My wife gave me two sons. Life gave me you. – Brute to Taz
Jasmine opened her eyes and looked around at the strange room. Her uncle Brute sat on the side of her bed holding her hand. He was resting his cheek on his arm that lay on the top of the side rail.She tried to move her head to look for her parents. Her head didn’t seem to be able to move. Trying to lift her left arm, she discovered she couldn’t do that either.
Whatever was in her throat hurt, and she wanted it out. Pulling her right hand out of her uncles hand, Brute woke up.
“Don’t do that, sweetheart.” He said gently laying her hand back on the bed. He pushed the handheld call button on the long cord.
“Nurse Williams.” A crackling female voice said. “How can I help?”
“She’s awake.” Brute said as Jasmine looked around confused.
“I’ll let the doctor know.” Came the response.
“It’s OK, sweetheart.” Brute said as he called his wife. “Hey babe, she’s awake.”
The door opened and Jasmine turned her eyes to see an older man and two nurses walking in. The doctor smiled at her and gave some quiet instructions to the nurses.
“Let’s get that breathing tube out of you.” The gray haired man said gently to Jasmine.
The nurse gave instructions gently to the seven year old girl and warned her that it would be uncomfortable. Next to be removed was the feeding tube going down her nose.
Jasmine gagged and coughed hoarsely for a moment. She tried to speak but her throat hurt too much.
The second nurse held a cup of water with a straw in it for Jasmine. “Little sips, precious.”
The first sip burned so bad that it came back up. The little girl began to cry and her uncle kissed her temple.
“I know, baby, I know.” He whispered against her hair as tears fell.
“Let’s try again, precious.” The nurse urged.
The second sip still burned, but it also soothed as it went down.
“Daddy?” she hoarsely whispered looking at her uncle.
“Your throat is going to be sore for a little while.” The doctor told her as he removed the neck brace. “I know you have questions, but let’s try not to talk. Does that feel better? Just nod or shake your head.”
Jasmine nodded as she continued to cry.
“Good. I’ll order a few tests.” He said taking out his pen light and looking in her eyes. “Can you follow the light? Good. Now open up wide and let me see inside. Hmmmm… just as I suspected.”
He looked at the nurse still in the room. “This patient is in dire need of a chocolate ice cream treatment. Should probably be administered as quickly as possible. Follow up therapy at least twice a day.”
“I’ll notify the pharmacy.” The nurse replied handing him a syringe.
“This will help with the pain and may make you drowsy.” He said injecting the medicine in her IV. “You’ll be on soft foods for a few days. I hope you like banana pudding.”
Jasmine smiled up at him.
“I’m glad you decided to come back to us.” Brute said gently as his eyes filled with tears. Wiping them away, he turned to see her aunt enter the room. “You’re a lucky girl.”
The doctor left them alone as her aunt shed her own tears hugging the little girl. He did not envy them. They had to shatter the little girl’s world.
Her parents, brothers and several others were dead. Of the nearly thirty victims, she was the only survivor.
Welcome home, here’s a divorce. Can I get a beer? – Riffraff It was not the homecoming that Riffraff had wanted. But it was the one he got.His grandfather met him at the airport. He went to the house that his wife lived in. The door was opened by a blonde man in a polo and khakis. “I’m looking for my wife?” he told the stranger who nodded.“Honey,” the man called over his shoulder, “he’s here.”A moment later, his very pregnant wife came around the corner. Riffraff hadn’t seen her in over a year.“I’m guessing that it’s not mine.” Riffraff said dryly. “It wasn’t working between us.” She said. “I got out of the army for you.” Riffraff pointed out. “You couldn’t handle being married to a soldier, remember?”“What did you want me to say?” she demanded angrily. “How about, I don’t want to be married to you?” he suggested. “Can I at least see my daughter?”“She’s not here. I’ll tell her you stopped by.” She handed him some papers.“What’s this?” he asked even though he could tell th
You’re going to fucking die. – Knuckles Just shy of Jasmines’ eighteenth birthday, her aunt Stephanie was killed in a convenient store robbery. She had gone in to get a drink and pay for her gas. The teenager panicked and shot everyone in the store. For less than thirty dollars, five people lost their lives. Six if you included the teen who died in jail. No one was surprised that he hung himself after being the play thing for several Saints that were in jail. Even the guards were surprised that he survived as long as he did.Unable to stay at their house without drowning in memories, Brute moved himself and Jasmine to the mother house. Knuckles had patched into the club under Trigg at Pops Place. Scrapper was prospecting under his dad at the mother house. Jasmine, nicknamed Taz by the club, was enjoying club life herself. After her recovery from being shot as a child, she had to relearn many things that had once been taken for granted. Her cousins did boxing and the therapist su
She has to go. If for nothing else, to guarantee she doesn’t have his bastard. - RyderWhen Taz came to, she was in the hospital surrounded by cops, her uncle and cousin. Panic engulfed her as she remembered the last time she had woken up in a hospital. She looked around the hospital room, taking in the bright white walls and the machine monitoring her vitals. Laying in the hospital bed, Taz remembered Stinger cornering her and the struggle followed by darkness. She lay there, a scratchy white hospital blanket covering her to her chin as the five men watched her warily. “It’s OK. Focus on me and breathe through it.” Her uncle said calmly and she took several deep breaths to steady herself. Brute, his usually hard mahogany eyes were soft as he watched her. His large calloused hand held her smaller one as he stood by her bed in his jeans, gray t-shirt and leather cut. Tattoos covered his large arms and he had golden rings in both lobes that peeked out through his dark brown hair with
I will not have a disgusting thing such as that in my house. – JohnDaddyRiffraff looked at his phone. Although he was still up, it was later than when Angel was usually awake. He clicked the button and called her but it went to voicemail. His phone chimed and he looked at the new message. Can you come get meJohn kicked me out“The hell he did.” Riffraff muttered as he typed out a quick reply. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and then quickly dispatched the remaining three solid balls on the table. Picking up the twenty dollars, he passed his pool stick to Werewolf. “Everything OK?” the man asked concerned. “I gotta go get my daughter.” He said angrily as he pulled his keys out of his pocket and went out the front door.It was a clear night and there was not much traffic. He wasn’t sure what was going on. But he would get to the bottom of it. Obviously Crystal’s husband forgot who actually owned the house they lived in. Pulling up to the house, he saw his daughter sitti
I’ll always chase your monsters away. – Knuckles to Taz after a nightmareTwo days after the attack, Brute packed up her room at the clubhouse and met Taz at a small rent house. It was on the other side of the county, but closer to her gym. The 1970s ranch style house was fully furnished and the other two rooms were rented by college students. The first few nights had been rough. Knuckles eventually came and stayed for a few weeks. Taz would wake up screaming, reliving her rape. And her parents murders.She reluctantly started therapy and eventually went back to the gym. It was a few months before she could get back into the ring. But then she went back into fighting with a vengeance. And determination. She focused on her fighting, dropping out of school. The plan had been to help the club. Now, she feared the mother house. Since she was unable to make herself enter the club, she distanced herself completely.Taz knew that the club walked away from the drugs and guns because of the
Ha! I just got why the lesbian bar is named the Clam Shell. – Sledge It was Knuckles first night working as a bouncer at the lesbian bar. He stood where the new head bouncer, Sledge, had told him to, and had to admit, it was a good spot to see the majority of the place. The main bar was a large semicircular white granite with multi colored lights flashing against it in rhythm with the music. There were two male and three female bartenders behind the large bar. They all wore leather pants and matching leather vests. The women’s were zipped about halfway while the men’s hung open. There were two smaller bars, also rounded with lights. One was on the upper level and the other over in the VIP area. They each had a male and female bartender with the same uniform. The waitresses all wore coordinating leggings or tight jeans and t-shirts with the bar name on the front and a questionable quote on the back. So far, his favorite declared to be from Eleanor Roosevelt, “Horrible in a bed, but g
Fight in a ring and you can get a title. Fight on the street and you can get a charge. – Text from Taz to KnucklesIt was Saturday night, and Taz had a fight. Once she was back home, she called Knuckles and let him know that she placed and moved up the rankings and because of that, she had another fight in two weeks. She returned to work on Tuesday, makeup hiding the last few bruises. She doubled down on her workouts and sparring. Then came the weekend of her fight. Not only did she move up in rankings, she won her first headlining semi-pro fight, by a technicality, but she was grateful for the win. She had three weeks before the next fight against one of the top contenders in the state. Wednesday afternoon of the second week, Taz returned to the house that she rented with two other girls to find cops and the landlady out front. She was usually only there to sleep and shower and had very little contact with her roommates. Taz gave permission for the police to search her, the pickup
At the touch of his hand on her shoulder, Taz stood and followed Riffraff out of the office. “Do you need to get anything from the house?” he asked once they were in the hall, Molly closed the door behind them. “No, it’s all in my pickup." She admitted following him to the parking lot. Again, she thought it a little sad that her entire adult life would fit into two duffle bags and box. “The house was furnished. Only things I had there were clothes and a few little items.”“Same here.” He held the front door open for her. “Moved out of my Nan’s house and into Army barracks and then into the clubhouse. I have never owned a single piece of furniture.”Taz gave a small laugh. “Similar. From Brutes house to the mother house to that house and now this clubhouse.”“Why not just come to the clubhouse?” he asked as she stopped next to a black four door pickup. Opening the door, she gave a little shrug. “My whole life has been centered around the Saints. I needed something that was not comple