by KJ Dahlen
He brushed a strand of her blonde hair off her face and almost willed her to open her eyes. When she didn’t Jackal sighed. He moved over to the sofa in the room and sat down. Taking off his boots, he stripped off his shirt and jeans as well. Pulling out a blanket from the chest at the end of the bed, he flopped down on the sofa and tried to cover himself.
He laid his head down on an extra pillow and stared at the ceiling. He then looked over at the bed with the girl resting there. Who was she? How had she ended up on the side of the road and most importantly, who beat her and threw her away?
A few hours later, his sleep was disturbed when the girl on the bed began thrashing around and groaning. Jackal sat up in a hurry and for a moment was confused as to what was happening. He heard some kind of whimpering noise to his right and he snapped his head over to the bed. He heard the sound again, as he pushed the covers off his lap and went over to the bed.
The girl was thrashing first one way then the other. Moaning and groaning she was flinching as if reliving the beating she’d taken. Whimpering, she ducked and covered her head.
She called out a name he didn’t hear at first, then she screamed it again and this time he heard it. She’d called out the name, Venom.
Jackal couldn’t stand watching her struggle with her pain. He went around the other side of the bed and crawled in with her. Pulling her into his arms, he just held her through the worst of it. She didn’t wake up though and that bothered him a bit. She didn’t feel overly warm but she didn’t seem to settle down as he wrapped his arms around her either. She wanted to fight him all the way but was too weak to follow through.
She finally passed out again and was so still, Jackal thought he might have hurt her somehow.
When she settled down, he lifted his fingers and searched her neck for her pulse. It was thready but steady and the longer he held his fingers there the stronger it became.
He didn’t know what to think about her. Finally, he fell back asleep still holding her in his arms.
When he opened his eyes again, the sun was coming up and shining right in his eyes. He squinted and turned his head away from the brightness of the early morning sun.
When his eyes adjusted to the light coming through the windows, he noticed a pair of chocolate colored eyes looking back at him. He cocked his head as he studied her face in the natural light. Her skin was still pale making the bruises she sported stand out but the color of her eyes surprised him. He expected they would be blue, or green even, not the brown color they were. They were the exact shade of milk chocolate. Totally unexpected. And totally beautiful. They fit her somehow.
“Good morning sweetheart. How are you feeling this morning?” he muttered.
She cocked her head to one side and frowned slightly. She winced as she did so, then lifted her hand to her eye. “What happened to me?”
“I’m not sure,” Jackal answered. “What do you remember?”
“Not much.” She licked her dry lips. Then looked at him, “Can I ask you a question?”
Jackal nodded. “What do you want to know?”
“First off, who are you? Second, where am I and lastly, do you know me?”
Jackal frowned. “You don’t know who you are?”
She licked her lips again and slowly started to shake her head but stopped due to pain shooting across her head. “I have no clue.”
Chapter Two
Jackal wanted to swear. He frowned and loosened his arm from around her. Sitting up, he pushed the covers off his lap and got to his feet. He walked over to where his pants were and pulled then on. He glanced back at her and noted the blush on her face as she turned her face away.
Jackal grinned a bit at her blush. He walked deliberately back to where she was laying and sat down on the side of the bed. “Well, to answer your questions, my name is Jackal. I found you last night along the side of the road when I stopped to... relieve myself. You’re in my bedroom at the compound of the Devil’s Advocates, which is my MC.”
She turned her head to look at him. “And do you know me? Do you know my name? Or maybe what I’m doing here, wherever this happens to be?” Her voice cracked and faded into nothing as she spoke.
“Does your throat hurt?” Jackal demanded.
She nodded.
“Well, there might be some damage there. It looks like someone strangled you.”
She startled. “Strangled me?” she whispered and her hand came up to cover her throat. “Why would anyone want to strangle me?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Jackal frowned.
She went to push the blankets off her then looked down at her body. Yelping, she pulled the cover back up to her chin. Looking up at him she squeaked, “Why am I naked? Where are my clothes?”
“Your clothes were slightly wet and damaged when I brought you here. I couldn’t leave you in them.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t really a chore stripping your clothes off sweetheart.” He smirked.
She narrowed her eyes at his comment. “I’m glad you enjoyed it so much the first time as it will never happen again.”
Jackal chuckled. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
“I would,” she muttered under her breath. Then she paused and looked up at him. “May I have some water please?”
Jackal nodded then went to the kitchen and got her a bottle of water taking it back to her. He waited till after she drank some to ask, “How are you feeling this morning?” he repeated his earlier question.
“My throat hurts, my face hurts, my head is killing me and I don’t know who I am. My whole body aches with pain. I don’t remember how I got this way and I don’t know where I am. I wake up in a bed with a man I don’t know, my clothes are gone and you start asking me stupid questions. How do you think I feel dumb ass?” she grumbled.
Jackal reached out and grabbed her chin. He cupped it and lifted it ever so gently but he didn’t pause in his actions. Whether she wanted to lift her chin to him or not she had to anyway.
Looking into his eyes, she noted that he didn’t seem to care for her smart ass attitude. “Listen little girl, I get that this is not what you expected this morning, I didn’t expect it either so don’t disrespect me. You’re in my house now and I make the rules here.”
She nodded and went to pull her chin out of his grasp.
Jackal held her briefly then allowed her to pull away from him.
She wouldn’t look at him but did ask, “Where is your bathroom?”
Jackal pointed the way and watched as she got out of bed and wrenched the blanket off, wrapping it around her she walked regally over to the only other door in the bedroom.
After she closed it behind her, Jackal shook his head. The girl had some issues for sure, Going over to his dresser, he pulled out a t-shirt and pulled it over his head. Grabbing a clean pair of socks, he went over to the sofa and pulled them on along with his boots. He looked over at her pile of dirty jeans and a torn shirt and sighed. Getting up, he went back to his dresser and found her clean clothes to wear. They wouldn’t fit her because she was so much smaller than he was but they would cover her for now.
He laid out a pair of running shorts and a tank top he’d outgrown after he had bulked up last year. They would do for now. When she returned, he headed for the bathroom giving her time to dress.
A few minutes later, he came out.
His tank top was so long it fit her like a dress and the shorts were still on the bed.
She blushed and told him, “They didn’t fit.”
Jackal motioned for her to follow him so when she got up she wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and followed him out of the room.
They went to the front door and when he opened it, she had to brace herself for the effect of the full sunlight. She lifted her hands and shaded her eyes.
The pounding inside her head increased and she stumbled backward against the frame of the door. Jackal caught her and steadied her before he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way, a
s he seemed to realize that she had no shoes. He headed down along the path between the house and the walkway to the main building.
Once they were inside the building, she lowered her arms and opened her eyes. The dimness was a relief to her aching head. And she looked around in curiosity. There were tables everywhere and men sitting there staring in surprise at her.
Along the back of the room, stretching the length of the entire wall was a bar, lined with liquor bottles while faced with a mirror. Off to her right was another open room with smells of coffee and food emanating from it. Voices could be heard from inside but so far, only the men in the main room could see her standing there with Jackal.
He guided her toward a table front and center in the room. She hung her head a bit to avoid the stares of the men watching her. When she sat down, she pulled the blanket closer to her and peeked around at the rest of the room.
It took her a moment to realize the voices from the kitchen area had quieted. She wanted to crawl into a corner and stay there when all eyes in the place turned to her. At least they weren’t hostile eyes but they were more than just curious eyes. She could feel the tension in the room growing along with mistrust?
One man got up from a table nearby and walked over to her. Looking at Jackal he asked, “How is our patient this morning?”
Grabbing the edges of the blanket with her fingertips, she looked from Jackal over to the new man and back to Jackal. She noted the half grin on Jackal's face and blushed slightly.
Jackal looked up at the other man and told him, “She’s in pain and she doesn’t remember who she is or how she got here.”
The man nodded. “She took a bad blow to her head. She might not remember at first but hopefully, she will. Can she talk with the damage to her throat?”
“Yes I can talk,” she told him. “I may not be very loud but I can talk and if you want to know something, please ask me not him. I’m sitting right here.”
He turned his gaze to her and studied her for a moment before he told her in a low voice, “I don’t know where you come from little girl but around here we show our president respect. Not because he expects it but because he’s earned it. He saved your life last night by bringing you here instead of leaving you out there beside the road to be exposed to the elements for another night, possibly to the wolves or wild pigs. He’s done the same type thing for every man in this room. Saved them in ways you cannot imagine.”
She hung her head and hot tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to disrespect anyone. My dad...” She looked up at both of them and her face paled at the thought of remembering something, then her face twisted as she cried out. Pain flashed and she was up on her feet crying out. The blanket slipped from her hands as she raised them to try and hold the top of her head from exploding as pain assaulted her from all sides.
She dropped to her knees and Jackal was right there to help her up. He wrapped his arms around her waist and then sat down pulling her to his lap and just holding her tightly to him as she cried.
Doc picked up the blanket from the floor and gently draped it back over her shoulders allowing Jackal to continue holding her
The only sounds in the room were of her crying. Everyone else remained silent as they watched her go through something every man there had gone through at one point or another... facing something terrible and attempting to get past it. She was remembering something from her past, something so painful it had probably been buried in her subconscious for a long time.
Finally, she stopped crying and she was still. Tears still ran down her face but she had her face buried in Jackal’s chest. Then she spoke again and this time, they could hear the pain in her words, “My dad always said my mouth would get me in trouble one day. He said I was too much like him and I spoke without thinking about my words.” She sniffled then added, “I truly meant no disrespect to either of you.”
The man looked over at his Prez and saw the same confusion in his eyes that mirrored his own. “No disrespect taken on my part young lady.”
Jackal nodded toward another chair at his table. “Sit, Doc and have at it.”
Doc sat down and studied his patient for a moment before he asked, “May I ask what happened to your father?”
She turned her head and peeked at him from her position on Jackal’s lap. “He died when I was fourteen in a home invasion. Both he and my mom were killed when three armed men broke into our house. They didn’t take anything they just murdered my parents in their own bed.”
Doc showed no shock at her words and neither did Jackal but his hold on her tightened a bit. “What about you? Did you get hurt at all?” Doc wanted to know.
“I was shot too, but I survived the bullet,” she answered him without any inflection in her voice. Almost as if she was detached from the event.
“What happened to you after that?” Doc asked.
“I went to live with my step brother, Dane.” Her eyes were glazed over by this time.
Doc shook his head at Jackal’s voiceless inquiry. He got to his feet and nodded at the woman standing in the doorway with cups and a pot of coffee.
She came forward to Jackal’s table she set down the cups. As she poured the hot brew into the cups, she stared at the woman on Jackal’s lap.
“Thanks Maggie.” Jackal nodded when both cups were full.
Maggie nodded and walked back to the kitchen.
Jackal reached for his cup and began sipping the caffeine. Putting the cup on the table he whispered, “Are you ok?”
She nodded. “Just embarrassed,” she whispered back.
“These men have seen worse,” Jackal assured her as he studied her face. “You want some coffee?”
She nodded then slowly pushed off his chest. “Thank you. I didn’t mean any disrespect.” She looked at him with so much pain in her eyes she broke his heart. “How could I forget everything that happened in my life? How could I forget seeing my parents die like that? Memories like that usually only visit me in the dead of night.”
Jackal leaned toward her and brushed his lips against her skin. “Honey, that’s the kind of pain everyone wants to forget. It never really works but no one wants to remember it.” He paused then asked, “How often do your memories haunt you like that?”
She didn’t say anything just sipped her coffee, then asked if could she have some sugar.
Jackal smiled and looked toward Maggie. He would let it go for now but they would be speaking of this again and soon.
Maggie brought over the sugar dispenser and a spoon.
“There was something odd about that night,” she spoke again. “I just can’t remember what it was.” She added 3 spoonful’s of the sugar as she spoke, “Maybe I relive it because I’m supposed to remember it? Maybe my dad wants me to remember, I don’t know but I do know I can’t let it go.” She shrugged then went to move off his lap but he stopped her.
Jackal tightened his hold on her and she blushed as she grabbed her cup of hot coffee.
She hated drawing attention to herself by staying where she was but he kept her on his lap.
As she sipped her coffee, she began looking at the tables filled with men around her.
Everyone was sipping their own coffee and talking lowly among themselves. She began counting how many men were there and she counted close to two dozen. They all wore the black leather vest that proclaimed them members of the same MC. The Devil’s Advocates. She turned her head to Jackal and noted his vest. She reached out to trace the letters of his name.
Jackal stopped her just before her fingers touched his leathers by wrapping her wrist with his own fingers. “A biker is particular about anyone touching his cut sweetheart,” he murmured in her ear.
She held her breath then looked up at him. “Ok, I understand.” With that, she moved off his lap and he let her settle on the chair next to him. Reaching for her coffee, he noted that her hand was shaking a bit. She was looking around again and when her eyes hit on a man sitting at the back of the
room, she put her cup down on the table with a clink.
Jackal stared at her face and then followed her gaze to the man in question.
It was Cobra. He was a loner for the most part. Sitting there, he wasn’t looking back at the girl but she was staring at him, or rather, she was staring at his massive bare arms. Jackal looked at Cobra trying to see what held her gaze but all he saw was the tat of the snake that gave him his road handle. The snake wrapped itself around his entire arm with the head of the snake on his massive shoulder.
Jackal looked back at the girl and took note of her pale face and the building fear in her eyes...Fear that was turning into some mindless terror.
She stared at the open mouth of the snake on his arm. Seemingly mesmerized by the very real looking tattoo on Cobra’s arm. Her body trembled badly with some fear no one else could see the reason for. She pushed her chair back and got to her feet, wrapping herself tightly in the blanket.
Her chest was heaving as she tried to breathe. Her eyes were locked on the snake’s eyes and she took a step backward to escape whatever had her frightened.
Jackal frowned as he watched the scene play out in front of him. She didn’t seem to know it but the others in the room were watching her as well.
Cobra finally seemed to feel the tension in the room and lifted his head. He caught the look in her eyes and it froze him on the spot.
She took another step back and her foot slipped on the edge of the blanket as she stumbled and then turned to flee but instead, she slammed head first into an immovable object. She lifted her head and saw a man’s massive chest. Lifting her gaze even higher she moved her eyes upward to see a massive bearded man standing directly in front of her. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out as she met his cold empty eyes. She opened and closed her mouth until her terror got the best of her and she passed out completely.
Crumbling toward the floor, she would have hit with a thud if Beast had not caught her before she fell completely.