Chapter Five #2
I can hear the others following after me, but I don't wait for them. She said no hospitals so the only place I can think to take her is our home. We all have extensive first aid training so we should be able to patch her up. I'd feel better if she'd let us take her to the hospital though.
Approaching the SUV we came in this morning, Maverick runs ahead of me to open the back door.
I nudge Kai to get in first, knowing that he needs to focus on Sage or the memories are going to consume him.
He gets in stiffly and helps me guide Sage in as gently as possible resting her head on his lap.
He stares down at her stroking her hair and muttering things too quiet for me to hear.
The rest of the guys load up, Jax snagging the seat next to Sage and gently placing her feet in his lap.
The air on the car ride to our home is tense and silent.
We need Sage to wake up so we can ask her where she’s hurt.
Once we arrive back at our house Kai gently gathers Sage in his arms and caries her through the front door.
We all follow in behind him as he lays her gently on the couch.
"Maverick can you check her over once we know where she's hurt? I know we've all got training, but you've gone more in depth with it." Levi asks.
"Yes of course, I'll just go wash up.” He sends a discreet nod in the direction of Kai who is obviously really struggling.
He has Sage's hand clutched tightly in one of his whilst his other one gently strokes the hair off her face. His eyes aren't really seeing her though. He’s trapped in his mind right now and that could get dangerous if he gets sucked into the past too deeply.
It hasn't happened for a long time but the suspicions behind her injury and the fact that he so obviously cares about her is going to be extremely hard for him.
I walk over to him and gently lay my hand on his shoulder.
He glances up at me his usually cheerful and mischievous eyes, dark and haunted.
I hate seeing him like this.
"Hey, why don't you try and wake her up? We need to know where she's hurt so we can help her." I say hoping that by distracting him he will be able to swim up from his memories.
"Yeah okay.” He says gently before turning back to Sage and stroking her hair off her face again. "Sage, Beautiful Girl? Can you open your eyes for me?"
I watch as Sage begins to stir. Her breathing is back to normal although still slightly shallow. It's not as nearly as worrying as it was when she was wheezing in the cafeteria.
"Where am I?" Sage asks worriedly looking around.
"At our home, Sweetheart. Since you said you didn't want to go to the hospital, and we didn't know where you lived we figured here would be best." I reply giving her one of my small smiles.
"Thank you.” She returns my smile with a small one of her own.
I can tell she's still in a lot of pain though.
"Sage, where are you hurt?" Levi questions, using his rare voice of authority. He only uses it when he has to.
We are all crowded around the couch waiting for her answer. She closes her eyes tightly before answering.
"My ribs.” She points to her left side.
I watch curiously as Levi’s eyes widen impossibly before he blanks his face and focuses back on Sage. Something in that giant brain of his just clicked.
"Can Maverick have a look Darling? He has medical training." Levi asks gently.
Questions dance in her eyes at this small bit of information before she pushes them away and glances at Mav, he gives her a warm smile and she relaxes a bit before nodding tightly.
Maverick comes over to kneel by the couch.
"Do you want the rest of us to leave, Little Star? We won't mind." Jax questions her.
I think we all release a sigh of relief when she says that she doesn’t mind if we stay. I know we all want to be here for her.
"Can you lift your top up a bit, so I can see?" Maverick asks, gently.
Once again, we all end up holding our breaths as soon as she starts lifting her top up.
Making sure to stay modest, she lifts it up on one side making sure to hold the other side down and only showing us her left side and part of her stomach.
As soon as she's lifted it all the way up we all stare in shock before Hunter and Jax start cursing loudly.
Her entire left side and most of her stomach is splotched with black and purple bruising. I swear I can make out the shape of a fucking foot.
"What the fuck! Is that a mother fucking foot? Who the fuck did this to you, Sweetheart?" I can't help the words that erupt from my mouth.
I'm seeing red.
Levi sends me a stern look it, I ignore him. I know from his balled-up hands and the clenched jaws of the others that they want to know as much as I do.
Sage though resolutely keeps her mouth shut and her eyes anywhere but on us. Her avoidance of the subject makes us glance at each other warily.
Maverick applies a layer of bruise cream to Sage's ribs and stomach after a quick examination determines that she has three cracked ribs. He then sends me to the kitchen to grab an ice pack. I know for damn sure that there’s those shake to activate ones in the medical kit by his feet, he’s just finding something for me to do other than pace.
I’ll admit I’m slightly grateful to the bastard.
I hand the ice pack over to him as he gets her to swallow a couple of painkillers.
Finally, we can't keep quiet anymore.
"Sage . . ." Kai starts before she interrupts.
"I can't tell you.” She whispers brokenly.
"Sweetheart you can tell us anything." I tell her.
"He's right, Titch." Maverick adds.
"Even though you haven't known us for very long you can trust us Sage." Levi tells her sincerely.
"Come on, Little Star," Jax coaches taking her hand. "Tell us who did this, we can protect you."
"Damn fucking right we can." Kai agrees.
She shakes her head in dismissal.
"You can't.” She whispers, the broken look in her eyes is damn near killing me and I rush over to her side knocking Jax out of the way as I pass.
"Sage, Sweetheart look at me.” She turns her head slowly towards me, “that's my girl, listen to me.
We can protect you and we will Sage but we need to know who we have to protect you from.
" I can see the uncertainty still in her eyes so I push on, "It would kill us if something happened to you Sweetheart, we nearly completely lost our shit today and now that we know someone is hurting you we won’t be able to stand it.
" I look in her eyes, knowing the guys are nodding in agreement behind me. "Please let us help you Sweetheart."
Tears start to tumble down her cheeks and both Kai and I lean forward to wipe them off.
"My mother."
"Fucking hell!" I curse.
"It started when I was nine. She wasn't the best mom, she tended to forget about me a lot, but she never hurt me. When I was nine, she started drinking. That was the first time she hit me. I can't remember why but I do remember thinking that my Imprint Tattoo made sense then."
I look at her wide eyed, she got an Imprint Tattoo when she was nine!? She doesn't notice my look and carries on.
"It got worse from then on.” Her eyes start droop as she yawns.
Jax opens his mouth, no doubt to ask about what she meant about her Imprint Tattoo, but quickly shuts it when Levi shakes his head.
"Thank you for telling us, Beautiful Girl." Kai tells her, gently kissing her on her forehead.
I watch him closely. This is too close to his past; he's going to break, I can see it. I watch him quickly leave the room, going down to the basement and to the gym and sparing area we have down there.
Maverick leans over Sage and kisses her on her cheek.
"Get some rest Titch.” He says quietly before following after Kai.
Next, Jax picks up her hand and kisses it.
"You're safe here Little Star.” He promises before he too follows Kai down to the basement.
Sometimes it takes all of us to calm Kai down and I have a feeling this is going to be more difficult than usual.
Sage's eyes are already closed and her breathing soft.
I kiss her on her cheek surprised when Levi does the same.
We gently cover her with a blanket before the first crash sounds from downstairs.
I put the television on to block out some of the noise, hoping Sage is a sound sleeper or at the very least the TV will block out the sounds from the basement enough.
Kai would hate for her to see him like this, this isn't him, it's his demons.
At the sound of the second crash Levi and I rush down to the basement to take in the damage and to spar with Kai for as long as he needs us to, to help him force his demons back.