“Here. Lie down. See if that helps. I know absolutely nothing about pregnancy and this shit. Do I need to go get someone?” Monk panicked looking between me and the door. It made me laugh.
“It’s not that bad, I don’t think. I’ll try lying down for a few minutes.” I was slightly worried it was labor, but I wasn’t going to tell him until I was more sure. If it was labor, I would need someone much less freaked out than him to help me.
Carefully, I moved so I was lying on my side, my back to the door. His bed wasn’t nearly as comfortable as mine, especially not the way I’d woken up earlier with an unexpected guest. I’d only been lying there for a moment before Monk sat on the bed next to me to rub my back again.
“Does this help?” he asked tentatively. It was rather sweet that he was trying, so I didn’t want to tell him that it wasn’t really doing anything.
I lay on my side for another ten minutes before thinking it was time to get out of Monk’s room before someone got the wrong idea. Just as I was sitting up to tell him I was going, the door to his room burst open. A very angry, shirtless Wrench filled the door for a moment before he moved lightning fast toward Monk.
Screaming at Wrench, I rose from the bed. What a fool I had been to lie on another man’s bed. I hadn’t thought how bad it would look if someone had walked in.
Watching Wrench’s fist repeatedly connect with Monk while he did nothing to defend himself made me scream louder. I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t going to get between them, that would be stupid even if I wasn’t pregnant. Blood flew from Wrench’s flying fists, spattering against the walls and on me.
I fell to my knees in tears when finally someone was able to pull Wrench off Monk’s bloodied form. I didn’t know who to feel sorry for, the man who had gotten injured because of me or the man who was so upset to find me in another man’s bed that he broke. I knew for certain who I was mad at. Myself. I was the one to blame.
Wrench stormed off down the hall, away from the room. Others tended to Monk. Stepping around everyone, I ran down the hall to my room. Grabbing my bag, which I still hadn’t unpacked since the night before, I carried it and my camera bag down the stairs. I opened the front door to a cloud of dust left by Wrench’s bike. I’d heard his bike roar out of the drive when I was coming down the stairs.
I couldn’t stay in this house anymore. All I seemed to do was get into trouble. The first time I was there, I got involved with a man I shouldn’t have. The short visit had resulted in another man getting gravely injured. It was best if I just stayed somewhere else. I wasn’t going back to my apartment, no way could I go there yet. I could, however, get a hotel room and stay there for a few days.
Walking down the street, I called a cab company with my phone. I kept walking towards the corner where I told them I’d be. I wanted to get as far away from the house as I could before Wrench came back. Thankfully, the cab was just pulling up when I got there. I told them to take me to the closest hotel. I didn’t know where any were and didn’t have a ton of money so I hoped it was decently priced.
The cab dropped me off in front of a dinky-looking hotel. It surely couldn’t be too expensive, I hoped. All I had was the small amount of emergency cash that I had stashed in my camera bag. Once I checked in, I was grateful that I had enough to cover three nights. After that I’d have to figure something else out.
Sitting down on the flat mattress, I looked over the grungy room. Certainly not the nicest place I’d stayed, but it would do. My phone beeped alerting me that there was a new text message. I looked at my camera bag, where I’d stored my phone, for a few moments, debating about whether I wanted to check it. I knew it was probably one of two people, Ryan or Ellis. Either way, they were going to want to know where I was. I should probably tell them, but I didn’t want them coming to ‘rescue’ me. I didn’t want to have to fight with them and I knew they’d push for me to move back.
Finally giving in, I pulled my phone out and saw it was Ryan. She was asking where I was. As I slid my finger across the screen to see the full message, my phone rang and I ended up answering the call unintentionally. Shrugging, I lifted it to my ear and said, “Hello.”
It was a female’s voice I didn’t recognize and I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. She was looking to book a wedding photographer for the next day. Apparently, her photographer had gotten sick at the last minute and she was desperately seeking a replacement one. Grudgingly, I agreed to do it. I’d have to take a cab there, which would cut into my funds for the hotel room, but they would pay after the wedding so technically it would extend my stay.
Hanging up the call after jotting down the location on a pad of paper, I texted Ryan to let her know I was okay. I told her I just needed some breathing room and would contact her the next day after the wedding.
I spent the rest of the day calling and canceling everything in my wallet and getting new ones sent to Wrench’s house. I’d have to go there to get them or have Ryan meet me, but it’s not exactly like I was going to be able to disappear out of their lives. I did have two little ones that belonged to them and I would never try to keep them from Ryan and Ellis.
By the time the sun fell below the horizon, I was exhausted. It was lonely in the hotel room without much to do, but that’s what I wanted. I’d gone from always busy to extremely alone. Nothing to distract me from my thoughts now.
All I could think about when I wasn’t on the phone was Wrench. I tried to watch TV, but after only a few minutes, my mind was wandering back to him. Where was he? Was he okay? Did he hate me? Was Monk okay?
Switching off the TV, I lay on my side and tried to fall asleep. It took hours of attempting to get comfortable in the crappy bed, but finally I fell into a fitful sleep filled with sensual and scary dreams of Wrench.
~Patrick~
After spending time with Dirty, calming down, I went to check on Monk. He was stretched out on his bed with an ice pack over his face.
“So, uh, how much damage did I do?” I asked, leaning a shoulder against the wall. I wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to react to seeing me after I overreacted earlier, so I kept my distance just in case.
“You’re a real fucker, you know that? I should kick your ass. Maybe I will, when I get back on my feet.” Monk groaned as he took the ice pack off his face and sat up to look at me. His face was a variety of reds and purples mixed together. Didn’t look like anything was broken, so at least that was a good thing.
“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I over reacted.” I sighed, shoving my hands in my pockets. I didn’t have any thing better to say. I didn’t do apologies often.
“I was just trying to comfort your girl when she started having pains in her back. Maybe it was her belly. She didn’t really say and I kind of freaked out because I didn’t know what to do. You should know me better than to think I was trying anything stupid.” Monk groaned as he laid back down. “In case I needed the reminder, I think pissing blood for a week is going to make sure I never forget. And you messed up my pretty face so I can’t even get the ladies to feel sorry for me.”
“I’m sure that’s all the more reason they’ll take care of you, because now they won’t have to see your ugly face,” I instinctively shot back. A smile tilted my lips when his only response was a middle finger in the air. I started to leave, but turned back with a hand on the door frame. “Hey, I’ll be back in a bit to make sure you’re still good. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Monk waved a hand through the air, the ice pack muffling his voice.
Walking back down the hall, I couldn’t help but feel humbled. I really did have a great group of guys who understood sometimes shit happens, especially when that shit involved a woman. Once at the top of the stairs, I realized I was very likely going to be in deeper shit with Melia. I didn’t know how she was going to react to seeing me not only punch someone, but pummel one of the men she considered a friend. Just another reason I sucked at the whole relationship
thing. I never thought about someone else until it was too late.
Cursing under my breath, I went to Melia’s room and pushed open the barely-cracked door. The room was abandoned. She wasn’t there and neither were any of her belongings. Immediately, I spun around and threw open Ryan’s door. I knew Ellis wasn’t in there so chances of her being were slim.
“What the fuck, Wrench?” Ryan groaned sitting up on the bed. I looked around quickly. It felt like déjà vu. I’d just been looking for this woman only hours earlier.
“Where is Melia? Her shit is gone.” I flipped on the light and stomped over to where Ryan’s phone was plugged in. Before she could react, I fired off a text message to Melia. I knew coming from Ryan’s phone she would be much more likely to answer.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Ryan snatched the phone out of my hands and kicked me in the shin at the same time.
“I think you have, if you seriously want to start kicking me in the mood I’m in,” I growled at her, but stomped away, only to pace back. “Shits happening while you’re dealing with your hangover. Big shit. I need to find Melia and know that she’s okay.”
“She’s fine. She just replied that she is holing up at some hotel for a bit because she needs to get away.” Ryan read the text a few times over before looking at me. She’d pieced some of the day together, judging by the sneer on her face. “What the fuck did you do this time?”
“Don’t worry about it. Find out what hotel she’s at, I’m going to get her.” I tried to grab the phone from her, but she was quicker and kept it from me.
“Yeah, not happening.” Ryan ducked around me and ran out of the room. I chased after her as she ran down the stairs, dashing into the meeting room. I just barely slipped my boot in the door before she could slam it in my face. Pushing it open, I was met with three sets of curious eyes and a pair of angry ones.
“What’s going on?” Dirty looked from Ryan to me and back to her.
“What’d the douchebag do? Someone tell me, since he seems to think he can go all He-Man and go drag her back from wherever she’s run off to to hide from him again,” Ryan huffed, bracing her hands on her hips as she continued to glare at me even as she talked to the other men in the room.
“Yeah, I think I need to get going.” Piro scooted around me and left the room. Brew soon followed, leaving Dirty, Ryan and me alone.
“Tell me,” Ryan growled at Dirty when his eyes darted to me. She screamed and threw her phone at him. “Don’t worry about him. You worry about me, damn it.”
“Him and Monk had a little tiff when he found Melia in Monk’s bed,” Dirty sighed, dropping his shoulders in defeat.
“Obviously, there’s more to the story than that. Stupid men. She didn’t go jump in Monk’s bed. If you for a second believed that, you are an idiot.” Ryan rolled her eyes, shaking her head in disappointment. “Then what happened?”
“I left for a bit and now she’s gone.” I crossed my arms over my chest. I didn’t like the way it sounded either, so when Ryan just looked at me and continued shaking her head, I couldn’t disagree.
“Well, let’s figure out where she went. She couldn’t have gone far. She said she had a wedding to do tomorrow so that might help.” Ryan pulled out a chair in front of one of the laptops situated on the table and started typing.
Hours later and we still had no idea where she’d gone. Unable to stare at the computer any longer, I went to take a shower. Instead, I found myself in Melia’s room. I kicked off my boots before lying in her bed. Staring at the ceiling, I tried to figure out how I was going to fix the situation. Where had she gone? Was what we had over before it’d even had a chance to really begin?
Groaning, I rolled over in the bed. Her scent assaulted me, filling my nose as I neared her pillow. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply, taking her into my lungs, wishing she was really there for me to breathe in.
Time passed as I lay in her bed trying to figure out what to do, how to find her and, most importantly, how to convince her to come back. I had no idea just how long I’d been there until Piro came crashing into the room.
Once I got a good look at his face, I jumped from the bed.
“What’s happened?” His face told me it was important.
“We found Melia. She’s in the hospital.” Piro rushed to get out as I shoved past him and ran for the garage. I had to get to her.
“Wrench, stop.” Brew waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. I tried to go around him, but he anticipated the move. Jumping over the banister, I continued towards the garage.
“You need a shirt. And don’t you want to know what hospital she’s at?” Monk held out a black t-shirt for me as he leaned back against the garage door. Obviously they’d known how I was going to react.
“Just fucking tell me and get out of my way.” I pulled the shirt on, cringing as it rubbed against my sunburn. I’d forgotten it was there; my mind had been too preoccupied to care about a little sunburn.
“We’re all going to the hospital. Why don’t you ride with us?” Monk asked. I shook my head as I clenched my jaw. Thankfully, he stepped aside. I didn’t want to have to physically make him move, but I would’ve. He told me the hospital she was at while slapping my shoulder in support. “Drive safe, my brother.”
Nodding, I was out the door. Grabbing my keys off the hook at the same time as I opened the garage, I was on the road not thirty seconds later. It took me nearly twenty minutes to get to the hospital. Normally that was an hour drive, but I wasn’t going the fucking speed limit.
Parking on the sidewalk, I ran in the Emergency entrance of the hospital. I didn’t give a fuck if they towed my bike, getting to her was what mattered. As calmly as I could I asked the lady at the front to direct me to Melia’s room. When she asked if I was related, the lie that I was her husband was out of my mouth before I could think.
With a room number and directions, time slowed to a crawl. Each step was like walking through quicksand, the tick of the second hand on a clock somewhere in the distance, nurses and doctors rushing around me. As fast as I had rushed to get to her, everything in me knew walking in the door was going to destroy my life. No one had told me why she was in the hospital, no one had explained what had happened — I hadn’t given them enough time. Standing in front of an Intensive Care Unit door, I wish I’d taken those moments so I’d be more prepared for what I was about to walk into.
Taking one final deep breath, I pushed open the curtain and walked into the room. To my surprise, she was awake and turned to look at me as I closed the curtain behind me.
“Why are you here?” Melia sneered at me. I tried to formulate words, but all I felt was burning at the back of my throat that felt much like tears. I didn’t cry, ever, but damn if I didn’t want to looking over the most beautiful woman I’d ever known. Her beauty had been destroyed. Both her eyes were black; her nose was broken; there were multiple cuts on her face, and her lip was split and swollen; bruises where someone had obviously wrapped their hands around her throat and arms…and that was just what I could see. She only had one arm out of the blanket, the remote to the TV in her hand. Her nails were all broken and bloody.
Stepping closer to the bed, I itched to touch her, to run to her, to hold her close and promise to make everything okay. The look in her eyes made it clear I was not welcome in the room, much less to touch her.
“You’ve seen enough. You can go now.” Melia pointed toward the door as I watched a tear escape her eyes to run down her battered face.
“I don’t want to go.” I swallowed hard knowing that I had no say in the matter. I had to do what she said. I was at her mercy.
“Please. I want to be alone.”
Everything slowed as I watched her lift her arm from under the sheets; it was wrapped in a white cast, obviously broken. That wasn’t what my eyes focused on, though. In the brief glimpse of her body I got, one thing was abundantly clear. She was no longer pregnant. How I hadn’t noticed it before, I don’t know, but I could
n’t stop my eyes from focusing on her stomach.
“The babies are in the NICU upstairs. I’m sure they would appreciate your staring much more than me.” Melia rolled on her side, putting her back to me. The gown slipped off her shoulder, revealing her back had bruises all over it as well.
Grinding my teeth, I stomped from the room. Following signs, I seethed as I made my way to the NICU. I knew Ryan and Dirty had to be there with the babies. Sure enough, as soon as I rounded the corner, I saw them staring through the glass into the NICU.
“How are they?” From the swollen, red eyes Ryan had, I knew it wasn’t good news.
“They are…okay.” Ryan buried her face into Dirty’s chest as he wrapped his arms around her. He sighed.
“They’ve were born early and with the emergency c-section it was a jarring arrival for the babies. As much as they roughed up Melia, they didn’t do much harm to the babies. They should be okay, but need to stay in the NICU for a couple weeks.” Dirty cleared his throat and I could tell he was holding back his own tears. “We went to visit with Melia, but she was sleeping and we didn’t want to wake her.”
“Who did it?” I asked through clenched teeth. I didn’t want to upset either of them more, but I needed to know.
“Scrapes.” Dirty kissed the top of Ryan’s head.
Spinning on my heel, I ran from the hospital. No more delaying, no more waiting. It was time to get even. That motherfucker had plenty to pay for and I was going to make sure he paid for every goddamn thing even if it meant I had to spend the rest of my life in prison.
Thankfully, my bike was still sitting on the sidewalk. Firing it up, I sped off toward the house.
A few minutes in my closet was all I need to be fully armed and wearing a bullet proof vest on over a long sleeve shirt. Tugging on my cut over the top with a beanie over my hair, I was ready to roll.