over at me.
“Why would a man beat me up? How do you know he won’t come back for me?” Fresh fear filled her eyes as they darted to the closed door and back to me.
Fuck. I was hoping that question would come later. I didn’t want to scare her at all, and I knew that if I answered truthfully, she might not trust me after that.
“Well, how about we talk about that more in depth later? Just trust me. He won’t be bothering you again, I promise. Like I said, you’re safe.”
“Maybe I should go to the hospital?” Her eyes squinted at me as another realization dawned on her. “Why didn’t you take me there anyway?”
Fuck! She was full of questions that were sure to make me look like an asshole. Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit. I was used to being the bad guy, so it didn’t really matter. But, for some reason, with her, with this beautiful stranger, I didn’t want her to think of me that way.
“Look, Miss,” I took a deep breath before continuing. “Like I said, this is a motorcycle club. We’re outlaws. We don’t operate like normal folks. I found you, and well…if I took you to the hospital in the state I found you in, they surely would have assumed I was the one who did that to you, and I just couldn’t have that. I’m not a big fan of being confined or eating shitty food. Not to mention the lack of bikes and the entertainment sucks. And Doc knows his stuff. I should have told you. He’s a retired Army medic, and I trust him. He said you were okay, he kept a very close eye on you, and your vitals, and we made the decision to keep you here, to keep you safe. Like I said, there was no identification on you, and I don’t know anything about you. Or who might be looking for you.”
“Outlaws?” she asked. “Like criminals?”
“Sure, if you wanna put it that way,” I replied.
“I see,” she whispered, her eyes drifting away from me and looking around the room. “So, where have you been sleeping? This is your room? Your bed?”
“Sleep? Well, I haven’t really had a lot of that. I’ve just been basically waiting for you to wake up.”
“For three days?” she asked, her left eyebrow arching up, causing her to wince in pain.
“Yeah. Three days. Today’s Friday.”
“Friday? What month? What year? God, I can’t believe I don’t remember this!” Panic rose in her voice, and her eyes once again filled with tears.
“Today is Friday, October 13th. It’s about eleven at night.”
“Okay,” she whispered, her voice so lost and small I almost couldn’t hear her. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Feel free to ask me anything at all. I’ll be here to help, and there’re some other people in the clubhouse that you can talk to, also. It can be a little chaotic around here, but for the most part, everyone is harmless.” I saw the fear in her eyes, and I reminded myself to have a talk with everyone else as soon as possible. “Listen, don’t worry. We’ll figure this out,” I said, reassuringly. I had no idea how, but there had to be something we could do. “Everything’s going to be okay, I promise.”
She smiled for the first time, and my breath caught in my throat as I realized just how beautiful she really was.
“Thank you for saying that,” she said, sighing.
“You’re welcome. Can I get you anything right now? Do you need anything? Those clothes you’re wearing belong to one of the club ladies here, well, the t-shirt is mine, actually.” She looked under the sheet at the sweats and t-shirt she was wearing. I realized what she might be thinking. “The girls changed you, helped make you more comfortable.”
Relief flooded her eyes, and she nodded slightly.
“What was I wearing?” she asked.
Visions of what she might look like naked filled my head, and for the first time since I had picked her up, I felt my cock swell slightly in my pants. What the hell was wrong
Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child