Page 14 of Sweet Revenge

I nodded and kicked off my shoes, pushing my body back against the stack of pillows. He moved toward the door and glanced back while I sank further into the soft fabric on the pillows, the warmth of the comforter against my back. I thought he might say something, but he just stood quietly while I situated myself, my eyes already heavy from exhaustion.

When I could no longer hold my eyes open, I let them fall, and only then did I hear the click of the door being closed.

CHAPTER EIGHT

MAGGIE

I slept on and off for days, waking to find Becs sitting in my room more often than not, ready to help me do whatever I needed, like wrapping my casted arm in a garbage bag so I could shower. I wasn’t supposed to take off my sling, but after a few days, I wanted a shower, so I held my arm tight to my side, and she helped me wash my hair and get dressed after. I’d never really had someone like her in my life who wasn’t my mom, but I needed someone, and I found I was too damn tired to do it alone anymore.

It had been two weeks since the attack, and I was starting to feel somewhat human again. My ribs still ached, but it was a dull ache. My cast was a nuisance, but I was learning to work around it, and today, I had a doctor’s appointment to check my shoulder and remove the staples from my head. Hopefully, I would leave the appointment with only a cast left to deal with.

Becs had helped me shower and get dressed once again this morning. I told her I’d meet her downstairs in a few minutes, but I was stalling. I hadn’t been downstairs since I came home, choosing instead to be alone. I did sleep a lot, and it seemed every time I woke up, food was sitting on the table beside my bed. I had no idea who brought it, but I’d eat some of it and usually fall back to sleep. I found the medicine made me tired, and I was planning to tell the doctor today that I didn’t want to take it anymore.

I walked across the room and stopped in front of the mirror attached to the long dresser against the wall to look at my reflection. My skin, already pale, was even more so, and I’d noticed I lost even more weight than I’d feared. The clothes I’d been wearing before the attack that Becs had gotten for me were hanging loosely from my narrow shoulders and hips. Becs had braided my light blond hair and it was hanging over my shoulder, but it had lost its shine. However, even with all of that, my blue eyes were what caught my attention and made me cringe the hardest. They were dull and empty. There wasn’t a hint of emotion staring back at me. My appearance had never been anything special, nothing that would make people stop and take notice, but now it was almost hard to look at. If I didn’t know myself, if I saw someone on the street who looked like me, I’d think she was sick or maybe even an addict.

I turned quickly from the mirror, the person looking back at me too depressing to focus on and opened the door to leave my room. I stopped abruptly when I saw Gunner leaning against the wall across from my doorway. His eyes started at the top of my head and skimmed down my body before coming back to my face. It felt like he was looking for something, I just had no idea what that was.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“I thought Becs was taking me.” I said quietly.

He pushed off the wall, standing to his full height. “Can’t go alone. I’m gonna take you both.”

“Don’t you have to work?”

I hadn’t seen Gunner since the day I came home, but Becs was always telling me the guys were working. She’d talk the whole time when she visited, about anything, probably just to fill the silence.

He cocked his head to the side. “I make my own hours.”

“Oh.” I stepped out of my room and closed the door behind me. He gestured for me to go first and followed me down the stairs. I crossed the empty bar, which made sense since it was early in the afternoon, and stopped when he stepped in front of me.

“Wait here.”

I nodded, and he opened the big door, stepping out to talk to someone before he pulled open the back door to the SUV and motioned for me to get in. I did quickly because I had the feeling that he was trying to be very cautious. He shut the door behind me and walked around the front, got into the driver’s seat, and pulled out.

Becs turned from her spot in the other front seat and smiled. “Are you ready to get that sling off?”

I nodded. “I can’t wait.”

“I’ll bet.” She agreed. “Plus, it’ll be nice to have those staples out too.”

“Too bad I can’t get the cast off today,” I stated.

“Soon.” Becs replied excitedly.

It really wasn’t all that soon because I had to wear it for a total of six weeks, but I was already two weeks in. Another month wouldn’t be so bad. We were quiet the rest of the way until we got to the doctor’s office. Gunner pulled around to the back, which I thought was odd, but I figured maybe he knew someone who worked here and wanted to avoid the stares of strangers in the front lobby. He jumped out and opened my door just as the back door to the office opened, and a really pretty woman wearing a white coat poked her head out.

“Hey, Gunner.”

“Kat.” He answered before he reached up to help me out. He held his hand still, and I only stared at it for a moment before I took it in my casted one and let him help me down. I didn’t know what to think of that, he’d never done it before. He closed the door behind me and followed me, Kat, and Becs into the office building.

We continued down a hallway until Kat opened a door and ushered me in. “Would you like Becs to come in too?”

I nodded, a little confused as to what was happening, and Kat smiled. “Sit up on the exam table for me, and I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Okay.” I watched her close the door and looked over to where Becs had sat on a chair in the corner. “What’s going on?”

She chuckled. “Kat is actually, Dr. Katrina Evans. Bear pays her to be ‘on call’ for members of the club so they can just come to her when they need to.”