Jasper

I had demolished the kitchen cabinets a couple weeks back but still have the old appliances in place; enough to get our meals cooked while she heals. Looking up at the sound of a bike outside, I cross to open the door. Roy is approaching carrying the old fashioned doctor’s bag Flint had given him as a joke.

“Gunner filled me in, thought I’d come by now.” He says before I can greet him.

“She’s running a fever, fainted on me a minute ago.” I nod, appreciating his effort.

“We can wake her or I can wait. What do you think?” Unsure but knowing I have to wait up for Probie to arrive with the supplies I point to the couch, and go to find the whiskey I left here.

“Join me?” Not waiting for his agreement, I grab a couple solo cups and pour a healthy amount for both of us. Roy catches me up on the week’s news, including a girl throwing Jake over for a trucker.

Two of our Brothers’ Jake and Connal survived some serious shit together in the military. Connal was patched in around the same time I was and Jake came out a few years later. The two seemed to enjoy sharing a Girlie or the various honey holes and Jake’s so fucking stoic, I can’t even picture him trying to pursue a relationship.

Hearing a car pull into the driveway, I move to open the door. Probie has a trunk full that he starts unloading about the same time Emma calls, “Where are my pants?” As she walks into the room still wearing my flannel.

Not sure who of the four of us looks more surprised, I jump in before she panics again.

Pointing at Probie, “You! Finish unloading then wait to see if Roy needs anything. Roy, come with me. Darlin’, back to bed, this is our medic. He’s just going to check you out.”

I take her hand and tug it gently. “You are safe here, Emma; let him just make sure you’re ok?”

Walking close to my side, she softly whispers, “You’ll stay with me, won’t you? I don’t want to be alone with him.”

“Absolutely, Darlin’, you’re not alone anymore.” I hadn’t realized how tense I had been since getting here. Not until she placed her trust in me.

Stopping us before the bedroom, Roy suggests she take a quick shower to get the rest of the dirt off before he checks her, staying behind as I lead her into the master bath. The one room in the house that is completely remodeled and finished. Her jaw drops and she glances sideways at me.

“Your murder house has a really nice bathroom, Jasper!”

“Remember that, do you?” I smile back at her. “Let me take the bandages off your back, ok?” Her shoulders tense up but she nods and turns her back to me. A scream quickly escapes her battered lips.

“Jasper! I…I didn’t know.” Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Emma gingerly touches the worst of dark bruises, sliding her hand back to her dirty hair.

There’s a brief knock at the door and Roy calls out to check on us. “She’s fine. Give us ten minutes,” I holler back.

She unbuttons the flannel she’s wearing, sliding it down her back and around to keep her breasts covered. Taking in her narrow frame, gently curved ass, and long, well-toned legs, I look back up at her in the mirror. “I think you’re beautiful too, Darlin’,” I say, returning her earlier comment and start striping off the bandages.

“You get started, let me go see if Probie picked up the shampoo. There’s soap in there…go ahead now.” I say, indicating my short hair as the reason for no shampoo.

Heading back out, Roy and Probie stop talking at my arrival.

“She alright in there?” Roy asks.

“Yeah, she hadn’t seen a mirror yet.” I grimace, angry all over again at her abuser.

“Gunner said she was in bad shape, but I wasn’t expecting that Jasper. Someone’s gotta pay for that,” Roy, like me, has zero tolerance for abuse.

“She isn’t talking yet,” I say, looking through the bags for shampoo and toilet paper. “Let me convince her not to run before you push too much, understand?”

Not waiting for a reply, I head back to the bathroom. “Darlin’, it’s just me,” I let her know after a quick knock. She has her back to me as she showers and the clear glass perfectly displaying her backside, especially as she has raised her arms to shield her breasts. Delivering the shampoo plus toilet paper and a pile of my clothes; I sneak one more look before I go to sit on the bed, ignoring my growing erection.

One day I will stay and watch her shower. One day when she is whole and happy.

Emma

I keep telling myself he’s already seen most of me, trying desperately to be nonchalant about this. Before tonight only one man had seen me naked, and the suffering I endured at his hands is written all over my body.

While my parents discouraged such talk, Ruth and I were always told we were pretty. When I was at my most vulnerable time, the man my father had been grooming to take over his church would whisper how he wanted to worship my ‘beautiful body’, that once we were married he would show me every day.

That sick. Fucking. Bastard. I slap the light green tile wall and instantly regret it. My body is too sore to handle any jolts right now.

After the shampoo is rinsed out, I turn off the water and gently towel myself off. Pulling on Jasper’s boxers and putting on the new flannel shirt and huge socks he left for me, I peek out to the bedroom. Jasper nods at me and indicates the bed, he crosses to the door and calls for Roy before coming back to hold my hand.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from the older biker, but it wasn’t the kindness that he shows. Putting down his bag, he starts chatting away as he takes my temperature and gently probes my face. I have a fever and after checking my eyes, he suspects a mild concussion also.

“I don’t want to upset you, Miss, but I do want to see your back and check your ribs.” He smiles down at me through his scraggly, grey-streaked beard. “Shall I turn, and maybe you uncover your back and lie belly-down on the bed?”

I nod, hesitantly looking at Jasper. “He’ll turn also.” Roy says firmly, getting such a dirty look from Jasper that I nearly giggle.

“I don’t have any broken ribs this time,” I try to assure them, but seem to upset Jasper who quickly turns back to me. I squeak and sink my naked breasts into his sheets as fast as I can.

“This time?!” He yells. “How long, Emma, how fucking long did that…”

Roy puts a hand on his shoulder, “Calm down, Pres. Miss Emma, Pres, you both just stay calm.”

Jasper spreads a hand through my wet hair and starts rubbing my scalp as Roy probes my cuts and gently asks me questions. Deciding that my fever is due to the wounds not being treated and from when I collapsed after I crashed the car; he indicates the aspirin bottle that Jasper seems to be using as a stress ball.

Instructing Jasper to wake me up every few hours and to keep my cuts clean, Roy pulls a blanket over me, gently tucking me in, and repeats what Jasper had been saying. “You’re safe here, Miss Emma,” Before quietly excusing himself.

“Give me a minute, Emma,” Jasper says, heading up front.

I barely have time to put his shirt back on before he returns. He starts fastening the buttons himself and I just stare at this beautiful man, feeling sad he’ll never see me without these marks. “I’ve always wanted to see the coast, Jasper. If I may stay the night, I’ll leave tomorrow.”

“I’ll take you to the coast sometime, Emma. For a vacation.” I roll my eyes at his statement.

“I’m not interested in you, Jasper.” I say, trying to maintain eye contact.

Finishing with the buttons, he places a finger lightly under my chin. “Liar,” He says sweetly. “You think I’m beautiful.”

“That was my fever speaking.”

“Darlin’,” He laughs. “Get some rest; I’ll work to convince you of my beauty tomorrow.”

Exasperated, I turn to lie on my stomach, feeling his hand in my hair again. “You have beautiful hair, Emma,” He says softly before leaving the room.

Even with Jasper waking me every so often, it was the best sleep I’ve had in four months.