Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
The roar of an engine brought me back.
I could feel the motion under me, the jolt of the car as it sped down some unseen road. I smelled a hint of smoke as my head lolled to one side and rested against something smooth but hard.
Something like leather.
As I came to, so did the pain. It was everywhere.
In every breath I took. A low moan escaped me and I tried to open my eyes but found it harder than usual.
My face felt swollen, a tingling sensation spreading around my jaw and mouth.
I tried to lick my lips and flinched at the stinging pain.
I tasted the bitter tang of blood on my tongue and realized I could feel it trailing down my chin.
I tried to blink and saw yellow and blue lights passing by from the windows at a ridiculous speed.
I squirmed a little, realizing I was sitting up but something was keeping me in place. I felt movement against me and a pair of arms holding me firm.
I blinked in confusion. Then a sudden memory hit me.
Two men in masks…one carrying me to a vehicle…a Mustang with a stripe down its side…a man forcing me on his lap...
Memory and reality collided, and I started to panic. I let out a small whimper as I tried to break free, but everything hurt too much and whoever held me kept their grip on me tight.
“Shhh, hey, it’s okay,” said a voice against my ear. “I got you.”
I stiffened. A shudder ran through me as another memory collided in my head. A memory of that voice whispering in my ear, holding me almost the same.
I trembled. I couldn’t help it.
Leslie.
This was the third time he’s held me, and it was never in a good situation.
My muscles tensed as I noticed his presence all around me. His warm body flushed against mine, the smell of leather and smoke hitting my senses, the rise and fall of his chest against my back.
With slow movement, I tilted my head down. No knife on me this time. At least there was that.
Another groan escaped me as I let my head fall back on his shoulder.
“That’s it,” he said. Did I detect a crack in his voice? A tremble of fear? Maybe. He stroked my hair, still trying to calm me. “You’re safe.”
What a bizarre turn of events. But I didn’t try to fight, I was in too much pain. I did wonder where they were taking me, where Dom was going at such high speed. Surely the hospital.
I really didn’t want to go back there. Just another repeat of what I had gone through before, with my family having to suffer more, to see me all messed up again and all because I’d gone looking for my sister. I didn’t want that, didn’t think I could take it.
I squirmed in Leslie’s hold. “Don’t…” I tried to say.
“We’re almost there,” he replied, still stroking my hair.
Turning my face toward him, my mouth practically on his neck, I forced the words out of me. “No hospital. Please…no.”
“You’re all banged up, baby, we have to.”
I tried to ignore his endearment and repeated, “Please…no. Get…Andrea.” She could at least check me.
I might be in pain, but I refused to believe I was so bad off that she couldn’t decide if I needed to go or not.
If I could avoid the look of devastation on my family’s face, I would.
I would endure this pain over that any day.
Leslie was quiet for a moment, then he stirred, moving me on his lap. “Dom.”
Dom signed something at him with one hand, not once taking his eyes off the road.
Leslie cursed under his breath before I felt him shifting around. I saw the flash of his phone before he lifted it to his ear.
“Andrea. Yeah, it’s Lez.”
My body shook. Not from pain or fear but because I started to laugh. Even though it hurt like hell, I couldn’t help it. Just eight months ago, he had shot her, now he was calling her for help.
Leslie hugged me a little closer and I could hear the urgency in his voice. “We need you. It’s Lena, she’s hurt.” A pause and then, “I know but she doesn’t want to go. And honestly, I don’t want to go in there either.”
He was talking about the hospital. Did it remind him of that place he and his brother were trapped in as kids? I could see that. I could see how they’d want to avoid that place as best they could.
He gave Andrea an address, then stashed his phone away. “Andrea’s coming,” he said to Dom. “Go back to the clubhouse.”
The clubhouse. Their house? Guess it didn’t matter. As long as Andrea was there and I wasn’t alone.
The car sped up a little. I didn’t try to fight Leslie’s hold any longer. I even let myself drift off again, focusing on his breathing, feeling his heart pumping at my back.
Eventually the car slowed. When I opened my eyes again, we were parked in some dark courtyard and I could hear music playing somewhere close by. Dom got out and opened the back door while Leslie, hooking an arm under my legs, carried me out.
There were a few other cars coming into the courtyard as Leslie and Dom headed for a side door into a building with graffiti along the wall. There were other people here, but I could hardly make them out. I could feel their eyes on me though as we walked past and I really didn’t like that.
"Shit, man," said a large man at the door, gaping at me.
"They got her good, those snake fucks." He let them in and they took me through a maze of dark passageways, then up a set of stairs until Leslie was kicking in a door.
They entered what had to be someone's apartment, with a black couch and large TV to one side and a home gym on the other.
They took me to the couch, Leslie setting me down carefully.
I hissed in pain as I sprawled across the soft black seat, worried at first I'd get blood all over the furniture until Dom found a few towels and put one under me.
Another he soaked with warm water. As he brought me into a sitting position, holding me up against his back, Leslie took the soaked towel and started to carefully clean the blood from my face.
I flinched enough times that he had to hold my chin with one hand to keep me from turning away.
Blood stung my nose. I could still taste it on my tongue.
When he cleaned me as best he could, he started to press his fingers along my skull.
“She’s got blood in her hair,” he mumbled.
He let his hand drift across my head through locks of my hair, letting them fall back over my shoulder.
I could see the rage flash in his eyes. He stood and threw the towel down.
As he disappeared into another room, Dom took the towel and continued to dampen my hair, hoping to wash out some of the blood before he moved down the side of my face and neck.
I had no words. I felt nothing. I was so numbed out I could only sit there as he cleaned. My legs hurt, I was certain damage had been done. How much was yet to be determined.
Lez reappeared, and this time he had a black bag in one hand and a very intimidating pistol with a sight at the top in the other.
Dom smacked the side of the couch to get his attention, before signing something at him.
“I’m going back out. I’m taking Kris and everyone else we can get tonight with me,” he responded, checking the site on his gun.
Dom tried to sign something else, but Lez shook it off.
“I don’t give a fuck. They messed with what’s ours. Bullet or knife, someone is getting fucking obliterated tonight. And I think I know where to start. That should get Jasper’s attention.”
Before Dom could try to reason with him, Leslie was heading for the door. “Stay close to her. Make sure Andrea checks her good. If she has to go to the hospital, go with her.” Then he was gone, the door slamming behind him.
I could feel Dom’s anger, the heat radiating off him warming my back. He went to rinse the towel and returned a moment later to wash whatever blood was left.
Not long after, Andrea finally showed up. She looked much the same as I remember from our time in the church, only her hair was a little shorter. Her mouth was set in a hard line as she rushed over to our side.
“What happened?” she asked as she kneeled by the couch, setting down her medical bag and snapping it open.
Before Dom could sign anything, I replied, “Jumped.”
Her head shot up, eyes widening. “Jumped by who?”
“Long…story,” I slurred, the pain making me a little lightheaded. Everything was starting to come crashing down as the shock wore off.
Andrea grimaced as she glanced at Dom. She brought over a chair and sat before rummaging through her bag.
She took some antiseptic and a cloth, gently dabbing at a cut on my lip.
Her fingers brushed over the swollen parts of my face, tender to the touch.
She took a light and shone in my eyes, checked my ears and mouth for damage, then had me lift my shirt.
The skin was red, bruises already starting to form.
I winced as she pressed against my stomach and ribs.
She had me breathe deep and, though it was uncomfortable, there was no immediate sharp pain.
“I don’t feel any damage to the organs,” she commented. “Probably only a bruised rib or two by my judgment though we can’t know for sure unless we X-ray…”
“No hospital.”
Her eyes flicked over to Dom, then back to me. “Any reason for that?”
I licked my lips, trying to say the words slowly. “Don’t…want…family to…see me.”
Concern flooded her expression. “I know it’s embarrassing—”
“Not…that.”
“Is there something going on I need to know?”
I didn’t meet her gaze and she sighed. Her hands drifted to my legs next and she started to massage them. Carefully she had me bend them and a burning pain seared up my left leg, making me hiss. She had me roll my ankles, then move my legs slowly up and down.
“Nothing broken,” she said.
“You…sure?”
“You wouldn’t be moving it this well, otherwise,” she assured. “But there is bruising and a little swelling. Some of the healing from your accident might have been reversed.”
I let out a shaky breath and felt Dom’s arm hug me lightly. “D-do you think…I’ll need a chair again?”