessica, she just couldn’t see Alex winking or the other gestures in the dim light.

Following the mild outburst from Alex, Jessica finally got back to herself. Remember where they were and the gravity of the situation around them. She had to act a bit mature. She knew that Alex could not possibly hold the man for long.

And it was true, though her plugging his hole remark got his head to clear, with the rate he was losing blood, Alex had started to get dizzy. They were lucky that the man was yet to notice the losing grip of Alex around the pin. Alex was taking advantage of that fear the man had of the blood seeping out of his neck.

And with that, the lion was tamed. Meekly, Jessica took a step forward toward Alex.

“Not that side... Get to his right,” irritated Alex, scolded Jessica. And as expected, Jessica did not retaliate. Without nonsense, she walked from behind the man to his right.

“Take his gun,” Alex said.

“Boy, you are making a mistake,” the man warned.

“Yeah... Yeah... Don’t teach your father,” Alex rebuked the man, “Give it to her or I will stab you again. Even if we don’t make it, you will die of the blood loss as well,” Alex tried to intimidate the man.

If it was earlier, the man would not have believed Alex, but now with his neck bleeding and Alex pushing the hairpin deeper, he had no other choice but to give in. He slowly loosened his grip around the gun, and Jessica took it from him.

As soon as Jessica got the gun, her fighting spirit ignited. Pointing the gun toward the man, Jessica asked, “Should I end it right here, right now?” She did not look away from the man, afraid he might try to pull something else.

“Hey... Hey... This is cheating,” the man protested, waving his hands, “Believing your words, I gave you the gun. Now let me go. Aren’t you a gentleman who likes to play by the rules?” The man tried to awaken the gentleman spirit in Alex.

“Shut up. What rules?” Alex lashed out at the man, “What gentleman, huh? I asked you not to use that knife and gun, didn’t I? Did you act gentlemanly that time? Now that the tables have turned, you want to talk about being a gentleman. Zip your mouth and stay there,” Alex said and looked at Jessica.

“Have you gone insane? Talking about killing someone... Do you know the consequences? We are far away from home, don’t know the rules. Everything can go against us.” Alex nervously tried to persuade Jessica against the thought.

But Jessica was already busy with something else. After she remembered about the knife from the conversation between Alex and the assassin, she began searching the man. The man was dangerous, and with the knife still, with him, he could be a bigger threat.

“Heheheheee... Stop it. It tickles,” the man chuckled as Jessica’s hands touched him everywhere, only to get smacked hard on his head by Jessica.

After she had found the knife, she pulled back and pointed the gun back at the man.

“Listen... throw that knife in the sea,” Alex said after Jessica was done.

“Why?” Confused, Jessica asked. Why would they throw something they could use to protect themselves?

“Just do as I say,” Alex said, emphasising his words. Hearing him, Jessica was left with no choice but to agree. After all, he was the one in charge. ne.com

“Throw that gun as well,” After Jessica threw away the knife with all her might, Alex asked again.

“Have you gone insane?” Jessica could not keep her voice down and cried out. She dared to believe that Alex had gone insane because of all the blood loss.

“Don’t yell,” Alex said, making faces, “My ears are already ringing. Don’t make me repeat myself and just throw the gun away.” Alex said without paying attention to her protest.

“You idiot,” Jessica said and turned away to throw the gun in anger. She didn’t care anymore, ‘Just die, you idiot.’

“Now leave,” Jessica was not even done calming down when Alex threw another instruction at her.

“Alone?” Jessica asked.

“He is not after me but you. I need to be sure that you are alright before anything else.” Alex said.

“I don’t care. I won’t leave without you,” Jessica crossed her arms and said, adamant about her stand.

“Woman... Don’t be stubborn. Just lea...,” Alex tried to have Jessica obey, but she had plugged her ears with her finger, pretending not to hear him.

‘I wish I could just kill her and get the bounty,’ Alex thought, “How much for her head?” Alex asked the man.

“It’s five million...” The man told Alex, but before he could complete, Alex took the opportunity that his guard was down and kicked him as hard as he could just below his chin with the front of his shoe. He also pulled out the hairpin from his nape, and the blood began to ooze out with pressure.

“Uaaggghhhh... Uggghhh...” The man covered his mouth with his hands and howled in pain. Since he was in the middle of talking, when Ale kicked him, his tongue ended up coming in between his teeth and his mouth was filled with blood. With all the pain, he could not even determine if his tongue was still attached or not.

“Run!” But this was the opportunity Alex was waiting for. He grabbed Jessica’s wrist, and while the man was down, he made the run for his life.

They ran without stopping to catch a breath until they were somewhere crowded. However strong that man might be, there was no way he would come looking for them now.

“We need to get you to the hospital first,” As they stopped taking a breather, Jessica said when she saw the blood-soaked shirt of Alex in the light.

“Let’s just go to the hotel. The wounds are not that deep, and I don’t want my father to find out about this.” Alex, on the other hand, refused right away. It would be hard to explain it to the hospital staff, and in the end, the police and his father might get involved.

“But...” Jessica was hesitant to comply with his request.

“I will think of something once we are back to the hotel,” Alex tried to assure Jessica. He then pulled out his wallet, “Here, take this, and get me some clothes, to change into. The hotel might ask questions if they saw me in these clothes.” Alex said.

“No need, I have...” Jessica said, refusing. But when she checked, she realised that her handbag was not with her anymore. She must have dropped it while they were on the run, along with their other stuff.

Jessica took the wallet from Alex and went to the nearest store. Soon she was back with a couple of shopping bags in her hand.

Taking the bags from her, Alex entered a dark alley.

“Hey, don’t try to peek, okay?” Once Alex was not in sight, he yelled.

“As if I would.”

“You never know. I have already saved you twice today. Who knows? Maybe you are already thinking of repaying me with your body.” Alex joked.

“You shameless fellow! Always destroying the mood.” Jessica was starting to have a favourable opinion of Alex until he opened his mouth.

“Hahaha...” Alex did not continue the matter any longer.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Hey, Are you done?” Jessica called out for Alex. It had been about five minutes, and Alex still had not come out. There was also no sound.

“Alex!” Worried, Jessica walked inside the dark alley, looking all around for Alex.

“Hey... It’s no time to joke... And let me tell you, it’s not funny,” Jessica called out as she tried to find Alex. She was starting to get anxious when she saw something white in the corner that gave her hope. Jessica hurried towards it and found Alex lying on the ground, unconscious.

“Alex!”

* * * * *