Carbon (Depraved Souls MC San Jose #4)

Prologue

HARLOW

“Hey, hey, you are okay. Shhhh, you are okay,” a gentle voice I don’t recognize fills my ears while pain lances at my skin.

It’s so intense, I writhe. The voice hushes me softly, a hand wrapping around mine, gloved fingers gently stroking over the skin of my hand.

“The medicine should start kicking in now.”

The searing pain of my skin begins to lessen.

Slowly but finally, it dulls to a throb, a throb I can feel is there, but oddly doesn’t cause pain.

Pain medicine is so weird. I blink my eyes over and over trying to adjust to the low light of the room, a quiet beeping beside me seems to mirror the painless pulse of my skin.

My eyes focus on a woman beside me, she smiles.

“There she is. Hi Harlow, my name is Roxy. I’m a nurse here. ”

“Harry,” I push out my lips, but wow does it feel like a lot of work.

“Harry, is that what you prefer to be called?” she asks softly.

I bob my head to avoid trying to make sound again. She smiles a little bigger, well I think she does, she has a mask on under her face shield, but the way her eyes crinkle suggests it. “I like that, Harry. Alright Harry, you are at the hospital. Do you remember why you are here?”

My eyes close as I think about what happened to land me in the hospital.

Tears prick at them when the memories flood back.

Nodding as I open my eyes back up. Her hand squeezes mine.

“You’re safe Harry. I promise you are safe here.

There are police here, they want to talk to you, but I called for the doctor to come check you, to decide if we are ready to let the cops in. ”

“My parents?” I whisper.

Her brows pinch. “Uhm, they have been contacted.”

The tears dripping from the corners of my eyes. Roxy reaches up and gently dabs at my eyes with a tissue. “There, there. You’re here. You’re safe. I’m not going to leave your side anytime soon. You are my only patient tonight.”

“Why?” I ask not understanding how I could be her only patient.

“You’re in the ICU, that means the Intensive Care Unit.

You are stable, so we are going to send you for another surgery in the morning, make sure you do well, then hopefully we can move you on.

” Her fingers gently brush my hair back from my forehead.

“You and I are going to ride this out together. Alright?”

She dabs at more tears that fall just as a man and woman enter the room. They both give me soft smiles. The man steps beside me, his hand taking Roxy’s place over mine. “Harlow?—”

“She prefers Harry,” Roxy corrects.

The man nods with a smile. “Harry. It is good to see you awake. Are you in pain?”

“No,” I whisper, the effort to talk seeming to be less now.

“Excellent, that is a good sign. We got lucky, the burns only cover a quarter of your body, and it sounds like your actions prevented the acid from getting on your upper body. Your thighs, hip, and part of your abdomen have been affected. We have been able to remove some of the needed sections, and we will be working on one more section. Eventually, we will be able to worry about reconstruction, you likely will need some skin grafting, which the surgeon will come in tomorrow to talk to you about. For now, we are just making sure you stay infection free.” His eyes move over my face.

“Do you feel like you could talk to the police?”

I shrug.

“How about we let them in, they will be wearing protective gear like we are. Would you like for one of us to stay?” His hand gives mine a gentle squeeze.

“Roxy?” I ask, my eyes meeting hers.

She beams at me. “You and me, Harry, we got this.”

I really like her, like I can trust her, and she feels so warm. The man smiles. “Sounds like we have a plan. I will have a word with them before I allow them in. You can end your conversation with them at any time. Your well-being is our only priority.”

Roxy pulls a chair over, getting herself comfortable, her gloved hand wraps over mine. “They will not be allowed to touch you or come very close to you. You give my hand a real good squeeze if you want them to go, can you try doing that now?”

I give her hand a tight squeeze. She nods. “Perfect. You just do that, and I will kick them out. You don’t need a reason to kick them out either. We go based on what is right for you. Okay?”

“Okay,” I whisper feeling safe with Roxy. Perhaps it should be weird to feel safe with her, but I do, she is the safest feeling person I have ever met.

Another man and woman come in, both are covered in the weird gown things the doctors and nurses have been in, they also have masks and face shields on. They come over but stay about three feet back. Roxy jumps in before they start talking, “She prefers to be called Harry.”

They both nod. “Hi Harry, I’m Detective Muniz and this is Detective Pfaff.

First, I want to say that we have Robert Himmel in custody.

The incident was caught on video, so we have him.

We would like to get a brief statement from you.

When you are feeling better, we will want to ask more questions so that we can make sure we have the best possible case for the District Attorney. Okay?”

“Okay,” I say and they both lean forward a little, that is when I realize I am speaking very quietly.

“Don’t worry, honey, I can repeat anything if they struggle to hear it. You don’t need to force yourself to be louder, this is a no pain zone here.” Roxy gives my hand a little squeeze.

“Harry, can you tell us what happened between you and Robert Himmel?” Muniz asks.

“We broke up,” I push the words out as loud as I can without causing too much strain. “He was cheating on me, left me for her, she hated me.”

The detectives glance at each other, which looks exaggerated in their face shields. “Harry, can you tell us this girl’s name?”

“Maisey Dannon. She has had it out for me for years,” I struggle to get the words out. I feel like I am fading fast with the exhaustion pulling me down. I hold off squeezing Roxy’s hand as her other one comes up to gently stroke at my arm. “Bobby isn’t this type of guy, but he is an idiot.”

Flashes of Bobby approaching me outside school rush across my vision. He told me he loved me. His brow pinched, his hand shaking as he held a cup. His eyes met mine. He cheated on me. His voice was unusually high pitched, “You need to leave this school. She can’t have you here. Just go. Please.”

He said he loved me. His hand pulled back with cup, I was worried he was going to splash me in the face with whatever was in the cup, I threw my hand out toward him, catching his wrist. I shoved his hand down and the fluid, already on its way out of the cup sloshed down.

He said this was love. It got all over my shirt and down my leggings.

I remember looking down. We both looked down.

I looked back up at him, his head shook.

Then he was backing away, then ran off. That’s when the pain hit me.

I thought he loved me. I started screaming.

I vaguely remember people trying to help me, but no one could touch me.

Mr. Valmer found a hose and started trying to spray water on me as people shouted around me.

An ambulance came, they cut my clothes away, my eyes squeeze shut at the memory of people seeing me like that. How can I go back to that school? I squeeze hard on Roxy’s hand.

“Detectives, I think we need to let Harry rest. I assure you that we will give you updates as we can—you can come back another time.” Roxy stands between me and them, her voice staying soft and sweet. I officially love her. She is my new favorite person in the whole world.

Soon enough I am alone with Roxy, who is back to dabbing at my eyes with a tissue like towel. She hushes me softly, “You’re safe Harry. I promise. You are safe. We are going to get you through this.”

The next several months are horrible medically, but not so bad legally. Bobby took a plea deal and Maisey did too because she was found to have been part of the planning and like the detective said, she was really the mastermind.

Medically, I have multiple skin grafts. I practically live in the hospital.

My parents don’t come around more than once or twice, not that I expected them to be there more.

When it became clear to Roxy that my parents were absent, she became my visitor when I moved departments.

She drove me home and set me up. When she would visit my home, it was apparent to her that I was not safe there and she elected to care for me at her home, a cute little condo.

My parents didn’t give a rip, again, not that I expected them to.

Roxy is the one who takes me to appointments, the one that is there for me, and she even ends up helping me finish high school with my GED.

I go to the local community college for classes, mostly online, but some in person too.

I don’t see my parents much, but because I’m a minor, I have to still make sure to check in periodically. Thankfully, they don’t seem to give a shit that I am missing most of the time—assuming they even notice.

Roxy becomes the closest thing I have to a mom.

She houses me, feeds me, and makes sure I have clothes.

I feel bad that she puts up with me, but I have minimal other choices and being with her is the first time I have ever felt happy.

She has always been so sweet to not pry into the relationship with my parents, but I suspect she knows.

No, I am sure she knows, but she can’t prove it, so she just chooses to keep me safe by keeping me with her.

My parents are abusive. Well, Mom is. I mean, she isn’t the type to throw me down and kick the shit out of me, but she will slap me around. That has to be better than a real beating, right?

Whatever, I have Roxy and that’s what matters.