No Second Thoughts (Seven Devils MC Book 2) (8 page)

“The doctor has to do a final exam and sign the papers. It’s a formality. And that will be in a little while.”

“Fine,” he said to Blanche very sternly. “But I am coming back for you and you are coming with me. Aside from the fact that Norte Mexicali regards you as a traitor, I won’t sleep a wink unless I know you are being cared for.”

“Oh,” said Blanche.  “My recovery here is about you.  Maybe we should switch places.” She began to get out of bed, but Jason stopped her.

“Knock it off,” he said as though he was going to add “Or I will put you over my knee.” He shook his head and then looked to the ceiling.  “Come on, Tim.  Let’s go.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

The room was cleared. Even though her sudden rush of anger towards Jason worked her up, she was wiped out and so she nodded off.  The next visitor was, indeed the doctor.  She was going to find out whether or not she had to be in care after she was released, or whether she could be on her own. She was going to move on from the little town of Gold Creek.

With the doctor, Blanche was cooperative. That aggressive drive she experienced when she remembered she had been an assassin for the Norte Mexicali had come back. She felt charged with darkness. She did have a few questions for him now that her mind felt clearer. “So, how can just a small knock on the head throw me like it has?” Blanche asked him.

“Head injuries are crap shoots. We never know what can come of them, but, from what I know about your case, you were choking, lost consciousness, and slammed onto the concrete with dead weight. It was a serious accident.”

“Oh,“ replied Blanche. She thought the doctor was handsome. He was a tall Hispanic man, built like a football player. When he grazed her lightly to flash a penlight in her eyes, she liked the faint smell of his cologne. “
Cual es tu nombre?
” she asked him.  He was concerned.

He pointed to his badge and replied in Spanish, “Are you able to read”

“Yes,” she flushed.  “I can…I just.”

He put his instruments aside.  He hovered into her and spoke so that only the two of them could hear.  “So I know that you are El Salvador…Or were.”

What might have made her blood run cold made her smile.  “You know about the Norte Mexicali?”

“Who do you think put me through school?” he replied coolly. Blanche sat up, attentively. “Why have you turned your back on such a generous brotherhood? They took you in when you were a little orphan, gave you a good income, and worldliness beyond your comprehension. You turned on them and for what? An uptight white boy who is sitting on a pile of gold somewhere. I understand why Gold Creek doesn’t like you very much.”

Blanche laughed, “Well I was supposed to kill their motorcycle captain. He is like their mayor.”

The doctor’s face darkened.  “Do you think this is funny, woman?”

“No I don’t,” Blanche answered feeling completely shamed.

“You threw all of that opportunity away for what? Lust?”

Blanche was beginning to get nervous. He could kill her right now and probably get away with it.  She had a head injury that was way more complicated than she thought it should be. It perplexed her, despite his explanation, how a simple fall can cause so much trouble. Either way, she was in a vulnerable position. She wasn’t physically together and she was lying prone. She was at his mercy. “What if I atone for the error of my ways?” she suggested.

“Such as?  Not that I can make any promises,” he said.

“Well I came to town to kill someone. Let me kill someone,” she said.

The doctor regarded her, “I can take the message back to base but –”

Blanche didn’t trust him at all. “I can do the same. I don’t need to trouble you. But I do appreciate the wake-up call.”

“I am not entirely convinced,” the burly physician said. He stood up and Blanche was aware at just how formidable of a person he was. He was positively huge. “But it does sound as though that injury knocked some sense into you.”

It occurred to Blanche that she could make any deal with Norte Mexicali and there was no guarantee that she would live much beyond that. Her only option was to stick by the one person whom she knew cared about her, even though whatever she felt for him seemed to be lost to the past. Vanished in time. She could hardly stand the guy now, but right as rain, just even thinking about him, he appeared at the door. It might not be recognizable to just anyone, because it looked like the doctor was vaguely smiling at Jason, but Blanche could see the doctor regard him with hatred.  

Jason shook his hand. Blanche could see he was an honorable man through and through.

“So you’ve decided?” the physician asked her. “I am to release you to him?”

“Only if you think it’s okay,” Jason said. He genuinely cared about her.

“Say, listen. In a perfect world, she would be in bed, not moving around until she was a hundred percent mended, but from what I understand, she should be moved. So, go. Be well and take care. I would not let her go if I didn’t think it was in her best interest. Ms. Herrera, you have my contact information and I have yours. We have a few minor lab results pending, merely routine and none of which will interfere with my decision here today. I am obligated to discuss them with you and so I will give you a call later in the week.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Once they were alone together in the room Jason remarked, “Nice guy.  Sounds like you had a great doctor.”

A pang of guilt actually sank within her. One minute she was a cold-blooded killer and the next she had a conscience. It was very confusing to her. The one thing she was sure of, whether she could kill him or not, he was her best bet. “I have to get dressed still. If you would go get the nurse,” she said, thinking she was being cooperative.

“Nurse?” he asked as though he were baffled. A barrage of memories of the two of them naked many times started to play through her mind.  A blush that took her off guard consumed her. “I’ll get her if you want me to, but I can help you.”

If she was going to use him for her personal safety, she might as well force herself to tolerate him. “Sure.  I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Seriously, Blanche, I can’t pretend I like what’s happened here. I miss you like crazy and you’re standing right in front of me, but I am not trying to pressure you, so if you feel more comfortable with the nurse helping you with your clothes on…”

“Do I even have clothes?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.  “I brought them earlier.” He pulled opened a drawer from dresser in the room.  “See?” There they were. Clothes for her, neatly folded and put away. He cared for her. He cleared out the drawers and put all but one set in a bag.  He motioned for her to raise her arms. That was really hard to do. She had to move super slowly. She did need his help she admitted to herself, though she wouldn’t say so out loud.

The first thing she noted was that his touch was healing. Soothing wands of electricity radiated through her, caressing her whole body. It was perhaps the best medicine she had experienced yet.  His touch was like none other.  Even the doctor, whom Blanche found attractive, didn’t have this kind of energy.

She was confused. It seemed like in her present condition, she was impressionable. If she was around the doctor, she was pro Norte Mexicali and, given long enough time alone with Jason, she wasn’t so sure. She had to remember, whatever her choice, it was just about her. And that way, there would be no confusion.

Unless he made her weak.

The strands of her hair, mercifully spared in the head injury ordeal – there was talk of surgery at one point – got caught in her shirt; he gently loosened them for her. The warmth of his fingers at her neck combined with the soft tickling of her hair climbing up and out of her clothing was overwhelmingly sensual. She wondered if he was doing it on purpose.

He guided her off the bed and carried all of her bags. He opened the door to let the nurse know that they were ready to leave. The nurse brought over a wheelchair for her.

Once again, Blanche felt very vulnerable being in a position lower than everyone else. As though he had nothing else to do, the doctor appeared to escort her to the exit. Now Blanche was nervous.

To everyone else, it looked like he was the caring, attentive physician, but she knew otherwise. He was reminding her to behave. Jason was a big and powerful man, himself, with not an ounce of fat on him.  Whereas the doctor was built more like a bulldozer…a football player and he did carry extra weight.

Blanche could not estimate which of the two would best the other, except that she had a feeling it would be the doctor.  She also realized there was an inkling of protectiveness for Jason. Surprising to both Blanche and the doctor, there was a squad of motorcycle club members, The Seven Devils, waiting for them, though there were even more waiting to ride along-side Jason and Blanche as they went to their destination, which she assumed was his house.

Jason shook the doctor’s hand and said goodbye to him. He helped Blanche get into his car, a Porsche 911. It would not have been the car she would have picked for him. That made her have to admit that somewhere inside of her, she knew she cared. She just couldn’t quite connect to it.

He leaned over her from the driver’s side and buckled her in. He didn’t ask; he just did it. Blanche knew Jason was a big guy, but sitting beside him the sports car made it even more obvious. His back and shoulders filled the backrest of the seat. He didn’t say much to her as they pulled out of the lot, leading the swarm of bikers.

About fifteen miles away from the hospital, Jason veered off and the bikers kept going. Blanche was alarmed, but curious, and she remained silent as she waited to see if she could figure him out.  He pulled up to a curve, shrouded with shrubs where a car was there waiting for them. The driver of that car helped him help her out of the Porche into a white Ford pickup. A lone Seven Devils biker zoomed around the bend to pick up the guy who had been driving the truck. He stripped off his club coat and tossed it into the truck.

“Don't lose that,” he kidded.

Jason grabbed Blanche’s cellphone and tossed it to him. “Here, I’ll trade you.” She had no time to protest. “Throw that thing off the nearest cliff.”

The men pushed the Porsche into the bushes more, completely off of the road. Everyone dispersed with their new rides. They drove for quite some time. It was pleasant and peaceful and quiet. Blanche nodded off every now and again, but she woke up in time to see signs that they were crossing into Nevada. 

Finally he spoke to her, “Reach under your legs for a blanket. For some reason, even though it’s summer, it gets cold up in through here,” he said very practically. There was no affection in his voice at all. She wondered if the stuff before, back at the hospital, had been just an act. It could have been. All these people were a lot smarter than she initially gave them credit for. The idea that he might not feel those things made her feel a little empty. “We will take a break pretty soon. Get some food.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

What she envisioned was that they would be going to a rest stop or a restaurant but, instead, they cut into a narrow, winding driveway camouflaged by the forest, and stopped at a little house, glowing with the lights on inside. It might be hard to even know the house was there with the way it was situated among nature.

Blanche expected that it would be just the two of them. It was a little unsettling that a beautiful woman met them at the door. She and Jason embraced warmly, clearly fond of one another. Their intimacy irked her in her growing observations about how she cared for him. What bothered her more was that the woman was so friendly to her, as well. There was little to not like about her. She was down-to-earth, beautiful and sweet. Her name was Gretchen. Blanche even liked her name better than her own.

Blanche was encouraged to sit while the few things that were in the truck were carried into the house. Finally Jason sat next to her.  "How are you feeling?" he asked evenly.  There was no particular warmth in his voice. 

"I think I am fine. The doctor said I just had a concussion. It's only really sore when I lay back on it, but only for a second. I feel pretty good overall."

"The doctor, huh?" he asked cryptically. "So what else did you and the good doctor talk about besides your health?"

The look on his face was indicting. Blanche knew exactly what he was driving at and she didn't have the nerve to answer. He knew. Whether he knew about the doctor beforehand and was playing along or whether he tapped the room and found out that way, she didn’t know.

When he said, "I am going to chalk up this change in you to getting your head slammed on the ground," she knew.

He must have had some kind of listening device planted in her hospital room. Or a spy. The nurse?

"But for the time being, until we know what is what, you are to be a good little guest, am I understood? I find you make contact with Norte Mexicali or anyone without my say so and you will deal with me. Now," he stood up, "I've taken away your phone. That ought to be clear indication I don't want you to use a phone, nor do I want anyone but us to know where you are. Is there any question?"

"No," said Blanche. "You won't have any trouble from me," she wanted to say, but she realized acting on every impulse to open her mouth got her where she was with him. It did confuse her as to why he was helping her now when he was clearly onto the fact that she was willing to betray him again.