Chapter 2 - Willow

I blinked rapidly as I tried to figure out where I was. The sterile white walls, the beeping, the cloying smell...hospital. One of my least favorite places.

"And I'm her medical power of attorney, you piece of shit. Try to come in this room again, and you'll be up before your review board, your state board, and anything else I can stick you with. She doesn't want to see you, she refuses your care, and if you touch her, I'll file assault and battery charges against you on her behalf," Dom's voice was hard as steel and sharp enough to flay skin.

I couldn't understand the reply, but I knew that voice. I closed my eyes as I tried to escape it. It haunted my dreams. Stalked my waking moments. Left me a shuddering quaking mess deep inside myself.

The machine I was hooked to betrayed me. I wanted to throw it out the window, me along with it, if that's what it took to escape him. I kept my eyes closed as I heard footsteps edge towards my bed.

"Just me, Will. He's gone. And he won't be back. I promise you that," Dom said as he took my hand.

I opened my eyes. Shut them again as the sterile walls and blank ceiling mocked me for my weakness. My stomach clenched as my chest spasmed. "I've got to get out of here, Dom." I turned to look at him. Focused on his handsome face to the exclusion of the horrifying room around me.

The corners of his eyes pinched. "You can't, babe. Not yet. We're still waiting for someone to read your CT. The huge lump on the back of your head was a scalp hematoma. Rafe says you're fine from that one for now. They did some drainage to help reduce the swelling on that part." His mouth firmed as his dark eyes blazed. "He's not coming in here. I swear to you, he won't get anywhere near you. But we can't treat this at home." He reached out for my hand, sandwiched it in between his larger palms.

They didn't understand. And I still couldn't bring myself to tell them everything that he'd done to me. Hell, I still didn't know everything he'd done to my body. So all of us were left with half-answers and more questions.

I closed my eyes as reality set in. I was stuck here. Vulnerable-in so many more ways than one. I pushed aside the terror, put on a brave face. I shot Dom a smile. "Well, as long as one of you gets to stay, at least I'll have some nice scenery."

He laughed because that's what I needed him to do. It didn't reach his eyes and his smile was more upside down than right side up. He perched his hip on the bed next to mine. "We'll be here, Willow. I swear to you. Amatucci promise."

My eyes widened. Oh shit. I shook my head. Winced as I rolled over the bruise on my skull. "I don't need that. Your word is good to me, Dom. I know nothing will get to me if you say it won't."

He leaned down, brushed his lips over my cheek. His skin was warm and his lips soft. "You wouldn't be here, the literal place of your nightmares, if it wasn't for something that happened in our club. We take care of our own, Will. You know that. And you're one of ours."

He lifted his head so he could look into my eyes. The space between us warmed with our shared breath in the close space. "You're one of mine. And I'll end anyone who tries to hurt you." He brushed his lips over mine in the sweetest, softest kiss I'd ever received.

My lips started to tremble. My belly dropped away, leaving nausea in its place. I pulled back after a moment. My heart tripped in my chest, the machine giving me away. I could feel the tears building, that deep aching burn that proved my cowardice.

It ridiculed me even as it provided sanctuary. I opened my eyes to watch him. To torture myself with what could be.

He sighed, his eyes closed as he seemed to fight with himself. When he opened them again, he settled back a few more inches. Fathomless love showed in his gaze, shone in the melted caramel depths. "One day, Will. I'll wait for you forever."

The desire on his face broke my heart. Lashed my insides with guilt. I could never return the kind of love he needed. The soft and good kind. The kind that washed the heart clean.

That wasn't inside me. Not anymore anyway.

He rubbed a thumb over my cheek, caught the tear that escaped my control.

"Knock, knock," Tali called from the doorway.

I shifted my gaze, thankful for the distraction. My savior was still dressed to kill in five-inch heels, short skirt, and a plunging neckline. Her riotous curls had been restrained in a long tail down her back leaving her bronze skin scrubbed free of all artifice and makeup. She had a large paper sack in her hands.

If I were into girls, I'd be all up in her business. I sighed. Wished for a moment that I could be a taco lover. My gaze dropped to Dom's lap. Yeah, I wouldn't be jumping on the muff diver train ever. Not with that kind of deliciousness available.

Tali cleared her throat, pulling my attention. She rolled her eyes as she opened her mouth. "Lamenting again?"

I chuckled. "You know it."

Dom looked between us, his eyebrows raised in question.

We ignored him.

"If what I heard in the hallway was correct, then you're about to be sprung," Tali announced when her brother glared at her. "Unless they've called for other head CTs on this floor at this time of morning."

I perked up at the idea of getting to leave. "Yeah?" I pulled my abs in to help me sit up. The pounding in my head was down to a managed dull thud. As long as I didn't have to move too quickly, I should be fine.

Tali nodded. "Yeah. Let's get you up and dressed." She shooed her brother out the door. "Stand guard at the door. We'll open it when she's ready to see people."

Dom looked at me again, assessed me with his analytical gaze. After his analysis was complete, he squeezed my hand and rose from the edge of the bed. "I might have to let the doctors in, Tali."

My insides froze at the words even though I'd already heard Dom threaten him. I'd lost all respect for doctors. Especially important ones who could lie through their teeth and not have their actions dissected like normal humans.

"He's not getting in here, Chase. We'll make sure another doctor does your discharge. Easy does it. If you code out because of stress, you're not getting out of here for ages," Tali said as she helped me swing my legs to the side of the bed.

I hit the button on the machines, turned them off. After removing the IV line from the back of my hand, I detached the diodes and monitoring equipment. Practice did make perfect.

"Damn straight she's not," Dom said right as he closed the door behind himself.

I grimaced at the door, glad-so freaking glad-that Dom was here. That I could lean on him and he'd not push me farther than I could handle. Another part of my heart split off and burnt up at how I was treating him. I couldn't give him what he needed, but I couldn't do without him.

I'm an awful person.

"Wipe that look off your face or I'll have him come back in here," Tali threatened.

I looked up into her dark eyes. Understanding shone in their depths. The acknowledgement of my duality not lost on my too perceptive best friend. If there were such a thing as magic or the ability to hear thoughts or read auras, then Tali would be one of the special few. She just knew things. Good and bad. And she loved me in spite of it all.

She wrapped me in her arms and cuddled me for a moment as I awkwardly patted her back. "I thought I'd lost you when you passed out on Dom," she whispered into my hair. "You're not allowed to scare me like that, Chase. Not now. Not ever." She pulled back, her hands on my shoulders. "You understand me?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry. I just thought it was the headache, not that my head was actually bleeding. If I'd known I was bleeding all over, I would have said something."

She narrowed her eyes at me.

I spluttered a laugh. "Honest. Blood equals hospital." I shivered. "I'd submit to a cavity search without lube or prep to avoid being here."

She snorted. "Yeah. That is true." She let me go and leaned over to pick up something from the floor. "I brought you some clothes. I had to borrow from Massi, but at least we know they'll fit."

I laughed. "Fitting into your clothes would have restricted my blood flow."

She chuckled. "Maybe. But you would have looked fiercely sexy as you strutted out of here. Given He Who Shall Not Be Named the what-for as you left."

My soul shivered at the idea of even his eyes on me. Especially when I couldn't see him. Never again. I tried for a chuckle since she was trying for a joke. "Oh yeah, bedraggled and crazy hair are such man bait, it's crazy."

She lifted her head from her bag search. A bright smile on her face. "Exactly." She tossed the clothes down on the bed along with a small packet of face wipes.

"Goddess bless you, Tali," I leaned up and pecked her cheek.

She giggled. "You and your goddess. Need help getting out of that gown?"

I eased my feet to the floor, waited for the room to stop spinning and the bone-deep ache to subside. I pressed my toes into the cold floor and got reacquainted with my body in its present state.

My legs were on fire as my belly tried to decide if it liked its present position. My head finally stopped spinning and the alternating cold and hot flashes subsided as I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth. "No." I shook my head. "I think I should be good." Something else in my body made itself known. "I need to pee though."

Trembling legs and unsteady feet made for an interesting trip to the bathroom. I thank my personal goddess that handrails were required in hospital bathrooms. Although, slapping down onto the freezing seat at least gave me something else to focus on for a brief moment.

Once I was finished and had washed my hands, I studied myself in the mirror. Smiled. Not the best look of my life. I laughed. Certainly not the worst either. Once I got this makeup off, I'd feel better about a lot of things.

A loud noise came from outside the door.

"Yes, she doesn't belong in here. Remove her."

No. No. No. No. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't feel my fingers as terror seized my brain. The makeup wipe fell into the sink.

He was here. He was inside my room. Where the hell was Dom?

"You can't make me leave! I'm her sister. He doesn't get a say in her treatment," Tali yelled, her voice sharp as a blade. "Touch me one more time and I'll have your job, stupido bastardo del cazzo."

"Doc?" an unknown male said.

"She's interfering with my treatment, they aren't related. Get her out of here," the man from my living nightmares said, his voice low and furious.

Someone tapped softly on my door three times. Tap, tap...tap

Tali.

I eased the door open and watched as two security officers physically removed Tali from the room. In the fuss they were making, I snuck out while the main door was still open.

The pounding in my head worsened as my vision narrowed to a long, blurry tunnel. I had to get out of here. I looked around. Except for the fracas that Tali had created, everything else seemed normal.

Nurses were busy reading charts or at computers. Other patients were in their beds. Probably enjoying their blitzed out, drug induced sleep.

Where was Dom? He'd promised.

A noise in the room behind me had me turning too fast. My vision flashed to black for a second. A door had slammed. The bathroom I'd vanished from.

Feeling in my entire lower body disappeared for a second as my poor abused head tried to figure out what the hell I was doing to it. With nowhere else to go and no idea for escape, I slipped into the next room before he could find me. Skittered back behind the curtain of the second bed.

"We've got a missing patient, Patty. Sound the alarm," he said. "She can't have gone far. Her condition is too bad for her to have run or dodged us."

Nurse Patty must not have moved fast enough for him.

"NOW!" he screamed as it sounded like he slapped the counter of the nurse's station.

Shoes squeaked over the floor as nurses rushed to do the illustrious doctor's bidding. They had no idea what he was capable of. I hoped none of them got in trouble when they couldn't find me.

I looked around the sectioned off portion of the room I was squatting in. The man there was sleeping peacefully. A woman about his age was sleeping on the couch against the wall. A bag of clothes sat at the base of the man's bed.

I grabbed the bag and looked through it. Winced at the idea of stealing. But I was out of options. If I stayed here, I died. But I also couldn't leave. Not dressed like a patient.

I sent up a prayer for forgiveness as I slid the pants on. Thankfully, the guy had some old school sweats that bunched at the ankles and had a drawstring. I pulled the shirt on and dropped the gown.

I wasn't going to take the socks. They would lessen my purchase on the floor. I couldn't afford to slide my way around corners or over the linoleum floors. I did steal one of the strings from his shoes and pulled my hair up and off my shoulders and face. I tucked the tail of it down the oversized shirt.

Doing a couple leg bends to hopefully loosen the muscles in my thighs, I watched for someone to come check this room for the lost patient. While the coast was still clear, I laid down on the empty bed and closed my eyes. My abandoned hospital gown stuffed under my pillow.

Moments after I closed my lids, the door opened. I cracked my eyelids to see who it was. Felt my belly relax when it was just a nurse. She slid through the room like a wraith. Shut the door behind her when she found nothing out of the ordinary.

I waited, the time ticking by in my abused head like a countdown to a bomb. Once I reached sixty, I eased from the bed. Shaking off the lethargy and the need to just close my eyes and sink into oblivion, I slapped myself in the face lightly.

The muscles of my thighs burned and protested with the movement as I twitched the curtain next to the door to the side slightly. Please let me get away. Please. Please. Please.

I opened the door, hoped no one noticed my bare feet. I moved out into the hallway like I was supposed to be there. Shut the door softly behind me. I strode with aching, burning purpose towards the elevators. At the last turn, I almost vomited from stress.

Shit, shit, shit.

He was there. His arms folded over his muscular chest, his glare an unwelcome reminder imprinted on my brain. He looked up at me. He turned, his crystal blue eyes bright and terrifying under the bright fluorescent lights. His sharply styled brown hair lay just so against his head.

He moved in my direction.

The breath backed up in my throat as he headed towards me. At the last moment, he nodded and moved around me. "Excuse me."

Thank the goddess he hadn't recognized me. I nodded and kept moving. The emergency stairs were on the far side of the elevators. I couldn't risk getting stuck in the moving car if he were still searching for me.

I pushed through the heavy steel door, the cement flooring of the stairwell a hard, welcome jolt to my system. At least I could still feel my toes.

I started down the stairs, one torturous step at a time. Sweat broke out on my forehead as I rounded the first landing and continued on down. I could feel my feet, but only because the cold kept reminding me they were there.

With a death grip on the railing, I eased down the next flight. A door slammed open a couple floors up. I huddled next to the wall, my heart trying to beat its way from my chest.

"Willow?" he called.

I stuffed a fist in my mouth to keep from screaming. Slid to the floor in a pile as my legs finally gave out. I prayed like I'd never prayed before. My pulse thundered in my ears as my lungs struggled to fight off the adrenaline dumping into my system.

The door right next to me smashed open, the door ricocheting off the wall and almost bouncing shut in one smooth movement. A man stepped through.

Tall as the Amatucci brothers, he was as light as a spring day. He looked like he could wrestle bears or lions barehanded. His muscles strained the sleeves of his dress shirt. His thighs bulged against the fabric of his pants.

Blonde hair that fell forward over his forehead, it looked thick and cool to the touch. His grass green eyes were as hard as emeralds as they widened when he caught sight of me close to tears in the stairwell.

His mouth pulled up in a growl when he looked at me.

I shrank back from the blatant anger on his face.

"Willow? Is that you?" my nightmare called again from up above, making me jolt. I'd forgotten I was hiding from him for the briefest moment.

The man opened his mouth.

Oh sweet goddess. No. Please no. I had to put my life in this angry stranger's hands and pray he didn't give me away.

Forcing myself to look up into his hard, shuttered eyes, I shook my head quickly. Put a finger over my mouth. No longer cold, I was burning up. The tunnel of my vision grew darker. I pushed it aside. I couldn't let this stranger send me back to hell.

The blonde-haired man studied me for moments on end. I counted every single heartbeat while he made his decision. All I could hear was the pounding in my head.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

"No." His brow furrowed as he answered. He looked almost surprised by his own answer.

"Is there a woman in a hospital gown down there?" the doctor of hell asked.

The man looked me up and down. Heat flared in my cheeks as the look of disdain on his face when he studied me. I was embarrassed by my stolen clothes. Could my life get any weirder?

"No," the man said again. His voice was a beautiful baritone, clear as a bell. He didn't offer anything else to his explanation. Just a simple, firm negative.

"If you see a distraught woman in a hospital gown running around the hospital, please do not approach her. She's dangerous. To herself. To others."

Shame slid through me like a knife. I wasn't crazy. Not to anyone normal. Nor was I dangerous. Unless you counted my baking delicious confections a crime.

I gritted my teeth. I wasn't crazy. And he couldn't convince me of it otherwise. Not anymore. I was no longer under his thumb.

I firmed my lips, straightened my shoulders to the best of my weakened ability and looked up at the stranger. I shook my head, laid a hand over my heart.

The stranger grimaced. "I'll be sure to tell someone."

I wilted, basically collapsed against the cement steps, as the door up the stairs slammed shut once more. "Thank you," I whispered as my eyes fluttered closed. I hurried to wipe away the tears that leaked from the corners of my eyes. I looked back up at my savior. "Thank you."

He nodded and stood there for a moment, his gaze running over me again as he crossed his arms. "Technically, I didn't lie. You're not in a hospital gown."

I smiled up at him. Looked down at my stolen clothes. "Indeed." I grabbed the rail, attempted to stand.

I fell forward as my legs seized up.

The stranger was there. His hands slid around my hips. The bite of his grip as I stumbled against him had lights and sirens going off in my mind.

He smelled like bubble gum and mint.

"Sure you shouldn't be in a gown and in a bed somewhere?" he asked, his voice a rumble against my chest.

I pulled back, hoped my bruised and battered legs would hold me. "I should be, but I'd brave an emotional first-year philosophy student with a scalpel before I'd let him touch me." I pushed some hair off my forehead. Looked into his eyes. With me a couple steps higher, we were at eye level.

"Any particular reason for that?" he asked, one darker blonde eyebrow winged up.

I nodded as I straightened my borrowed shirt. A multitude of reasons, but I wasn't sharing them with this guy. He'd already saved my life, he didn't need to get caught up in the drama that was my every day for his reward.

His lips, full and unfairly pouty, quirked into a smile. "Good girl. Keep those secrets." He flexed his fingers into my hips.

My lips parted on a gasp as the delicious pain slid through me again. Complete with that white noise haze of blessed silence.

He wet his lips as he dropped his eyes to look at my mouth.

I blinked at him. Knew he didn't have any idea what he was doing other than helping some poor, supposedly crazy lady in baggy clothes not get caught by a doctor.

"Is savior of the misfortuned your day job or do you moonlight as a superhero?" I asked softly.

He laughed, low and sexy. His breath panted against my lips. "You've definitely got the wrong guy for that one, sweetheart. I'm a chew ‘em up and spit ‘em out kind of guy."

My lips curled up. "Real bad guy, huh?" The man was probably a pussycat. I knew scary men. This guy wasn't one of them.

"Tried and true. Terrified mothers on reference if you need them." His fingers dug into my hips again before he pulled away. Something darkened his eyes as he looked away.

I felt the loss of his gaze immediately. As his hands dropped away, the reins of control on the pain inside me loosened. The pain in my body roared back, unmanageable and overwhelming. I hissed in a breath.

"You need some help down?" he asked. His voice was tight and his mouth was pinched. But it didn't stop him from offering me his hand.

"Do bad guys help strange women down stairs?" I took his hand and eased to the next step down.

His lips kicked up at the corner for a sliver of a moment. "Well, I can't be bad all the time. That would just be exhausting. You caught me on my annual day of redemption." He curled his arm across my back and over my hip.

"Pretty sure bad guys don't care about redemption. But thank you...again." I gripped his arm as I tried to be fast. He probably had somewhere to be and I was holding him up with my pathetic inability to descend some stairs.

"You're welcome. Can I ask what happened?" We finally made it to the next landing.

My lungs worked overtime as I struggled to put one foot in front of the other. "You can." I focused on keeping my feet under me. My vision was fading in and out as the pressure built in my chest.

We descended a few stairs in silence. He chuckled after a minute. "What happened?"

"A jackhole and a table," I answered.

His arm jerked around my back. I pitched forward slightly under the movement. He righted me before my body had a chance to follow through. "A man hurt you?"

I shrugged. "Not precisely. He was trying to grab my best friend. I bumped her out of the way. I just missed the table he slammed into me." I swallowed heavily. My throat felt like the desert. "I'll be okay." I patted the arm I was gripping. "You don't want to waste your redemption day on me. You won't get enough points."

He mumbled something against my head that I missed.

As the next turn for the following landing came, I knew I needed to get flat. As soon as humanly possible. And as far from this hellhole I could manage before I passed out.

"Do you have a phone, by chance?" I asked him, my entire being focused on the stairs.

"Need to call someone?" It sounded like he was smiling as he said it.

I couldn't spare the movement to check. I just nodded. "I need to call a friend to come pick me up."

"A boyfriend?" he asked as he eased me against the wall.

I smiled as my eyelids dipped. "He's a guy, but I can't lose him, so we're just family."

His brows dropped as his mouth hardened again. "He shouldn't have left your side. If you were mine, you wouldn't be out of my sight."

I blinked a few times. Decided to ignore his last statement. I shrugged. "Boys are a lot of work."

His face brightened momentarily as he chuckled again. "Pretty sure you meant to say girls are work."

I snorted softly. "Not into the ladies, but yeah. They are too. Men are weird. Women are crazy. I'd rather be with weird than crazy. Ready for that number yet, Thor?" I rested my overheated head against the cool wall.

I felt his chuckle deep inside my chest. "Definitely not a god, sweets. Real or imagined. Yeah, give it to me."

I gave him Dom's number as my brain gave one small, final sickly slide to the side.

"Shit," he said as he caught my shoulders before I took a header down the stone steps. "You really should be in a bed." He pressed my body between his and the wall. The shock of the heat from him in startling contrast to the cold wall cleared my mind for the briefest moment.

I smiled blindly. "Only if it's yours or mine." An unwelcome thought exploded through my fuzzy head. My nose wrinkled. "Don't let him find me."

The ‘please' got lost as my mind went dark.