Torn (12 page)

“Nah, they’re both fine. Lei got fourteen
stitches in her face and a mild concussion, but should be all
right. The baby’s good, they just want to be sure.” He walked past
the other two guys standing beside the door. One I recognized as
Bobby, Drew’s partner.

“Hey, sis, Brody’s here.”

“I told him to tell you that you didn’t need
to come all the way down here. We’re totally fine, B, promise,” she
said as she rubbed her tiny hand across her large belly. Seeing her
hit me like a freight train. Her face was bruised, lacerated, and
swollen. She had dried blood matting her beautiful hair. And as
always, Jaxon was right beside her.
Son of a
bitch.

“Jesus Christ, Lei, what in the hell
happened?” I tried not to gasp at the sight. She looked like she
had been to hell and back.

“Oh, stop, it looks worse than it is. I’m
fine.” Her shoulders slumped.

“Man, what the fuck? You said you’d protect
her. Where the fuck were you?” Turning to Jaxon, I let loose. Drew
jumped between us.

“I was in jail, you fuckin’ prick. You think
I need you fuckin’ remindin’ me I didn’t protect her?” Jaxon jumped
out of his chair, dropping Leila’s hand, leaving her scrambling to
grab his arm.

“Jail? Jesus, Leila, don’t you see the life
you’re going to have with him? He’s going to be sitting in jail,
while you’re assaulted.”

“Stop, both of you,” she yelled. “I’m done
with this, Jaxon, I’m telling him. I refuse to have him thinking of
you as some lowlife piece of shit.”

He shrugged out of her grip. “Fine, but I’m
not fuckin’ sittin’ here listening. I’m gonna go see what’s takin’
so long with the ultrasound.”

“I’ll give you two some privacy.” Drew ducked
out.

“Sit, let me explain. Jax isn’t some bad guy,
Brody, and what I am about to tell you I’m telling you in the
strictest of confidence.” She stopped and looked at me. I knew that
she was waiting for me to agree to not say anything about whatever
she was going to tell me.

“Fine.”

“Brody.” She sighed and slumped back in the
gurney. “Jaxon is undercover in the motorcycle club for Homeland
Security. He’s not a bad guy, so when he says he was in jail, it’s
because they raided the compound where the club hangs out. They had
to arrest him to keep his cover intact. The guy he’s after wasn’t
there.” She looked down at her hands and started picking at what
looked like red nail polish. “Anyway, he’s not this person you
think he is.”

It dawned on me that it’s not nail polish,
it’s dried blood. Once she noticed it she scratched at her fingers,
furiously trying to get rid of it. “Sorry, I thought I got it all
off my hands and arms. They won’t let me shower yet and they cut
all my clothes off me when I got here. Evidence or so they
said.”

Sitting down next to her on the bed, I pulled
her into my arms. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, honey.”

Sniffling, she pulled out of my embrace.
“Thanks, B. I am too, but I’m thankful that this little girl is
okay. God, I was so scared.”

“What happened?” I asked hesitantly, almost
not wanting to know. Just as she started to explain Jaxon and a
nurse came into the room.

“They are ready for you down in ultrasound,”
the young male nurse said.

“’Kay, I’m ready.” She smiled her perfect,
sweet smile that lit up her whole face. Every time we got to see
the little monkey growing inside of her, she beamed for hours.

“I’ll follow you.” I nod as the nurse pulled
the bed out into the hall. Knowing I should say something to Jaxon,
I cleared my throat and prepared to be the bigger man. Even though
I’d rather throw him off the top of the fucked-up parking garage
across the street.

“I owe you an apology for my comment earlier,
obviously I wasn’t aware of the situation. I apologize.” Surprising
myself and Jaxon, I sounded completely genuine. Then the
unthinkable happened, I offered my hand in a show of sincerity. And
as if the earth hadn’t tilted off its axis enough, he actually
returned the gesture and shook my hand.

I still fucking hated the guy. He damn near
got Leila killed. I’d deal with that later, but right now I had to
be the bigger man and suck it up for her sake.

All hell would break loose any second, I was
sure of it.

*****

Leila

I could hear Brody and Jaxon as the tech
attempted to get the bed out the door through the men guarding my
room.

“Can you stop for a minute?” I asked the kid
who looked like he was barely out of high school, let alone old
enough to be working here at MUSC as a patient care technician. I
turned just in time to see the two men in my life call a cease-fire
and shake hands. In shock and disbelief I asked, “Hey, uhhh, I
think I’m hallucinating. Are those two shaking hands?”

Ken, the PCT, leaned forward looking around
the bed to where the guts are standing. “Yep, they are. You’re not
hallucinating, well, at least not that.”

They both turned to follow and caught me
gawking, mouth open and all.

“What?” Jaxon asked first.

“Uhh, nothing, just making sure y’all are
still back there and no one is bleeding yet,” I said, wide-eyed,
and I turned back around, putting my head down, looking up to the
ceiling, and quietly thanking my mom. Surely she was watching down
over me and knew I needed a break.

We made our way to ultrasound and back
without further incident. Our daughter was healthy, happy, and safe
and measuring right about five pounds. The men were still behaving
and the chest thumping had ceased.

For now.

The doctor decided to admit me for
observation. Gah. I couldn’t get the fuck away from this place.
Jaxon refused to leave and all but threw a tantrum when the nurses
told him that once I was in a room he had to leave. Drew insisted
on having a cop standing vigil outside my room.

No one would tell me what was going on and it
was beyond frustrating. I just wanted someone to be honest with me.
If they thought that psycho Drill was going to come after me again,
I had the right to know. Bobby came by for a little while when Drew
and Jax went to deal with Gorden. It was nice to sit with Bobby and
talk about something other than the unfortunate demise of my
beautiful mirror. Plus he was always good for department
gossip.

Drew and Bobby got pulled away as their cells
went off at the same time, leaving a hovering Jax alone with
me.

“Jaxon, I’ll be fine, why don’t you go home
and get some sleep. Drew has that cop out there, I don’t think
Drill’s stupid enough to try anything in here,” I attempted to
reason with him. “Attempt” being the operative word.

“Just go to sleep,” he ordered.

“Fine,” I huffed as I rolled over to my side.
My face hurt, but it reminded me I was alive and I thanked God for
that. It could have been so much worse.

That was the last thing I thought as I fell
asleep.

Chapter Seventeen

Leila

I woke to a rough hand covering my mouth,
and I felt his hot breath on my ear. “If you make a sound I’ll wait
for him to wake up then I will cut that bastard child out of you
while he watches and can’t do a fuckin’ thing about it. He’ll get
to watch all of the blood drain out of your lifeless body.”

Opening my eyes, I realized I wasn’t in the
hospital. I was lying in our bed at home. Jaxon was tied to one of
our dining room table chairs in the middle of the master bedroom,
his chin resting on his chest while his golden locks hung over his
face.

Leaning down, Drill’s stringy shoulder-length
brown hair brushed my arm as he whispered, “I wanna make sure he
has a front row seat. He’ll be awake soon enough, but you need to
be good and ready first.”

He smiled wickedly, giving me an eyeful of
his yellowed, crooked teeth. Then without warning he grabbed my jaw
tightly with the hand not occupied by a large serrated knife and
dragged his pierced tongue up one side of my cheek. The putrid
smell of his breath and the warm feeling of the saliva he left in
his wake was enough to make me retch.

Holding the knife in one hand, he grabbed the
hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, exposing his
tattoo-covered chest. He was much thinner than Jaxon, but just as
cut. Each nipple was pierced and his chest was dusted with dark
hair. He sauntered around the room, waving the knife, and climbed
into bed next to me.

Terror ripped through every cell in my body
and froze me in place. I kept staring at Jaxon, willing him to wake
up and save me. How could he let this happen to me again? How did
Drill get the drop on Jax?

My mind swam with dread at the thought of
what Drill had planned. With the tip of the nine-inch-long blade,
he traced a line up my arm, around my left breast, down my stomach,
and stopped with the point just above my pubic bone. As he trained
it over my collarbone I could read the engraved word “Buck 184.” I
could also see the 4x4 gauze bandage taped to his neck where I had
sank the scissor to the joint.

“Maybe now that we’re more comfortable we
should wake up your fiancé the pig,” he said almost gleefully.

“No, please. Please don’t do this. I’ll do
anything you want,” I begged but did not let myself cry. He
wouldn’t get a fucking tear from me. Fuck him. “I swear, I’ll even
walk out of here with you and not make a sound. Just don’t do
this.”

My heart started to race as he threw his head
back and laughed loudly. He climbed over me, straddling my legs,
grabbed the hem of my gray v-neck shirt, slipped the blade between
my skin and the thin material until he reached my breast. With a
quick, flawless slash my shirt fell on either side of my chest,
baring my lace-covered breast.

“Even fuckin’ knocked up, your tits are
fuckin’ perfect. Beggin’ to be sucked on.” His grease-stained hand
gripped my right breast and squeezed it. He squeezed it so hard I
swear if it weren’t real, it would have fucking popped.

Closing my eyes, I tried to imagine myself in
another place. A place where the sun was shining on my face, and I
could hear waves in the background. I could feel the sand under my
feet and taste the salt in the air. While I was trying to escape my
pained reality I heard the chair legs start scraping on the
hardwood floor. Jaxon must have woken up.

Drill was hovering over me as I opened my
eyes, he watched my reaction to Jaxon’s awareness of the situation.
An evil grin spread across Drill’s face as my eyes widened in
terror. It was what he wanted. He was getting off on Jaxon’s agony.
The fact that Jax was helpless delighted Drill.

Looking over, Jaxon’s furrowed eyes met mine
and he tensed his jaw. Through clenched teeth he gritted out,
“Drill, you motherfucker, get away from her or I swear to
Christ—”

Drill raised his left hand so the black Buck
knife slipped under my chin and settled at my throat. “Or what?
You’ll watch her die right in front of your very eyes? Or better
yet, maybe you can watch her face as I fuck her tight little
pussy?”

I thought for sure that would have sent Jaxon
over the edge and he would have tried to leap up from the chair,
but I was wrong. Jaxon knew what I knew. Drill reveled in the
terror and chaos he inflicted. If Jaxon lost his shit, he’d be
playing right into Drill’s hand. Instead, he closed his eyes, just
before he looked to me and said, “Leila, baby, I love you. So much.
I’m so sorry.”

A single tear escaped my eye and ran down my
temple to the pillowcase. Drill leaned down so we were close enough
I could feel his breath on my face. Quickly, I closed my eyes as
tightly as I could, turned my head, and screamed, “Nooooo.”

“Leila, baby, it’s okay. Wake up, Lei, you’re
dreamin’, babe.” Jaxon’s voice was calm and smooth.

My head shot up off the pillow as my gaze
whipped around the room in disbelief. The hospital. I was in the
hospital. Oh God, I wasn’t home. My chest heaved as I looked to
Jaxon standing on my left. Relief didn’t cover what I felt. It had
only been a dream, but it had felt so real. As real as last night’s
horror show.

“Jaxon,” I huffed out. “Sorry, I didn’t mean
to freak you out.”

“You all right? Nightmare?” He sat on the
edge of the bed, running his hand up and down my arm as I settled
back against the pillows.

Nightmare didn’t even begin to cover what
that just was. But I didn’t want him to know I was reliving Drill’s
near abduction and torture.

“Babe?” He stuck his head out, getting my
attention.

Shaking my head to clear the thoughts of
Drill, I answered, “Huh, oh, no, I’m fine. It wasn’t a nightmare.
Well, I guess it depends on who you ask. It was a dream about the
baby. I fell asleep and when I went to see her in the nursery you
and Brody had named her Bernice Geraldine. It was on her birth
certificate and all. I shit you not, y’all were calling her Bernie,
like that crappy eighties movie
Weekend at
Bernie’s
.” I even managed to smile and fake a laugh.

“Really, babe?” He cocked his head and just
looked at me. For a split second I thought he could see through my
well-worn façade. “Two things wrong with that story.” Fuck, he knew
I was lying straight to his face. “One, I fuckin’ hated the name
Bernice Geraldine when you and Barb had that crackpot idea to fuck
with me so why would I ever name her that? And two, the fact that
Brody and I agreed on anything should’ve been clue number one it
was in a land of make-believe.”

Whew. Bought it hook, line, and sinker. Thank
God. The last thing I needed right now was Jax blaming anything
else on himself. He was already in hell with what had already
happened. If I told him I was having nightmares about it and that
the nightmares were worse, he’d definitely shit a baby goat or two.
No, he didn’t need to know that in the depths of my soul I was
terrified not only for the life of my daughter and myself, but that
I was petrified that if Drill had gotten his way he would have
raped me too.