Lips On My Heart

by M J Marino

  Whatever is said makes him step on the accelerator. I keep pace with him and roll down my window. The guy panics and shouts over his shoulder again. Another person comes into view and leans over the console of the van, staring at me.

  Fucking loafer-dick himself.

  Anger floods my veins. “Pull the fuck over!” I shout loud enough my voice shakes the remaining closed windows of my SUV.

  Jacob gives me the finger and starts barking orders at the driver, who looks like he’s about to have a panic attack. He yanks the wheel to the left and rams his van against my vehicle. I quickly correct my steering to keep myself from flipping the SUV. With a roar of frustration, I remind myself I can’t ram them back because Josephine is in their vehicle.

  Reaper and Brass pull up behind the van. Reaper darts up the right side and speeds around the van till he’s in front. It’s a dangerous move, but it makes the driver slow down. Since there’s no way around, the van is forced to keep slowing down or do something drastic. The driver is not as much of a risk-taker as Jacob is, and he continues to lose speed as Reaper slows down more ahead of him. Jacob is screaming his head off.

  Up ahead I see Punk and Gauge with the rest of the crew, waiting in the median. They pull out as they see us approach and create an impossible link to cross unless the driver plows them over. Highway patrol is coming into view ahead and has the entire highway barricaded, and more interstate officers close in behind us. There’s nowhere for these fuckers to go.

  The van comes to a screeching halt, and Brass has to swing right and into the ditch to avoid hitting the van. Thankfully he’s able to keep his bike up and not crash.

  I slam on my breaks and jump out of the SUV with my weapon drawn. “Get the fuck out of the van with your hands up,” I shout, positioning myself behind the hood of my vehicle. I don’t know if they’re packing, which stops me from rushing the van. I have no tactical gear on for protection and getting myself shot or killed is not on my to-do list.

  The driver jumps out and makes a run for it up the hill to the right. Brass is on his ass fast. The guy goes flying when Brass takes him out low like the defensive linebacker he was before becoming a SEAL.

  My attention homes in on the van as Jacob emerges with an unconscious Josephine over his shoulder. He has a heavy duty hunting knife pressed against her side. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll end both our lives,” he shouts.

  I’d shoot the fucker right now, but something about his demeanor tells me he wouldn’t think twice about plunging the knife into Josephine.

  I hold up my weapon. “Alright, Jacob, I’m backing off.”

  “You just had to come after her, didn’t you? You saw how fucking pure and good she was and you had to fucking taint her,” Jacob continues to yell, pointing the shaking knife against her side.

  I swallow hard and take in how desperate he has become. My heart beats faster as I assess how dangerous this situation is. I need to appease him right now and hope he lowers his weapon.

  “I had no right.” The words chafe against my throat.

  “You’re damn right you had no right. She’s mine! I was her first and I’ll be her last. She ran away because she couldn’t handle me wearing the pants in the relationship, but she needs a man to control and guide her. She would have seen it eventually and come back to me. I was close to having her come on her own free will, letting her believe she had a say in the matter to appease her stubborn side,” he rambles with the knife still snug against her.

  My teeth grind together. “I get it,” I lie.

  Jacob nods his head like he thinks I’m seeing his warped logic. “She’s better off with me. She would never make it in your world. She’s too good for you.” His hold on the knife relaxes some.

  I nod my head and take in Josephine’s dead weight on Jacob’s shoulder. “Is she okay?”

  Jacob’s eyes flicker with emotion. “She tried to fight me. I only wanted to love her, love her the way she deserves. But she resisted. I had no choice,” he says with a slight edge to his tone. He points the knife at me. “She fought me because you poisoned her mind against me. But she will come to her senses, and I will be the one who rebuilds her.”

  My chest heaves with fear. “What did you do to her?”

  Jacob’s face contorts from anger to something resembling regret. “She wouldn’t let me in. I—I strangled her. I had no choice.”

  My worry for her takes over, and I come around the vehicle with my hands up and approach him.

  Jacob panics. “What the fuck are you doing? Don’t come any closer.”

  “Jacob, put her down. She needs medical attention,” I say firmly.

  Jacob’s expression twists with anger and tears run down his face. “I take care of her.”

  “Yes,” I say. I make eye contact with Flay before looking back at Jacob. “You care for her by bringing her to a medic. You make sure she gets the proper care she needs, to ensure you can have a long and happy life together.”

  Jacob’s eyes light up, and he nods. “Yeah, I make sure she has all she needs.”

  I nod my head. “You’ve got it all figured out. You know exactly what is best for her when she doesn’t. And right now she’s unable to decide, meaning you have to. You know, we’ve got a navy medic right here. If you want her to get the treatment she needs right away, this would be a good option, seeing as we’re miles from the closest hospital,” I offer.

  Flay comes up with the medical kit he always carries on his bike.

  Jacob looks leery but nods for Flay to approach.

  “Why don’t you lower her to the ground? I can take a look at her better there. You can stay next to her and be there when she comes to. She’ll feel better knowing you’re here,” Flay suggests, appeasing to Jacob’s self-righteous ego.

  Jacob nods in agreement and pulls her from his shoulders, lowering her to the ground. He removes the tape from her wrists and holds her hand while Flay quickly gets to work removing the duct tape from her face. I creep closer to my pixie. She looks like an angel in her wedding dress—a beaten and bruised angel.

  Flay regards Jacob with a serious face. “She’s got a pulse, but she isn’t breathing and is unresponsive. We need to activate an emergency response system. I need you to run to the ambulance over there and grab the AED while I start administering rescue breathing. We need the AED if her pulse stops and CPR doesn’t bring her back.”

  Jacob practically wails, grabbing at his head. “Oh my God! What have I done?”

  Flay grabs him by the arm and shakes him. “Jacob she needs you. Go now!”

  Jacob jumps to his feet and starts racing at full tilt to the patrol cars and ambulance up ahead with the knife still in his hand, waving his arms above his head in panic.

  The police order him again and again to drop his knife, but he doesn’t hear their warning, caught up in his terror over possibly losing Josephine. I see what’s unfolding, and I should stop the disaster happening in front of me, but I won’t. The fucker deserves what’s coming.

  But Josephine needs medical attention!

  I start to scream for the paramedics, but Flay lays a heavy hand on me, holding me in place. He stares at me with a firm gaze. I know he’s trying to communicate something with me, but I’m so fucking worried about my pixie, I’m not registering anything. My head whips back to the scene in front of me as the police open fire on Jacob, peppering him with bullets. Jacob falls to ground and remains there, unmoving.

  “Safe travels to hell, motherfucker,” Flay says under his breath. “No one fucks with our first lady.”

  “But Josephine—” I start.

  “Is fine,” Flay reassures me. “Breathing and has a pulse. She’s only passed out.”

  I rush to her side and hold her in my arms, thanking God that she’s okay. Flay rips open an ammonia pack and holds it under her nose. Josephine’s eyes fly open, and her mouth takes gulps of air.

  Filled with relief, I cradle her to my chest and let the tears fall. The rest of the cre
w surround us, eager to see my woman. Josephine looks up at me and starts sobbing.

  “I’ve got you, pixie. I’ve got you,” I say as I take all of her in. Her lips are swollen, and the skin around them is red from where the tape was applied to her delicate face. A giant welt covers her right cheek where he must have hit her. Bruises cover her arms and her legs. My heart drops to my stomach when she winces in my arms and grabs at her side.

  “Flay!” I yell.

  Flay drops to her side. “What hurts, Jo?”

  “M-M-My ribs. He kicked me,” she pants between hoarse sobs.

  Flay goes to lift up her dress, to assess the damage, and stops. “That fucker better be dead,” he growls. “About face!” he shouts to our crew.

  My men turn around, surrounding us with a sea of their backs.

  I look down and see her panties have been removed, and her hips and thighs are bruised where fingers and hands dug into her soft flesh. Farther up her body, a giant bruise covers the entire left side of her rib cage. “Did he—” I choke out in pain, gazing into the face of the only woman I’ve ever loved.

  Josephine sobs. “I—I don’t know. He was trying to, and I was fighting him. He hit me. He choked me, and then I don’t remember!” She wails and covers her face with her hands.

  Desperate, I look at Flay.

  Flay shakes his head. “I can’t tell. She needs a pelvic exam at the hospital and to have a rape kit done,” he seethes.

  My control snaps. “Bring me the driver!”

  Brass brings him forward. The guy looks distressed, but I feel no mercy at all standing to tower over him. I point at my beautiful woman. “Did he violate her?”

  The guy squirms in Brass’s grip, but my brother holds him tight.

  “Did he rape her?” I scream in his face. All my men hiss in anger.

  The guy pisses himself. “He was trying, man. I told him not to hurt her. He promised he wouldn’t, but he was forcing himself on her. I don’t know if he got that far because you and the rest of your guys got to us right after.”

  Relief washes over me, but I will encourage Josephine to have the rape kit done as a precaution. For her own health, she needs to know, and if the fucker isn’t dead, it will be used to build a fucking huge case against him.

  “Tell the cops I’m rushing her to the hospital. They can question her after we get her checked out,” I tell Gauge. I pick my beautiful woman off the road.

  She buries her face in my chest and I cradle her. I will get her the medical care Flay says she needs, and after I will hold her in my arms until she feels whole and safe again. Hell, who am I kidding? I’ll never let go of her again.

  I buckle her into my SUV and spin the vehicle around across the highway, heading north back into Fort Collins. All of my men follow on their bikes behind us. They care as much about their first lady as I do.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Josephine

  The rape exam takes a couple of hours, and the medical team charts, photographs, records, and examines every inch of me. I feel like a very sore pincushion every time the medical staff touch me—every surface of my body aches, and I want nothing more than to crawl into a ball against Maceo and cry myself to sleep.

  I can’t believe this happened to me.

  Images of Jacob flood my mind before I can stop them. Jacob’s cold eyes staring straight through me. His lips roaming over my body. His rough hand forcing my legs apart as the other was squeezing my throat.

  I cringe hard, and sobs rake my body. What if I was raped?

  Maceo, devoted and protective as always, sits next to me in the sterile room the whole time. He reassures me the exam is precautionary. We already feel confident I wasn’t raped, molested yes, but not raped. His eyes demand my attention, and he stresses he’s here to support me through whatever care I need. He holds my hand, and kisses my knuckles and my face after he’s given the okay by the medical team.

  He’s so fucking sweet. How did I get this lucky? Don’t know and don’t care—he’s mine and I love him.

  I know this isn’t easy for Maceo to witness. It’s probably equally as horrible for him as it is for me. The cords in his neck strain when he sees me stripped bare, my black and blue body on full display. Maceo’s face contorts in pain when he assesses me, like looking at me is hurting him—no, killing him. And I have to admit, the amount of bruising I have is chilling.

  “It’s worse than what I first saw on the highway,” Maceo tells the doctor performing my exam.

  The doctor nods in understanding. “Jo is pretty beat up. Don’t be surprised if more bruises pop up over the next day or two. It’s pretty typical after being attacked this viciously.”

  Well, that thought is really unpleasant. I don’t know how this could look any worse. My back is scratched and a horrid shade of purple. My throat—which hurts like a motherfucker every time I speak or swallow—looks like Jacob squeezed my neck to the point it could have snapped. My fingernails are broken off or bent back from where I clawed and fought. The bottoms of my feet are bruised from where I kicked for my life.

  Maceo is trying hard to control his anger, but I can hear him growling. “I wish I could kill Jacob all over again. The fucker got off easy.”

  My heart aches a little, hearing Jacob is indeed gone. As horrible of a thing Jacob did to me, I never wanted him dead. Honestly, I wanted him to get help and move on with his life. I feel slightly guilty, knowing I’ll sleep sounder with him gone, but not enough to feel sorry about it.

  Radiology confirms I have two cracked ribs from where Jacob kicked me, and my larynx is bruised from the strangulation. Upon pelvic examination, the doctor believes I wasn’t raped, but laboratory tests will show if there are traces of semen or residue from a condom. The thought of Jacob having been inside me while I was unconscious makes me whimper with dread.

  Tears run down my face. “What if he raped me, Maceo?”

  Maceo jaw clenches. “He didn’t.”

  “But what if he did?” I sob and it hurts my throat. “Will you think differently of me? Will you still want me, or will you want to end our relationship?”

  Maceo shakes his head, his face red with anger and pain. He grabs the side of my face as gently as he can. “It makes no difference to me. I still want you no matter what. My feelings for you will only grow stronger with time. I’m not going anywhere, ever.”

  I hiccup and scratch at my skin. “But what if he gave me a disease? Do you think I’m dirty? God, I feel so dirty!”

  Maceo’s face scrunches up as he fights back his own tears. He cradles my sore face and kisses my forehead. “Baby, you’re not dirty, and you’ll never be dirty. Jacob never made it that far. Even the doctor thinks so.”

  Snot runs down my face along with my tears. I’m sure I look awful, but nothing can compare to how disgusting I feel on the inside. Maceo wipes my face clean with his fingers.

  I chock. “But what if?”

  Maceo’s black eyes soften. “Then we’ll deal with it, together. There’s no STI that will run me off from you.” He holds me tenderly until my tears stop.

  The doctor performing my exam takes one of my hands in hers. “I’ve performed a lot of these exams over the years, and I’m confident you were one of the lucky ones. I don’t see anything that would suggest you were raped, but let’s wait for the lab to confirm my belief. In the mean time, heal and try to stay positive. I’m rushing the lab results and I hope to have an answer for you within two weeks.”

  Maceo looks over at the doctor. “We had sex this morning. Do I need to give a sample of my DNA to rule my semen out from any other semen that may be present?”

  The doctor pulls out a couple sterile swabs, and swipes them along the inside of Maceo’s mouth to gather some cheek cells for testing.

  When my nerves finally settle, I ask Maceo another question I have been dreading. “Tony?”

  I half expect Maceo to get jealous, since that’s normally how he would react about any male I show a harmless interest
in, but he surprises me. His eyes soften and he smiles, his thumb running up and down my unmarred cheek. “He’s got a nasty concussion, cracked ribs, and a really bruised back, but thankfully, his skull isn’t fractured. He’s being monitored here at the hospital, and is in the best hands. He’s going to be okay.”

  “I want to see him,” I murmur, my throat throbbing.

  Maceo nods, not a jealous bone in sight. “We definitely will, Pixie, but not today. Let him rest for a couple days, and then I’ll bring you back to visit. I know you’re concerned about him. I am too. But right now, you’re my number one priority. I want to get you home to start your own recovery.”

  I nod and my voice cracks. “I’m holding you to it.”

  Maceo’s dark eyes crinkle in the corners when he smiles. “I expect nothing less from you, mi amor.”

  After handing over my fake wedding dress as evidence, I put on the sweats Punk raced home to bring back for me. As we walk out of the exam room, the hallway is lined with all the Mercy Ravens MC men, eagerly waiting.

  Happy tears spill down my cheeks and I make my way down the line, gently hugging and thanking each one of them. Out of the corner of my eye, I see them look to Maceo and he gives them a thumbs-up. They all visibly relax, knowing Jacob didn’t manage to rape me.

  When I get to the end of the line where Gauge, Chase, and Punk wait, I run gingerly to them and they cocoon me in their massive arms. I feel so loved. Punk cries like a fool, holding me close and kissing the top of my head. I take a quick peek at Maceo, praying he won’t haul off on Punk for showing me affection.

  Maceo only smiles at me and his brother. “The two of you are close. I know Punk loves you like a sister. He’s as much your brother now as he is mine. They all are.”

  My heart melts hearing Maceo say that. I do love all his brothers. I’m happy Maceo is fine with me being close with them, without fearing he’s going to punch one of them out.