Chapter Seventeen
Summer
I wait until the door clicks shut behind me before I approach the sofa. I look once behind me in Tigger’s direction and find him watching me. His eyes hold so much pain in them, almost like it physically hurts for him to sit in here. Either this girl means a great deal to him, or someone he loves was hurt similarly, and he’s remembering that event. His eyes when they focus on mine hold a great deal of sorrow in them. I straighten and start to take a step in his direction, but the slight shake of his head has me turning back to face Clara.
I set my bag down on the floor next to me and get down on my knees on the floor in front of the sofa and slowly reach my hand out towards her.
She flinches, so I pull my hand back and try again, slower this time. She flinches again, but less visibly this time.
“Clara, my name is Summer, I’m a nurse. I’d like to ask you a few questions and examine you if that’s alright with you. There’s no one else in here, only Tigger and myself. No one here is going to hurt you.”
I wait this time, not reaching my hand forward again in her direction and pray that this time, I get a response that doesn’t display how nervous she is right now.
Another two minutes go by in silence without her moving, and I’m about to reach forward towards her again when she finally, very slowly, adjusts herself and looks at me over her shoulder. I softly smile at her and mouth hi, and watch while her eyes travel the room, stop at Tigger, and then she looks back at me. I look over my shoulder at Tigger on my right, and he gestures towards her, almost like he knows she’s going to speak to me now.
“Clara?” I ask her when I turn back to find her staring at Tigger in fear. She finally focuses back on me. “What happened?”
She licks her lips and opens her mouth to speak, but quickly snaps her lips shut again, looking over in Tigger’s direction again.
“Tigger?” I call over my shoulder when she continues to stare at him. “Why don’t you come over here so Clara will feel more comfortable?”
Irritation further fills me when he sets his chair down next to me and Clara’s eyes light up for the first time since I walked into this room. I don’t want to feel irritation, but I do, and it’s a lot.
I start to speak again, but Tigger’s hand around my arm tugging me up has me looking at him in confusion. “Come sit here,” he pulls the chair closer with his free hand and helps me to settle into the chair.
He rubs my shoulders and takes a small step back but doesn’t go any closer to Clara. I catch the scent of his cologne, and my lady parts start to go nuts. He smells absolutely delicious right now. It’s not fair for him to smell like that, especially when I’m still horny. I know I shouldn’t be horny, but there’s little I can do about that right now.
“Thank you,” I tell him before I turn back and focus on Clara.
“Tell us what happened, Clara,” Tigger’s voice inches away from my ear causes me to involuntarily flinch, I didn’t realize he came to stand behind me again.
She struggles to sit up but manages to, and that’s the first time I get to see what happened to the dress she’s wearing. The entire front of her dress is torn, and her bra is missing a strap. She has a red, angry looking mark on her right cheek, cuts on both her knees, dried blood on her lip, and there’s dried mascara on her face from when she was crying earlier. This girl looks like she’s been to hell and back.
She doesn’t look in my direction, instead focusing on Tigger, so I get back on my knees on the floor and open my medical bag so I can start pulling out my supplies.
“I went outside to have a cigarette and take a break before it was my turn to take the stage. I had been outside for two or three minutes when a green motorcycle pulled up beside me in the darkness. I thought it was one of the Dragon Skulls, so I approached the Harley since we’ve been told not to refuse any of the members when they call on one of us,” I look up in Tigger’s direction in horror and find him looking down at me in anger. Why is he looking at me like that when they have these women at their beck and call like prostitutes in a brothel waiting for their next customer, spread eagle on the bed.
“It wasn’t one of us, if that’s what you’re thinking, Summer. Besides, my brothers like to play with these women, not me,” the look he gives me has me instantly feeling regret. I have no right to judge him even if he sleeps with every stripper here every night. I have no clue what’s going on with me lately.
Instead of responding to him, I turn back to my bag and pull out my first aid kit to clean up and bandage her knees while she continues to talk to Tigger like I’m not even in the same room with them.
“When I approached, he raised the visor on his helmet, and that’s the moment I realized it wasn’t one of you guys. I should’ve looked at his cut before I walked over to him. He asked me if I wanted to go for a ride, and I thought maybe one of the guys wanted to take me out and back to the clubhouse,” that has me looking up in her direction. She has so much hope in her eyes staring up at Tigger, and I realize what’s going on here. This girl probably doesn’t mean anything to Tigger, she just works here. She’s hoping that Tigger or one of the other members will select her to be their old lady. That’s further confirmed when I glance at Tigger out of the corner of my eye and find him watching me and not Clara.
“What did he look like?” Tigger asks, not looking away from me.
I try to ignore him, focusing instead on cleansing her wounds, applying first aid cream, and bandaging up her knees. I stand in front of her and almost fall when my knees wobble and nearly give out. I must be hungrier than I thought.
Tigger’s arms around me catch me before I fall. The warmth of his arms around me fills my entire insides with butterflies and when he whispers in my ear, I almost faint.
“Easy there, sweetness. You got it?” he asks, his nose brushing the side of my neck. He plants a kiss there and I have to clear my throat and brush my hands down the front of my pants.
“Yes, I must not have eaten enough of my dinner before I came here, I didn’t eat much today,” which is true, I’m not lying about that. But that’s not why I almost fell, it’s something about being in such close proximity to the biker in the room with us.
As much as I don’t want to, I take a step forward so he’ll release me and I can get back to what I was doing. He doesn’t want to let me go either, I can tell by the way his fingers linger on my hips. He finally steps away from me and sits down in my previously occupied chair and continues to talk to Clara. I stand off to the side so as not to block their view of one another and, at the same time, I can watch their interaction. I’m starting to suspect he’s more into me then he is her.
“What did he look like?” Tigger asks his question again.
“It was dark, so it was kind of hard to see, but he looked like he had sandy blonde hair and green eyes. He was a real looker,” she has this dreamy look in her eyes. I just hope the dreamy look is from her imagining herself on the back of Tigger’s motorcycle and not being on the back of the bike of the monster that attacked her.
Tigger sighs and scrubs his hand down his face. I look over at him and catch the concerned look on his face seconds before he stands from his chair and paces away from us and over to his desk. He pretends to search for something inside of the desk, but I saw the look in his eyes, I have this feeling he knows the attacker. I could see the concern that was there when he looked at me. He’s worried and probably knows her assailant.
“What happened when you approached his hog?” Tigger continues to keep his gaze down, hiding his face from view. I watch a little while longer when I see his face grow from concerned to angry, he looks like he wants to beat the crap out of the desk in front of him. I quickly look away when he looks in our direction when Clara doesn’t respond.
I put the cleanser to her face on the cotton ball and clean her mouth. She was staring at him too, but when I resume cleaning her up, she continues telling her story.
“When I got close enough for him to reach, he grabbed me and wrestled me to the ground. I went down fighting, so his motorcycle went down with us, which is why I ended up scratched. He tried to rip my dress from my body, but when I started screaming, he got up and took off seconds before the bouncers showed up,” she looks away from him remorsefully, and I’m forced to pull her face back around so I can finish cleaning up her mascara.
“Well that explains it,” he states, slamming the desk drawer shut so hard it shakes against the floor. Both Clara and me jump. Her more than myself.
He steps around the desk, and I think he’s going to stomp towards us and kill the girl, but instead, he takes a moment to compose himself and sits before us on the edge of the desk.
“Care to explain to me what the fuck you were doing around the side of the building, in the dark, and unescorted? We have policies around here for a reason. That’s why I keep telling you girls you cannot go outside in the dark like that without an escort. That’s what I have bouncers and bodyguards for. Now I’m going to have to hire extra help to keep an eye on you girls. I highly doubt this will be the last we will hear from this guy. You got lucky he didn’t rape you. I’m going to have Twinkie get you some new clothing, you’re suspended for a week,” he straightens and heads for the door.
“But, Tig,” the girl whines. She stands from the couch and approaches him from behind. She makes it within ten steps of him when he turns and fixes her with a scowl, halting her advance towards him.
“Don’t Tig me, how did you manage to get by the bouncers and outside alone?”
“It’s not my fault. I needed a cigarette, and they were busy inside with a situation. I took the chance and went outside, I didn’t think-”
He takes a menacing step in her direction, and she quickly retreats away from him.
“See that right there is your problem. You didn’t think. Twinkie,” he shouts through the door and seconds later, Kara opens the door. “Get her some new clothes and have her escorted out to her car. She’s suspended for a week.”
“But who is going to replace her?” Kara asks, looking past us and over at Clara. I can see the pity in her eyes, I bet the girl needed this job.
“I don’t care, you replace her if you have to. I’ll deal with Dean later,” he adds the second she opens her mouth to argue. “Get her some clothes, I want her out of her within the next ten minutes.”
“Yes boss,” Tigger stops the door from closing when Kara walks away and steps out of the room. “I’ll be out here waiting once she’s ready to leave. I need to speak with you after you are done with her, Summer.”
He doesn’t wait for my response, slamming the door shut behind him a little harder than necessary.
“Well, looks like you’ve caught the boss’s eye,” she eyes me up and down in disdain.
“You’re imagining things, I work for the club, that’s all,” I move away from her and start to clean up my supplies and put them away in my bag.
“No, I’m not. I’ve been here for more than six months, and he’s never -not once- touched a single one of the girls here. Even when we aren’t working, he’s kept his distance. Yet you show up, and he’s touching you and staring at you like you are the answer to all of his problems.”
I blush remembering how it felt to have his arms around me and to have him stare at me the way she said. I noticed he was staring at me like that, but I’ll never admit that to her.
She comes to a stop before me so she’s towering over me and when I look up, I can see the hate and jealousy in her eyes. This is going to be the moment I have my first fight here, I can feel it. I came close with Cherry earlier today, but this one is alone with me in this room, and the look she’s giving me would burn a hole through my skull if she had the power to.
“Who the fuck do you think you are anyway? You show up here all high and mighty with your fancy looking nurse bag and get the man I’ve been after for months to show you more attention in the span of five minutes than I have been able to get in the past six months,” she uses her foot to shove me to the side and I lean to the side. But my hand beside me on the floor stops me from ending up flat on my back.
I straighten and continue to pick up the last of my supplies so I can get to my feet.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” she asks when I stand and walk past her and over to the door. I’ve had a long night, and the last thing I want is to deal with this bitch and her issues. It’s not my fault that Tigger doesn’t like her the way she’s clearly obsessed with him. And here I thought he liked her or something.
My hand reaches the door at the same time she wraps her fist around my ponytail and yanks me backward, sending the contents of my bag flying around the room.
She screams like a wild animal, yanking my head back until I’m falling to the floor and she uses my hair to drag me back across the room to the couch. My response is sluggish, my scalp screaming in protest. She pushes me back against the couch and mounts my body, her hands heading straight for my throat. I struggle against her and land a punch to her left eye, giving me the upper hand for a few seconds. But, she weighs more than I do, and I can’t manage to push her off of me before she recovers, and her hands are reaching around my throat, and she’s chocking me.
I claw at her hands in vain, losing more and more oxygen with each passing second. I’m seconds from losing consciousness when suddenly the hands around my throat are gone, and I’m clawing at my throat for some much-needed air.
“Breathe,” Tigger lifts me up onto the couch and his hand rubbing my back is the next feeling I have once I’ve stopped struggling to breathe.
I look across the room and find Clara being restrained by Thunder, her murderous glare still trained on me, but she seems to be even more agitated than she was before.
“Tigger?” I ask when I feel the hand that’s not rubbing my back wrap around my waist, and he’s pulling me closer to him. I look down and find I’m sitting on his lap.
“You okay?” he asks. When I nod once, he focuses his attention on Thunder, “Throw her out of here, make sure she’s out of town by tomorrow morning. You’re officially relieved of your duties, Clara.”
Her screams and shouts of protest fade into the background once she’s gone. I look over at Kara who is still standing in the doorway once Clara and Thunder are gone. She has her head tilted to the side, and she’s watching us carefully like she’s trying to figure out what’s going on between the two of us.
Dean calling her name has her turning away from us and exiting the room. Once she’s gone, Tigger lifts me up and gingerly sets me down on the couch. He walks away from me and over to his desk and comes back seconds later with a water bottle in his hand.
“You okay?” he asks me again, reaching forward and touching my throat. It hurts a little when he does it, but not enough for me to complain. He hands me the bottle of water once he removes the cap.
“Thank you,” I take several small sips before I hand it back to him. “I’m fine, she just caught me off guard, that’s all,” I look away from him ashamed that he had to come in here to rescue me. I’m used to taking care of myself, but over the past few weeks, I’ve been off. Different. Even since I met TR.
God, I’ve got to stop thinking about that man.
“Let’s get you out of here. Hungry? I know a great little diner that I can grab some food at and I’ll meet you back at the clubhouse? We can watch a movie or something,” he looks so hopeful, and I feel like I owe him after he saved me.
“Sure, okay,” I offer him a small smile. Besides, even if I wanted to say no to him, there’s no way my body would’ve allowed that to happen. Something about this man has me all off balance.
He exits the room before I do and stops short almost causing me to run right into him. I see him clenching his fists open and shut, and I look slowly around him to see what he’s looking at. Across the room are Kara and Dean, Dean is kissing Kara on the forehead, and she’s giggling like a school girl.
Almost instantly, I know precisely who Drag was referring to. Kara is the one he was talking about.
“So, I’ll meet you at the clubhouse in a little while?” I ask Tigger, touching his arm to gain his attention. When he looks down at me, there’s pain in his eyes. He’s quick to change his expression back to a happy one, but I can tell he’s forcing it.
“Okay, I’ll be there soon,” he replies. I watch him stomp in the opposite direction away from the couple who don’t even notice how upset Tigger is.
Looks like I’m not the only one who is dealing with a lot right now.