And yeah, I’m also thinking I’m getting out of this. It’s too early to give up hope that I can’t make it out of here. Give it a year or two and I might give in then, but I’ve got some time before I let the negatives come into my mind. I’m not about to think the worst when it’s been only a day or two.
“Oh, my princess, you’re waking up. Good. We need to move soon. I think I’ll give you only half the dose this time so you can walk for me. You want to walk for me, right, baby?” He comes close and slides his fingers through my hair. I can still see him. He never retaped my left eye, though he never bothered to uncover the other one.
It bothered me at the beginning when I came out of my sleep-induced state, but now that it’s the third, maybe fourth time, I’ve woken, I don’t even notice it anymore.
“Let me just get you your stuff, princess.”
He walks away, and I make a small whimper in my throat. I don’t want to go under again. The more time I go, the less time I have to think. The stuff he gives me makes everything go dead. My entire brain and body just shut down. A small part of me, a tiny part, fears I won’t wake up one of these times.
I blink and then the earth shakes, and I’m falling. I don’t even have time to scream or yell out before I stop. Lookingup, I see the ceiling is too far away from where it was a second ago.
And then I notice the hole. And Henry leaning over it screaming. There’s a gun in his hand, but all I can think isHow can there be a hole in the ceiling and it still be there?
Maybe I am high.
“I want him alive” is yelled louder than the ringing in my ears, and I look in the direction of the voice to see Domino. My Domino. Standing with some wired switch in his hand and a few brothers at his back.
Someone shoots, and I look up just in time to see Henry fall, getting the wind knocked out of me again when one of his legs lands on my chest.
“Oops,” I hear around my wheezing.
“Dammit, Lucky,” Domino says, and I see him walking toward me.
“What? I didn’t kill the guy. Promise. I only tased him.” Lucky hauls Henry up, who’s twitching but alive.
“I know that, dumbass. Who shot him?” Domino demands, and it’s then I see his left knee is bleeding like crazy. Thank God only half of him landed on me when he fell, and it was my legs that caught most of the weight. It was only one story down, so nothing is broken from him falling on me.
“It’s a wee flesh wound. He’ll live,” Mickey says, and I can’t help but snort. The guy sounds like a freaking leprechaun right now.
“Aw, now, Menace, I wouldn’t be going to name-calling. I might not be nice and use the bolt cutters to get you out of there if you do.”
I don’t care that I spoke out loud. It’s the truth. And he must not feel too offended from the reference, as he quickly snaps off the cuffs at my feet and then my wrists.
Domino is there in a second to help me sit up. I hate that I let out a groan in pain, that I show weakness, but I get over it. I groan at the gym after lifting. Groaning is just pain leaving the body. It’s not a weakness. I take a deep breath and just sit there for a second.
No one seems in a rush to say or do anything other than get Henry out of here. A few of the brothers leave, taking him to the clubhouse I guess, or maybe the cops. Not really sure, and I honestly don’t care. Not right now.
“This might hurt,” Domino says softly as he picks at the tape on my other eye and slowly tries to take it off. I wish he’d just say fuck it and rip it fast, but I can feel my hair sticking to it. And while I don’t think I’m vain in the original sense of the word, I would feel like an idiot if an eyebrow was missing.
My hand flies to my other eye, and I sigh in relief when I feel I still have the other eyebrow. I didn’t even think about that the first time. Then again, I had other shit on my mind. Like getting Henry’s tongue out of my mouth when he stuck it in there a second after his big reveal.
When the tape is gone, I blink. Domino’s hands hold my face for a second as he looks me over, and then he bends down and kisses my forehead.
“Glad you’re okay, baby.” He brings me in for a hug, and I let him hold me.
“Domino?” I say a moment later, looking around behind him.
“Yeah?”
“Did you blow up my shop?”
“I’m going to flush your system just to be safe. You said it was the same drug as last time, but the blood sample we took then came back inconclusive. Either the guy didn’t give you that much the first time, or it was already out of your system by the time we ran it. I’ll run another tox screen and see what we get, but in the meantime, this IV will get you some fluids to help push it out,” Swiss says as he sticks me with needles.
I’m back at the clubhouse, in my least favorite room, the clinic. Nothing against Swiss, just not a huge fan of the room. It’s small and doesn’t have a single picture of a kitty hanging from a tree that says “Hang in there.” I love those pictures at doctors’ offices. They’re stupid and make me smile. Which is the whole point. Everyone could use a smile.
“You know where my phone is?” I ask Domino, who hasn’t left my side. Even when I jabbed him in the gut for blowing a hole in my workplace.
“What do you need it for?” he asks, but he still reaches into his back pocket and pulls it out.
