by E. C. Land
“Angelina,” I roar, taking off at a dead run in her direction.
Dropping down to the ground next to her, I gently roll her over onto her back and reach out to check her pulse. It’s still there.
Thank fuck.
“Need to get her to the hospital,” Tyres says.
“Can’t do that. What if this Ballard fucker finds out she got away?” Chains asks.
“Let’s get her to the clubhouse, I’ll see if I can help her,” Pipe says kneeling down next to me. “She took one hell of a beating. I’m gonna call a friend of mine who works at the VA hospital in New Orleans.”
“Right, prospect, bring the cage over here,” Chains yells.
Placing my arms underneath Angelina’s prone form, I scoop her up as I stand. “Shit, Carson wasn’t lying, she’s fuckin’ lighter than a feather.”
With eyes on Angelina, I place her on the back seat of the SUV that Steel drove behind us. Once I close the door, I look to the prospect. “Take it easy with her in there, but stay with us,” I mutter.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t get hurt any more than she already is,” he says, nodding his head in understanding.
“Good,” I growl.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here before anyone else shows up,” Breaker states.
Without a backwards look knowing she’ll be right behind us, I head to my bike. I feel like shit for not riding with her, but if I don’t take this time to calm down on the way back to the clubhouse, I’m going to lose my shit and that won’t be good for anyone, including myself.
No, right now I need to keep that from happening. For everyone around, but mostly for Carson and Angelina.
Chapter Eight
Angelina
“She’ll be okay. The skin will be tender from the bruises and slight burns, your woman will start to feel better once they subside. I’m unable to confirm whether or not she has any broken ribs without an x-ray, my guess would be she has at least one or two from the looks of things.”
Who the hell is that talking?
“She able to get in the shower when she wakes up?”
“I don’t see a problem with it but she needs to take it easy and not irritate the burns so no scrubbing at her skin.”
The voices continue speaking but I can’t hear them so well. I try to open my eyes but as I do all I see is complete darkness. My breathing immediately begins to increase as my head thrashes on a pillow. Lifting a hand to touch my face, I’m stopped before I even get close.
“Easy, babe, don’t try to move right now.” My heart nearly stops within my chest at the sound of that voice. I’d know it anywhere. Doesn’t matter if it were gruffer, more masculine than when we were younger.
Peirce.
“Why can’t I see?” I ask apprehensively.
“Mamma, brought over one of her remedies to help your eyes with any irritation from the fire,” he says.
“Carson?” I ask, now knowing the reason behind why I can’t see. Ela.
“He’s out in the main room with all the ol’ ladies hovering over him,” Peirce says, a hint of amusement in his tone.
“Peirce?” I call his name apprehensively.
“I’m just gonna head out, Pipe knows what to look out for and considering your ol’ lady is a doctor herself, she’ll also know,” a man says from somewhere nearby and I’m surprised as hell Peirce doesn’t correct him for calling me his ol’ lady. He hates me. I might have been at one time. He asked me to be his ol’ lady after he became a full fledge member of the club. Our senior year after he turned eighteen, he’d started prospecting for the Inferno’s Clutch and at the time I couldn’t be more thrilled to wear his property patch when the time came.
“Thanks Doc, I appreciate it,” he says, his thumb rubbing against my wrist.
At the sound of a door closing, I become nervous for some reason. Am I alone with Peirce right now?
Peirce releases my wrist after laying it down gently on the bed then there’s a dip in the bed and right after that he removes what was covering my eyes. “There you go,” he says softly as he pulls back.
Blinking several times, I tilt my head to the side to meet Peirce’s gaze.
“Where am I?”
“My room at the clubhouse,” he rasps, situating himself on the bed next to me with his knee bent and resting there.
Furrowing my brows, I’m confounded by this.
“Why didn’t you just take me to the hospital? Or put me in a different room. I’m sure you don’t need me taking your space from you,” I mumble.
“Didn’t take you to the hospital ‘cause we didn’t want anyone to find out you survived that fire. I wasn’t taking any chance with your life. I didn’t put you in a different room because you’re in here with me where I can keep a close eye on you.” Peirce reaches out, cups the side of my face, and runs a finger gently across my cheek. “You’ve been through a lot of shit. I’m not about to add to that right now, but I’ll just put it to you this way. You’re here in my room, my bed and that’s where you’re going to stay. Once you’ve healed up some and can handle it, we’re having a long fuckin’ talk.”
Um, okay. Now I’m completely baffled by what’s going on with him.
This man hates me and yet he’s claiming to never let me go. Am I to be his prisoner?
“How about we get you up and in the shower? Get you cleaned up,” he suggests, standing up from the bed.
“I can do it myself,” I say, putting my hands to the mattress to push myself up into a sitting position.
“I’m sure you can but you’re not going to.” Leaning down he scoops me into his arms like I were nothing more than a sack of flour.
“Put me down, Peirce,” I snap unsure of why he’s taking care of me.
“I will once I get you in the shower.” He grins.
God. Was he always like this? Never listening to me?
“Peirce,” I start to protest but he stops me.
“Ma raison d’être, you can quit fighting. I’m not giving in. After seeing you laying in the dirt outside a fuckin’ burning building, after first seeing your fuckin’ blood in your house, after reading that God damn letter, I will do whatever I fuckin’ need to, to make sure you are whole. If that means carrying you to the bathroom, helping you get clean, making sure you eat, I’ll do it. Got me?”
Oh. Shit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this. Then again, we’ve both changed a lot over the past twelve years.
Without using my voice, I nod my head in response. I don’t think if I tried to use my voice in that moment it would work.
In the bathroom, Peirce places me on my feet, turns to the shower, and twists the handle to start the water. As he does this, I finally realize, I’m no longer in the clothes I’d been intending to wear to work, instead I was in what I’m guessing is one of his tees.
Shit on a donkey stick.
“I need to call my supervisor,” I murmur.
“No, you don’t. It’s already handled,” Peirce retorts without giving me an explanation.
After checking the water temp, Peirce turns back to me. “Let’s get you undressed,” he murmurs, his eyes sincere.
“I can do it,” I mutter not sure if I want him to see my body.
“Babe, who do you think stripped you of your clothes earlier. I’ve already seen your body. Fuck, Lina, I’ve seen your body on more than one occasion.”
“That was a long time ago. I don’t look the same anymore.”
“It might have been a long time ago, Angelina, but you still have that tattoo on your hip bone you got when Lynch was practicing with his ink gun. Thought you’d have gotten that shit covered. Glad to see you didn’t,” he says with a grin.
Groaning, I close my eyes. Of course, he’d bring up the tattoo on my hip bone. The one which is Peirce’s road name. I didn’t understand it at first but later that night after it was done, he’d explained it to me as we laid in his bed. It meant I was his, always. Which in truth is what I’ve alwa
ys been, doesn’t matter that he despises me.
Slowly Peirce removes the shirt covering my body. As the material clears my head, I attempt to hide myself from him. He says he’s already seen me but it doesn’t stop me from feeling ashamed of what I look like now. What he had twelve years ago is not what I am now. No, now I have the marks from carrying Carson, which I’ve never been ashamed of; however, I’ve never had another man see them. Shoot, the last person I’d been with is standing in front of me.
“Come on, babe, let’s get you in the shower,” he says, pulling my hands from my body. Guiding me into the shower he stays out of the water.
Thank God for that.
Turning to let to let the water run through my hair, my eyes meet Peirce’s darker ones. I’m unable to look away from him as he removes his shirt tossing it to the floor, his fingers unfasten the button and slide the zipper down on his jeans. As he pushes them down, I have to look away.
The shower curtain is pulled away and I don’t have to look at him to know he’s joined me, I could feel the heat radiating off of him.
“Babe, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” Peirce chuckles. “I’m sure you’ve seen others since me.”
Shaking my head, I turn to face the water not wanting him to see my reaction to him, only as I do this, I didn’t think of what he would see back there.
Crappity crap crap.
Chapter Nine
Pitch Black
Earlier when I’d brought Angelina into the clubhouse, I’d gotten her to my room, removed her filthy clothes and tried to clean her up some in order for Pipe and Doc to help her.
However, when I stripped her, I didn’t take a look at her back and hadn’t noticed when the doc was examining it. I was more worried about restraining myself from hitting the motherfucker for touching what’s mine. Now with her facing away from me, I’m getting a very good look at the fine markings crisscrossing across her back.
“When did this happen?” I ask, trying to remain calm at the sight.
“It’s nothing,” she says, her shoulders hunched over.
“Lina, tell me, when did you get those marks?” I order, reaching out to brush her hair further out of the way so I’m able to see her back fully.
Tilting her head to look over her shoulder meeting my gaze. “I received them the same day the houseboat was set on fire with you in it.”
Fuck.
“Before or after,” I demand.
Closing her eyes, she cast her head down in defeat. “Before.”
“Why?”
“It was punishment for not being a virgin. Same reason they tried to kill you.”
I’m going to kill the fuckers who did this to her.
Dropping the subject for now, I reach around Angelina and grab the soap. Putting some in my hands, I slowly soap her body. My cock twitches as I run my fingers over her soft skin. It remembers who Lina is. Nothing about this woman is forgettable. She left her mark on my soul a long time ago.
Having heard what she said about the scars on her back and the reason for the houseboat going up in flames with me inside, I understand more now. Though I wish I knew for certain I could trust she’s being completely honest with me.
Then something dawns on me. Something I refused to think about after I read it when it came in the mail two months after the houseboat went up in flames. I’d been living in the clubhouse by then and my mamma brought the letter to me saying it’d come in the mail a few days before. There hadn’t been a return address label and I started to throw it away but the handwriting caught my attention and I decided to open the damn thing.
Peirce,
You’ll never know how sorry I am for what they did to you.
To us.
I knew something was going to happened that day I left you in the school parking lot to go home. Father demanded me home directly after school. It’s then I met them. The men who took your home from you.
I know you hate me. I don’t blame you. Everything that happened to you will weigh on my shoulders.
Maybe in a different life where I wasn’t the daughter to my father, I could have been happy with you, truly, completely.
I only ask that one day you find happiness again AND maybe just maybe forgive me for my part in the wrongs that have been warranted on the both of us.
Love always and forever, Ma raison d'être.
Angelina
Soon as I’d finished reading the letter, I threw it in the trash. I thought it complete bullshit. She’d been standing in the arms of another man as they laughed.
However, looking back now, she’d been looking on horrified with tears in her eyes.
Fuck.
I’d been blinded by the anger in seeing something, that I didn’t look beyond the first layer of the image to see what was really going on.
Silently, I finish cleaning Angelina and making sure to wash her hair with some shampoo Nora brought by while Lina was still unconscious.
Shutting the water off, I push the shower curtain to the side and step out, grab a towel, wrapping it around her, I lift her into my arms, and carry her into the bedroom.
“Peirce, you’re soaking wet. Why didn’t you get a towel? You’re going to get water everywhere.” I can’t help but chuckle at her making a fuss over me not drying off.
“Babe.” Grinning, I set her down on the edge of the bed and step over to the dresser to grab another one of my t-shirts as well as a pair of her underwear from the bag Lyrica brought in for me. I’d asked her to go with Fuse and a prospect to Angelina’s and pack as much shit as she could for them.
Turning back to her still soaked, my cock twitches when she drifts her gaze over my body landing on my cock. My grin turns into a full-on smile at the sight of her eyes widening. “Like what you see?” I ask, stepping toward her.
“Um,” she murmurs a blush tinting her cheeks as she diverts her gaze from my massive cock and the silver it’s sporting.
“Here, babe, let’s get you dressed, then I’ll worry about putting him away.” I chuckle holding the shirt out and sliding it over her head then help her put her arms through the arm holes. “Ma raison d'être, stand up for me.”
Apprehensively Angelina does as I tell her, and I slide the panties the rest of the way up her legs until they’re in place hiding the gem that is her pussy. Fuck, I used to love eating her out and the fact she’s now bare, I wanted nothing more than to slip my tongue between her pussy lips and devour her.
Unfortunately, she’s hurting right now and before any shit happens her and I need to have a long talk. A very long talk were we clear the air. Once we finish this conversation, I’ll be sure to be diving in between those legs.
Standing up, I grab the towel as I go and dry my already drying skin. Soon as I finish, I toss the towel in the corner with the rest of my laundry and grab a pair of jeans out of my dresser. Pulling them up over my erected cock is not something I wanted to do, but a necessary thing at the time. I needed to get Angelina something to eat and bring Carson in here to see his mom.
Snatching another shirt from the drawer I pulled the t-shirt for her out of, I put it on quickly. I grab a pair of socks for the both of us, if I don’t remember anything else, I remember Angelina always having cold as fuck feet.
I pull mine on along with my boots before lifting her legs up and over mine. “What are you doing?” she demands.
“I’m putting socks on your feet.”
“Do you have a pair of sweatpants or anything I can wear over my legs?” she asks.
“Let me see what Lyrica packed for you. She went to your place to grab stuff for the both of you. Carson made sure to give her a list of his demands as she was leaving the clubhouse,” I chuckle.
“I’ll take a gander he wanted his skateboard, helmet, bookbag, and his MP3 player,” she states.
“I’m pretty sure that was some of it,” I shrug. Moving her feet from my lap, I move her bag to take a look inside. Nothing really seemed to look loose enough but I pull out
a pair of leggings. “These work?”
“Yeah,” she nods. Stepping back over to her, I help her put them on.
“You should probably get back in the bed and rest. I’ll go get you something to eat,” I offer not wanting her to think she has to come with me. I honestly don’t want to let her out of my sight especially when she needs to eat. With her being as thin as she is, I need my eyes on her.
“I’d like to come with you,” she murmurs quietly casting her gaze to the floor, hands intertwined in front of her.
Hiding my grin, I nod. “Yeah, ma raison d'être, let’s go get you something to eat and check on Carson. I’m sure Marcus and Micah have roped him into doing something with them.” And while she eats, I’ll speak with Chains and Tyres about what I’d found out.
Nodding Angelina goes to stand but I stop her by lifting her into my arms. With her being hurt as badly as she is, I’m not about to have her walk all the way to the main room or the kitchen for that matter. No, I’ll carry her, and she’ll just have to get the hell over it.
I was denied this for twelve years for once, since that day I barely got out of the flames, my heart actually beats.
Chapter Ten
Angelina
Confused by all things Peirce, I don’t say anything as he carries me into the main room. Instead, I rested my head against his chest, my one hand that is on the outside not pressed against his body, I grip his shirt, holding on tight to him.
I could wrap my arms around his neck but to lift my arms that high would hurt due to my ribs.
Approaching the main room of the club, I glance around as I take in the sight of the men standing around the room. A few women were standing near their men, I knew this since I delivered two of those women’s kids.
Upon Peirce’s entrance, conversations stop as people turn to look at the two of us.
“Dr. Corbin,” Tiny says with a smile, stepping forward with Chains holding her tight to his side. “You should still be in bed.”
“Corbin?” Peirce glances down at me with his brows furrowed.