Chapter Thirty-Six
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck!
I watched the car in horror as it roared towards me, and swerved to the side at the last moment, almost rolling as it crashed down into the ditch instead. I heard the engines of my brothers’ rides as they pulled up to help, but I was already running for the car, with Danno right behind me.
“Claudia! Fuck, please be okay, baby, please be okay,” I was babbling like an idiot as I reached the car, and hopped down into the ditch, fully aware my sweet lady wouldn’t hear me calling out to her, but unable to do a thing about it.
My terror was leaching out of me in frantic words, because what if she didn’t survive?
As I rounded the car, my eyes caught hers through the windscreen, her head lolling a little as she fell back against the seat and tracked me as I reached her door.
Danno was going for Marissa’s side, and I truly didn’t give a fuck if that bitch was alive or dead, because she was the reason my lady was dazed and bleeding, and traumatised.
The door was a little bowed, but brute force tore it open, and then I was leaning in the car, gently cupping Claudia’s face in my fingers.
“Babe, can you focus on me?”
Her eyes were a little sluggish and glazed over as she blinked slowly at me, and her lips parted on a moan. Not the version I loved, but a sound filled with pain and confusion.
“I’mma get this nutjob handed over to your guys, then I’ll move my car for the ambulance when it arrives.”
“She’s not getting in the same one as that bitch,” I snapped at him, and he snorted.
“Pretty sure this one’s headed straight for a cop car, brother. Your lady okay?”
I leaned over to unlatch her seatbelt, and she practically fell against me, her trembling fingers locking around the edges of my cut.
“It’s okay, babe, I’ve got you.” I didn’t know if she could see my words, but I think I needed to say them anyway, for me, to know that I had this under control. That I could rescue her and keep her safe, even though I’d already failed her in the worst way.
“My… fault…” she murmured, holding on tight as I backed up and tugged her from the car with me.
I kissed the top of her head and lifted her into my arms as soon as she was clear of the car.
I couldn’t easily answer her without her seeing me, so I just focused on getting her to safety.
There was an ambulance pulling up as I reached the road, but it had no flashing lights, and no markings, just the general look of an ambulance in size and shape.
A vaguely familiar man hopped out of the back, trailed by a nurse in scrubs, and they guided me to sit down with her in my lap as the guy, who introduced himself as Jeffrey, started checking her over.
The first thing he did though was to gently lift her chin until she looked at him.
“I’m Jeffrey, love. I’m a doctor, do you mind if I check you over?”
She smiled a little groggily at him and nodded.
“Yes? I’m not going to touch you anywhere untoward. I want to make sure nothing’s broken or dislocated, and I want to check you for concussion. Did you hit your head?”
Claudia paused, her breath hitching a little as her voice cracked.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
Jeffrey pursed his lips and nodded, turning to murmur over his shoulder to his nurse, who headed over to where Marissa was being held back by Harley and Rocket, and screaming at them to release her.
She didn’t look hurt, but looks could be deceiving.
Either way, she wasn’t my priority, just Claudia was.
“Keep her away from us,” I yelled at them, and Jeffrey nodded, shining a light into Claudia’s eyes, one after the other.
“We’ve been briefed. That one’s coming nowhere near my ambulance unless your lady’s okay to go.”
“Your ambu… fuck it, I don’t care. Just tell me she’s okay, doc, please.
” As long as she was okay, I could handle anything else.
Just don’t let my lady be hurting physically as well as mentally, or emotionally.
Her fucking sister had crossed the line.
I had no idea how this had come about, but I knew it’d never fucking happen again.
That bitch wasn’t getting within a mile of my old lady.
“I want a fucking restraining order. I want her kept away!”
Jeffrey was gently checking Claudia’s neck as he replied.
“Just a doctor, Stag. You’ll want to talk to the police about that. I hear there’s a friendly one on the way to help.”
Marissa fell silent suddenly, and I couldn’t help but take a look, because if they’d found a way to shut that mouth, I wanted to know how.
Curiously, although she was now handcuffed by god only knows who, because I couldn’t see a cop anywhere, she was silent and rapt, staring at Danno as he spoke quietly to her.
He had her chin in a firm grip, and whatever he was saying seemed to be sapping the rage out of her, calming her, and I wanted to know how the fucker was doing it.
“How the fuck…”
Jeffrey turned to look at them and chuckled. “He’s the woman whisperer, Stag. Don’t question it. He can dominate in a few words, and have them under his control.”
Dominate?
“Huh?”
He rolled his eyes as he gently tended to a cut on Claudia’s hand, possibly from the seatbelt.
“I know it’s not that simple, but if I had to guess, I’d say maybe that’s what she needs. Someone to take control and give her the peace of just doing as she’s told.”
“Whatever. Just make sure she stays the fuck away from Claudia. Well, and me. I’ve never hit a woman in my life, but she’s the first one I’ve wanted to.”
Jeffrey tutted at me. “Luckily your lovely lady can’t hear you saying that, brother. Take my advice, get her home, spend the next few days treating her like a fucking queen, and forget the sister. She just went far enough to get her put away somewhere for a while.”
“I’m sorry,” I suddenly heard from beside us, in a soft voice so contrite, I could have imagined it came from my own lady. I lifted my head to glare at a handcuffed Marissa, who stood before us with tears pouring down her cheeks, and Danno’s firm hand on her shoulder.
“Stag, can you make sure Claudia sees this? If she’s open to it?” Fuck, I didn’t want that, but maybe this’d help with her closure. It wasn’t my decision either way though, so I tapped her ear to get her to turn to me, and spoke clearly.
“Your sister wants to apologise. Do you want to see that?”
It was pointless to try and say more, because Claudia’s head swivelled immediately to find her sister, a sharp gasp leaving her that made me want to cover her eyes, just to protect her from whatever the bitch comes out with. She starts nice and turns nasty so fast.
“Hurt her again, Marissa, and they’ll never find your body,” I warned, in a dark enough tone that her eyes widened, and Danno smirked.
“I… I won’t. Claudia, I’m sorry. I… I did awful things in the name of love, or so I thought,” she glanced over her shoulder at Danno, and he nodded at her to continue.
“I love you, sis. I didn’t mean to fuck up so much.
I’m gonna get help. I… I need help.” Again she looked at Danno for approval or courage, or whatever the fuck he was doing to cause this.
“I’ll stay away. I’ll get help. Maybe one day we can be sisters again.”
Danno squeezed her shoulder, and she fell silent. How the fuck was he doing that?
“Anything you want to say, Claudia?” She must have been watching him too, because she nodded slowly.
“I… I agree you need help, Mar. I can’t be near you again until I know you won’t hurt me or try to hurt Stag again. He’s my other half now. My soulmate.”
Marissa’s face crumpled and she began to sob as Danno led her away.
Fuck me. That was harsh, but it needed to be said.
For Marissa, but also for me. She just said I’m her soulmate.
Fucking right I am, and I will never hurt her, not even a tiny bit.
Somehow, bizarrely, I’m better for this woman than her own sister. I’m her best choice.
Claudia
Once Jeffrey gave me the go ahead, the man who’d been with Marissa drove us home.
He was one of the men who worked for the criminals Stag also worked for.
I didn’t understand how there had been several of their people there to help us.
Was this how crime lords ran their businesses?
Or had we found good guys among the bad guys?
Were the bad guys good, and the good guys bad?
Marissa had proved to me that I could be so wrong about who to trust. I was certain of Stag though.
He’d literally stepped in front of a speeding car to try and save me.
He’d risked his life for me. He truly was the other half of me, not her, but him.
The one who chose me, rather than being saddled with me.
A light tap on my wrist pulled me from my morose thoughts. I was curled up on the bed we’d been using at Henley’s house, a thick fleece tucked around me, which felt like a cloud of safety and comfort. Stag was crouching by the bed, his worried eyes fixed on mine.
“Talk to me, babe. You can yell, cry, scream, hell, you can hit me if it helps, just please don’t internalise all this. You need to say the things you needed to say then. You need to get them out.”
I cleared my throat, letting him help me move up to sit against the headboard, that thick blanket still tucked around me. He pulled it up to my neck and tucked it around my shoulders with a small grin.
“Wrapped in a little cocoon, so cute,” he said as he climbed up on the bed to face me, one knee tucked out to balance him.
“Talk to me, babe. I brought cuppas.” He pointed to two steaming mugs on the bedside cabinet and smiled when I looked back at him.
“Thank you. I think I’m still processing. My thoughts aren’t fully formed yet.”
“That’s okay. I’m not only here for fully formed thoughts, babe. You can babble at me like a weirdo if you want.”
He thought he didn’t get these things right, but here was the proof that when it counted, his words were always the right ones.
“I’m still remembering how it felt to be trapped with her, thinking I was going to die.
I think… I might have nightmares about that.
Even without sound, it was the most terrifying experience of my life.
And when she aimed that car at you…” I trailed off as my words became sobs instead.
She tried to kill all three of us, but the fact that she went for him was more painful than the way she risked me, or herself. She nearly took him away from me.
Stag kept kissing the top of my head as he rubbed my shoulder, edging closer to try and hug me.
“I thought she was going to kill you. That’s why I grabbed the steering wheel.”
He nodded. “I knew it might be a dumb thing to do, getting up in front of her, but I was out of options. I couldn’t even drive myself there, I felt so helpless. Fucking useless more like.”
He dragged a hand over his face, and that’s when I realised he had tears in his own eyes.
“I finally found you, Claudia, the woman I’m meant to be with, the woman I was fucking made for, and she tried to take you from me. If you’d… if I’d failed, I wanted to die too.”
I scrambled across the inches separating us and threw myself into his arms, that sense of security and comfort restored as his arms folded tightly around me.
I couldn’t hear if he spoke, so I hoped I wasn’t speaking over him, but I kept telling him the same thing over and over again.
“I love you, you’re my soulmate.” Over and over. I wanted him to hear it, feel it, and let it echo around inside him until he accepted it, until he believed it. Until it was as much a part of him as it was me.
Later that evening, I saw Stag’s head lift as we curled up in front of the TV, a blanket around me, and a hot chocolate in my hands.
He looked towards the front door, and I realised someone had come into the house.
As he got up and turned to greet them, I wriggled around in my seat to see who it was.
Henley and Glory were both standing there eyeing us warily, like it wasn’t their own home, even though we were the interlopers.
“Hi, welcome home!”
Stag approached Henley, and I saw him saying the word ‘sorry’ to my man as he headed his way, but I missed the rest as Stag dragged him into a bro hug, and then backed up to wave at Glory. She was already heading my way though, and sat beside me, lifting her hands to sign at me.
*Hi. I’m still learning, but I want to try.*
The fact that she’d made the effort of learning that much brought tears of gratitude to my eyes, it choked me up, knowing that she’d done this for me. Because of me.
*Thank you.* I signed back, watching her carefully watch my hands, and nod. She smiled as she lifted her head.
“I didn’t manage to learn much while we were away, but I know a few basics,” she spoke this time.
She lifted her hands and signed a few phrases.
Her hand lifted to beside her face, palm toward me, waving briefly. *Hello.*
She repeated the action, presumably for; *Goodbye.*
She lifted a closed fist to her chest and circled slowly. *Sorry.*
She lifted an open hand to touch her fingers against her chin, moving them out to say; *Thank you.*
She held both hands up, fingers splayed, then moved them away from each other, as her index fingers and thumbs pressed together; signing ‘quiet’ or ‘shut up’. She giggled then.
“That one’s for the guys for when they annoy us!”
We both knew they didn’t have to be signed at by any of us, but I loved that she was enjoying learning.
“Do you need us out today?”
She shook her head vehemently. “We’ll co-exist until the clubhouse is ready to move into. I hear it’s a day or so yet. It’ll be fun! Like sis… uh, oh shit. I mean, like besties. Yes. Besties. We’re now besties, did I forget to mention that?”