Chapter 11 – Soppy Bastard
The thunder of motorcycles followed the sound of the ambulance sirens to the hospital. The group of bikes moved through the night, weaving in and out of the cars, creating a tense atmosphere when they drove past in the wake of the ambulance.
Once at the hospital the men dismounted their bikes and swarmed the ER, much to the discomfort and annoyance of the hospital night staff but there was no telling them to move along without an argument or threats however, the threat of police involvement made them agree to disperse so half of them had gone to wait outside.
"What happened?" Clay growled at Happy.
"White car pulled away as we got there, blood on the floor, missing key… someone has been hurting her all week."
"Who?"
"Her mom told her 'it was gonna get bad'."
"The Warrens?" Jax asked, stepping closer to the bald man.
Happy nodded solemnly.
Clay threw his hands up and shouted in frustration as Jax patted him on the shoulder, trying to calm him down but nothing was working until Gemma rushed in and kissed her husband softly. Eventually, he relaxed enough to bark orders at his men.
"One of you with her at all times; day and night, do you understand? You'll take it in shifts until those rat faced shits get what's coming to them."
It had been 2 hours by the time the doctor had come out to inform them of their girl's condition. The men stood and almost pounced on the doctor as he approached them. If he was frightened, he didn't show it. He just looked at them with a serene, calm expression."
"Are you Vivania's family?" he asked and, when they nodded, carried on, "we have sedated her for now. She has three broken ribs with some pretty severe bruising around her chest, stomach and neck. There are about 25-30 burns on the back of her neck. They look worse than they are but we will keep an eye on them so they don't get infected.
"She does have a head injury but the MRI didn't show any signs of any contusions so the injuries are only external and we've stitched it up nicely for her.
"She has also contracted pneumonia. This can happen when someone has suffered injury to their rib cage, basically, she hasn't been breathing quite as deeply as she should have been doing but we've caught it early enough for it not to hinder the recovery process."
"What about her arms?" Happy asked, remembering the raw skin under the sleeves.
"Only surface wounds, they should clear up with minimal scarring. Now, her injuries do suggest that she has been severely beaten and the protocol in this situation is to call the police as soon as she wakes up."
"When will that be?" Clay asked sceptically.
"Give her about a week to give her head and chest to heal and let her get some rest. Would you like to see her?"
The older man nodded numbly and followed the doctor into the ward. He told his men to stay in the waiting area while he and Jax went to see her. She was lay in the bed with a hospital gown over her injuries but it didn't hide the mottled black and blue bruises that littered her arms, neck and face. She had a breathing tube in her nose to help her breath more deeply while she was sedated enough not to feel the pain in her chest.
Clay pulled the chair up to the side of her bed and took her dainty hand in his larger ones, careful of her injuries, and kissed the back of her hand gently.
Voices swam around in my head and I was vaguely aware of being touched on the face, hand and weight on my legs and stomach but every time I tried to anchor my thoughts on a particular feeling or voice it would be whipped away from me to be replaced by darkness or the same nightmare I had been having for weeks now.
I was running across that bridge again, it was still never ending. There were still lights behind me and the roar of motorcycles filled my ears until I was pulled out of the nightmare by another voice.
The voice felt so familiar and safe. It was kind and gentle as it spoke to me in an almost nonstop stream of words that also sounded familiar. It was like I had heard them before in a dream but I couldn't think when. I felt hyper aware of a hand in mine, something softly stroking over the top of my hand and that voice. I tried to move my fingers, as I had been for a long time now but this time, they moved. The voice stopped as I squeezed whoever had been holding my hand. I wanted to see who it was so I concentrated hard on opening my eyes.
"Vivania?" it asked, sounding unsure and cautious.
The light was blinding so when I raised my eyelids I immediately shut them again before scolding myself and blinking away the pain. I was lay back in bed with huge pillows around me. It felt so comfy that I considered going back to sleep until I heard my name. I looked to my left but before I could see who it they were pressing their lips to my forehead in a firm but gentle whiskery kiss. I laughed, even though my ribs hurt and my mouth was dry, and lifted my heavy arm to touch their cheek. I lifted my head to see warm brown eyes looking at me behind glasses.
"Filip?" I croaked.
"Jesus Christ lass," he breathed, "you scared us."
He kissed me again and I smiled. He pressed the button on the control panel of my bed to call in a nurse. I was in a hospital. Figures.
When she came in she greeted me with a warm smile, a cheerful glance towards Filip and a kind "welcome back". I smiled shakily at her as she checked all the things around me. She took the thing around my face away and I inhaled deeply. My chest hurt and I winced but it felt so good to fill my lungs. I was given some pain killers and told to sit up, if I could. She raised the back of the bed with that same control panel and propped me up with more comfy pillows.
"I'm going to call your dad, ok?" she asked me with a smile, "he'll be pleased to hear you're awake."
I smiled at her again and nodded as Filip stepped away from the corner of the room and poured me a glass of water. I tried to grip it with my fingers but he had to help me when I almost dropped it. I drank it all down in one go and asked him to get me some more. Once I had quenched my thirst and felt slightly human again, I looked at him. I hadn't seen him since he and Jax had banged on my door after our argument.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked; it felt like it had been a lifetime since that evening.
"A week and a half," he said and sat back down beside me.
I raised my eyebrows in shock and let out a breath. He was leant forwards with his elbows resting on his knees and looking at me with the most unusual expression on his face. He looked sad but scared and there was an intensity behind his eyes that I couldn't quite place.
"Are you ok?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows and my head tilted to the side.
"You've just woken up from a coma and you're asking if I'm ok?" he laughed and pushed his glasses onto the top of his head.
Without the glasses in front of his eyes I could see them misting up. I reached out to him and he was immediately sat facing me on the bed holding my hand in both of his.
"I'm so fucking sorry," he whispered, "we should have seen- we should have done something."
I shook my head slowly. There was no way that they would have known what was happening without me telling them. I had cuts and bruises that day but it could have been because I was drunk. I didn't blame them. I had wanted to hide away from them to keep them safe. I smiled when he roughly wiped his eyes and smiled back at me.
"You were talking to me," I spoke in an unsure voice, "what were you saying?"
"I was- ah, shit," he laughed as a slight twinge of pink came up on his worn face, "I was reading to you. There wasn't really anything I wanted to say that I didn't want you to be 100% awake for."
"Reading?"
He leant forwards and reached over to the table beside the bed and held up a book; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It was a beaten up looking copy with dog eared pages and yellowed edges. I grinned at him and he smiled back, looking slightly more embarrassed.
"It's my favourite," I whispered, "how did you know?"
"Jax said you used to read it as a kid. I found it when we were on the road and- you probably think I'm right soppy bastard."
"You bought it for me?"
He nodded and handed it over to me so I could look at it closer. It was floppy and bent with a cracked spine. He said he had kept it in the inside pocket of his kutte so it was a bit worse for wear. I didn't care though and held it tenderly to my chest as I looked at him with a smile. He laughed again and looked down at his lap, like a bashful kid.
"Thank you, Filip." I told him earnestly, "can you carry on?"
With a nod, he took the book back off me and sat back on the visitors chair before he opened it up halfway through and settled his glasses back on his nose. I watched him as he read to me with his ankle crossed over on his opposing knee, sat back in the chair. His lovely Scottish accent made all of the words he read out sound so different to how I had always read them. I could feel myself drifting back off to sleep although I tried fighting it so I could hear the end of the story and be awake for when Clay came in.
"Sleep, Sweet Girl," he murmured to me, "you can finish this when you wake up."
"I want to see my dad," I mumbled but lost my battle with consciousness when he stroked his thumb over my hand and kissed my forehead again.
When I awoke next time it was to see Clay sat in the chair with his head back and hands crossed over his stomach. I think he was asleep.
"Dad?" I asked.
Clay's eyes opened slowly and his head lifted so his eyes could focus on me. He looked relieved.
"Sorry I was asleep," I said quietly, "I tried to stay awake but Chibs was reading to me and I couldn't keep my eyes open."
"Boring story huh?" he asked with a throaty laugh then saw my angry expression, "I'm kidding! I know you love this one; you always have."
We were both quiet for a while until he sighed and leant forwards to that his hands were clasped in front of him on the bed. I thought he was going to ask me about the Warrens and what they had done but surprised me when he apologised for how the family dinner had ended. He expressed his anger towards the teachers at my school for making me do what they did; he said he was sorry for how out of hand everyone had gotten about my kind-of-relationship with Nikolai.
We had a long heart to heart even though I could tell it was difficult for him to show his feelings. Clay let me see the man behind the reaper patch and I finally felt like I was starting to get to know him, I just wished it hadn't taken me to get beaten like I had. He told me not to tell anyone that he had cried and I promised him that I wouldn't, as long as he let me know a fraction of what I would be facing from now on. I didn't want to be kept in the dark anymore.
"The guys are going to be pleased to see you," he said once the air had been cleared, "I've had at least one guy in here every days."
"I've heard voices and stuff," I nodded.
"They are gonna get the police in, the hospital. I don't want you telling them anything, alright? The Warrens have got guys everywhere, you can't trust anyone but Unser and he can't take the whole family down alone."
I nodded unsurely; I didn't know if I could lie to the police about this but I guessed he was right. We couldn't trust anybody right now.
Once I was feeling better, I could have more visitors. Gemma had been coming by once a day to brush my hair and now she offered to help me shower. At first I was adamant that I didn't need help but when I couldn't even stand without assistance I had to accept it. She had dropped by my house and picked up some clean pyjamas and all the stuff I would need to stay over for another week or so.
When I saw Jax come in with Abel, I started crying. He had laughed and brought his son over for me to hold. I stroked the little boy's hair softly and he poked my cheeks where the tears stopped; making me laugh. I had been cuddling him as I spoke to my cousin about what had happened, careful not to be too graphic in front of the toddler. I told him about the threats that Christopher and Michael had made about hurting my friends and why I hadn't said anything.
"I just didn't want you to get hurt," I said softly as I watched Abel fall asleep, curled up in my arms.
"Darlin', you know who we are, right?"
"Even big bad bikers can get hurt Jax."
Also, now I could have more visitors, it meant the police had been cleared to come and talk to me. When they arrived to question me I clammed up. Jax and Gemma had been sent out of the room so it was just me and Hale.
I told him that it was a random attack, a burglary that had gone wrong and I didn't know my attacker.
"I'm sorry detective, I really don't know anything. I went downstairs to get a glass of water and found this guy creeping around the living room. It was so dark," I started crying both for effect and because I was scared about lying, "and he just jumped me. I didn't see who he was; I think he was wearing a mask."
"Miss Teller," Hale sighed, clearly frustrated with my lack of information, "your injuries suggest an interrogation. You're telling me a random guy took the time to bind your wrists, break your ribs and burn the back of your neck? What did he say to you?"
"He's just a guy. I don't know. He didn't say anything."
"Alright Hale," Jax growled from the doorway, "you're upsetting her. She's been through a lot of shit and you're not helping. You've been in here for 45 minutes."
"Jax, I'm trying to get to the bottom of who did this. I'm trying to help your family."
"I'm getting tired now Detective," I said softly, "maybe you can come back."
And he did, 3 more times until he accepted my lie as the truth and they put out a search for a stocky, 5ft 5 inch man with dark hair.
Each of the guys had a different way to greet me. They had been warned about hug potentially hurting my broken ribs so it was mostly pats on the head and hand kisses but Tig came in and immediately hopped up and sat beside me. I laughed quietly and tried to shuffle over to give him room but winced when I put pressure on my arms. He had just told me to stop wriggling and stay right where I was. He actually fell asleep against my shoulder with his arm around my waist.
"He's not slept much," Juice chuckled, "he's been pretending not to be worried about you."
"Bless him," I smiled and looked at the quietly snoring man.
When Happy entered I saw the smallest smile show on his face. He came over and patted me on the head, careful not to rip the stitches on my temple. I thanked him quietly for probably saving my life; I vaguely remembered seeing his face and hearing his voice before all the flashing lights that must have been the ambulance and being shuffled down the hospital corridor.
"How's your mum?" I asked him.
"Worried about you, she's gonna be happy you're awake. She misses your cooking."
"As soon as I get home I'm going to make her a lasagne."
"Don't you dare."
I was about to protest his orders when Tig shifted and I saw he opened his eyes.
"Nah," he said tiredly, "we're looking after you now Doll."
When it was time for me to go home I was warned against doing basically anything for 6-8 weeks. I didn't want to go back to my house but Gemma said that I would need to go back at some point so I might as well get it out of the way quickly.
Gemma had bought me a whole new outfit for going home in, saying that all the clothes she found in my wardrobe would either be too tight or difficult to take on and off while I was alone at home. When she held up the pretty white linen dress I raised an eyebrow. It was a halter style dress without a back so I could step into the skirt and tie the straps around my neck. I didn't have to lift my arms to much so wasn't strained or in too much pain. My only gripe with the dress was that you could see all the bruises on my neck and around my ribs and back.
While Gemma helped me get dressed Clay packed up my bag and got all my prescriptions from the doctor. I had pain killers, antibiotics to fight my pneumonia, an antiseptic cream for my burns and cuts on my wrists as well as extra bandages. By the time I was ready for leaving he was well packed up and waiting for us. He sighed exasperated when we finally appeared.
"Come on Pumpkin," he said and held out an arm to me, "time to go home."
I put my hand in the crook of his elbow and walked out of the hospital into the glorious sunshine. I let out a sigh and closed my eyes as soon as the sun hit my skin. When we went down the steps I heard cheers and whoops. I opened my eyes and grinned when I saw all the guys with their bikes all lined up across the concrete. They were waving and cheering as we neared.
"You look really pretty ma'am," Juice spoke with a cheerful voice as he took the bags off of Clay and put them in the car, "you should wear your hair down more."
"Thank you Juice," I smiled.
Filip opened the passenger side door for me with a small bow. I laughed lightly and took his out stretched hand to stabilise myself as I sat down gingerly. I took a deep breath to ready myself for the pain of twisting my body into the car but it was only a dull ache. The painkillers were finally kicking in.
"You all in?" Filip asked as he crouched down to tuck my skirt into the seat, "we'll meet you at your place, ok?"
I nodded and thanked him as Gemma slipped into the driver's seat. He shut the door for me and went back to the rest of the guys. Jax and Tig had said something to him and he pushed them away, laughing and sitting on his bike. I smiled and turned to Gemma as she started speaking.
"He's been worried about you," she said casually.
"They've all been worried, I know."
She glanced at me as we followed the first lot of motorbikes. Clay was up front with Jax and Chibs behind him and Tig following them while Happy, Bobby, Opie and Juice followed behind the car. Gemma huffed when Tig kept slowing down and speeding up.
"He's doing that just to annoy me," she complained, "I know it."
When we finally arrived at my house I felt my chest tighten and my mouth went dry. I didn't know that I would react this way. I was disappointed in myself for getting scared like this; it was just my house. Gemma patted my hands and asked if I was alright. I just nodded, feeling unsure of myself and unclipped the seatbelt.
My door opened and Clay stood by as I heaved myself out of the car. I took his arm again while we walked slowly up to the house, being careful not to jolt anything against the wooden banisters of my porch. Stepping inside made me feel strange. I know it was my house and that I should be safe here but at the same time, a sense of dread filled my body when I looked at my dining table and chairs.
Someone had been in to clean up, I noticed, probably Gemma. The floor was clear of blood and bottles and the furniture had been put back in place. I clutched Clay's arm tighter and he patted my hand.
"Chibs has volunteered to stay with you tonight, and there's gonna be a guy with you all week," Clay informed me, "we're gonna get these guys. Don't worry."
I nodded.
I was absolutely starving; hospital food is gross in every country apparently. I went to the fridge and saw that it was packed full of food in different containers. I was surprised at the sheer amount of food in there and looked around to Clay with wide eyes.
"For you and your sitters," he told me, "just freeze what you aren't gonna eat tonight."
"Ok, tell Gemma thank you."
"We're gonna head off, but you've got Chibs with you and your phone is in your room. Are you gonna be ok?"
He held my face in his hands, looking over me with worry. I laughed lightly and placed my hands over his; reassuring him that I would be fine even though I wasn't so sure myself. With my reassurance, he nodded and held onto my shoulders firmly before turning to leave. I stood at my front door and waved at the guys as they left.
"You alright Lass?" Filip asked when I lingered at the door a little too long.
I nodded and watched as the Warrens car went the opposite way to the motorcycles. The windows in the back were blacked out so I could only see the driver but I knew they were both in there, watching me. They had driven passed to let me know they hadn't forgotten about me, I know they had. I shivered.
"What can I do? Are you alright?" Filip asked.
I stopped halfway from standing up off of the armchair to look at him. He was taking his role very seriously. I couldn't do anything without him jumping up and wanting to help me.
"I'm fine," I said with a small smile, "I'm just going to get some food. Do you want anything?"
"I'll get it for you, sit down."
I ignored him and continued to stand up with an exasperated look in his direction. I made my way around the furniture back into the kitchen and picked out a portion of casserole to reheat. Gemma's instructions, written on the top, were to put it in the oven for half an hour covered with foil. As I was slowly going around the room sorting everything out, Filip hovered in the doorway uncomfortably and reaching his hand towards me whenever I would hiss in pain. I let him put the casserole dish in the oven because it was way too heavy for me to lift, bend and reach forwards at the same time.
"Can we talk?" I asked him, suddenly once the oven was shut and we were just looking at each other.
"Yeah, sure. What about?"
I looked down to my hands and fiddled with my fingers. I hadn't brought up that night with any of them; they had been concentrating on the Warrens and my injuries. They had probably forgotten all about it but I couldn't get their comments out of my brain and every time I looked at Filip I remembered his horrible words and the anger on his face. He seemed to understand and nodded.
"Where do you wanna start?" he asked as he leant against the counter with his hands in his pocket.
"What you said really hurt me Filip," I sighed, "I just- I just don't know where it came from or why you were so hurtful."
He exhaled through his nose and waited until I looked back up at him to start speaking. When I did he had his lips pressed firmly together and his head tilted slightly with his eyes fixed on me in a steady but intense gaze. I swallowed, not out of fear but because I wasn't sure if I was ready for the hard hitting truth he was going to give me.
"I was angry." he said simply, carefully judging my expression, "I was angry with you. I'm sorry I can't sugar coat it."
At least he was honest. I folded my arms and he mirrored my action.
"I am sorry for what I said, I regret it. Not just because of what happened when you left either, I was so angry with myself for not watching my mouth."
"But why were you so angry?" I pleaded with him, "all of you were angry but you got so personal. I thought we were friends."
He rubbed his face with his hand and sighed. He looked past me, casting his eyes over the living room and swallowing before looking back down to me. He was silent, only for a few seconds but it felt like an hour had passed when he finally spoke.
"Yeah," he said with a slight bitter laugh, "friends. I'm your friend so I'm gonna tell you when you fuck up. You fucked up, Lass."
I had been dreading the moment that I would be going to bed all evening. I had managed to get up the stairs with minimal difficulty and got changed with slightly more. The right side of my body was still so sore and the bruises were now mottled with green and yellow with still some splotches of blue here and there. My neck had cleared up quicker than my body but I guess that was to be expected.
My face wasn't hurting anymore, that must have cleared up in the hospital while I was asleep. My wrists, however, were a different story. They were still so raw and painful. Every time I made a movement, the scabs would split and the sore skin would sting. They had told me to be careful with them if I didn't want them to scar but I had a feeling it was maybe too late.
I couldn't get comfortable and when I did drift off to sleep, there was that nightmare again. I woke with a start, gasping for breath and covered in a layer of cold sweat. The sudden movement jolted my ribs and I winced. My painkillers were downstairs and I groaned, thinking about the effort it was going to take to get back up to bed. I sloped down the stairs carefully and saw that the lamp in my living room was on; casting a dim, warm glow around the room.
Filip was sat up on the couch and turned around quickly, looking panicked, when he heard my quiet footsteps approaching. He relaxed when he saw it was only me. He had taken his kutte and gun holster off so he was just sat in a plain black t-shirt and jeans. I rubbed my eyes and smiled at him.
"You should be asleep," I said quietly, "what are you doing?"
"I can't sleep."
"So you're just sat here? Put on the TV."
"I didn't wanna wake you."
I raised my eyebrow at him before making my way over to the kitchen to find my tablets and grab a glass of water. I sat down on the other end of the couch and rested my head on the arm. I let him know about my nightmare and the pain in my ribs waking me up. I was only going to sit on the couch until the painkillers kicked in but by the time they had I couldn't be bothered.
"C'mere Sweet Girl," Filip said gently.
I looked over with a yawn and saw him holding out his arm. With a lazy smile, I shuffled over so that I was close next to him. I let myself lay down so that my head rested on his lap. His hand running through my hair felt so relaxing. I sighed as his fingers worked through the tangles and across my scalp. He drew patterns across my bruised neck and up my cheek then back into my hair. He was silent, thinking perhaps, and I didn't speak either.
I was thinking about what I had said earlier, we were friends. But if we were only friends, why did I never want him to stop touching me like this? Was this what friends did? Maybe.
"We're gonna kill those bastards," he mumbled, "for what they did to you."
I made an acknowledging sound with a sigh. I didn't care that they were planning on killing the Warrens and their associates. I knew I should but after all the pain, emotional and physical, that they had caused me I wanted them to suffer. I wanted them to be hurt just as badly as I had been hurt over the years.
"Soppy bastard," I murmured back to him, echoing his words from last week, with a small laugh.
He chuckled quietly at my words then told me to sleep.
When I did eventually fall asleep, it was finally a peaceful rest. It was probably one of the best sleeps I had had in a long time.
Finally, right? – it's about time we got some cute Chibby action! I had to put a cliché of waking up to their voice in there, I couldn't help myself! Are we thinking that maybe he is starting to want to tell her how he feels? Is he scared of her reaction and Clay's? is he worried he is too old for her?
We shall see.
Imaginemotherofdragons, JenMac001, Samantha Renk! You guys were fucking on it the last chapter! I have never had such quick responses to a chapter before! Angels, I tell you, all of the people that comment on my story or even read it are angels and I appreciate you all!
The more I write about the Warrens the more I hate them. You know? Cruising passed her house like that! Dicks.
Anyway, join me for the next one, it should be up in a few days. A reminder that my Tumblr is now fully up and running so give me a follow or a message on there, if you like.
Kisses until next time!
Love, Doe xxxx