All In: ALL IN KNIGHTS OF MAYHEM (14 page)

Avery

The slight humming noise is what I heard first then Piper screaming, ‘Leo! No wait!” The door slamming into the wall jolts my eyes straight up.

“Fuck! I am going to kill the mother fucker.” His voice is unrecognizable.

“Leo
man, calm down, you are in the hospital. Let’s just see how bad it is.” Roman’s voice of reason breaks through his rage only a small bit.

“I fucking warned her, I told her they would do this.” The fuzzy figure of Leo is pacing at the foot of my bed and no one in the room has noticed I am awake.

“Um guys.” I mumble feeling like I have sandpaper for skin in my throat.

“Oh shit, Avery!” Piper shrieks and is at my bedside in
a millisecond. I close my eyes as her hand strokes my forehead, ‘you feelin’ any pain?”

Nodding my head I watch as Piper is plucked from
my side and the space filled with Leo, ‘baby, are you okay.” His eyes scan my face and he winces when they land on the knot above my eye, his fingers ease over it and then he kisses me, ‘Damnit Avery why can't you listen baby?” Instead of anger being behind his comment his eyes are soft and full of regret, ‘this is my shit not yours but I will fix it and he will know who he is fucking with. I promise you.” His jaw is set and tense, the muscles jerking from the pressure he is putting on his teeth.

“Did he say anything to you Avery or just knock you out?” Piper ask as she has circles the bed and has propped herself up beside me. Oh god they don’t know, they did
n’t do a rape kit because I was fully dressed when they found me.

I turn to the room filled with all of Leo’s men, ‘I need to speak to Piper for a minute if you guys don’t mind?”
Confusion covers Leo’s face as he orders the rest out, ‘you too Leo and take Dalton with you, just me and Piper please?” My voice is unrecognizable as Piper offers me water through a straw.

She stands
eyeing Leo, ‘it's all good, I will fill you in later.” I wince at the thought when Leo finds the man had his hands on me.

With the room cleared and the door secured, ‘o
kay chicky spill it, what did he say to you?” Piper slides up on my bed next to me.

I
shift on the bed and wince in pain my head was busting and my body was one continuous ache. I can't tell her; because she would then tell Leo and he would run off and get himself killed or worse on death row for murder so I decide to omit certain parts.

“Piper he told me,’ I pause and take a breath, ‘he told me Leo
has something of his and if he doesn’t produce it in two days, he was going to-.“ A sob leaves my throat, ‘Leo will never be able to hide me from him or his men and then-.” It is on the tip of my tongue but I can't bring myself to tell her. I leave it at what the prisoner told me.

“That’s all
, nothing else?” I nod yes Piper leans in and kisses my forehead and skirts the bed and leaves the room in a hurry. Five minutes later Leo reenters and crosses over to me.

Taking the seat beside me he takes my hand in his, ‘babe was this guy’s name Max?”

I close my eyes and envision the chart I had been holding in my hand the moment before, ‘um Maxwell Cain, I believe, does the name ring a bell?” He sits quiet for a moment his elbows prompt up on his knees.

He turns his gorgeous gaze to me, ‘did he do anything else to you Avery?”

I flinch but quickly regain composure, ‘no, uh no just slapped me around a bit, that’s all.”

His eyes glaze over and I know
he can never know Max laid a hand on me. Much less what he had done to me, it would kill him and then in turn Leo would kill Max and be sent to prison for the rest of his life, ‘is that all, you would tell me if he did anything else wouldn’t you baby?” He pleads.

“
Yes Leo, that’s all he did.” I bring his hand up to my cheek, ‘you didn’t call me.” changing the subject.

He sighs heavily, ‘I told you we would play the game your way, so you were the one
who didn’t call.”

I didn’t feel like fighting about this right now, ‘when do I get to leave this place?” I shift again under his
humorous gaze.

“
You are a nurse who doesn’t like hospitals? That is the funniest shit I have heard in a long time babe.” His shoulders move with the roll of his laugh.

“I like them just fine, except for when I am a patient in them.” Sound reasoning.

“They are saying tomorrow, but there is something else we need to talk about babe.” He takes a deep breath and runs his hand through his hair yet again, ‘but it can wait until later, you need to get some rest and I need to go to work.” He stands and leans into me with his lips softly touching my ear, ‘get better fast baby, I miss you.”

He turns to leave as I quickly grab his arm immediately consumed by fear, ‘Leo don’t do anything stupid please?” I beg him.

“Honey in my world what happen to you
cannot
be let go, there are some people I need to talk to. Don’t worry, all in a day for me baby.” His movements say calm but the sea rolling in his eyes say retaliation.

He opens the door letting
Piper know she can return to me. I see him stop and whisper something into Roman’s ear then continues past him out of my sight. Roman and Dalton peek their heads in offering their goodbyes, Dalton plants a kiss on Piper and then they too disappear.

The room falls into an eerie uncomfortable silence, Piper cannot sit still as she fidgets with everything sitting around her.
Then she is up pacing the room and then back to her seat.

“Okay Piper what is wrong?” I huff and adjust so I can see her.

“Oh just all this mess, I don’t like how this is going down.” She dust imaginary lint off her jeans, she knows something I don’t.

“How bad is this, what have I done Piper?” I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose with my fingers.

She leans up and pats my leg, ‘Oh baby it is nothing you have done, tell you what why don’t you rest and we will deal in the morning ok?” She tries to plaster a chipper face on. The nurse enters and introduces a liquid filled syringe into my IV.

I feel my stiff muscles lighten as the wave of pharmaceutically induced haze flows over me.

****

I have had a guard at my door all night, his name is
Eno. He is a clone of Leo and by the name I am guessing he is somehow genetically linked to him too.

When he sees I am awake, ‘h
ey baby girl, you feeling alright this morning?” He ducks his heavy black haired laden head into my room. He is a large man, cute with his dimples and dark hair.

I nod, ‘yes, you must be Eno?”
I push myself up slightly.

His big frame clears the door and with his long strides he closes the distance to my bed, taking the chair Piper had vacated, ‘I am and you must be my brothers Avery.”

The sound of the words he spoke warms my heart, ‘I don’t know about belonging to your brother but yes I am Avery.” I sheepishly look away from him as I feel the heat of a blush coming on.

“
You might not think so but my brothers mood says different, anyway you get to go home today.” His voice is chipper which doesn’t at all go with his physique.

I look at him and raise my eyebrows, ‘yeah me!”

Leaning into me he makes eye contact, ‘and just so you want be givin’ my boy any grief, I tell you this so you can go ahead and get over it, he has done and called the prison letting them know why you have resigned your position there.” He stands before the information can completely sink in, ‘I will get a wheel chair for you.” My stunned silence says it all as Eno walks out of the door.

Leo has bulldozed his way through my life once more taking from me something
which was solely mine. How am I going to find another job, I didn’t work a notice and I am sure the prison will not be a great reference, Eno was right I am livid.

Eno reenters with a wheel chair, ‘you ready?” His face plastered with a smug smile.

Waving his offered away, ‘Eno, I can do this myself and besides I have to change out of this gown.” I turn throwing my legs over the side of the bed and wince slightly at the pain the sudden movements cause.

“All fire just like Leo said, don’t shoot the messenger.
I will get a nurse to help okay?” After he leaves I kick myself for being rude to him, he seems like an alright guy who has an asshole for a brother.

After I had dismissed Eno, Leo showed his face I was not pleased when he did either.

“You ready baby?” He ducked into the room gently shutting the door behind him.

“Yes.” I was not in the mood to deal with his
shit or him for that matter, ‘why are you here, I think I asked Piper to come and get me.”

“You did but I came instead.” The bemused look on his face is only adding to my anger.

“Oh joy.” My sarcasm was wearing on his nerves, the heavy sigh and then the kick of the chair were my clues.

“What the fuck now
, Avery?” He is standing with his hands on his hips.

“Oh nothing, nothing at fucking all
, just you ruined any chances of me ever getting another job, ever.” I jerk my bag Piper had brought me free from his hand and head for the door, ‘don’t bother following, I can call a cab.” Before I can breach the doorway Leo has me by the arm and turned into him.

“
Not today, not ever are you to go out alone till I get this shit taken care of you understand?” His smoldering eyes are melting with the heat of his stare.

I push against him with my free hand as he has yanked
the bag from me again, ‘get the fuck off of me Leo.” I demand.

“Don’t do this to me today Avery.”
He was like an unwavering wall I could not move and his hands were a vice grip around my upper arm.

“Do what to you today
, let you know how I am over the whole Neanderthal shit or basically you telling me what to do. Or how your fucked up life has bleed over into mine which landed me here!” The slightly opened door was letting our conversation flood out and down the halls making the staff notice.

His eyes narrowed and he lowered his voice, ‘either you can sit your cute ass down in the
wheelchair,’ he kicked the vacant wheelchair to bring my attention to it, ‘or I can throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here. Which I don’t think the hospital will see it as a turn on as much as I do, as in they might call the cops on me and take me to jail.”

“Good because from
what I have been getting here lately that is where you belong.” I am still struggling to free my hand from his.

“Have it your way baby,’
with a quick jerk and a flip of his arm I am flying through the air and landing belly down on his big shoulder. He strides the rest of the way out of the door he flicks his head back, ‘Eno get her bags.”

Eno looks befuddled but hesitates only for a
second, ‘brother not really the best way for her to exit the hospital after she has been here for being assaulted?” Eno’s expression is soft as he tries to reason with his older brother.

“No lip, get the bags.” His short clipped answer
was all Eno needed to duck into my room and finish up packing me and following us out.

The looks we got as we traversed the halls of the healing institution were, I must say, amusing because by this time I had quit fighting him and let him have his way.

“Excuse me Mr. Tucker, I don’t think after a head trauma you should be carrying Ms. Delany upside down.” The doctor who had been treating me called after us.

“She is fine
, I am just taking her to the car.” I on the other hand I just look up and give a slight wave, welcome to my life. The automatic doors open on queue letting the king carry his prize out to his cave somewhere.

Slinging me into the passenger side seat of a black SUV
he points at me, ‘stay,’ commands me like I am a puppy.

I cross my arms over my chest and sulk like a child, ‘you are an asshole!’ I scream at him
through the windshield as he rounds the front of the vehicle to his side.

Sliding up into his perch
, he turns his aggravated gaze at me, ‘Yeah I might be but I am the asshole that is going to keep you alive.” Eno is in the backseat doing a terrible job at hiding his laughter. Leo looks in the rear view mirror, ‘shut up Eno, she doesn’t need any more encouragement.” He tears his eyes away after the warning and pulls out of the parking garage into the street taking me god only knows where.

We drive in silence for which I am thankful, until Leo’s phone rings, ‘yeah.”

His eyes never leave the road ahead of him, ‘okay fine, did you get all the stuff? Yeah, yeah I know no more than what she already is, so might as well get it over with right?”

Leo goes silent for a few moments and lets the other person talk, shaking his head in either agreement or waiting for the other person to finish, ‘okay I said fine
,’ he pauses, then eyes me and grins, ‘that’s fine put her in with me.” Then he ends the call. I train my gaze back to the hood of the black SUV trying to control my jealous anger, that asshole is talking about moving somebody in with him with me sitting in the car.