Willow by Erin Osborne
Chapter Nine
Trinity ‘Willow’ Walsh
MY GRAM’S DOING really good. There were no more complications from hitting her head or anything other than having a headache. She’s bitching about her leg being in a cast too. All in all, it’s the same gram I’ve known and loved my entire life. Gram slept through the night and didn’t even wake up when the nurses came in to check on her. Her doctor has already been in to see her and we’re not going to be here much longer. Now, I have to figure out how the hell we’re getting home. At this point, I’ll be carrying her on my back because there’s no other way. The one thing she’s not bitching about is Breaker being in her hospital room. I believe the term ‘eye candy’ was thrown out by her at one point. When Blood, Crave, and a few other men came in, my gram was completely overwhelmed and didn’t know where to look. Tonya simply laughed and gave my gram a hug as if they’re the best of friends. The smile on my grandma’s face makes up for all the hurt and pain I’m feeling at the moment.
I don’t let my eyes land on Crave when he’s in the room. He’s a rumpled mess and his hair is a mess. Crave’s clothes are wrinkled and look vaguely as if they’re the same ones from yesterday. Circles fill under his eyes and he’s glaring at everyone around him. If he doesn’t want to be here, I’m not holding a gun to his head to keep him in the hospital when I don’t want to see him at all right now. His words cut me deep and I’m not going to get over them anytime soon. Breaker looks much the same way, but I know he’s been here all night. When I got discharged, he walked me upstairs and I thought he’d leave after that. Instead, he made sure I got comfortable on the cot that was wheeled in while he set up camp in a chair between myself and the windows.
The few times I woke up last night, Breaker was still sitting up in the chair with his eyes glued to the door. No one was getting inside without him knowing about it. It makes me wonder if something is going on I don’t know about. Especially with multiple club members here. Yeah, I saw the guy standing outside the room while I was awake one or two times. Now, it seems most of the club is in my gram’s room while she waits to get discharged. I still have to find a ride so I make my way out to the hall so I can call Greta. If she’s not busy maybe she can come pick us up. I’ll need to call her now though. My gram is already ready since she’s dressed in a clean pair of scrubs because she refuses to wear her clothes a second day no matter what’s going on.
“Hello,” Greta answers her phone, her voice bright and cheerful as normal.
“Greta. How are you doing this morning?” I ask her, not wanting to just jump right with in asking for a ride.
“Oh, I’m okay. I have to go to the doctor here in a little bit. How is your gram doing? I saw the ambulance there. Did I do something wrong?” she questions, her voice turning slightly frantic.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. My gram was trying to go upstairs on her own and something happened. The doctor believes she twisted her ankle and that’s what started her fall. She’s got a broken ankle and a bump on the head. She’ll be okay. Are you okay?” I ask her, wanting to know nothing is wrong with her.
“I’m okay. Haven’t been feeling the best since yesterday afternoon. That’s why I went home early. Gram assured me she was just gonna sit in her chair until you got home. I’m so sorry, Trinity,” she tells me.
“Please don’t worry. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’ll let you finish getting ready for your appointment. Come by and let me know you’re okay when you’re done at the doctor.”
“I will honey. Give your grandma my love,” she says before hanging up.
Before I can head back in the room, a young man walks up the hallway. He’s wearing a vest like the other men, but he looks as if he’s been beaten repeatedly. This man needs to see a doctor as he walks straight toward me. Looking in the door I left slightly ajar, Breaker is standing just inside as he turns to look at me. Questions fill his face as he steps out of the room and stops right next to me.
“What’s goin’ on?” Breaker asks as the young man stops just in front of us. “Scott? Where the fuck have you been?”
At the mention of this man’s name, the door opens wider, and several men step out. They all look at the young man who looks ready to pass out at any second. Most of the men are wide eyed and I am thoroughly lost. The members of the club obviously know him as they continue to stare at him.
“Need. Help,” he croaks out. “They’re after me.”
“Who?” Blood asks, rushing to the young man’s side.
“Don’t. Know,” he answers right before collapsing.
In the men’s attempt to stop him from hitting the floor, I’m pushed and shoved around. If I weren’t so close to the wall, I’m sure I’d be on my ass right this second. Tonya comes out and takes in my frazzled state and the commotion going on with the young man. Her eyes narrow before looking at her husband and the rest of the men.
“Are you okay Trinity?” she asks raising her voice so she can be heard by all the men.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“You guys are so worried about helping Scott that you almost knocked Trinity down. Did none of you fucking see her?” she growls out as everything stops and the men look back at me.
Breaker looks guilty while Crave looks at me as if I’m the asshole here in this situation. I didn’t say a damn word, Tonya did. How the fuck is this my fault? At this point, I don’t even give a shit. Turning on my heel and stepping around Tonya, I make my way into my gram’s room and shut the door behind me. Not a single one of them need to come back in. I’d lock it if I weren’t waiting for the doctor to come in. Smiling at my grandma, I sit down next to her and wait for the doctor to come back in to let us out of here.
Tonya and everyone left the room with the new development with a club member showing up or whatever happened out in the hallway. With no other choice, I called for a cab to take us home. I don’t have the money for one, but there’s no other option. Gram has to get home somehow and there are prescriptions I have to pick up. So, with a quick trip to the pharmacy on the way home, I paid the fare and managed to get gram’s wheelchair out of the trunk along with helping her get situated in it. It was harder than I thought, but we managed to make it happen. With a lot of swearing from my gram I might add. She can out curse a sailor when she wants to.
For the next several weeks, my gram will have to be in a wheelchair. She’s not going to be able to get up and down the stairs even with my help. There are too many factors that can happen for accidents to occur. So, the only thing I can do is move her room from upstairs to one of the guest rooms down on the first floor of the house. For now, I’ll also move some of my things down to the first floor in order to be there for her, so she doesn’t have to wait for me to get up and down. It caused an argument between us, but there’s no other way for me to see a way out of this situation.
With gram sitting in front of the TV with her programs on, I begin packing up her belongings to move downstairs. The hardest thing I’m going to have to move is her bed. There’s no bed in the guest room as we got rid of it a long time ago. At one point, the room she’ll be moving into was turned into my playroom when I was a child. Now, I have to move everything down in order for my grandma to have her room and all of her belongings. I’d never ask her to give up anything that makes her happy as long as I can make it happen. Remaining on the second floor of the house just isn’t feasible for her until her leg is better and she’s out of the cast and wheelchair.
As I bring down the first load of boxes, there’s a loud pounding on the door. I don’t want to answer it because I have no desire to talk to anyone or see another person right now. My gram is resting in her chair, and I have so much to do. Setting the box down in the room, I take a look around before realizing how dirty it is. I’ll have to clean instead of bringing down more of her things. This is a room I haven’t really gone in to clean or anything because the door’s always been closed, and I don’t need to come in here. So, I’ve avoided it and cleaned every other room in the house.
Heading for the door as the pounding starts up again, I open it to find Breaker and Crave once again standing on our doorstep. Sighing, I close the door a little more, so my gram isn’t disturbed.
“What are you guys doing here?” I question them, not opening the door to let them in.
“We’re here to help. You didn’t call us to let us know you were leavin’. Why?” Breaker asks, his voice harsher than I’ve ever heard from him.
“You were busy, and I didn’t need the help. We got home and I’m in the middle of the bunch of things. Thanks for stopping by. I’ll see you later on,” I saw, attempting to close the door on them.
“Not so fast, Trin. We need to talk,” Crave says, sounding sincere in his need to talk.
“No, we don’t. I believe you said all you had to say in the hospital. Now, like I said, I have things I need to do and not a lot of time to get it done,” I tell Crave, barely looking at him.
“What’s so important you need to do right now?” Breaker asks, placing his foot in the door so I can’t shut it on them.
“Look, I can’t help my gram get up and down the stairs right now. Not with everything I have going on,” I remind them, looking to make sure gram isn’t listening in. “I’m moving my grandma’s room downstairs because of this. I need to get going because it’s not going to clean itself and her furniture isn’t going to move all alone either.”
“You’re not movin’ the furniture on your own. There is no reason for you to have to do this shit on your own. We can come in and help you get everythin’ moved and make sure you all have dinner before goin’ to bed for the night,” Breaker says, pushing the door open. “Besides, I’m sure gram would love to see us.”
“Not. Happening,” I growl out, as both men move around me and enter the living room where my gram is sitting.
“What are you handsome boys doing here?” she asks, perking up with a bright smile on her face.
“We came to help Trinity get your things moved,” Crave responds, letting my gram pull him down to give him a hug.
Breaker accepts his hug from her before stepping back and giving me a triumphant smile. They ask me what they need to do first and I let them know nothing right now. I can’t have anything moved until I get the room cleaned. Leaving the room, I make my way to the kitchen to grab the cleaning supplies I need. With everything in hand, I walk back through the living room to get started on what I have to do.
It’s taken me an hour to get the empty room clean. I’ve washed the walls, swept and mopped the floors, and took down the curtains so they can be washed. They’re going now so I can get them hung back up before my gram goes to bed for the night. If she wakes up to the sun streaming in her windows, she’s gonna be pissed. Gram likes her sleep. When I walk back in the living room, the guys are sitting on the couch and talking with my gram and laughing. It’s a sight I’ve wanted to see for a while because she looks so young and carefree. Much like she used to.
Walking upstairs, I grab a few of the boxes I packed up and carry them downstairs. When Breaker and Crave see what I’m doing, they immediately stand up and make their way over to me. After setting the boxes down, they follow me back up the stairs so I can show them what I need to bring down first. The most important thing is her bed. Stripping the sheets and blankets off the bed, I carry it down to the laundry room and switch things over. With the curtains in the dryer and her sheets in the washer, I make my way back up to bring more of her things down.
It’s not long before the two men strip their vests and shirts off. Placing their vests on the coat hooks by the door, I admire their bodies. Sweat glistens on their skin, the tattoos on their body stand out as I stare at them, and I see the beginning of that delicious V while their jeans ride low on their hips. I don’t believe either one of them are wearing underwear because it’s not sticking out of the waistbands of the jeans molded to each man. Breaker has a bigger ass than Crave does, but each man is sexy in their own right. It’s like looking from light to dark between the two men.
With their help, it takes less than an hour to get all of gram’s things moved down into the bedroom on the first floor. They put everything where I want it, giving gram the best access to move around the room in her chair. Not once do they bitch or complain, barely letting me lift anything or carry the boxes down the stairs. I’m pregnant, not fucking sick or hurt. Men!
“Dinner’s here,” Crave lets me know as he enters the room I’m putting the finishing touches on.
“I’ll be out in just a second,” I let him know, looking around the room as a whole.
After getting my grandma a slice of pizza and some garlic bread, I go back to the room to hang up the curtains and get away from the two men. I can’t exactly kick them out when they’ve helped me so much this afternoon and bought dinner. A dinner my gram wanted to have. Breaker doesn’t let me get away with it though. He enters the room, takes the curtains from my hands and lays them down on the bed before leading me to the living room.
“You know the doctor said you had to eat, rest, and take care of yourself,” Breaker reminds me gently. “Hidin’ away in here to avoid us isn’t goin’ to get what the doctor wants done. Pizza and garlic bread isn’t the best meal, but it’s food and somethin’ you need.”
“I know. I was just goin’ to get this done before goin’ to eat. However, I need to get this done. My gram is gonna want to go to bed soon and her room needs to be finished before then. I have a lot to do afterward as well. Including calling Tonya to see if I can get a day or two off to help my gram and put things in place. It never ends here,” I tell him, letting him lead me from the room where a plate is already waiting for me.
Breaker sits me down on the couch between Crave and him. This is the last place I want to be sitting, but my gram looks so happy as she stares at me with a smile on her face. I don’t move as I eat the pizza and bread. The hot, melted cheese with chicken melt in my mouth as I take a large bite. I’m not concerned with Breaker and Crave thinking I’m a pig or anything else for stuffing my mouth the way I currently am. They won’t be here long enough to form an opinion.
After eating two slices of pizza and a piece of cheese garlic bread, I head right back into my gram’s new room. Putting the finishing touches on and making her bed, it’s not long before she’s asking me to help her get in bed. Tonight she’s going to leave the scrubs on as I help her stand on one leg and help her transfer to the bed. After hugging her and letting her know I’ll be downstairs too in case she needs me, I head out to find the guys with their shirts and vests back on.
“Thank you for the help. I’ll see you when I go into work again,” I tell them, opening the door for them to leave so I can lock up.
“We’ll be back to talk,” Crave warns me, leaning down to press a kiss against my cheek.
“No, you won’t. Everyone leaves and I’m used to it. Let’s just make that happen before anyone gets hurt. You’ve already said your peace and I won’t come after you or do anything when it comes to the baby,” I say, shutting the door before Breaker or Crave can say another word.
Locking the door, I make my way around the house to lock up. I’m too tired to clean or anything else tonight. I’ll call Tonya first thing in the morning if I can find her number to let her know I won’t be in. I have to find someone to sit with my grandma before I can head to work again. With nothing more to do, I turn off the last of the lights and lay down on the couch. Pulling the small blanket off the back, I close my eyes and let sleep claim me. Images of Breaker and Crave fill my dreams; making me want a life I’ll never have.
