Lisa Ch. 08a: Evil

Jessica giggled. The wet tongue lapping between her toes pulled her from the deep and peaceful sleep she was having, but her eyes didn't want to open. The licking moved from one foot to the other. Jessica concentrated on it, confused by the fact that it didn't feel like either Scott or Angus. It didn't feel like Riley, Jim or Josh either, though none of them were likely to be licking her feet.

Finally curiosity got the best of her and she forced her eyes open.

"Baby ..." she whispered. The dog whined and crawled up Jessica's body. Jessica laughed when Baby's pink tongue lapped over Jessica's lips. "I missed you too ..." she sputtered, trying to avoid the dog's bad breath.

"Jess!" Jim exclaimed, "Down Baby, down." He said, pulling the dog away from her face. Baby lay down on Jessica's stomach and whined again. "You're awake!" Jim said with a huge grin, seating himself on the edge of the sofa.

"Hey." Jessica said.

"Right back at you. How are you feeling?" he asked, cupping her cheek.

"I'm good." She said, and smiled up at Riley who appeared behind the sofa and leaned over the back to look at her.

Scott appeared at the foot of the sofa, Josh and Angus next to Jim. They looked good. Really good. Jessica sagged into the sofa with relief. Everyone was okay.

"Hey there lady ... " Leah appeared next to Riley, "You look awake for real this time."

"Let me through, let me through ..." Abe said wedging his way between Angus and Jim, "How's the patient?" he asked replacing Jim on the sofa.

"Great. I heard it's all thanks to you. And you," Jessica said looking at Rick who'd appeared next to Scott, "and you," she said to Leah, "and you." She added when Corey appeared next to her. "Thanks."

"Hey, it's all in a day's work ..." Abe said taking her hand and placing his finger on the inside of her wrist. "But it helps to have a patient who's a real fighter. You keep it up and you'll be up and about in no time."

"How much longer till she's stable? Till she doesn't need as much care?" Angus asked.

Abe looked at him and laughed. "Ready for us to get out of your life are you?" He asked. And then turned his attention to unwrapping Jessica's bandages. "I don't blame you actually. It shouldn't be too long. Probably a week or two more of rest. But there'll be several weeks of physiotherapy required after that ... for all of you."

"Physiotherapy." Riley stated a blank look on his face.

"Yeah, to get your strength and flexibility back. It won't be easy, but it's necessary if you ever want to be the same again. And quite frankly I can't see how you'll protect yourselves again without it."

"Physiotherapy ..." Riley said again. Abe looked at Riley like he was a simpleton.

"I think what Riley is trying to say in his tongue tied, over simplified way," Jim said, earning a narrow eyed glare from Riley, "is, where the hell are we supposed to get physiotherapy from?"

Jessica looked from Riley's glare to Jim's strangely goofy expression. For a moment Riley really looked mad, but then a smile cracked across his face and he shook his head.

"A physiotherapist would be my guess." Abe replied and laughed when he found Riley glaring at him in obvious impatience. "Paul is sending a couple of his guys out next week. You'll be in good hands. What?" he asked when he was the recipient of surprised stares.

Jessica was glad he asked, she was wondering about the astounded looks on their faces too. Not only did the men looked completely floored by the news but Leah and Corey did too. Obviously sending out physiotherapists was not common practice for Paul.

"That's, ah, unexpected." Riley said and he seemed completely baffled.

"And why exactly is Paul doing this?" Scott asked, looking between Rick who stood next to him and Abe.

"Out of the goodness of his heart of course." Rick said with a snicker. To Jessica he seemed to be playing around but from the way the men and even Leah and Corey looked at him, it wasn't a shared joke. "Why do I get the feeling that you find that hard to believe?"

"Paul isn't known for doing things out of the goodness of his heart." Corey said.

"Nor is he known for sending out his personal doctor, or his body guards to take care of and protect men in his own clan much less someone else's." Riley added.

"That's where you're wrong." Abe said, his face suddenly serious. "On two counts. One, it has happened before, and two, we are in the same clan. You seem to keep forgetting that."

Silence hung in the air. Jessica scanned the faces around her and was disturbed to find that the tension she thought she felt around her was evident on the faces of the people around her. When the tension dragged, Leah opened her mouth to say something but Corey grabbed her arm and shook his head. And the expression on his face was undeniable. Beneath the tension was something Jessica recognized from when the men looked at her. Proprietorship, dominance, lust. Jessica blinked. Since when were Leah and Corey dating? Maybe they had been all along and she just hadn't known. Jessica felt thrown off by it. When Leah pressed her lips firmly together, not looking pleased about being muzzled, and the silence continued, Jessica squeezed her eyes shut. She felt confused. The men's concern about the help from Paul, the need for protection when Jessica was pretty sure she'd killed everyone who'd come after them, and for some reason Leah and Corey's relationship added to the blur that was twisting through her head.

"Why ... " Jessica began but had to clear her throat. It felt so dry.

"Jess?" Jim asked. "What's wrong?"

Jessica opened her eyes. "Can I have some water please?"

"Got it." Scott said heading for the kitchen. "Here you go." He said returning and with one hand behind Jessica's head for support, he put the glass to her lips.

The silence continued but when Jessica looked around again the tension seemed to have faded.

Abe cleared his throat. "At any rate, Paul is indebted to you Jessica. This is how he's paying the debt back. And besides ..." he added when it looked like no one in the room bought that as an explanation. "His sister likes you. That doesn't happen every day. Trust me."

"I didn't do all that much for him." Jessica said, thinking his words over. "Not any more than the people in the clan do for him pretty regularly I'm sure. I mean I just rode a bike, you ..." She said glancing around at the men, Leah, Corey, Abe and Rick, "risk your lives every time you ..." she paused looking for a polite way to say 'murder people'. She finally settled on, "go to work. But I am grateful. For the help. We should all be." She added giving the men a pointed look.

"I'll pass that on to Paul." Abe said with a nod of his head. "So like I said, physiotherapy won't start for a while and when it does it's hard to tell how long it'll be needed."

"Translation ..." Rick said with a smug smile on his face, "we'll be here for a while."

Scott nodded. "You're right Jess we should be thankful. We appreciate your help." He added, glancing at Abe and Rick. "And to you and the others." He added looking at Leah and Corey, "Thanks for taking care of everything while we can't."

Leah and Corey nodded their acknowledgment but they shifted their eyes back to Abe and Rick. Jessica read mistrust in their expressions. That seemed odd.

"What others?" Jessica asked.

"Sean, Mark, Amanda, Justine, Don, Stan, Chris, and Sara." Scott said, "They're all here. Doing chores, cooking, cleaning, guarding. They've really helped a lot."

"We're family," Corey said looking pointedly at Abe, "and that's what family does for one another. We've got your back."

"Why do we need to be guarded?" Jessica asked.

"Some of Daryl's friends have been asking questions." Josh said.

"And they've been pretty persistent." Jim added.

"So, what did you tell them?" Jessica asked.

Riley shrugged, "That we haven't seen them."

Jessica started to laugh but had to control it when a searing pain shot through her shoulder.

"Jess?" Riley asked, "What's wrong?"

"Hurts to laugh ..." Jessica muttered.

"What's so funny?" Angus asked bewildered as she continued to vibrate in silent controlled laughter.

"You guys." Jessica muttered and then managed to calm herself, "Haven't seen them ... funny. What did you really tell them?" The men looked at one another with lost expressions on their faces. "For real?" she demanded, "That's the best you could come up with, that you haven't seen them?"

"What would you suggest?" Jim asked.

"I don't know ... something that would have Daryl's friends looking somewhere else. Maybe Daryl and his goons just decided to quit."

"People don't quit the clan Jessica." Riley said, "It just isn't done."

Jessica looked around at everyone with complete disbelief.

"That doesn't matter. Maybe it's never happened before, but there is always the possibility that it could. And you need to convince these guys that for Daryl and his family, it did."

"That won't work." Abe said when no one else looked like they were going to say anything.

"Of course it will. Better than saying you didn't see them. Think about it, if you were Daryl's friends would you fall for that?"

"More than I would believe that they left the clan." Corey said.

"Okay. Well, then you have to find some way to convince them. Some proof." Jessica said. "You guys are letting yourselves be limited by your own beliefs. Come on ... if it's so unbelievable that they left, couldn't they have gone on vacation?" Jessica asked. "So no one goes on vacation?" she groaned when no one looked excited by the possible excuse.

Angus shook his head when her eyes finally settled on him.

"So what would you believe, if you were Daryl's friend?"

"That we killed them. We may end up having to take Daryl's friends out in order to get any peace." Angus answered.

"Oh great." Jessica whispered and closed her eyes. "I wonder how many friends will come looking for them?"

"I know it seems hopeless." Riley said, taking Jessica's hand, "But you don't need to worry about it. Nothing's going to happen for now and maybe they'll just give up."

"Would you give up?"

"I guess not."

Jessica opened her mouth to further her point but hesitated when she saw the expressions on the men's faces. They looked confused, and kind of clueless. They looked at one another and the longer the silence continued, the more distressed they looked. And then she noticed how Corey and Leah were still looking at Abe and Rick with distrust. Obviously this wasn't a discussion to be had in front of Paul's men.

Jessica relaxed back against the sofa and eyed the bag hanging on a stand next to the sofa and the tube that ran down to her arm.

"It looks worse than it is." Abe said taking her hand and squeezing. "Doc will be back tomorrow and if you get even stronger by then I bet he'll take the bag off. So you need to rest, got it?"

Jessica nodded. Abe brushed her bangs off her forehead and smiled.

Angus cleared his throat.

Leah stood up, "You get some rest girlie. We have some work to do outside but I'll call the rest of the girls to come over later and we'll hang out tonight. Watch some movies maybe? I'm really getting tired of those ridiculous video games the guys keep playing ..."

"Hey, hey, don't hate the games Leah, don't hate the games ..." Corey said moving toward the door.

"Abe ..." Leah said when he hadn't moved.

"Right." Abe said and winked at Jessica, "There's so so much to do outside." He said standing. The glares the men were throwing at him made it obvious that there had been a pre-arranged agreement that the men would have time alone with Jessica when she woke up.

"I hate that guy ..." Angus grumbled when Abe finally walked out the door.

Jessica tried to sit up but when she tried to move her legs she couldn't. It wasn't just that her legs were numb but she simply couldn't feel them. In a panic Jessica bolted upright, the blanket falling from her chest. She looked down to see a bandage wrapped around her torso and her injured shoulder.

"Jess, what's wrong?" Jim asked, the look of horror on her face scaring him.

"I ..." Jessica began while she threw the blanket off her legs, "can't feel my ..." and she paused when she saw that she was completely naked, "legs." She finished quietly.

"It's the medication," Scott said, "The doctor gave you pain killers. I guess they numb you."

"So ... so ... I'm not paralyzed?"

"No sweetheart, you're not." Riley said reaching down and wiggling her big toe. "You're perfectly fine."

"Why am I naked?" Jessica asked.

"It was easier to clean you." Josh said, "don't worry, don't worry ..." he said raising his palms to Jessica when Jessica looked up at him in complete mortification ... her face flaming red, "we were the only ones to touch you. The only ones to see you, the only ones to clean you ... only us."

'Thank God,' Angus thought as Jessica exhaled and fell back against the sofa. Not only couldn't he have stood the thought of anyone else being that ... intimate with Jessica but even now, days later, evidence of the sexual consequences meted out to Jessica were obvious on her body. Hickies on her inner thighs glared up at him, bruises, rope burns, welts ... even bruises in distinct patterns of fingers grasping her hips and her legs were evident. Scott's instinct to protect her with the fuck machines had been bang on and had anyone other than them seen her used body, Angus was certain she would have been beyond humiliated. Thank God the ones on her torso had been camouflaged by blood. At least, neither the doctor or the 'nurses' mentioned anything if they'd noticed them.

The men shifted around the sofa. Jim moved to the end, next her head. Scott, Angus, and Josh next. Riley leaned across the back of the sofa. Jessica pulled the blanket back onto her legs, Scott, Angus and Scott helping and then slowly, painfully, they lowered themselves to their knees.

"Get chairs!" Jessica ordered in horror as the men's faces contorted in grimaces and turned white as sheets.

Jim shook his head, "Can't get close enough with chairs."

"You're sweating ..." Jessica said as beads of perspiration beaded on Jim's forehead. She lifted her hand to brush his forehead, and then ran her fingers gently over the bruises on his cheeks that were now turning an ugly yellow/green.

"I'm fine." Jim said and turned his head so he could kiss her palm.

"Thanks for saving our lives Jess." Scott said resting his forehead on her abdomen.

"Thanks ... and I'm so sorry about that night ... the consequences." Angus said.

"That damn hook ..." Jim groaned and lowered his forehead to Jessica's cheek.

"Goddamn hook, I'm so sorry Jess." Scott said, his voice breaking.

"No, no ..." Jessica said when Riley seemed to deflate onto the back of the sofa next to her and Josh dropped his head to her feet. She looked between Riley and Jim, Scott, Angus and Josh who all hung their heads and pressed them into her. "I enjoyed it. Really, I did ..." she insisted when they looked up at her with 'give me a break' expressions. "Okay so maybe it went on a bit too long, but other than that I did enjoy it. And ..." she added when the men looked even less convinced, "I guess I could have lived without losing my privileges."

"You have them back," Josh said, "all of them. And more. Anything, you can do anything you want, any time ... honest." He added when Jessica looked like she was humoring him.

"And when you're better you can give me the same consequences." Angus said. "Yes Jessica ..." he added when she began to protest, "Fuck machines, ropes, hooks and all, you do it back to me."

"Me too." Riley said. The others were nodding.

"I don't want to." Jessica said, "Um, unless you'd enjoy it." Jessica said when the men looked at her like she was disappointing them. "Would you?" she asked in surprise because with the exception of the time she'd used the anal vibrator on Scott none of the men had indicated they'd enjoy being entered anally. But the expressions on their faces made it clear that they would not enjoy it. Not at all. Not even Scott who had cum with an anal vibrator.

"Jessica, what we did to you, we didn't do it to pleasure you." Angus said, "We did it to ... to control you. As a consequence. We wanted to make sure that you'd never, ever, do anything like deal with, ride for, or even look at Paul again. And, to prove that you were wrong. Wrong about dealing with Paul, wrong about trying to protect us."

"But we were wrong." Riley said.

"Really wrong." Angus agreed.

"We would have fought with Paul's men and people would have died. Maybe even some of us." Josh said. "You were right."

"At the very least our kill counts would have gone up ... so, you need to give us consequences back." Scott said.

"It's the only way to make it right." Jim added.

"Kill what?" Angus demanded.

"Did ... did you say kill counts?" Riley asked in a hushed tone.

"Shit, I knew there was something we forgot to tell you." Jim said.

"How in God's name did that come up?" Angus asked and rather than sound angry there was despair in his voice.

"It's not important." Jessica said worried by how broken Riley and Angus looked.

"Yes it is." Riley said, "How did it come up?"

"Jessica told me that she loved me." Jim said, "And to prove a point I told her my kill count ... the other guys did too."

"And what did you tell her our kill counts were?" Angus asked staring at the blankets covering her legs, unable to look at Jessica.

"We didn't." Scott said.

"But ours are higher, way higher than any of yours." Riley said.

"But you've stopped." Jessica interrupted, "You've stopped and that's all that matters. I love you all, equally, and I don't care about your past kill counts only your future ones. And I don't want to give you consequences. Can we please just be happy to be alive? Alive and together? Please?"

"You saved our lives Jessica, we'll do whatever you want." Angus said, "But I want you to know, to be totally honest. My kill count is ..."

"Don't ..." Jessica interrupted.

"But Jess ..." Riley said.

"No, I don't want to know."

"Why?" Angus said, "Why did you want to know their kill counts and not ours? You need to know or you don't know everything."

"Or do you think you'll stop loving us if you know?" Riley asked.

Jessica closed her eyes.

"I'm not afraid I won't love you anymore. I know I will love you now no matter what." She opened her eyes and found Angus and Riley hadn't lifted their bowed heads. Worse than that they seemed to be slumping. "But I think telling me will hurt you. You're obviously not happy about it. Angus, Riley, will you look at me please?" They lifted their eyes simultaneously and Jessica felt her heart squeeze in her chest. Shame was written all over their faces.

"I don't need to know, really." She added.

"I need to tell you Jessica. I need you to know so I can say you know everything and I need to be the same as these guys." Angus tilted his head to Jim and then the other way to Scott and Josh.

Riley nodded.

"You're not doing this to punish yourselves?" Jessica asked.

"Maybe a little." Riley said, "But I think it's justified, especially if you won't give us sexual consequences for what we did to you."

"Guys, maybe we should do this another time. Jessica is tired." Jim said. Jessica smiled at Jim. She was starting to get a headache.

"What other time?" Riley asked. "We're surrounded by people all the time and we'll continue to be for at least another couple of weeks. We asked them to leave us alone when Jessica woke up ... I'm not sure how easy it'll be for them to find things to do on a regular basis ..."

"No, it's okay." Jessica said. "Tell me your kill counts, and you'll see that it makes no difference. And then you can go easier on yourselves ... okay? 'Cause honestly, the sex ... it was good. I enjoyed it."