Stryker’s Fight by Erin Osborne

Chapter Nineteen

Sally

HAVING CONSTANT PAIN in my body is something I’m used to. Today, it doesn’t seem to be as bad as it has been since I was taken by Chrome. That’s the first thing I notice. Then I realize I’ve got fabric rubbing against my body. It honestly hurts for the soft but scratchy fabric to touch my skin. My head doesn’t pound quite as bad as it was, but the never-ending beeping is making it hurt more than when I slowly started to wake up. When I open my eyes, which actually open a small fraction, I immediately slam them closed as a moan escapes me.

“Baby, you’re awake,” Stryker’s voice greets me.

“Lights,” I mumble out, my voice sounding raw and hoarse with the one word.

I listen as Stryker moves around the room. In seconds he’s back at my side with his hand gently holding mine. There are so many questions filling my head as I take stock of my injuries and try to figure out what’s wrong with me.

“Where am I?” I ask, trying once again to open my eyes.

“You’re in the hospital. You’ve been here for three weeks now. They had you in a medically induced coma for a while. We’ve been waitin’ on you to wake up,” he informs me, his voice tender and soft.

Moving my hand, I feel down the blankets to my stomach. I no longer have a round stomach where our baby was resting. Panic immediately fills me, and I know I’m going to lose it. Tears fall from my eyes, and I can’t catch my breath as the beeping gets louder and quicker indicating my heart rate increasing.

“Baby, you need to calm down. What’s wrong?” Stryker asks me as my door opens.

“Where’s our baby? Did I kill our son?” I ask him, never taking my eyes from him.

“Miss, you really need to calm down or I’m going to have to sedate you,” a young woman standing next to my bed warns me.

“My baby?” I question again since Stryker didn’t answer me.

“Sweetheart, they had to deliver our boy. He’s in NICU right now. Slim and Killer are watchin’ over him. There hasn’t been a single second one of our guys hasn’t been standin’ guard outside. No one is gonna hurt our boy. He’s a fighter just like his mama,” Stryker finally informs me.

“I want to see him,” I demand, taking my eyes from Stryker and looking at the nurse.

“I’m sorry. Right now that’s not possible,” she tells me, her voice verging on being rude.

“I. Want. To. See. My. Son,” I demand, making my voice as hard as I can considering my throat feels like sand paper has been run up and down it.

“Miss, you just woke up after being asleep for multiple weeks. The doctor is going to want to come in and see you. Then, you can talk to him about going to see your son,” she says, turning on her heel and leaving.

I begin sobbing uncontrollably. Until I see our boy, I’m not going to believe he’s okay. Or that he’s really alive despite what we’ve been through. The beatings and torture may have happened to my body, but I was carrying our boy and he suffered just as much as I did. Especially when I couldn’t eat or remain hydrated.

“This is my fault,” I tell Stryker when I manage to calm down a little bit.

“No. This is the fault of Chrome and the fuckers who put their hands on you,” he returns vehemently. “They will feel every single ounce of pain they dealt you and I will make sure they pay for as long as possible until I can’t keep them alive any longer. Sally, I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

“What about Natalia? Where is she?” I ask, my thoughts never far from my daughter now that I’m awake and alert.

Even in the hell hole Natalia wasn’t out of my head. She’s one of the only reasons why I fought so hard and didn’t give in to the temptation to beg those fuckers to kill me. There isn’t a doubt in my mind they would have killed me after waiting so long to try to get information on Stryker and the club. On top of losing hope I’d be rescued, my will to survive also dwindled to absolutely nothing. I was ready to give in on more than one occasion.

“She’s down in the cafeteria with Gwen and the other ol’ ladies. I’ve been the main one in your room, but everyone has been here every single day since we found you,” Stryker answers me. “As soon as you’re ready, I’ll have them bring her in so you can see for yourself.”

“I’m ready to see her. I need to see her,” I tell him, trying to get comfortable on the hospital bed.

Stryker pulls out his phone and makes a call. I don’t pay attention as I take in the bruises still marring my skin. They’re faded for sure, but they are still there and remind me of every single punch, kick, and everything else those assholes did to torture me. I close my eyes only to see Chrome’s face directly in mine with wild eyes and venom spewing from his mouth. Opening them immediately, Stryker stands up to hold me.

“What’s wrong baby?” he questions me, his voice even lower than before.

“I close my eyes and see him. I relive what they did to me and how they beat me. I couldn’t protect our son. He doesn’t even have a name,” I cry into Stryker’s strong chest.

His warmth and strength soak into me. Instead of answering me, Stryker simply holds me and lets me cry into his body. He’s still holding me when the door opens again, and I hear the sweetest sound ever; my baby girl’s voice fills the room.

“Mama!” she practically yells.

“Baby girl,” I say, pulling back from Stryker as he remains locked at my side.

Gwen holds Natalia and carries her over to me. With a slight nod from me, my friend places my daughter carefully on the bed next to me on the side where the IV and other crap isn’t attached to me. I still have yet to learn what my injuries are, and it can wait. Right now, the only important thing is seeing Natty and making sure she’s going to be okay after I was away from her for so long.

“Miss you mama,” she says, not moving a muscle as she sits carefully against my side.

“I missed you too baby. So much.”

A few small tears roll down Natalia’s face as the door opens once again. Looking from my daughter, I take in the older man wearing a white lab coat. He walks in my room, looking at the chart in his hand instead of paying attention to anything in the room. When he finally looks up, the man’s eyes widen slightly as he takes in Stryker’s appearance at my side along with Playboy, Wood, and Boy Scout as they enter the room after him.

“It’s good to see you awake,” the man finally says. “I’m Doctor Champlain. I’ve been overseeing your care since you were brought in severely beaten and in need of medical care. You had several lacerations on most of your body. We had to stitch up your wrists and ankles from the damage done to them. The bandages and stitches were removed a few days ago. Your wrist was also sprained and was in a splint. We’re going to do more imaging to make sure everything is okay now. Most of the lacerations were fine and didn’t need stitching. On top of the cuts and bruising, your ribs are bruised. We’ve had them wrapped. Due to the cut on your head, we put you in a medically induced coma until the swelling lessened. Especially with your face and eyes being so bad. We needed to make sure the damage wasn’t as severe as we originally believed it to be.

“Your son was in distress from lack of food and from you being severely dehydrated. We performed a cesarean section to get him out and he’s now in NICU. I cannot speak on his prognosis. His doctor will come in to see you shortly. From what I understand he’s doing better than they believed he would. It seems he’s just as much of a fighter as you are. In a little while, you’ll be taken down for the imagining. I want to check your wrist and ribs once again. We’ll determine what has to be done from what we see after it’s done. I also want to perform another CT scan on your head to make sure there is no permanent damage done. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call for a nurse. We’re also giving you pain medicine and antibiotics to prevent any infection from setting in. Well, more than what you were brought in with.”

“O-Okay,” I stammer, taking in everything that was done to me. “Thank you. Um, when can I see my son?”

“Other than leaving for your imaging, I don’t want you to move around a ton right now. You’re still healing from surgery, and we need to make sure you’re okay before anything else,” the doctor tells me. “I’m sorry. After we get the results back, we’ll know more and can make plans for you to go up to see your son.”

With a nod of his head, the doctor leaves my room. None of us talk for several minutes as everyone lets the new information sink in. Even with Natalia sitting right by my side, I want to go see my son. He’s flooding my mind because I know absolutely nothing about him. Not what he looks like, what he’s hooked up to, or anything else about him. This is not how any parent wants to start out their son or daughter’s life. If I had a choice in the matter, this would not be happening. My son would still be safe in my stomach where he belongs. Not fighting for his life because Chrome and his assholes wanted to kidnap me and then beat the shit out of me because I wouldn’t give out information on Stryker and the club.

“I need the ol’ ladies and kids out of the room for a few minutes,” Stryker says suddenly.

Gwen and I look at him because Gwen’s the only one in here and I’m not ready to have my daughter leave the room just yet. Lifting my eyes to Stryker where he stands next to my bed, I don’t bother hiding the questions in them.

“She can come right back baby. We need to talk, and I’d rather not have my Princess or any of the other women here for our conversation. I want the guys only, so you don’t have to talk about this more than once,” he tells me, placing his hand carefully on my head.

Nodding my head, I know they’re not going to want to wait to get this out of the way. The sooner I talk about all this shit, the better. Gwen takes Natty from the bed next to me as I watch them leave the room. Natalia has fresh tears rolling down her face while keeping her eyes on me. I’m going to have to force her out of my head so I can get through this before the pain medicine I’m going to need kicks in.

“Baby, I know you don’t want to talk about this, but we need to know what they wanted and what happened,” Stryker tells me, his voice full of anguish as he looks down at me.

“It’s better for me to do this now than to wait,” I tell him as the door opens and my room is now filled with members of the club.

“Do you remember what Chrome wanted?” Slim asks, stepping up to the side of my bed.

“Yeah. He wanted information on not only Stryker but the club as well. Honestly, I didn’t even see him until the day you guys got me out of there. I think. Time got away from me while I was held in that basement. Other than the one lone window, I was knocked out a lot so I couldn’t tell how long I was there. Anyway, other than the shortly before you guys saved me, Chrome had the men working with him come down to see me on a daily basis. Not a single one of them walked away without beating the shit out of me. Well, other than one of the men. He always brought me water and didn’t touch me. He didn’t ask me questions either. This man sat with me and Chrome had him watch over me for some reason.

“The other men taunted me with raping me and doing vile things to my body. They even threatened to take our son from us. Which in a way I guess they did accomplish that,” I tell them as I begin to cry. “Other than wanting information on the club and you, they didn’t ask me anything else. There might have been the need for information about your runs and things. When I tried to tell them I don’t know anything, they didn’t believe me. Every time that was my response I was beaten and left for however long again until the next beating. They took turns too. One man would come down and then I wouldn’t hear him again for a time. Again, I don’t know how long in days until he came down again. That’s all I really remember right now. If anything else comes to mind, I’ll let you guys know immediately.”

“That’s enough for now,” Slim agrees with me. “I know the rest of your day is goin’ to be spent undergoin’ tests and shit. If you guys need anythin’ let us know and we’ll make sure you have it. I think Gwen is gonna take Natalia home again tonight and bring her back tomorrow mornin’. Is that okay with you Sally?”

“Yeah. Thank you all. Not only for taking care of my daughter, but because you found me and saved my life. I’ll never be able to repay you for coming for me.”

“None of that,” Playboy growls out stepping up to the end of my bed. “You’re family and we’ll always take care of family. Shadow will be comin’ to see you as soon as you get out of the hospital. He’s pissed as hell we didn’t call him and fill him in sooner. There really wasn’t anythin’ he could do. Gage is actually the one who made the call to keep him outta this. He knew his man would kill himself tryin’ to make sure you were okay and found. You got a lot of respect and love from each of us Sally. Natalia is like one of our own kids and we’ll always look after her and you. Now, get some rest so you can get the fuck outta here and make it up to see your boy. Poor kid looks just like his father.”

The guys all chuckle a little bit at Playboy’s attempt to lighten the room. Each man still has anger and rage pouring off him in waves though. If anyone were to walk in this room right now, they’d probably believe they were pissed at me. I know better. These men are fierce protectors and will go to any lengths in order to protect someone they feel is family to them. I am part of their family.

As they all clear the room so Stryker and I can have a minute to ourselves, I lean further into the uncomfortable pillows and try to rest. If I don’t rest, it’s only going to be longer until I can see our son. He’s been in NICU for so long already without me going to see him once. Turning to look at Stryker as he pulls the chair up to the side of my bed, I ask him what’s been on my mind the last few minutes.

“Have you seen him?”

“Yeah. I go up every day to see him. He’s already showin’ what a fighter he is mama. The second you’re cleared to go up and see him, you’ll see it for yourself. Our little guy is goin’ to cause trouble and break hearts. We have to get you stronger so you can set your eyes on him to see for yourself how strong he is,” he assures me, leaning over to kiss my still cracked and sore lips.

We don’t get a chance to say anything more as a technician comes in to transport me down for my imaging and scan. It’s the last thing I want to do, but I know I have to. The doctor will determine how much I’ve healed and when I can get the hell out of here. With a last kiss from Stryker, I let the young girl wheel me away with all the machines still hooked up to me. I’m not sure how this imaging thing is going to work with wires, IVs, and every other damn thing on my body. I suppose they know what they’re doing, and I’ll just let them do their thing.

After a few hours, I get back to my room to find Gwen and Natalia waiting in there for me. She lets me know Stryker had to go take care of a few things and he’ll be back as soon as possible. No matter how hard I try to keep my eyes open to visit with my daughter and my friend, I lose the battle. Sleep pulls me under with the pain medicine flowing through my veins. Still, images of Chrome and his bitches fill my head making me have continuous nightmares about what I’ve been through.