“Righty then, I’ll get this started and going, you okay if I examine you?”
“Like a rape kit? Don’t need to, answer is yes,” my voice squeaks at the admission.
A low rumble percolates from Leo, making the hair stand up on my arms. After the sound dissipates, his teeth begin to audibly grind from across the way.
Stitch ignores him. “Well, a general look over your body for trauma, wounds or life threatening injuries. After that, we should take some blood for some tests, make sure there isn’t anything needing treatment there either.” Stitch gives me a moment while throwing Leo a look of some sort over his shoulder.
“I guess.” A shiver runs over me, my hands attempting to chase it off of my arms.
“Care to tell me what happened to you?” Stitch asks noncommittally as he pulls various supplies out of a side pocket. The sight of a needle gives me pause, those fuckers are the worst.
Trying to forget about the medical supplies he’s now getting ready to use on me, I deliberate his question for a few minutes. Searching for that same strength that was just in my voice moments ago, my mouth tries to formulate an answer. Nothing comes. Part of me wants to shut off and disappear from all this. It would be easier to pretend that none of it ever happened. No it wouldn’t, I will never be able to pretend. This horror is my reality. Anger surrounding that truth erupts through my veins. Some part of me feels like these two guys might be able to sympathize with my fury. That is what encourages me to answer at last.
“Some fucking assholes kidnapped me, caged me, and gave me to their ring leader who raped me, a lot.” My fists clench and unclench. I don’t even sound like myself, speaking more than a word here and there is entirely more difficult than it should be. Those assholes robbed me of a lot, the power in my voice being one of those things.
Stitch’s jaw snaps shut, flexing a few times before he gains his composure again. That isn’t as bad as Leo’s face; I’ve never seen someone with attractive features like his shift into something worse than sadistic.
“Looks like a bit more than that,” Stitch breathes.
The oversized, long sleeves of my top fall back as I lift my arms, examining the obvious bruises that can’t be hidden. “Yeah.” I left it at that with a shrug. For whatever reason, the rape was easier to admit than all this shit.
“Do you remember when you were taken? How long did they have you?”
“Think so. I kept track, I was taken during my spring semester, early March, 2001, so a little over a year maybe.”
Stitch’s brow softens and his mouth flattens into a line. “Honey, it’s been longer than that. This is September, 2003.”
A maniacal laugh erupts from my mouth as the ridiculousness of what he said tries to sink in. What the hell kind of twilight zone is unfolding within an already paralleled universe. My eyes dart back and forth between the two men, hoping one will yell out, “April Fools.” The laughter begins to slow as sorrow creeps in, planting its seed as I realize that they are telling the truth. Grief forks holes in the bottom of my stomach as the contents of my being drop through the floor. Pride has my chin bucking up, trying to hold back the tears, head dropping into hands, as my mind tries to process all of the how’s. Over two years? How on God’s green earth was that much of my time allowed to be stripped away. Embarrassing sobs escape my endeavors to appear resilient as my fingers lightly lift to touch the back of my head on a search for answers. How many concussions have I sustained? How many days did I spend unconscious from lack of food, trauma, and whatever else?
“Here, let me look you over. Whip, can ya step out?” Stitch interjects, seeing the cliff of mania I have stepped onto.
I shake my head violently, and Leo stops pivoting toward the door. Leo─Whip, or whatever the hell his name is, can’t leave me.
“Um, all right then, just turn around man.”
Leo does as he’s told. Drawing in a deep breath, I force my mind to focus on using what tools we’ve got to back little Luna away from the freak out ledge. Stitch presses a cold stethoscope against my skin, and I suck in another breath. Flashbacks from my night terror loom in the moment. Stitch’s eyes narrow in thought as he continues on, taking care to ensure my modesty. Which is laughable in a way, but the effort was nice. After going through what I have, I really don’t have any modesty left, simply fear of men and various other triggers that are now being seen in a whole new light.
As he pushes down on my stomach, a sinking feeling in my chest rapidly plummets and I breakout in cold sweats. I’m having a hard time processing the amount of pain now radiating out from that spot. I try not to cry out in pain and bite my lip until I taste blood. Stitch stops immediately.
“On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst pain you’ve ever felt, what would that spot be?”
“Twenty!” I yelp, sucking back again, narrowing my hearing to the horses now softly bumping in their stalls.
“Luna, we need to get you to a hospital for some scans to make sure everything is okay.” Stitch’s brow furrows and his cheeks deepen in color.
“No, no, no, no.” My whole body begins to shake, rattle, and roll at the thought of leaving the barn. Panic wraps its icy fingers around me as I scoot farther away from him and into the hay. A loose nail from the wood pricks my back, a welcome sensation in this dizzying interchange.
“What about Tank’s ole lady? Can’t she bring the mobile unit?” Leo pipes in as he rubs the back of his neck.
“I suppose so, all they have is a little x-ray machine on it─might have an ultrasound too.”
“It will have to work for now. I ain’t draggin’ her out of here if she doesn’t wanna go.” Leo blows out a hard breath.
“Be right back.” Stitch’s face falls as his tall frame rises to head outside, taking his cell in hand as he goes.
“Luna, you can breathe now, he’s gonna bring the doc here.” Worried baby blues pierce me as his arms cross his broad, plaid covered chest.
My lungs begin to work again with his permission.
“Just relax. We will leave you be for now. I’m gonna go and fix ya a plate. Be back shortly.” Leo’s gaze lingers over me as his weight shifts back and forth. He doesn’t want to leave. Steel takes the hint, nudges in closer to me which seems to satisfy Leo, so he heads on out.
It’s not long after I’m calm and fed that something large comes lurking down the driveway. Lifting my head up to peer around the little open side door, I see a giant bus looking thing creeping toward us. The long branches of the trees lining the drive scrape the sides of the lurking beast. Bright headlights blind me even though it’s broad daylight, and I have to raise a hand and squint against it. The metal behemoth rolls to a complete stop in an ominous fashion, the air from the breaks hissing.
My mouth opens in a guppy breath as the door opens. They said “she” so this better be a woman. If a man doctor comes at me, I will grab that gun off of Leo’s hip and pop the doctor dead. Don’t care how good he is at this job. Instead, a plump, middle age woman barrels out in jeans, combat boots, and a button-down, long sleeves rolled up like she means business. Her long hair is braided back, and she is grinning from ear to ear. Leo yells a greeting across the yard but she waves him off, locked onto me through the open door. Curling deeper into my little hay pile, I watch her wide eyed as she marches on over like she owns the place. Leo and Stitch are hot on her tail; Leo’s face quite screwed up and heated, like this fireball of a woman just crossed an invisible boundary only he could see.
She waltzes into the barn, halts a foot away, puts her hands on her curvy hips, and cocks her head to the side. “Well, don’t just sit there shaking like a leaf. Let’s get a move on, up into the clinic with ya. The name’s Bex, sweetheart. What do they call you?” Bex motions for me to get up.
Flabbergasted by the strong willed energy that radiates all around her, I stumble trying to get up, stuttering my name along the way. I’ve never met a woman like her; she equally scares and excites me. She turns on a dime
, sashaying out of the door. Making it to the threshold, I freeze in her wake, the inviting, blazing sun no match for the cold, penetrating dread.
Bex turns to say something to me, realizing that I’m not following, and stops. Raising a hand to shield her eyes, her nose scrunches up. “What’s wrong honay? I need ya up in that bus with my equipment,” she says with her special kind of twang.
“She’s been too frightened to leave the barn, Bex. Don’t be such a wench,” Stitch barks at her, he and Leo never far.
“I can’t scan her ass out here, she’s gonna have to come with me.” She digs the toe of her boot in the gravel, ready to get to work.
My body begins to tremble as I try to take another step. Pulling the sweet, early fall smells from the air, I focus on steadying my breathing. Mind over matter, Luna. Her rational made sense, and she brought this mobile unit all the way down here just for me. It would be extremely selfish and ungrateful of me to not take them up on this customized care. No one has gone out of their way for me like these folks have since my grandparents. Steel proudly stands at my side, lightly panting, leaning into me as if he knew what to do. This dog is too smart to be any old dog. My fingers instinctively lace through the fur on his scruff as I reach a level of resolve. I can do this. There is nothing here to harm me. All that is here in this moment is two armed, personal guards, a beast dog, and a caring doctor. Obviously something is not right in my belly, and we need to figure out why. It’s time to get it together, and slap my big girl panties on.
“Luna, if you don’t want to go, ya don’t have to.” Leo’s deep voice assures from the side of the walkway.
Steel takes a step forward and stops, taking the initiative to lead me. My chest rises with another deep breath, and we do it again. Inch by inch, we make our way as the bystanders offer silent support. Thank goodness no one is saying anything, my nerves would be tipped in the wrong direction by that. Steel is probably the only decent male I’ve met aside from my daddy, thank the Lord for that. Half way there, Bex finally huffs, and heads up into the bus to wait for us. The sun beats down as Stitch and Leo look on, arms equally folded across their chests as they protectively watch from the sideline. One look at them and I dare anything to try and threaten my safety. Bit by bit, step by step, we make it up to the buses door.
“Okay Steel, we can do this,” I whisper more for myself. Glancing up into the clear, cloudless sky one last time, I plant a bare foot onto the squeaky, metal step.
Leo
Bex’s loud mouth yammers away up in that behemoth of hers, carrying on like the boisterous shit she is. I don’t know what the fuck she is going on about, and frankly don’t care. Pacing the yard is doing nothing for the anxiety ramping up in my body. Luna looking like she was about to jump out of her skin but still carrying through with what needed to be done did something to me that can’t be explained. I just want to know that she’s okay. That woman has been through enough, and the personal responsibility I now feel for her isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
“Damn, Whip, calm the fuck down. Bex is a damn good doc.” Stitch knocks my shoulder and hands me a bottle of water.
“What do you think is wrong?” My paws twist the cap and I take down the bottle in one big swig.
“I’m not saying shit. Let Bex tell you. Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s life threatening. She could do with some better medical care though, not just the community health bus.” He gives me an odd look as he combs a hand over his beard.
“I told you…”
“Yeah, man, I know. Don’t blame you. What the fuck are we going to do about Pinky and his fuckheads? This shit is getting out of control. I told Prez we need to shut that fucking operation down. Just last week we intercepted one of their drops while simultaneously delivering some blow. They weren’t supposed to step on the territory before us. Almost caused some major shit. We took their girls as payment for the disrespect, dropped them at the safe house.” Stitch spits some dip on the dirt.
“Blue ain’t listenin’. He doesn’t want the backlash affectin’ our deliveries. I sure as shit am bringin’ this up in church though.”
“Yeah, man, this can’t fly any more. It isn’t right and their drop points are too fucking close to ours. Hope he listens. You know how he is about business though now that Pretty Boy is consolidating.”
“I don’t give a fuck about that. He needs to flip his priorities if he still wants me to do what I do for the club or I’m out. I can’t fuckin’ sit here knowin’ there is probably more women up in their place. Sittin’ in the same spot that Luna just was. I’ve done a lot of shit in my day, but that don’t fly with me.” Anger warms my cold and hollow bones as my hand fists the hilt of the knife on my hip.
“Easy big guy, we all know the few chips on your shoulder. We have to go about that shit right, or we will end up six feet under.”
“I’d like to see ‘em try.” My voice drops a few octaves.
“Yeah, and I’m sure they’d love the challenge.” Stitch barks a laugh.
The door to the RV bolts open, and out darts Luna, a blur of ratty clothes as if there are hellfire hounds on her ass instead of Steel on his self-assigned guard dog duty. She whizzes past, and doesn’t stop until she lands square back in the barn, right in the middle of her hay pile.
Bex comes huffing out behind her, stomping down the drive to where we stand.
“Whelp, I don’t think it’s anything major going on. I have an ultrasound onboard, and a mini xray machine. I took some pictures, blood, and poked around on her. Got that liter of hydration in her too like you asked.” Bex wipes the beads of sweat off her forehead.
“What the hell is wrong with her?” I didn’t mean to come out as harsh as it did, but Bex narrowing her eyes at me like I might be stupid told be otherwise.
“Boy, you know damn well I can’t tell you nothing. She may have been knocked around the head too many damn times, have trouble remember things here and there; but she is still as sharp as a blade, and knows what’s what. She passed all my cognitive evaluations with flying colors. Ask her your damn self.”
“She gonna be okay?” Stitch asks more politely. His approaches softens Bex’s response.
“Yeah, she’s got some kind of angel watching over her for sure. Nothing life threatening, and strong as a horse. She’s just going to need a special touch to ease the spook out of her.”
“And a few hundred meals,” Stitch jokes.
“Yeah, put some weight on her for sure. I best be off. Tank made me promise to bring my special dessert bars to the cookout, see you then.” Bex waves us off, and heavy foots it back to her bus. So much attitude for something so small. We got along most of the time, but bumped heads here and there for whatever reason.
“That old witch may have a mean streak worse than a rattler, but she’s got a heart bigger than any of these backwood folk,” I gratefully mumble and head to check on Luna.
Slowly approaching, I lean on the open door frame, not wanting to jolt her any more. She looks up at me from under the pile of quilts she has pulled up all around her.
“You all right?” My voice comes out sounding strange, and I pick at the door frame, trying to play it off.
“Yeah, she gave me something for the pain, and told me what it was. She told me a lot of stuff, just need to turn it all over in my head a few times.”
“I get that. All right. I gotta get some work done. You need anythin’, just holler out at me.” It feels as if I should be doing something more for her, but have no idea what that might be.
“Leo?”
“Huh?”
“Thank you.” The steady warmth in her words speaks volumes. Every little piece of assistance I’ve provided has been met with a level of appreciative gratitude you don’t see often. She literally reveled in every morsel of food, and damn near cried when I brought in the bathing supplies. Her reactions made me want to do as much as possible.
“You’re welcome.” Her thanks tightens my chest, and makes me
shift uncomfortably. I wasn’t used to be being thanked for much, especially from the likes of a woman who truly meant it. “Luna?”
Her big grey eyes lock on to mine as if they were lassoing the only lifeline she’s ever had.
“You can stay as long you want.” With that I walk away, and head down to start in on some fence repairs before getting started on two of the younger horses. Stitch is hot on my tail. I had forgotten that he was still here.
“Whip, you really going take her in like this? You of all people can’t afford to have someone depending on you.” He huffs as he tries to keep up with my pace.
“And what do you know about my business?” I warn with an edge and he falters a step back.
“You are my brother, a patched in member for damn near a decade after the war done fucked your head up. But if anyone would want a head from the club on a pike, it’s you. Now you are going to adopt an Achilles heel?” Stitch tries to reason as we make it to the fence and I palm up a hammer. My knuckles go white as I tighten my grip around the neck of it.
“Stitch, it ain’t like I chose her, and I ain’t discussin’ it further. Love you brother, but butt the fuck out.” With that, I grab a nail and drive it home into the loose board as if to finalize the end of this conversation.
Chapter 4
Luna
Burning rays of sunlight beat through the open door as a rattling sounds out from the stalls around the corner. Crawling on all fours, I peer around the flimsy boards separating my little sanctuary from the beasts just over yonder. My breath catches as a broad back covered in a ton beautiful ink glistens, the figure mucking the far stall by the open sliding door. Alarms sound as I start to scoot backwards but pause, catching a definitive view of Leo’s profile. Being able to rapidly identify him, the attack isn’t able to fully come, as I know he is not a threat. My blood pressure lowers as I shake off the jitters and ease the quilts down from the top of my back. Somehow, another got added on top of me while sleeping. This host of mine is strange. It should freak me out that he comes in while I am dead asleep, but it doesn’t. If he wanted me dead, that would have happened long ago. A tray of food beckons to me, and without another thought, I sit back and quickly oblige.
Winter's Absolution (Obsidian Blades MC Book 1) Page 5