CHAPTER 2

LANA

It was the twenty-third of December, and all was right in my world. I'd really lucked out in finding this job, it was perfect for me. I was happiest when I was taking care of people.

And since the sight of blood usually makes me pass out. As I’d found out the hard way when I started nursing, this job suited me better. Nobody wanted a nurse that passed out at the sight of blood. I mean, passing out was never a good thing, but a nurse definitely didn’t need to be passing out over patients. So, that meant my dream job went out the window in a hurry. I tried being a paramedic but that involved blood too, so that was another dream down the drain. I’d changed direction and become a massage and beauty therapist instead.

Now here I was running a hair and beauty salon, and I loved it. It was the next best option for me. No blood involved. There was nothing like job satisfaction when someone came in stressed and overwhelmed with rock-hard and tense muscles, and they left you feeling relaxed and happy with a smile on their face.

To make my life even better, it was Christmas, my favourite time of the year. I'd always loved Christmas, especially as it had been my mum’s favourite holiday; her next favourite had been Easter. She'd go all out at Christmas and start decorating our front garden in November. Our house, by the first of December, was always fully decked in Christmas lights and decorations. It must have cost my parents a fortune in electricity, but my dad never complained.

This would be my sixth Christmas without them, and it didn’t get easier. I missed them most during the Christmas holidays, but at least they were together. Or I hoped so. God wouldn’t be so cruel as to split them up in the afterlife.

I'd been invited up to Crow Manor by both Bren and Avy for Christmas Day, but I decided I'd rather spend this Christmas by myself getting my new house sorted and painted. I’d sold the house I’d grown up in when I’d moved here to take this job, and I’d bought myself a fixer upper in the next town not far from the O’Sheas.

I loved it. It was a small plot that butted alongside their property, and I know that Mr. O’Shea had sold it to me at a lot less than market value, but his argument was that he didn’t want neighbours and if he had to have them, then he’d rather have someone he liked. The plot of land had a small three-bedroom bungalow that I was slowly refurbishing. I never thought I’d be any good at doing handiwork, but I found myself loving it.

There was something so satisfying in making my home habitable. I’d worked hard over the last year to get it liveable, and I was now in the final stages. There were just the floors left to sand, a few of the walls left to paint.

Once that was done, I’d be able to start moving furniture in. It was going to be bliss to sit on a couch and not on the camping gear that I was using at the moment. The only piece of furniture that I’d been using from the start was my bed. After only two nights on a blowup mattress, I’d had enough. I wasn’t a nice person when I was tired, and for the sake of all those around me, I’d set my bed up so that I could get a decent night’s sleep.

I’d had to use contractors for the big jobs like the plumbing, electrical, and fitting of the kitchen and bathrooms, but my bosses had lots of contacts, and they were willing to help me; plus, I got a decent discount as I worked for the Crows. It seemed they were related to most around the village either by blood or by marriage.

I may have lost my family, but I’d certainly found a new one with the Crow MC. They’d welcomed me with open arms. I found it so hard to believe that I’d been living here a year already.

Shaking off my weird mood, I put my Christmas music on, turning the volume up high. Going to the cleaning cupboard, I took the broom out and started pushing it around the front of the salon, making sure everything was clean and ready for us when we came back in January. The thought of having the next ten days off filled me with happiness. There was so much that I wanted to get done during my time off. With a happy smile and a bounce to my steps, I danced around the room, stopping every now and again to sing into my broom.

I was happy. I had a good life, a job I loved, and a house that was mine. What more could I want? I loved my life. Was I lonely sometimes? Sure I was. But so far, nobody had piqued my interest. Maybe one day, if I was lucky, I’d find the right man.

I danced and worked my way around the room with the broom until I ended up by the large floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the salon. Looking out of them, I noticed the lone biker sitting at the one traffic light we had in the village. He seemed to be watching me through the window, but with his visor down on his helmet, it was hard to be sure. He wasn’t part of the MC as there was no Crow logo on his bike, his jacket, or his helmet. I guessed he was just riding through. Maybe on his way to his family for Christmas.

I wondered what he was thinking while he watched me. I was dressed in my elf costume, having helped Santa give out presents earlier today at the yearly village Christmas gift giving. It had been started last year by the teenagers of the Crows and had continued this year. Knowing how much I loved Christmas, they’d roped me in to help. We’d had loads of fun and the kids had left happy after each of them getting a present from Father Christmas.

Trying not to be obvious about it, I continued to sweep. I watched the biker from under my lashes. He was sat so still on his bike waiting for the lights to turn green. A dark silhouette in an otherwise brightly lit street, dressed in all black with his helmet obscuring his eyes. A little shiver ran down my spine; he was a little intimidating, even from this distance.

That didn’t stop me from peeking at him every now and then, though. There was something about him that called to me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. My body hummed and there was a warm tingle in my belly as if I could feel his touch, even though he was on the other side of the road to me. When the lights turned green, my gaze followed him as he slowly drove by, he dipped his head slightly as he rode past where I stood silhouetted in the window and then he was gone, disappearing into the darkness as if he’d been part of my imagination.

Shrugging off my fantasies about the lone biker, I hurried to finish the cleaning so I could lock up and get home. There was a pot of stew and dumplings waiting for me in the slow cooker, and I had a night planned of watching some of my favourite Christmas movies. Locking up and setting the alarm, I hurried to my car. It wasn’t anything special, just a regular Ford Focus, but I’d opted for an Estate rather than a regular hatchback when I’d bought it as I knew I’d need space to load anything I bought for my house refurbishment.

My teeth were chattering, and I was shivering as I got in and started the engine, waiting for her to warm up and the heat to start circulating. Pointing the vents towards me, I sighed in bliss as the heat started to wend its way around me.

Turning the volume up on my Christmas tunes just as Fairy Tale of New York started on the radio. It was one of my favourites, and I boogied and sang along as I put my car in gear and drove out onto the main road in the same direction that the biker had gone.

There wasn’t a car in sight as I drove down the road singing away with nobody to hear me or to complain about my out-of-tune voice. I’m well aware that I sound like a wailing cat when I sing, but that doesn’t stop me from doing it. And certainly not when it comes to Christmas songs. As I come around the corner, I hurriedly slam on my brakes in an emergency stop when I see a bike lying in the middle of the road. The emergency braking has my back-end skidding slightly on what I’m assuming is black ice. We’d had warnings earlier on the radio to be careful of it while driving. Instantly, I recognise the bike as the one that my mysterious rider had been sitting on.

Slapping my hand down on the button for my hazard lights, I shakily push the release button on my seatbelt so that I can get out of my car. All the while wondering where the biker is. Getting out, I pull my coat tighter around me just as snow starts to slowly fall from the sky.

“Oh, no,” I whisper as I get to the bike and see he’s not lying anywhere near it. “Where are you?” I wonder aloud. Looking up and down the road. Just at the edge of where my headlights stop, I think I see something shiny at the edge of the road. Hurrying towards what I hope is the biker, all the time I’m chanting out loud, “Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.” I see his leg move as I get closer and the chant changes to, “Don’t let there be blood, don’t let there be blood.”

It won’t do for the both of us to be passed out on the side of the road if I see any blood.

Falling to my knees on the road next to him, my training kicks in and I run my hands up and downs his arms and legs to see if anything’s broken. I don’t take off his helmet just yet as I know it may still be protecting him.

Keeping up the litany of words as my training comes back to me as I assess him, cataloguing any injuries that I can see. Once I’m assured that none of his limbs are broken, I move to his head and open the visor. Startling slightly when I see bright blue eyes peering up at me. He was awake and I could see that he was in pain from the lines bracketing his face and the way he’s clenched his lips closed.

Wanting to reassure him, I speak softly, “Hey, I’m calling an ambulance, but as were in the middle of nowhere, it may be a while before they get here. I can’t find anything broken, but I’m not sure if you have any internal injuries or damage to your back.”

He took me aback when he insisted that he not go to a hospital and then proceeded to make me promise that I wouldn’t take him. Making me wonder what he was running from. He was adamant, though, that he does not go to a hospital, and something told me that whatever it was he was running from, he was no danger to me, so I promised.

“Okay, okay,” I promised shakily as he closed his eyes again. “No hospital. Do you have a name?”

“Tommy, Sprite, name’s Tommy.”

Then he was out like a light again.

“Fuck,” I whispered hoarsely as I hurried back to my car and got a tarp out of the back of it. I wasn’t going to be able to pick him up, and the only way I was going to get a man his size into my car was to drag him up. Luckily, I still had the ramp that I’d used when I loaded the cement last week.

Laying the tarp on the ground next to him, I manoeuvred him into the recovery position, hoping against hope that he didn’t have any internal injuries. He most definitely had a concussion, though, and I was worried about what other damage he had to his head.

But I’d made a promise, and I always kept my promises. I just hoped this one didn’t come back to bite me on the arse.

Once I had him on his side, I pulled the tarp until it was as far under him as it could go, then I laid him back down on it. Rushing back to my car, I put it in gear and drove it closer to him, opening up the boot and setting up the ramp before proceeding to try and pull him into my car.

It felt like a lifetime but eventually many long, sweaty, and heart pounding minutes later, I had him in the back of the car and not once had he opened his eyes during all this time. I wasn’t sure if I should be worried or happy that I managed to manoeuvre him without causing him too much pain. Covering him with the blanket I always carried in my car, I got out and went to the bike that was still in the middle of the road. I knew I couldn’t leave it there because it was a hazard. Opening his saddlebags, I saw they were filled with personal effects. Taking them off the bike, I took them back to my car and set them on the front seat. He’d need a change of clothing once he was back up and on his feet.

Walking back down the road to the bike, I tried to pick it up, but it was so freaking heavy. Eventually, just as I was thinking I was going to have to leave it, I made one last ditch effort and got it up on its wheels and pushed it towards the ditch at the side of the road, where I let go and had gravity do its job, cringing a little at the further damage I’d done to it.

‘Ah, well, not much I could do about it now,’ I thought, dusting my hands off and jogging back to my car. Checking on the biker once more, I noted that he hadn’t moved. Checking his pulse quickly, inhaling a relieved breath when I find it’s steady.

Cranking up the heat and turning down the Christmas music so that I could hear him if he made a noise, I drove us slowly home, hands still shaking slightly and heart pounding. I’ve never been so relieved to see my house. Reversing up to the front door, I switched off the car. Taking a deep breath to try and steady myself before flinging open the door to get out. Hurrying to unlock my front door, I’m wondering about where the best place to put him would be once I managed to get him in the house.

Starting a fire in the small pot belly fireplace I’d installed in the living room, I decided that it would be better to have him closer to the kitchen and the bathroom, so having him on a mattress on the floor in front of the fire would be the best thing.

Rushing to what was eventually going to be my spare room to get the mattress from the guest bed. It was lucky that I’d finished decorating this bedroom last weekend and had lugged my spare bed and mattress over last Sunday, intending to set it up this week. Taking hold of the mattress that was leaning against the wall, I pulled and tugged on it to get it moving towards the living room.

Laying it down near the fire, I put a plastic cover over the top to protect it, then added a fitted sheet. Going to my bedroom, I got my larger first aid box and brought it back to the living room with me. One thing about training as both a nurse and a paramedic, I had a first aid box suitable for an apocalypse.

Once I had the living room set up and somewhere to bring him, I went back to the car and opened up the boot. Setting up the ramp again, I took hold of the tarp and tugged and pulled as I moved him into the house in the reverse of how I’d got him into the car, but at least it was easier to manoeuvre him down rather than up.

Puffing and panting for the second time that night, I vowed to make use of my free gym membership the MC offered to its staff in the new year.

Finally, I had him close to the mattress, but not wanting him to get the sheets dirty, I proceeded to cut off his riding gear all the time trying not to think about how much they cost and simultaneously praying there wasn’t a lot of blood.

When he was down to his underwear, I gently manoeuvred him onto a sheet to clean him up. The tarpaulin was fine for moving him, but it was filthy, and I didn’t want him to get an infection if I could help it.

Taking a deep breath, I braved having a good look at all his injuries. He had bruising already appearing on his body, especially around his ribcage on the one side. From the looks of the bruising, it looked like his ribs were going to be bothering him for a while.

The worst injury seemed to be the gravel rash from where he’d skidded. While there was blood, it had clotted already and wasn’t oozing out, so I was good, even if I did have to take a few deep breaths and blink at one point to stop the blackness from taking over. I could just imagine what he’d think if he came to and found me passed out on top of him.

It took time to clean up his scrapes as best as I could without moving him around too much. Applying an antibiotic ointment that I’d picked up on my last trip out of the country, I also found a pack of broad-spectrum antibiotics in the medical box, checking the date on them to make sure they were still good. I was relieved to see that they were fine for two more months. I wasn’t sure yet how I was going to get them down him, but I’d worry about that later.

As I ran a clean washcloth down his abs to get rid of the last of the blood, I couldn’t help but take note of his muscular physique and all the different scars that were scattered along his body. It was like a road map showing that he’d lived a hard and dangerous life. I recognised most of the scars. They’d been caused by bullets and knives, for the most part, by the looks of it. Yep, there was no doubt in my mind that this man was dangerous with a capital D.

That didn’t stop me from thinking that while he may be dangerous, ‘He was also one fine specimen,’ I hummed to myself in appreciation as I swiped the washcloth across his body. A body that was solid muscle and I’m talking muscles on top of muscles. He must work out a serious amount to look like this. Not even the Crow men had this much muscle, and they worked out daily.

When he was as clean as I was going to get him with a cloth and water, I rolled him onto yet another clean sheet and tugged him onto the mattress with it. Groaning and panting for breath by the time I got him situated comfortably. Covering him up with another sheet and a blanket. I sat back on my heels knowing that the next job would be to remove his helmet.

Leaning forward, I unclasped it and gently manoeuvred it off, revealing a thick head of black hair, with hints of grey smattering through the sides. He had a groomed and well-kept beard. Even passed out and with some bruising, he was good looking. He was tanned for this time of year, so he must have been somewhere hot in the last few weeks. I felt around his head to see if I could find any lumps or blood, but his head seemed fine. The helmet had done its job. I could see a little bruising around his left temple. I wished he’d let me take him to the hospital. I was worried about his brain and if there was swelling or not.

“Why the fuck did I promise not to take him to the hospital?” I muttered angrily to myself.

“Because I asked you not to,” he replied gruffly.

With a squeak of fright, I started and nearly dropped the helmet that I was still holding on his face.

“For fuck’s sake,” I breathed out shakily, “give a girl a little warning next time.”

He gave a pained chuckle before replying, “How am I supposed to warn you I’m awake?”

Shrugging, I said, “I don’t know—clear your throat or something.”

He started laughing again, then groaned, holding onto his ribs where I could see bruising coming out.

“Stop laughing,” I ordered him. “Or wait until your ribs are healed a bit more. I really wish you’d have let me take you to the hospital. I’m worried that you may have internal injuries that we don’t know about, plus the concussion. You’ve been out a long time.”

He lifted a hand and cupped my cheek, turning my face towards him. My eyes caught and held his, my breath hitching slightly in my throat.

‘God, this man was delicious looking.’

There was something about him, even though he was all bruised up and could barely move, that called to me. Now that I could see his face, I knew he was quite a bit older than me, but my body didn’t seem to care and if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t care either. A familiar tingle was building in my belly as I looked into his eyes. A tingle I hadn’t felt in probably two years. I’d been too busy organising my life to be even remotely interested in dating.

It took me a bit, but I realised he’d been talking to me while I’d been daydreaming about riding the man like a pony. I needed to pull myself together.

“Sprite, are you listening to me?” he grunted, looking amused as if he knew where my head had been.

Shaking my head, unfortunately dislodging his hand from where it had been on my cheek.

“Sorry,” I apologised a little sheepishly, “I was wool-gathering. What did you say?”

A wide grin broke over his face, and it changed his whole look. There was something familiar about that grin, but I couldn’t place it.

“I said that I’m fine. I have a slight concussion, nothing’s broken, my ribs are bruised. Trust me, it’s not the first time I’ve had injuries like this. If I thought it was more, I’d let you take me to the hospital.”

I couldn’t help but be captivated by his blue eyes again. Pulling my gaze from his, my brow wrinkled with a small frown, I declared, “I did notice all the scars when I was cleaning you up. I’ll let it go for now, but if during the night you take a turn, I’m getting you to a hospital.”

Our gazes held in a stare, and I wondered which of us would blink first. I should have known it would be me, but I held my ground even after I’d blinked, “Okay,” I ordered needing him to give me an answer he wasn’t going to die on my watch.

“Okay, Sprite,” he agreed with a small smile.

“Lana,” I retorted.

“What?” he said in confusion.

“My name is Lana,” I informed him. “Lana Merry.”

“Beautiful name, Sprite. Suits you. I’m Tommy.”

“I know,” I responded. “You told me when I found you. Do you have a surname?”

Tommy’s face split into a grin, “I do.”

Ugh, this man was frustrating. Huffing out a slightly annoyed breath, I asked, “Well are you going to tell me?”

“Not yet,” he informed me. “But I promise you have nothing to worry about with me, I’d never hurt you.”

That was the one thing I hadn’t been worried about. My gut was rarely wrong, and I’d felt from the start that he wouldn’t hurt me.

“I know,” I acknowledged. “Even injured, you could have hurt me already if you wanted. I have good instincts, and I know you’re dangerous, but not to me. Trust me, if when I found you and my gut had told me that something was off, I’d have ignored your orders, locked myself in my car and called an ambulance. There’s something familiar about you, though. I’ll let you keep your secrets for now. You can tell me when you trust me more.”

He seemed surprised at my words. Knowing I still had a tonne of stuff to do tonight and needing to get away from all the deliciousness laid out before me, I slapped my hands on my thighs and stood up.

“I’m going to go have a quick shower, then I’ll get us something to eat and drink. I have some antibiotics that I’d like you to take once you’ve had something to eat. It will help stop any infections. I won’t be long,” I assured him as I walked off down the hall to my bedroom, needing to get away before I attacked the man and rode him like a pony.

Jesus, what a time for my libido to make an appearance. Going straight to my bedside draw, I rummaged around until I found my vibrator, changed the batteries, and took it with me into the shower. Some self-care was needed if I wanted to be able to look the man in the face again tonight.