by Carmen Faye
"Go get a nurse," said Larry to one of the younger bikers.
“Wait, did Aubrey attack me? Oh shit, she tried to kill me or something like that? I can't quite remember what went on, but it was pretty bad wasn't it?" She was starting to work herself into a bit of a panic.
"Take it easy, sweetheart. Just breathe, all right? You're totally fine now and there's nothing to worry about.” Speed stroked her hair and it became too obvious that the strands were greasy and stuck together. It must have been a long time since she'd had a shower.
"How long have I been in here?"
"Let's just get a nurse and a doctor to take a look at you before we go into too much of that. I don't want you to stress yourself out. Try to calm down and take it easy, Darcy."
"Did I miss the race? Hang on…it was at the race when she tried to get me, wasn't it? I lost the race? Please tell me that's not true, Speed." Her breathing was doing anything but slowing down. Hyperventilation was going to set in if she kept this up. "Okay, okay, I'll just wait and find out everything after the doctor comes." She saw the worried looks on the faces of all the bikers. These guys genuinely cared about her, or they wouldn’t' have gone through so much effort. Yeah, Speed might have made them put on nicer clothes and show up. It was a whole other task to force them to actually give a crap, though.
“Can we have some privacy, boys?” asked Speed. He'd reached the limit of what he was willing to share with his club members. "You don't need to hang around here for this. I appreciate that you all wanted to come down, and I'm sure Darcy does, too. You're all right for a bunch of low lifes."
"Thanks, boss," said Horace with his difficult to understand accent. Darcy always remembered his name because it made him stick out like a sore and dirty thumb. Although, he wasn't dirty that day, with his hair washed and combed, and he was even wearing a polished pair of boots.
“Okay, then,” said Larry, chewing on some gum. “Enough standing around pulling each other's dicks and talking about our feelings, hey? Come on, let’s go get some beers at that bar down the street. We'll be there if anything happens, boss.” His voice didn’t sound as harsh as is usually did, and his breathing was steadier. He was chewing on some gum and the large packet of smokes was missing from his shirt pocket. He always kept them there so he could get his constant fixed of nicotine. Darcy remembered something about him trying to quit. It must have worked after all. That would be good news.
Larry herded the others out of the room and closed the door behind him. There were sounds of low sheering and various bursts of merry banter as they went. It was easy enough to hear through the hospital room door. Darcy hoped they weren't going to disturb any of the other patients with their excitement. They were happy about the beer, and seeing their president’s old lady recovering, too. She smiled.
"You are looking very nice," she told Speed. "You always look a lot cleaner and respectable than some of the others, in a totally masculine way, of course. But you really are a sight for sore eyes. And mine are pretty damn sore right now."
Speed moved toward her and maybe even blushed a tiny amount at hearing those kind words. "Well, being in some kind of coma will do that to you. You had me worried, baby." He had hardly ever called her 'baby' before. It was always 'sweetheart' or something else. That might have been a sign that he was truly missing her all this time, or maybe he was just so emotional that he'd forgotten all of his usual phrases and tag words.
Darcy rubbed at her eyes. "I can't believe how tired I feel. You'd think being in a coma would give you all the sleep you'd need for weeks to come. I don't even think I'm going to be able to have sex for awhile. We're talking, weeks, maybe even months. Do you think you could still love me if I wasn't able to satisfy you in a sexual way?"
"What? The doctor didn't say anything about that. Are you sure you're not just…Oh, very funny. You really had me going there for a minute." He was trying to sound sarcastic, like he'd just been pretending to fall for it.
"That look on your face," Darcy said with laughter. "You thought you weren't going to get any for who knows how long, and you were so worried. Jeez, I hope you were that worried when I got hurt.
"Of course I was." He got a mischievous glint in his eyes. "When you got hurt, I knew I wasn't getting any that night, for sure."
"You must have had a lot of time to think while I was under. I guess you've been practicing your funny jokes most of the time. It's pretty obvious." Darcy was trying not to laugh herself. She felt like something might burst inside her if she got carried away.
A nurse came through the door right then. She was a cute thing, with a very ample figure. Must have only been in her early twenties, fresh out of her studies to work in the medical field. "Hello there, Darcy. I'm Trish. You wouldn't know me, of course, but I've been taking care of you a lot while you've been sleeping. Has he caught you up on anything at all yet?"
"I didn't think the doctor wanted me to tell her too much. That's what he said to me the other day," said Speed.
Trish cocked her head back like a chicken who'd just been thrown a difficult math problem. "I don't think he would have said that. There's no reason why you can't tell her anything about the accident. Her memory's bound to be a touch murky, so it's probably for the best if you do give her as many details as you can remember." She had walked over to Darcy's hospital bed and started to check pieces of machinery and make sure that cords and tubes were properly in place.
Darcy had no idea about what she was actually doing, but it was nice to be getting attention to make sure she was still doing well.
"Did the doctor say if I'm going to be able to race again?" she asked. She had completely forgotten about riding and the race. The second the idea came back to her, Darcy was quite sure she hadn't wanted anything so badly in her life. If there was something wrong with her that meant no more competitive cycling, she might start to wish she'd never woken up out of the coma at all.
"He didn't say anything to suggest that you won't be able to," replied the nurse. She bent down over Darcy, really close. Her big, round butt was perfectly angled so anyone else in the room would be able to see it beneath her uniform. It was not the type of uniform that people often associated with nurses. They didn't tend to wear those things anymore, opting for something more casual and less linked to the porn industry. Darcy watched Speed to see if he checked the nurse out. He didn't, not really. His eyes wondered for a second but that was more of a natural reaction, an instinct. All he cared about was Darcy and making sure that she was going to recover from this without any ongoing issues.
"So she should be able to race again, eventually I mean. Once she recovers," he said. His hand was resting on his knee but he moved it over to Darcy's hand and held it.
"As far as we know, yes. That's assuming that nothing comes up out of the blue. Don't worry, because we've had plenty of time to make sure Darcy is healthy.
"But being in a coma can do some weird things to you, can't it?" asked Darcy.
"Only time can really tell us if there's anything we're not seeing, I'm afraid. Don't worry about it for now. Try to relax, and you'll have the best chance of making a full recovery. If things go well, you're going to be racing again in no time." The nurse put her hand on Darcy's shoulder and looked at her with sympathy. "I'm terribly sorry about what happened during the race. I follow the sport a little and I saw what happened on the news. You're going to be just fine."
"Thank you. That's very sweet," said Darcy. She blushed and felt like a celebrity for a moment. She was a minor celebrity, though, as far as she remembered. Hopefully her little bit of fame hadn't turned into infamy while she'd been unconscious.
" If there's anything at all that you need, just press this button." She gestured to a hanging controller that had a few buttons on it, which was attached by a cord to the wall. "The doctor will be in to look at you soon. He's just started his rounds, so you might be waiting for up to an hour or so. I guess you've got a lot to catch up on anyway, by the sounds of things
." She walked off after saying that, and closed the door behind her.
Darcy hadn't realized it, but she had a private room. That private health insurance Speed's club had paid for as part of the sponsorship was really welcome.
Once the nurse was gone, Darcy said, "Tell me exactly what happened."
"I will, but you need to promise that you'll stay calm. If you're going to lose your head over this, I'll just have to wait until later to give you all the details."
"Deal. Come on, don't leave me waiting any more. What the hell did Aubrey do to me?"
“It wasn't her, not necessarily. I mean, she did attack you, but there were other factors at play. Or other people I should say. Do you remember Steve coming up to you before the race started?"
"No, I don't think so. Why would Steve want to talk to me? Did he attack me?"
"He's not the one who attacked you, but he's the real reason you ended up in the coma. He came up to talk to you about some shit. I can't figure out if he was telling the truth about what he said to you.”
"He said he wished that he was still my coach…" uttered Darcy. She was taken aback by her own words. "I think he might have had feelings for me that went a bit beyond the professional realm. I don't think they were, y'know, romantic or anything. I don't know, though. It's confusing. It was like he wanted to be my father or something and look after me."
"You remember all that suddenly?" asked Speed with great curiosity.
Darcy shook her head slowly and had to think about it for a time. Finally, she thought she'd come up with an answer that might actually explain what had happened with Steve. "It's more of a feeling. I know he said he wanted to still be my coach, that memory is clear to me now. But the rest is just what I've pieced together in the time we've been working together. It's not such a bad thing to treat someone like they're family, is it?"
"Well if you think of someone like your own daughter, you don't drug them and risk their life. I know hardened criminals who wouldn't even go that low when taking out a snitch. Poisoning is the lowest of the low. Didn't even have the guts to confront you in person, so he had to sneak around."
"Well, he did confront me once. That didn't go well. But take a step back there, babe. Did you say he poisoned me?"
"Yes, I'm sorry but Steve put a serious toxin in the water that he gave you as a so-called peace offering. He started singing like a dirty canary as soon as the cops put him in a cell. Some hardened military man, huh? They have enough evidence to make sure he's not going to be free for a long time. That's attempted murder, to say the least."
"Shit…I don't feel so good." Darcy's head had started to swim and swell as soon as they'd begun to talk about the poisoning. It was almost like she could suddenly feel it seeping through her veins still, working toward her heart and brain to kill her.
Speed said, "You gotta remember to take it easy. Do you want me to get that nurse back in here?"
"Can I have a drink?"
"Sure.” Speed went over to the sink and filled a plastic cup up with water. "Is tap water okay? I can go get you a bottle of water if you like. I'd rather not leave you alone, though."
"You know what? I think I'm good with tap water right now. I honestly don't think I would feel like drinking a bottle of water. And I thought it was better for me to drink natural spring water."
"It probably is, so long as it hasn't been tampered with by jealous assholes. I almost felt sorry for Steve, too, but now I'm just glad he is going to get what's coming to him," he said, handing the cup to her.
Darcy drank the water slowly at first, unsure about how well she would react to it. Then, she gulped down the rest of the liquid inside the tiny cup without thinking. It just flowed down her dry throat so easily. "That was so good. I didn't realize I was so thirsty. I didn't even think people could be that thirsty. Can I have another one, babe? Are there proper glasses, something bigger than these dinky little things?" She squeezed the empty cup and it flexed between her brittle fingers.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. The doctor did definitely tell me not to let you drink too much at once if you woke up. You'll need to wait until he comes and gives you a look over first. If it helps any, I promise to abstain from all forms of liquid until that moment comes."
"You're such a funny guy now, aren't you? Forget about it, I'll just have to wait, I guess. I feel better, though, so can we keep going with this twisted story? If I'm in hospital because of Steve poisoning me, what was up with Aubrey? Did I dream all of that?” Darcy felt her throat and there were still very real bruises around her neck where she vividly remembered Aubrey choking her on the racetrack.
"You didn't dream that at all. Aubrey ran you off the road and yes, sorry, but she tried to strangle you. She’s seriously fucked in the head, sweetheart. She didn’t know what she was doing. I know you don't like me talking like that, but she is fucked up. You really can't blame her for what happened these past weeks. Anyone would have gone off the rails if they were dealing with the kind of problems she's been white knuckling through."
“I always knew something was wrong with her. I should have gotten her to get help before it got this bad. What's wrong? When did all that happen? Is she okay now?”
“Don't blame yourself. There was no way you could have known how bad it was."
"Oh, God, what are you going to tell me? Just say it quickly before I build up too much panic."
“This is pretty heavy,” said Speed as he pulled up a chair beside Darcy’s hospital bed.
“Just tell me she’s okay, for fuck sake, please.”
“She’s going to be fine. But she has been officially diagnosed with schizophrenia. If you want more details, you'll have to find out later. Sorry, but I didn't want to pry into her personal affairs too much. On the brighter side, I made sure she treated well. Kept her from being taken away from the police, too. The best head shrinks are taking care of her, don’t worry. She’s in a hospital where they specialize in all that. It’s not even far from your place.”
“How the hell can she afford that?”
“Let’s just say that The Wild Cards are sponsoring her to get better.”
“Really? You are soft under all that muscle and bad language. I knew it all along, of course.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m a total pussy, whatever.” He pouted and shook his head.
“There’s nothing wrong with doing good things. It doesn’t make you soft; it makes you strong.”
“Maybe…Just don’t go telling the rival MCs about it, okay? I don’t wanna have to bust any skulls to quiet them down.”
“So tough,” she said. “Did they say when we can, y’know…?”
“Don’t worry, it won’t come soon enough. You’ll be in here for a few more days, at least, from what they said. I’m to tell the nurse that you’re awake, actually.” He kissed her and stood up. “I’m glad you’re awake, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait,” she tried to yell but couldn’t manage the volume. Speed stopped in the doorway and waited for her to speak. “Who ended up qualifying?”
“No one. They cancelled the race when it turned to pure shit. All the other riders were behind you and Aubrey, of course. You were winning when she rammed you off the road. They stopped to try and help. You fairy cyclists aren’t so bad.”
“Does that mean…”
“That means they’ve rescheduled the whole thing for two months from the original race. You’ll have plenty of time to give it another try. If you want to, that is.”
“Are you serious? Of course I do!” She coughed at the effort of yelling out, but it was worth it. Everything was going to finally come together like it should have in the first place.
Chapter Twenty Six
The rest of the guys went home that night. They'd hinted at maybe hanging around and waiting to see if things were okay. Speed could tell they were just offering to be polite. Of course they would have stayed, but there wasn't any need for it. He sent Larry a text to give them the all clear to leave.
He didn't really want the boys coming back to the hospital after they'd been drinking beer down at the bar near the hospital anyway. So, that left him nearly alone with Darcy for the first time in a long time. That is, with her being awake.
The night nurse, an older and less pleasant sort, poked her head in occasionally to take some readings. Apart from that, however, they were left alone in the private hospital room. It was a pretty nice little spot for Darcy to recover, and Speed was glad he'd chosen a life of crime. It had allowed him to gather enough money to take care of what he thought was important. She was more than just important. Money couldn't buy real happiness but it sure as shit helped out. Anyone who said money didn't matter was a lying sack of shit, or they just had so much money they didn't appreciate it any more.