Torn (13 page)

“How are ya feelin’ this mornin’?” Jaxon
leaned forward and kissed my forehead. It took everything in my
power not to pull away. He leaned in the same way Drill had right
before I woke up.

“Okay, head hurts, but better than last
night,” I happily reported.
Please God, don’t let
him start in on eating right now.
The nightmare had stirred
up my nausea and food wouldn’t help that.

“I’m gonna buzz the nurse. I made them leave
you alone last night so you could sleep.”

Gee, thanks for that buddy. I slept like a
champ. Gah.

“You didn’t have to do that. They probably
needed to get vitals and stuff, Jax. They have a job to do,” I
huffed in frustration. There was nothing worse than a pain in the
ass patient or patient’s family member. It wasn’t as if you could
tell them to stop being an asshole. No, HR frowned upon that.

He pressed the call bell and a minute or so
after the intercom crackled. “May I help you?”

“Yes, can you please send her nurse in? She’s
awake.”

“Someone will be right in.” The voice was
abrupt and cold.

“Great, you’ve managed to piss off the nurses
before,” I looked around him at the clock on the wall, “seven a.m.
Geez.”

“I did no such thing.” He feigned
innocence.

The petite, cute nurse came in and checked my
vitals all while teasing Jaxon about how he gave the night nurses a
hard time. They were joking so much they didn’t seem to notice that
I was staring off into space thinking about everything that
happened. My trance was broken by Barb’s loud mouth.

“Yo, bitch. What the hell? I had to hear from
Cole that you were attacked in your house?”

“Sorry, I was knocked unconscious and had my
face smashed through a mirror. Oh and I stabbed a guy in the neck.
My mind was a little jumbled.” I was a smart-ass, but she had it
coming.

“All I’m sayin’ is you could’ve had someone
call me. I would’ve come down here,” she softened and lowered her
boisterous voice.

“I did have someone tell you, but I told him
to hold off until this morning because she needed to sleep,” Jaxon
butted in.

Barb rolled her eyes and huffed, essentially
ignoring Jaxon. “Are you and the baby okay?”

“We are, promise.”

“So what happened?” she asked as she sat down
in Jax’s chair.

“I’m gonna run down and get a coffee and make
some calls.” Jax couldn’t scramble out of the room fast enough. I
didn’t blame him really. I wouldn’t want to have to hear the story
again if I were him. I could barely bear the memories.

“Can you please call Drew and check on Ruger?
I know he said he was fine, but I just want to be sure.”

“Of course.” He came back over to the bedside
and kissed me. The kiss said what words couldn’t. Jaxon wasn’t a
touchy-feely, mushy kind of guy. Sure, he was sweet and nurturing,
but he wasn’t going to sit down and tell me how what happened made
him feel. I was sure eventually he would ask me what was going on
inside of my head, but his head was a locked vault of bottled-up
emotions. And I had a feeling that box was going to explode soon. I
just hoped it was aimed at the right person.

Once Jaxon was out of earshot, I told Barb
the whole, awful story. I watched her eyes practically pop out of
her head when I got to the mirror smashing and returned her high
five when I told her about the part where I launched myself at
Drill and ran a pair of scissors through his neck.

I just wish I knew the end of the story.

Where was Drill now?

Was he waiting for me?

Chapter Eighteen

Jaxon

Watching her sleep all night, I kept
thinking about the different ways I would exact revenge upon that
fucker. I’ve never taken the law into my own hands, but for her I
would. He was not getting away with this.

My cell buzzed, pulling me from my torturous
thoughts. Taking it from my pocket, I stood. “Gotta take this, I’ll
be right back.”

“Okay.” She glanced over with a sweet smile.
“Barb and I will be right here.”

I knew what she was going to be telling her
and it made me furious. I was trying to wrap my head around the
fact that he got to her. “Drew, talk to me. How is Ruger? She’s
freakin’ out about him.”

“He’s good, I’ll bring him over once y’all
get home later today.” I could hear dispatch on the other end of
the call. “Listen, I called because we got an anonymous tip that
your guy is on the move. He cleared out of his place off
Dorchester. Place was ransacked when we finally got the
warrant.”

“Fuck,” I roared at the same time a poor
unsuspecting doctor walked by. She jumped clear across the hall and
used the chart in her hands to shield her face. “Shit, sorry.
Didn’t mean to scare ya.”

“What happened?” Drew asked.

“Nothin’, just scared the shit out of some
poor lady doctor walkin’ by. So what did the tip say? Location?” I
questioned.

“They said we should check his house and that
he may be showing up at the clubhouse to grab some of his shit.”
Drew paused. “Hang on a minute.”

In the background I could hear him talking to
dispatch, radioing in his location and that he was in route to the
address of the clubhouse. I looked around and noticed that the
nurses and doctors were all watching me.

Drew came back on. “Sorry, I’m on my way to
the clubhouse now, thought you’d wanna know.”

“I gotta say, man, that’s a pretty shitty
tip. It’s fuckin’ obvious he would clear his shit out and run for
the fuckin’ hills. He’s not as stupid as y’all think. I seriously
doubt he’ll even go to the clubhouse. At this point he probably
knows all of the brothers are on to him and that they know about
Leila.” I paced the white hall outside of Leila’s room.

“Well, they’re rollin’ us out there, so I
guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

“If he’s there—” I started.

“If he’s there, I’ll be the one transporting,
so…yeah,” Drew chuckled quietly. His thoughts were probably as
sinister as mine. Drew and Leila were tight. He always looked out
for her and had taken care of her since their mother died a few
years back.

Drew’s a big guy, not as big as I was but
only an inch or two shorter and probably twenty or thirty pounds
lighter, but with his martial arts training he was not someone I’d
fuck with.

“Fuck, man, I wanna be there, but I can’t
leave her right now.” I was torn about where I should be. Chances
were Drill was not going to show up at the clubhouse. Then again, I
never thought he would fucking show up at our house either. These
days he was about as predictable as a rattlesnake.

“Man, I get it, but you need to steer clear
of this right now and take care of my little sister. I got this.
Like you said, he probably isn’t even there. I’ll holler at ya
later.”

“Right, later, man.” I tapped the red circle,
ended the call, and slipped the phone back into my pocket. I took a
few deep breaths, stuffed down the rage then walked calmly back
into Lei’s room.

Leila and Barb were piled up in the hospital
bed together watching
NCIS
. It didn’t
matter that they have probably seen this episode five times, it was
what they always watched.

Chicks were so fucking weird.

*****

Brody

“Jane, I’m heading to the hospital to see
Leila before I go to work. I have a dinner meeting tonight, so you
don’t need to worry about me.” Grabbing the keys off the counter, I
set my coffee cup down.

“Brody, there is something I wanted to run by
you when you have some time to sit and talk.” Jane grabbed the mug,
rinsed it and placed it in the dishwasher.

“How about tomorrow night we have dinner
together and you can ask me about whatever it is?”

“Sounds good, dear.” She went about cleaning
up the kitchen. Knowing Jane, she wanted to talk to me about how
much I was working again since Lei was no longer living with us.
Last time she left I had to admit I went overboard and tried to
drink my issues away. I thought the reason I tried so hard to bury
them was because of the baby. The thought of someone else having
power over my happiness scared the shit out of me.

I was an idiot. And it cost me the woman I
loved.

Before long I was pulling off Route 17,
heading back to the hospital parking valet who I swore started
salivating every time I pulled up into the driveway. Tossing him
the keys, I took the ticket and made my way inside.

“Hi, can you please tell me what room Leila
Matthews is in?” I asked the gray-haired gentleman at the
information desk.

“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t have a patient by
that name.”

What the fuck?

“She was admitted last night, please check
again.” I pulled out my phone and called her phone. “I’ll just call
her, never mind.”

“Yeah,” that prick Jaxon answered the
phone.

“May I speak with Leila?” I asked dryly, not
in the mood to deal with him.

“Hang on,” he muttered back. “Lei, do you
want to talk to Brody?”

There were several voices in the background
until it was quiet. “Hey, B.”

“Leila, are you still in the hospital?”

“Uhh, yeah, why?”

“I’m at the information desk and they don’t
have you listed as a patient. What room are you in?”

“Jaxon, why am I not listed as a patient?” I
couldn’t quite hear the answer but she was back on a few seconds
later and directed me up to the fifth floor. Following the wall
signs, I found her room, which was full of people. Barb, Jaxon,
Drake, and that motorcycle guy with the long hair. I couldn’t
remember his name.

“Hey, Lei, how are you feeling?” I cut my
eyes to Jaxon.

She tried to stifle a yawn. “Good, just tired
and ready to go home.”

“I’m going to run and check on your
discharge. I’ll be back.” Drake patted her leg then smiled as he
left the room.

“Cole.” Barb crossed the room, grabbed his
arm, and started pulling him toward the door. “Take me to get a
coffee.”

“Barb, I’m in the middle of a conversation.”
Attempting to shrug out of her grip, he took the hint when she dug
her nails into his massive bicep. “Fuck, all right. Take your
talons out of my arm. Damn, woman.”

Leila turned her attention to the asshole
that put her in the situation then didn’t protect her. Grinning at
him, she asked, “Jaxon, can you please call Drew and let him know
we will be home in a little while and ask him if could bring Ruger
over?”

Jaxon looked back and forth between Leila and
me. “I think Drew’s busy, but yeah I’ll try.” Leaning down, he
kissed her just to rub it in. I was no longer smiling, now my blood
was next to boiling. It took all of my self-control not to jump
over the bed and beat the shit out of him. His eyes never left mine
as he strutted from the room.

“Now that it’s just us, what’s up, B? You
have that look on your face.” She knew me so well and could read me
like one of the smutty books she loved so much.

“Listen, I know we didn’t get a chance to
talk last night but I want you to come back and stay with me.” She
scoffed. “And before you say no, just hear me out. Come stay with
Jane and me until this guy is found. You’ll be safer at my place. I
will have security in place. He won’t get to you again.”

“B…I really appreciate the offer, but I’m
going to stay in my home. He doesn’t get to run me out of my own
house. Jaxon is going to have someone watching the house at all
times and he will be with me until Drill is found.” Her voice was
soft and demure, as she looked down and picked at her cuticles.

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you
or the baby and yesterday…” I sighed and sat on the bed next to
her. “Yesterday could have ended very differently and I thank God
it didn’t but it made me think.”

“I know how lucky I was, Brody, and so does
Jax. I’m fine,” she lied.

Whether she knew she was lying was the
question. “Who are you trying to kid here, Leila? Me or yourself?
You are so far from fine it is ridiculous.” Reaching up, I took her
hand in mine. “It’s okay to say you’re not fine. When I think about
what could have happened… You have every right to feel scared.”

She pulled her hand away and looked me dead
in my eyes. “Brody. I. Am. Okay. I’m not some fragile little flower
that needs to fall to pieces and have someone else fix me. I am
really fine. Yeah, it was scary and I was terrified for myself and
our daughter, but she’s right here.”

Placing my hand on her stomach, I asked,
“Please talk to someone.”

“Talk to someone about what?” Jaxon asked
from the doorway.

“Nothing, Brody was just leaving. He has to
get to work.” She looked from him to me silently pleading. I
decided to drop it for the time being.

“Right, I’ll check in with you later. Don’t
let her out of your sight,” I warned biker boy.

“I got this.” His arrogance was going to
catch up with him soon enough.

“Yeah, her face really looks like you have
the situation under control,” I spat back at him.

“Brody,” Leila warned. “It’s not his fault.
That was totally uncalled for.”

“No, Lei, he’s right. It is my fault, but I
won’t ever let that happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.”

“God, Brody, you just can’t leave well enough
alone. Bye.” She was good and angry now.

“I’m sorry I upset you. That wasn’t my
intention. I’ll go. Call me when you get home later.”

Chapter Nineteen

Leila

Jax brought me home yesterday and the house
smelled of chemicals. He had a crime scene cleanup crew come out to
get rid of the aftermath of my attack. Even though the blood was
gone, I could still see it pooled at my feet when I stood in the
bathroom.

“I’ll order a new mirror tomorrow and have it
shipped.” He rubbed my back while I stared at the empty wall where
just twenty-four hours before my face had taken the brunt of
Drill’s anger.