Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sasha
Two days had passed since that almost romantic night in JD’s backyard oasis, and I’d barely seen him since. The one time he’d been in my presence for more than five minutes I reminded him about taking me to my apartment and he brushed me off with his usual excuse of club business.
I swear, half the time they claimed club business just because they felt like it, not because they actually had business they couldn’t share. Last night for example. When JD stumbled home after 3am, I found him in the living room, drunk off his ass and looking like he’d been ridden hard and put away wet.
With one look at his disheveled clothes and messy just out of bed hair, I’d turned around and disappeared back into my room. If he’d spent the night with one of the club girls I didn’t want to hear it or smell her on him or anything else for that matter. Just the thought of him with someone else made my heart pound painfully.
Tears pricked my eyes, but I clenched my jaw and willed them away. I refused to go there. He’d already gotten the best of me too many times, and it was high time I got over it.
This morning the cabin was eerily quiet. With his bedroom door closed, I could only assume that he’d sobered up and gone back to the clubhouse first thing. Either way, I wasn’t just going to sit around all day and feel sorry for myself. I had plans to make and things I wanted to do. But first, I needed a ride to my apartment.
I grabbed my cellphone and my fingers hovered over Bear’s number. If I asked I knew he would take me, but I’d also be putting him in a rough position between me and JD and that didn’t seem fair. Or even worse yet, he might call JD and ask for permission. Another lackluster option, especially if he said no.
No, the better option in my opinion would always be to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. That way what’s done is done. I opened my contacts and chose someone who wouldn’t be afraid of a little trouble.
“Sasha,” she squealed when she answered her phone. “Oh my God. How are you? I was just thinking about you. It’s been too long. And now that you’re back we MUST get together.”
“Well, Meg, that’s kind of why I was calling. I need your help with something. Can you come and pick me up?”
“Of course! Where are we going?”
“I’ll let you know when you get here. How soon can you come over?”
“Uhmm…” I could picture her checking her phone, trying to do the mental math like she used to at the poker club. “I’m finishing up at the salon now. Maybe thirty minutes. Does that work?”
“Yep. Sounds perfect.” That would give me just enough time to get dressed and clean up my breakfast dishes. With luck, we’d be back before anyone noticed we were gone, and by this afternoon I’d be baking orange blossom cinnamon rolls as a peace offering.
“Okay, I’ll see you then. Should I bring the stuff to make margaritas?”
I laughed and started to tell her it was way too early in the day to start drinking when I decided what the hell. If JD could stay out all night partying with god knew who, then what difference did it make if I started in on a little day drinking myself.
“Yes,” I said. “You definitely should.”
Fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang and I wasn’t ready. For the first time ever, Meg was early. “Hang on,” I yelled in the direction of the door and reached for the first thing I could find to cover up with. It just so happened it was the clothes that JD had let me borrow the other night. Whatever.
I hastily pulled them on, tightening the drawstring to keep the shorts from falling as I rushed through the living room to the front of the cabin.
At the front door, I disengaged all of JD’s security and threw open the locks before I wrenched it open. But instead of Meg or the prospect who I thought was keeping an eye out, a stranger stood at the door.
“Uhm… Can I help you?” I had no idea who this pretty brunette was, but my stomach twisted as my imagination ran wild. Was this who he’d been with the other night?
“Hi, I’m Jeanne,” she said with a smile.
“Okaaay.” The name meant nothing to me and I wasn’t sure what to say. Was I supposed to invite her in? Because I swear to Christ if this woman was sleeping with JD I was going to lose my mind. She couldn’t possibly be more than a few years older than me so WHAT. THE. FUCK.
Jeanne’s eyes crinkled with amusement, as if she could read the suspicion on my face. “You’re Sasha, right? I’m the medic who is going to be taking care of you. JD said you’d be expecting me.” There was an easy confidence to her manner, a no-nonsense kind of professionalism that would make her fit right in with the club. But underneath, I sensed a hint of something else. A wariness, maybe, or an edge that didn’t quite fit the pleasant smile she wore.
Or maybe I was paranoid.
She held up the case she had in her hand. “I know I was supposed to be here days ago when you first arrived, and I’m sorry about that. Between extra hospital shifts and a small family emergency, this was my first chance to check on you properly.”
“Ohhh,” I managed as relief flooded through me. “You’re the doctor he mentioned. Yes, I was expecting you, but now I’m on my way out.”
She looked down at the clothes I was wearing and her eyebrows climbed to her hairline. “You’re going out?” she asked.
I bit my tongue to hold back my sarcasm—I didn’t know this lady from Adam, and I didn’t appreciate being judged. “I have a friend coming by to take me out for errands. Do you think you could come back this afternoon?” I might be three sheets to the wind by then, but I’d deal with that when the time came.
“Unfortunately not. My schedule is really tight right now and I didn’t realize getting hired as an independent contractor with a motorcycle gang would keep me so busy.”
“Motorcycle club,” I corrected her sharply, not bothering to hide my irritation at her mistake.
“Whaat?” She looked confused.
“They aren’t a gang. They are a club.”
“Is there a difference?” she asked. I thought she was trying to be a smart ass, but when I really looked at the question in her eyes, I realized she really didn’t know.
“Yes, there is a difference. First off, interchanging the word club for gang is both offensive and disrespectful. It’s also a negative connotation that implies that they are nothing more than a loose group of criminally inclined people who happen to ride motorcycles and not the legitimate tax paying legal business entity that they really are. Just because they wear leather, have tattoos and buck against society’s rules they believe overreach doesn’t mean they deserve the disdain of the word gang.”
Jeanne the doctor lady stood stock still and stared at me for a moment before a genuine smile spread across her face. “Well, that’s the best damn explanation I’ve ever heard of a motorcycle club before. They should hire you for PR.”
“For real,” Meg who’d just popped around the corner blurted out. “But first, get your pretty asses out of the doorway so I can come in. That prospect standing guard out there is staring at me like a grizzly bear ready to pounce.”
I laughed trying to imagine the looks Tiny was giving her. Calling him a grizzly bear was the most apt nickname I’d heard for him thus far. Tiny was ridiculous considering he was anything but.
“Well, for heaven’s sake then, get your butt in here before Tiny takes a bite out of your juicy ass.” I laughed as I stood back and Meg rushed the door and threw herself at me.
“I am so happy to see you, chica. Thank God you’re back.” I inhaled her sweet, familiar perfume as I hugged her back. She had no idea how badly I needed to see her right now.
“Well, go on in. I’m not quite ready yet.”
“What about me?” the doctor lady asked. “If you can’t see me right now, I should call JD and get us rescheduled. He was pretty adamant that you needed my help sooner rather than later. You did just get out of the rehab center, right? How are you feeling? Are you keeping up with the doctor’s instructions for home care?”
I sighed. If she called JD and told him I couldn’t see her right now because I was going out, it would be him who would be throwing a bitch fit. And I wouldn’t put it past him marching his big, strong body down here from the clubhouse and supervising this medical visit. All options I had no interest in.
“You’re a doctor?” Meg asked.
“I’m a medic. But I’m also qualified as a home nurse, so I’m able to take on Ms.Brown’s case.”
“Cool. Well, it sounds like you two have some work to do. Which is totally fine, because I have some to do too.” She held up her big soft sided cooler that I knew to be full of everything she’d need for bottomless margaritas. “It sounds like we drink first and our errands can wait.”
I shook my head as Meg made her way over to the kitchen and I opened the door wider. “Well, I guess you might as well come in. Now that she’s got margaritas on the brain nothing is going to deter her.”
“She does know it’s only nine in the morning, right?” Jeanne said as she picked up her bags and entered the cabin.
I shrugged. “If you were to ask, she would simply tell you that it’s five o’clock somewhere.”
Jeanne laughed. “Okay fair enough. Where would you like to do this? I’d like to start with a full examination so I can compare my progress notes against where you were when you left the rehab facility.”
“My room is in here.” I led her in. “You have my records from rehab?”
She shook her head. “Mr.Intel did offer to get them for me, but I gathered he would be breaking a few laws his way so instead I brought a release form for you to sign so I could obtain them legally. I may not be a part of this legal, tax paying motorcycle club, but I do belong to a club of sorts that controls my license and unlike this club, I do have to follow all the rules, not just the ones I think apply to me.”
I stared at her for about two point four seconds before I lost control and started laughing. I could see that Jeanne and I were going to get along just fine. The only women that ever lasted out here were the ones who could stand up for themselves without being a bitch about it. You couldn’t let these guys walk all over you, but you also had to have some flair about it.
Jeanne was going to fit right in.
By the time I recovered, and had the tears wiped from my eyes, Jeanne was holding out a clipboard and a pen for me with a giant smile on her face. “And before you ask. No, this information will not get shared with the club. When it comes to medical treatment and patients of mine, my rules are the ones they will follow.” She may have said it with a smile and a twinkle in her eye, but I could see that she meant every word.
Yep, she was going to be a lot of fun.