Taken by a Monster (In the Arms of Monsters 2)

This was where Bear found him when he returned. “It’s a fucking fortune to be ill.”

“Do you need any money?” Preacher asked.

“Nope. It’s all taken care of.” Bear groaned as he sat down. “Seeing Robin like this, it makes me want to kill her all over again.”

“Rebecca?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too, and O’Klaren. That piece of shit got it easy.”

Bear laughed. “Neither of them got it easy.”

“That’s right, and they never will. I hope they’re rotting in hell somewhere.” He ran a hand down his face, trying to clear his thoughts. He was so fucking worn out. “I’m going to find him.”

“I don’t expect anything less. Reaper will have what’s coming to him. I know you’ll take care of it.”

“Oh, believe me, I’m going to do more than take care of it. When I finally have Reaper, I’m going to have him begging for death and praying to every single god there is.”

“I’m going to enjoy watching his torture. I’ll even join in. What are you going to do about Bishop?”

“Nothing. He’ll show his true colors. I want the word out with the club. Bishop no longer gets a free pass. His leather cut will be returned to us and I’m going to give the little shit an ultimatum.”

“Is this because of Robin?” Bear asked. “He’s your son.”

“Yeah, and he better start acting like it because so far, he’s no son of mine.”

****

Robin didn’t know if she hated hospitals or if this was her newfound disposition with them. She hated the food, the clothes, and the sounds. The machines drove her crazy and the constantly changing faces freaked her out. One nurse saw her in the morning, another at lunch, a different one in the evening, and then another at night.

The only constant was the doctor, Randall. He always seemed so happy and chipper. His happiness was infectious, and she looked forward to his visits.

She also liked spending time with her father. He snuck her cookies. According to him, chocolate chip was her favorite. She didn’t know if it was true but didn’t see a reason to doubt him. Bear was serious most of the time. She saw how sad he was, his nervousness around her. He wasn’t being himself and she hated not being able to put him at ease. He didn’t bring her any clothes and he’d told her she’d lost quite a bit of weight.

Between the cryptic words and meanings, she had come to see that she’d been gone from their lives for two years. She hadn’t gone of her own free will but someone had taken her. For two years, no one found her until she stumbled in front of an oncoming car, beaten, bruised, and broken. They don’t even know if the collision with the car was what caused her amnesia. They were all trying to be careful, to avoid overwhelming her.

She hated it but also appreciated their concern.

Then there was Bishop, her supposed husband. If he was married to her and they cared about one another as much as he said they did, shouldn’t she feel something? She didn’t hate him, at least, she didn’t think so. Whenever he did visit her, she found him exhausting. He wanted to constantly talk about himself, their future, and she didn’t even know their past.

He’d demanded she wear the wedding band, and she refused. He got a little angry at her refusal, but she didn’t care. She wouldn’t wear something because he demanded it. He wasn’t her keeper, at least, she hoped he wasn’t.

All of it was a little confusing to her. She wanted to find her life again, and Bishop, he didn’t seem like he cared to even know the past with her.

His kisses, she found them a little uncomfortable as well. Was that her fault? Was she the one feeling the wrong kind of things when it came to Bishop? He kept looking at her with hope, as if she had some kind of magical answer, and the truth was she didn’t have anything. She was as clueless as him. There was no way for her to change anything that had happened to her.

Why are you even worrying about him? You’re the one in the hospital bed.

Then of course there was Preacher.

He didn’t speak a whole lot and he never brought up the past. For the most part, he didn’t even seem to be in any kind of rush to make her remember the past. He was happy to just sit and talk to her. She enjoyed his company the most.

There was stuff she knew had happened between them but again, it was more a gut feeling than actually knowing.

“Do you read a lot?” she asked when she woke up to find him sitting with her. There was always someone with the Twisted Monsters MC cut near her. She didn’t mind. The one who stuck in her mind apart from Preacher was Grave. That guy was scary, but he never made her feel anything but safe. The patch did that, for some strange reason. She’d asked Randall about it and he’d told her to wait and to allow certain memories to materialize all in good time.