Everything was getting fuzzy and fading in and out of focus from the loss of blood and what I assumed was a concussion. Wright was taking his time and I almost wished he would just get it over with. The feel of his lips, tongue and hands on me made me sick. It had been at least thirty minutes since he cut my shirt and bra off. He had rubbed his disgusting hands over every inch of my arms, neck, chest and stomach.
"You're so sweet tasting, Recker. How does that tattooed bastard do it? Like this?" He reared his hand back and slapped me hard across the face, causing my vision to black out for a minute. I whimpered and prayed to every god, demigod and saint I could remember and some I probably fabricated in my head.
He gripped my breast tightly and ran the tip of the blood stained knife from my throat to my belly button before trailing his tongue down the same path. I turned my head to the side and dry heaved, having already thrown up any and all contents of my stomach. The bastard had been nice enough to clean it up with a towel before punching me in the stomach for having dared gotten sick.
"Once we're done, I'll do you the favor of cutting that shit off, baby." He scraped the edge of the blade over my crow tattoo gently. I used what little strength I had to spit at him, earning myself another punch to the face.
I must have blacked out, because I woke up to him pulling my jeans down my legs. My mind urged me to struggle and fight, but my body didn't have the energy anymore. I closed my eyes and recalled the image of Happy playing on the floor with Harley. It was so vivid I thought I almost heard his voice. I could feel my tears rolling down my swollen cheeks.
"Hap! Down here!" It almost sounded like Tig's voice. I remembered how they would try and act like they didn't like each other when they were locked up. At the end of the day, they always made up though. I wondered what the end of the day would mean for me.
The sound of clanging metal cell doors flashed in my mind. My throat tightened at the thought of never seeing Happy again. I couldn't feel Wright touching me anymore. I forced my swollen eyes open and almost thought I saw Happy standing over me. I tried to swallow and choked.
"I'm here, baby. You're going to be okay." His voice sounded so real as consciousness slipped away.
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"Katerina? Baby, wake up." Her eyes had rolled back in her head and her skin was whiter than snow. Chibs and Jax had Wright tied up and drug upstairs as I checked on my fiancé. The sight of her cuffed and shackled to the fucking bed made me sick.
That bastard was pulling her jeans down when Tig and I busted the door to the basement down. Had she not been bleeding from her leg and purple and black, I would have killed him right there. He didn't deserve the favor of a quick death and my priority was making sure Katerina was safe, so Chibs and Jax moved him upstairs to wait.
I took my kutte off and laid it over her chest, blocking her naked torso from Tig's view. I knew even he wouldn't check her out at a time like this, but I didn't want her to be so fucking exposed. After pulling her jeans back up as carefully as possible, I made a tourniquet with my belt, hoping to put a stop to the blood pouring out of her leg. Judging by the blood soaked mattress, she'd been bleeding for a while.
"Brother, I've got Juice on the way with Tara and the van. She's gotta go to St. Thomas though." I glanced over at Tig as I finished picking the cuff lock on the last shackle around her right ankle. I nodded.
"Have them take that fucker somewhere. Cops are gonna catch on eventually." Tig nodded and hurried back up the stairs after glancing at Katerina with a pained expression.
"Happy?" Katerina's voice was barley a whisper and her eyes were still closed as I held her in my arms. I swallowed hard and kissed her blood-covered forehead.
"It's me, baby. I've got you. Nothing's going to happen to you." The tears escaping my eyes made me want to punch my fist through the concrete walls of the basement. Instead, I held her a little tighter and just let the fucking tears fall. If I was going to cry, this was as good a reason as any.
"Love you." I could barley hear her and her breathing was shallow. I nodded and rested my forehead against hers, holding her like a child in my arms.
"I love you too, Katerina. You're the air in my lungs. Don't you give up on me. I'm not about to fucking give up on you." Her lips turned up a little at the corners as my chest heaved with a sob. I'd watched enough people die to know how close she was to slipping away from me.
"Happy! Oh my god!" Tara rushed over to me. Her eyes didn't leave Katerina as she told me to follow her out to the van. I hurried as carefully as possible, making sure not to run over Tara as she tried to get Kat's vitals on the way up the stairs. Her facial expression did nothing for my confidence.
It had been over three hours since Tara disappeared into the depths of the hospital with my reason for living. She had reappeared briefly to give me my kutte, but didn't have any news at that point. So, I took up residency in the waiting room to wait. The whole Redwood charter was scattered around the waiting room as well. Tig was the only one stupid or brave enough to sit near me.
"She's going to be okay, brother." I slowly turned my eyes on him and scowled.
"You willing to bet your life on that? Don't fucking promise shit like that." I growled before turning my eyes back to the specks in the tile between my boots. It was going on four hours and we still didn't know shit.
"Sir, you can't have a dog in here." A bitchy sounding nurse said loudly as she rushed past me. I turned around and saw Opie half carrying Harley. He started whining as soon as he saw me.
"Fuck off." I snapped at the nurse as I walked up from behind her. Harley's front shoulder was wrapped in copious amounts of gauze and bandage from the bullet wound Wright had caused him. I clenched my fist, mentally adding it towards the bottom of the list of reasons I'd be torturing the fucker later.
"I'm sorry brother. Lyla said he took off down the road towards your place. He's too damn big and thick headed for her to handle." He handed the leash over to me as I nodded. Harley's head was on my shoulder as I squatted in front of him, carefully petting him.
"He's just looking for Katerina." I picked him up with no small amount of effort and carried him back over to where Tig and I were sitting. Tig pulled a couch over and helped me lower Harley down onto it without jarring his shoulder.
"Happy," Tara was in fresh scrubs as she headed over towards me. Harley looked up and watched her carefully as I got up. I couldn't read her facial expression and it irritated me.
"We need to talk. She's going to make it, Happy. It's going to be a few minutes before you can see her and there's something we need to talk about." I relaxed a little when she told me Katerina was going to make it. Anything else she had to say, I could deal with, as long as Kat was going to make it.
"What?" I didn't sit down in the chair she offered me once we got into her office. It felt like I'd been sitting around all fucking day, getting nothing done. Tara was obviously nervous to be in a small, closed off room with me. I didn't have the energy left to care if she relaxed or not.
"Because of the situation you found Katerina in, I went ahead and ran a rape panel. That bastard didn't rape her, thank god. But, part of the testing process is to run a standard pregnancy test." Her eyes finally met mine at the words pregnancy test. I folded my arms across my chest.
"And? She's not pregnant, Tara." It wasn't something I had any doubts or questions about. She was on the shot and hadn't been sick or any of that shit. Tara swallowed hard and shoved her hands down into her pockets.
"She was, Happy. I'm sorry. It's likely she didn't even know. The trauma to her stomach in combination with her blood loss led to a miscarriage." My whole body went numb as Tara went on about how it shouldn't affect her in the future and how she might have some hormone changes or some shit. She finally stopped talking and stared at me.
"You're telling me that fucker killed our baby?" I focused on her eyes as she frowned. My fingers were digging into the back of the office chair she'd offered me a seat in earlier.
"Based on the hormone levels, Katerina wasn't further along than about six weeks, if that. The events did lead up to the loss of the fetus." I nodded slowly as everything started to turn red.
"Our baby." I growled before picking up the chair and hurling it against the wall. Tara yelped and jumped backwards as I slammed my fist in the wall, breaking through the sheetrock like it was thin air. I heard the door fly open as I put my boot through the front of the wooden desk in front of me.
"Happy!" It took me a minute to recognize Tig's voice as several arms pinned me against the wall. Jax looked from me to Tara as I started reigning my anger back in and tried to breathe slower.
"Tara, are you okay?" Jax was looking her over as she nodded slowly. I relaxed and shook Tig, Juice, Opie and Chibs off of me.
"I'm sorry, Happy." I didn't look at her as I nodded and called Harley down. He was standing in the doorway on full alert and ready to jump at my signal. I scratched him behind the ears and headed back out to the waiting room until I could see Katerina.
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I woke up in a hospital bed with no recollection of how I got there or what had happened after I spit on Wright. There was a large bandage around my leg and I a tube was pumping a bag of blood into me. I pulled the neck of the hospital gown down and relaxed a little when I found my crow tattoo unscathed.
"Oh thank God." I barely even caught a glimpse of a short red head's ponytail as she darted down the hallway. Within moments, she was back in the room. I almost asked her what was going on when I saw Happy walking in behind her. My throat constricted and I couldn't speak as tears poured down my face. The nurse looked from me to Happy and smiled before leaving again.
"Hey baby." He sat down on the bed and laced his fingers in between my fingers on the hand without the I.V. The touch of his skin made my heart melt. I knew I would be okay somehow.
"Happy, I'm sorry." I choked out, tears falling down my face in quick streams. He shook his head and kissed my lips gently. I felt a sting from what must be a busted lip, but it was worth it.
"It's okay, Katerina. It's okay." He rested his head on my chest and I could tell he was exhausted. His thumb traced small circles on my hand as we just laid side by side, neither one of us feeling the need to speak. He was all I needed or wanted, just for him to be here with me.
A few minutes later, I felt Happy's breathing slow down and level out. His thumb had stopped circling and I knew he was asleep, even though his hand gripped mine to make sure I didn't disappear. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes for a minute. It was short lived as the same little red headed nurse screeched and ran past the window to the room. Happy shifted a little but he didn't wake up until there was a loud bark from out in the hallway.
"Harley?" I called out with fresh tears of happiness falling down my face. I could hear the clicking of his claws on the tile floor and his panting before he bounded into the room. I thought I'd lost him in the line of duty. I thought he'd given the ultimate sacrifice for me.
"Hard headed dog." Happy growled as Harley struggled to throw his front paws up on the side of the bed. He yelped but didn't back down as he pushed his nose into my hand. I smiled as he licked my palm. Happy shook his head before putting it back down on my chest.
"No point sending him out, he'll just fight his way back in here." Tara was standing in the doorway with a weak smile. I laughed and gave her a smirk.
"Who? Happy or Harley?" Happy grunted and I laughed. Tara seemed to relax a little as she pointed at Harley. He cocked his head a little but ignored her presence otherwise.
"I talked to the doctor and he's willing to let you stay in the room, Happy. He's a little less excited about Harley but it's for the safety of the staff that no one try to keep him out anymore. Let me know if you all need anything. There's a counselor coming by in the morning." She glanced at Happy for a minute and I felt him tense.
"I don't need one, Tara. I've got everything I need right here with me." I smiled and couldn't help noticing Happy shifting a little. There was no doubt that something was going on, but I didn't want to ruin the happiness I needed so much.
"Can you send Jax back here?" Happy was sitting up again as Tara nodded and hurried out to get her old man. Happy started circling his thumb over the back of my hand again as we waited for Jax.
"Hey, Recker. No more scaring us like that, okay?" His smile was bright as he walked into the room. I laughed and nodded as Happy glanced from me to Jax. Happy was about to say something when Jax held up his hand.
"We got everything taken care of, brother. Goods can wait until you've got time, Juice is going to pick up Recker's sister from the airport in the morning, and I'm taking you off shit for a while." Jax spoke quickly and I heard a tone of authority that hadn't been as obvious before. I expected Happy to argue about taking time off from the club.
"A'ight brother. I appreciate that. Tell Tara I'm sorry." He was short and to the point. Jax nodded with a smile before saying goodbye and heading out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"I completely forgot about Kiara getting here in the morning! Shit." I groaned and Harley's ears perked up in alarm. I patted his snout softly and looked over at Happy. He shrugged and toed his boots off before laying down next to me.
"Everything's going to be okay, Kat. We can worry about everything in the morning. I love you, baby." He kissed me gently but I could feel the passion and relief on his lips. I smiled and nodded.
"I love you too, Happy. For always, forever and no matter what." I felt him nod against my shoulder as he settled in next to me. He had a hand lying protectively on my stomach as we drifted off to sleep.
I apologize for any typos or grammar problems. I wanted to push this out to you as soon as possible. Thank you soooooooo much for all the reviews, follows, favorites and reads :) it means the world!