20. Oh, Mother.Oh, Brother
CHAPTER 20
OH, MOTHER...OH, brOTHER
Nisa
Every time I turn around, it seems like someone else around me is in danger. First it was my brother, then the guys at Chrome Creed and now my mother.
I wish Marc would just take his anger out on the person he really wants to punish... me.
I hop off Leo’s bike before he even gets it to a complete stop. The muffler burns my leg, I’m moving so fast.
“Nisa, hold up.” He calls out for me, but I can’t wait for him. My mother was already in bad shape with the first fire, and now she’s been in another. How much can the woman take before it’s too much.
Leo and I rush up to the ICU where they have my mother and I see one of the same nurses that was there when I was in the hospital.
“Oh, I didn’t think we’d be seeing you any time soon? How’s the head?” She asks, giving me a patient smile.
“It’s fine. I’m sorry I just left like that, but there were extenuating circumstances. I’m actually here about my mom. She was in a fire.” I tell the nurse and instantly her face drops. I won’t survive if she tells me my mother is gone. I just won’t.
“Come on, she’s over here.” The nurse leads us down the hall and when I look back, I notice that no one other than Leo is walking beside me. They must be downstairs making sure things are safe. Or they could be giving me some space to grieve.
The nurse stops us right before she opens the door to one of the patient rooms. On the small label, I see my mother’s name, so I know she’s in there.
“Sweetheart, I need you to brace yourself. Your mother has been through a lot, okay. She’s resting right now, but what you’re going to see is... well, it’s going to be tough.” The kind nurse says to me, and I feel Leo’s arms wrap around my waist.
“Okay. I’m ready. I’m ready.” The words come out my mouth, but even as I say them, I know I’m not. Nothing could prepare me for what I’m about to see.
The nurse pushes open the door and I walk in behind her. My mother is bandaged, almost from head to toe. Her face is swollen and discolored. Her eyes are taped shut and there’s a tube in her mouth to help her breathe.
I stumble slightly as I try to make my way to the bedside. It’s only then I see one of her arms is raised and wrapped tightly, but her fingers are black with burned skin. She’s going to lose that arm.
Leo may think this is someone else besides Marc, but I know the truth. I did this.
“Oh god. Mom... Mom.” I cry and search for a spot on her body that I can touch. Everything looks like it will hurt her, so I settle with just laying my head next to her and crying. The tears don’t seem to want to stop, and the longer I cry, the worse I feel. How the hell could I have gotten myself into this? How could I have thought my brother would be okay with anything I was doing?
“Nisa, let’s take a walk. You need to get some air.” Leo helps me up from the bed and I let him lead me. I feel more like a robot than an actual person. Whatever he wants me to do, I’ll do it if it means that all of this will finally be put behind me.
I don’t remember getting into the elevator or when we stepped outside, but the cool breeze hitting my face brought me back to the present. The only thing I can be thankful for right now is that she’s not dead. I know my mother. She’s just like me, a fighter.
“What do you need, babe? Tell me what I can do?” Leo asks me as he holds me against his chest. The tenderness in his voice wraps around me like a warm blanket. I want more of it.
“Forgive me.” I whisper, and he pulls away to look down at my face.
“What?”
“I made such a mess of everything and I know I could have done so many things differently, but I think I’ve suffered enough. Can you forgive me for ever thinking of going against you and the club?”
“Ah, Nisa. I know why you did it. It was dumb as fuck, but you were in mourning, and we didn’t hold up to our end of the bargain like we said we would. When we took your brother in, you became one of us too. You needed us and you felt abandoned. We all have to take responsibility for that. I forgive you. It’s over now. You're back home and no one is going to take you away from us again.” He leans forward and kisses me softly against my swollen lips.
“Thank you. For everything. Just thank you.” I let my head fall to his chest and wrap my arms back around him. I don’t want him to see me this vulnerable. It’s been a long while since anything like this has happened to me. A long while since I could completely let down my guard.
We stayed with my mother for hours until one of the doctors came around and let us know that she would be in a medically induced coma for at least another forty-eight hours. I didn’t want to leave her, but even I could admit that being out in the open was not the safest place for me to be. The last thing I wanted was for Marc to come up to the hospital and either my mother or any of the nursing staff be injured if he tried to attack me again. I need to go back into hiding until Leo and the rest of the guys figured out what we were going to do to get Marc to leave me alone.
The outpouring of emotion along with the last bit of my own injuries completely drained me. When we got back to the clubhouse, all I wanted to do was sleep. Leo had to basically carry me back to the room because my legs could barely get me up the stairs.
I wake up to hear him and Rumble arguing about something outside the door. I don’t want to eavesdrop, but I’m worried it might have something to do with my mom.
“This is bullshit. We don’t know that it’s him. Why the hell would he do that shit?”
“You tell me, Rumble. It’s your brother.”
I hear a groan before Rumble starts to talk again, “I don’t know if that’s my brother. He shows up out of nowhere when I’m twenty years old and says he’s my brother, but then he vanishes again. The prick only shows up when he wants to hit me up for cash or if he needs to get out of trouble. I don’t have any connection to him besides what he says. And he can’t provide any fucking proof. I don’t know who the hell that man is.”
“If that’s the case, then you’re not going to upset when find him and find out what the fuck he was doing near the safe house right before it burst into flames, right?”
What the fuck? They know something about what happened to my mother?
I yank the door all the way open and come out. The two of them startle. Leo squeezes his eyes shut when he sees me staring at Rumble. He knows I heard what they were talking about.
“What does your brother have to do with my mother being burned alive?” I ask.
“We don’t know that he has anything to do with it. We only know he showed up.” Rumble says.
“Well, call him and find out!” I yell at him.
“I can’t! I don’t have his fucking number! We don’t talk, I have no idea what he was doing there.” Rumble yells back.
“That’s enough. Nisa, go back in the room.” Leo orders me but I don’t move. “Nisa!” He barks and I finally rip my attention away from Rumble and back to Leo.
“You’re not going to keep me in the dark on this, Leo. That’s not how this works.” I snarl at him.
Leo grabs me by the arm and drags me back into the room before he slams the door shut behind him.
“Nisa, who the hell do you think you’re talking to? You seem to forget that I’m the president of this club and if I want to tell you nothing at all, that’s what I will tell you. I get you’re stressing about your mother. We all are. But don’t forget you’re my old lady now. You said you wanted this. You told me to make you mines, and now I have. It’s time you learn your place. Let me handle my business, and don’t you ever even think about telling me what I will or won’t fucking do when it comes to my club.” He gets right in my face and though I know I shouldn’t be afraid of him, I can’t deny that Leo is scaring the shit out of me right now.
That doesn’t mean I’m just going to shut up. I’m not made like that.
“Oh, so that’s how this is going to be? You going to drip feed me information like any one of the other hang arounds? What the hell makes you any better than Marc if this is the treatment I get?” I press my hands to my waist and glare at Leo.
“Maybe I’m not any better than Marc. But you had your run with him. Tell me where did that get you?” Leo grabs hold of my chin hard and lifts my face so that I’m looking at him. “By all means if you think you have a better chance over there with him, go for it. Just know if you walk out of here again thinking you know best, I’m not going to be so lenient with my forgiveness. You leave the Chrome Creed clubhouse, and you will become our enemy.” He lets go of my chin and takes a step back. “You wanted to be with me, this is what you get. Don’t question my authority, ever.” He stares at me for a second, waiting for me to say something, I guess. “You understand?” He barks loud enough for me to jump.
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Get some more rest.” he leaves me standing behind the door while he and Rumble walk off and continue talking about the brother that may or may not have had a hand in putting my mother in the hospital.
It feels like I’m back in the corner, stuck between a rock and hard place.
I know Leo is going to look out for me, no matter how bad he tries to act. He’s going to make sure I’m good, but I can’t just sit back and do nothing when my mother is laying on what may be her deathbed.
I’m going to find out this info one way or another, I just hope it’s not enough to get me kicked out of Chrome Creed for good.