Page 25 of Loss
“Vault, are you okay?” Annabell asks, her voice barely above a whisper as tears fill her eyes.
“Fuck!” is the only word I can manage to get out as Chrome stands and lifts my bike off my leg.
I look down and take in the mangled mess of my clothing and know I’m gonna have road rash like a motherfucker. While I didn’t slide that far, it was more than enough to do damage to my body. My arm is on fire and I know I’ve got marks there. I watch as Annabell rushes to her car a few feet from me and opens the trunk. She pulls out a blanket and moves to the passenger side of the car. Chrome gets me off the ground and practically carries me to the car. He helps me get in the passenger seat when Bell moves out of the way.
“I’m callin’ Doc. Where do you want him to meet us?” Chrome questions me as he removes his phone from his pocket.
“Garage. Don’t want Annabell and you there alone,” I tell him, my voice filled with the pain in my body right now.
“We can open the fuckin’ garage, Vault. I’ll have Valor, Red, and Crab come over so we’re not alone. You need to get the fuck looked at and taken care of before you fuck yourself over. Don’t be a fuckin’ martyr right now,” my best friend yells at me, his voice letting me know how serious he is.
With a nod of my head, I watch him close the door and make the necessary calls. Annabell gets in the driver’s seat and starts her car once again. She doesn’t move until Chrome is back on his bike and ready to head back to the clubhouse. I know the rest of the guys who won’t be at the garage will be here searching for any sign of the fucker who just tried to take me the fuck out. This wasn’t some random attack and I know it’s related to the drugs being distributed in town. We’re the only ones looking into these twatwaffles and I’m suddenly hit while on my way to work. We haven’t even made aggressive moves toward them yet. This is gonna be a bloody fucking battle.
Annabell didn’t say anything to me on the way back to the clubhouse. She drove fast as hell behind Chrome and kept her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Not that she truly knows what she’s looking for. Bell doesn’t know Pine View yet so if something were to be wrong, she wouldn’t understand until it was too late. The entire drive, she watches me out of the corner of her eye as if I’m going to stop breathing on her or something. Every emotion filling her is clear to see in her body language and I know this is killing her. We haven’t had a chance to talk or sort our mess out and this shit happens today. It’s not a good start to her staying in Pine View and helping us out at all.
When we pull up to the clubhouse, Valor, Red, Crab, and Doc are all waiting for me. Valor rips open my door the second Annabell stops the car and checks me over before helping me out. Fear fills his eyes as he wraps his arm around my body and I put mine over his shoulder.
“I’m okay, Zach. I promise,” I tell him in a whisper as he leads me through the clubhouse to our medical room.
“You’re not okay, Alex. But you will be. Today, you do everythin’ Doc tells you to fuckin’ do and don’t worry about Pretty Girl. I’ve got her with the rest of the guys goin’ with us. I’ll show her around the garage and get her set up in the front office. It’s not like she doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doin’. You worry about you and let us worry about work and her,” my brother says, his voice rough as he chokes back his emotions.
“I’ll always worry about her, Zach. I can’t help it. Protect her and make sure she doesn’t worry about me,” I tell him before he lays me down on the gurney and leaves me with Doc.
Doc gets to work cutting off my jeans and having me help him remove my cut so he doesn’t have to destroy that with his scissors. Rage fills me as he removes the rest of my clothing so he can check out exactly what damage was done to my body. I feel every move he makes and the burning sensations filling me as he touches various parts of my leg and arm. What really fucking kills me is when he has to put my shoulder back into place. I didn’t even realize it was dislocated.
When Doc is done doing his exam and tending to my wounds, he helps me put on a pair of sweatpants and leaves my shirt off because he knows it’s gonna hurt to put one on after just putting my shoulder back into place. That doesn’t mean I’m gonna go shirtless for the next few weeks, but today I’m not gonna worry about wearing one.
“You’re gonna be in a sling until I tell you otherwise,” Doc tells me, his voice letting me know how serious he is. “No workin’ and you’re not to ride, Vault. I’m dead serious. I know your bike is fucked from the accident so that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve cleaned and put an antibiotic ointment on the road rash on your leg and arm. You’re damn lucky it’s not worse. I’ve seen a lot worse over the years. Keep it dry, clean, and don’t fuck around with this shit. It should heal in the next two weeks if you do what I say.The bullet wound is nothing more than a graze. It's clean and bandaged. You’ll have a scar from it, but it doesn’t need stitches. Keep it dry and clean as you know.”
Doc is an older man who’s been a doctor in Pine View since the day he graduated from medical school. His dream was always to have his own practice and not cave in to the demands of his family. Both of his parents are doctors and work in emergency medicine. That’s what they wanted him to do. Doc chose to follow his own path and was disowned by his family because of that decision. He’s happy as fuck, met the love of his life here in Pine View, and they have a great family. We met him after moving down here and he volunteered his services to the club because he understands that sometimes things can’t be reported in order for us to properly do what we have to do to clean up this city. Everything we have in our medical room is because of this man and we owe him for the excellent care he gives us.
“I promise I’ll listen. I’m not tryin’ to fuck myself over and be kept off my bike for longer than necessary. I don’t want pain meds, you know this,” I tell him, thinking back to when I lost my dad and lost control when I started drinking.
“I know. I haven’t given you anything other than a shot of antibiotics. I want you to keep your leg and arm bandaged for the first few days. I’ll be back after that to make sure no infection has set in and that it looks good. At that point, you should be able to lose the bandages as long as you keep it clean and dry,” he states, writing out a script for more antibiotics as a precautionary measure. “You’re gonna be sore as hell for a while. Take the over the counter pain relievers and rest. I don’t want you up and moving around for now.”
“Can I sit in the common room? Or church?” I ask him, knowing I’ll have to call church when the guys get back from work this afternoon. Especially since not everyone knows what happened to me yet.
“You can. That’s it. Don’t move around when you don’t have to. I’m gonna give this to Martin so he can run and grab it for you. Take one tonight and then two a day for the next ten days,” he informs me, grabbing his keys and bag before helping me from the gurney and walking me into the common room.
I see the girls cleaning up and making sure everything fucking shines as I’m lowered to the couch with a pillow propped up behind me and another one under my leg. The girls keep looking over at me as Doc walks over to Martin and has a quiet conversation with him. Martin nods and leaves from behind the bar where he was stocking everything and making sure the glasses are clean for those of the men who don’t drink beer every day.
Closing my eyes, I let sleep pull me under. The last few nights I haven’t slept very good. First it was because I knew Annabell was on her way here and then it was realizing that she was in the room next to me. Even though I’m worried as fuck about her being away from the clubhouse where I can keep her safe, I know my brother and Chrome will protect her with their lives. Plus, I can’t exactly stop sleep from claiming me. Not after the adrenaline rush from the accident and then the pain from Doc putting me back together again. I’m just glad it wasn’t worse than it is.
Chapter Sixteen
Annabell
HEADING TO HOUND’S with Valor, Chrome, Red, and Crab, my heart is still pounding in my chest and I want to be at the clubhouse with Vault to make sure he’s okay. I always hate it when the guys get hurt and there’s nothing we can do to help them. No matter what’s happened between Vault and myself, I will always want to take care of him and make sure he’s okay. Valor promised me when we got to the garage that he’d call Doc in a little while to check on his brother and he’d let me know what was said. The only reason he can call is because Vault has given Doc permission to discuss his health with Valor and they’re blood brothers.
When we got to Hound’s, Valor led me through the entire place. I’m truly amazed at all the small attention to detail and everything that makes up this shop. The bays where the guys work are kept in immaculate condition. All the tools that aren’t being used are kept in the many tool boxes lining the walls and there are several cleaning stations so the guys can wash their hands immediately after working on a vehicle before they take it for a test drive to ensure there’s nothing else wrong they missed or the customer didn’t inform them about. Instead of grease and oil coating every inch of the shop, the floors shine and there isn’t a single stain anywhere in sight. I don’t honestly know how the guys keep this place so clean with all the work they do on a daily basis.
The main office where I’m working is large and filled with sunlight from the huge windows that take up the entire front wall of the place. There are comfortable looking chairs in front of the windows with a table sitting in front of them holding various magazines for cars and bikes, a few parts manuals, and shit like that. There’s a wall with parts and merchandise customers can buy to support the garage. I buy two of the shirts and one of the hoodies despite Valor telling me I’m not going to pay for things.
Behind the office I’m in, there’s a bathroom for customers, a store room where all the parts they keep in stock are kept, and a large break room. It’s got a full size refrigerator in there, a table that will easily hold four people, and a microwave. The refrigerator is stocked with bottles of water, soda, and some tea. There’s not a drop of alcohol in sight like I’ve found back home in Benton Falls. No, the guys don’t drink while they’re working. It’s for when they’re hanging out after hours and aren’t ready to head back to the clubhouse just yet. They’ll sit around and have a drink while shooting the shit before they head out.
What really broke my heart and healed it all at the same time are seeing the pictures of Hound all over the place. There’s one of him in every room and two in Vault’s office. The one in the main room of the shop is of Hound with his sons as they sit on his bike with the largest smiles on their faces. There’s a second one that’s got Hound, Slim, and more of the original members of the Phantom Bastards. It’s one I’ve seen countless times in Benton Falls because it’s in the common room of the clubhouse. My dad and Hound look so young in this picture. Both of them are smiling and have their arms around one another. The rest of the men surround them as they remain at the very front. In the background is the clubhouse and their bikes all lined up like you see every single day now.
Chrome and Vault are the only two who work at Hound’s. They’re overbooked and are doing the best they can, but are so far behind with the work they’ve taken on. I’ve already taken numerous calls from customers wondering where their vehicles are and how much longer it will be before they get them back. I let them know they’re being worked on as quickly as possible, but there’s been a delay due to unforeseen circumstances of the owner being in an accident and only two men working there currently. Everyone seems to be okay once they learn of the reason for the delay and wish Vault a speedy recovery. Yeah, I’m not above using his accident to ensure the customers will continue to wait for the work to be completed and then come back in the future once Vault and Chrome have a better way to work figured out. Or they hire someone else to work with them.
