Page 77 of Q: Satan's Fury MC

“I gotta see her, Prez.”

“I know, and you will. But before you do, we need to get you cleaned up. You’re no good to her like this.”

“He’s right,” Doc agreed. “She sees you like this, it’ll scare the hell out of her. She doesn’t need that right now.”

As much as I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. Jules had been through enough. I didn’t need to add to her hellish night by coming in there looking like I’d been run over by a Mack truck. The least I could do was try to make myself look a little more presentable, so I sat down on the gurney and waited for Doc to finish up with Rooster.

He started with the wounds on his thigh. The knife blade was short, so none of them were all that deep. But they still looked pretty gnarly. Doc gave him a shot, hoping it would help ease the pain. Cotton grimaced as he muttered, “This should’ve never happened.”

“No, but we’ll get ‘em. We always do.”

“Just gotta find ‘em first.” Guardrail looked equally concerned when he asked, “They give you guys any clue to who they might be?”

“Afraid not. All I know is they were interested in names. Wanted to know all the brothers and the name of our distributor.”

“What the fuck?”

“We didn’t tell him shit, Prez,” Rooster grumbled. “Die before ...”

He passed out before he could finish his thought, but we all knew exactly what he was going to say. Doc finished patching him up, then turned his attention to me. He put a cold compress on my face and eyes, then cleaned each of my wounds and stitched up a couple. When he was done, Doc got me some fresh clothes, and after a quick shower, I was ready to go see Jules.

Thinking she’d feel safe there, Doc had put her up in my room. When I walked in, the room was dark except for the faint light coming from the bathroom. After what she’d been through, I wasn’t surprised that she’d left it on. I could see her silhouette curled up on my bed, and my heart ached for her as I crawled in next to her.

“Hey, baby.” I slipped my arm around her waist as I whispered, “I’m here. I’m sorry it took me so long.”

“I called you.” I could tell by the sound of her voice that she’d been crying, and it gutted me. “I called you so many times.”

"I know, and I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me."

“Where were you?”

“Some stuff was going down with the club, and I couldn’t get away.”

"I needed you...I was so scared."

"I know, baby. And I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

"I still can't believe it happened. I can't believe he actually came here." She kept her back to me as she continued, "It had been so long."

Her voice trailed off, and she grew quiet. After several moments, she muttered, "He came to the diner. He was calm and nice, but it didn't feel right. I just wanted him to go, but he wouldn't leave. He kept telling me that he loved me and tried to convince me that he was a changed man, but I didn't believe him."

"Is that where it happened?"

"No." Her body grew tense as she told me, "He came to my apartment. He said he was there to see MJ, but I knew he was there for me. He started in on me again, going on and on about how he didn't want the divorce. He said I was his, and he wasn't going to let me go. When I tried telling him that it was over, he forced me upstairs."

"I should've been there. I should've protected you."

She didn't respond.

She inhaled several quick breaths, and her shoulders started to shiver as she cried, "I should've fought back. I should've screamed or called out for the police...I should've done something."

"You did do something, Jules. You survived. You didn’t let him win, and after what you’ve been through, that’s no small feat.”

“Maybe.” Her voice grew weak as she muttered, “I’m just so tired. So, so tired.”

“Sleep, baby.” I leaned down and kissed her on the temple. “I’ll be right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

I inched a little closer and laid my head down on the pillow next to her, then listened as her body stilled and her breath became shallow. She was finally asleep, but I was wide awake. I was exhausted and the pain killers Doc had given me were starting to kick in, but I couldn’t get settled.

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