Chapter Nine
Summer
My brain is slow to form a response between the cocktail I had earlier and the orgasms I just had.
“What do you mean?” I ask, searching my body after I find his eyes staring down at my lower half. I look down and find his semen leaking down my leg.
“Please tell me you are on birth control,” he repeats, his voice crystal clear now.
I turn away from him so he can’t see the tears in my eyes, I never wanted to have this discussion with someone again, it’s too painful and one I thought I would never have again. This right here is why I’ve avoided having a relationship. Men eventually all want the same thing, I’m betting this one is no different, and I know after I tell him the truth about me, he’ll kick me to the curb and find someone else who can eventually give him what he desires.
“I can’t have kids,” I whisper.
“I’m sorry, what was that? I’m not sure I heard you correctly,” his voice softens marginally. I think he heard me, but he’s going to make me repeat it. I don’t want to say it again, the words too painful to say out loud. I force myself to face reality anyway and tell him the truth.
“I can’t have kids,” I shout in his face, turning back to face him, unable to keep the anger off my face. “There are you happy? You made me say it!”
I angrily stalk over to my dress and throw it back on, keeping my back turned to him. I can’t believe I had to tell him that. My secret has always made me feel like a broken, incomplete woman. Women that can have children that don’t want to keep them will never understand the struggle I have to go through. They will never know what it’s like to know you’ll never have a kid of your own.
“Here,” he gently turns me to face him, my eyes focus on the napkins in his hands. I can’t look up at him, I can’t take the judgment in them I’m sure to find. “Hey, look at me,” he prods gently, and I don’t fight him, my eyes coming up to meet his. All I find there is understanding.
He doesn’t say another word, kneeling before me and gingerly cleaning up the mess between my thighs, my lower half sticky and hot from his semen. The moment is too intimate for me, too much, and it brings tears to my eyes once more. How did we go from casually fucking in the darkness to this? How did this thing between us become so complicated so quickly? I don’t understand how we got here and I’m scared by how much I like him taking care of me. Fucked up, isn’t it? I don’t even know his name.
I look down at him when he stops his movements and find him staring back up at me. He doesn’t move or speak, he just stares.
“Tell me your name,” I beg him. I have to know who he is. I have to know the name of the man that has changed so much for me in such a short period of time. I find myself wanting to get to know him better, to see where this thing between us could go. This is the first time in four years that I’ve felt this way about a man, and I don’t want it to end.
He sighs and gets to his feet. I know he’s not going to tell me, I don’t understand his reluctance. Why is he fighting this? I know he can feel this connection between us too. It’s like a live wire, ready to spark and go up in flames at any moment.
“Not yet, I’m not ready for that yet, Summer. Just know that someday soon I will tell you who I am. I just have to be sure first.”
“Sure of what?” I ask him. I have to know the answer.
“Sure that what is happening between us is for real,” he simply states before he turns and goes back to his bike, cleaning up and throwing everything into his bag attached to his bike. I’m too stunned and confused to formulate a response and fight with him about this. I want to know what he’s unsure of, what more he needs to know before he tells me his name. A name is just something we are given at birth, what could knowing his name possibly change?
Unless he’s like me and has closely guarded secrets. Even though I’m hurt he won’t tell me his name, I get it, and I’ll wait until he’s ready to tell me. I already know I will, no use in fighting it.
“Come on, let’s get you back, it’s late,” he helps me onto the back of his bike and drops me off in front of the club. I’m surprised when he hands me my purse. “Bouncer is a friend of mine,” he says with a simple shrug.
He pulls me back towards him when he sees me walking away from him.
“And where do you think you’re going?” my eyes search his, a bright, beautiful smile breaking out across his face, entrancing me and stunning me all in the same breath. He has the most beautiful smile.
I allow him to pull me back towards him and he tilts my chin towards him, and his lips come crashing down onto mine, his mouth dominating mine in a fierce and passionate kiss. When he releases me, I stumble back towards my car, dumbly waving at him when I unlock my door and step into my car. He waits until I start my car before he takes off, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.
“What the fuck was that?” is the question I ask myself for the next two days.
I think about him nonstop all through Thursday until a Thursday afternoon distraction comes that I wasn’t expecting.
I’m coming back from my afternoon lunch break, when I find a crying Natalie sitting in the waiting area, Ryan trying in vain to comfort our friend.
“Go ahead without me,” I tell my coworker Jessica when I spot my friends.
I don’t wait for her reply. I instead rush over to my friends and take the empty seat next to Natalie.
“What’s wrong, Nat?” I ask her, removing a tissue from my pocket and handing it to her. She wipes at her eyes furiously, hiccupping while she struggles to catch her breath.
“It’s Bella,” she sniffles, and another round of tears starts.
“She was complaining of stomach pain, and then she fainted,” I look up to find Thunder towering over us, his eyes focusing on his wife, tears in his eyes as well. He looks more put together than his wife right now, so I gesture for him to follow me and allow Ryan to care for Natalie. Ryan is more than capable of handling Natalie. The important thing right now is for me to find out what happened to Bella so I can help her.
“Where is she?” I whisper to Thunder, trying to keep my voice low, so we don’t draw too much unwanted attention. The hospital director has been glaring at me all day. Apparently, I’m not allowed to use my sick time even though it is mine to use at my own discretion. She’s a raging bitch. If I didn’t need this job the way I did, I’d tell her to shove it up her ass. As it stands, if I don’t have the job, I’ll be out in the street.
“The doctor is examining her right now in the back, he wouldn’t let us in there, Dragon Skulls aren’t well liked around here. If our doctor Mike weren't out of town, I wouldn’t have brought her here at all. Since we didn’t know what was wrong with her, we didn’t have a choice but to bring her here,” I can see how torn he is. He doesn’t want to be here, but they care more about their daughter than the personal difference they have with the hospital. I bet this has something to do with the director. She thinks her shit doesn’t stink. If something happens to that little girl because she doesn’t like the MC, there will be hell to pay by the time I’m done with this place.
“Let me go and check on her, try and keep your wife calm for right now. The last thing we want is the director to kick you guys out, I wouldn’t put that past her at this point,” I pat him on the arm and take off running towards the patient rooms in the back just as the elevator dings and several other members exit the elevator. Normally I’d stop and gawk at them, especially that brown haired hot looking one in the middle, but time is of the essence and I can look at them later. Right now, Bella is the most important thing. There’s something about that brown haired one though, he had this smile on his face like he knows me or something. It’s been a long couple of days, and now I’m seeing things. My mysterious lover is wreaking havoc on my life.
Stop thinking about him.
I continue to the back and find the attending doctor standing outside one of the rooms, looking over a chart, a deep frown on his otherwise cheerful face.
“How is she?” I ask when he looks up at me expectantly.
“She’s fine, she’s going to need emergency surgery, she has appendicitis, and we’re going to prep her now. I need you to be ready in twenty minutes, OR one. I just need to go tell the family,” he starts to move past me, but I place my hand on his arm to stop him.
“They are friends of mine, let me go tell them,” he looks relieved that he doesn’t have to face them and I almost want to beat the shit out of him. How can he look so relieved? I know this has nothing to do with having to tell the family the bad news and more to do with his hatred for the family. I don’t get what is wrong with the people that work here. They are people just like the rest of us, and if this is how the staff here feels about them, it might be time for me to start looking for another job. I don’t want to be associated with this kind of hatred. That kind of hatred spreads like the plague, and I don’t want or need that in my life.
The walk back out to the front is long and drawn out, and all I want to do is go home and hide under the covers for the rest of the day. I’m going to do just that as soon as I’m sure Bella will be okay and Natalie in turn.
“How is she?” Natalie stands from her seat, her eyes bloodshot, but her tears are now in check. Thunder stands behind her, grasping her shoulders. I bet that’s why she’s holding it together right now, Thunder must have told her everything is going to be okay.
“She’s going to be fine, that’s the good news. The bad news sweetie is that she has appendicitis and we need to get her into surgery right now. I’m going to be there, so I’ll make sure everything is done to make sure she remains comfortable, and everything goes according to plan,” she jumps forward squeezing me tightly. I’m so shocked that it takes me several seconds to adjust and respond by hugging her back.
“Thank you for everything, Summer, I don’t know what we would do without you,” Natalie smiles and looks to her husband for guidance.
“She’s right, Summer. Anything you need from us in the future, it’s yours, no questions asked,” he shocks me when he steps around Natalie and hugs me. I look at her, fearing she’s going to hit me, but she only smiles.
“Summer, Doctor Knowles is asking for you,” I look up to find Jessica standing there. Only she’s not looking at me, she’s looking at the hunks sitting in the chairs next to Ryan. Some of these women, I swear.
“I have to go,” I tell them. “I’ll give you an update once I have one.”
I fight against the urge to turn and look behind me when I feel a set of eyes burning into my back.