Chapter 5
SPOV
"How long Bobby?"
"I don't know"
"Shit she's been out of it since we found her"
"Les, she's healing, she'll wake up when she's ready"
"You sure she's not more seriously hurt?"
"No, just lots of bruising"
"Why the hell would someone beat her up like that?"
"No idea Les and we don't have the time to find out more"
"What time's your shift?"
"An hour, same as you"
"Shit, we can't miss today, I've already had Tank on at me"
"Okay, we'll leave a note next to her so if she wakes up, she knows where she is"
"Hell Bobby, if Ranger finds out we helped her the mats will be the least of our problems"
"Yeah well at least he's down in Miami"
I'd heard what was being said feeling totally vulnerable as to what had happened and where I was. How had Les and Bobby found me and where the hell was I? I heard the sound of the door closing and decided that if they were going into work, they'd be there for about 12 hours. I needed to rest some more and then assess what my options were. I knew I must have dozed but was really grateful that there were no dreams. As I woke, I felt sore all over but when I tried to move my legs and arms was pleased that I didn't appear to have any broken bones. Opening my eyes, I slowly turned and looked around at where I was, surprised that I seemed to be in a small bedroom. It was simply furnished with just the bed and a couple of chairs, grey carpet and drapes with red being the complimentary color of the cover on the bed. Okay I knew I needed to get up, so slowly sat up feeling pains in my stomach and chest and across my back, whoever had taken me had made sure to leave their mark but not enough to cause serious damage, well I hoped not. My head felt light, but I grimaced and fought through the pain pulling my legs over the edge of the bed then stopped to collect myself together. Okay now to stand up which went quite well if I held onto the bed. The dizziness passed after a few minutes so then I tried to decide what to do next. I looked down at what I was wearing, a large T-shirt and shorts that I didn't recognize as mine. Hell had Bobby undressed me? I suppose he must have done if he was treating me. Well I knew he'd seen most of me before now, but I just hoped that he'd kept Les out of the room, the idea of Les seeing me naked was mortifying. Once I felt more stable, I headed for the only door in the room and came out into a hallway, surely there must be a bathroom somewhere close by. The first door I came to revealed one and I have to say it was such a relief to sit down and empty my bladder. As I sat there, I looked around, it was all white and dark grey with things cluttered onto the cabinet next to the sink, men's things, a razor and brush, deodorant and cologne. Was I in Bobby or Les's house? I knew they both lived away from Rangeman I but had no idea where that was. As I thought about it, I knew I couldn't stay here, I couldn't put these guys against Ranger. He really must have been mad at me if he'd gone down to Miami and obviously he'd banned any of the guys from helping me. What the hell did he think I'd done to warrant those feelings from him? Did none of our past mean anything to him or had I been so stupid in how I saw him? Was he really the uncaring mercenary and thug that others saw him as being and had I been blinded with his charisma? I couldn't reconcile myself to that idea, I mean I thought we were friends; he had come to me when he needed help and he was always looking out for me. What had happened for him to hate me so much? I slowly made my way through the last door and nearly laughed at how the room was set up. Hell, this must be Les's house with the large round bed and mirrors on the ceiling; if ever I were to see him again I would have something to blackmail him with. Looking back down at what I was wearing I knew I would need clothes and that could be a problem seeing as Les was so much bigger than me. Finding the closet and going through his clothes I found what would be tight cycling shorts on him which on me hung on my hips and came down to my ankles. A T-shirt tucked in at the waist helped to keep the shorts up and then a sweater tied in a knot at the side completed the wardrobe. I didn't care that I had no underwear on, I needed to get as far away from here as I could. I found the stairs hard to manage but slowly was the best way, nothing seemed to take away the pain I was feeling. Downstairs I made for the kitchen and put on the coffee, caffeine, yeah, I so needed the caffeine to take the edge off how I was feeling. Going through the cupboards I found a bottle of Tylenol, some cookies and in the fridge some sandwiches that looked as though they had come from the break room at Rangeman. In an area just off the kitchen I found a hoodie that would do and was pleased that there was also a small rucksack. All I needed were shoes and couldn't believe it when I found my shoes sat by the couch in the lounge. I sat on that couch with my coffee, nibbling at the sandwich and tried to decide what to do now. I couldn't go back to my apartment in case those men turned up, my parents were out of the question and so were Mary Lou or Lula, all I could hear in my head was how annoyed they all were with me and it hit me then, I had no one I could turn to for help. The thing is I knew I would need money to make an escape and disappear, but I didn't even have my bag with me. That meant I couldn't access any money from my account, not that there was much in there. I couldn't finish the sandwich; I didn't feel hungry but while drinking the coffee with some pain killers I looked around the room admiring the way Les had furnished it; leather couches with wooden floors and beautifully colored rugs. There were shelves with books on and frames with photos in. Intrigued I went over to look at them, taking in a breath at the photo that showed Ranger in it, stood with Tank, Les and Bobby, all of them dressed in Rangeman gear. It was almost as if he was looking right at you, his eyes so intense and his face had a brightness to it and a slight quirk of his lips showing that he was pleased about something. It was probably taken when they'd set up Rangeman. I didn't recognize the building they were in front of, it looked more like a derelict warehouse. But regardless of what had happened I would always hold him close to my heart, I felt the tears well up in my eyes, so without thinking I took the photo from the frame. As I continued to look around, I was surprised there was a wad of cash tucked behind another photo frame, hell I hoped Les wouldn't think badly of me for taking it, so I tucked the photo and money into the inside pocket of the rucksack. I went back into the kitchen, dumping the remains of the sandwich into the bin and washed out my mug and the coffee machine. I headed back upstairs taking a closer look in the drawers next to Les's bed, hoping to find some sort of weapon but only coming across packets of condoms. I wrote a message on the paper they'd left for me "Thank you. But I don't want you to get into trouble" and walked out of the back door onto a lane and then just kept walking, I had no idea where I was going, all I could focus on was putting one foot in front of the other.
