Lisa Ch. 08a: Evil

"Get the fuck out!" Angus yelled.

Scott looked up to see Beth staring at Jessica, her face etched in grief. She was moving forward but then Sean caught her from behind, looking past Scott with a shocked expression. Scott turned to see Angus, face bright red, veins bulging, lurching toward Beth. He raised a clenched fist. Beth didn't resist when Sean pulled her back out the front door.

"Bitch!" Angus spat and then dropped face first on the floor.

"Angus!" Riley said, trying to stand.

"Shit." Abe said, pushing Riley back onto the sofa. He'd been working on Riley's leg.

"I think he broke his nose." Jim said. Sitting on the floor next to Angus, Rick tying a tourniquet around his leg he grimaced as he remembered the sickening crack that had accompanied Angus' fall.

"Change of plans." The doctor said standing. "I've got to operate to get the bullets out of all of you lads. I'm going to start with him ..." he said pointing at Angus, "I'm not sure I have enough anesthetic to go around and he's down for the count. The rest of you lie down and don't move. We don't need any more face plants or blood transfusions today."

Scott nodded as he lowered himself onto the sofa. He closed his eyes, the world was spinning. Relief flooded through him. Jessica was alive. He and the men were alive. He felt so tired. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep the image of Jessica's shoulder snapping back with the impact of the bullet popped into his mind. Then the knife grazing her chest ... her body convulsing with the charge of the defibrillator. Scott's eyes flew open and he looked to the coffee table. Leah sat between him and Jessica but he could see Jessica's hair hanging off the table. Another flash. The night before. Jessica on the table in a completely different position. The fuck machines pounding her ...Scott bolted up. He scanned the room. And there they were. At opposite ends of the couch, as plain as day. There was no chance the other men in the room hadn't seen them. He groaned when he saw Leah eyeing the one nearest her, and Corey who sat next to her, doing the same. Scott didn't personally care but he knew Jessica's face would turn bright red and she'd be mortified if she knew that everyone knew that they'd used those kinds of things on her. He had to move them. He swung his legs off the sofa.

"What are you doing?"

Scott looked up and saw Corey leaning back in his chair, looking at him expectantly.

"I've gotta move those ..." Scott inclined his head to one of the machines.

Corey shifted his eyes for a moment to Jessica and then looked back at Scott with a knowing grin. Scott's stomach dropped. She was going to be devastated.

"Look." He said eyeing the front door. He had to get them moved before anyone else came in. It was going to be hard enough to contain with the people already in this room. "I'm really embarrassed." He leaned closer to Corey. "I really don't want the whole world knowing that I like it kinky like that."

It took all Scott's self-control to not laugh at the expression on Corey's face. He looked like he'd swallowed his tongue. Beside Corey, Leah's mouth hung open. Scanning the other men Scott was glad to see that the doctor and the bodyguards weren't paying attention at all, busy working on Angus. Riley, Jim and Josh seemed to just remember the machines and all three struggled to get to their feet.

"What can I say." Scott added, wanting to make sure there was no doubt in anyone's mind about who used the machines, "I like to be fucked by machines, but does everyone need to know about it?" he finished, inclining his head to the door.

Finally Corey seemed to snap out of his shock. The smirk slid off his face. He stood up quickly.

"I'll move them for you. Where do you want them?"

"Thanks man." Scott said, falling back against the sofa. "Downstairs, thanks."

When Corey moved to the first machine Leah's eyes met Scott's. Scott winked and Leah looked away quickly.

"What?" Scott asked when Corey was in the basement with the first machine. Josh and Riley, next to him on the sofa, and Jim, still on the floor, were staring at him in disbelief.

"You're a genius." Jim said.

"I never would've confessed to something like that." Riley said shaking his head.

"You realize it's going to get around." Josh said quietly.

"Better me than her." Scott said with a shrug but his face turned a light pink despite his blood loss.

"Amen." Jim said.

"Right." The doctor said standing, covered in blood and looking at Jim. "I've removed his bullets. Now it's your turn. I only have local anesthetic. You got something to bite down on or something?"

"I'll be fine." Jim said.

The doctor looked around. Scott was relieved that Corey had already disappeared downstairs again, with the second machine.

"Get him on the kitchen table." The doctor said to Abe and Rick.

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"How is she?" Angus asked in a muffled voice.

"The same." The doctor reported.

It had been a day since the surgeries. In addition to bandages on his thighs, Angus had a bandage on his nose. It had been broken. When he spoke, Angus sounded like he had a pillow firmly pressed over his face and his eyes were black, bruised from the beating and his fall.

The men were in pain and weak, but they were conscious. Jessica however had remained weak and unconscious the whole time.

The doctor had drained Leah and Corey into her twice before he felt she had enough blood but despite his calm demeanor, Angus still had the impression that the doctor was unsure of Jessica's recovery.

Jessica had been moved to the sofa, the mattresses had been setup and the men lay on them, next to the sofa. The doctor had told them that it was vital that they talk to her. They spent as much time holding her hand and talking to her as they could. They had Leah, and the other girls do the same. Even Corey, Sean, Abe and Rick. But she hadn't woken up once.

"Come on Jess ..." Angus said, holding her hand to his lips. A chair had been placed between the sofa and the mattress and he sat on it now. He ran his hand across her forehead, pushing sweat stained hair out of her eyes. "What else can we do?" He asked the doctor.

"Just keep doing the same." The doctor said, laying his hand on Angus' shoulder and squeezing. "So," The doc said straightening and looking around at the men, Rick and Abe. "She can't be moved for a while. I've given her a catheter. Abe and Rick will change it as needed." The doctor shifted his attention to Abe and Rick. "And she'll have to be sponge bathed. It's important that she be kept as clean as possible. Once a day should be good."

"We can do that." Riley interrupted. He'd been feeling light headed but the horrifying idea of Abe and Rick running their hands, sponge or no sponge, all over Jessica's body cut through the fog. He looked at the doctor, Abe and Rick, "We've got it."

The doctor looked Riley up and down. He looked white as a sheet and about ready to fall over.

"We got it." Josh confirmed when the doctor scanned his eyes past him.

The doctor shook his head, "Okay, fine. I want to give her a stronger antibiotic and pain killer. Is she allergic to anything?"

The men looked at each other.

"Fuck ..." Scott hissed. "How can we be so fucking clueless about her?"

Jim groaned. He'd been lying on the mattress but had dragged himself to the sofa, next to Angus. He dropped his head against Jessica's leg. "So fucking stupid ..."

Angus looked at Jim. "I asked her a million questions ... none of them the right ones."

"Okay then, here's an easier question." The doctor said, "Is she on any medication?"

"No," Riley said, shaking his head. "Just ... shit!"

"Jesus Christ!" Scott bellowed, having followed Riley's line of thought.

"What the fuck!" Rick demanded.

"Birth control pills ..." Josh whispered and he suddenly felt like vomiting.

"That's not a problem." The doctor said confused by the tortured expressions on the men's faces. "They don't interfere with one another ... birth control and the meds I want to give her."

"That's not it." Riley said shaking his head.

Scott had been leaning on the back of the sofa, trying to keep from falling down. Now he pushed himself to his feet. "Where'd she keep them?"

"In her purse." Jim said struggling to get to his feet.

"I'll get the pills." Scott said and lurched toward the bedrooms.

"We think she's missed some pills." Riley said when the doctor looked dumbfounded.

"And that's a problem?" The doctor asked. "I thought you were married."

Riley nodded. "But we don't want kids."

"She ... she doesn't want kids." Angus corrected. "She's going to be so ... she'll think we betrayed her."

"Well?" Josh asked from his prone position on the mattress as Scott shuffled back into the living room, pill container in his hand.

"She's missed yesterday and today for sure." Scott said looking at the container, "and she has at least a weeks worth here before the placebos."

"Shit, shit, shit!" Jim said. "Doc, can we give her the rest, while she's resting?"

The doctor shook his head. "She won't swallow it."

"Can you give it to her some other way?" Angus asked.

"I could give her something but I don't have it with me. And quite frankly, in her condition, I don't recommend it."

"Come on Doc, please ..." Riley begged.

"Given the trauma she's had, and the meds she's taking now, I highly doubt she'd be pregnant. I suggest waiting to see if she menstruates. If she doesn't, there's still plenty of time to take other measures."

"Other measures ..." Angus mumbled, lowering his head.

"You don't understand Doc." Scott said, "She doesn't want this. She doesn't want to be pregnant, period."

"It can be taken care of. Don't worry." The doctor said.

"She'll think we did it on purpose." Riley said.

"I don't see how she can." The doctor said, looking over his shoulder at Abe and Rick both of whom shrugged their shoulders, not understanding why the men were so upset either. "Did you plan on getting shot? Plan on her getting shot? So how can she blame you. Trust me. Wait a week, she should start to menstruate not long after that. In fact she may start sooner given what she's been through. If she doesn't, we'll deal with it. Okay?"

The men didn't answer, staring at Jessica in silence.

"Okay then. I'll give her the meds and I'll be back later today to change your dressings. If there are any problems Abe will page me."

"Thanks Doc." Josh said. He'd slowly and painfully moved himself from the mattress to stand next to Angus' chair. He lowered himself slowly to his knees by Jessica's head.

When the doctor left, Angus looked around the room. Abe and Rick had moved to the kitchen.

"I can't believe what we did to her, with the hook and everything." Angus muttered. "And God, what if she's pregnant? She'll never forgive us!"

"I know. It's all our fault." Riley said.

"I kind of thought she'd enjoyed what we did to her." Scott said.

Angus nodded. "Some of it she did. But we went too far. Trying once again to prove that we were right and she was wrong."

"But, it was the other way around." Josh said and leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"It's always been the other way around." Jim said.

"She sure knows when she's right." Riley said, "And never backs down."

"Thank God. Or we'd be dead." Angus said and gripping Jessica's hand tighter he leaned toward her. "What are we going to do? If she's pregnant?"

Angus looked up when no one responded.

"The doc said there were options." Jim said slowly each word weighted down with dread. "We'll have to let her decide which one she wants to take. Will you be able to live with that Angus?"

Angus slid his eyes back to Jessica. "I'll have to. Nothing matters but her happiness. And ... and I don't want her to hate us. She will if she thinks we made her get pregnant on purpose."

"She did make it pretty clear that she expected that of us." Riley added.

"Like Doc said, this couldn't be helped." Scott said. He'd pulled a kitchen chair over and now sagged in it. "She's a reasonable person. If we explain everything to her when she wakes up she'll understand that we didn't do it intentionally."

Angus nodded. "Come on Jess. Wake up, please? I want to thank you, explain about the pills ... make amends ... come on."

"You know there is a way for you to start making amends before she even wakes up." Jim said.

"Well?" Angus prompted when Jim didn't say anything else.

"There's one person who Jessica really likes but hasn't yet come to talk to her." Jim said.

For a moment Angus had no idea what Jim meant but then it dawned on him and anger began to course through him.

"Before you say no." Jim said as Angus' face began to turn crimson. "Think about what you just said to her. You want to make amends. Doing only what you feel like doing isn't making amends. If you really want to make it up to her, you'll let Beth come be with her. Jessica really likes her. Do what's right for Jessica, even if it's not right for you."

Angus opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.

"If Scott can tell the entire clan that he gets fucked up the ass and in the mouth by machines to avoid embarrassing Jessica then you can let your ex in." Riley said. "It's for Jessica, not you, and you don't have to be here."

Angus nodded. He didn't like it, not one bit, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

"Okay. For a few minutes. But that bitch can't look at me, talk to me, talk about me. Nothing. Got it?"

"Got it." Josh said, groaning as he pushed himself to his feet. "I'll go get her."

"Just make sure she understands..." Angus said.

Twenty minutes later Beth stepped through the front door. She paused, saw Angus glowering by the kitchen table and immediately dropped her eyes. She moved to the now empty chair next to Jessica. Sitting down, she took Jessica's hand and began murmuring to her.

"How can Jessica like her?" Angus asked when Jim moved next to him.

"I don't know. But you don't have to stay to watch this. Why don't you go lie down in your room?"

Angus shook his head. "No way am I leaving that bitch alone with Jessica."

"She's not alone ..." Jim began but clamped his mouth shut when Angus glared at him.

"Suit yourself." Jim said and limped to stand next to Beth.

"Do you think it will work?" Riley asked replacing Jim at Angus' side.

"It better."

For half an hour Beth talked gibberish to Jessica at which point Angus couldn't take it anymore.

"It's not making a difference." Angus growled to Riley. "Get her out of here."

Taking far too long by Angus' standards, Beth finally left.

Angus returned to the sofa and hesitated before sitting on the chair that was still warm from Beth. Angus shuddered and forced his attention to Jessica.

"Wake up Jess." He muttered and caught his breath when Jessica's eyes snapped open.

"Angus?" She whispered, and then she looked around.

"Jess, thank God!" Angus said, dropping to his knees, barely registering the pain shooting through his legs, and pressing his forehead to her stomach.

"She's awake!" Riley exclaimed from behind Angus. Stumbling around the chair Riley dropped to his knees next to Angus, right by her head. .

"I thought ... " she said looking around again, glad to see the other men moving toward her. "Are you okay?" she added noticing how slowly they moved.

"We're fine because of you." Jim said.

"It worked." Josh exclaimed a smile splitting his face as he nudged closer to Jessica. "Beth worked!"

"Beth?" Jessica asked, her eyes snapping from Josh to Angus. "Oh!" she exclaimed really noticing Angus' face for the first time. "What did they do to you?" She tried to raise her hand but she could only lift it a little. Angus saw it hovering, took it and brought it to his lips.

"The floor and I had a disagreement," he said but when Jessica looked at him in confusion he added, "I did a face plant. It's nothing serious."

"Your nose ..."

"Broken. But it'll be okay. But never mind me, how are you feeling?"

Jessica paused to take stock.

"Tired." She finally said and sudden fatigue overwhelmed her. Her eyes started to close.

"Get Abe or Rick." Riley said to Scott who was closest to the door.

"Stay with us." Josh muttered from behind the sofa, caressing her head.

"Abe?" Jessica muttered though her eyes were closed.

"Yup. He and Rick helped Doc fix us up. The three of them plus Leah and Corey's blood saved your life." Jim said.

"If they hadn't I don't know what I'd do. What we'd do." Riley added.

"I'm sorry ..." Jessica said the pain in Riley's voice cutting through her grogginess.

"No, don't. Don't apologize ..." Riley began but was interrupted by Abe trying to get close to Jessica.

"How long has she been awake?" Abe asked taking Riley's spot.

"A few minutes." Jim said. "Her eyes were open ... she just ran out of energy."

"I think Beth's visit helped." Scott added.

"Beth ..." Jessica murmured fighting to open her eyes but she couldn't. She rolled her head in Angus' direction, "I thought I was dreaming about Beth. I'm sorry Angus."

"Don't be." Angus said, kissing her hand again. "Don't worry about anything Jessica. Don't worry and don't apologize. You never have to apologize for anything again ..."

"She looks good." Abe said despite the fact that Jessica had obviously passed out again. "I'll give her more fluids." He said looking at the IV that hung at the head of the sofa, "And change her dressings. She should be just fine now."

Relief made the men giddy as they watched Abe work.

"How long do you figure it will take her to completely recover?" Josh asked.

"The doc can tell you better than me." Abe said, "but I'm guessing a few weeks in terms of her energy. But it may take a few months before she's back to normal."

"Do you think it'd be okay for her to have a dog in here?" Jim asked. "Baby." He said when the men looked at him like he was crazy, "Beth helped and I think if Baby could lie up on the sofa with her, she'd feel a lot better."

"That's a good idea." Abe said standing when he finished his work. "I think it'd be fine."

"I'll go get her." Riley said wishing he could think like that but somehow these kind of great ideas never came to him.

"Hold on there cowboy." Abe said, "you, all of you, need as much rest as she does. I'll get Corey or Sean to get the dog."

"But they won't know which one she is." Riley said.

"I'm sure she'll come to her name Riley. Sit down will you? The best thing you can do for Jessica right now is to get better yourself. If you don't heal to one hundred percent, everything she's gone through will be pointless."

Riley nodded, suddenly feeling pretty tired himself.

"She has brown on her snout. She's in the third cage from the right, assuming the dogs are still in their cages."

Abe nodded and headed for the door.

Riley returned to his spot next to Angus, near Jessica's head, and sank down with a groan. "I can't wait to hold her again." He muttered, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the sofa.

"Amen." Scott said as he made his way to the armchair.

Josh and Jim shuffled to the mattresses that had become permanent fixtures in the living room and with a great deal of pain lowered themselves onto them.

"I'm never going to let go." Angus said.

Jim nodded and Josh muttered, "Ditto."

With the brief interruption when Corey brought Baby and the few minutes it took her to lick Jessica's face, and then settle on the sofa, on Jessica's legs, the men joined Jessica in slumber. With Sean, Corey, a couple of Sean and Corey's clan, and Abe, Rick guarding them, the men felt safe enough to take the rest necessary to heal.

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