MARRIED TO MY MASTER

by Nicole Fox

  “I’m not too late for anything, Rodent. Maybe if you cooperate I’ll make this easier on you than you deserve. But right now, I’m thinking that you need your skull broken.”

  He just continued to cackle at me, laughing at my face.

  “You don’t even know, do you? That’s rich. You dumb motherfucker, I can’t wait until you see her—”

  I strode over to him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. I slammed him back against the house. From my periphery, I could see his guys starting to move toward me—until my boys stepped up. They had knives and bats on them and I knew that they probably looked intimidating as fuck to these fuckers. They backed off, and I smirked at Rodent, who just continued to cackle.

  “Your boys are bitches,” I said. “Where’s Ana? And I’ll be nice when I end your miserable life.”

  “The bitch is inside. I gave her a little something of what she deserved,” he bragged. “I got her in my bedroom, on my bed, all nice and—”

  I lost it.

  Something in me snapped at the implication. I was already livid. Hot. But just the thought—

  My hands wrapped around his throat as I held him against the house. He clawed and thrashed at me, trying to get him off of him. He was a strong littler fucker and his struggle wasn’t light. But I was big, and I was angry, and I wanted this man dead.

  His face got redder and redder the longer that I squeezed his throat. It felt good to have his neck under my hands and his sputtering was satisfying. My boys behind me kept his men away from me while I did this. Red to purple to blue. Until there was no light or life in his eyes left.

  When I let go of him, I let him fall to the ground. There was silence as I breathed in and out deeply, trying to steady myself and rein myself back in. When I thought that I was fine, I turned to Rodent’s boys, who all looked at their dead leader with little to no care—they seemed more afraid of what I was going to do to them than caring that I had killed him. They hadn’t even tried to save him.

  “If you assholes know what’s good for you, you won’t stop me, and you’ll clear out before I feel like you deserve the same shit that he got.

  They scattered.

  I stormed into the house after that. My number one priority was Ana— it had always been Ana.

  “Ana!” I shouted through the house. I got a couple of groans from the junkies that were scattered around, some that told me to shut the fuck up, that I was far too loud. I kept shouting anyway.

  “Ana?!” I busted open door after door, until I got to the room at the end. I halted in my tracks when that door was opened.

  Ana was lying on the filthy floor, bleeding. Between her legs. The red that I had seen before was nothing compared to the red that I saw then, and then the realization that Rodent had been right.

  I had been too late.

  I rushed to her side. She was so fucking pale and clammy. Her skin was wet to the touch with sweat.

  “Ana? Ana, come on, talk to me.”

  She groaned a little in response, going to roll over. “Griz ...”

  “It’s okay, Ana. I have you. I’m going to take care of you.” I hoisted her up as carefully as I could in my arms. Some of her blood got on me, and my stomach sank.

  What the fuck had he done to her to cause that kind of damage?

  Ana needed more than I could give her. She needed a hospital. Now.

  I carried her out of the room quickly, my focus singular and my purpose one-minded. Some of the other Butchers were inside, toeing at the people that were already in there and making sure that they kept themselves in line. I was appreciative of that. That was something that I could handle.

  “I need to take her to a hospital,” I said. “Now.”

  Ana was loved by everyone under me. I could see it on their faces as they saw her state that they were in shock and angry with her state. But they didn’t impede me as I moved through the house, taking her to my bike.

  “What do you want us to do, boss?”

  “Yeah, tell us what you need.”

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t have time to think about what I needed aside from Ana being okay. I needed that more than I needed to be alive right now. Ana was the one thing in my life that I knew I couldn’t live without. I needed her to be safe, and in many regards today, I had obviously fucking failed her.

  I sat her on my bike in front of me, so that I could be certain that she wouldn’t fall off or be harmed on the drive from the drug house to the hospital. In true fashion, my boys followed behind me, their rumble the only comfort that I had in that moment while Ana slumped in front of me.

  I couldn’t believe that I had let that bastard get to her.

  Let him touch her.

  Let him hurt her.

  If she even wanted to see me again after this, I would make sure that something like this never happened to her again. Ever. I would stay away if she wanted me to. I would give her space if that’s what she needed of me, but I would never, and I vowed ever, let another man bring harm to her again.

  I would die before I let that happen.

  Chapter Nineteen Grizzly

  We booked it to the hospital, making record time. I held Ana tight in my arms as I burst through the doors. Kid was at my side, the others hanging behind because we all knew that we didn’t need to be clogging up the hospital.

  “Hey! Someone! We need help!”

  They weren’t coming fast enough. Eyes turned on us, wondering what the hell was wrong with us. I would give them something to have wrong with them, if they didn’t hurry the fuck up!

  “I need a doctor! She’s hurt! She—”

  “Sir, please, calm down.”

  An older man approached me, wearing a doctor’s coat and scrubs. He eyed Ana in my arms, and his eyes widened behind his spectacles.

  “My god ... Nurse!” He looked to me. “What happened to this woman?”

  “She was taken and kidnapped. She was—she. I think—she was—” I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, but the doctor seemed to get the message, nodding grimly.

  A couple of nurses came up, rolling over a stretcher. I placed Ana on it, not wanting to leave her. I held her hand.

  “Sir, we’ll take it from here. Are you family?”

  “No, I’m—”

  “I’m going to have to ask you to wait out here in the lobby while we take care of her. If you would—”

  “No, I need to go back there and make sure that she’s all right—!”

  “You need to follow our procedures, or we will call security. This isn’t going to help this woman. We will let you know when we understand what has happened to her.”

  Kid put his hand on my shoulder, nudging me. “Come on, boss. Let’s sit.”

  I didn’t want to. I watched as Ana was rolled away on that stretcher, away from me. I needed to be by her side. But then a thought occurred to me.

  Would she even want me by her side?

  She probably wouldn’t have even been in this situation if I hadn’t asked her to come back with me. She would have remained out of the spotlight to Rodent, and he probably would have fucked with me, but he wouldn’t have fucked with her.

  With a sigh, I let Kid tug me over to sit. I buried my face in my hands, feeling more tired than I ever had in my entire life. I had ended this shit with Rodent; I doubted that any of his goons were going to go out and get revenge over him; they didn’t seem like the type to be that kind of loyal when it came to who was leader and who wasn’t. And it wasn’t like there was a whole lot of stability that was going on in that house.

  We sat there for a while in silence before I had to walk and stretch my legs. Kid stood up with me, but I gestured him down.

  “I need to walk,” I told him. He nodded, for once not saying a word, and sat down.

  I stuck my hands in my pockets and roamed the hall listlessly. I didn’t have a destination in mind, I just needed to get on my feet and feel like I was doing something. I ended up at a vending machine and idly decided
to get myself something to eat. Occupy myself.

  The chips that I chose were stale as all hell, but I ate through them all like a fucking champion. I got a soda for me and a soda for Kid. When I got back, he was still sitting down. He looked up as I came over.

  “Anything?” I asked, hoping that there had been some sort of update on Ana’s condition.

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  I sat down and handed him over his soda. He took it without a word and popped the top open, taking a swig as I took a swig of my own. We were silent for a moment before he spoke.

  “I’m sorry, Grizzly.”

  I looked over. “For what?”

  “I saw him take her. And I dunno. I could have fought him or stopped him or something. Maybe let her get away before all of this happened. And now she’s here and she’s hurt and he—he did that shit to her. I should have done more.”

  He looked almost on the verge of angry tears again. I couldn’t be angry at him. I wasn’t—not even a little. Knowing Ana, she had told him not to get involved. She didn’t like people getting hurt on her behalf and she probably knew better than Kid that trying to fight some drug addict with a vendetta wouldn’t have gotten him anywhere good. I shook my head.

  “You don’t need to be sorry,” I told him. “I was the one that drove her away ... I think I should have just dealt with him when I first saw him again. Or something. I sighed. “Fuck if I know. I just need her to be okay.”

  “Me too, boss. Me too.”

  We got quiet again. I didn’t really think there was much that needed to be said, and I didn’t know if I could say anymore without losing my shit. We were waiting too long, I felt. Every time someone came out from behind the doors that they had wheeled Ana through, I looked up, only to be incredibly disappointed when it wasn’t the doc that had taken her back, nor was it Ana herself.

  I was sick with worry.

  I didn’t know how long we sat. Patients came and went and we still sat there, waiting on news about Ana. I had started to doze off by the time that the doctor came back out to us, walking over. He looked calmer than I had expected.

  Kid and I stood up. I wrung my hands tight and didn’t hesitate to speak.

  “Is she all right? Is she going to make it? What—what is there that we can do for her right now?”

  The doctor held his hand up to get me to stop talking. I didn’t know how much I liked that, but if he was going to give me information on Ana and how she was doing, I’d suck up my pride and just deal with it.

  “Let’s talk over here.”

  He nodded over off to the side, and Kid and I followed him. When we were out of the way of prying ears, he spoke.

  “I think that there’s been a small misunderstanding about the nature of Ms. Ana’s injuries,” he started. My brows furrowed.

  “What do you mean, confusion? I know what happened to her.” The doctor shook his head.

  “To initially put your mind at ease, Ms. Ana was not raped. In fact, she had no signs of any forced penetration anywhere. Which is a good thing,” he assured me, as if I needed it. He let me sit on that information and I found myself letting out a huge sigh of relief. The bastard hadn’t touched her! He hadn’t—

  But the elation only lasted for so long. Something had to have caused her to bleed like that.

  “Why was she bleeding like that, then? Her shorts ... I mean, women only bleed like that when there’s something wrong with their insides or ... I mean, I guess if she got her period, but she looks bad—”

  “That’s because she was injured,” the doctor clarified. “She had mild abdominal bruising and the slight trauma caused her some pregnancy distress. However, after multiple tests, we’ve determined that the baby is fine and as long as Ms. Ana is allowed to rest for the next few days, then she should be fine to return to her normal daily life, without too many precautions to take. However—”

  “Did you say pregnancy trauma?” I interrupted. “As in she’s pregnant? She’s going to have a baby?”

  The doctor tilted his head at me, amused. “I feel as though I’m spoiling the surprise for the father to be, but yes. That is what I’m saying. Ms. Ana is resting right now but she wanted me personally to inform you of this so that you wouldn’t worry. You can go in and see her—though do know that this is me breaking the rules a little. You seem like you’ve both been through a lot in the last few hours.”

  The doctor led me to the back, where they had taken Ana. I couldn’t believe it. Ana? Pregnant? Did that mean—

  It had to be. Ana hadn’t been with anyone else other than me since she had gotten here. We hadn’t exactly been careful, either. I didn’t remember using condoms with her. I hadn’t even thought about needing or wanting them, either.

  Beside me, Kid was in an equal state of shock.“Boss ... so, you’re gonna be a dad now? Holy shit ...” he muttered out.

  “Holy shit is right.”

  The doctor brought us to Ana’s room, holding the door open.

  “One at a time, boys,” he said. Kid hung back.

  “Get your girl, boss!”

  I stepped in.

  Chapter Twenty Ana

  The last few hours were a blur. Mostly, I remembered pain, and the fear that I had lost the one thing that I had thought would keep me going after leaving the Butchers.

  I had a lot of painkillers flowing through me, but I made myself stay awake to see him walk through the hospital door. Grizzly. The love of my life.

  How could I have ever thought that I could leave him?

  My hands rested on my belly, almost protectively. The doctor assured me that my baby was fine—a little banged up in there, but fine. I would need to be on bedrest for the next few days before I was cleared to go, but I was more than willing to be laid up in bed if it meant the safety of my child. There was only one more thing to fix, however, and that was this mess with Grizzly.

  He walked in, looking tired as all hell. I wondered if he had stayed at the hospital this whole time—he looked like he had, and he was wearing the same thing that he had been when he’d taken me from Rodent’s filthy den of drugs. That was comforting to me in more ways than one. I didn’t know if I could ever thank him enough. Without him, I didn’t know if I would have gotten treatment in time.

  “Grizzly—”

  “Is it true?” he asked. “Is it true ... what the doctor said? You’re pregnant? That’s why you were ... I mean, that’s what—”

  “Yeah, Griz. I’m gonna have a baby.”

  He breathed out, as if hearing this for the first time. He looked caught between disbelief and utter happiness.

  “This is ... wow ... holy shit ... I’m gonna be a dad.”

  There was something that swelled my heart, hearing how he didn’t even question the fact that this baby was his. He just knew. He trusted me. After a moment, he reached out, almost hesitating, before he slipped his hand over mine on my belly. He caressed there gently, touching where our baby rested. His fingers tightened in my hospital nightgown.

  “I—I’m sorry, Ana,” he said. “For everything.”

  “What do you mean, Griz?”

  “I thought—After you told me about the baby with Rodent, I thought that I understood why you kept trying to keep me at a distance after everything. I thought I knew what it meant. That you were still hung up, that there was too much hurt there for you to bear. It’s why I left and why I let you go. I thought that’s what you wanted. But ... Ana ... if you knew about this ... why did you let me?” He looked at me, confused. But I think I understood now.

  I took his hand in mine, turning it over and feeling it. It was rough from years of riding and work. Dirty from fighting his fights tonight. I smiled a little down at that hand and placed it back on my belly, before looking at him.

  “I thought that you didn’t want me,” I said honestly. “I thought, after hearing about the baby, that you had realized that I was the damaged goods I always thought that I was. Had another man’s baby. Lost it. Obvio
usly still shaken by it—”

  “I have always wanted you, Ana,” he said with conviction. “Always. I thought maybe you did too but ... I mean, you were with Rodent. And then you left. And then I found out about the baby and I thought that the best thing for you was to let you go. I thought there wasn’t a place for me with you.”

  “There’s always been a place for you with me, Griz. Always.”

  It felt good to finally say such a thing out loud. I had been holding it in for too long, too afraid to admit it to anyone—not to Grizzly, not even fully to myself to accept. But it was out in the open now, and the way that Grizzly looked at me told me that he felt the same way, too.