“Shut the fuck up,” he ordered, his other hand moving to my neck and grabbing hard. With him covering my mouth and grasping my neck, I couldn’t breathe. Panic clawed at me as I fought his grip.
I’d taken a self-defense class, but in my panic I fought to remember what to do. I managed to maneuver so that I was facing him. He shoved me into the supply rack, his hand remaining on my neck. I felt him step close to me and I recoiled at his proximity. I couldn’t get enough breath to scream. “You’re not divorcing me. You’re mine. You and Mason are mine. He’smyboy and you’remywife.” His grip loosened a fraction and I sucked in a breath, gulping for air as tears streamed down my face. “You’re done spreading your legs for that fucking low-life biker I’ve seen you with.”
I gasped at the realization he’d been following us. That meant Mason was in danger. Maybe the car the other night had been him after all. The thought made my blood boil. I straightened my spine, determined to respond, to show him I would not be cowed. Not by him. Not by anyone. “We stopped being yours the moment you raised a hand to me, you asshole.” I gasped the words, knowing I was going to lose consciousness if he kept up his grip.
He smacked me hard in the face. The sudden pain exploded across my cheek. “You don’t decide that. I decide. And I say, you’re mine. This isn’t over. We’ll never be over. I’ll be seeing you very soon,” he growled, his grip growing impossibly more painful.
The tingling sensation in my limbs became more pronounced as I desperately tried to suck air into my lungs.
“Jill!” Dr. Green’s panicked voice was the next thing that registered.
My eyelids fluttered open as I blinked against the bright light. I was lying on the linoleum floor. Everything from the neck up throbbed like a heartbeat as I tried to assess the extent of my injuries.
“Jill, oh my God. Are you all right?” Dr. Green demanded, crouching above me. “I need a stretcher!” he hollered over his shoulder.
I managed a nod, cradling my neck with one hand.
“Let me get a stretcher. We need to call the police.”
I shook my head. “Cal,” I croaked. It hurt like hell to talk.
His brow knit. “Jill, we need to call the police. You’ve been assaulted.”
I’d learned in my time with the Knights that they operated within their own law. I had a feeling Cal wouldn’t take kindly to dealing with the Hawthorne PD. I also knew he’d keep me safe. “Cal,” I pleaded.
“Jill, what happened?” Shelly, a nurse I worked with frequently, asked worriedly as she came wheeling the stretcher Dr. Green had requested.
I sat up, feeling dazed. My head and neck were pounding. I didn’t want to talk about it. I couldn’t.
Seeming to sense just that, she spoke again. “All right, sweetie. Let’s get you fixed up, hmm?” she tittered as she and Dr. Green kneeled down to help me up and onto the stretcher. Shelly had been a nurse for more than two decades. She was kind and incredibly capable. Her gentle hands probed my neck and the back of my head. “Are you hurt anywhere else? Did you lose consciousness?”
“Yes,” I croaked. It hurt like hell to talk.
“Have you seen Jill?” I heard Cal’s deep voice down the hall. No doubt he’d come looking for me when I was late to show up after my shift. It was a second later that he must have spotted me. “Christ!” I heard him exclaim, his boots pounding on the floor as he rushed to my side. “What the hell happened?” he demanded, peering down at me, his eyes bright with fear and fury.
“Someone assaulted her in the supply closet,” Dr. Green replied grimly. “We need to get her checked out. I found her unconscious and I don’t know how long she was out for or if she sustained a head injury.”
Cal took my hand, grasping it firmly as they wheeled me into an exam room. “Baby.” His voice cracked as he stared down at me. “I was just right outside…. Fuck!” he roared, stepping away from me to pace the room like a caged beast.
Dr. Green moved in, his gaze shooting a bit nervously to Cal before he returned his attention to me. “Let’s check your pupils.” The light he shone into my eyes did nothing to help my screaming headache. “Concussed,” he muttered. “Jesus, Jill. I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.”
I put my hand on his arm, squeezing gently, trying without words to reassure him.
Shelly coaxed me to lie back and offered me pain medicine, which I declined. After what had happened, I needed to feel in control, or at least as much as I could.
Cal moved back to my side, taking a loud, deep breath in. He was fighting for calm. I saw the battle raging in his eyes. Despite his obvious fury, I’d never been so relieved to see anyone in my life. I’d never doubted he’d come for me, that he’d take care of me. Having someone to rely on was entirely new and incredibly moving.
Cal leaned down, cupping my face gently in his palm. “Did your motherfucker of an ex do this to you?”
I nodded, my hand catching on his wrist and squeezing. “Mason?”
His gaze softened in understanding. “He’s safe, honey. Ram’s posted out front of the day care and I just got a report a few minutes ago. I’ll have one of the guys go pick him up right now and take him to our place.”
His mention of “our place” would have ordinarily put me off-kilter, but seeing as though my world was already totally upside down, I let the comment roll off.
“I wanted to call the police. I still do,” Dr. Green broke in.
“No,” Cal growled, his eyes never leaving mine. “We handle this my way.”