Chapter Six
T aylynn stood staring at the man who had seemed so nice. He wanted to know what her name was. She didn’t know if she should tell him.
Ace had seemed nice once, too. Look how that had turned out.
She glanced around the room, looking for something to say, anything. She noticed she was close enough to read his patches now. The one that said Raven didn’t surprise her but the one below it that read President. That one made her want to run away. Ace had been the president, too. That meant no one would stop him when he became cruel, and if he ordered others to help, they did, without question.
“Where did he go?” the words came out before she was aware of thinking them.
“Who?” The guy who had been watching her sleep, the one who had helped her to the bathroom and back, the one whose patch said he was called Raven asked.
“The doctor.” She lifted her good hand to motion to where he’d been sitting on the far side of the bed she’d been in when she’d woken. “Is there any way I can sit up? I’m tired but I don’t want to lay flat like that.” What she didn’t say, and didn’t want to, was that being flat like that made her feel weak. Like anyone could come in and do whatever they wanted to her. She was exhausted after a trip to the bathroom and knew she wouldn’t have the strength to fight them off, even if she had a weapon, but sitting up would help her feel less vulnerable.
“Dax!” the man beside her startled her when he yelled, and she couldn’t help but jump a little but she refused to acknowledge it. Especially since he hadn’t been talking to her, but calling for someone else.
“Yes?” the same face she’d seen earlier appeared in the doorway. So his name was Dax. What about the guy who’d been watching her, the one called Raven? And the other guy? The doctor?
“Get me all the extra pillows you can find. Don’t raid the brothers’ rooms, but anything else, bring in here.” The man who had watched her sleep turned to her. “We’ll have a way to prop you upright soon. Until then, why don’t you sit on the edge of bed. I can see you’re tired. Your body is doing a lot to heal you. That’s using a lot of energy. We’ll have some food brought for you soon. You didn’t tell me your name. That’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, but I need something to call you if you don’t want me to use the other term.”
She blinked. What did she want them to call her? What did she call them?
“Who are you?” she asked after a moment. She turned and sat on the edge of the bed, careful to keep her feet on the floor, at least for now. She wanted to be able to get up if she needed to. Not that she had the strength to do much more than stand, but she would try.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about you not knowing us. I’m Raven. Our medic is Freud, he’ll be back soon. Dax,” he tilted his head toward the open doorway, “is a prospect. Like I said before, you’re in the Fallen Angels’ clubhouse. We’ll do everything we can to help you get better.”
She looked up at him, wondering what he was thinking. Raven. She’d heard of him. Ace hadn’t had anything good to say about him, but then Ace hadn’t had anything good to say about anyone.
“I’ve heard of you. My name’s Taylynn. You can call me that or nearly anything. Anything but sweetheart. That’s what one of the Demons used to call all the women there, whether they were there by choice or not.”
“They keep women against their will?” Raven asked.
Taylynn didn’t have the energy to do more than nod her head. She should know, she was one of the women who hadn’t been there voluntarily and she knew she wasn’t the only one. But these men were strangers, she reminded herself. She couldn’t trust them to be any different than the ones who had tried to kill her. She had no doubt it was sheer luck that she was alive now.
She didn’t look up to see how Raven took her admission. Instead, she took as deep a breath as her ribs would let her and tried to prepare herself for what life would be like after she recovered. They hadn’t said anything, not yet, but she had no doubt that between the medical care and the food they would give her, as Raven had already ordered someone to bring her broth, she’d have a significant debt to work off.
Working off the debt wasn’t something she looked forward to, but she could handle it. Hell, she’d spent most of the last year in the Iron Demons’ clubhouse working off the debt her father had left her. While it hadn’t been easy, or pleasant, she’d survived. And she would survive this. Once it was done, and she was free, she could go somewhere far away and start a new life. Somewhere no one knew what had happened to her. Somewhere no one knew what she’d had to do to survive.
“All right, let’s get a better idea of what we’re dealing with,” the guy Raven had called the medic came back into the room. He glanced at her, then at his president, at least according to the patch on the vest Raven wore, before looking back to her. “How do you feel?” he asked.
“I’m okay.” Taylynn said. Like she would admit anything else. Telling anyone how bad she hurt and where only told them where they could hurt her more to make her do what they wanted.
“Taylynn, this is Freud. He’s our medic. He’ll do everything he can to help you. He’ll treat your physical needs at least.”
She looked at Raven, trying to decide if she could trust the two of them. Or however many Angels there were. She’d heard of the Fallen Angels. Everyone who spent more than a few minutes in Ace’s presence had heard about them. And none of it had been good.
But now, as she sat in the Angels’ clubhouse, looking back and forth between their president and the medic, she had to wonder how much of what Ace said was true. And if his tales of the Angels were lies, how much of the rest of what came out of his mouth had been, too?
“I understand we’re waiting for pillows?” Freud said behind her.
“We are,” Raven confirmed. “Dax should be back with them any minute.”
“All right, young lady. While we wait, can you answer a few questions for me?” Freud said.
Taylynn started to twist around to look at him but as she started the movement pain shot through her torso leaving her breathless as she mentally kicked herself for doing something so stupid. This wasn’t the first time she’d been hurt, though she didn’t think it had ever been quite this bad before. A hand came up and lightly touched her back. Not sure who it was, she wanted to move away but couldn’t, at least not until she caught her breath.
“Careful, sweetheart,” Freud said, making her mentally cringe.
“She doesn’t like sweetheart. Her name is Taylynn,” Raven said from in front of her.
“All right then, Taylynn. That was question number one. I’ve got several others but let’s make sure you’re comfortable first. Would you rather be in a chair until we can get the pillows in here?” Freud’s voice was gentle, even as the hand against her back was firm and supportive without hurting her.
She closed her eyes and focused on breathing through the pain for a moment before answering. Even if she could answer right now, there was no way she could stand or move until this passed. After a minute or two—she really couldn’t tell how long it had been—she was able to breathe again without wanting to curl up and cry.
“Here’s what I could find.” Dax appeared in the doorway, arms filled with pillows. She had to smile at the haphazard collection he’d gathered. He had taken Raven at his word when he’d told him to gather them all. There were pillows that looked like they came from someone’s bed, some that obviously came with a sofa or something similar, and what looked like the back cushions off some large piece of furniture.
“Bring them here,” Raven said, then turned to her. “Let’s get you comfortable.” He stacked pillows against the headboard, then offered her a hand to get into a better position.
As much as she wished she didn’t need the help, she took it anyway, because she wasn’t sure if she had the strength to do it herself, and even if she did, she wasn’t willing to hurt herself like she had a moment ago, so she took his hand.
“All right,” the medic said once she’d gotten situated. “Let’s start with the medical stuff first and then move to the things that are no less important, but a little bit less urgent, okay?”
“Okay. I guess.” Taylynn folded her hands in her lap and stared at the torn skin on the edge of one thumb.
“Taylynn,” the medic said, one hand reached into her line of sight, reaching toward her as if he was going to touch her arm, but stopped before actually making contact, “You have choices here. You don’t have to just go along. I can only suspect how things were when you were with the Iron Demons. But that’s not how things work around here. You can say no. You can tell us you don’t want to do something if you’re asked. We’re not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
The man, Raven, made a noise that stopped the other man. What had Raven called him? Freud? They were both quiet for a moment then the medic continued, “I’m not saying we won’t use reason and try to convince you to do what we need you to, but we won’t force you.”
She stared at him a moment, unsure if she could believe him. She tried to remember if Ace and the rest of the Demons had ever told her they wouldn’t hurt her or they wouldn’t force her. She couldn’t recall. She didn’t think so, but she couldn’t be sure. If her memory was right, then the best thing she could say was that they hadn’t lied to her but was that really anything to brag about? She didn’t think so, but she still found it difficult to believe these men who told her they wouldn’t hurt her.
Only time would tell if it was the truth. In the meantime she did her best to answer the questions the medic had for her. At first it was all medical stuff, how was she feeling, was she allergic to anything, that kind of thing. She answered them all. When the questions turned more personal, where was she from, what about her family, those she was more reluctant to answer. After about the third one she considered just keeping her mouth shut, but decided to take a chance.
“I’m not ready to talk about that.” Taylynn braced herself and waited for the smack she was sure would follow but it never came.
“Okay. That’s okay. What are you ready to share? Or if that’s all for now, that’s all right. We’re not here to push, not unless we have to.” The older man kept his tone gentle. He looked across her at the president, then back to her. She wondered what kind of signal the two had used and what it meant. “We can let you rest a while. But before we do, is there anyone you want to contact? Anyone you want to let know you’re okay?”
“We recommend not reaching out to anyone associated with the Demons, at least for now, but anyone else?” Raven asked.
“No.” She looked back down at her hands, wishing she wasn’t so pathetic and pitiful. She hated feeling like this but what could she do? She didn’t even have any clothes of her own right now. She had to rely on these strangers for everything. Maybe some sleep would help. She didn’t believe it but maybe things would get better with a little time.