"Her skull is fractured, along with her jaw and the bone in her eye socket. She has several broken ribs, a punctured lung, internal bleeding, which was stopped with surgery once she was brought in, and a broken arm. She has various cuts, bruises, swelling and scrapes to her face and other parts of her body." Fuck. My poor fucking girl. "It looks like she was hit repeatedly with a blunt object. The markings match that of the butt of a rifle, along with a fist and boot imprints. I think that it's also important for you to know that she was sexually assaulted." He's gonna die. It is gonna be so slow and painful. I am going to make him beg me for death, but keep it just out of reach for him. That motherfucker is gonna bleed out slowly.
****
I sit with Lala for a long time. I don't know how fucking long. Long enough for the sun to fall and rise again. I hold her hand, but I don't look at her again. I can't. I don't want to see her that way, it's just too fucking much.
A light knock echoes in the deathly silent room. Clipboard sticks her head in the room again.
"Rampage, I have one last thing for you before we finish up." The last few days have been paperwork and interviews, then more paperwork and instructions. Paperwork and bullshit. I don't know how much more I can take.
Walking out into the hall, I see Lil and Tank. They've been here with me, silently watching me try not to lose my shit again. Tank's been making moves, finding things that have been hidden and setting shit up. Ryan was hidden, but now he's being found. Lil's been doing everything she can to be helpful and not drive me fucking nuts with her mother hen shit. As much as she drives me fucking crazy, I'm happy as hell she's here. I'm happy I have my whole club watching my back.
///
"Rampage?" Lil's broken voice makes my heart ache. Turning to look at her I can see she's ready. She's been working up to this for a few days. "Can I see Lala now?"
"Don't gotta ask me, Sis. I ain't gonna lie, it's gonna be hard to see her like that, but let her know that your are here, okay? I think she needs to know she's not alone anymore."
"I'll do that. Thank you for the heads up." I give her a nod to go ahead. I know she loves her, too.
The last thing I hear before she closes the door behind me is her strangled sob. Fuck. It breaks my heart all over again and I feel the tears start rolling down my face.
20
A Beautiful Surprise
Rampage
I don't get the small blue chairs at the end of the hall this time. No. This time I get a big open room. A few hospital couches, chairs, and coffee tables with magazines and a couple of flat screen TV's. Clipboard motions for me to sit down with her hand. I don't bitch because she usually gets down to business and then leaves me the fuck alone. Aside from her always calling Lala the patient, she ain't so bad.
"I know these past few days have been rough. I know there is a lot of emotional and physical healing that will need to take place for you and your family." Family. The word family makes my stomach clench. It's a painful word, but it's the fucking truth. Lala is my family. She's been my fucking family since she crawled into my bed and made herself at home with me. "There is one last issue that needs to be cleared up." She motions with her hands at the double swinging doors.
A chubby, middle-aged woman waddles in, and in her arms is a baby. My heart drops to the floor. I look over her shoulder, hoping like fuck Clipboard was motioning for someone else, but she wasn't. The woman walks straight for us and my eyes stay trained on the small baby. A head of dark hair is all I can see.
"Did you know that Ms. Ray had a daughter?" Lala had a baby? A fucking baby? I'm at a loss for words. I stare at the little baby and back at clipboard, trying to make some goddamn sense of all this. She's small, smaller than Ty. Fuck, she's tiny, but I can't see her face because she's asleep over the woman's shoulder, and I can't look away.
"I take it you didn't know?" I sure the fuck didn't. "Here," Clipboard says, handing me a piece of paper, "This should clear some things up."
****
Georgia. That's my fucking daughters name. I have a kid. I have a fucking daughter. My head swims and my heart aches.
"Was she hurt too?" I ask clipboard, looking between the my small baby and the lady holding her. Shaking her head, she nods toward the woman holding my goddamn baby. "Ms. June here can explain some things for you.
This June woman tells me everything. She starts at the beginning, when Lala showed up in her trailer park, pregnant. She tells me about how Ryan was able to keep her and why she never looked for help. He made her work at his strip club, even when she was ready to give birth at any moment, just to degrade her even more. June was there with her when she went into labor, helping her get to the hospital, and watched my fucking daughter while that sick fuck used Lala as his own personal play thing and punching bag.
Georgia wasn't with Lala when she almost died. June had her because she was working that night, but when they came home, she heard the fighting and kept the baby until Ryan left late the next night. When she went to check on Lala, that was how she found her. Assuming that Ryan had left for good, taking a large bag with him and a few of his goons in a rush, she was able to talk one of the neighbors into driving her to the hospital.
I couldn't explain it to you if you asked me to, but that shit settles a little part of my broken heart. This tiny little human that I don't even know, and had no idea existed, suddenly holds a piece of my heart I was sure only Lala would ever have.
****
"Fuck. How the fuck did this happen?" Both Tank and I look at Sis, rocking that – my baby. "Was she pregnant when she left?" He asks me.
"I guess so." The dates work out that way. My baby is five months old, figured that'd put Lala at about three months pregnant when she left. Shit fucking hurts knowing she left with my baby.
Looking at Georgia, I can't believe this is now my reality. It's hard to fucking swallow the idea that there's this little baby now that I will have to take care of. She's here and she's mine … she's ours.
"What the fuck am I gonna do with a daughter?"
///
"Don't know about a daughter, but I assume the same shit I do with Ty, brother. You're gonna love her ‘n fuckin' deal." That shit sounds so much easier said than done.
"I can't raise a girl by my goddamn self."
"Rampage, you're not alone," Sis says.
I am though. It's me and Georgia, and right now the one person we both fucking need is Lala.
"I can't do this shit without her." I tell them seriously.
"You won't. Lala's a goddamn fighter, Rampage. She will get better."
"How the fuck you know that shit? Her last fucking memory is probably of Georgia. She was alone and she knew that no one was going to save her. I wouldn't doubt that being in this coma is the most peace that she's had in over a year. Why would she want to come out of it?" I feel that fear gripping the fuck out of my chest. I want her to come back to me so bad, I can taste it. I know that she lost hope in us when I told her I didn't love her. If she knew she was pregnant, I can't honestly say that I would have been even remotely happy about it. FUCK! I wish I knew what she had been thinking then. Things have changed, and I have changed. The only things I want in this life are Lala and Georgia. She gave me a gift that I never knew I wanted, but I will damn sure fight for it all. I want my Lala back. I need her. We fucking need her. I don't want to raise our girl without her.
"You need to hold your shit together for this little girl. You have to take care of her for Lala while she gets better, okay? You've got this, Rampage. You got all of us to help you. There isn't a doubt in my mind that Lala will get better."
Lil hands me this little mess of dark hair and big, blue eyes. She looks up at me and gives me this big, bright smile and I choke on a sob. She's all fucking Lala.
"We gotta handle him," Tank says quietly, looking between my baby girl and me. He's right, we fucking do. That motherfucker is gonna pay for what he did. He's gonna pay for taking away my goddamn family.
"Sis, you got my girls?"
"Of course I do."
Walking out of the room, holding my little Georgia, I have new purpose. I have a fucking problem to solve and I'm gonna take pleasure in dealing with it. I want my girls in a world that's safe for them. They will never live in a world where he's still breathing. I am going to kill him for everything he's done, slowly and painfully.