Several IV bags are hanging at her side, giving her the things she’s been deprived of for four days.
“She’s severely dehydrated, as well as dealing with a mild infection that was introduced through the wounds on her wrists and ankles. There was no fever, so the body was either too exhausted or not strong enough to try fighting off the infection. It’s good you found her when you did. The bruising on her mouth will go down, but it appears she bit her tongue at some point. Fortunately it seems to be healing nicely, but it was the cause for the dried blood on her mouth that you were questioning.”
I’m eerily quiet, barely managing to keep from exploding. The last thing Eve needs me to do is get myself kicked out of the hospital. It’s dangerous for me to talk, because I’ll fucking lose it if I do. I’m barely holding back the monster inside me right now. All I want to do is go set fire to all of the Hell Breathers, let them live up to their name.
“To answer your other question, I did a thorough exam and couldn’t find any evidence of sexual assault. Most of the trauma seems to be geared toward the psychological, even the physical damage caused was aimed more toward psychological. The body was stripped from things it needs for survival as a means of weakening the mind.”
It barely calms me down to know no one touched her in that way.
“Can I speak frankly?” the doctor asks, looking between me, Axle, Dash, and Snake. Snake and Dash got here only a few minutes ago. Axle never left.
Sledge is outside, along with some others. Drake is just down the hall, just as he has been since the wreck. No one thinks anything about all the bikers hanging out in the hallway since they’ve been here all week for him.
“What’s on your mind, Doc?” Axle asks him when I keep my silence.
“This girl was tortured. The sleep deprivation alone would have stressed her body out to a degree I don’t want to think about. I do a lot for you guys, and I take my money, keep things quiet, risk my job on a regular basis—”
“What are you getting at, Doc?” Snake prompts, glaring at him.
“I want you to find the ones who did this to her and show no mercy. I don’t want to see them make it to me, because I’ll lose my job when I refuse to care for them.”
My lips twitch, and I glance over to see the serious fury in his eyes.
“Doc, you won’t even know they ever existed when Drex gets his hands on them,” Dash answers for me, his jaw tight.
“Good,” he says before spinning around and heading toward the door. He turns and faces me again. “She’s strong. She’s going to be fine. But she’s going to need to stay here for a few days to heal.”
I just nod, still unable to risk speaking aloud.
Silently, I make my way to her bedside, taking the seat next to her, and I entwine our fingers before lifting her hand to kiss it.
“Rush is almost here,” Snake tells me. “And Herrin is outside.”
My jaw grinds, but I don’t say anything. Pop had really better watch himself tonight.
As if he hears my mind, Pop walks in, an angry scowl on his face.
“She has your mark and they still did this to her?” he growls.
At least he’s on the right path to not pissing me off for a change.
“They’re going to pay,” Snake tells him, grinding his own jaw. In his mind, he’s imagining Sarah on this bed. They’ve crossed a major fucking line.
“Don’t start a war over her. We’ll handle this like leaders. Not pissed off rookies,” Pop tells me. “No retaliation, Drex. I mean it. Let me have a sit-down with Benny.”
Coldly, I cut my eyes toward him, and for the first time in his life, he looks afraid of me as he takes a step back. Hershel steps beside him, eyes trained on me like a snake coiled and ready to strike.
“You shouldn’t do this right now, Herrin,” Sledge cautions him.
“Don’t fucking tell me what to do,” Pop snarls.
When I slowly stand, still holding Eve’s hand, Pop takes another step back, and Hershel moves a step closer.
“Think practically, Drex,” Pop goes on. “If you retaliate against his fucking son, Benny won’t hear reason. I never would have let you have her if I’d have known it would fuck your head up this bad. You can’t go after the son without proof. It’ll start a war and risk lives. And no one needs to die for her.”
He spits the word her out like he’s disgusted.
“I’d die for her,” Snake says without hesitance. “That could be my woman right there. Drex would stand by my side if the roles were reversed.”
“I’d die for her too,” Dash says, glaring over at Pop.
“Same for me,” Sledge pipes in.
Pop curses, and Axle stands, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I think you know where I stand. Even if I didn’t see Ben there, I have all the fucking proof I need,” Axle growls.
Pop narrows his eyes, but before he can speak, Rush walks in.
“Did I hear something about proof?” he asks, a menacing tilt to his smirk as he glares at Pop. “Because it turns out little Ben recorded it all. Sick fuck, that one.”
My entire body goes so stiff that I can’t even lift my arm. I consciously let go of Eve’s hand, worried I might crush it.
“He what?” I bite out.
Rush nods. “Yeah. I didn’t get to watch much because we had to get out of that house before someone saw us, but it’s definitely a recording. We wiped the hard drive and took a copy. You don’t want to be around to watch this.”
“I’m going to fucking watch it.” I’ll do everything to Ben and Mikey that they did to her, and then some. Then, right before they get to die, I’ll slit their throats myself.
Rush looks like he wants to argue, but Pop speaks before he can.
“Where’s it at? Let me take a look.”
“You won’t watch it until I do,” I growl.
Pop’s eyes cut to me, but whatever he sees in my gaze makes him falter. “Fine,” he clips out.
He stalks out of the room, and Hershel follows him. The door opens wide enough for me to see numerous Death Dealer cuts. No one else follows Pop. Everyone stays put.
“Move your big ass out of my way.” Sarah’s voice has me turning my head toward the door once more as she walks in with Colleen right behind her. Colleen, for once, doesn’t look like a bitch.
Both of them freeze when they see Eve, and tears fill up in Colleen’s eyes.
Sarah looks furious. “I really hope you did something worse to them,” she whispers, moving closer to the bed.
Snake is up and walking toward her, putting himself between her and Eve as a barrier as he draws his girl to him. It makes me want to fucking punch him for being able to do that while I sit helplessly by my girl’s bed.
“Rush. I want to see the video,” I manage to say, even though it takes all my strength.
He tightens his lips, but he walks over to the door. When he returns, he has a laptop and flash drive. He eyes me for a second, then… Then my world spins around in a painful vacuum as all the air is sucked from my lungs.
He speeds the video up, and we watch as the lights go off and come on in spurts. We see the gag bound tightly in her mouth when she still had the ability to scream for help. We see her head slowly start to dip until her chin hits her chest.
Every time he plays it in “real time” music or sirens are blaring.
Eve whimpers and struggles in her sleep, and I slam my hand on the key to mute it. The second the music ceases, she slowly falls back into a peaceful sleep. Rush’s eyes narrow, and he stands with the laptop.
“She doesn’t need to hear any of this.”
Reluctantly, I move away from Eve, then point at Axle. “Stay with her. We’re going to Drake’s room down the hall to finish watching this.”
He nods, and Sarah takes a seat beside Eve, entwining their fingers. Colleen stands beside Sarah, looking like she’s on the verge of crying. I swallow down the urge to stay, and follow Rush as he walks out.
The guys step out of my way when I exit the room. Only one steps closer.
“How is she?” Chain asks.
“She’s banged up, but she’s going to survive,” Rush answers for me.
I glare at him, but he just walks away.
“We’re behind you when you decide you want to strike back,” Chain tells me, drawing my attention back to him.
I look around at all the men vowing their silent allegiance. It means a lot that they’d side with me over Pop.
“I’ll let you know when I strike,” I say as I turn back to face Chain. “Because I will be striking. I just want to find out who all is involved to make sure we don’t start a war.”
He nods before stepping aside, and I briskly walk toward Drake’s room with Snake and Dash on my heels. Rush already has the video playing when we walk in, and Dash shuts the door behind us.
“That fucker,” Drake mumbles in his sleep, so doped up on painkillers that he hasn’t been able to really sit up and be alert since he came here.
Both of his legs are broken, along with several ribs. His lung barely missed being punctured. He has a row of stitches in his left arm and all down his left side from the impact. His head is wrapped because of another wound, though I’m not sure how extensive the damage is there. It’s amazing he even survived.