Broken Stranger

Part 3

"Torri, Lass, yer okay, it's jus' a dream. Hey, wake up." I felt a hand rubbing my shoulder.

"Get off of me Mike! Don't touch me!" I screamed as loud as I could. Hitting at the hand that was on me.

"Lass, it's me, Chibs. Yer safe," I heard a soothing voice calmly tell me. I had just had a horrible nightmare. It felt so real. It was another one about Mike, he was holding a gun to my head about to pull the trigger when I heard Chibs try to wake me up. I fluttered my eyes open and looked up at him with tears in my eyes. I sat up in the bed to try to compose myself.

"It felt so real, h-he was just right here trying to kill me," I managed to say as the tears started streaming down my face. Chibs sat down beside me, put his arms around my shoulders, and pulled me close.

"Shhhh Its okay, He is no 'ere," He assured me as he brushed my dark hair out of my face. I heard the door open and saw two men and Gemma walk in.

"Everything okay in here?" the man with the blond hair asked.

"Aye, she jus' had a nigh'mare," chibs replied as he wiped the few tears that were making their way down my face away. The man nodded and they walked out, shutting the door behind them. I looked back up at Chibs and put a weak smile on my face. Just then I heard loud music from outside the door. The party must be starting.

"I talked to my club an they all agreed to protec' ye. They are okay with ye stayin' here while ye look fer a place to live," he said quietly as he rubbed my back in an attempt to calm me down.

"Do they all know why I left Seattle?" I asked, looking up at him

"Aye, they all know, including Gemma, bu' they wan' to help ye. Gemma says she likes you, which is importan', it's hard to ge' on her good side," he chuckled.

"Thanks for all this Chibs, it really means a lot"

"It's no problem. Now are ye in the mood to go to this party? Or would ye rather we hang ou' in here?" he looked down at me with a smile.

"I doubt Gemma is going to let either of us miss this party, is it okay if I shower and change first though?"

"Of course lass, the bathroom is righ' there. There's clean towels on the rack in there, also Gemma washed all yer clothes they are over there in the chair." I looked up at him with a questioning look.

"Ah, Gemma is noisy, she wen' through yer bag while ye were asleep to make sure ye had no weapons or anything in there. She does tha' to all the new people around here. She is a lil' crazy sometimes," He laughed as he said that last part.

"A little crazy?" I chuckled out sarcastically.

"Aye, more like ba' shite crazy." I felt his laughter in my hair.

He pulled me back and looked at me, "ye feeling better?" he asked as he looked in my blue eyes, searching for his answer.

"Yeah I am, thanks again for all this"

"No problem, I'll be ou' there," he said pointing at the door, "come find me when yer done," He replied as he got off the bed. He looked back over at me one more time and smiled. Then he walked out, closing the door behind him. God, that smile. There was something about this man that drew me to him. A new relationship is the last thing on my mind. It's nice to be treated so kindly by a man, especially one who hardly knew me.

With that, I hopped out of the bed and made my way to the attached bathroom. I walked in and shivered as the cool air hit my skin causing goosebumps. I reached in the shower and turned the handle all the way to the hot side, then I stripped my clothes and looked at myself in the mirror. I traced the bruises that were over my arms and abdomen. I traced the scar that was developing above my eyebrow from Mike hitting me. How did I let it get so bad? I hardly recognized myself, the black bruise that surrounded my eye was fully developed now. It was much darker than the last time I looked at myself in the mirror.