Demented Sons Series Volume One: Books 1-4 (Demented Sons MC Iowa)

by Kristine Allen

  They said the man was gone and the female wasn’t breathing, but she may have a faint heartbeat. Confused, I watched as they worked on her.

  At a loss, I knelt by Colton and kissed his head as he held his face in his hands and sobbed on his knees. He was so upset, he didn’t even register I was there.

  I watched as they loaded the woman on a stretcher, trying to keep her covered. The poor thing wasn’t even dressed. And there was so much blood.

  They called into the handsets of their radios to tell the hospital they were on their way and that she would need the surgeon. Then one of them yelled they were losing her as they rushed to load her in the ambulance.

  A policeman was talking to Colton outside, but he still wouldn’t talk to me. He sobbed my name, and I tried to go to him. It started getting so bright out, I could barely see him. When I yelled to him, he didn’t even look at me. I tried to get a policeman’s attention, but no one heard me.

  “Someone listen to me! What is going on?” I screamed.

  The light was so bright, it swallowed me. Everywhere around me was white. Then I heard murmuring, and a wave of calm and comfort swept over me. The disjointed voices said it wasn’t my time and I “still have things to do.”

  That was when it hit me that I was the broken and bloody woman.

  I had died.

  When that realization dawned, everything started to go black.

  “No! Wait! Where am I? What’s happening?”

  No one answered as the blackness engulfed me.

  My eyes opened with so much effort, as if my eyelids were weighted. They burned, and when I tried to look around to see where I was, I gasped in pain. Everything hurt.

  “Shhh. It’s okay, Mrs. Quinn. I’m right here. My name is Kristina. I’m your nurse.” She pointed to a small whiteboard that listed her as my nurse for the day. “Your husband will be so happy to see you’re finally awake. I hate to wake him since he hasn’t slept since they brought you to us after your surgery.” Looking toward the voice, I noticed a young nurse with a brunette ponytail hanging down her back, changing out a bag of fluids by my bedside.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said as she rushed out of the room. She returned quickly with a cup of ice and a spoon.

  “What happened? How long have I been here?” My voice croaked and my mouth was so incredibly dry, it was like I’d been eating cotton balls.

  The nurse turned to me with kind eyes, spooning a few pieces of ice and offering them to me.

  I allowed the cold chips to melt across my tongue. Nothing had ever tasted so amazing, and I closed my eyes in momentary bliss.

  “I don’t, uhhh… have a husband?” I questioned the nurse as I looked over at the dark head resting on the side of my bed. The man had my hand held in his, and his soft breath puffed across our clasped hands as he slept.

  “It’s okay, you may have gaps in your memory for a little while. You went through a very traumatic experience. Your husband has been fiercely protective and worried about you. He hasn’t left your side once.” She smiled warmly, and it reached her light hazel eyes. “I can only pray I find such love and devotion one day.”

  She placed a small box in my hand connected to the bed by a cord, telling me to press the red button if I needed anything and that she was going to let the doctor know I was awake so they could start pain meds I had control over.

  Huh?

  My right hand brushed back the long, dark hair that had fallen over the man’s face. Even that little movement made me gasp with pain.

  At my touch, sky blue eyes popped open, momentarily disoriented. He raised his head in surprise, his mouth slightly agape. His hand shot out and touched my face in a tender caress.

  “Stephanie? You’re awake! Oh God, baby, you’re fucking awake!”

  Colton… it was Colton. Here with me in a hospital. What the hell is going on?

  “Colton? What happened? Why are you here? For that matter, why am I here?” I knew I hurt everywhere, but I was so confused. Truth be told, there was no one I’d rather see when I woke, but I didn’t understand what was going on.

  “The nurse said you’re my… husband? Colton, what’s going on? What happened? Why are we here?” I needed answers, because I was starting to seriously freak out.

  “Baby, it’s okay. Don’t get upset. You’re making your heart rate shoot through the fucking ceiling, and you’ll have everyone running in here again.” He pushed his hair back with the hand from my cheek, refusing to let go of the one on the bed. “I lied. It was the only way they’d let me in here with you and the only way they’d tell me anything. Your parents backed me so they wouldn’t kick me out.”

  “My parents are here? And again? What do you mean, again?”

  “Jesus, you’ve had us so fucking worried. After you came out of surgery, you crashed. They said they were afraid that between the damage and the shock from surgery, you may not make it. They tried to kick me out because I lost my shit.”

  His eyes filled with tears before he looked away and tried inconspicuously to wipe them away. “You’ve been in a medically induced coma for what seems like forever. They brought you out of it this morning, but you hadn’t woken up yet. Your parents are here with Remi but have been taking turns with her at your apartment. None of us wanted her to see you like this. Your mom just went down to the cafeteria for some coffee.”

  He’d stayed with me through all of that? My heart began to flutter in hope.

  More than anything, I loved him, and I wanted him to know. Though I may not remember what happened, I knew I’d been through some shit. I needed to make sure he was aware of my feelings.

  “Colton…,” I started.

  But before I got a chance to tell him, the nurse came in and gave me something in my IV for pain until they could get whatever she said hooked up. It made me so tired, and my head was still killing me. My smile was weak as I tried to squeeze his hand.

  “Rest, baby. We can talk later.” He kissed my fingers clasped in his as my eyelids became too heavy to hold open anymore.

  I love you.

  THANK FUCKING CHRIST! SHE was finally awake.

  My stubborn heart refused to believe she would leave Remi and me behind, but the worry hovered at the back of my mind. Though I wasn’t sure there was a God, I’d prayed.

  She obviously didn’t remember what had happened. The doctors and nurses had said she may not. They’d explained that the mind could close off traumatic events and that the memories sometimes returned, sometimes didn’t.

  After seeing the state she was in when I found her, I fucking hoped she didn’t remember. Jesus fucking Christ, my heart would never be the same after that.

  I had no idea what all had happened, but she’d been covered in blood. When I’d held pressure on her side and covered her, it’d been impossible to miss all the cuts and bruises.

  The nurses had washed her the best they could, but her surgical sites were the only spots that were actually clean.

  A couple of days ago, I’d washed her hair over a basin. When I was done, I’d finger combed all the tangles from it. Through it all, I talked to her, but she’d remained unconscious.

  The nurse had said she may hear me even though she was heavily sedated. For days I’d sat and held her hand. I’d talked to her about Remi and trivial nonsense, anything that came to mind. The silence in the room had been nearly unbearable.

  My anger had exploded, and I’d refused to believe them when they’d said she may not make it.

  Fuck them. I knew my girl, and she was tough.

  She’d gone through a fucking pregnancy and delivery by herself as a single mom. She’d been raising our little girl all by herself, not knowing where the fuck I was.

  She was tenacious and loving with an amazing heart. She loved our little girl, and I fucking knew, if nothing else, she wouldn’t leave her.

  Yeah, I’d lied to the staff when I told them I was her husband, and I had zero fucking remorse for that shit. In fact, it had fel
t so fucking right when I’d said it.

  I wanted the woman for my own. Maybe she didn’t know it, and I didn’t know if she’d agree yet, but fuck if she wasn’t mine.

  Mine.

  The relief had been profound when the doctor told us she’d made it through surgery. Then she’d crashed, and my heart had plummeted. Her brothers had been on the phone with her parents at the time.

  It had been sheer emotional chaos.

  They’d had to keep her in a medically induced coma until the swelling in her brain from the beatings had diminished. They were also trying to give her body time to heal. Knowing the rationale behind what they were doing didn’t make it any easier.

  The rest the doctor told me had me seeing red. She’d been raped and tortured. Cut, repeatedly stabbed, and beaten, all before the final stabbing I’d witnessed. He’d told me there was evidence that had been collected and sent to the lab, but with the suspect dead, it was merely a technicality. It would simply rule out the involvement of others.

  If I hadn’t already killed him, I would’ve tortured his ass and then killed him. That piece-of-shit motherfucker.

  The rest of what they’d told me had stunned me, and I was a little nervous to tell her. I didn’t know how it had happened, but it did, and I prayed she wasn’t going to flip her shit when she found out. Yeah, I’d done a lot of praying for a nonbeliever.

  The guys had made the drop-off without me, and I’d felt like shit for letting them down. But I couldn’t leave her.

  Snow had understood, and they’d all come by the hospital before they left to see if there were any changes. Hollywood and Hacker had stayed with me, bringing me food I had little appetite for and trying to get me to let them take over so I could get some sleep and shower.

  Except I couldn’t fucking leave her. Never again, if I could help it.

  Speak of the devils. They both came barreling through the door, trying to squeeze through at the same time. I glared at them for being so fucking noisy.

  The cute brunette nurse came rushing over with a don’t-fuck-with-me look on her face as she confronted them both with a furious whisper.

  “If you disturb your sister”—she raised disbelieving eyebrows—“my patient, you won’t be visiting for the rest of her stay.”

  The two bikers had the balls to look sheepish. I almost laughed.

  “No shame,” I said as I watched the two of them gawking at her ass as she walked back out to the nurses’ station. They shrugged. Shaking my head, I smirked at the two of them.

  “She woke up,” I told them. “If you two assholes are done staring at her nurse’s ass, I’ll take y’all up on your offer to sit with her and use her shower. I feel like I’m nasty as fuck, and I smell like a bag of smashed assholes.”

  When Hacker took my seat next to her at the side of the bed, I shot a quick text off to her mom, dad, and brothers, letting them know she’d awakened briefly and was resting again. Her brothers had both been by earlier, then returned to the apartment to help their dad with Remi.

  The hot water was fucking amazing on my back, which was sore as shit from sitting in that uncomfortable-ass chair for days on end. My leg wasn’t feeling much better, and I knew I was going to suffer with it for sitting so long and letting it get stiff.

  Fucking A, I’d do it all over again for Stephanie.

  Quickly, I finished showering and dried off with the tiny fucking hospital towel. As much money as hospitals charged, you’d think they could get better towels.

  Wiping the condensation off the mirror with my forearm, I looked at my reflection. There were dark circles under my eyes. I hadn’t really slept in forever, so go figure.

  My beard needed a trim; it was getting a little long and starting to itch like hell. I may’ve rebelled against shaving, but I didn’t like having a big old bushy beard either. Shit, I needed a haircut too. Unable to do anything about it at that time, I slicked back the top and dressed in the only change of clothes I’d shoved in my saddlebags before I’d left home.

  Stephanie had her eyes open and was talking to her mom and Hacker when I walked out of the bathroom. The sight of his hand holding hers had me gritting my teeth. I’d turned into a jealous, greedy fuck when it came to her.

  “Quit trying to steal my woman, you fuck.” I tried to make it sound teasing, but fuck if I wasn’t a selfish bastard when it came to her affections.

  “Man, what the fuck ever! Like my little Stephie would want anything to do with your ugly ass anyway.” Hacker laughed at my scowl. “Easy. Down, boy. She’s like my baby sister, dickhead.”

  “Language, boys!” her mom chastised us from her seat at Stephanie’s bedside.

  Hacker winked at Steph but vacated the chair so I could sit by her again. I noticed Hollywood wasn’t in the room.

  “Where the hell did Hollywood run off to?”

  “He’s chasing Steph’s poor nurse around the hospital.” He laughed. “She went on break, and he insisted on escorting her down to the cafeteria. Horny little fuck. That girl isn’t going to want a damn thing to do with his ass, but hell if he sees that.”

  “My mom is right, you guys have terrible language. I don’t know if I should let my little girl hang around you. You may teach her bad habits.” It was good to hear Stephanie teasing and joking, even if she did sound raspy and weak.

  “Hey, my little princess doesn’t have any bad habits, and she’s above picking any up,” I said with mock growly disdain. Everyone laughed at that, and I couldn’t keep the smile from breaking out on my face.

  “There’re those dimples I love.” Stephanie reached out and touched my face as I sat in the chair Hacker had vacated. The slight wince as she moved didn’t go unnoticed.

  I grabbed her hand, holding it to my face. Her smile faltered for a second before her face flamed and she gave a nervous laugh.

  “Okayyyyyyy, then. I’m gonna go see if I can rescue that cute nurse from Hollywood’s dumb ass. I’ll leave you two for now. See ya!” Hacker quickly exited the room. I was surprised he didn’t stick around to give me more shit.

  Her mom stood up when he left.

  “I’m going to give you two some alone time. Do you need anything, sweetheart?” she asked her daughter.

  “I’m good, Mom. Thank you so much for taking care of Remi.”

  “Of course. You don’t need to thank us for that.” She gave Steph a kiss and then gave me a hug before she left.

  We quietly held hands as I considered what to say.

  “Stephanie, do you remember anything about what happened?” I was hesitant to ask her, but I needed to know where she was with all this.

  “I remember going out for my going-away party and getting home and the door not wanting to shut. Then I remember falling over and hitting my head, but that doesn’t explain why I hurt all over and all these bandages. And you said I had surgery. Colton, what the heck happened?” She bit her lower lip, looking worried and confused.

  I didn’t know what all I should tell her. The doctor said I shouldn’t push her to remember and to be careful if she seemed to be getting upset. I decided to gloss over the events until she could remember on her own.

  “Michael took you, Stephanie. He kept you tied up in an old construction trailer. He… uh… he hurt you, baby, and I’m so sorry for that. I should’ve been there. I should’ve protected you. I feel like I let you down.” My shame for failing her weighed heavy on me.

  On top of everything that’d happened, she’d died twice, and that gutted me.

  She was quiet for quite some time before she spoke again.

  “He took me? And he hurt me? God, did he… did he…?” Tears welled in her eyes, and she had a hard time finishing her question. Swallowing was difficult as I watched her twist the blanket in her fingers.

  “The doctors aren’t sure exactly what he did to you.” I had a hard time meeting her eyes. It was killing me. I didn’t want to have to tell her.

  Thankfully, she didn’t ask more. Maybe she was afraid of t
he answer.

  “I want a mirror.”

  “Uhhh, I don’t think there’s one in here.” Nervous, I hesitated. I knew she wouldn’t want to see her face. It was swollen on one side, she had two black eyes that were still puffy, bruises all over, and sutures along the side of her face in front of her ear.

  “Get me a mirror, Reaper!” Her use of my road name was a sure sign she was angry.

  Resigned, I went rifling through the small bag her mother had brought. At the bottom, I found a compact in her toiletries bag. Reluctantly, I handed it to her.

  “The doctors said it will all heal. It’ll take some time, but the scar will fade. That I know from experience,” I rushed out before she saw her reflection. Believe me, I knew how devastating scars on your face could feel.

  “Oh my God, Colton… I was so stupid. I should’ve listened to you when you were worried about him. Now I’m so disgusting. Filthy. I wouldn’t blame you for hating me. The things he must’ve done. I’m ruined, and you don’t deserve that.” Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, and she dropped the mirror to her lap as she averted her face from me.

  “Stephanie—” I said before she cut me off.

  “Please leave. I don’t want you to look at me. Good God, I’m fucking hideous.”

  “No! Don’t you do this to yourself! This was not your fault. You’re beautiful to me, and I do not hate you, nor could I hate you for something some stupid-ass fucker did to you! That will all heal.” She was pissing me off. She was fucking gorgeous inside and out, and I hated that she was feeling that way because of that asshole.

  “Go!” she screamed. Of course, that got the nurse running in there in a blur of turquoise scrubs, with Hollywood, Hacker, and Stephanie’s mother on her heels.

  “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave if you’re going to upset your wife. She needs to stay calm so she doesn’t tear any of her sutures.” The nurse was trying really hard to look like a badass. It was cute. Yeah, no fucking nurse was going to kick me out of my girl’s room.