by Sam Crescent
“What’s the news on Paris?” Adam asked.
Adam had fully recovered. Three weeks of doing nothing had healed him up, and now he was back to full strength.
“She’s over the infection, and her breaks are now healing fine.”
“Have they pulled her out of the medically induced coma yet?”
“Today, they’re going to do it today. They didn’t think she was strong enough to handle that kind of pain. They’re hoping she’ll be ready.”
“Fuck, do you want me to come with you?”
Spider shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m not exactly good company right now.” His own injuries had healed up, and he was able to come and go as he pleased. Still, it was easier accepting a ride from Sandy and Stink. He got the excuse of being at the hospital all day until his ride showed up.
“It’s not like I’m doing much.”
“Are you finding the quiet life a bore?” Sandy asked.
“Not at all. I’m just wanting to be of help,” Adam said.
Sandy finished off her toast, and stood. “I’m heading out.”
He finished his coffee and got to his feet.
Spider took his empty cup to the kitchen, and made his way outside. Sandy and Stink didn’t keep him waiting long. Climbing into the back, Spider rested his head.
“I’m thinking the Caribbean, what about you?” Sandy asked.
“I like it. Three or four weeks?”
“There’s a cruise. We could go on that?”
“No. I’m not spending my honeymoon on a boat. I’d be too scared in case any waves came, and tipped the boat upside down.”
“Seriously, movie references?”
“No cruises.”
Sandy sighed. “Okay. How about resorts? Can I book a resort?”
“I like the sound of a resort.”
“Good. We’ll go over the details. There has to be a spa. Also, I was talking with Charlotte, and she and Gash are looking at a honeymoon.”
Stink turned his head. “You want to go on honeymoon with our friends?”
“Why not? It could be fun. I’d have Charlotte to go get manicures and pedicures, my hair done, luxury so I’m waxed, crimped, and buffed up. You and Gash can do whatever it is guys do. We meet up, have dinner, go back to our respective rooms, and fuck like rabbits. That actually sounds like it would be a lot of fun. I want to do that.”
“Let me talk to Gash about this. I don’t want him to think we’re invading on his honeymoon.”
“Why not? He thinks it would be a great idea.”
“So you’ve talked to Charlotte and Gash about this?”
“It was more like I was looking through the brochure, Charlotte was there, we got talking, and ta-da. Come on, you don’t think it will be fun?”
Stink sighed. “I thought the point of a honeymoon was that you spent time with the person you married.”
“To a point, you’re married to The Skulls. I’m just deepening that marriage.”
Spider laughed. “I wouldn’t mind if I spent time on a honeymoon with a brother.”
“See, it’s totally normal,” Sandy said.
“Seriously?” Stink asked. “You’d spend your honeymoon with Devil, Ripper, Sinner, all of the guys.”
“Yep. They’re my brothers. They have my back. Sandy hasn’t said that at night you’re going to be swapping bedrooms. It’s logical, and it sounds like fun.”
“Put like that, I do agree. Okay, book it, and that’s what we’re doing.” Stink pulled into the parking lot, and Spider climbed out.
“See you guys later.”
Heading into the hospital, he smiled at the women on the front desk, and made his way up toward Paris’s floor. Spider noticed a couple of nurses leaving the room, and he rushed toward the door to find Paris … awake.
She was sitting up in bed, and the doctor was talking to her.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Paris turned toward him. “Spider?”
“Do you want me to get rid of him?”
“What? No. He’s a … friend.”
“Okay. I’ll leave you alone.”
“What happened? I don’t understand.” Spider took a seat in the chair, amazed that she was actually up.
“They pulled me out of the medical coma early. The doctor was just explaining it all. He was using rather big words, so I hope I understood it all.”
“You’re awake.”
“Hey, Spider.”
“You have all your memories?”
Paris paused. “Yeah, I have all of them. None of them disappeared.” One of her arms was still bandaged up, and she had the other wrapped in a binding. “I’m hungry.”
“Crap. I’ll feed you.” He reached out, taking the bowl of cereal that had been left there. “It’s soggy.”
“I like soggy cereal. I know, it’s bad, but it’s something I did as a little girl.”
“Celia is living at The Skulls’ clubhouse. I’ve been taking care of her, and if I haven’t, one of the old ladies has. She’s in good hands.”
She took a deep breath, and she seemed to breathe easier. “Thank you.”
“I’m so sorry about what happened.”
“Is he still—”
“He’s gone. You don’t have to ever worry about him again.”
“That’s a relief.” She took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. “I must look a mess.”
The bruising had started to fade, but it was still apparent that she was used as a human punching bag.
“You look beautiful to me.”
“I can’t wait to have a shower, or a bath. I want to scrub my body clean.”
“You can as soon as we get home.”
“We’re not in Piston County, right?”
“No. We’re actually in Fort Wills. It’s where The Skulls live.”
“What happened to Lola? Please tell me she made it?”
“Of course she made it. She went back to her family.”
“Oh, right.”
Spider reached into his pocket and took out her number. “She gave me this. Told me to give it to you, and for you to call her when you’re ready.”
“That’s nice.” He placed the card in front of her.
He continued to feed her in silence.
When all the cereal was gone, he held a straw to her lips, waiting for her to suck her milk.
“Thank you.”
He put her glass down and stared at the bed. What the fuck was wrong with him?
“You can’t treat me the same, can you?”
He looked up. “What?”
“You know what he did to me, and now you can’t even make small talk.”
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“Bullshit, Spider.” She rested her arm across her stomach, and he saw some of the burn marks on her arm that wasn’t in a bandage.
“You weren’t ever supposed to get hurt.”
“I get that, but guess what? I was. Is that it? Paris is too damn broken now to have a proper conversation with, or did you just want to fuck me?”
“I know he was your first.” Spider forced himself to look at her.
“Did you want to be?” Tears filled her eyes.
“Fuck, I’m doing this all wrong.”
“I can’t believe this. Get out,” she said.
“Paris?”
“I was the one that was taken. I was the one that was hurt, not you. I want to just talk to a guy who not only got my sister to safety but also helped me get out. You can’t even look at me. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to fight him off. Get out. Get out. Get out.” With her bandaged hand, she tipped her tray. The noise brought the nurses, and they advised him to step out of the room.
Not knowing what else to say, he left, reeling from what had happened.
Spider walked down the long corridor in a daze.
****
Paris stared at the number that the nurse had placed on the tray in front of her. They had cleared up the mess
she’d created, which she had apologized for. Using the tips of her fingers, she wiped away her tears. Spider hadn’t come back, and she had spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon staring at the number.
Looking up, she saw a doctor standing in the doorway.
“Hello, you don’t know me. I’m Sandy.”
Frowning, Paris stared at her.
“I’m one of The Skulls’ old ladies. Stink, I’m recently married.” Sandy held out her hand, which bore an engagement ring, and a wedding band.
“Hello,” she said.
“I know this is kind of weird right now,” Sandy said. “I heard through the wards that you had a bit of a breakdown with Spider.”
“Do you know Spider?”
“Not really. I’ve been part of The Skulls for a lot longer than I’ve known Chaos Bleeds. Spider is kind of new to me. From what I’ve seen, he can be a bit of jerk. His heart’s in the right place.”
“He couldn’t even look at me,” Paris said.
“What?”
“I don’t know if you knew this, but I worked for them in that strip club, Naked Fantasies. My stage name was Beauty. The other strippers called me the fat one. I knew it.” Paris licked her lips.
“I didn’t know you were a stripper. Lex, Devil’s old lady, she used to be a stripper. A hot one as well.”
Paris smiled. “I didn’t know that. I haven’t met Lex.”
“Lexie. You’re going to meet the whole gang. They adore you. With your help they were able to locate Andrew, and take him down.”
“At least I did something right,” she said.
“Anyway, you were telling me about yourself,” Sandy said.
“Spider would always come to see me dance. It was like I’d feel his eyes on me. He didn’t like it when I got naked. After some time, he finally met me around the back of the strip club. Scared me half to death, and wanted to give me a ride home. At first I thought he was only interested in sex.”
“Then what?”
“He seemed interested in helping me. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“How do you mean?”
“I just wanted to talk to him. After everything that has happened, I wanted a friend to talk to, and he couldn’t even look at me. It made me wonder if he didn’t want me because I’m no longer a virgin. Did he only want a virgin, and I’m not good enough for him?” Tears started to fall once again. “Sorry. I can’t seem to stop crying just lately.”
“You deserve to cry. After everything you’ve been through, you deserve it.”
She wiped the tears away even as more started to fall.
“I’d say that Spider is feeling guilty. He showed an interest in you, and because of that, you got taken, then you got hurt. No matter how much you say otherwise, he blames himself. Spider saw what had happened to you. Your bruises are starting to fade, and your bones are healing. Spider saw you at your worst, and it scared him.”
Paris stared at the other woman. “What do you think I should do?”
“Give it time. You’re hurting, but so is Spider. He shouldn’t be worrying so much. His ass needs to learn to put you first. Just think of how you’d feel if your sister was here right now.” Sandy got to her feet. “I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Um, could you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Would you type this number into the phone, and hand it to me? I have one good hand, but I can’t dial the numbers and hold the phone.”
Sandy grabbed the phone beside her bed, and typed in the numbers.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Putting the phone to her ear, she listened to the number ring.
After several rings, someone finally picked up.
“I’d like to talk to Lola, please,” she said.
“Who’s speaking?”
“It’s Paris. She should know who I am.”
There was shuffling and mumbling over the line.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Lola, it’s me. I’m finally awake.”
“Paris, thank God. I wanted to stay until you finally woke up. My parents wouldn’t let me.”
“They were worried about you. How have you been?”
“I’m … okay.”
Paris stared across the room. “Okay?”
“It has been … hard. I-I got rid of my computer, my e-reader, and my cell phone. I don’t want anything to do with technology. The scholarship I was going to have, dead. If I’m not willing to handle computers, then my education doesn’t come free.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, me too. I just can’t do it, you know? I find it too scary.”
“He’s not coming back, Lola.”
“There are plenty of bad people in the world. It has been over three weeks, and you’re only just calling me. That tells me what was wrong with you was serious.”
“How about when I get out of the hospital, and back to Piston County, you come and visit me?”
Lola paused. “Do you promise?”
“I have your number now. I can call you whenever I want, and we can talk. It would be nice to talk to you outside of a cage.”
Lola laughed. “I really shouldn’t laugh. I just think it would be nice to talk to you in a coffee shop. That would be nice. No cage, our freedom still part of us.”
“He’s not going to control us forever.”
“Speak for yourself. I feel controlled, even now.”
“You’ve got to get on a computer, or something.”
“I’m not ready yet.”
“One day you will be, maybe.”
Silence fell between them.
“What are you doing, then?” Paris asked.
“I’m trying to look for a job. I think that would be good for me, you know? Concentrate on something else. The biggest problem is everyone near where I live knows what happened, and they keep on asking me. I don’t get that. Why do they keep on asking me about what happened? I don’t want to keep reliving it. They’ll see me for an interview, but when I tell them hell no, I get told I’m not what they’re looking for.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We’re saying sorry a lot, and we didn’t do anything wrong. It’s hard to get your head around.”
“Yeah, it is.” All she had wanted to say to Lola was how sorry she was that she didn’t fight, that she got hurt, that she had to look after her sister. Life wasn’t fair, and she hated that Andrew had done this to her, to them.
“I’ve got to go, Paris. My mother is looking at me as if I’m going to slit my wrists any second, and it’s freaking me out.”
“Please don’t do that,” Paris said.
“I’m not going to let him win. I do that, and he won, Paris. Don’t do it either. We’re stronger than this, and we’re going to prove that to ourselves, and to him.”
“You’re right. We can do this.”
“I’m going to cut the call now. It was lovely talking to you, and to be able to look at something more than bars.”
Paris smiled. “Talk soon.”
****
“You’re leaving soon,” Tabitha said.
“I know.” Simon looked up from coloring to stare at Tabitha. They were both sitting at the table in the front room. Tiny, Eva, Mom, and Dad were in the kitchen talking, making arrangements. They were both better now, and the girl in the hospital was making a full recovery.
“I’ll miss you,” Tabitha said.
“I’ll always miss you.”
Tabitha smiled. “I wish you didn’t have to leave. You could be my friend all day. Daisy likes you as well. She’s always scared around new people. I think Anthony likes her. He likes her to read. She does read stories really well.”
“We can call though. Dad will let me. He’s told me so.”
“Do you think it’s ever going to be fun?”
“One day.” Simon reached over the table and held her hand. “I know we were in the hospital, but I liked it. I’d spend any time
with you, wherever we have to.”
“Even if we were in the snow freezing?”
“Yep.”
“What about horse poo?”
Simon laughed. “Yeah, even in horse poo.”
“Wow.”
“That’s love, and I’ve heard my Dad tell my mom that he loves her so much that he’d rather his dick rot off than stick it in another pussy.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Simon said, frowning. “Dad always says weird things. They make no sense, but then Mom blushes, and she seems happy with them.”
“I think I like you standing with me in horse poop. That’s nice.”
“Yeah, it is.”
****
Sally nibbled on her finger as she stared at the calculation in front of her. None of it was making sense, but she needed to finish her math homework so that she could get back to that good book she was reading. She didn’t care what anyone said, vampires were still in.
“What are you doing?” Steven asked, making her jump.
Looking up from her book, she stared at the handsome club member who had been trying to spend a great deal of time with her. “I’m doing my homework.” She went to scratch her leg, and paused just as she was about to reach down. It was her left leg, but there was nothing there. Closing her eyes, she counted to ten, and opened them again. Steven had pulled out a chair, and sat opposite her.
“Leg giving you trouble?” he asked.
“It’s fine.” Her cheeks started to heat, and she hated that. She hated that she was embarrassed by what was happening. Gritting her teeth, she ignored it, and carried on staring at the calculus question that wasn’t working itself out.
“Whizz said you’d be studying from home,” Steven said.
“I didn’t want to be home alone right now. Lacey’s going to beauty college at night. I’ve heard they’re planning on opening their own salon in town,” Sally said. It would have been nice to work there, but right now, she had other focuses. Between talking about her fucking feelings, and learning to move around on crutches, she was going stir-crazy. She couldn’t wait to have a prosthetic so she could wear pants, and pretend that she was normal again. Walking down the street on crutches made her aware of people staring, gawking at her as she went by. Whizz was working at the gym, and rather than be alone, she’d come to the clubhouse. Since Lacey and Whizz had adopted her, they had said the clubhouse would be open to her as well.