What really shocked me was Tech. He practically shoved Oscar out of the way, lightly palming my cheek. Oscar’s head ping-ponged between us. After a moment, he nodded with a smile before taking a seat on the couch beside my bed.
Tech looked at me from head to toe. When his eyes landed on the cast around my arm, I swear those bright blue eyes turned dark as the deep sea. I had never seen him so angry, but I wasn’t able to focus on that.
He was touching me… in front of the guys. My mouth hung open when he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “Dimples, who the hell did this to you?” he growled.
My mouth was open, but no words came out. Was I in the Twilight Zone? Tech was caressing and kissing me while calling me by my pet name. I looked around the group, and everyone was openly watching us.
“Talk to us, Will. Because I swear as soon as I have this baby, me and Big Bertha are about to comb the streets!” Cara declared, referring to her pistol.
Her crazy ass had named every last one of her weapons. I had been around long enough to know Bertha was her favorite. She rarely left the house without her.
“Well, it’s no wonder you’re getting attacked. Look at the company you’re keeping. A motorcycle club, Will? Seriously?” Tabitha chastised me.
Everyone’s head snapped in her direction. I shook my head at her. She had just written a check she was not prepared to cash. My family was so used to only having to go against Oscar. Things were different now. I had the entire club behind me, and my family was about to see firsthand how much the club had my back.
“While you’re trying to discover why he got attacked, you need to figure out what’s going on with that pH balance of yours,” Cara sneered.
“Ooooh,” Oscar instigated, sitting up on the couch. His eyes were big as he shamelessly tuned in for the incoming show.
“Excuse you?!” Tabitha hissed, placing her hands on her hips.
“You heard me. You’ve got the nerve to stand here being a complete bitch while your pussy smells like a fish tank at Sea World. God equipped you with nothing but oxygen and audacity.”
Oscar and the guys howled with laughter, making me chuckle. Instantly, I regretted it. I winced in pain.
The smile dropped from Tech's face. He turned to Cara with a frown. “Don’t make him laugh, Cara.”
She threw her hands up in surrender. “I’m not even trying to be funny. Y’all know this pregnancy has my sense of smell like a damn bloodhound. As soon as we walked in here, I said to myself,damn it smells like more fish than a woman’s prison in here. Then she’s got the nerve to be wearing a skirt. I have never seen a bolder bitch.”
The guys were cracking up once again while Sara and Alice giggled into their hands. I resisted the urge to laugh this time, but I did have a huge smile on my face. To watch Cara silence Tabitha was satisfying. For as long as I’d known her, she had always torn people down with her words. She was no match for Cara, though. I didn’t think anybody walking this earth was.
Oscar was losing it on the couch. He clutched his stomach, almost in tears, as he laughed hysterically. “Will, where have you been hiding herrrrr?” he crowed. “I don’t even have a vagina, and I’m offended.”
I rolled my lips together to keep the giggles that were threatening to come out. Tabitha's face was flushed in embarrassment. She turned to Jeff and folded her arms.
“Are you going to allow her to speak to me this way?!” she shrieked.
All the laughter died in the room. Viper moved Cara aside, standing toe-to-toe with Jeff. He looked between Viper and Tabitha. “It's clear we’re not wanted here, so let's just go.” Like the coward he was, Jeff grabbed Tabitha's hand and led her out of the room.
“Will!” my mom shouted in a scolding tone. “Are you really going to let these people attack your family?”
I gritted my teeth and turned to her. “Isn’t that what you were doing before they came in here?” She opened her mouth to say something, but I raised my hand, cutting her off. “I don’twant to hear it, Mom. You stood there while the three of them picked me apart and blamed me for my attack.”
Elliot threw his hands up like he couldn’t believe what I was saying. “You see, Pam. He always does this. Whenever we’re trying to help, he makes it seem like it’s us against him.”
“That’s because it is!” I roared in frustration. “Ahh,” I cried, clutching my head. My eyes filled with tears as the room began to spin. I curled into a ball, trying to breathe through the pain.
Tech smoothed my hair down and kissed my cheek. “I’ll get rid of them, Dimples, okay?” he whispered in my ear.
All I could do was nod. That explosion had me ready to pass out and vomit all at the same time.
“I think it's time for you two to go. You’re clearly upsetting him, and he doesn’t need this.”
“You know what, let's go, Pam. It’s clear, he’d rather surround himself with the likes of these people. We’ve done as much as we can.”
“O-okay,” my mother agreed.
My heart felt like it was being ripped in two. As usual, she followed the command of her man, regardless of her own flesh and blood lying in a hospital bed, brutally beaten. I was done. If she couldn’t stand up for me at this moment, I didn’t want her in my life anymore. It was officially time to move on.
