"Solomon, we're going to be parents. We have to tell Jeremy, but I want to do it in person." There was something sugary sweet about the words dripping from her lips. For the first time in weeks, Kaci smiled. She was over the moon, this is exactly what they needed. A new start. *** Kaci knocked on the door to Tillman's office, opening the door when Tallis said to open the door. The overly tattoed woman was wrapped around her brother, her fingers tangled in his hair. The whole room smelled like weed. "You're going to be an uncle, Jeremy, I wanted to tell you in person." Tallis' jaw dropped, a pang of jealousy dropping into her stomach. A baby was something she had always wanted, and almost had once. "I'm so happy for you two. How do you guys feel?" "I'm literally over the moon!" She was grinning from ear to ear. ------------------------------------------------------ Solomon nodded at her words blankly; he had been part listening, part freaking out. Was he a decent enough human being to raise a child? Was he good enough for Kaci? After she left, he laid down on their bed with an arm thrown over his face. ------------------------------------------------------ Jeremy and Tallis had been sharing a blunt in his office after he got through some paperwork. He was blowing a shot gun slowly into her mouth as someone knocked. He laughed and pulled it out of his mouth when Kaci walked in. He hadn't seen her in a while, and his eyes falling on her made him feel a mix of emotions. When she announced that she was having a baby, a million thoughts ran through his head. He put out the paraphernalia and turned to Tallis. "Give me a minute?" Once she left, he stood up and walked over to Kaci. His pride was begging him yell and scream that she was young and stupid, but he just reached out him arms and wrapped them around her, without saying a word. After a minute or so, he looked down at her and brushed the hair out of her face. "You gonna be okay, Kase?" He sighed and guilt crept up him for not being there for her the past few months. "I'm sorry. I'll help you with whatever you need. I love you." His thoughts switched to Solomon, which made the familiar anger he's felt crawl up from his stomach into his chest. "Do you trust him, Kase?" ------------------------------------------------------ His little sister rested her head on her brother's chest, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill. "As long as I have your support, I'm going to be amazing." Kaci looked up at him, her brows knitting together as she frowned. "I trust him as much as you trust Tallis, and from what I've heard...that's a lot. The guys just keep going on and on about how happy you seem. It's weird. Jeremy Tillman has never been happy about anything." She laughed as she sank into a chair, placing a hand on her stomach almost protectively. This was all so unreal for her. ------------------------------------------------------ It was getting late, probably around 11:15, meaning that it was time for changing of the guard. Security was still at an all time high. Despite this, the only ones watching the clubhouse now were Jeremy, Tallis, and Cuddles the prospect that had taken Solo's room at the clubhouse. Everything was quiet as Tallis made her rounds around the perimeter, thick, gray smoke trailing behind her like a ghost. She was vulnerable, high as a kite and thoughts turned to mush due to her baby fear. Tallis didn't even hear the sound of the approaching footsteps. Her first mistake. "Smoking will kill you, Tallis. Though you always looked so goddamn sexy doing it. Blow some of that smoke my way, baby." His husky voice made her blood run cold. How had she not heard him? Cameron was never a quiet man. Ever. She cursed herself under her breath, refusing to face him. Her second mistake. "More guys will be coming any second, Cameron. They'll fucking kill you if they see you." "Then they won't see me." He laughed, but there was nothing pleasant about the sound. It reminded her of a hyena that had cornered its prey, laughing at the creatures fear. "Can't a guy come visit his old lady?" "I'll Tillman's old lady now, fucker." She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. This was her last and final mistake. Cameron was a violently jealous person, and he had always hated Jeremy. Tallis regretted her words even more as his fingers tangled in her raven colored hair, pulling her back with extreme force. He wrapped an arm around her throat, starving her lungs of the air they so desperately needed. Cameron wouldn't let her go until she was riding the thin line between conscious and unconscious. She clawed at his arms, but he still refused to let her go until she was limp. Without his help to stand she slumped to the hard ground. "I've always loved it when you didn't put up a fight, it makes things so much easier." His steel-toed boot found her body over and over again. Ribs. Stomach. Thighs. Stomach. Ribs. Repeat. And when she started to crawl away, he stomped on her shoulder until it was dislocated or broken. She couldn't crawl away now. Luckily, the sound of motorcycles stopped his assault. "Pity, I was just going to show you what a man I was." With a single blow to the face, he was off at a leisurely pace. Tallis cried out, but she could barely do that. It felt like hours passed before someone found her on their rounds. It was Patty and Voodoo. "Oh fuck. Voodoo, go get Tillman...but prepare him, okay? Oh fuck." He fell to his knees, pulling Tallis into his arms. She screamed at his touch, begging him to just put her down. "Shhh. Tillman will be here soon, Tallis. He'll be here soon." He began rocking her like he rocked his daughters when they had hurt themselves. "Fuck." Voodoo burst into Tillman's office, no apologies. "Tillman, I need you to come with me. It's bad. Real bad." ------------------------------------------------------ "Shut up," Jeremy replied in a gruff voice, obviously joking. He tussled her hair after she sat down and sighed, leaning on the front of his desk to face her. "I'm gonna have to have a talk with Solo. I'm not gonna be dick to him, I promise. But, I wanna set a few things straight with him." Jeremy and Kaci caught up for a little while in his office. It was nice having her around again. They laughed and joked around until someone barged into his office. "Jesus, man!" he yelled as he threw his hands up in surprise. "Tillman, I need you to come with me. It's bad. Real bad." Because he didn't know what was happening, he told Kaci to go home just in case she was in danger. He followed Voodoo to the spot where Patty was cradling Tallis. "What the fuck happened?" He said, taking over for Patty and holding her gently. He knew what happened. He knew Cameron had been here. His first instinct was to go find the fucker and kill him in cold blood, but his heart told him to stay with her. She was shaking, the blow to her head caused a drip of blood to run down her face. Jeremy used the bottom of his white shirt to clean it off, and he kissed her forehead. He put a hand to the side of her face to comfort her as he quietly spoke. "Voodoo's calling a nurse to come out. We're gonna fix you up, and when we find him, love, you're gonna kill him." Jeremy knew just how much she wanted to kill her, and now he was finally ready to do so. A connection they had with one of the local hospitals was a nurse named Sue. Her old man was in the club years ago and would offer assistance when any members were injured. They didn't go to the hospital unless it was absolutely necessary. Patty and Jeremy had carried Tallis into a private room in the clubhouse and laid her down on the couch. Sue walked in and greeted everyone before going up to her to assess the damage. "I got it, Patty. Thank you," Jeremy patted his shoulder as he spoke. Patty nodded and left the room quietly, and Jeremy turned his focus over to Tallis. He had been balling his hands in a fist so tightly that his knuckles were white. He was furious. Sue spoke softly to Tallis, almost like a mother. "Baby, I'm gonna need to take your shirt off, okay? It's just me and Tillman here. You're safe." ------------------------------------------------------ Not even the idea of killing Cameron brought her joy, it was almost as if all the blows to the body had broken her heart. She looked away from Tillman, ashamed. Tallis was ashamed that she hadn't protected herself or even tried do. As he laid on the couch she cried. There was nothing she could do to stop the tears. The last time he had beat her this badly she had called Taylor to come kill him. Instead, it was Taylor who was killed. "You're going to have to pop my shoulder back into socket first." She looked at everything but Sue and Jeremy, tears still streaming down her cheeks. Sue helped Tallis into a seated position, frowning at the look of her shoulder. "This is going to hurt, I won't sugar coat that...but you'll feel so much better once it's back in place." While Tallis was distracted by her words, the middle-aged nurse forced Talli's shoulder back into socket. She moved to the side just in time for Tallis dinner to come back up. "Pain tend to do that, honey, don't worry." Sue looked back at Jeremy, "Go get her some weed and alcohol. Those are two things I know you have in abundance here." Tallis slowly removed her shirt, the budding bruises on full display. Her ribs looked worst, porcelain skin painted black and blue. "I know they're broken, I can feel it when I breathe." The nurse nodded in agreement, waiting for Jeremy to return. She wanted to speak to him alone. ------------------------------------------------------ Jeremy pushed his personal pain he felt for her aside so that he could be her rock. Watching her like this lit a fire in him that wouldn't go out until Cameron was dead. He watched Tallis vomit from the pain but didn't react; he didn't want to make her feel bad. He wanted to the the opposite. He nodded at Sue to her request and left the room, taking the liberty to grab some blow for her too. When Jeremy returned, his eyes locked onto her torso. "Jesus Christ, Tallis," he said almost in a whisper. He put the party favors on the table and returned to the edge of the room, wanting to give the women the space they needed. Sue handed Tallis the joint and alcohol, watching as she gulped down the liquid like it were water. There was something pathetic about the sight before her. This girl was clearly broken. "I'll back, I just need to talk to Jeremy for a little while, okay?" She didn't leave until Tallis nodded while lighting the joint. Hopefully, the poor girl would pass out soon. The nurse approached Jeremy slowly, placing her hand on his arm. Anger was radiating off of him. "I'm sorry, but there's not much I can do for her. Do not let her out of your sight, Jeremy Tillman, I've seen this before. The next time I saw a young woman who was beaten this badly, she was dead. He will come back." The club life had hardened Sue, she had seen it all before. She looked back at Tallis, who was already beginning to fall in and out of consciousness. "Did he do anything else to her? Because I brought a kit with me." Sue hoped that Cameron hadn't done anything else to the poor girl. ------------------------------------------------------ [b]"Do not let her out of your sight, Jeremy Tillman." [/b] He nodded in response to her first statement. His eyes flicked over to her momentarily to watch her. He couldn't tell if she was more hurt mentally or physically. [b]"Did he do anything else to her?"[/b] Jeremy's eyes went back to Sue's. "I couldn't get much outta her, Sue. Let me talk to her real quick." He walked back into the room and knelt down next to her slowly. "I'm sorry this happened to you, love. You don't deserve this shit," he sighed, letting his fingers lightly sweep the hair out of her face. "You need to tell me if he did anything else to you. Sue can't help you unless we know everything." ------------------------------------------------------ Tallis shrugged at Jeremy's words, seemingly unphased. She was used to getting the shit beat out of her by Cameron. "He hasn't raped me in years if that's what you're asking." With a whimper she rolled onto her side. Everything hurt, but the drugs and alcohol were starting to make things a little better. She just wanted to sleep. Forever. "This isn't your fault, Jeremy. There's nothing you could have done to stop this. I should have been paying more attention. That was my fau--" Her words were interrupted by the door being thrown open. It was her father, and he was silently seething. She was worse than he had expected. "Get him out of here Jeremy, I don't want him to see me like this!" Tallis covered herself to the best of her ability, rolling over once more so that her back was turned to her father. No father should have to see his daughter like this. "I'm fine, daddy, it's worse than it looks." "The hell it is, Tallis." Black's voice was shaking along with the rest of him. He was about to explode like an atomic bomb. "What the fuck are you going to do about this, Tillman?" ------------------------------------------------------ Although Jeremy felt a wave of relief wash over him that Cameron hadn’t done more than he could see, it didn’t change the fact that the woman he loved was crumbling in front of him. Jeremy jumped up to the sudden appearance of Black in the room. Jeremy looked down at Tallis one last time before nodding to Black to meet him in the hallway. Once they were out of the room, Jeremy looked at Black with an expressionless face. “I know that’s your girl in there, Black, but her head isn’t right. Any sign of aggression or anger around her is gonna make her flip the fuck out.” “I need you to make this right, Tillman. No one should have been able to do this to her,” Black shook his head and looked to the floor. “I’ll make it right, Black. I swear I will,” Jeremy stated as he placed a hand on Black’s shoulder. “He’ll pay for what he did.” Black nodded. He walked into the room one more time to say bye to Tallis. He knew she didn’t want to see him while she was in this state, and all he could do was respect that. After Black left, Jeremy knelt down next to her once more and rubbed her shoulder. “He’s gone, love. I’m gonna take you home now.” Jeremy helped slip her shirt back on and gently picked her up from the couch, holding her like baby. He borrowed one of the vans from the shop and placed her in the passenger seat. *** Jeremy carried her inside the house up to the room. He helped her undress and put one of his t shirts on her for her to sleep in. He sat on the edge of the bed and rested his hand on top of hers. She was still shaking, which broke his heart. “What can I do for you, love?” ------------------------------------------------------ She watched Tillman silently and intently, flinching when his hand got too close to any part of her body. "I'm sorry, I know you're not going to hit me..." It was difficult to look at him when she was shaking and scared. He shouldn't have to see her this way. This was so out of her character, but it was only to be expected. It was almost amazing that she wasn't in worse shape emotionally. "I want you to hold me until I fall asleep, and I want to talk about anything else. I just," Tallis swallowed down a sob. "I can't talk about what he did to me right now." Once he laid down beside her, she positioned herself on top of him so she could listen to the sound of his beating heart; the sound was comforting. Her eyelids were starting to feel like bricks. "I want to get married, Jeremy." She wasn't sure what her think it would be a good idea to bring this up, perhaps it was the blow to the head mixed with the alcohol. ------------------------------------------------------ He got himself comfortable as she climbed on top of him, taking a deep breath and enjoying her warmth on him. He did his best to fight the anger that had been present in him all night at what had happened to Tallis. He was running a hand through her hair as she brought up marriage, and coughed out of surprise. What the fuck was he supposed to say? The woman he loved was beaten to a pulp and laying on top of him, relying on receiving all her comfort from him. "You know, I'm not too knowledgeable on this shit, Tallis," he started, a smile creeping on his face, "But aren't I the one who's supposed to ask you?" He nudged her a little bit to let him know he was fucking around, but he sighed and began to rub her shoulder. "We'll talk about it when you're better, love." He didn't want to brush her off, but knowing that she had been knocked around and had been drinking made him cautious about getting to deep into the conversation. "You know I love you, right?" -------------------------------------------------- She looked up at him, resting one of her hands at the top of his head. Had she not been so weak, she would have run her fingers through his hair. "You know I think you're just okay, right?" Her smile was crooked and pained, but it was still a smile. "I know you love me, and you know I love you." She seemed to be melting at his touch, becoming limp and relaxed. "Then what would you like to talk about if I can't talk about marrying you? The weather is pretty nice tonight, so we could talk about that." Tallis was teasing him, doing her best to show him that she would be okay. But there was the nagging sensation at the back of her head that she would never be the same. Cameron had broken something in her, something that couldn't be replaced. ------------------------------------------------- Jeremy hated to be mushy or romantic; it was something foreign to him. But Tallis, especially now, deserved his uninhibited love. She had put up with so much before and after they reunited that it didn’t feel fair for Tillman not to give her all that he could. “Well,” he began in his deep voice, “remember that night on the beach? With Taylor? Well, that was the night I realized I was in love with you. I mean, I’ve always loved you, but...”he trailed off. “I’m no good at this shit,” he said laughing softly. “Of course I want to marry you. You’re the only fine piece of ass I want.” He met her eyes and smiled alluring her before kissing her forehead. “Now get some sleep, Old Lady.”