Chapter Eighteen
T aylynn tried to keep her arm still, but the buzzing noise of the saw that slowly cut the cast off her arm grated on her nerves. She hated the noise, but Freud had shown her it wouldn’t cut her. Still, the sound seemed to drill into her skull and made her want to get up and run away.
“Are you excited?” Jersey asked, drawing her attention to him.
“Excited about what?” she asked, frowning at the VP.
“Getting your cast off. It’s been in your way, and you’ve been complaining about it since a few days after he put it on.” Jersey nodded toward where Freud continued to cut along the side of the fiberglass shell that had kept the bones of her arm in place while they’d healed.
Taylynn turned and looked at where Freud was more than halfway done slowly guiding the saw along the length of the cast. They were right. As much as she’d appreciated what they had done for her, she’d complained. She had been careful what she had complained about, and in the beginning the cast had been a safe target.
The front door opened, admitting Raven. A couple of other men followed him in, but she didn’t pay any attention to them. The club president was the only one that mattered to her. Her stomach fluttered in a way she’d never expected to feel again. She fought the urge to grin at him and dropped her gaze back down to her good hand where it rested in her lap.
“What’s going on?” Raven asked as he glanced around the room.
“Taking off the girl’s cast,” Jersey said, tilting his head toward where Freud was almost finished cutting the fiberglass shell.
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Raven hurried to her side. He hovered next to her making her stomach flip and her body heat.
“I didn’t think it was that big of deal.” Her face heated and she wondered why it was this man, the one who’d seen her at her worst and had rescued her from it, that made her body reawaken? How could he ever see her as anything but the bloody broken thing he’d found on the side of the road?
“Of course it’s a big deal. It’s a milestone.” He stepped up behind her and set his hands on her shoulders. Taylynn tilted her head and let her cheek fall against his hand where it sat on her shoulder. She was careful about who she let touch her. Fortunately, the Angels were as careful of her as she was around everyone else.
They didn’t push her and did their best to keep from doing things that would set her off, especially after the incident a few weeks ago where she’d lost her shit all over Dax. Raven was one of the few she didn’t mind touching her, nearly any time. But she didn’t like anyone catching her unaware, surprising her in any way. He was careful of that. They all were.
Taylynn hadn’t been there long, a little less than two months, but so much about her life had changed in that short amount of time that it seemed that her time with the Demons was another lifetime. The time before? That seemed even farther away. Almost as if that life had belonged to another person.
She watched as Freud finished making the cut through the fiberglass, then as he set the saw aside and picked up an odd tool that kind of looked like a pair of pliers, but there was something weird on the jaws, instead of the small surface she was used to or even long slender jaws, there were wide flat plates or what looked like plates attached to them. She watched as he used them on the cut edges of the cast. She felt her eyes go wide when she noticed they didn’t work like normal pliers either. Instead of them closing when he squeezed the handles, they spread apart. After working the strange pliers along the entire cut on the cast Freud set them aside and picked up a wicked looking pair of scissors. They had blunt tips but looked strong enough to cut through metal if they had to. After using the weird scissors to cut through the padding layer, Freud pulled the edges of the cast apart and slid it off her hand, freeing her arm for the first time in weeks.
Taylynn stared down at her arm. It looked odd, skinny and flaky.
“What’s wrong with it?” she asked, frowning down at where her arm still lay on the table where the medic had her put it so it would stay stable while he worked.
“Nothing. I mean it.” He met her gaze and smiled. “Your arm has been in the cast for weeks, it hasn’t had a chance to shed dead skin cells, and you haven’t used the muscles much. Go take a shower, moisturize when you’re done. And start using it again and the muscle tone will return. You’re good.” He patted her hand in a reassuring gesture that Taylynn appreciated, even if she wasn’t feeling as reassured as he might hope for.
“Thank you,” she said. “For everything.”
She looked down at her arm again then tilted her head back to look up at Raven. She wasn’t sure how to react. This had been the last remnant of her nearly dying, at least the last one that would go away. She’d have the scar on her upper arm where Freud had to stitch her up for the rest of her life, even though he’d removed the stitches weeks ago. Now it was a shiny pink scar. Eventually it would fade, but it would always be there. She’d have to live with that.
“What do you think?” Raven asked, lifting one brow at her. “Want to go for a ride to celebrate?”
“Yes!” She hadn’t been out of the clubhouse, well, other than out onto the back patio, since she’d arrived two months before. She would love to go somewhere, anywhere, away from there. Then she remembered the Demons. “But is it safe?”
“The Demons are gone. I thought you’d heard about their club house blowing up.”
She frowned and shook her head. She hadn’t heard anything like that. Where would she have heard it? “Are—Are you sure?” She felt lightheaded. Not wanting to fall, she braced one hand on the table still sitting beside her. She had a hard time drawing a breath and had to stop and try again, this time her lungs filled more easily.
“I am. The Demons are gone. Besides, you look different with the short hair, I’m sure.” He smoothed one hand over her head then down her neck. “But put a helmet on and there’s no reason anyone would recognize you, even your best friend. Why don’t you go get ready and I’ll take you out for a bit.”
Her heart seemed to jump in her chest. “Really? Do I have time for a shower?”
“You do. Just don’t take two hours.” He gave her an indulgent smile.
Impatient to get out of there, she jumped up and hurried to her room. Her arm felt weird not having the weight she’d become accustomed to hauling around with her, but it felt good.
Taylynn hurried through her shower but took the time to scrub her arm and enjoy being able to use both hands to wash her hair. Then she dressed in a pair of jeans, t-shirt and the only shoes she had for going outside, a pair of canvas pull-on shoes, before going out in search of Raven. The thought of getting out of here for a bit was more exciting than the twinge of fear that ran through her at the idea of getting on a motorcycle again.
“Ready?” Raven asked as she stepped into the common area of the club house.
“As ready as I’ll get.”
“Not quite.” Something about his tone made her think he was up to something.
“Why not?” Taylynn tilted her head and watched him. Was he having second thoughts about taking her out?
“You can’t ride in those.” He motioned the thin canvas shoes on her feet.
She looked down at her feet then back up at him, her eyes wide. She opened her mouth to tell him that they were all she had, but he stopped her as he pointed to a box sitting on the bar.
“I think those will work better.”
With a frown, Taylynn went to the bar and took a look. The box said they’d come from the Harley dealership and were a nice pair of riding boots. She didn’t believe that was what was inside. She’d never been inside a Harley Davidson dealership, but she’d heard that they weren’t cheap, not for anything they sold. There was no way one of these guys would spend the kind of money boots from the dealership would cost, not on her. She was no one.
She opened the box and found that what was inside matched what was on the outside. Riding boots. The only person who would have bought her riding boots would have been Raven. The others might bring her small things once in a while—dinner, or a candy bar—but Raven was the only one who ever thought about more than the right now. He was the one who had brought her shoes with soles so she could go out into the back yard without worrying about tearing up the bottoms of her slippers.
She looked down at the boots, then pulled one out and looked at it, her movements slow, as she wasn’t entirely sure she was seeing what she thought she was. Was this some kind of joke?
Still holding the boot, she looked up to find Raven watching her.
“Did you get these for me?” She couldn’t help the tears that pooled in her eyes.
“I did, little one. Do you like them?”
She looked at him for a moment then back down at the boot in her hand. Her throat seemed to close. She tried to say yes, but the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, she nodded, set the boot back into the box with its mate and went to him. Taylynn looked up at him for a moment, still unable to speak, then threw her arms around his torso and hugged him.