Snake’s POV
I continued to stroke her hair as she slept, wondering how this was all going to work out. I was glad she was asleep, she had to be hurting. “Is she all right?”
I looked over at Crash, he and Doc had found some ropes and were pulling DeWalt’s bike out of the mud and muck. They had it nearly to the roadside, I could already see that the front forks were bent. “She’s resting,” I said quietly.
I heard some more noise, and saw Viper leading Dagger and Tiny out of the swamp. They had blood, mud and God knows what else on their clothes as they walked up to the Jeep. “Gather round, boys,” Viper said. They stayed by the door, knowing I wasn’t going to move. “Those bodies will never be found. First off, no one says a fucking thing about what we saw back there to anyone outside the Club. Ever. Got it?”
We all agreed, it was some wild shit. Who would believe me anyway? “Pres, I can’t even get Vivian to go to the hospital. She said that with what she is, she can’t let them draw her blood, she can’t get normal medical treatment. She wants to go to a hotel, she said she’ll heal up on her own.”
“She needs to be cleaned up, sewn up,” Doc said. “Hell, I’m shocked she’s still alive. Her body must heal faster than ours.”
“Fine, that’s our first priority. There was a motel at the edge of town, a block or so from where we turned off. Doc, you head there and get a couple rooms, something in the back out of sight. It will be dark soon, and I don’t need anyone questioning why we’re bringing a woman into a room looking like this.” He nodded. “Snake, you’re going to have to drive this Jeep there with her. When Doc is ready, get her into the room.”
“You want us to ditch the Jeep, Viper?”
“Yes, we need to get rid of both these cars. Crash, you take the Charger. Take it into town, park it somewhere and leave the keys in it. Doc can follow your car and give you get a ride back here to your bike. Tiny, I need you to head down to Jacksonville with the others. Get the truck and trailer, bring it up here to the hotel. We need to load up Snake and DeWalt’s motorcycles, since her ride is toast and she won’t be able to ride on the back of his.
I dug into my pocket and found the key, tossing it to Tiny. He caught it in his big hand and smiled. “I’m going to hit the road, it’s going to be the middle of the night before I get back.”
Viper thought for a moment. “We don’t have hotels up here, and we left half our club with the bill at that BBQ joint. Tiny, swing by there and pick them up, you may as well all head back to Jacksonville tonight. Get some sleep and be here by ten in the morning. DeWalt is going to need to rest anyway, no point in arriving in the middle of the night. Crash, you can meet them at the restaurant and head back south. Doc, Snake and I will stay here with her.”
Tiny started to laugh. “They’re going to be pissed at us, that was a big tab, plus she wrecked those people’s dinner.” Viper just shook his head. “What do I tell them?”
I thought quickly. “One of those guys was an abusive ex-boyfriend, that’s why she ran. She wrecked her bike and banged herself up, she’s at the ER with Snake now. You and the others are taking care of those assholes so they won’t bother her ever again.”
“That works,” Viper said. “We’ll be back to our hotel tomorrow. I’ll stay with Doc and Snake. Once she’s settled, Doc and I will come back and retrieve Snake’s bike. I assume you won’t want to leave her?”
I got angry just at the thought. “I’m not leaving her, not ever.”
Viper just laughed. “All right, let’s get going before we draw any more attention.” With that, Crash made sure he had his gloves on before he jumped in the Charger. Viper followed him, along with Tiny and Doc. I looked down at my girl, she was still oozing blood in several places, and was out cold. I scooted out from underneath her, making sure she was covered up, before I went around to the driver’s seat.
I took it slow on the way back to town, constantly checking the mirror in case she woke up. By the time I got to the motel, a 2-story strip by the road, Doc was waiting with one of the doors open. I backed into the space so the Jeep would hide her from the office side. I got out and opened the back door on my side, while Doc took the other. “Lift up with the blanket, not on her body,” he said. I grabbed the bloodstained blanket and lifted her feet and hips while Doc had her head. I followed him through to the other side, then into the room with the double queen beds. I looked at him as he kept going for the bathroom. “I need to stitch her up, these wounds need to be cleaned and dressed first,” he said. “You get her in the bath and cleaned up, I’ll head to the pharmacy and get more supplies.”
“Fine.” We carried her into the bathroom, setting the blanket down in the tub with her on top. “I got it from here.” He put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it, before going outside. I heard the car doors close and then his Harley fired up and left. I looked down at my girl, I was glad she was out, this was going to hurt. I moved her gently until I could get the blanket out from under her, then I washed up and took off my dirty cut and clothes. Once I was cleaned, I got a couple towels on the floor to kneel on and and got the washcloths wet.
I started with her face and hair, gently cleaning the scratches and cuts. Luckily, the shower had a wand, so I was able to wash the blood out of her hair and clean it good. It was when I got to her shoulder that she woke up. “AAAAAAAHHHH,” she screamed, sitting up and then screaming more from the pain of doing that.
“I’ve got you, Vivian,” I said softly as I hugged her head to my chest. “Ride it, just let it pass.”
She cried into me for a minute before pulling back. She looked down, I think she was a little shocked at the extent of their injuries. “Damn,” she said as she saw her leg. “This is going to hurt. Do you have my first aid kit?”
“I can get it.”
“Do it, I’ve got some painkillers in there.” I left her with the wand, letting her wash herself with the warm water while I ran out to the Jeep. I grabbed it and brought it back in. She opened it up, finding a bottle and a syringe, she drew out a dose. “Morphine,” she said. “I won’t be worth shit to you after I take this, but at least I won’t feel it. Is Doc coming to stitch me up?”
“Yes, he went to get more supplies,” I said as I injected it into her thigh. “Just rest, I’ll take care of you,” I said. I could see the painkiller when it hit, her eyes got glassy and her face relaxed. I gently laid her back and when her eyes closed, I went back to work. I cleaned her front, taking extra time with the deeper bites and cuts. It broke up the scabbing, but it had to happen.
When I was done, Doc was just coming in. He had a whole bag full of gauze, dressings and tape. “How’s it going?”
“I need help turning her,” I said. The two of us carefully rolled her onto her side, giving me access to the wounds on her back, butt and legs. Working together, we cleaned her up then moved her to the bed. We tore all the covers off, laying her face down on towels on top of the bottom sheet that Viper had put in place. Using the stitch kit in her first aid kit, Doc started to close the deeper wounds while I used butterflys and gauze to cover the less serious one. When we were done, she looked like a half-done mummy.
“Time to roll,” Doc said. The three of us carefully picked her up and rolled her onto her back, removing the soiled towels. It took another hour to finish. Kelly had stopped by, leaving some clean clothes, and we put her into a T-shirt and a pair of sleep shorts. The rest of the club had left for Jacksonville. “With the morphine, she should sleep for a few more hours,” Doc said.
I went back into the bathroom and took my keys out of my shorts. “Don’t scratch my ride,” I said as I tossed him the keys. Viper walked him out, leaving his cut on the chair. “What, you don’t want people to know our club,” I teased.