Chapter 22
Doc
“Will it leave a bad scar?” the teenager on the bed asks with a croak in her voice, her body trembling.
I clench my jaw as I gently wrap her arm, the deep knife gash going down her family tattoo now stitched, and I look at her softly despite the rage I’m feeling. Her mama stands beside her with concern, though I haven’t missed her eyes coming my way several times.
The woman has a wedding ring on for Christ's sake.
“Unfortunately, it will,” I admit as I tape up her arm, “But once it has healed, you can always tattoo over it.”
A few tears fall, and she nods before looking down, shame etching off her, and I swear, I’m going to fucking flip.
She was attacked, nearly raped, and ended up stabbing the fucker that attacked her with his own knife, a fucker in a denim cut, like what the Cannibals wear.
More and more attacks have been happening, drugs being sold in our businesses and the one thing they all have in common – Cannibals denim cuts.
“The police will be by to see you in a minute,” I say as I stand, and she nods again without looking at me.
I look at her mama, whose green eyes eat me up but I ignore her lustful look and state, “A nurse will be in once statements have been made about after care for her arm and will bring her antibiotics.”
The woman nods, not looking me in the eyes, too focused on looking over my body, and I roll my eyes.
Seriously, her fucking daughter it sitting in a hospital bed, scared and in pain and her sole focus is on me?
Fucking patch chasers and yes, she is a patch chaser. I’ve seen this woman at a few parties the club has held without her wedding ring on.
I shake my head and move to throw my gloves in the bin as the curtain to the cubicle opens slightly, and I turn and lock eyes with Rose’s concerned ones.
“Everything okay?” I ask and she winces as she admits, “Um, no, not really, uh, I need you to stay calm.”
She seriously did not just say that to me?
I tense instantly at her words and demand, “What has happened?”
“Brittany is in room five with a head injury,” she admits, and my eyes widen in shock as I rush out of the room without a second thought before following the sound of Stone’s voice.
“Stop fucking pacing, Thunder, you’re pissing me off!” he snaps, and I pull the curtain back, and absolute gut-wrenching fear and fury fill me, seeing my girl, my heart, sitting on the bed, her legs dangling as she holds an ice pack to the side of her head.
Thunder looks at me wide-eyed while Stone and Shadow wince, seeing my fury I know I’m not hiding.
Someone is about to be shot!
“What the fuck happened?!” I demand lowly as I stalk over to my girl, who keeps her eyes on me while mine go to the fucking massive bruise on the side of her head.
I gently peel the ice pack off, and I swear to fuck. A large bump is present and has already begun to bruise.
Motherfuckers!
Shadow clears his throat and states, “She uh, hit her head quite hard and knocked herself out.”
I notice a few looks exchanged between Thunder, Brit, and Stone as Shadow speaks, and I know there is more to the story and clearly trying to keep my anger at bay.
Not going to fucking happen.
“How long was she out for?!” I demand to know as I throw the ice pack on the tray, then gently feel around her neck and work my way up, my pulse fucking racing.
She was hurt, knocked out after I encouraged her to go to family day, after my mama begged her.
Wait, where the fuck is my daughter?!
Brit gently presses her hand to my chest, seeing that my breathing has intensified, and begins drawing small circles to soothe me as Stone admits, “She was out for about ten minutes, and your mama has Bailey, who is fine.”
Ten fucking minutes and no one called me?
“You should have called me or a fucking ambulance!” I snap, and the men look away before I demand, “The truth, now, how did she hurt herself?!”
Thunder steps forward sheepishly and admits, “I wanted to help bring her memories back, so I-I uh, look when we were little we used to play baseball alright. I told her we were going to play and helped her stand but I thought I’d do what I did when we were kids and pretend to hit her with the bat only she uh, she didn’t duck like she did back then. ”
I look at him sharply and go to move to grab the fucker, but Brit grips my shirt hard, and I growl as I point at him and snap, “Grunt work with the prospects for a fucking month!”
“Ah fuck,” he groans, dropping his head as my breathing deepens and Brit whispers, “Can you brothers wait outside please.”
Shadow gives her a soft smile as he and Stone grab a hold of a moaning Thunder, and with my anger festering. I turn and continue my checks on my girl, knowing I can’t kill a brother in the hospital, fuck, I can’t kill her brother.
I breathe heavy in and out of my nose as my jaw locks and I gently prod around the bump.
“Asher,” she whispers, but I shake my head, my body vibrating,
I almost lost her once because of my stupidity and her head injury. What the fuck was he thinking?
I grab my pen light out of my coat as she whispers, “I really want to be mad at you right now.”
Mad at me? Is she fucking having a laugh? The idiot hit her with a baseball bat!
I try to calm my anger before responding.
“The fucker is lucky that is all I gave him, he could have killed you, Tinkerbell. Besides, you can’t be mad at me, I gave you four orgasms this morning with my mouth before work and finding my girl, my fucking everything in a bed in my ER is not okay,” I mutter as I shine a light in her eyes, gauging her pupil responses and she flinches.
I swear he’s fucking dead, I’ve decided. I don’t care that he’s family, he is fucking dead.
I take a deep breath before stating, “Following the light for me baby.”
She does as I ask, and I put my light back in my pocket and begin to check around the injured area again and mutter, “You definitely have a concussion, a small one, but it’s there. I’m going to shoot that fucking idiot.”
“Can we go home?” she asks, and we lock eyes, something I can’t quite name shining back in hers.
“Yeah, but I think maybe Mama should have Bailey tonight. You’ve pumped enough to last her, you need rest,” I reply as I gently run my fingers through her hair, worry hitting me at the look I can’t decipher.
“Okay,” she relents without argument, “I’ll get a lift back with the others…”
“No,” I instantly deny, “You’ll come back with me. I’m clocking out.”
“Asher,” she whispers as she grips my coat, “you still have two hours left of your shift.”
I shrug and mutter, “Don’t give a shit, you come first. Let me go clock out, and I’ll meet you out front.”
She looks at me for a moment before nodding slightly, wincing at the pain, and my jaw locks again.
“I’m alright,” she reassures as she strokes my jaw, but I shake my head before planting a kiss on her lips and mutter, “Outside the doors in five minutes.”
Turning, I walk out of the room and point at Thunder.
I threaten, “If you know what is good for you, you’ll stay out of my fucking sight,” and he flinches before I look at Stone and state, “Another woman was attacked, a teenager this time,” his eyes harden, “Stand outside with Brit, I’m just going to clock out and call Cannon then I’ll take her home and you can take my bike. ”
He nods once, and I walk away without saying shit to Thunder, knowing I’m about to fucking kill him.
I take out my phone and bring up the Cannibal’s leader's number, pressing on it before putting the phone to my ear as I walk to my office to grab my cut.
“Doc, this is a surprise,” Cannon answers after three rings.
I cut to the chase and state, “I’ve just had a teenager come into the ER, with a gash down her arm claiming to have been attacked from behind by men wearing denim cuts.”
“What the fuck,” he cursed.
I continue, “She stabbed him with the knife he hurt her with, but they were wearing your logos, Cannon.”
“It wasn’t me or my group,” he instantly defends himself, then sighs, “I think we need to meet up to sort this shit out. I don’t want a war, Doc, especially one I know I won’t win.”
I pause for a moment just outside of my door before I state, “I can’t tonight, I need to monitor my girl. Let me speak with Stone, and we’ll arrange the meeting.”
“What happened to your girl?” he asks in confusion, already fully aware of my whole fucking situation after Stone had no choice but to spill the beans when I was away and couldn’t communicate with the fucker.
“Her idiot brother decided to try and get her memories back by hitting her over the head with a baseball bat,” I mutter as I walk into my office and round my desk to sign off online so everyone knows I’m not in.
“Fucking hell,” he curses, “he could have killed her!”
Yep.
“Tell me about it. I’ll give you a call in the next few days, Cannon,” I reply, and he sighs, “You better, I won’t have people fucking pretending to be my guys to get away with shit like that. Drugs in your businesses is one thing but we don’t touch women, it’s in our fucking rules.”
He hangs up, and I shake my head as I grab my cut and keys, ready to get my girl home.
Half an hour later, I pull up outside our home and cut the engine as Stone pulls up beside me with my bike.
I wanted nothing more than to ride with her on the back, but even with a small concussion, it could cause serious damage, just like I can’t fuck her tonight like I have every single fucking night.
Fucking Thunder!
Huffing, my anger still rising, I climb out of the truck and swap keys with Stone, and I state, “Church tomorrow morning. Cannon wants a meeting.”
He nods before climbing in his truck, I round the hood and open Brit’s door, helping her out. She waves at Stone as he drives away and I wrap my arm around her waist and guide her to the house.
“I can’t believe you left work early,” she whispers, and I snort.
“What part of you come first do you not understand?” I ask with humor as I guide us inside, and Angel instantly runs over, moving between our feet.
“I didn’t always, though,” she unhelpfully reminds me, and I sigh.
“Tinkerbell,” I say as I gently grab her hips as I lean against the closed front door, “I made plenty of fucking mistakes. I had shit loads of pressure on my shoulders, and that pressure is still there. I just decided I can’t live my life without you, without claiming you.
I know the danger, believe me, I do and it scares the living shit outta me that I’ll fail those boys, but I can’t survive without you. ”
Her eyes tear up as she grips my cut and chokes, “You make it so hard to be mad at you, to hold onto that anger, but losing my memories made me see it from another point of view, your struggles, the pressure you had, and I, I am so sorry, Asher…”
I furrow my brows as I cup her jaw and look over her, confused by her emotions unless.
My heart pounds at the truth staring me straight in the face, the pain, the guilt, the hurt, the love all shining off my girl.
“Fuck me, that idiot actually managed to get your memories back,” I rasp and place my forehead against hers, and she sobs, “I was going to abort our daughter.”
Fuck.
I squeeze my eyes tight and mutter, “He couldn’t keep all of them in, huh?”
“Asher,” she whispers, and I look at her, pain etching all over her features.
“Baby, you were going through a lot, I put you through a lot.” I remind her but she shakes her head and sobs, “But that isn’t-isn’t the point though is it? Our daughter Asher…”
“Has an amazing mama,” I cut in, “Who I love so fucking much.”
Her tears fall and I press my lips against hers before choking, “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you…” before kissing her again and she wraps her arms around my waist before she breaks the kiss and croaks, “I missed you,” and my heart fucking squeezes in my chest and kiss her again.
“Welcome back, Tinkerbell,” I whisper, and she kisses me again before declaring, “I love you, Asher.” and everything in me settles as I gently lift her, causing her legs to wrap around my waist, and I walk us inside.
I’m never letting this girl go, even if she comes up with a stupid idea of spending time apart, something I know she may do. I won’t let her go.
She’s mine, all fucking mine.