“We can fix that.” She picked up her phone and sent a text. “I’ll get Fuse to bring a burner phone for now. That way you can reach out if you ever need to.”
I tried to imagine what being given a totally free phone would look like. Would he be angry and think I was dipping my hand into his pocket? My dad hated buying things for me.
“So, now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about your injuries. Do you want to strip out of your clothing or just tell me where you’re injured?”
Her smile told me she was joking but not really.
“I have the bruises on my face and arms, my lip was bleeding there for a minute, but the thing that worries me is this,” I said, pulling my sweater up and showing her the bandage covering a gash on my ribs. “It’s not all that large but it hurts.”
She pulled on fresh gloves and moved closer. Her expression was dead serious, as her fingers gently peeled back the bandage on my shoulder. “I tried to fix it up as best I could from a first aid kit I found under the sink in the bathroom, but I’m worried about it getting infected.”
“Do you mind if I ask how this happened?”
“I fell down at the rally and one of Viper’s crew kicked me. His boots were steel-toed.”
“I imagine it was pretty painful. I don’t think you’ve broken a rib, I might order an X-ray, though if it’s broken, then time is the best healer,” she told me calmly.
“Do what you need to do,” I told her. “I can take it.”
She scribbled some notes on a piece of paper, I guessed it might be a request for tests or something. I suddenly had a thought.
“Can I get birth control?” I stammered, feeling all kinds of humiliated. I don’t even know why asking this stranger for birth control made me feel so many emotions.
Her hands stilled briefly before continuing. “Yes,” she said gently. “Are you currently sexually active?”
“No. I’m just in a precarious situation here. If I were to get forced into having sex,” I whispered, “I don’t want to make things worse.”
She dropped down to her knees in front of me, careful not to touch anything with her freshly gloved hands. “Look, I don’t know what you think this place is like, but Storm runs a tight ship. Most of the men here are prior military and see themselves as protectors. If anyone so much as touched a woman without her consent, then they’d be out the door.”
“Their cut has a one percent patch.”
Dr. Harper frowned at me. “They might operate outside the law at times, but they don’t traffic people.”
Looking her in the eye, I deadpanned back, “Or they didn’t. You do know they bought me at a biker auction, right?”
Her frown deepened. “I think there must be more going on here than you or I know. If you want, I’ll talk to Storm and try to figure out why they did this.”
“Sure. You do that. Meanwhile, I’ll just hole up in my room behind that locked door and work my shifts until I have enough saved to afford a place of my own.”
She gave me a nod and picked up where she left off. When she was finished redressing my wound, she rolled up her used supplies into her gloves and threw them into a red medical waste container strapped to the end of one of her duffle bags.
Digging through her bags, she pulled out t boxes of medications. “That cut on your ribs is looking pretty red. I’m going to prescribe you an antibiotic.” She handed me the white box, and she continued, “I want you to take them twice a day with food until you run out. There are instructions inside the box. Follow them exactly.”
Handing me the other box, she went into more detail. “This is a thirty-day supply of oral contraceptives. This is one of the most popular brands on the market today. Here’s the most important part to remember. You can take these at the same time as the antibiotic, but they might not be effective. So if you do have sex, use a condom.”
“Got it.” I was a big girl. I already knew how important it is to follow the doctor’s orders. I also wasn’t planning on having sex any time soon.
Her voice took on a steely edge. “If anyone touches you without your consent, you tell someone immediately. Storm will remove them from the club. Again, that’s never happened here before that I’m aware of.”
Her words reminded me of the way Fuse had handled that club girl earlier. He hadn’t lost his cool, screamed at her or hurt her. He’d simply put her out. Truth be told, I didn’t trust Fuse, not because of any particular behavior that had concerned me, but because he’d bought me and I didn’t know why. This seemed to confuse Dr. Harper as well.
We said our goodbyes and she gave me a business card for her clinic with her cell number on the back with an invitation to call her anytime I needed to talk. No doctor had ever offered me their cell number before.
When I opened the door Fuse was leaning against the wall waiting for me. He straightened when he saw me. “Did everything go okay?”
“Yeah, she dressed my arm and gave me some medication. She said I’ll be fine in no time.”
That wasn’t exactly her words, but I didn’t want him hovering and worrying. I needed that job after all.
