Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
I tune out most of the ride, spending my time checking her breathing and pulse. When we pull up to the hospital, two men rush out with a gurney, and they fight me to get her on it.
“Damn it, Drex! Let her go,” Axle barks.
It takes all my strength to place her on that thing, but I’m following right behind them as they wheel her in past several pairs of curious eyes. They have her covered with a sheet up to her nose, covering most of her face from view, and everything goes by in a blur as they take her through a set of double doors.
Security gets in front of me, blocking my path, and Axle jerks me back before I can cause a scene.
“Last thing we need to do is draw attention to ourselves. Let’s go get on some street clothes, clean the blood off us and come back.”
Eyes are all over us, but I shrug him off and glare at him. “You go do what-the-fuck-ever. I’m not going anywhere.”
I turn and glare at the security guards. “You’re going to let me by, or we’re going to have one hell of a problem.”
They don’t stop me as I push through the doors and run through the halls, searching for where they took Eve. The second I find her, my heart sinks to my toes. She looks even worse under the harsh lights, and her eyes are still closed even as they probe and inspect her.
Ben Highland is a fucking dead man.
Chapter 23
DREX
“She hasn’t been given a sedative or any pain medication. She’s just exhausted, from what I can discern,” the doctor tells me as I stare at Eve sleeping in the middle of the hospital bed.
Several IV bags are hanging at her side, giving her the things she’s been deprived of for four days.
“She’s severely dehydrated, as well as dealing with a mild infection that was introduced through the wounds on her wrists and ankles. There was no fever, so the body was either too exhausted or not strong enough to try fighting off the infection. It’s good you found her when you did. The bruising on her mouth will go down, but it appears she bit her tongue at some point. Fortunately it seems to be healing nicely, but it was the cause for the dried blood on her mouth that you were questioning.”
I’m eerily quiet, barely managing to keep from exploding. The last thing Eve needs me to do is get myself kicked out of the hospital. It’s dangerous for me to talk, because I’ll fucking lose it if I do. I’m barely holding back the monster inside me right now. All I want to do is go set fire to all of the Hell Breathers, let them live up to their name.
“To answer your other question, I did a thorough exam and couldn’t find any evidence of sexual assault. Most of the trauma seems to be geared toward the psychological, even the physical damage caused was aimed more toward psychological. The body was stripped from things it needs for survival as a means of weakening the mind.”
It barely calms me down to know no one touched her in that way.
“Can I speak frankly?” the doctor asks, looking between me, Axle, Dash, and Snake. Snake and Dash got here only a few minutes ago. Axle never left.
Sledge is outside, along with some others. Drake is just down the hall, just as he has been since the wreck. No one thinks anything about all the bikers hanging out in the hallway since they’ve been here all week for him.
“What’s on your mind, Doc?” Axle asks him when I keep my silence.
“This girl was tortured. The sleep deprivation alone would have stressed her body out to a degree I don’t want to think about. I do a lot for you guys, and I take my money, keep things quiet, risk my job on a regular basis—”
“What are you getting at, Doc?” Snake prompts, glaring at him.
“I want you to find the ones who did this to her and show no mercy. I don’t want to see them make it to me, because I’ll lose my job when I refuse to care for them.”
My lips twitch, and I glance over to see the serious fury in his eyes.
“Doc, you won’t even know they ever existed when Drex gets his hands on them,” Dash answers for me, his jaw tight.
“Good,” he says before spinning around and heading toward the door. He turns and faces me again. “She’s strong. She’s going to be fine. But she’s going to need to stay here for a few days to heal.”
I just nod, still unable to risk speaking aloud.
Silently, I make my way to her bedside, taking the seat next to her, and I entwine our fingers before lifting her hand to kiss it.