Esai was so overwhelmed it took him a few seconds before he left the kickstand down and ran after her. Where the hell was this coming from? He didn't get it. He however wasn't about to let her go. If necessary, he would drag her into the clubhouse, no matter how hard she screamed. She should fix this shit with his dad; he just wanted to show him he had done what was expected from him.

He grabbed her wrist when he'd caught up with her, making her stop. "Come on girl... what the hell is going on?"

"I want nothing to do with your stupid club!" she yelled.

"But why? I thought..."

"I don't care what you think! Just leave me alone!"

Her eyes were shooting daggers. Man, what a little spitfire. He hadn't expected it from her. He had to keep himself from crashing his lips down on hers, only to calm her down.

He however knew it wouldn't work; she would probably slap him in the face.

"I'm not a prospect okay?" he started in a reasonable tone. "My dad's the club president and he asked me to keep an eye on the new girl. That's what we Mayans do. We take care of each other. At least someone believes you're one of us."

"Over my dead body! I never want to be associated with a schizophrenic biker gang again!"

Esai suppressed a sigh. Where the hell was that hatred coming from? Had it something to do with that scar? With the dead of her family? His grasp weakened, although he didn't let go of her.

"I wanna be your friend," he said quietly. His own voice made him feel sick. He hated to kiss ass; he however had enough experience with girls to give it a shot. "We have a click, right? Until you found out about my dad, we were fine."

"It's not about your damn dad," she said in a threatening voice. "It's about the fact that you're sent to me like some fucking babysitter."

Annoyance started to crawl underneath his skin like a swarm of ants. "Since when does looking after someone turn you into a babysitter? You're damn paranoid man! I mean you no harm. Until five minutes ago I liked hanging out with you."

Grumpy, she turned her face away.

"Well, what are you gonna do without me?" he huffed. "Sit in your room, do nothing? These people believe you're important. Why do you hate them so much?"

She snorted. "You think I'll tell you? I know how these guys are. If I say one bad word your little club cuts out my tongue."

He suppressed a sigh. What else could he say? Should he let her go? For some reason he failed to pull his hand away from hers.

"Then let's go somewhere else," he suggested. "Okay? It's not like they asked me to take you to the clubhouse. This is just the place where I use to hang out after school."

Slowly, she turned her face back towards him and studied his face. Only her left iris was moving when she looked from one eye to the other.

"Okay," she said eventually, hesitating. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Where do you wanna go?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Some place where people ain't staring at me,' she muttered.

"Okay, I know a place." He showed her an optimistic smile, then he led her back to his bike.

Alesia wasn't completely convinced this was a wise decision. She didn't even know what had persuaded her. His mesmerizing eyes, his charming smile?

Her distrust grew when she watched Esai move away a piece of wood, where after he stepped through the narrow opening. He held out his hand.

"What the hell are we doin' here?" she asked, looking up across the high stone wall.

"This place is abandoned. That's what you wanted, right?"

"I didn't want you to take me to the perfect place to murder me! Nobody's ever gonna find me here."

He chuckled. "Nobody kills in the house of God. Come on, it's pretty cool in here."

Sighing, she followed him through the opening which once must have been some backdoor. It was pitch black in the room. A nervous feeling bubbled up inside her.

I'm insane.

Nevertheless, the nervousness was something else than the emptiness she'd felt for weeks. There was something adventurous about this, and for some reason she trusted this guy she'd just gotten to know.

With his phone he created a small light, although it wasn't very sufficient. There were loose tiles and other trash everywhere.

"I will break my neck," she grunted. "You realize you took a half-blind with you, huh?"

Fingers stroked hers. "Let me hold your hand."

"You're something else, Alvarez," she huffed, shaking her head. "This is a strange way to hit on girls."

He chuckled. "Some girls require a special treatment. Taking you to the clubhouse didn't go down well."

She lifted the corner of her mouth, then their fingers laced. Carefully he led her through the room until they reached a door. Once Esai opened it, light streamed through stained glass, in which a lot of pieces were missing. Even though she was able to walk here without Esai's help, she didn't feel the urge to let go of his hand. She looked around.

As impressive as the building had looked from the outside; the inside wasn't very spectacular. The benches were still there, although a large part was broken away. Everything else had been removed. It smelled dusty; birds were flying from window to window.

"Well you do have an exceptional sense of romance."

"Why? People married in this building."

She chuckled softly. He had an answer for everything. Hand in hand they walked through the abandoned building, their footsteps echoing around them.

Along a path he led her to the other side of the building, where they went through another door. He took her to the stairs, following it up to the church tower. Despite the abandoned state everything looked solid. In the room where the church bells could be rang was a large window. The wind blew through it; the glass was shattered. A table stood next to it, Esai climbed on top of it.

"So this is your idea of a beautiful view?" she asked as they were looking down on a cemetery.

"You just can't stop complaining, huh?"

"It's a little rude when you just buried your parents."

Esai froze and snapped his head to the side. "Fuck – I'm sorry. I hadn't thought about that."

The shock on his face did something to her. He was trying really hard. She didn't understand why – maybe he really was nice. Just like Angel. Like Gilly. Why not?

"It's okay." She stared down, to the overgrown gravestones. It had to be a long time ago someone was buried here. It was only a small graveyard; the people lying here probably long forgotten. Outside the small walls surrounding it life went on; there were residential areas and shops.

"You come here often?" she wondered.

"Now and then." He was silent for a while. "My parents are fighting a lot," he then admitted. "When I was 14 I ran away from home and spent a few nights here. I don't know. This feels like some refuge.

Alesia peeked aside. She hadn't expected him to open up like this. Was it really true? Or was he hoping to lure answers from her too? Their eyes met and he kept her glance, as if he wanted to prove her that he was sincere. Nevertheless, curiosity was radiating from his face. She didn't know if it bothered her. She had a curious mind too. If she had been in his shoes, she had been curious to her story too.

"Ask me one question," she said. "I can't promise you to answer it, but maybe I will. One question," she stressed.

He nodded, giving it a thought. His glance slid to their laced fingers. In some weird way it felt good.

What would he ask? How her parents had died? How she got that scar? Those were things she couldn't talk about – not yet, the wounds were too fresh. This was more some silent test to see if he would sense it too.

"Why do you hate the Mayans so much?"

Gratefully she squeezed his hand; he seemed to sense her boundaries. Furthermore she felt that this was a question coming from his own heart, instead of whisper from the club.

"My brother was a Mayan," she told him. "Neron. They called him Creeper. They were in the middle of some gang war, he had just patched in..." She sighed deeply. "I'm not sure what things he has seen or done, but nightmares were plaguing him. I often heard him scream at night. He never wanted to talk about it. He started to use drugs, coke. Became an addict." She bit the inside of her cheek. There was a heaviness in her chest and she squeezed her eyes as she thought about his skinny face and hollow eyes. "Instead of helping him, they kicked him out, abandoning him. They are bunch of selfish assholes. Burdening a 21 year old boy with a trauma, then turning their backs on him."

Esai was silent.

"That's the club you wanna be part of, Esai. Of people who betray their friends and family. I will never give them my trust, they will never crush my dreams.

Those were words she should have etched in her heart, which she should have drilled into her head.

For in the end, she did give them her trust. And indeed – they crushed her dreams.