Talon & Claree

by Liberty Parker

  “Just stand over there,” he replies, pointing to the other side. I quickly move and then take her hand in mine.

  “Baby, I’m right here. When the nurse comes in, I’m sure they’ll explain what they’re going to do, but you’ve gotta stay calm.” Her eyes find mine and she nods. I know they’ve been reducing the numbers so she’s mostly breathing on her own, but I’m sure it’s not going to be pleasant.

  “What we’ll do,” the doctor says, hearing my words, “is suction out the tubing several times, then as we extubate the hose, we’re going to encourage her to cough. She also may look like she’s uncomfortable or in pain, but it’s minimal at best.” I nod my head at his explanation. I don’t always understand what they’re saying when they inform me of this, or that, relating to her condition, but if I have questions, they’ve been good about answering them. Plus, Mom and Trinity have been googling like crazy ever since she wound up here. “It may cause your gag reflex to come out and play, dear, please try to breathe through it and not vomit, it will make things harder for you in the long run,” he says, making sure he has Claree’s attention. She nods to him, letting him know she understands. About this time the room fills with a team of doctors and nurses.

  “You ready, baby?” I ask, leaning close and kissing her forehead. She nods again, and I can sense how eager she is to be able to swallow without a tube in her throat.

  “Okay, Claree, we’re going to suction first,” the nurse says, after putting on a pair of gloves. That’s one thing I’m beyond thankful for, they’ve treated her as though she was one of their own family members. I cringe when I hear the noises the suction machine makes, and I can see her eyes smiling at my reaction. My beautiful woman. So fucking brave. I never lose her eyes, focusing on her, and making mental plans for our future, so I don’t see what they’re doing with, and to her. I may be a badass, but this shit creeps me out. You never realize how much something like this will impact you, until it’s someone you love going through it.

  Within minutes, they’ve got the tube and hose disconnected and out and a nurse is holding up a cup filled with ice water. “Sip slowly, Claree. And try to cough once you’ve swallowed,” the nurse instructs. “Talon, you can come back over here if you’d like.” I move back to my previous spot and take hold of her hand again.

  “Welcome back, baby,” I whisper. I know I’m crying but seeing her eyes open and looking at me has me feeling all sorts of different emotions.

  “T-t-talon?” she croaks out, her voice raspy from disuse and the ventilator.

  “Shhh, baby, you don’t have to talk yet. I know it’s gotta hurt,” I tell her.

  “A… little,” she stammers.

  “Then wait until it doesn’t hurt, baby. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I love you,” she swallows harshly once the words leave her mouth.

  “God, Claree, I love you so fucking much,” I reply. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  “My last breath,” she says.

  “What?” Wait, here I am telling her not to talk, and then turning around and asking her a question. Asshole, get your shit together!

  She swallows a few times before saying, “Until my last breath, I’ll be yours, Talon.” She gulps and I see tears swimming in her eyes.

  Fuck me. Those seven words are seared in my brain, and I realize that the next tattoo I get, will have them stated on there, somehow. “Same, baby. And you just gave me my next tat.” My words make her giggle even though the motion has her grimacing.

  “H-hungry,” she says.

  The nurse, who has been busy emptying the catheter bag and checking her vitals, says, “We’ll get a clear liquid diet going for you, Claree. You keep doing like you are right now and I think you’ll be headed to a regular room in a few days.”

  I smile at the nurse’s words because when she gets transferred into a more permanent room, I can likely have our parents bring Steel in to see his mom. I know she’s missed him.

  “Steel?” she asks.

  “He’s fine, baby. I’ll see if he can come up once they move you, okay? Maybe we can video chat or something until then.”

  “I’d like that,” she replies, smiling. “Feel gross.” I start laughing at her statement because my woman loves her showers and baths and she hasn’t had one since she’s been here other than the sponge baths I’ve given her.

  “You saying I’ve lost my touch giving you a bath?” I tease. Her eyes grow wide at my words and I nod. “Baby, no one else was touching you like that. I’ve been giving you sponge baths.”

  “Whereas I’m sure those have helped, I still feel…icky,” she says, and I can’t help but chuckle when she says the word icky, her nose scrunches up. I forgot how much I missed those small things.

  “When things settle down, we need to talk. There are so many things I need to apologize to you for, I don’t even know where to begin,” I say to her.

  “We both have things we need to apologize for and own. It takes two to be in a relationship and takes both to keep it going. I messed up just as badly as you did, I should’ve told you how I was feeling.”

  “But, I didn’t give you an opportunity to say that to me,” I hang my head in shame.

  “Talon. Talon, look at me!” she demands. My head shoots up and my eyes widen at her tone, she’s never hollered, yelled or commanded anything of me before…I have to say, I kinda like it.

  “It was both of us, do not take this on your shoulders alone. I should’ve stood up and made myself known to you, I shouldn’t have just held it all in and allowed it to consume me. We need to reflect on the mistakes and make sure they don’t happen again. We learn, move on, grow as individuals, also as a couple, and as parents.”

  I close my eyes at her words. Somehow, some way, we’ve been given a second chance and damned if we’re not going to make the best of it. “Whatever it takes to make sure we don’t, we’re gonna do it, baby,” I reply. She smiles at me and I see her eyelids drooping a bit. Leaning down, I kiss her forehead and say, “Sleep, babe. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “M’kay, but when I do wake up, I’m going to require that shower,” she mumbles, as sleep invades her.

  Now that she’s dozing, I quickly shoot off the texts to everyone letting them know the news. I’m sure I’ll be inundated shortly by our moms, at least, and smile. Nothing like this family, that’s for sure.

  “Talon, don’t drop me!” she exclaims, as I carefully pick her up and carry her to the shower connected to her room. The nurses did whatever it is they do so I can give her a shower without all the tubes and shit. While the nurse was preparing her, I got all of her stuff together. I had my mom bring in her favorite body wash, sponge thingy that she uses, her shampoo and conditioner. I know she’s not home, but I wanted her to have her stuff so that she feels more connected to who she is and not smell of that damn hospital bullshit they supply.

  “Never dropped you before, don’t anticipate doing it today,” I reply as I gently set her onto the shower chair they’ve placed in the bathroom. “Let’s get naked, baby.” I animatedly make a kissy face at her, then wiggle my eyebrows up and down. She always loves my facial gestures, and I need to show her I’m still me, even though I’ve emotionally, and physically, been distantt from her for a while now.

  Her giggles let me know I said and did the right thing. She’s so fucking thin now that I can see her ribs and hipbones. Knowing she’s carrying our baby makes me want to fatten her up. I quickly strip her of the hospital gown and toss it in the corner before I undress.

  “Talon! What in the world?” she questions, seeing me start the water to get it warmed just right. What does she expect? Me to sit idly by and watch her struggle to bathe herself? Not happening, at least not in our new beginning.

  “Baby, not a fan of wearing wet clothes, and you’re still too weak to do this yourself,” I tell her. It’s definitely one of the more intimate things I’ve ever done for her that didn’t involve sex and somehow, it makes me feel l
ike we’ve hit a new level in our relationship. I’m still hot as hell for her, but right now, it’s about making sure she’s clean, lotioned, and pampered. Just hope my dick gets the message. I know he’s screaming out for a connection with her, he’s missed her as much as I have. Yes, he has a damn mind of his own when it comes to our woman.

  “Fine, but if this gets us kicked out, I’m gonna be pissed at you,” she says. Like they have the balls to kick us out of the hospital when my family is one of the hospital’s financial backers, but I keep that information quiet, because I want her to get excited, and feel as if we’re doing something forbidden, and taboo.

  “Your dad’s watching the door. Thinking they’d be crazy to try and get in right now,” I tell her, as I take the shower head down and carefully start getting her wet. “Lean back, Claree, let me wash your hair,” I say.

  “Love it when you wash my hair, Talon,” she murmurs while closing her eyes.

  I deepen my voice to mimic one of her favorite actors and say, “Can’t keep my hands off you, darling.” It’s a line from one of her favorite movies and it produces the intended result…she’s got her head back, eyes closed, and is giggling.

  “You’re a nut!” she exclaims.

  “Only for you, baby, only for you. You cracked me open a long time ago, and I’ve been in the palm of your hand ever since,” I reply, grabbing the shampoo. This is one of my favorite things we stopped doing when we were disconnected. I love bathing her, seeing how my touch affects her. As my hands work the shampoo into a lather, I have to stifle my own groan. I’m sure she can tell that her nearness is affecting me because my traitorous dick is currently poking her in the back. Fucker.

  “I take it you’re happy to see me, eh, baby?” she asks. I can hear the laughter in her voice because she knows there’s not a damn thing we can do right now.

  “Seems that way. Then again, if your nipples get any harder, you can cut glass,” I reply. Good to know I’m not the only one affected by our closeness.

  “Guess the pregnancy hormones are in full force,” she says, giggling.

  “And they’re going to wait until we’re back home, you’re healed, and your dad’s not outside the door guarding your room!” I can picture him charging the room and aiming his gun at my dick, yeah, so not a visual I need right now.

  “Not waiting too long, Talon. It’s been a long time.”

  “At least until we get home, baby, okay?” Suddenly, me being in the shower with her doesn’t seem as good of an idea as I originally thought. The visual of Chief’s gun pointed at my dick has the desired effect and I see it deflate.

  “Fine,” she mutters under her breath. I hate it when she says that, I always know I’m possibly in the doghouse. Well, hell, even I know that one word carries a helluva lot of meaning to a woman.

  Leaning closer, I kiss behind her ear and say, “Baby, as soon as we’re home alone I plan to worship every single inch of your body. Nothing will stop me until you pass out from pleasure. Now’s not the time, though.” Motherfucker! He’s coming to life again, we really need to get onto another topic of conversation. Now!

  She nuzzles her wet, soapy head into my abdomen and sighs. “I know. I hate waiting, but we probably don’t have long before someone comes and knocks on the door to see if everything’s okay.”

  “The stars at night, are big and bright…” I start to sing, trying to get my mind off of her, and her delectable body.

  “Deep in the heart of Texas,” she laughs, while singing. This is something we would do before we were ‘allowed’ to be together, and knew we couldn’t go any further than hand holding.

  “God, I love you, Claree,” I tell her as I rinse her hair and start to condition it. “You’ve been my girl for so long now and still, I find something new to love about you every single day.”

  “Oh yeah? And what’s today’s realization?” she asks.

  “You’re giving me another chance.”

  “You never lost your chance, Talon, we just lost our way and are finding each other again. Our love is true, we just have to guide it along the way and not forget about each other and what we mean to each other.”

  “Damn, how did I get lucky and get such a wise woman?”

  “You’re just lucky,” she shrugs her shoulders.

  “That I am, baby. Now, let’s finish getting you cleaned up, we still need to talk.”

  9

  Talon

  I get her out of the shower, dried off, then carry her back to her bed. Her mom brought a fuzzy pair of pajamas that don’t get in the way of her IVs, and I made sure they grabbed her favorite socks, which I put on her before tucking her back in. “Sit by me?” she asks. I look at the bed and then at her.

  “Not sure there’s enough room.” I’m not huge per se, but that hospital bed barely looks big enough to hold her, let alone me. Making my decision, I pick her back up and sit her in my lap, pulling a blanket across the two of us so she doesn’t get chilled. “There, this’ll work,” I tell her, gently brushing her hair back from her face. Fuck! Her hair’s still wet! “Hang on, we need to dry your hair, baby.”

  Her look is incredulous. Kind of a cross between laughter and a pout. “Just braid what’s left of it, Talon. I can tell it’s shorter on one side so it won’t take long to dry, and you said we had to talk.” She taught me to braid her hair when we first got together, every once in a while she’ll ask me to do it for her, and it always makes me think back to the first time.

  *

  “Talon,” she calls my name as we’re sitting on her parent’s couch watching a rom-com. Don’t ask me the name because I lost interest a long time ago.

  “Yeah, baby,” I respond.

  “My hair is in my eyes, could you braid it for me?”

  “Do what now? I don’t know how to do that shit, Claree,” and I don’t, my mom does that shit for my sisters.

  “It’s easy, I’ll teach you!” she exclaims, jumping up off the couch and running towards Shelby’s room. She comes back out with one of her sister’s dolls in one hand and a brush and hair ties in the other. “You can watch me and do mine while I do the doll’s.” I hold back rolling my eyes, because if my friends could see me now, I’d lose my street cred.

  “When I said I’d do anything for you, I didn’t mean your hair,” I tell her.

  “Chill out, Talon. No one has to ever know that you do this for me. Plus, it would mean the world to me if you did this,” she says as she gives me those puppy dog eyes that get me every time.

  “Fine, how are we going to do this?” I question.

  She plops down between my spread legs and brushes her hair. “Okay so we have to split it in three sections….” step by step, I learn to braid hair. It’s not as neat as hers, but I think I did a pretty damn good job if I say so myself. She leans back into my arms and lays the doll down. “Thank you, now you can practice and eventually I won’t have to give you instructions,” she teases me.

  “I don’t mind instructions,” I say nipping at her earlobe.

  “I’ll remember that,” she breathlessly replies. About that time, I hear Chief coming down the stairs, and practically throw her out of my lap, and next to me on the couch. I grab a pillow and throw it over my ever growing hard on.

  *

  “Remember the first time I braided your hair?” I ask her.

  “I remember, I also recall being thrown through the air,” she jokingly replies.

  “Hey now, your dad scared the shit outta me back then.”

  “He still does, Talon.”

  I scoff at her words. “Naw, I just let him think that, baby. He stopped scaring me years ago when I realized his bark was worse than his bite.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, handsome. I’m positive he knows ways to make life painful.” I instinctively grab my junk, that seems to be what he threatens the most when it comes to me. He’s also threatened to scalp me a time or two, but I doubt that Trinity would let him do any permanent harm…at least I hope tha
t’s the case. I’m sure if he did attempt to hurt me, my mom would get her handy pliers out and scare the shit out of him before he had the chance to complete the job. My mom is still the running joke of the club, she threatens to pull them from her purse and the men suddenly become pliant and act accordingly, my siblings, Dad and I are no exception to those threats.

  So yeah, I know he does. We’re not that kind of club, but Chief could put a world of hurt on folks if he wanted to, that’s for sure. I mean, thinking about what ‘happened’ to the officers who were on the take is enough to make me cringe. How five men managed to ‘fall’ down a flight of stairs is beyond me. I suspect they met the business end of his, and a few others’ fists. At least the department is clean now, and that’s the most important thing of all.

  “Think of it this way, if this little one,” she says, rubbing her belly, “is a girl, you’ll already be an expert at braiding her hair.”

  “Oh, hell to the no! No girls, nope, ain’t happening!” I can’t imagine having a daughter who looks like my wife, I’d have to keep a handgun on me at all times and have several shotguns lined up on the coffee table when she’d bring over boys…you know, that would be the time that they would all need cleaning and shit.

  “Ah, baby, Steel needs a little sister to grow up and protect!” Fuck, she’s trying to make me bald and crazy at the same time.

  “No, he doesn’t. Someday, he’ll have an old lady that he can protect,” I reply, pulling her close. “No girls, Claree, I mean it,” I state emphatically. “I don’t know how our dads do it,” I state.

  “It’s not easy, they end up with punks like you,” Chief says, entering the door.

  “Whatever, I’m a joy and you know it,” I tell him, ruffling his feathers.

  “Joy? Ha!” he squints his eyes, “more like the devil who swooped in and stole my little girl from me.” I roll my eyes, because he’s a little dramatic when it comes to his girls.

  “Dad, if you thought Mom would’ve allowed it, you would have sent me to a convent,” Claree says. “Hell, I’m still concerned about Shelby and Cora and their future where dating and boys are concerned.”