Page 19

Jessikah

Watching as the nurse rolls Tina into my room.

She has asked that we be placed in the same room.

Now they are in the process of moving her in with me.

The nurse parks her beside my bed and turns to leave.

Tina watches the nurse leave before she slowly stands from her chair and gently climbs in the bed beside me.

“Are you sure you want me to move in with you? Can you handle all my crazy twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?” Tina quietly says, her head lying on my shoulder.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I answer, my voice scratchy. The doctor finally gave me the okay to start speaking.

When Tina was first wheeled into my room for a visit, we lost it.

We cried until the doctor came and sedated both of us.

When we woke up, Tina and I asked to be placed in the same room.

I explained the situation we were in, and what we survived.

The doctor agreed and the nurses have been organizing ever since.

We lay there for a few moments longer before we are interrupted by Crowne. She hasn’t left our side in ages, only going home to sleep and shower.

“What’s up, my girls? There are a herd of leather clad men outside your room waiting to come in and see you. They have been told only two at a time can come in. Are you guys okay with that?” she asks, as Tina and I nod.

Sue and Slick walk into the room first. They are quiet until they both approach the bed. Sue leans down and takes both Tina and me into his arms and hugs us tight. “You are protected, even if it’s just me against the world.” Then he steps back.

“Well, gorilla Sue here may be able to hug you both, but my arms can’t so make room, cause Slick is climbing in between the prettiest girls in the hospital,” he mumbles as he climbs up between Tina and me. He causes us both to giggle.

Sue shakes his head and leaves the room, allowing for Brownie to walk in.

“Fucker! What are you doing on the bed?” His eyes stay on Tina, a flare of jealousy sparking in the backs of them. Slick raises his head.

“What are you jealous you can’t be the cream in a beautiful sandwich?” Slick pokes fun as Brownie rolls his eyes.

“How are you ladies feeling?” Tina smiles at him, as red flushes across her cheeks.

“We will be better when we can get out of this hospital. There is no life here,” I state, looking around the room that has no flowers or signs of people caring.

“Give me an hour and that will be changed,” Slick states, as he slides off the bed and leaves with Brownie as Paul and Neo walk in.

My heart starts to pound when Neo steps forward, causing the machine to my right to start making a noise.

“Relax,” Tina says, her hand gripping mine.

“I should leave,” Neo states, turning to leave.

“Wait,” I say, taking a deep breath. “It’s okay, Neo. I’m okay,” I say to him. Taking deep breaths to gain control of myself.

Neo looks at Paul, who nods his head. Then he turns to my bed and drops his head.

“I… I…,” he pulls in a large gulp of air and slowly lets it out.

“Jessikah, I am sorry for everything. I was thinking with my dick and not listening to the situation as a whole.” His hands come together as he starts to twist and fiddle with his fingers.

“You have a brain?” Tina asks, Neo’s head swings to hers and his eyes widen. He nods his head and opens and closes his mouth, wanting to say something, but not sure how to say it.

“Did you ever once think for a second not everyone that is close to you is meant to help you? The majority of people in your life have an agenda of their own. Very few people in our lives will have your back even when you are not in the room. They are called your circle,” Tina states, looking at me and then to Paul.

“Neo, you have a large circle of trusted sources that will stand with you in a battle, but they will also stand with you if you are wrong and help you to make things right. They are known as your family. I had my husband, and I have Jessikah and one other person that is making their way into my circle. But the rest of the people I call friends still have to prove themselves to me.”

Neo looks between Tina, Paul and me, then looks at his feet.

The words I want to say to Neo are rolling through my mind like a newsreel, but I can’t seem to form the words.

He scares me to be honest. How can one man believe something from someone who literally spreads her legs for everything that sits.

“Okay, I get it. Loyalty is something I will have to earn from not just you, Jessikah, and you, Tina. But from all my brothers and sisters as well. Jessikah, I am truly sorry for my part in putting you and Tina in the hospital. I will work on gaining your trust and making you feel safe in my presence again.” He spins and begins to walk out of the room.

He leans into Paul and whispers something, then walks out of the room.

I pull in a big breath and turn toward the large window. The amount of people that have walked in and out of my room, and he is the first one to make me feel unsafe.

“My angel, you are safe. I promise,” Paul tells me, as the bed moves and his arms come around my shoulders and pulls me back into him. “I will protect you with my dying breath and then my brothers will step in to protect you. I have you.”

Keeping my head facing the wall, I allow the tears to fall down my checks.

I thought when I finally got away from my ex-husband I would be free from living in fear.

Free from seeing someone that makes my entire body lock up tight, my voice ceases to exist and fear spreads over me like a weighted blanket.

I am so tired of letting others speak for me, but in that same aspect, they articulate better than me.

A soft snore comes from behind me. I look over my shoulder and see that Paul has fallen asleep, his chin tucked into the curve of my neck.

“Babes, you have two options here. Run or rise. If you decide to run, we run together, far away and undetected. But if you choose to rise, then we do it together and we rise so high even the sun screams I’m blind,” Tina’s voice is strong.

“No more running, Tina. We have a successful business here, and I have a few things I want to do. The major one is I want to become the northern hub for R.O.Y.A.L. There are men, women and children all over town that need someone to stand up for them. I know there is another club in the north that does a bullying charity, but nothing for domestic violence and abuse. I want to change that,” I state, more for myself, but the people in the room hear it.

“My brothers and I will back you one hundred percent,” Skoden states, standing at the door.

The sound of his boots walking across the floor.

He crouches down so I can see his face. “We will back you in all the endeavors you want to do.” He stands from the floor, taps the top of my head.

“You are important to Lynx. Which means you are important to the club. We will help you rise.” He winks at me and leaves the room.

“He isn’t wrong,” Paul speaks quietly into my ear.

“How long have you been awake?” I ask, turning my head to look at him.

“Rise or run, my girl,” he states and leaves the statement hanging in the air.

“I’m not running,” the firmness in my voice makes me feel like I just ran the seventy-two steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art like Rocky Balboa did.

“Good, because I would follow you to the corners of the earth just to make sure you were protected. Even if it meant I was doing it in silence,” Paul says, sliding his hand down my arm and linking his fingers with mine.

“I have been looking for you my entire life. You allow me to be the person I am striving to be, but encourage me to have fun and think outside the box. You are my unicorn. The one woman I thought only existed in fairy tales.”

“You believe in unicorns?” I ask, a smile spreading across my face.

“I believe in you. Ever since you came into my life, you have chased away the demons that used to take over.” His eyes shine, and he makes my heart pound.

“Did you know the national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn?” I state. Paul smiles and Tina giggles.

“I’ll take useless facts for one hundred, Vanna,” Tina says, before bursting out in a fit of laughter.

“Did you know the Dragon is the national animal of Wales?” Paul states, a smile on his lips as his teeth stand out.

“You’re safe with me, Jessikah. I will take the life of anyone that dares to hurt you. I will bury them in my backyard and plant Trilliums on their corpses. No one fucks with what is mine,” he states, leaning in and placing his lips against my forehead.

“I promise to always talk to you about how I feel. But sometimes, I can go into my head to escape what is scaring me,” I say as a yawn slips from my mouth.

“We have time to get to know one another better. First, you need to heal and to heal you need to sleep. I am going to go to the clubhouse. I’ll be back with dinner tonight.

What do you feel like?” He slides off the bed and stands over me.

His arms are on either side of my body and his face is really close.

“Extra large pizza with pineapple, mushrooms, pepperoni, bacon crumbles, and extra cheese with a side of garlic parmesan bread stick and creamy garlic dip.”

“Oh, and can you please bring me a Pepsi Zero,” Tina squeals.

“I will pick that up and a pizza I like. We can watch the game tonight and relax before they kick me out of your room for the night.” He leans down and kisses my forehead and my nose before he places his head against mine and closes his eyes.

I watch him leave the hospital room. My eyes slowly lower as sleep takes over. The joys of having pain meds and nothing to do but sleep and watch television.