Tori

 

     I sat on the bed, nursing a ginger ale through a straw as Aimee sat holding the end for me like I was a two-year old with the flu. According to Aimee, Mama Jo was downstairs cooking chicken noodle soup and shushing the boys whenever they made a sound louder than a whisper. She was completely in her element, caregiving.

     I winced as I tried to move further back to get comfortable and ended up bumping my bad shoulder against the headboard.

     “Hold on. It’s time for your pain medicine again. I’ll be right back.” Aimee jumped from her chair and went in search of the pill bottle in the attached bathroom.

     Despite my pleading with Trench to take me home, he refused, and took me to the local hospital instead. I waited for the inquisition that would come with such injuries in an emergency room, waited for officers to peek around the pulled curtain looking for answers to a crime I didn’t want to discuss. None came. When I asked Trench about it, he smiled and told me there were perks to living in a small town. I stopped asking after that. He wasn’t going to share more and I didn’t need to know.

     My shoulder would heal. Luckily, the bullet made a clean exit since it was fired at such close range. With time and physical therapy, the doctor assured me I would gradually regain feeling in my arm and hand again and the scarring was expected to be minimal. I almost laughed when he said it.

     My scars were beyond skin deep and I hoped Trench would be the man to fill in the holes of my heart, but I knew it was going to take time and effort on both our parts to make a relationship work. Trench hadn’t spoken to me about his mother, but I could tell she created serious trust issues that he was just now trying to work through. My father and Aaron had nearly destroyed me. I should be laying in a plain white room under heavy sedation right now, but instead I found an unlikely savior, my own knight on a metal steed.

     “Here you go, lady,” Aimee cheerfully handed me two pills and I hesitated, the darkness of Aaron’s abuse haunting me. I shook my head no and watched the lines crease on Aimee’s forehead. “I don’t understand. You want to be in pain? Please, Tori. They’ll make you feel good.”

     I remembered screaming and then nothing until his voice. That warm rumble that guided me back to sanity while his hand brushed lightly across my forehead trying to smooth out the worry lines when our eyes met.

     “You’re okay, sweetheart. You’re safe. I got you.” Trench smiled and the memory retreated slowly. I pushed out a heavy breath and let my demons go before I snuggled into the warmth of his arms. “Tori, you need to rest and I need you not to hurt. It’s killing me, babe. Do you think you can take the pain medicine if I bring you the bottle? Maybe, if you see the label you’ll feel better?”

     Aimee appeared in my periphery carrying the orange prescription bottle and a glass of water.

     “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I had no idea.” Unshed tears glistened in her eyes and I reached out to squeeze her hand.

     “I’m sorry too. I should have warned you.”

     Trench held up the bottle and offered to open it for me, but I shook my head.

     “I trust you,” left my lips before I even realized what I’d said. He looked up and smiled.

     “Thank you,” he leaned in and kissed my lips softly before pulling back and dropping two pills from the bottle into his palm. “I promise I won’t do anything to lose that trust. Ever.” His eyes showed the sincerity within. I opened my mouth and let him place the pills on my tongue, accepting the glass of water from his other hand and drinking them down.

     “Aimee, could you give us a minute?” Trench asked her, but his heated gaze never broke away from mine.

     “Take all the time you need,” she winked, and we stared at one another until the door closed behind her with a soft click.

     Trench cupped both my cheeks in his hands and covered my mouth with his. His kiss was more drugging than the pills I took, making every muscle relax from one simple touch. When he pulled away I was left breathless and panting for more.

     “I almost lost you,” his voice was thick with emotion.

     “But, you didn’t,” I countered.

     “I don’t want you to leave. Stay here, with me. I know it sounds crazy, but I want this,” Trench gestured between the two of us. “I want us. I’ll buy a house if you don’t want to stay here with these knuckleheads. Just say you’ll stay.”

     In that moment, Trench wasn’t the muscle-clad, ruthless biker who only depended on his brothers for support. He was a man who wanted more for his life, and he was asking me to be a part of it.

     “Does that mean you’re claiming me?” I bit my lip to hold back my grin. It was nice to be asked, to be wanted, and to be respected.

     Trench groaned, tugging my trapped lip free before sinking down and nipping at it with his teeth. I moaned against his mouth, the heat, the smell of whiskey, mingling with the air we shared.

     “I claimed you weeks ago when I first saw you at the diner. I claimed everything about you and saved it to memory. Every smile, every flush of your cheeks, every beat of your heart, and every kiss of these sweet lips.” Trench’s thumb ran delicately over my mouth, tracing their lines. “Sweetheart, I claim all of you for as long as you’ll let me. So, tell me, beautiful, are you letting me?”

     “I claim you too, you know, but you’re going to need another helmet.”

     “Thank fuck.”

     Trench’s lips crushed over mine again, our tongues dancing together as we sealed the deal. I pulled away first.

     “Wow. That kiss made me dizzy,” I laughed and watched the growing smile on his face.

     “Well, I’d like to take full credit for that, but I think your medicine is the cause this time.”

     Oh, right. I’d completely forgotten. His hands and lips had a way of stripping me of all common sense. Trench placed a final kiss on the tip of my nose before standing up and tucking me in. My big, bad biker was a softie. He placed a pillow under my arm and another on the opposite side to keep me from rolling over.

     “Do you need anything else before I go?”

     “Go? Where are you -,” I started, but he silenced me with a quick kiss.

     “Nowhere you need to be worried about. I’ll be back soon, and then,” he gave me a devilish grin. “You can let me claim you, over and over again.”

     “Hurry back,” I grinned and let the blush rise.

     Trench had changed my world in a few days. Imagine what he would do with a lifetime. Who knew my heaven was waiting inside a world of Pandemonium?