Chapter 4: Hospital Nightmare

She has to go. If for nothing else, to guarantee she doesn’t have his bastard. - Ryder

When 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 a sprinkling of gray. His well trimmed beard had a streak of gray that went down the center of his chin to the end of it’s three inches. 

On the other side of the bed, holding her other hand in his deeply tanned one was her favorite cousin. She could barely see his finger tattoos that went across his knuckles proclaiming that he Protects What’s Mine. His other hand declared that he Defends What’s Mine. There were fresh cuts and bruises on both hands that he did not even bother to hide. He had the same dark brown hair as his father, but his eyes were closer to chocolate than mahogany. His own hair was pulled back in a ponytail that brushed the bottom of his collar. His long goatee was pulled into a braid.

At the foot of the bed stood an older man in a light gray suit. Everything about him screamed cop. 

Behind him stood two uniformed officers. One looked around six feet with a shaved head and cold black eyes. He was wiry in stature and his facial features were hard, almost like he was chiseled from stone. His partner was shorter and from the bulkiness of his muscles, suffered from short man syndrome. He had bright green eyes, short black hair and the crooked nose that his wire rimmed glasses sat on appeared to have been broken and not set right. 

Taz looked from Knuckles to Brute in fear. “Stinger?” she whispered through busted lips. 

“He’s gone, Taz.” Brute squeezed her hand. 

She relaxed back into the bed. Panic stayed just under the surface as memories of her childhood flooded her.

“Taz,” Brighton, the cop in the suit, spoke gently. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Damn it, Brighton, do we have to do this right now?” Brute demanded. He could feel the tension and fear in niece's trembling hands. 

Brighton turned and spoke softly to the two uniform officers. They both nodded and walked out of the room. The door closed behind them and Brighton waited until he heard their footsteps disappear. The short stocky man pulled a chair over and sat by the bed. His once dark hair, now only had a light sprinkling of black in all of his white hair. His dark eyes were solemn in his tanned face.

“Taz,” he started again, “I know that the official story is that Stinger took off. I also know that no one in the clubhouse would have let him leave knowing what happened to you. I’m pretty damn sure that I’m never going to see him again. Just for formality, I’ll need you to come to the station and make a statement. The nurses are going to run a rape kit on you. We’ll get it all put together and present it the DA and judge, we should have an arrest warrant for his dead ass by Friday.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Alibi.” He replied with a smile. “We have to keep your boys safe.” He stood up and shook hands with the other men. “Get your stories together and come make statements. As of right now, you remember Stinger cornering you and nothing else. It’s fine if you remember something else when you make your statement. Call me if you need anything.”

Brighton left and a few minutes later, two nurses entered. The men were chased out and they started the process of the rape kit. Pictures were taken of every abrasion, bruise and cut. Her clothes were collected into evidence bags. One nurse collected everything under her nails. The other got her in the stirrups and took swabs for DNA samples. 

Taz was given a pair of scrubs to wear and the nurse gave instructions to Brute in the hallway. The door finally opened and as Taz stepped out into the hall, Brute couldn’t help but think that she looked broken. She looked at him and he knew that she wanted to fall apart, but the Saints were watching, so she wouldn’t. 

“Let’s go home.” Brute offered his arm to her and total fear covered her face. 

“I can’t…” she whispered. 

Brute nodded and agreed that she should stay somewhere else. For the next few nights, they stayed with one of the brothers from a sister chapter, Cookie, at his latest flip house.