by Rae B. Lake
“I won’t tag along if that is what you are worried about?” I said trying to read him.
“No you’re coming, matter closed. I’m just waiting for you to ask about the drop. As my treasurer, I would think you would be more concerned about how much was taken.”
I shook my head and looked in the opposite direction. He kept calling me the treasurer and as much as it was true that his word was law there were some issues not even he could get around.
I couldn’t ride, which meant I couldn’t do my duties and if I couldn’t do both of those then I couldn’t hold a seat. I was only still in the crew because I was a first generation member.
“Wire, I respect your word, I understand what you’re trying to do but I know where I am right now. I know what needs to be done, the club needs to go on. I can’t be treasurer if I can’t ride, it’s just not possible.”
Wire was a good man, a loyal man and he held no punches. He knew I was right. I was a liability more than ever in the condition I was in. There was no way that he would be able to let me keep my seat.
“You’re right. Fine, I will let Storm hold onto it in the meantime but the minute that you’re one hundred percent, that chair belongs to you. No matter how long it takes.” He slapped me once on the shoulder and went to open the door behind me. My time in church was done.
I turned the chair preparing to roll back to the room I had been given, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. “Wire, I know I have no place even asking but,” I turned around to look at him, “how much was taken?” It had been my job to know exactly what was coming in and out of the clubhouse for the majority of my life, I wouldn't be able to think about anything else besides the money until I knew for sure how much was missing.
He dropped his head down and rubbed the back of his neck, stressed out, “Between Storm and Prez, they made off with over four million dollars.”
If my soul wasn’t attached to my crippled body it would have jumped right out of my seat.
“What the fuck! In cash?”
“Yeah, it seemed like it was orchestrated too, they got both of them in the same way. We set it up for both drops to be moving at the same time.”
“Why the fuck would you do that? Why would you guys move that much cash at once in the first place?”
He stood up straighter and glared down at me, “Well our treasurer and the man who usually handles all of our cash was too busy laying up in bed to assist in the planning so we just fucking winged it.”
Fucking hell. Now, there was something else that I needed to think about. How it was potentially my fault that the club lost millions of dollars.
“Yeah, well next time if you don’t fucking know, come ask. Shit, if they know we rolling around with that much money they’re going to be gunning for us. “
“We’ll be ready.”
I turned and rolled out of the door, I hoped that he was right. This could turn into a shit show if we didn’t watch our backs.
Chapter 8
My eyes popped open and for the second time that day, I woke up startled and gasping in panic. The sweat poured off my brow and my heart raced in my chest, I looked around the dark room to get my bearings.
I was having a fucking nightmare.
I took a few deep breaths but it only took a second for me to figure out why I had woken up so suddenly.
Pain.
The pain was so intense that I couldn’t think of anything else besides the incredible ache. I tried some breathing exercises they tried to teach me while I was in the hospital but that shit was not working. I reached over towards the nightstand that used to be there, the same one I had broken earlier in the day. I had no idea where my pain medication was but I felt like I was dying and those pills were the only lifeline I had.
“Fuck!” I slammed my hands down on the bed and balled the sheets in my fists. I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek trying to draw my attention away from the pain in my body but it was no contest. I had never felt a pain like this before in my life. I threw my arm over my mouth and I screamed out in pain. I didn’t want to wake anyone else up but there was no way that I could hold it in.
A light flicked on, temporarily blinding me in the process.
“Ryder? What’s wrong? Are you ok?”
Cherry.
“Do I look fucking ok?” I growled in her direction.
I heard her footsteps stop, she was going to leave.
“No wait,” I blinked a few times trying to get my vision back before I turned my head back towards her, “don’t leave, I need help.” I was in enough pain that I would’ve begged if it meant she would stop the pain.
She rushed over to where I was. “What is it, do you need me to get Mikki or Doc?”
I shook my head, I didn’t want to cause all that commotion, I just wanted to take the pills the doctor gave me. “No, just help me find my medicine, I must have dropped it somewhere this afternoon, it has to be here on the floor.”
Without another word, the woman dropped down on her hands and knees to search for the pills. It was almost as if my body knew that relief was so close. The pain seemed to double in the few seconds that Cherry had been in the room searching for the meds.
It felt like my head was swaying back and forth and bile threatened to spew from my mouth, I was about to pass the fuck out from the pain. “Cherry, please.”
“Oh, babe, I’m coming I swear, I’m going as fast as I can. I don’t see them.” I heard her shuffling frantically on the floor moving the few items I had around trying to find the small orange bottle. “Got it!” She exclaimed before she popped back up and opened the bottle for me.
I took three pills out of the container and tossed them into my mouth, it was triple the recommended dose but I didn’t feel like I was in the normal amount of pain.
“Let me get you some water.” Cherry ran out the door and back in a few seconds later with a glass of cool water for me to sip. She had a wet rag in her other hand that she was trying to wipe my face with it. Everything in me wanted to push her through a wall.
“Cherry, stop. I’m fine. You can go away now.” I grunted and ground my teeth through every word I said. I had taken the medication but they hadn’t kicked in yet, the pain was still at an intolerable level.
“No, Ryder. I’m not leaving right now, curse me out if you want.” She shrugged waiting for me to attack, but I didn't have the energy.
“I’m not going to curse you out, stay if you want.” I slammed my head back onto the pillow, I would do anything right now to be knocked the hell out.
“Is it your back, what is bothering you?”
“No it’s not my back, it's my body.” I groaned and tried to lock my body down, I had begun to tremble and the more I moved the more it hurt.
“What do you mean like your stomach? Your chest?” She asked again lightly swiping her petite fingers down my body. I looked down at my stomach and it was like my brain couldn’t register where the pain was coming from, there should be no pain.
“No, my legs. My legs hurt.”
Her face scrunched up in a confused manner before she looked down at my limp lifeless appendages. “But how?” She asked quietly.
I understood her confusion, I was confused myself. I still couldn’t even move a single toe on my foot but it felt like someone had an open torch to everything from my navel down, every muscle fiber felt like it was on fire. Pins and needles but on hyperdrive.
“I don’t know, I don’t fucking know.”
She swiped a finger down my thigh and looked back up to my face, “Did you feel that?”
“No Charity, I can’t feel shit besides the fucking pain.” I closed my eyes and clenched my body harder. This was no way to live, I didn’t think I was going to be able to take this, now I knew for sure that I couldn’t. I wasn’t cut out for this life.
“Look, I am not a doctor so I don’t know much but you look tense as hell, can I try something? Maybe if you relax a bit the pain will ease a bit.”
“Does it look like I can relax a bit?” I asked I could feel the lid on my rage threatening to blow off. If I could calm down I would do it, if I could make the pain go away I would do it. If I could walk I would do it but I couldn’t, I didn’t have any control over my body.
She raised a hand to ease me, “Can I try something? I promise I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do but I know you are always relaxed when we lay together. I’m not talking about fucking just me laying down with you. You want to try?”
I looked at her like she was stupid, why the fuck would that put me at ease? Cherry was one of the most gorgeous women I had ever seen in my life, athletic dancers body, full dark long hair, cat eyes and a pouty mouth that I loved seeing wrapped around my dick. Just thinking about her laugh used to be enough to get me hard. Now I couldn’t get hard if my life depended on it and she wanted to lay with me. I couldn’t do anything but get frustrated.
I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes, “Cherry I can’t do anything, I can’t…” I let the words drift off into the wind. I couldn’t even bring myself to say them.
“I don’t want that, I just want you to hold me.” She brought a gentle hand to my face her beautiful dark brown eyes gazing into mine. A soft begging expression on her features, “Can you just hold me, Ryan?”
My given name tumbling from her lips paired with the vulnerability she was showing chipped away at the anger I was holding onto. I wanted to say no, I knew I should say no but I couldn’t. “Fine, but if I get uncomfortable, I’m kicking you the hell out. Understand?” I asked as I laid back down.
“Yes, if it isn’t working, just let me know I and I will go back to the community room.” She untied her robe, she had only a long t-shirt like nightgown on, the small string straps the only things keeping it up. I groaned. She was too god damn sexy and my frustration at my body for not reacting how I wanted was starting to grow.
She pulled back the covers slightly and crawled into the bed, it was so strange to not feel her legs settled between mine like they always did. She moved my arm so that she could lay her head on my chest and I pulled her in closer to me. Her hand rested on my chest and she absentmindedly played with the light hair she found there. It was so normal.
“This ok?” She asked after a couple of seconds.
“Yeah, it’s cool.”
I didn’t know if it was the medication that I took or Cherry but all of a sudden, I’d begun to feel more at ease and the pain began to recede.
I yawned and tugged her in closer to me, cuddling more into her soft skin.
“Go to sleep, I won’t leave until you tell me to.” She whispered on the very cusp of her own consciousness.
It was the best sleep I’ve had in weeks.
Chapter 9
I woke the next morning to find that Cherry had left sometime during the night. One of the best things about Cherry was she always knew when it was time to go. The last thing I wanted to do was entertain someone as I tried to position myself on the toilet. It was a long process and one that I didn’t really want any company for.
There was a knock on the door and Medi made his way into my room. He was there to help me with my daily activities. I hated him but I needed him. He washed my body up to the places I could reach and after he washed me, he helped me put on some clothes and then he would leave for the day. I had yet to allow him to work me out like he was supposed to be doing but the pain I experienced last night was enough for me to stop him on his way out.
“Medi, you got a minute?”
He turned around and waited for me to speak.
“Last night, I had some really fucked up pain in my legs. Is that normal?”
He cocked his head to the side and rubbed his chin like he was deep in thought. He raised his hand so that I could see that he was about to sign something. First, he made a knife stabbing motion then he made a pulsing motion with his hand. For someone who didn’t talk he did a good job of getting what he wanted to say across.
“It was more a feeling of pins and needles like my muscles were asleep. But it was so fucking intense, I don’t think I have ever felt anything as crazy as that. At least not while I was fucking conscious.”
Medi nodded his head and put a finger up, he walked out and was back in a minute with Mikki. He motioned for me to tell her what I had just told him.
“Something going on Ryder?” Mikki asked from the door. She wasn’t going to spend more time with me than she had to.
“Uh, yeah I was telling Medi that I had some bad pain yesterday in my legs.”
Medi tapped her and made an explosion like movement with his hands and then a movement that looked like he was flexing.
“Yeah, maybe,” Mikki replied to him.
“It’s no big deal, I was just trying to figure out if it was normal. I’m fine.”
“It was pins and needles?”
I let out a sigh, I was already tired of explaining myself, “Yes, it was pins and needles but I’m fine now. Don’t worry about it.” I took the brakes off my wheelchair and tried to roll past them.
“Wait, Ryder, I was just trying to make sure that I had all the information.”
I backed up and waited for her to tell me whatever she was thinking.
“Your accident and the trauma you experienced is the only reason you can’t walk. It takes time for your body to heal. Time also allows your nerves to start to healing, for some people that means they can learn to walk again.”
I rolled my eyes, I wasn’t a subscriber to blind hope until I saw some evidence that said I was getting my legs back I wasn’t going to believe that. “Tell me Mikayla, is that the norm? Have you seen many people with injuries as bad as mine recover enough that they would be able to walk again?” I waited for her answer even if I already knew what It would be.
She shook her head, “I can’t say that I have, more commonly the nerves are just shooting off random pain signals but the body can’t do anything to relieve it. Unfortunately, that’s also a possibility for what you were feeling last night.”
“So you’re saying this is probably going to happen again?”
“I’m sorry Ryder, I know it's not something you want to hear.”
Medi tapped her again a little harder, he flexed again then made another few signs that I couldn’t decipher.
“Medi believes that you’re getting stronger, he says he believes in his heart that you will walk.”
“Yeah, well he and his mute heart can believe that shit outside of my room.”
With that, both of them turned around and left. I didn’t have the time for pipe dreams and that was all they were selling.
The next day I rode along with Storm to some of the pickup points just to make sure no one was going to try and mess with him.
“I don’t know why the fuck Wire has you out of the clubhouse, I told him I could make the pickups by myself. I don’t need a motherfucking babysitter.” Storm spoke more to himself than to me.
“I couldn’t care less about what you need, kid. We are losing money by the fucking truckloads, so whatever needs to be done to make sure that you ain’t jacked again, is what the fuck I’m going to do.”
He snickered and turned down the road that led to Satin Wings. It was our last pick up of the night.
“What the fuck is funny?”
“You, that’s what’s funny old man.” He glanced at me for a second before focusing back on the road. “You think you’re any type of back up for me? You ain’t, you’re nothing but a fucking liability. Tell me what the fuck you’re going to do if we get into some shit, rollover their foot? Get us good handicap parking? What are you going to do?” He laughed harder all the way until the moment I reached over and yanked his head to the side using his hair as a handle and used my other hand to hold his leg down on the gas, the truck fishtailed slightly as he tried to get the vehicle under control.
“That’s the problem with you young motherfuckers, no fucking respect. I was making drops before you go
t your first piece of ass, and you think you know better than me because you can walk and I can’t?” I screamed as I slammed his head down against the hard steering wheel one good time. “I’ve forgotten more shit than anyone could ever shove into that small mind of yours.”
The van swerved dangerously again, Storm was starting to panic.
“Another lesson for your dumbass, never go up against someone who has nothing to live for. I don’t give a fuck if I die today but I will make sure you’re rotting in your grave before I ever let you disrespect me like that again. You got it?”
Storm didn’t say a word, the blood from his nose pouring down his shirt. Both hands tightly gripping the steering wheel trying to make sure that we stayed on the road. “I asked you a fucking question boy!” I bellowed and pressed down on the leg that was pressing the gas.
“Yeah! Fuck! You got it, Ryder, that’s my bad.” He yelled back at me.
I let go of his leg and his hair and just glared at him for a second. Almost daring him to do something stupid like swing on me.
I sat back after a second, “That’s a good man. Now let’s get to the club, we’re already twenty minutes late.”
Storm used his sleeve to put pressure on his nose all the while cursing me out under his breath. He stopped in the parking lot right behind the back door and jumped out of the truck not even bothering to help me unload my chair or help me into it.
I reached over to the space between the two seats and pulled the folded chair up and pushed it out my door. It bounced hard but luckily righted itself. I was able to get myself into the chair with a bit of effort but I’d done it all myself. I rolled into the posh strip club and went to the back room. Where Maven was already trying to help Storm get the blood from his nose to stop bleeding.
“Hey Maven, everything good here today?”
“Yeah, Ryder. There were two bachelor parties here last night so the pickup should be big.”
“Good, I like getting more money.” I looked around the small room, “Where’s Cherry, she at another location today?”
