When Tommy grabbed Charity again, he nearly ripped her shoulder from its socket. He threw her up against the car, with such a force, that she was certain she heard her own ribs cracking. She couldn’t hold in a groan, at the excruciating pain she felt.
“You always thought you were too good for me didn’t ya sweetheart?” he yelled at her. Well I’ll tell ya what...that new boyfriend you’re sleeping with, ain’t no saint either,” he shouted. “I wanna know what it is you’re giving him that you held back from me,” he said right in her ear. Then while he kept her pinned to the car with his lower half, he leaned his upper body back and grabbed hold of her blouse, pulling and tearing it right down the front. “Bought some new lingerie for him did ya? I don’t remember seeing this pretty little bra on you when we were together,” he said. Well you won’t be needing it right now,” he told her as he grabbed it between her breasts and yanked until it tore open, exposing her breasts, to his greedy hands and eyes.
“Ah, there’s the tits I’ve been thinking about all the time lately. You always did have a nice rack on you sweetheart,” Tommy said. He grabbed hold of her breasts, one in each hand, yanked on them roughly and pinched her nipples until she thought they would fall off. Next he bent down and bit down with extreme force on her nipple, causing Charity to cry out from the pain. Then he backhanded her hard across the mouth and yelled, “Shut the fuck up you cunt, or somebody’ll hear ya!” Charity prayed that they would.
While he was sucking and biting her breasts, Charity managed to get a hand free from his grasp and she managed to give him a good wallup in the head, that he didn’t see coming. That allowed her to get out from between the car and Tommy, however she only managed to get a few steps away from him, before he grabbed her again, and threw her down on the ground. Then he took the heel of his boot, and kicked her in the head. That knocked Charity unconscious.
Laughing to himself, Tommy decided that since she wasn’t giving him what he wanted willingly, maybe it was best that she was knocked out. Now he could take what he wanted without the struggle. Afterall, the bitch had put up a pretty good fight. He laughed out loud thinking about all of the scratches, and maybe a bruise or two, that he would have as a souvenir of tonight with Charity. He loved that she had fought him tonight, because he preferred his women to be hell cats. As he reached for the waist of her slacks, he gave a yank, and tore them down the front, exposing a pair of pink silky panties that matched the bra she was wearing. Fuck you’re one sexy bitch now Charity he said to her unmoving form, laying on the ground. He was kneeling on the ground beside her, unfastening his belt so that he could lower his pants and whip out his cock, when in the distance he could hear the roar of Harley’s heading this way. As the noise was getting louder very fast, he cursed realizing that it was likely that somehow that bastard Gunner and The Black Maverick’s had discovered what was going on and were headed this way. Fuck he thought, he wasn’t getting any tonight, from Charity now. Afraid to face The Black Maverick’s on his own, he refastened his pants and got the hell out of there.
Chapter 33
When Jackson came out of the alley on his bike, and rounded the corner at the back of Sweet Charity’s, he was sickened at the sight in front of him. There on the ground, a little ways from her car, lay Charity and she wasn’t moving. He quickly got off of his bike and ran over to her. “Charity baby...Charity!” he called, but she still wasn’t moving and he feared for the worst. When he felt for her pulse, he found one, although he didn’t think it was as strong as it should be. He repeated over and over out loud, “Thank you God for letting her be alive!”
He quickly pulled out his phone and called 911 getting an ambulance dispatched, and then turned his attention fully back to Charity. He once again called Charity’s name, several times, trying to draw her out of her unconsciousness to no avail. Thank God she was breathing he thought. He wanted to pick her up off on the cold black asphalt, but he was afraid to move her because, unless he was wrong, her shoulder looked like it had been dislocated. Instead Jackson whipped off his jacket, and laid it over her lifeless body as she lay there partially naked in her torn clothing. “Come on Baby, please wake up,” he begged Charity. “I’m here now honey. It’s me Jackson. Just please wake up,” he said on a sob. He didn’t know what he’d do if she didn’t wake up and come back to him. “Please Baby...I need you,” he told her.
Hearing the chilling sirens of the ambulance almost here now, and knowing there was nothing he could do, Jackson, not leaving her side, took a look around. Strewn on the ground a few feet away, was Charity’s purse, half of its contents spilled out, and laying there beside it, was her cell phone, still connected through the phone lines to his. “Thank God you had your phone with you,” he said as he looked down at her.
When the ambulance arrived, Jackson lied and told the ambulance attendants that Charity was his fiancée, and that there was no way in hell that he wasn’t getting into that ambulance with her. He wanted to stay with her just in case she woke up. He prayed that she woke up. She had to wake up, he told himself. When they arrived at the hospital minutes later, he told the doctors and nurses the same thing, that he and Charity were engaged to me married. This way he would be allowed to be by Charity’s side, but the docs wouldn’t let him into the emergency care room with her, until they had completed their examination of her first and were then able to provide him with an assessment of how she was doing.
While he waited what seemed liked hours upon hours for them to return to let him know how bad Charity’s injuries were, he called Aiden and asked him to go to Faith’s place and tell her about Charity. He also asked him to tell Animal so that he could go and tell Melissa too. These two girls were like sisters to Charity, and he didn’t want them driving to the hospital while they were upset. Next Jackson called his sister Hope, and told her where they were and why. And lastly he spoke to his VP Dusty, and told him to hunt that bastard Tommy down, and when they found him they were to leave the heavy hitting to him. Yes, Jackson wanted Tommy to suffer from his own hands, for hurting Charity.
By the time the doctor came to talk to Jackson they had already completed blood tests, xrays and a several scans to determine the full extent of Charity’s injuries. They also completed a rape kit because of the way Charity had been found with her clothes all torn and half off. Jackson hadn’t even thought about her possibly having been raped, because he was so worried about the fact that she had never regained consciousness all the way to the hospital. If that bastard Tommy had raped her, Jackson would castrate the son of a bitch himself. Faith and Aiden, Melissa and Animal, Dusty and Hope, had all arrived and were with him in the waiting room when the doctor came to speak to Jackson.
Charity still had not regained consciousness yet. Her tests and scans showed that she had a concussion, which was the probable cause of her remaining unconscious. She had a broken rib, a broken arm, and several cuts, scratches, bruises, and bite marks on her body. Much to Jackson’s relief though, they had found no evidence of rape when they completed the rape kit. “Thank God,” Jackson said both times when the doc explained that he felt there was no reason for her not to regain consciousness soon, and when he told him that there was no evidence that Charity had been raped Jackson let out a huge breath he didn’t realize he’d even been holding.
Jackson spent that night sleeping in one of those uncomfortable blue hospital lounge chairs beside Charity’s hospital bed. He told the hospital staff and their friends that there was absolutely no way he was leaving her side right now. He awoke in the morning feeling stiff and sore from sleeping leaning over with his head resting on the side of Charity’s bed right beside their clasped hands. Disappointment flooded him when saw that Charity still hadn’t woken up. Holding her hand in his Jackson kissed the back of it and then holding it against his cheek he said, “Charity honey, please wake up. It’s me Babe...Jackson. You have to wake up Baby! Come back to me,” he told her sleeping body. Still there was no response.
Jackson sat holding her hand for the next few hours with the exception of a few times when the nurses came into her room. They checked her vital signs regularly and those were all strong, so why the hell was Charity still unconscious he asked himself. The nurses were great and were very reassuring telling him that this was common after a severe head trauma.
Faith stopped by Charity’s room in the middle of the morning and was disappointed to see that there was no change in Charity’s condition from early this morning when she had popped in before she started her shift at the hospital. Unfortunately she was working in the ER today, instead of critical care where Charity was being monitored until she regained consciousness. When she had been by this morning, Jackson had been sound asleep, his head laying on the bed next to Charity. Her heart broke for him when she recalled doing the same thing not that long ago, while Patrick was in palliative care, those last few weeks of his life.
“No changes yet?” she asked Jackson. “No dammit. Why isn’t she waking up yet?” he asked her. “Head trauma can be like that Jackson. It’s unpredictable and that’s why she’s in this unit where they can constantly monitor her until she’s awake,” she told him. “The good news is her vital signs are strong. She’s going to be fine Jackson. She will. Charity’s a strong woman and she loves you. She’s happier than I’ve ever seen her and we’ve been best friends for many years. She’ll come back to you,” she told him as she reached across the bed and put her hand on top of his where it rested on top of Charity’s.
Chapter 34
Throughout that first twenty four hours Hope and Dusty stopped by, ironically at the exact same time, Aiden dropped in bringing Jackson some clean clothes and a few toiletries, and Rocker and Rebel came by after their shift at McKay construction and reassured Jackson that everything was on track at their latest job site. Melissa and Animal stopped in after the restaurant was closed for the day telling Jackson that she and the staff had things all under control at
Sweet Charity’s
and not to worry about anything there either. Animal had brought Jackson’s bike back to the clubhouse and Melissa had driven Charity’s car home and parked it in her driveway. They stayed with Charity while Jackson went down the hall to the family room where there was a shower and change room for families that were staying at the hospital with loved ones during crisis. Throughout the day, people brought him food to eat and drinks to keep him refreshed since he refused to leave Charity’s side for any longer than was absolutely necessary and Melissa brought him the day’s special from the restaurant for his dinner.
Nick and Abby stopped by that evening hoping to find Charity awake by now however she still slept on and when Faith stopped in at the end of her 12 hour shift, Jackson asked her to sit with Charity for a few minutes while he took care of something. He walked down the cold sterile hall to the family room once again and seeing that it was currently empty he went inside and shut the door. For a few minutes he just sat there on the leather sofa and breathed. He felt like he’d been holding his breath since he got that call from Charity’s phone the day of the attack. Hearing her crying and screaming and knowing that she was being beaten...those sounds would forever haunt him. He rubbed his hands over his face and over his eyes as he leaned forward with his head between his knees for a few minutes. He felt sick seeing Charity lying in that damn hospital bed and the longer it went on the worse he felt.
After a few minutes he sat up straight fishing his phone out of his pocket and placed a call to Dusty. “Hey Gunner. Any changes with Charity yet?” was how Dusty answered the phone. Everyone was very concerned about Charity.
“I’m afraid not Dusty,” he said on a loud sigh. “I’m scared man. I thought she would have been awake by now. I really don’t know what I will do if I lose her,” he confided in his friend.
“Listen now man, no talking like that,” Dusty said. “Before you know it Charity will be as good as new again,” he added.