She pushes her head into my shirt and starts to sob. “It’s okay.” I run my hand down her back as Tate stands there looking down at her. I expect to see anger, but it’s not there. Just sadness as a tear runs down his face.
The nurse returns. “You’re not giving that to her,” I snap.
She frowns. “It’s Valium, it will relax her.” Angel lets out another sob in my chest. “It’s common for patients to have hallucinations once they wake from what she was given.”
I shake my head. “No.” Over my dead body.
She narrows her eyes at me as Angel continues to cry harder and harder. “She needs it.”
Tate rubs his hands over his face quickly and then wipes them on what’s left of his shirt. “You know...” Tate says getting the nurses attention. She turns to face him as he reaches down and pulls his ripped shirt up and over his head. The nurse’s brows lift to her hairline. “I think I will take that checkup now,” he says through gritted teeth. He doesn’t want it. He’s just trying to get her away from his sister.
She smiles as her eyes rake over his chest and arms, admiring his tattoos, and I’m sure his body as well. “Absolutely. Follow me.” Then she looks back to me with narrowed eyes. “I’ll be back to check on her.” She then leads Tate out of our room.
I try to pull away from Angel to look down at her but she clings to me, burying her face and body to mine.
I position myself on the side of her bed and pull her into my lap, just letting her cry it out.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SAMANTHA
“Give me that ring.”
“No,” I shout.
It’s gone. He has it.
“No. Please, no,” I cry.
“Shh,” I hear a voice say but it’s not Jax. It’s much smoother, loving. “It’s okay, Angel. I’ve got you. You’re safe now,”
Angel. Jax called me Angel.
I try to push away from him. My body says to fight him no matter how bad it hurts.
“Stop,” I cry. “Let me go,” I scream trying to push him away.
He lets go all of a sudden, and I fall back onto the bed. I open my eyes and look up to see baby blue eyes. The same ones I fell in love with. “Slade?” I choke.
He stares at me with caution. “It’s me, Angel,” he says softly and nods his head.
Angel. “Please don’t,” I whisper.
He frowns. “Don’t what?”
“Call me Angel.” Tears run down my face and my voice shakes.
His brows scrunch together. “I always call you Angel.”
My breath hitches, and all I hear is Jax saying Angel over and over. I can’t see him but I know he’s there—his hands on my neck—choking me. His hand making my face sting as he slaps me.
Slade raises his hand to my face, and I flinch. “No,” I cry out.
He snaps his hand back and stands taking a few steps away from me. I pull my knees up to my chest and take in a few deep breaths. I then look around the room to make sure we’re alone.
“It’s just you and me. There’s no one else in here,” he says softly.
I sob as I start to rock back and forth. “Where are we?” I ask shaking.
He frowns. “You’re in the hospital. Do you remember what for?”
I shake my head. I place my right hand over my left hand and hold on tighter. I push my legs out and lift my hands to my face when I feel my ring is gone. “No,” I cry. “He took my ring.”
“Give me that!” Jax screams.
Slade walks over to me and holds out his hand. “I have it, Ang...” His stops himself. “Would you like me to put it on for you?” he asks softly.
I nod my head and reach out, my hand shaking. He takes it softly and very slowly places the ring on my finger. It’s a bit tighter than usual. My eyes catch sight of the bruises wrapping around my wrists.
I hold out my hands to him, palms up. “Did you do this?” I ask, tears running down my face.
His face contorts into something painful. “You think I would hurt you like that?”
Would Slade do that to me? No. But why are they there? My wrists have a deep gash and are raw. Dried blood and dirt cover the wounds.
I shake my head quickly expecting his face to soften but it doesn’t. He just stands there staring at me as if he’s more confused than I feel.
My eyes snap to the door as it creaks open. Parker walks in trying to be quiet. He smiles when he sees me sitting up. Then it drops off of his face when he looks at Slade.
“Can I talk to you?” Slade says nodding to the door.
Parker nods.
Slade takes a step toward me, and I flinch. He stops. “I’ll just be right outside the door. Okay?”
I nod before him and Parker walk out. I sigh in relief when I see I’m alone. I lay my head back against my pillow and hold my hand to my chest. I continue to run my fingers over my ring to make sure it’s there.
I close my heavy eyes and try taking a deep breath.
I wake with a pounding headache. I don’t know where I am. Dark room with a musty smell.
I groan as my head throbs. I close my eyes tightly.
I wake up again and hear voices.
“It has to work.” It sounds like Jax but really far away. “Do you want to give it to her? Or shall I?”
Then another male’s voice. “You can. And it will.” He pauses. “Fill it up a little bit more.”
I close my eyes tightly and curl up into a ball. The pain won’t stop. It’s all over.
“Hello, Angel.” I feel something hard kick my side, and I groan at the pain it causes.
I open and close my eyes and shake my head trying to clear my blurry vision. Headache.
I open them and look up to see a man standing over me with a smirk on his face. Jax.
I try jumping to my feet to make a run for it when another set of hands land on my shoulders and pull me down. Jax’s laugh fills my ears as a hand fists in my hair holding my face down into a mattress. Can’t breathe.
“Hold her down,” Jax demands.
“I’m trying.” Then I feel him shove a knee into my upper back as he lets go of my hair and grabs my wrists before pulling them behind my back.
I lift my head from the mattress and scream.
“Nooooo!” I scream sitting up in a dark room. My heart pounds in my chest and sweat covers my body.
Someone jumps up beside me, and I hear a loud noise as something hits the floor. Then the room brightens from the lights being switched on, and I close my eyes.
I place my hand over my chest, and my heart beats so wildly it’s painful.
“Breathe. It’s okay, baby.” A hand touches my back gently.
I try to shove it off and move to the end of the bed when the hand grabs me and I’m pushed to my back.
“Stop!” I scream kicking my legs but something heavy is preventing them from making contact with the person.
“Look at me,” a male’s voice demands. “Look at me,” it shouts.
I take in deep breaths trying to calm down. The pain in my chest and the bright lights has my eyes held tightly shut.
The hands shake my shoulders roughly. “Open your eyes,” it demands once again.
I take in a deep breath and slowly open them to see Slade standing over my bed, both of his hands on my shoulders holding me down.
“Slade?” I sob out trying to see him through the tears. “Please. Stop,” I cry. His hands dig into my already sore shoulders. Why is he hurting me?
I try to wiggle free, but he holds on tightly. His fingers are digging into my already sore shoulders. “You’re hurting me.” My body continues to fight him.
I watch him look up to the other side of the room, and he nods his head once. Then his eyes are back on mine. He looks so lost, scared even. “It’s me,” he says softly as he starts to lift his hands from my shoulders. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
I sit up and wrap my arms around his neck and cry into his shirt. He slowly wraps his hands aro
und my waist and pats my back as if he’s afraid to touch me.
“It’s gonna be okay.” His voice breaks and a knot forms in my throat. Nothing is going to be okay. I don’t even know what’s happening to me.
I feel a cold sensation run up my arm, and I tighten my arms around him. “I’m not going anywhere.” His voice remains choked.
“Please,” I cry, not knowing what I’m asking for exactly. “Make it stop.”
“Shhh.” He starts to rock me back and forth as my eyes get heavy. I feel my hands loosen around his neck. I try to keep my eyes open but they are just too heavy.
*****
SLADE
I lay her down onto her back when I feel her body go slack in mine as the nurse exits the room. Once her head is on the pillow, I stand up and run my hands through my hair.
“You did the right thing,” Parker says softly from the far corner sitting back down in a chair.
“Don’t fucking tell me what I did was right,” I shout.
“Slade,” he cautions, standing once again.
“Don’t,” I growl staring at him. I point to her—now sedated. “How is that right?” My voice shakes from anger, from fear. “What if it hurts the baby? What if I hurt the baby?” My voice cracks. She will never forgive me, I will never forgive myself. I just wanted to stop her from hurting herself or from bolting from this room.
“It had to be done. This is about her safety,” he explains, trying to make sense.
I shake my head. “I should be the one keeping her safe,” I shout again. She thinks I was hurting her. I place my head in my hands.
“They said she will be better tomorrow,” he reminds me.
My head snaps up to glare at him. “And you fucking believe that?” I ask in disbelief. “You don’t think she won’t have nightmares of whatever the fuck he did to her?” I point my finger over at her. Did he not just see what I did?
He shakes his head. “I didn’t say that. I just said that the drugs will be out of her system. She will be easier to talk to.”
I turn to look as Tate walks into her room now dressed in a clean shirt. He takes one look at Angel sleeping in the bed and then his eyes land on me.
“Please tell me you didn’t.”
“He did,” Parker answers before I can. “He had to. She woke up screaming and fighting him. She was going to hurt herself. He did the right thing.”
“Stop saying that.” I fist my hands down by my side.
Tate takes a few steps closer to Parker. “So this was your idea?” he demands.
Parker looks him in the eyes. “Do you want her to wake up every fifteen minutes screaming her head off? Fighting whoever she sees, thinking it’s Jax trying to hurt her? Trying to run out of the room? Because I guarantee, that’s where she was headed. Then she will end up in a seventy-two hour lockdown for a psych evaluation. She could cause serious self-harm.” His voices rises. “For how much you two say you care about her, you don’t seem to wanna do what’s best for her.” With that he storms out of the room.
We stand there as the silence fills the room. “She woke up screaming?” Tate finally asks.
I nod my head bending down to pick up my chair that turned over when I stood. “Scared the fuck out of me.” I plop down in it.
He makes his way over to the couch once again and very carefully sits down. “I didn’t want to do it,” I say trying to not make him hate me. “She didn’t know where she was, or who I was.” I shake my head.
I remember her asking me if I left those markings on her wrists. I know our sex can get intense, but I would never hurt her that badly, to the point her wrists were raw and bleeding. It broke my heart that she even thought it could have been me.
Tate sighs getting my attention. “Then I guess you did the right thing.”
I want to feel better that he agrees with my actions but I can’t.
My head snaps over to the door when it opens once more, thinking it’s Parker returning to piss me off some more, when I see the nurse walk in with a smile on her face. “I need to redress your wound,” she says to Tate, making him roll his eyes as he stands and removes the clean shirt that Parker had brought him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
SAMANTHA
I open my eyes and look around at the white walls and small, uncomfortable bed I’m lying in. I recognize it being a hospital immediately. My eyes look down at my sore wrist, and I see the indentions of what looks like a thick strap had been wrapped around them. I place my hand over the IV trying to rack my mind of why I would be in a hospital. Memories start to come back of the parking lot at Larry’s. Jax throwing me into my car. I don’t remember things being said or why either of us were there. But I do remember slapping him while sitting in my car. After that things are pretty nonexistent until this very moment.
I look to my left when I hear a faint snore and find Slade slouched in a chair. My eyes move to the clock on the opposite wall in front of me and see it reads six thirty in the morning.
I look over to the window and see Tate on the couch directly under it. I actually crack a smile at how comical he looks. His long legs are hanging over the end of the couch. His wide frame is half off the side of the couch. His arm is hanging off the side and resting on the tiled floor. He shifts and the blanket that covers him pulls down revealing his chest to me.
I gasp and sit up quickly. The quick intake of breath making my chest ache and head pound.
“What’s wrong?” Slade asks, jumping up startled and looking around.
I ignore the pain. “Tate,” I point out as tears fill my eyes. “What happened to him?” I can’t take my eyes off of his chest. There’s a long white bandage that goes from his right collarbone down across to the left side. It looks like Zorro got a hold of him.
Slade runs a hand down his face and lets out a sigh before he falls back down into his chair. He places his hand over his forehead and looks down at his lap.
I watch him silently as he takes a few deep breaths and tries to relax his tight muscles. The vein in his neck is throbbing, and he shakes his head roughly. He takes a deep breath and lifts his head slowly to look at me.
I pull my eyes away from his stare, it’s unsettling. He looks angry, and I hate that I don’t know why.
I look down to my wrists again and feel tears well up in my eyes.
“You know I would never hurt you like that. Don’t you?” his voice wavers.
I look up at him, and my brows scrunch. “I know that. But why would you say that?”
He lets out a long breath as if he was holding it waiting on my answer. “You…” He shakes his head as if to change his mind about what he was going to say. “I just wanted you to know I would never hurt you.”
He slowly scoots his chair closer to my bed and places his hand on top of my blanket next to my arm. I reach out and place my hand in his and he lays his head back and sighs.
“I’m sorry I woke you,” I whisper. He looks completely drained.
His head snaps up to me, and his hard eyes lock on mine as he frowns. He leans up in his chair and brings his face to mine. He very slowly reaches his hand out as if he wants to touch my face, but he stops. I push my face into his hand and he lets out a heavy breath. “Don’t apologize, Samantha.”
I pull my head back as if he slapped me. He drops my other hand and straightens in his chair.
“You called me Samantha?” I ask confused. “You never call me Samantha.” The only time I remember him calling me Samantha was the first time I called him.
He nods his head. “You told me to not call you…uh, Angel.”
“I did?” I look down at my hands. Why would I do that?
“You don’t remember?” he asks quietly.
I shake my head.
He places his hand back on my face and lifts it gently to meet his. He looks at a loss for words, and I feel like I’m losing my mind. “Why can’t I remember anything?” I ask as tears runs down my cheeks.
He almost looks relieved by that q
uestion. When he doesn’t answer, I grab his hands and pull them away from my face. My eyes catch sight of the scratches and bruised knuckles. I bite my bottom lip trying to hold in the feelings that overwhelm me.
“I’m fine,” he says pulling away.
“You’re hurt. Is that because of me?” My voice cracks. Of course it is.
He shakes his head. “None of this is your fault. Okay?”
I nod for his benefit, but I know the truth. “What happened to him?” I ask again look back over to Tate.
Slade lets out a long breath as if he doesn’t want to tell me. “Jax pulled a knife on him.”
Knife? “Is he going to be okay?”
Slade nods. “Just some stitches. He’s good.”
“How do you feel?” he asks grabbing a hold of my hand.
“A little groggy,” I admit. “And a little sore.”
He nods his head. “How does your head feel?”
“I have a pounding headache.” It feels like it’s throbbing right behind my eyes.
“What happened?” I ask trying to remember as much as I can but nothing is there after Larry’s.
He sighs and looks down to his hand holding mine. The sound of the clock on the wall ticking has me more nervous by the second. What all could have happened that I can’t remember? I try to rack my brain, but it’s just too foggy. And then a thought hits me. “Have you already told me what happened?” I ask softly.
He shakes his head then looks up at me. His eyes hard, yet his voice is soft and full of regret. “I don’t even know what all happened, baby.”
I nod my head as I sniff.
“Hey?” He leans into me and speaks softly. “Whatever happened, we will get through it together. Okay?”
“Okay.” My voice shakes.
“It’s over. Everything is going to be okay.” His deep voice calms me a little.
I lie back and take in a deep breath. “You need to get some more sleep.” He stands and leans over kissing my forehead.
*****
A couple of hours later I open my eyes when I hear commotion and hushed voices talking.
The UN Series Complete Box Set Page 108
