Page 5 of Bliss, Part 2

Owen

We gave her all the time she needed.

Every minute of it. We didn’t rush her or expect anything from her. We expected her to just breathe. But even in the silence, even while she cried into my arms, we knew she needed more than time. She needed to be held. She needed to feel us, reminding her that she was back with us now. That she was safe.

Bliss had been trembling the entire time, and even though it shattered something in me to feel her like that, I knew this was helping her. I knew she needed to let it out, to let someone else carry the weight with her, even if just for a little while. The room was quiet except for her sobs, and not one of us said a word. We just sat with her.

It was almost an hour before she stopped.

Eventually, the guys backed away a bit, giving her space while still staying close enough to let her know she wasn’t alone. I looked down at her, still cradled against me, her small frame tucked under my arm.

I didn’t move too fast. I didn’t want to startle her. I didn’t want her to flinch. She needed to feel that nothing around her was a threat now.

“You need anything, baby? Water? Food? You gotta be hungry...”

She didn’t answer. Just kept her eyes on my shirt, her cheek still pressed to my chest. Her breathing was shallow and uneven. I could feel her trying to pull herself together.

She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and finally looked up at me. Her eyes scanned my face. She looked tired, confused, and full of something I couldn’t name.

It took a second before she asked, quiet and unsure, “Who found me?”

I paused. Her voice was so small that it broke my heart into a million more pieces.

“Do you remember anything?”

I asked gently, afraid to push too hard.

She nodded slowly.

“The forest.”

I nodded back, my throat tightening.

“Yeah...it was Gunpowder. Kenneth Burch. You remember him? From the shop.”

She frowned, processing it.

“The biker?”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

I smiled, trying to offer something comforting. I reached up, carefully cupping her cheek, my thumb brushing just below the dark bruise there. I avoided touching it.

“He found you and called an ambulance.”

Her face changed, probably thinking about whatever happened to her because the tears came back. She broke again, her body curling up in my arms.

“Shh,”

I whispered, pulling her close.

“It’s okay, baby. I got you.”

I looked around the room at the guys, and they looked back at me. We were all worn down, but we were all thinking the same. We were gonna get through this together. We had to.

About ten minutes later, Dr. Hansen came in.

He stepped inside the room and paused. He could see the way she was clinging to me, and I appreciated that he didn’t rush. He just looked down at the clipboard in his hand, then at me.

“Tripp, can you...?”

I nodded toward her.

“Yeah, of course, Dad.”

He stood up slowly, careful not to startle her, and slid into my place. She didn’t resist when he held her, and I gave her hand one last squeeze before I followed the doctor outside.

He shut the door gently behind us.

“It’s good that she’s awake,”

he said quietly, offering a small, tight smile.

“It’s a very good sign. We’ll give her space until she says otherwise. No need to overwhelm her.”

“Right. Thank you.”

He flipped one page on the clipboard, and his expression changed. I could tell he was trying to keep it professional, but the human part of him was still there.

“The results came in. Her blood shows a mix of substances. Likely sedatives. Enough to knock her out, lower her blood pressure, and cause her to lose consciousness. The amount could’ve killed her, but... she’s strong.”

“Yeah. She is.”

I dragged a hand down my face, trying to brace myself for the rest.

“Any signs of...”

I couldn’t finish the sentence.

Dr. Hansen gave a subtle nod.

“There are signs, but we haven’t done a full examination. We won’t unless she consents. It would help the police, though. We’ll send a trauma therapist up when she’s ready. No rush, though. Everything will happen on her terms.”

“Thank you, Doc.”

He nodded again.

“Let me know when she’s ready to talk about what happened. We’ll take it from there.”

When I walked back into the room, Tripp was still holding her, and Bliss looked so damn small in his arms. I pulled the chair closer and sat beside her, gently rubbing her back. She didn’t flinch. That alone was enough to make me understand that our presence was enough for her right now.

Later that night, the nurse brought in food and water. We didn’t expect for her to eat, but Bliss surprised us, and she ate. Slowly and quietly, but she ate.

Dash and Rhys were beside her now. Dash was the steady one, praising her for every bite she took like it was the most important thing in the world. Rhys, on the other hand, did what he did best. He made her laugh, just a little. He cracked jokes about hospital food and how the water was probably the best thing on the tray. Bliss smiled, barely, but it was something.

She was trying. Even when her lips trembled, even when it looked like she might cry again, she held it together. Mostly for us.

That’s who she was. Always thinking about us. Always trying to be strong.

“No more?”

Dash asked gently.

She shook her head and placed a hand on her belly.

“I’m full.”

“That’s okay, baby. You did great. Better than I could’ve,”

Rhys said with a small grin.

“Not as good as Dad’s cooking, huh?”

he teased.

Another small smile.

Dash leaned in.

“You wanna lie down? I can help.”

“No,”

she said, a little firmer.

“I wanna sit.”

“Alright, sweetheart.”

He sat down and held her hand, and she let him. She leaned back into the pillow, her eyes scanning the room again.

“Are you okay?”

she asked us. Her voice was so soft.

She was so damn selfless.

“We’re alright, baby,”

I said, reaching for her foot above the blanket. I gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Don’t worry about us. We’re just glad you’re here.”

The rest of the night was quiet. We kept our voices low, and Bliss eventually started closing her eyes. She was fighting the sleep she desperately needed though, and I knew it was because she wanted to soak in the time she had with us.

But I told the boys to head home then. She was tired, and there was no use in staying awake when her body and mind wanted to shut off to rest.

“I’ll stay with her,” I said.

Odin stepped closer and leaned down to kiss her head.

“Love you, sweetheart. We’ll be back tomorrow,”

he assured her.

The rest of the guys said their goodbyes too, being sweet and gentle with her before heading out.

“Tell Kenneth to come by in the morning. It’s late. She’s okay. And he needs to get some rest, too.”

Odin stopped at the door and nodded.

“Yeah. Goodnight.”

When it was just me and her again, I moved the bed controls, gently easing her back into a more comfortable position. Her eyes stayed on me, watching every movement like she was afraid I’d vanish.

I tucked her in and brushed her hair back, then kissed her forehead before settling into the chair beside her.

“Get some sleep, sweetheart. I’m right here.”

Her eyes were still glassy, her expression distant.

I hated whoever caused her to feel this way. My baby wasn’t herself right now, and it was breaking me.

“You want water, baby?”

She shook her head.

“No, thank you, Daddy.”

I smiled softly.

“Alright. Just let me know if you need anything, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

She paused, her brows furrowing before asking, “Where will you sleep?”

“Don’t worry about me, baby. I’ll be fine.”

She closed her eyes for only a moment before looking up at me again. Her lips trembled again, and my chest squeezed but not in a good way.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“I remember.”

I sat forward. My heart was pounding.

“You remember what happened?”

She nodded, eyes watering until one single tear rolled down the side of her face.

“You wanna tell me now? It’s okay if you wait. We got time.”

“No...I want to.”

My hand brushed through her hair, and I nodded.

“Okay. I’m here.”

She looked down at our hands, her voice shaking.

“I remember it being so hot. I was walking back to the parking lot and...this m-man...”

She stopped and took a shaky breath before continuing.

“He said there was an oil leak. T-that I had to walk around the back. So I did. Past the trailers. And it was so warm and...”

She sniffled and wiped her eyes with both hands.

“It’s okay, baby,”

I whispered.

“You’re safe now.”

She fought for air, her chest heaving. She was breaking down again, and I hated seeing her like this. It fucking broke.

“I think I fainted. It all went black. And when I woke up...I was un-under him. And it hurt, Daddy. It hurt so b-bad.”

I pulled her into my arms, holding her as tightly as I dared. My eyes burned, my chest tight with pain and rage. Every emotion swirled at once, and I felt like I was going to fucking burst.

That was it. That was fucking it.

Whoever did this, whoever thought they could lay a hand on her and get away with it, they were already dead in my mind. I’d find them. I didn’t care how long it took, I didn’t care what it cost. They were going to pay for this. Every second she suffered, every tear she cried, every bruise and every scar—they were going to pay for all of it.

“I’m so sorry, baby,”

I whispered against her hair, trying to keep my voice steady, even though it cracked halfway through.

“I’m so fucking sorry this happened to you. You didn’t deserve any of it. You’re safe now. You hear me? We’re all here. We’re not going anywhere. Nobody’s ever going to hurt you again. I swear it.”

She didn’t say anything. She just cried quietly into my shirt, her small body shaking against mine. I could feel how exhausted she was. Her breathing slowed, and bit by bit, the tension in her limbs gave way to sleep.

She finally drifted off again, her tears still damp against my chest. I didn’t move.

I sat there, holding her like something sacred, my hand gently rubbing her back.

It was another night of no sleep for me.

I fucking couldn’t sleep. Not when I knew what the bastard did to her.

About where she’d been, what she’d gone through. What kind of coward you had to be to hurt someone like her. Someone kind. Someone full of light.

Shit, to hurt anyone.

That man was a monster.

I thought about how I was going to single-handedly find the one who did this. And how I was going to make sure he never got the chance to breathe again.

He was going to wish he’d never been born.

“I will never let anything happen to you. Ever again. I promise you, my sweet girl.”

***

That next day, right as the first visiting hour began, the guys showed up again.

This time, they didn’t come empty-handed. They’d brought an actual breakfast spread, just for Bliss. Cereal, milk, sliced bread, a jar of honey, some of her favorite jams, even a little container of butter. They’d thought of everything. She hadn’t asked for it, but they wanted her to feel taken care of. To feel normal and loved.

Bliss was still quiet. Still far from the version of herself we all remembered. The bruises were still there and looking at them keep the anger inside of me present. Her eyes still carried that cautious, heavy look, like she was still halfway stuck in a place she didn’t want to be. But when the guys started unpacking the food and setting it up on the small table by the window, I saw a small change in her. The smallest flicker of light returned to her eyes, and I could see the gratitude. Knowing that she mattered to every single one of us in that room made her feel better.

She sat upright in the hospital bed with her legs tucked under the blanket, a pillow at her back. She didn’t say much, but she let the guys hover around her, each of them taking turns offering something or asking if she needed anything. Rhys cut the crust off her bread. Dash poured juice into the paper cup. Ashby quietly placed a folded napkin in front of her like it was some five-star service. She didn’t smile much, but she didn’t stop them either. She let herself be looked after, and that was a start.

While they busied themselves around her, Odin and I stood off to the side, speaking in low voices with Officer Holloway and Dr. Hansen, who had returned to check in on Bliss and get an update on her.

I kept my voice low, but I didn’t hold anything back. I told them everything Bliss had told me the night before. About the man who had taken her. About how she fainted. The disorientation. The fear. The confusion. I didn’t dramatize it. I didn’t need to. The facts were enough.

Holloway took notes while I talked. She was focused, her expression set in that neutral, professional way, but I caught something softer in her eyes when she looked past me toward Bliss.

“That’s important information,”

she said once I finished. She looked up from her notepad.

“We’ve already tracked their trail out of town. We know where the carnival is headed. But this gives us more to work with. If we’re lucky, it’ll speed things up. We’ll find him.”

She paused, glancing toward the hospital bed where the others were gathered, and then back at me.

“She’s lucky to have a family like this,”

Holloway added, a small, tired smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

I nodded, not sure what to say to that. I wanted to feel proud, but I was still too raw to feel anything clearly. I was still too on edge, still too angry.

“Yeah,”

I said finally, my voice low.

“She is. But we’re lucky to have her too.”

Holloway met my eyes for a beat and then nodded once, her smile fading into something more serious.

“Have you talked to her about the examination yet? Dr. Hansen mentioned she hasn’t showered, so there’s still a window to collect the DNA. It’s not pleasant, but it could give us something to work with.”

I knew what she meant. I’d known it from the second Bliss first told me what happened. Forensic exams. Swabs. Samples. It was invasive. It was clinical. And it was probably the last thing Bliss wanted to go through right now. But it might be our only shot at physically linking the bastard to what he did.

I looked down, jaw tight. “Yeah,”

I said quietly.

“I brought it up. She said she’s okay with it.”

Holloway exhaled slowly, like she knew what that kind of decision cost a girl like Bliss.

“Good. The sooner we can do it, the better,”

she said.

“I’ll check back in later. Give her some time.”

I nodded again, and she left the room with a small nod. Dr. Hansen lingered just long enough to give us an update on her vitals. Then he left too, and I finally turned back to the rest of the room.

“Do you want another slice, Lissy?”

Dash asked, holding a piece of bread up for her to see.

“We’ve got more honey, too.”

Bliss shook her head gently.

“No, thank you,”

she said in a soft voice.

“But I would like more cereal.”

Rhys jumped up.

“Coming right up!”

he said, grabbing the cereal box and tipping it into her half-empty bowl.

“Shit,”

he muttered, laughing when it poured too quickly.

“That’s…way too much.”

Bliss looked at the overflowing bowl, then up at him with a calm little smile.

“It’s okay. I’ll eat it.”

Rhys grinned, relieved.

“Good, because no one else here’s going to touch it. Seriously, who likes Cinnamon Toast Crunch?”

“I do,”

Bliss replied, her nose scrunched.

He made a face.

“Well, you’re weird,”

he said, teasing as he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

“Eat up, sweet girl.”

That made her smile again. A real one, this time.

For a moment, everything felt okay. It was almost like things had gone back to normal, even though we all knew they hadn’t. It was all still hanging there. Everything that had happened, what we didn’t know yet, what still needed to be done.

But for now, we let the silence settle. We let the laughter happen. We let her eat her cereal and smiled at her like the world hadn’t come apart just days ago.

We were all pretending that this was over.

Pretending that we weren’t still scared out of our minds.

Pretending for her. And, in some ways, for ourselves too.

A soft knock at the hospital room door made everyone in the room glance up.

“Come in,”

I called out, stepping away from the bed.

The door opened slowly, and standing there in the doorway was Kenneth. In one arm, he held a bouquet of bright sunflowers that looked too cheerful for a hospital setting, and in the other, a teddy bear. It wasn’t just any teddy bear. It was dressed like him. The bear wore a tiny red bandana tied around its head, a small black leather vest with patches sewn into the front, and on its feet were miniature black boots. Someone had clearly gone through the trouble of personalizing it, and knowing Kenneth, he probably had the women in his club do it.

“Hey,”

he said, his voice low and rough. He looked around at each of us carefully before his eyes landed on Bliss.

“Hope it’s okay if I drop in for a minute.”

I glanced at Bliss to check in with her first. Her eyes were locked on Kenneth, wide with caution. She didn’t look scared exactly, but I could tell she was still figuring out where to properly place him in her mind. Trying to read if he was safe or not. That kind of trauma made everyone a potential threat, even the ones who’d done good.

“You okay with him coming in for a moment, sweetheart?”

I asked her gently, not wanting to pressure her either way.

Bliss didn’t say anything at first, just gave a tiny shrug as her eyes stayed fixed on Kenneth. Then she nodded slightly. “Okay.”

He stepped into the room slowly, respectful of the silence and the heaviness that still hung in the air. He didn’t rush toward her or say anything else right away. He just moved with calm, deliberate steps toward the foot of her bed. He set the sunflowers down by her feet, then held the teddy bear toward her. She took it carefully.

“I, uh…got these for you,”

he said after a second.

“The flowers felt right. Bright and strong, you know? Figured that suits you.”

He gave a small awkward shrug, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

“And the bear…well. I don’t know. Found it laying around the club and I figured I could throw a few things on it, make it a little more…me, I guess. Just a little something.”

Bliss looked at the bear, then at him. Her expression softened just a bit.

“It’s cute,”

she said quietly, her voice still raspy from days without much use.

“Thank you. And…thank you for saving me.”

Kenneth’s eyes flicked up to hers, and he shook his head gently.

“I didn’t save you, kiddo,”

he said, voice gruff but kind.

“I just did what any decent person would’ve done. You’re the one who held on.”

She looked down at the bear for a long second, her fingers brushing the soft fabric of its little bandana.

“Well,”

she said, so softly it was almost a whisper, “I don’t think everyone would’ve helped.”

That shut us all up for a moment.

Kenneth blinked slowly, his jaw working like he had more to say but didn’t know how to say it without it sounding like too much or too little. Finally, he just let out a breath and said, “Well…I’m glad I was there. That’s all.”

Another pause. This one felt easier, though. The tension in the room had relaxed just a notch.

Kenneth turned his attention toward the rest of us.

“Didn’t mean to interrupt anything. Just wanted to stop by, see her with my own eyes, and make sure she was doing alright.”

“She’s getting there,”

I said, stepping forward to shake his hand briefly.

“One step at a time.”

He nodded.

“That’s all anyone can do. Anyway. I’ll get out of your way. I’ll be back around if you need anything, alright?”

He looked back at Bliss.

“You ever want to talk or need anything weird or ridiculous delivered, like a motorcycle magazine or a burger with pickles and jelly on it, you just tell your father to call me. I’ll make it happen.”

A smile touched Bliss’s lips again, and she gave him a small nod. “Okay.”

Kenneth turned and headed back toward the door. Right before he stepped out, he looked back one more time.

“You’re tougher than most grown men I know, Bliss,”

he said simply.

“Don’t forget that.”

Then he disappeared through the door, pulling it shut gently behind him.

We sat there with the weight of what had been said.

Bliss held the teddy bear in her arms, and she didn’t let go of it the rest of the morning.