I took the glass of water into the living room and placed it on the coffee table. Harlow was taking her asthma pump because she was struggling to breath. I had obviously upset her by asking too many questions but I needed to get to the truth. I knelt between her legs on the wooden floor, resting my hands lightly on her knees. “Harlow, you need to calm down babe. Slow breaths come on.” I lifted the water to her lips and she slowly took a sip but pulled away as it hurt her cut lip.
“I know you’re not telling me the truth. I’ve seen your leather and there aren’t any marks on it. I need to know who your protecting babe and why?” I sat back and waited for her to answer. Her eyes started to fill with tears. She was staring at the floor and still couldn’t make eye contact with me. “I’ve gotta ask you one more question, then I will give you some space. Was it Diesel who assaulted you?” She looked at me with horror on her face. “Why would you think it was Diesel who attacked me?” There was a knock on the door which made her jump, “It’s okay Harlow.” I reassured her patting her knee lightly as I got to my feet. I pulled out my gun, making my way around the sofa towards the door. Peering through the peep hole, I saw Doc and Duke.
I opened the door, allowing them enough space to enter the living room. Harlow’s apartment was a reasonable size but felt small with the four of us in the same room. Doc walked over to Harlow and I hung back with Duke trying to give them some space. Doc asked if they could go into her bedroom so that she could be examined properly. I was waiting for her response because I would then know if we were dealing with a sexual assault. She slowly got up from the sofa making her way into the bedroom, still holding her side from the pain. She looked over at me and gave a small smile.
“What are we dealing with Spike?” Duke asked sitting on the brown leather chair in the corner of the room. “Not sure man. She told me that she was ill and that’s why she couldn’t work today. I came here to give her some medicines to make her better.” Duke looked at me inquisitively. “Obviously I want her back at work quickly.” Duke raised his eyebrows so I continued quickly, “When she wouldn’t let me in, I kinda barged through the door and found her in that state.”
I took a long breath, “I asked her if it was Diesel.” I saw the shock on his face. “Did you really think that Diesel would smack the shit out of her? He’s fallen for her hard.” Duke was raising his voice and I simply took it. I knew I was acting like a cock. “What’s really going on Spike? Is this about Helen? You know you can’t save everyone.” I wanted to smack the shit out of him for mentioning Helen. This situation had nothing to do with her. I leapt off the sofa and stalked into the kitchen to find something to drink. I flung open several cupboard doors pushing the contents from one side to the other and found a metal container that caught my attention. I shouldn’t have but I opened it to find that it contained a gun. Why the fuck did she have a gun? Who was she afraid of? I put the lid on securely and continued to search for something alcoholic. In the back of the cupboard by the fridge I found a bottle of unopened Jack. I suppose her time spent with the Skulls had some influence on her taste in Whiskey. I knew Harlow wouldn’t mind so I pulled out two glasses and filled them. I knocked one back and filled it again, taking the two glasses into the living room. I gave a glass to Duke and we sat there in silence waiting for the verdict of her injuries.
“Should we call Diesel?” I looked at Duke waiting for his response. He swirled the brown liquid around in his glass before downing it in one. “He’ll be back in two hours. There’s no point in calling him if he’s on the road. He will only speed and end up killing himself.” We sat in silence, just waiting to hear some news.
Doc finally entered the room and sat down on the sofa next to me with a loud sigh. “What we looking at Doc?” I asked wanting to go into her bedroom and take good care of her. “She’s been viciously assaulted by more than one man.” I could feel myself filling with rage. I sat forward resting my chin on my hands, wanting to kill the bastards for hurting her.
“She hasn’t been sexually assaulted but she has heavy bruising and I think a couple of her ribs are broken from being kicked multiple times. She’s lucky she hasn’t suffered concussion from the bruising around her head.” We all sat there in silence not knowing what to say or do. “Can you give her any medication for the pain?” Duke spoke quietly trying to prevent Harlow from hearing what we were discussing. “I’ve given her some pain relief and a sleeping tablet to knock her out. It will take her anything from three to six weeks to recover properly.” Doc stood and collected his bag, “I’ll leave you with the medication but make sure she takes them regularly.” Doc looked at Duke, “I’ll be off then if that’s okay?” Duke stood with his hand held out, “Thanks for your help Doc.” They shook hands then he left the apartment closing the door quietly behind him.