Page 23 of Saint
Stepping forward, I wrench the knife out of his side causing his almost lifeless form to jerk in pain. I get up in his face and tell the fucker “I’ll be the one seeing you in hell and when I get there, I’m gonna kill you all over again” I push the knife slowly into his gut starting just above his cock and then drag it upwards slicing him open. His insides fall out all over the floor in front of me and fuck me if the bastard doesn’t grin at me. I take the bat of Dublin and wipe the smile off his face. “Looks like our job here is done. I want this fucker’s body burned beyond recognition and then I want this room cleaned up and flooded and drained three or four times. Nothing happened in here. Tomorrow we clean up those Vipers out on the lake.”
Walking back into my room, I close the door behind me and study the tiny sleeping beauty in my bed. I can only hope my luck holds out a little longer. I climb into bed behind her and pull her into my chest wrapping myself around her. Her body is still cold but not to the point of freezing. Falling asleep, for the first time since I was about eight years old, I pray. In my sleep I feel her tossing around, mumbling and moaning and my hands automatically move to comfort her, stroking her body and her hair till she calms. She keeps on tossing and turning, muttering the words ‘happy birthday’, sometimes crying in her sleep. Her body however is warming up and I’m grateful for that. I give up on trying to sleep and just watch her instead.
The sun has been up for a couple of hours now and I can hear the guys moving about outside. Tags knocks and sticks his head in the door. “How’s the patient? Can I check on her?” He comes in and checks her temperature and the wound at her shoulder before giving her a shot of pain relief. “Call me if she’s not awake by this afternoon and keep her warm.”
“Thanks brother. I won’t be letting her out of my sight.”
Saint
I stay in bed with her, slowly drifting off to sleep. Eventually she stirs enough that I wake. Her eyes are trying to open but are having trouble. She’s licking her lips and trying to speak so I wet her lips from the glass of water on the bedside table, encouraging her to lick water from my fingers. “Saint” she rasps, “is that you? What happened?”
“Hi Beautiful. Welcome back. It’s been a long night. As for what happened, I can only tell you what I know. Two vipers snatched you from the mall and tried to hand you off to Ranger. You’re the only one who knows what happened after that. You’re hurt, but you’re safe now. Just let me look after you.”
Her eyes dart back and forth as she slowly remembers and her hand clutches at her injured shoulder. She tries to sit up but can’t. Pulling her gently into my arms, I run my hands over her tangled hair and battered body feeling her slowly melt into me. We are home. She passes out in my lap and I watch her till I fall asleep again.
She falls in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day. Tags comes by to administer more pain relief and we make the decision to move her to the club house where there’s plenty of people to keep an eye on her if I can’t.
For another day I stay by her side. She barely moves. Occasionally she wakes but never for long. She mumbles repeatedly about birthdays and has nightmares which cause her to jump in her sleep. Tags has put her on an IV to keep her hydrated and checks her twice a day to make sure the wound is not infected. He tells me she’s busy healing and she’ll wake when she’s ready. Smoke knocks on our bedroom door. “Come on brother. Time for you to eat, shit, shower and rest.”
“Nope. Not moving. What if she wakes up? Don’t want her thinking I bailed on her.”
“The last thing your Queen needs is to wake up to a tired, grumpy fucker who is weak from not eating and stinks of stale sweat. She needs you to be strong. I’ll sit right here beside the bed. If she so much as snores, I’ll come get you. Now fuck off and do as you’re told Prez.”
Deep down, I know he’s right. So I get up and do the fuck as I’m told. And of course, she wakes up while I’m doing it. I’ve been gone long enough to shower and eat. As soon as I pour a cup of coffee Smoke is on the phone. “Your girl’s awake Prez” I throw the coffee cup into the sink and run back upstairs. Smoke is holding her hand while she blinks away the confusion of being out of it for days. Climbing onto the bed beside her I take hold of her other hand and push her hair out of her face.
“You’re okay Beautiful. I’m here, Smoke’s here. You’re safe. Need some water?” Her eyes widen as she looks between the two of us and then nods yes to the water. She takes a couple of delicate sips and licks her swollen lips, quickly drinking the rest of the glass.
“You must be uncomfortable beautiful. What do you need?”
“The bathroom and food and some painkillers. What happened to my shoulder?”
I pick her up and carry her to the bathroom and then back to bed where I hand her a couple of the painkillers Tags left on the bedside table. “You were shot. That’s why your shoulder hurts so much and why you need to rest. Can you remember what happened?”
She tries searching her memories but comes up blank. “Don’t worry too much right now. It will come to you. Tell me though, when Dublin and Tags found you, you were muttering ‘happy birthday’. What was that about?”
Sighing, she sits back and studies her hands. “What day is it?”
“It’s Thursday Beautiful.”
“Thursday? Where have I been? Tuesday is, or was, the second anniversary of Pipes’ death. And my birthday. I was hoping to make it a happy day this year” she says her voice trailing off “Looks like that didn’t happen.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me about this?”
“Well, I guess birthdays never came up. And the anniversary of Pipes’ death was not something I thought you’d be overly interested in to be honest.”
“Beautiful, you’d be all kinds of wrong about that. If it affects you, it affects me. No secrets between us Jade. Tuesday was a couple of days ago babe but now that I know it was your birthday – well you just leave that to me. You’re in no state to celebrate right now but we’ll get there. Smoke, can you let everyone know she’s okay.”
“You got it Saint. Glad to have you back Jack.”
“Let everyone know? Why would they be worried about me?” she asks looking totally clueless.
“You’ve got not idea have you?” I ask shaking my head. “Just like you got under my skin, you got under everyone else’s too. You’re part of the crew now babe. They were all out on Monday looking for you and they’re all waiting for a report. Now you need food. Sit tight here and I’ll sort something out for you.”
Following Smoke downstairs, I head for the kitchen and motion for him to follow me. After that, he updates me on what they’ve found out about the Vipers and confirms that they have been disposed of, along with Ranger. The two dead Vipers were brothers of two of the original Club Members killed in the war. We won’t be having any more problems from Vipers though. News of their unfortunate demise has made it back to any would be new Vipers and any remaining potential threats have been warned off. “We’ve also been in touch with the new President of Jade’s old club back home. He’s glad to hear we’ve taken care of business at this end and sends his regards to you and Jade. Made me promise we’d look after her. I figure you should call him soon to touch base yourself.”
“Good thinking Smoke. I’ll get on that tomorrow. How long till Thanksgiving? Two weeks?”
“Yeah, about that. Why?” he asks, eyeing me suspiciously.