Chapter 21
brOOKE
Everything is dark. My body feels stiff and cold, like I haven’t moved in weeks. My eyes feel like they are glued shut, and I can’t open them.
I try to move my fingers, but they are stiff. Anxiety rises in my chest as I fight not to panic. I could be paralyzed, in an unfamiliar place, or I could be dead.
I try to relax. I have always heard that in unfamiliar places, you need to stay calm. The more I relax, the more I begin to focus on things around me. I can feel myself breathing, which means I’m not dead. It feels like someone is holding my hand.
I focus on trying to open my eyes. I can move them, but I haven’t been able to open them yet. It is equally frustrating and distressing not to be able to see my surroundings.
When I open my eyes, I am blinded by the light, so I shut them quickly. This time, I slowly blink to adjust.
Once my eyes are used to the light, I look around. I’m in a small room that looks like a medical bay. When I look down, Bear is asleep with his head on my bed, his big hand wrapped gently around mine.
I smile at the sight. He has been so kind and caring, and he even stayed with me as I recovered. It melts my heart that he is here with me.
I try to sit up, but groan in pain and lie back down. I take my hand out of his grip, moving it to his hair, and he stirs at the contact.
“Bear?” I whisper, but nothing.
After a minute of running my hands through his hair, he snaps his head up and looks at me.
“Leo,” I whisper, smiling.
He looks at me in shock.
“Hi,” I say again.
His eyes grow wide, and I smile.
“Did you just say my name?” he asks, slightly confused.
I nod hesitantly. I remember him saying I could call him that, but maybe he was just being polite and didn’t want me to actually.
He beams a smile at me and moves toward me. I flinch in anticipation of being pounced on, so he stops.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” he says, holding my hand.
“I’m not. You were just moving so fast,” I whisper.
Bear laughs and then moves toward me again, but slower.
“I’m going to help you sit up first, and then I will give you a hug,” he says.
I nod as he places his hand under my back. He moves his other arm around my stomach and looks at me.
“Tell me if I am hurting you at all. I don’t want to cause you any pain.” He looks directly into my eyes.
“Okay,” I say.
“On three.” He smiles, and I give him a smile back.
“One, two, three.” He lifts me with his hand on my back as I try to sit up.
I grimace as my body protests the movement. He panics at my pained expression.
“Did I hurt you?” he asks.
“No, I think moving in general will hurt. It wasn’t too much pain,” I say quietly.
He gives me a sad smile before he opens his arms.
“Ready for the hug? Then I have to call the doctor. I should have done that right away, but I really want to hug you,” he says.
I crack another smile and nod. I love his hugs. I melt into his arms and relax.
His strong arms wrap around my body, pulling me into him. I let out a sigh and snuggle into him. He tightens his arms a little and kisses the top of my head.
“All right, I need to get the doctor now. Press this button, and a nurse will get him. So just let me do that and then we can hug again,” he says, letting go of me.
After pressing the button, he opens his arms and wraps them around me. I lean toward my left and rest my upper body on him.
“You don’t know how worried I was when you were gone. I didn’t want to do anything but try to find you. You mean too much to me, and I don’t want to lose you again,” Bear softly says, running his hands through my hair.
Before I can respond, there is a knock on the door. I startle, and Bear starts to rub my back, calming me down.
“Come in,” Bear says.
The door opens, and the doctor walks in. He gives me a smile and walks closer.
“Hello, Brooke. I’m Razor, the club’s doctor. It’s nice to finally meet you. Bear here has been talking about you a lot,” he says, holding his hand out to me.
I hesitantly place my hand in his.
“Your hand is cold. Do you need an extra blanket or a jacket?” he asks.
I don’t even respond before Bear is moving. He walks over and picks up his hoodie from the chair. He starts to roll it up and pulls it over my head, putting it on me. I slide my arms in and lean my body against his.
“All right, since that is taken care of, I’ll tell you what happened and what you can and can’t do.” Razor stands at the end of the bed.
I look up at him and nod, not comfortable enough to talk around him.
“You had a lot of injuries on your body, some deep lacerations, but we got those stitched up. The stab wound on your leg is stitched, and it might be sore for the next couple of weeks. You lost a lot of blood, but we gave you a transfusion,” he starts.
He looks over at Bear. I lift my head and give Bear a questioning gaze, but he isn’t looking at me. He nods, and Razor starts to speak again.
“Your heart stopped, but we performed CPR, so your chest might be sore, but you are all good now. You were out for a week, so most of your wounds are healed, but I wouldn’t push anything.
You can’t do anything too strenuous for the next couple of weeks, giving you time to heal.
If you feel any discomfort or get tired, stop what you are doing and rest. I don’t want you to overdo anything,” he explains.
“Thank you, Doc,” Bear says.
“You’re welcome. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call or text me. I am here to answer anything.”
Razor walks out, and Bear turns toward me. He runs his hands through my hair before cupping my cheek.
“You want to stay here for a second, or do you want to head back to the clubhouse?” he asks.
“Stay here for a little bit? I want to relax and be next to you,” I softly reply.
Bear grins and nods. He helps me move over so he can get in next to me. He gently climbs onto the bed and gets comfortable before he guides me over to him. I lay my head across his chest and relax as Bear runs his hands through my hair.
I let out a sigh and snuggle into his body.
“Was I really out for a week?” I ask, looking up at him.
“Yeah, you were. I stayed with you as much as I could, but Pres had some jobs for me to do. He wanted me to get some fresh air and try to get my mind off everything.” Bear kisses the top of my head.
I nod, not knowing how to respond to that.
“I was worried that you weren’t going to wake up, but Razor reassured me that you were just recovering from your wounds and would wake up at any point. I finished Pres’s tasks as quickly as I could so I could come back to you.” He runs his hand up and down my back.
“I’m sorry for worrying you,” I say.
He stops moving his hands and cups my face.
“You don’t have to be sorry about anything. This wouldn’t have happened if I had gone with you. I am so sorry.” Regret laces his voice.
“I thought I saw him when we went to the diner, but he was supposed to be in prison. I thought I was being paranoid.” I snuggle into him, trying to listen to his heartbeat and steady breathing.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t think he was out of prison. He was supposed to be in for life.”
I feel him let out a sigh. “I guess you are right.”
I look up at Bear, who is looking off into space. I lift my hand and touch his face, and he looks at me. I give him a smile, but realize that Bear won’t look me in my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He looks at the ceiling before he looks back at me.
“I wanted you to tell me when you were ready, but when you got kidnapped, we did some research on you. I don’t want to lie and say I don’t know. I want to be honest. I know how you got those scars,” he says, looking me in the eye.
My eyes go wide as I stare at him.
“How?” I whisper.
“Phantom is our hacker. So when you went missing, I told him to find you and anyone who might want to hurt you. He hacked into some police database, and your name popped up as a victim. He looked into the police report.” He runs his hands across my back.
“How many people know?”
“Most of the club. They were all there when we were getting information and trying to find you. I’m sorry, I should have asked him not to say anything, but I was just trying to find you.”
I let out a sigh before I look at Bear again.
“It’s okay. It was going to come out eventually. You had to do what you had to do to find me,” I reply.
Bear doesn’t respond, and we sit in silence for a bit. With him running his hands through my hair, I start to fall asleep slowly.
“How about we go back, and you can sleep there,” Bear suggests.
“All right,” I reply.
Bear slowly stands before taking my hands and helping me get out of bed. I bite my lip as pain goes down my thigh.
“Are you okay? Do you want me to carry you?” Bear asks.
“I’m okay. Let’s just take it slow,” I reply, grabbing onto his hands.
He puts his arms around my waist and starts walking. I lean my body into his as we head down the hallway.
“Where are we?” I ask as we walk out of the front door.
“We are at Razor’s. First, we took you to the clubhouse, but he didn’t have as many supplies there. When we got you stable enough to move, we brought you here,” Bear says, helping me into the car.
I nod and watch him walk around the car and get in on his side. He picks up his phone and starts typing.
“I’m just letting Pres know that you are all right and awake. Everyone is so worried about you,” he says.
“Really?” I ask, shocked.
I didn’t think many people would be worried about me. I ignored a lot of them and didn’t talk to them. I tried to push them away and do my job.
“Yes, you have made your way into every person’s heart in the club. Everyone loves you.” He grabs my hand.
I stay silent and stare at our hands. I love holding his hand, my hands are so small and his are so big.
“Do… do they know I am talking?” I softly ask.
My palms start to sweat as I get nervous. I am not comfortable enough to talk around them yet, and I don’t want the added pressure of them wanting me to speak.
“No one knows. It’s going to be okay,” he says.
I let out a sigh of relief. Before I can try and respond, Bear turns the car off.
“Ready to go in?” he asks.
I nod and wait for him to walk around to my side. Bear helps me out of his car and guides me toward the front door. I let out a sigh as I lean into his body.
“Welcome home!” people shout when we walk in.
With my back against Bear’s chest, I stand there, surprise written all over my face.