Right Through Me

S I X

"The clinic is closed for today?" Leslie asked over the phone, sounding completely shocked. "You never close."

I sighed heavily, rubbing my temples tiredly. "I have something I need to do today," I told her, entering a cab and quickly telling the driver my destination and turning back to my phone. "It'll take all day. Work will start up tomorrow. Enjoy the day off."

I quickly hung up before she could pester any further and leaned my head back on the seat, watching the neighborhood around me pass by in a blur. I hated days like this.

"Ma'am," the driver called, snapping me out of my trance. "Twenty-three eighty-two."

I dug through my wallet, handed him the money and exited the car, staring up at the barbed fence.

"Lina," the guards called, waving at me, smiling. "It's been a while. Where ya been?"

"Working," I told them, waiting as they pulled some paperwork out for me to sign. "My clinic doesn't run itself."

"Right," Bill, one of the guards, said. I signed the entrance paperwork, showed them my ID, and waited for them to open the gate. "You be safe in there now."

I waved them off and entered the Prison, Anthony, another guard, meeting up with me to guide me to the visiting cells. I took a seat behind the glass cubicle. From the corner of my eye, the man I called my father appeared, wearing his orange jumpsuit, the top part tied around his waist revealing his tattooed body, not a single open space laid. His head was shaved, ears gauged, nose and eyebrows pierced, a thick peppered mustache sat as his only body hair.

I watched him sit down on the other side of the glass, his cold brown eyes staring right through me, directly into my soul, into my mind. He grabbed the phone beside him slowly, waiting for me to do the same and I did. I held the phone to my ear, hearing his breathing on the other side.

"Don't you think you're a bit unfair?" he spoke, his voice so deep and terrifying. I shut my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. "You can't even make time to visit your father?"

"I work," I said simply, reopening my eyes to look at the one person I despised the most. "It's hard for me to find time."

"Right, I'm sorry. I should accommodate to your needs, shouldn't I?" he snapped, his eyes narrowing at me.

"You should be happy I made time to visit you at all."

"You're a disgrace of a kid."

"And you're a piece of shit father who murdered a little kid and a father."

He gritted his teeth. "It was self defense."

"You murdered them in cold blood!" I snapped back. "No one wants to visit you. Why can't you be grateful I come and visit?"

"Because I don't want to see your fucking face," he snapped, his eyes burning with rage. "I should've never fucked your mother."

"I should've never taken that bullet out of your shoulder!" I shouted, standing to my feet. "I should've just let you die!"

I slammed the phone down, tears rushing down my face, and left the room. Why do I even torture myself and visit that man? He's not my father. He's a murderer. I gritted my teeth as I left the prison, fuming with so much rage I didn't even bother calling a cab, I walked back to the clinic.

While walking, I rubbed my tear stained cheeks, more tears streaming down my face. It was a good thing I closed the clinic for today. In the distance, behind me, I heard the buzz of motorcycles and immediately cursed myself for not taking a cab. I listened as they approached and I gulped, trying to walk quicker but it was too late.

The bikers swarmed me, there were four on bikes and they circled around me, causing me to freeze dead in my tracks.

Just my luck.

"Well, well, well," I froze at the voice, covering my eyes from the blinding glare of the bikes' headlights. "Doctor Smart-ass, what are you doing wandering around our terf?"

Donovan appeared from behind one of the bikes, his tight black jeans hanging low on his waist and he was only wearing a leather jacket, his slightly tatted torso revealed.

"My clinic is on your terf, South-Side Banshees," I addressed them all, finding it extremely shocking that Donovan was apart of this motorcycle club.

"Again with the smart-ass comments, Lina?" he asked, stepping towards me. I took a step back.

"I'm just trying to go home."

He stopped his advance and turned his head to glance at the bikers behind him. "Head back to the bar," he ordered and their engines revved without hesitation and they were gone.

Donovan turned back towards me. "It isn't safe to walk around here at night," he snapped. "Shouldn't you know that?"

"What's your deal?" I snapped back. "My day is already shit, I don't need you to make it any worse."

I moved to walk past him but he roughly grabbed my arm, turning me back to face him. "You continue to fuck with me and I won't hesitate to kill you," he growled.

"Kill me then!" I shouted, ripping my arm from his grasp. "Finish the job my dad couldn't," I watched his face contort with confusion and I turned away from him, heading down the sidewalk and never once turning back.

Donovan appeared once again, swerving on his bike to stop right in front of me. "Get on," he said gruffly, tossing me a helmet.

"No," I said, holding the helmet and glaring at him.

"Get the fuck on the bike, Lina," he snapped.

I rolled my eyes and, instead of putting up a fight, I put the helmet on and climbed on the back. Awkwardly, I placed my arms loosely around his waist.

"You're gonna have to hold on tighter than that," he scoffed, revving the engine.

"Yeah, right--" I stopped mid-sentence, clutching onto him tightly as he suddenly sped off.

He was quiet the entire ride there, with the wind blowing past us, I probably wouldn't have been able to hear anything he would've said. He pulled up in front of my clinic and I jumped off the moment we stopped and ripped the helmet off, running a hand through my hair.

"You stu--" I stopped mid-sentence again and shut my eyes, taking a deep breath before reopening them and staring at him. I huffed in defeat and handed him the helmet. "Thanks for the ride."

A cocky smirk stretched across the mans face as he watched me fight an internal battle. "You were about to insult me," he pointed out, raising a thick eyebrow at me.

"Unfortunately, I was," I admitted, digging the keys from my purse. "But I didn't. Thanks for the ride, again."

"Aren't you curious as to why I'm in a motorcycle club?" he asked cockily.

"I don't want to know," I spoke, looking him in the eye. "Your personal life and the choices you make do not matter to me. So what? You're a Gladiator? And in a motorcycle club? The only time I'll care is when you show up in my clinic again with more wounds to heal."

"I could sue your little clinic, Lina," he threatened and I snapped. No one, no one, threatens my clinic and gets away with it.

"Then why did you bother going to my clinic that night?" I snapped, catching him off guard. "You're obviously loaded with money, you could've called a stupid ambulance for yourself! This clinic is my life. I've never once gotten involved in any of the gangs so what exactly would you get out of suing it? An old building ready to collapse?!"

He opened his mouth to speak but I raised my hand. "Thank you for the ride, Donovan. Just accept my gratitude and leave me the hell alone."

With that, I turned on my heel and unlocked the door and entered, leaving him to sit out there, alone. I locked the door behind me and marched up to my home, grumbling curse words as I went.

That man has some nerve!