by Erin Trejo
MONSTER
SBMC MIAMI BOOK 4
ERIN TREJO
Copyright © 2020 by ERIN TREJO
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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One
Monster
Sweat drips from my temples. I’ve never been so goddamn sick in my life and this fever is bad. If I wasn’t so hardheaded this shit would have been handled a long time ago.
“Keep your arm straight asshole,” Viking grumbles next to me as Paul, our clinic doc shoves a needle into me.
“I don’t need this shit,” I snap back.
“Yeah, you’re lookin’ remarkably well,” Mason adds. Fucker.
“Hey, fuck off before I nail your girl,” I mumble. Mason just laughs knowing damn good and well that I wouldn’t touch Whit. That girl has lost her damn mind. There’s no way in hell I’d go near her.
As I lay my head back and let the doctor do his work, I can’t help but let my mind stray. I wonder what life is like back home in California. I was patched into the No Cal Chapter of the Soulless Bastards years ago, but my life is complicated. I had far too many ghosts haunting me back there, so I asked for a transfer. Declan wasn’t happy that I was leaving, but he understood. I needed to get away from that place and all of the bad shit that happened there. Viking welcomed me with open arms. They were a big family long before I got here, but this past year has brought us even closer together.
Since Fin and his woman had bowed out to go to rehab, his spot became mine. I talked to Fin first though. I didn’t feel right taking his place without seeing where his head was at, but he just couldn’t handle being here anymore. I get that more than anyone, so here I am. I’m a member of the Miami Chapter of the Soulless Bastards.
“How long is this shit gonna take?” I groan as the doc hooks up the IV.
“I’m running antibiotic fluids. The infection is bad Monster. I don’t know why you waited so long to get it treated.” I resist the urge to roll my goddamn eyes at him.
“He’s right. That gunshot wound could have been healin’ up by now,” Viking adds.
“Is this jerk my dick day? Fuck off,” I grumble.
“Can you put some happy meds in that thing too doc?” Mason asks with a chuckle.
I flip him off and close my eyes willing the goddamn world to just fade away if only for a few minutes.
“You’ll be staying here for a few days,” the doc tells me. I shove myself up, reach for the IV in my arm, and try to pull it out when Viking knocks my hand away.
“Don’t you fuckin’ do it,” he growls.
“I ain’t stayin’ in this fuckin’ hell hole for a few days. It ain’t even a fuckin’ hospital and it smells like a fuckin’ outhouse,” I snap as the guys laugh.
“Too fuckin’ bad brother. Doc says you need the antibiotics or your ugly ass could die.”
“Let me die then.”
“Lay the fuck down and be a good little bitch,” Mason teases. I lay down, but I’m ready to snap someone’s neck.
“If I have to be stuck here with you can you at least put on a sexy little nurse’s outfit?” I tease Paul. He eyes me suspiciously no doubt having heard about Ruger and his fucked up antics. The guys all laugh as Paul starts to really look scared.
“I won’t be here at night. I have a girl that can handle changing your bags and shit,” he grumbles looking anywhere but at me.
“I’m not gay Paul. You can calm the fuck down.”
“Ruger isn’t gay either,” he responds quickly. His reply causes me to laugh, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“True, but I ain’t him either. So, who’s the girl? She a nurse?”
“You keep your hands off her. She isn’t a nurse, but she does help out around here. She usually stays in the back room,” Paul tells me as he moves around the room.
“You got little girls tied up in the back room now?” I know I’m pushing his buttons, but it makes me feel better. “And if she’s not a nurse how do you know that she knows how to do this shit?”
Paul sighs before he looks over at me, “I’ve taught her over the years that she’s been here. She likes to learn, she catches on quickly and helps out around here. She can handle you. I promise,” he says with a smirk.
I like the sound of her already.
“We’re gonna head out. I need to get shit set up back at the clubhouse for the Rebels. You get healed up so you can come home, yeah?” Viking nods at me.
“Yeah I get it,” I mumble as I close my eyes again.
I’d just like to sleep this fever off if that’s possible. I wish the Rebels weren’t coming so I could heal at the clubhouse, but with so much going on there right now our normal doc refused. I think the fucker has some beef with the Rebels that we don’t know about as of yet. I keep my eyes closed as the guys start leaving. The silence is welcomed, at least for now.
“Kyza will be here soon with food. If you need anything at all just ask her. She’s a nice girl, you shouldn’t have any problems with her. She’ll come in and give you the medication as needed,” Paul rambles on.
“Kyza? Like the roll?” I pop an eye open and ask as I glance over at him to see him shaking his head like he’s tired of hearing me already.
“Nowhere near the same, dumbass.”
“You have shitty bedside manners for a doc,” I quip before I close my eyes again.
“If I didn’t have to deal with your dumbasses all day I would be a lot happier,” he says with a hint of sadness in his voice.
“Why do you do it then?”
He doesn’t answer me and that has piqued my interest. I open my eyes and turn to look at him. He looks lost. Sad even.
“I lost my wife ten years ago. Right before she died she lost her sister. She couldn’t get adequate medical care because she couldn’t afford it, she didn’t have any insurance. She was living off disability payments, and just couldn’t cut it.”
“You opened your office in the shittiest part of town to help those that need it the most?” I ask.
“Yeah. Figured it was my way of giving something back. Ella, my wife, that’s all she ever wanted.”
“And now you get stuck treating assholes dealin’ in the illegal side of shit,” I murmur under my breath.
“Do you have insurance Monster?”
I narrow my eyes and shake my head.
“Then you’re just a person in need of help too.” He turns toward the door when I stop him.
“Hey Paul?”
He turns back to look at me.
“That means a lot. Not just to me. You’re doin’ your wife proud man.”
With a quick nod he’s gone.
Two
Kyza
Music blasts through my headphones as I dance my way down the road. Bad part of town? Shit, I grew up in worse than this. This isn’t bad to me, or maybe I just don’t see a problem with the way people live around here. I’ve seen it every day for the last twenty-two years.
“Hey Kyza,” one of the homeless ladies yells at me. I pull my headphones off and wrap them around my neck as I smile at her.
“Kelly, how are you? How’s the finger?”
She came into the clinic a while back with a cut that needed stitches. I’m not a nurse, but I could be. Paul made sure I knew enough about that kind of shit.
“It’s better. I was going to come and let doc take a look at it to
morrow, but since you’re here… can you?”
I nod my head, walk closer, and reach my hand out for hers. She places her small, frail hand in mine and my heart aches for her. Kelly was the mother of four kids but lost them to drug addiction. She lost her house, job, and everything that she loved. Now, she lives on the street just trying to make it day by day.
“It actually looks really good. Did you finish the antibiotics that doc gave you?” She looks away sheepishly before pulling her hand away.
“I was trying to save some money.”
“Hasn’t Paul made it clear that you don’t have to do that? You can always come to the clinic Kelly. Finish your pills,” I scold her.
She nods her head and as I turn to leave, quietly replies, “You’re a good girl Kyza.”
I wish that were true. No one knows why I’m here. No one knows why my life is what it is now. I’m just a ghost of the past me and that’s the way I like it. No one knows me, and I have no fears here.
I make it to the clinic and go in the back as usual. Paul had called and told me that there was a patient staying for the next few days. I like it when this happens. I don’t feel so alone. Although we don’t get clients staying overnight often, I tend to take advantage when we do.
I start doing my nightly routine. I clean up the front office, restock the supplies, disinfecting as I go, when my phone chimes. It’s time for more Motrin. Paul told me not to give them strong pain medication unless he’s here. I smile as I head to the back and grab the pills, a bottle of water, and the food I brought for him then walk back to the room he’s in. I knock first, but when no one answers I just walk in. The room is dark. Before I can even reach for the light switch a hand snakes around my waist. I’m about to scream when cold metal touches my temple.
“Who the fuck are you?”
His voice is deep, dark, and a whisper in my ear. My insides tremble as he waits for an answer. This isn’t anyone that would be looking for me I tell myself. It’s just the patient.
“I’m Kyza. I work with Paul,” I say shakily.
The man lowers the gun and moves around me in the dark. The only light is what’s coming in from the hallway. He sits in the chair in the corner. His face is blocked by shadows.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. This isn’t the best part of town,” he says.
“It’s okay. I get it. No harm done. I have your medicine and food. Let me just turn the light on and-”
“No,” he roars which startles me again. “Leave them off.”
Okay. Weird, but whatever.
“Uh, okay then. I will leave the food on the table for you. Here’s your medicine. You need to take this for your fever. I’ll be back in a few hours to check on you again. If that’s okay with you?”
I don’t want him to snap at me again. I walk closer and his face is still shrouded in the darkness of the room. He holds his hand out and I drop the pills in them before I pass him the water. I wait while he swallows them out of habit. You’d be surprised at the amount of people that will tongue or cheek it even though it’s only a fever reducer.
“I really didn’t mean to scare you,” he says once again.
“I’m fine. Get some rest and eat. It’ll help make you feel better. If you hear an alarm go off it’s just your IV machine. I’ll come change it when it’s time,” I remind him.
“No lights.”
“Yeah, sure. No lights. Goodnight, uh, whoever you are,” I tell him.
He chuckles and it’s the deepest chuckle I’ve ever heard. It makes my heart beat faster.
“Monster. You can call me Monster.”
Sure, because that’s not weird or anything.
“Umm, okay. Goodnight Monster.”
I walk out of the room and close the door behind me. It shouldn’t bother me that the man wants to leave the lights off, but as soon as the door is closed the light in the room filters through under the door. I wonder why he doesn’t want me to see him? I shrug my shoulders and go into the back room. I grab my bag of food and drop onto the twin sized bed Paul had brought in for me. I grab the remote control, flip on a comedy channel, and eat like I do every night.
Should it bother me that this is what my life has become? Some days I think that it should, while others I just don’t give enough of a damn to care. I’m safe and away from the things that haunt my dreams at night. That’s the most important thing to me.
Three
Monster
“How did it go last night?” Paul asks dropping into the chair next to the bed.
“Fine. Can I go now?” Paul sighs and pulls his glasses from his face. He looks over at me and replies, “Few more days. Was Kyza okay last night?”
“What do you mean? She came in and did what she needed then left. I don’t know shit about her man,” I tell him, but now he’s got me wanting to know more.
Yeah, I’m a nosey motherfucker. I watch Paul as he rubs his tired eyes. He obviously wears himself out doing this shit. He needs to retire and just say fuck it, but he won’t.
“She just seemed a little off today. She seemed a little more jumpy than usual.”
“That might be my fault. I didn’t know it was her and I kinda pulled a gun on her.”
“You what?” he snaps as he slides his glasses back on and stands up to his feet.
“Hell, I didn’t know. This neighborhood is sketchy as hell man.”
He shakes his head and runs his hand through his grey hair before he looks back in my direction.
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Depends on what it is.”
“I like Kyza. Love her as if she was my own. She’s hiding from something though.”
“And you want me to find out what it is?” I ask none too thrilled about this idea.
“Talk to her. She doesn’t have any friends that I know of. Most days I think I’m all she really has. She showed up here when she was nineteen and she’s been here since then. Why wouldn’t a girl like her want to get out there and do something?” he asks, but it seems as though he’s talking more to himself.
“Maybe she’s a simple girl?” I offer.
“You’ve seen her. She’s far from simple. How many girls do you know that look like her and still stick around in this shit?”
He’s right, I did see her last night. She’s gorgeous. Her long blonde hair is worn in dreads, her skin is pale white and pops with the makeup she wears. She’s far from someone that should be staying around here.
“Looks aren’t everything Paul. I’m sure she has her reasons.”
“I agree with you, but I’d still like to know. Maybe she has a family out there somewhere?” he says on a sigh.
“I’ll talk to her, but I’m not promisin’ shit.”
“Thanks Monster, I’m heading out. She’s out the front cleaning.”
“See you tomorrow doc.”
I watch him leave the room. He looks as worn down as ever. It makes me wonder what his life is like outside of this place, or if he even has a life outside of here.
When I hear the door close I shove out of the bed, grab the IV pole, and drag it along with me. I slip my boots on and walk out of the room towards the hallway. I can hear music playing and I smirk when I recognize the rock music. That helps explain the dreads.
I round the corner and watch her for a second as she tosses some trash into the garbage can. I can’t help but let my eyes wander over her body. She’s fit. It looks like she works out. Fuck if I know.
“Jesus,” she screams when she spins around and sees me standing there.
Her eyes roam over me from head to toe. Surprisingly she doesn’t stop to linger on the scars on the right side of my face. I earned the name Monster when I was twelve. Not only was I bigger than most kids, but I sported burn scars over the right side of my face and neck thanks to a meth explosion in my mom’s kitchen. Everyone feared me after that. They always looked at me like I was a monster and the name just stuck. Not her though, she isn’t looking at me the way everyone
else does. She’s looking at me the way a woman looks at a man.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” I tell her while watching her breathing slowly return back to normal.
“It’s fine. I almost forgot I had a house guest,” she says while smiling at me. Her bright blue eyes shine lined with dark black makeup.
“You don’t look at me like the rest of them,” I mutter under my breath.
It’s bothering me. When a woman looks at me like I’m the scariest thing she’s ever seen I can handle it. I’m used to that. She’s just looking at me like I’m, well me.
“What do you mean? The rest of who?” She asks, her brows pull in as her eyes narrow and she looks into my eyes.
My eyes, not my face. I’m so used to the opposite that I don’t know how to handle her. I’m on edge just being here, but this makes it so much worse. This is why I wanted to stay in the dark where I belong.
“Paul’s worried about you,” ignoring her question I ask one of my own. Her features relax as she smiles back at me.
“He’s always worried,” she replies as she continues to clean. “What’s he worried about now? Am I spending too much time here again?”
My eyes follow her every movement as she lifts boxes and pushes things away.
“Yeah. He thinks you don’t have any friends or family,” I add. She sets the box on her hip before she turns to look at me.
“I don’t have any family or friends, I’m more of a loner. Friends are nothing but complications and drama. That’s just not who I am.”
If nothing else, this girl is honest. I like that. Hell, I like her.
“That seems about right. You grow up around here?”
She shakes her head and walks past me with the box still on her hip. I follow her down the hall when she moves into another room.
“I grew up in a lot of places. I don’t really call any one place home. What about you? You from around here?” she asks but she never looks over at me. Avoidance is always easier than the truth and she is currently avoiding the shit out of me.
