Chapter 4: Madisen
I woke up hours later to find Rebel still sitting at my bedside. He was looking at his phone. I took the opportunity to watch him. I was thinking of what he’d said earlier about being his. What the hell? There was no way a hot guy like him was looking for a woman. They had to be throwing themselves at him. He had more pussy than he could ever want. I’d heard about the bunnies at the club. And, even if he was looking to settle for one woman, why would he pick me? Don’t get me wrong, I knew I wasn’t ugly, but I wasn’t a model. He was model worthy. I was short, curvy as hell with junk in the trunk and breasts for days. Most considered me plus size because I wasn’t a size four. I didn’t give a shit. I liked myself. But a man like Rebel wouldn’t look twice at me other than maybe for a piece of ass then he’d move on. I wasn’t looking for that kind of relationship. What was he up to? I sighed, which caught his attention. He looked up and smiled.
“Hello, baby, how did you sleep? Feel better? They brought your lunch, but I told them to hold it since you were sleeping. Do you want it?” His rapid firing of questions left me speechless. I nodded. He got up and stepped out of the room. Good. I needed to go to the bathroom. My bladder was about to burst. I threw back the covers and swung my feet to the floor. Standing up, I’d taken a couple of shaky steps when I heard him swear. I looked over to find him barreling toward me with an angry look on his face. I froze. He swept me up in his arms.
“You fucking need something, tell me. I guess you need to use the bathroom. Here.” He carried me to the bathroom, sitting me down on the toilet. I was burning with embarrassment. This shitty gown barely covered my big ass, and he was now putting me on the toilet.
“You need any help?” he asked. I glared at him. He chuckled and stepped to the door. “Call me when you’re done, baby. I’ll help you back to bed.” He left and closed the door. I took care of business, then stood up to wash my hands. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like hell. I splashed my face with water. What I wouldn’t give for a comb or brush right now. My hair was a mess and all over the place. Even if I was technically a blond, I had thick hair and a lot of it.
He must have been listening, because the door swung open. Thank goodness I’d made sure the gown was tied and covering my ass. He looked me up and down. I wondered what he was looking at. He lifted me up into his arms again. This was too much.
“Rebel, put me down. I can walk. I don’t need you to carry my fat ass,” I snapped.
He laid me down on the bed and stayed bent close to my face. “Listen, Firecracker. First of all, your ass isn’t fat. It’s fucking amazing, enough to drive a man insane. I’ll carry it and you any time and you don’t weigh enough to even notice. I don’t want you walking in case you get dizzy or weak. You might fall. Now, sit there and eat your lunch. Tate will be here soon. I need to go to the club for a bit. He’ll stay to guard you while I’m gone. Behave and try not to give him a hard time.”
He placed my tray table with my lunch in front of me. I huffed at him. “You’re crazy. You know that, Rebel?”
He laughed. “Maybe. I know I’m crazy about you. When we’re alone, call me Ronan. My name is Ronan Alexander. If you need to go to the bathroom while I’m gone, call the nurse to help you.”
“I’ll just have Tate carry me,” I tell him just to see what he’d do. I felt the need to instigate him. His face got hard, and he leaned back into my personal space again.
“You’d better not let Tate or anyone else carry you, baby. That body is mine. Another man touches it, and he’s dead. You hear me?” he asked lowly. Before I could answer, he kissed me. It was a hard one. He devoured me, and I got lost in that kiss. When he broke away, I had to blink. My mind had gone blank. He smirked. “I see how to shut you up now. Good to know.”
His words snapped me out of my haze. He thought he would dictate to me? I’d show him. I’d bide my time until after I got the hell out of here. I ignored him and took a bite of the unappealing lunch. I gagged. It was worse than it looked. He saw my reaction. He pulled out his phone and typed away. I pushed the tray away. I could go hungry for a day. Hopefully, I'll get out of here soon. He took it and set it outside my door.
“The doc was in when you were asleep. He said if you keep doing well, he’d let you go home this evening. I know the clothes you came in are toast. Give me your keys and I’ll get you some clothes to wear when you leave.” I wanted to tell him no, but I needed the clothes. Only thing was, my keys were at the bakery in my purse.
“I don’t have my keys. They were in my purse at the bakery. However, Jocelyn has a spare. I gave one to her recently in case of an emergency. She can grab me something. Thanks, Rebel.”
He frowned. “What did I tell you to call me when we’re alone?” I looked at his expression. He was serious.
“Fine. Thank you, Ronan. I guess it’s a waste of my breath to tell you I don’t need Tate to come and guard me while you’re gone, isn’t it?”
He nodded. I was about to say something else, when there was a knock. At the door was Demon and Slash from the club. I’d met all the guys, but was closest to Ajax and Joker. It surprised me that the others were here. They greeted me and Rebel. They joked with me and asked how I was doing. We were talking about random stuff when Tate came into the room. He had a bag in his hand, and he sat it down on my table. I looked at him questioningly.
“Rebel said you needed some food that wasn’t hospital crap. I grabbed you something. If you don’t like it, blame Rebel. He said to get this for you.” I looked at both of them in surprise. I opened it to find a chicken salad from my favorite restaurant. I dived in. How had he known?
“Thank you, Tate and Rebel. This is perfect. A favorite, actually. The food here could kill you.” They laughed. As I ate, they chatted. I was just about done when Rebel told me they needed to leave. Demon and Slash told me goodbye and the three of them left, but not before Rebel kissed me. He didn’t rush it. The guys chuckled. I felt my face get warm. Damn it! He winked before he sauntered out. Tate was trying to look anywhere but at me. I pointed him to the chair Rebel had vacated. I turned on the television to see if there was a cooking show I could watch. I had a feeling this was going to be a long day.
Rebel:
I rode back to the club, thinking about Madisen. She was a complex woman. I couldn’t wait to learn all about her. I knew already she was leery of us. She didn’t seem to believe I was serious about her being mine. She’d find out, I was dead serious. My mind was full of thoughts of her, us, and catching whoever did this to her. They’d pay for trying to hurt my woman. Now that Joker wasn’t a consideration, I wanted to get her here with me or me with her at her apartment. No way would I be spending my nights without her. As I thought about it, the club was safer, but the apartment was probably more private, even if Serena was still staying with her. I’d check it out when I went to get her things.
We pulled into the parking lot and I parked in my spot. Swinging off my bike, I headed into church. It looked like everyone else was already here. I waved at Jake as I passed him on my way to the room where we held church. Demon, Slash and I were the last ones to arrive. We sat down. I looked around at my brothers. All of them were alert. They knew about the bakery and the fire. I wasn’t sure if Bull had shared what else we’d found out from Madisen. Bull called the meeting to order.
“As you all know, the bakery had a fire earlier this morning. The fire department is still investigating it, but we know enough to know it was deliberately set.” This got curses out of everyone. Bull held up his hand for silence. “I know. I’m pissed too, but we have a bigger problem. Madisen was there when it was lit.”
Payne, our enforcer, spoke this time. “Is she okay?”
“She’s in the hospital because of the smoke inhalation. Hopefully, she’ll be released tonight or tomorrow. It could have been worse. She could have been killed. Madisen couldn’t get out of either door because one was blocked by the dumpster and the other was chained shut. Whoever did this was targeting her specifically.” The room erupted in swearing and the guys pounded the table in anger. I knew how they felt. I wanted to put my fist through the damn wall. Bull let them vent a moment, then called them back to order.
“Yeah, I feel you. After talking to her, Chief Scarelli has two suspects. One is that creep, Chris, who she had an argument with the other day.” All of them had heard about that confrontation from Joker. “Also, Madisen told us about her stepdad. Apparently, he is a first-degree nutcase. Without going into all the details, Madisen was attacked by him and as a result, he was sent to prison. He blames his imprisonment on her. He was sent away four years ago. He shouldn’t be out yet, but we’re checking. Scarelli is doing it through official channels, but I asked Outlaw to do it for us. He’s checking into both of them. When we find Chris, we’ll be having a chat with him. In the meantime, she’s most likely still in danger. We’ll put a guard on her at all times while she’s in the hospital and after she goes home.”
All the guys nodded and said they’d help. It made me happy to see all of them jumping in to assist. Player spoke up. “It’ll be no hardship watching her. I’ll take several shifts,” he joked. Ajax, Ace, Bull and Joker all looked at me. I stood up.
“There won’t be any of that shit, Player. You’ll keep your ass away from her or I’ll break your face. I’ll be guarding her. The only time anyone else will be needed is if I have to leave for something like this. Tate is with her right now. The doc was talking about letting her go home tonight. I’ll check out her place and see if it is better for her to come here or stay there.”
Player and the others looked at me, stunned. “What the hell, Reb? Who put you in charge of Madisen? And what crawled up your ass? Man, I was only joking. Madisen is part of the club since she’s a partner. I was just saying she’s easy to look at.”