Just as he finishes speaking, the door opens and a young nurse enters the room. She immediately walks to the end of my bed.
“It’s so good to see you awake. You’ve been out for three days. Your friend said you woke up for a few minutes earlier, but she didn’t have a chance to call us so we could come see you,” the nurse informs me. “I’m sorry. My name is Tonya and I’ll be your nurse until tomorrow morning. I pulled a double shift today. Are you in any pain?”
Since I’ve been told not to talk, I nod my head when she asks me about the pain. Tonya lets me know she can give me more pain medicine now and will be right back. Before she leaves the room, my dad asks her if the doctor can come in to see me tonight or if we have to wait until tomorrow. Tonya assures us she’ll get the doctor in to see me immediately. She’s beenwaiting for me to wake up so she can give me a true exam with my input.
I don’t write anything else as I lay back in the bed and go to tap Elara on the arm so she can go home. My parents are here now and she can go check on her kids and husband, Tim, before sleeping in a real bed. My mom stops me and walks around the bed to wake Elara up gently. We all know she’s hard as hell to get up when she’s fallen asleep. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember. It takes several tries, but my mom finally wakes my best friend up and sends her home. Elara tries to fight her, but loses. We always lose against our parents when it comes to stuff like this. My best friend promises to be back first thing in the morning and will bring me some clothes from her house that will work while I’m in the hospital because I need stuff that’s loose while I’m recovering.
The doctor enters the room just after Elara leaves and I get my first glimpse of the guy standing outside my room. I can’t make out many details of him, but I know he’s young and just standing there like a guard dog.
“Hello Miss Winslow. I’m Dr. Keen and I’ve been overseeing you since you were brought in three days ago. You’re a very lucky woman if I’m being honest. I know you’re all wondering what injuries you have so we’ll go over that first,” Dr. Keen says as she remains looking at me. Tonya enters the room and starts working so I can have my pain medicine while Dr. Keen talks to us. “You did hit your head. Your friend said you don’t remember what happened and that’s normal. We thought you might have some memory loss. I’m hopeful that it will come back but we’ll do more imaging to be sure the damage isn’t worse than what we’ve seen so far. There’s bruising to your throat and vocal chords. With time, it will heal and we don’t foresee any prolonged side effects. Your left shoulder was dislocated andwe put that back in place without surgery. I’d like to do more imaging there to be sure we didn’t miss a fracture when you were first brought in. The rest of your injuries are superficial and none of them needed stitches.”
“When you say the rest of her injuries, how many are we talking about?” my dad questions Dr. Keen.
“There’s a lot. She has bruising and cuts on her arms, back, side, stomach, and legs. We were worried her ribs were bruised or broken, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Most of the cuts appear to be from an object that was used to hit Miss Winslow while the bruising appears to be from kicks. I believe she was kicked with a steel-toe boot. I’ve seen the damage they can do to a human body before and this repeats what I’ve previously witnessed on patients. We do have her on IV antibiotics to prevent any infection from starting and she gets pain medicine every four hours. We’ve been keeping on top of it even though you weren’t awake. It’s important you continue taking it for now because you’ll be in terrible pain if you don’t and it might take us a while to get it back under control,” Dr. Keen answers my dad as tears well up in my eyes. “For now, I don’t want you talking. Rest your voice tonight and tomorrow I’ll give you a full exam. Your body is just waking up and the last thing you need is for me to prod and poke you when you’re already sore.”
“Thank you, Dr. Keen. It was nice to meet you,” my mom says, placing her hand back on my arm as I close my eyes and let sleep claim me once again.
“You’re welcome. Right now, you’re going to be sleeping a lot. Don’t fight it. Your body needs rest and it’s the best thing for you. If you sleep the day away, that’s okay. For now, we’re going to keep you a few more days at least. It might be longerdepending on what we find during tomorrow’s exam,” Dr. Keen says before leaving us alone in the room.
The pain medicine is kicking in and making me very drowsy. This always happens when I have to take this kind of medicine and I hate it. Right now, I’m glad I have it to aid my sleep because I don’t want to feel the pain every minute of the day. It’s bad enough that I'm experiencing it when I wake up for short periods. My mom tells me to sleep and they’ll be right there when I wake up again. They aren’t leaving my side and I know it’s the truth. This has to be bringing up reminders of Bhodi and it breaks my heart for them. And myself. The last thought I have before drifting deep into sleep is of Bhodi smiling at me right after he won the football championship his senior year of high school. It was a great night and one I won’t ever forget.
Chapter Seven
Master
TALEAH IS STILL in the hospital. She’s been here for a week and a half so far. I’ve overheard the nurses and her doctor talking and have learned she has no memory of what happened to her. Part of me is happy she doesn’t have to live with the knowledge of her attack. I’ve watched the video from her security footage and it was brutal. TJ gave no fucks when he attacked her before stealing a ton of money from the safe and register. He spit on her before rushing out of Fantasy Realm. A truly disgusting piece of shit. Count is the only other person who watched the video because he refused to let me see it alone. I’m sure there was a conversation between the guys before it happened, but I’ll never know because everyone in the club is there to offer their silent support regardless of how much they know about the situation. Count is the only one who knows what Taleah means to me and how much this is killing me.
I’m at the hospital every single day. I remain in the shadows when my sister or Taleah’s parents are out of her room. It doesn’t happen very often, but if she has to go for tests or walks with the physical therapist, I hide myself so the Prospect is the only person Taleah knows is there. I’m not sure how much she understands about the situation with the Prospect guarding her room, but I’m not about to leave her vulnerable to another attack from TJ. So, I sit in the waiting room for hours every single day and listen as the staff discusses her case because it gives me the knowledge I’m desperate for. The only time I ever allow myself to see her is late at night when I can’t sleep andeventually make my way back to the hospital because it’s close to her and the only time I’ll be able to see her without anyone saying a word to me. I never go in her room, but I look through the window as she sleeps and has nightmares. Every instinct demands I go in to protect her, but I keep myself locked in place as her parents give her the comfort she deserves to have.
TJ has already tried to get in the hospital twice since Taleah was brought in. He definitely knows how to play the sad boyfriend act. I watched on as he pretended he didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed in her room or even on the floor she’s currently being kept on. It’s a locked ward I made sure she was transferred to after his first attempt to visit her. Both times I happened to be walking in and witnessed the entire exchange. He has a lot of balls trying to get close to her after what he did. The only reason I haven’t beaten the fuck out of him so far is because he deserves to be locked in a cell to rot for the rest of his life. I’ll still get my hands on him, but I won’t kill him. He’ll suffer more in prison. Death for him is way too easy after everything he’s done to Taleah. I’ll make sure he suffers in prison for the rest of his life. He’ll be begging for a death that won’t ever come.
Today, Taleah’s having a good day. Her pain levels have been kept at a bare minimum and she’s finally starting to remember pieces of the day she was attacked. I hate that for her, but if she remembers, she won’t take the pathetic little bitch back. Taleah won’t stand for a man putting his hands on her in violence. It’s the one thing she’s said countless times when we were growing up. Elara and her used to discuss it because one of our classmates was in an abusive relationship. Honestly, Taleah doesn’t realize how abusive TJ has been toward her because until the attack it was never physical. Abuse isn’t always physicaland she just didn’t allow herself to believe that’s what was happening to her.
“The girl who was attacked is going home tomorrow. She’s ready to leave and her parents are going to take her home with them,” one of the nurses says as they walk out of Taleah’s room. “Dr. Keen wants her discharge papers prepared today because she’ll need to have physical therapy for her arm and to rebuild the strength in her legs. The bruising has caused her to have trouble walking because of the injuries inflicted. It’s already helping, but she’ll need more if she wants to fully recover. I’m going to work on that while we wait for her latest bloodwork to come back.”
“Okay. I’m going to head down for coffee. I’ll bring you one back,” the second nurse says as she passes me where I sit in the waiting room.
No one says a word to me. They haven’t since the first day when I refused to leave and told them security wouldn’t make me move because I don’t trust them enough to leave them with Taleah. Knowing her situation even a little bit quickly made them stop trying to force me away from the only girl I’ve ever loved.
“What are you doing out here, Son?” Mr. .Winslow asks, sitting down next to me with a cup of coffee in hand.
“I don’t deserve to be in there with Taleah. It’s bad enough she knows I’m the one who brought her here the day of her attack. Elara told her when she was still in the emergency room. Please don’t tell her I’m still out here,” I return without taking my eyes from Taleah’s door. “How’s she really doin’?”
“Better. The nightmares are horrible, but she’s managed to piece together most of what happened to her that day. She’s cried for what happened to her and is trying to move on. Ipersonally believe she needs to see a therapist like Dr. Keen suggested, but she says she’s thinking about it. Her voice is slowly coming back but it might not ever be normal again. The bruising to her vocal chords was extensive. Taleah doesn’t talk very often because it still hurts and exhausts her. She’s got her notebook and writes most everything down for Elara and us. Saves her voice for the nurses and Dr. Keen. The bruises have turned a nasty shade of black and the cuts are slowly healing. Her pain level is slowly fading as well,” Mr. Winslow informs me as rage simmers throughout my body in a slow burn like I’ve never experienced before.
“If she decides to see a therapist, I can help her out with that,” I say as Mr. Winslow stands from his seat and looks down at me.
“I’ll keep that in mind. She’ll be going home with us tomorrow. We don’t want her going back to the house until she can get in there and see how much damage TJ’s actually done to the place. Plus, they still haven’t caught him and we refuse to leave her alone so he can get to her again,” he states before walking down the hall and disappearing into his daughter’s room once again.
Evan, one of our Prospects, is currently on Taleah’s door. He’s quiet and rarely speaks unless one of us asks him a direct question. Evan does his job, no matter what task we give him, and doesn’t hesitate to step up when he sees something that needs to be done. I’ve seen him playing with the kids if the adults are busy, cleaning when the Feral Girls are too lazy to get off their asses, and making sure the bar runs smoothly. He keeps his eyes and hands to himself and always goes home when he can instead of staying in the clubhouse. I think he has a girl outside and is trying to figure out how to merge his worlds into one. It will either work out for him or it won’t. Since none of us knowwhat his situation is, I can’t speak on whether his girl will survive our lifestyle.
What I like about him guarding Taleah is that he makes the nurse wait until he reads her credentials before allowing her to enter the room. Her physical therapist didn’t have a name tag on her first day working with Taleah and Evan refused to let her enter the room. It caused a scene but Dr. Keen understood and assured him the therapist was legit and would wear her name tag moving forward. I think she fully grasped the situation once she got her first look at Taleah and realized it was a domestic violence situation. No one questions him and always makes sure he can see a name tag when they get close to the door of Taleah’s room. Especially during shift change when things are chaotic and people can slip in unnoticed.
“Still hidin’ out here instead of goin’ in to see your girl?” Count asks, taking the seat Mr. Winslow vacated a few minutes ago.
“Don’t deserve to be in there with her, Count. Told you this more than once,” I state, sitting back in the chair and locking my hands behind my head. My entire body is sore as fuck from sitting in these chairs over the last week and a half.
“You do deserve to be in there, Master. You saved her fuckin’ life and I know she wants to thank you. Even if I don’t personally know Taleah, she’d want to thank you if she’s as sweet as you say she is,” he says, something I’ve heard more than once from him. It’s an argument he won’t ever win but we have them every time he shows up to keep me company and make sure I remain in check. “How’s she doin’ today?”
