Monster Slayers MC Book 5
Chapter 10- Watching over Manny

Dr. Green came in and could smell the food. “I can tell that you did not have to suffer through our hospital fare this morning. Good morning, Hulk. How are you?”

“I’m good Doc. How about you? I heard you are going to retire soon?” Hulk asked.

“Yep. As soon as Manny is out of danger, which looks like it is going to be sooner than I expected, I’m taking my wife and moving to Florida where it’s warm all the time. She has bad arthritis and can’t take the colder weather in the winter months.” Dr. Green said. “So, Manny. How are you doing this morning?”

“Better. I slept like a rock for the first time in a very long time.” Manny answered.

“Are you in any pain?” Dr. Green asked.

“Not much. Kind of stiff and sore but it’s been worse before.” Manny said.

“Everyone, please be quiet so that I can listen to his heart and lungs.” Dr. Green said as he put the ends of his stethoscope in his ears and the other end to Manny’s chest. He moved it around several times and then looked at me and said “Cheryl, do you remember how Kaylee helped me roll Manny so that I could listen to his back?”

“Yes, sir. Do you need me to help you?” I answered.

“If you don’t mind, yes, please.” he said and Manny got a big grin on his face. He held his arms up to me and I smiled at him as I slipped my hands under his arms and grabbed his shoulders, holding him close to me. I helped him roll to the side while Dr. Green listened to his lungs. While I held him like that, Dr. Green lifted the back side of the hospital gown and looked at the bruise on his back over his kidney then helped me to roll Manny back flat. I noticed that he let out a slight woosh and a small grunt as we laid him down.

“Does it hurt, Manny?” I asked.

“Yeah, when I move it does. Feels kind of swollen back there.” Manny admitted.

“Manny, I think I’m going to order a CT scan to look at your kidneys. The bruise doesn’t appear to be getting any worse but I want to be sure.” Dr. Green said.

“Okay, I guess.” Manny asked and then looked kind of embarrassed to ask but realized that he needed to know. “Dr. Green? How much is this all going to cost me? I don’t have any medical insurance and no job.” He said as his cheeks turned red.

“There will be a financial officer up to talk to you in a day or two to help you apply for state medical. They should cover everything. You are still a student in high school who is already 18 so you should be covered. I haven’t heard if they managed to contact your mother yet or not. But don’t you worry about it. She won’t be charged since you are now 18, she is not responsible for your bills anymore.” Dr. Green seeing how Manny started to react to the comment about his mother. “For now, relax. Someone will be up to take you downstairs for the scan. I’ll be back as soon as I have the results.” He said and then left the room. I hope I was the only one who had noticed the worried look on his face.

“We’d better get back to our posts. Our relief is going to be showing up soon. If I don’t get assigned to watch over you again, it was very nice meeting both of you.” Hulk said.

“Thanks, Hulk. It was nice meeting you too.” I told him. He and Ronnie left the room and I sat down next to Manny’s bed, holding his hand.

“Penny for your thoughts, babe.” Manny said.

“Just wondering when my mom is going to get here with my clothes. She’s leaving my dad and moving into an apartment near her shop in Dallas. She’s as sick of his controlling ways as I am. I talked to her last night and we have her blessings.” I told him. I wanted to tell him that she wants to design my wedding gown but I want him to ask me to be his wife first. I know we’ve already talked about it but he hasn’t formally proposed yet.

Just then the orderly came up to get Manny to take him downstairs to have the CT scan done. Thankfully they were going to take the whole bed this time. He wouldn’t have to be moved until they lifted him to put him in the CT machine. Hulk went with them while Ronnie stayed with me.

Right after they left, my mom showed up with a suitcase full of clothes for me. I introduced her to Ronnie and asked him to give us a minute alone to talk. He went and stood outside the door. While my mom and I sat down on the sofa.

“Where is your young man? Is everything alright?” My mom asked and showed obvious concern.

“They had to take him down to a CT scan downstairs. His father kicked him so hard in the back that he severely bruised his kidney. He may still lose it. But what had us so worried last night was that his father stomped on his chest and broke a rib over his heart. Dr. Green, the surgeon, had to go in and put a titanium plate around the rib to help it to heal properly. He has other broken and fractured ribs but that one was the worst. His father is in jail now for assault and battery and attempted murder.” I told her only what was directly related to Manny. I didn’t add that his father was also going to be charged with the death of his twin brother because of the way we had gotten the information.

A few minutes later, a knock came at the door and Ronnie opened it to say “Cheryl, Manny’s mom is here. Can I let her in?”

“Yes! Please do. I’d like to meet her and for her to meet my mom.” I told him. A second later, the door opened again and a woman that was obviously Manny’s mother stepped into the room. She was the same height as Manny, had the same dirty blonde hair, the same bright blue eyes. She looked like a female twin but older.

“Hello Mrs. Hastings. I’m Cheryl Preston and this is my mother, Helen. It’s very nice to finally meet you.” I told her as I walked over to greet her.

“Hello, Cheryl. It’s nice to finally meet you as well. Manny talks about you all the time. Where is my son? Is he alright?” She asked.

“Cheryl, I’m going to go so that you two can talk. I need to get to the shop but here, I wanted to give you this as well. Use it to get whatever you need. Call me if you need anything.” My mom said as she handed me a Visa card with my name on it. “It’s under my account, not your fathers so he has nothing to say about it. I was going to give it to you for your birthday but I’ve got a feeling you are going to need it before then. There’s also some paperwork in your suitcase that you are going to need. If you have any questions or need anything else, call me. I love you.”

“Thanks mom. I love you too.” I said and gave her a big hug before she turned and left the room.

“I’m sorry to have interrupted but we got the call from the hospital late last night and I couldn’t get a flight out until this morning. All they told me was that Manny was critical in the ICU and that I needed to get here as soon as possible. I would still be driving even if I had left right after they called so flying was the better option. What is going on?” Mrs. Hastings asked.

“Your ex husband beat Manny up really badly. Almost killed him but the MSMC got to him before he could finish him off. Your ex is in jail now for assault and battery, and attempted murder.” I told her. I was going to leave it up to Manny to tell her about his “connection conversation” with his brother.

“I begged Manny to come with me when I moved to Denver. I met the most wonderful man and he moved us there. We are going to be married soon. He’s going to adopt Manny’s sister, Nadia as his own. Manny said he didn’t want to come because it meant leaving you but he promised me he would stay away from his father and live with my mom. How did Jeff replace out where he was? Only the police and the school knew he was living with her.”

“Mr. Hastings caught Manny on the road one day and forced him to go with him. Manny said he wasn’t hitting him at first, just making him cook and clean for him but when he would get drunk, he would start knocking Manny around. Manny ran and hid out. He was sleeping under the trailers and anywhere he could replace that was dry and warm.

Yesterday, he heard your ex leave the trailer and thought he would go in and get a shower and some clean clothes and maybe something to eat. He said he had just finished getting dressed when his dad came home and caught him. He was still drunk from the night before and he started beating Manny up. Manny managed to get the bedroom door locked and emailed the MSMC for help.

They came and rescued him and brought him here. He was coughing up blood and it really scared me. Dr. Green said he has three fractured ribs, two more completely broken,one over his heart and they had to put a special plate in it so that it will heal properly. His kidney is severely bruised and he might lose it and his spleen was about to rupture. They had to remove his spleen and it slowed the bleeding down but his kidney is in bad shape. Dr. Green says he wants to give it sometime as it might heal on its own. That’s why they took him down for the CT scan. They want to check it. The guy outside the door is one of the MSMC and they have been watching over us since they rescued Manny.”

“I’ll have to be sure to thank them. Jeff never accepted the kids as his because they all look like me and not him. The boys especially. You do know that Manny had a twin, right?” She asked and I nodded but that was all.

“When Danny was killed, I was devastated. Jeff was so mean to me. He hated it when I would cry over losing my son and I couldn’t help it but it would just hit me sometimes that Danny was no longer there. A smell or a program that he liked would come on TV or a multitude of things and I was a basket case. Then one night he got fed up and beat me up so bad I couldn’t barely move. Thank God one of my neighbors was home and heard me screaming for help and called the cops.

They took him to jail but warned me that unless I was going to press charges, they could only keep him until he sobered up. I knew that he would do it again, so I packed as much of our clothes as I could get in the only two suitcases I had and called my mom to come and get us.

Thankfully it was during the summer so Manny didn’t have school. But the next year, he met you. You were all he could talk about. He would jump on that motorbike just after sunrise every morning and drive all the way into town just so that he could go to classes with you.

Then I met Scott and he asked me to move to Denver with him. I tried to get Manny to come with us but he was so involved with stuff at school and you and he refused because he didn’t want to leave you. My mom agreed to let him stay until he graduated high school so I agreed to let him stay. I worried constantly that Jeff might replace out but Manny said he would be careful and not go the same way every day. When he didn’t call like he usually does on Sunday night, I got worried but figured he’d just gotten busy or maybe was out with you and would call me another night. Then last night the hospital called and I nearly lost it. I just knew Jeff had something to do with it.” She told me.

We sat and visited for a while and I was beginning to get worried about how much time was going by when finally the door opened and they pushed Manny’s bed back into the room. I could tell he was in pain and wondered what had happened but he was shocked to see his mom.

“Mom! When did you get here?” Manny said when he saw her.

Mrs. Hastings rushed over to his bed and gently hugged and kissed him, being careful of all the tubes and wires hooked up to him.

“The hospital called and told me you were critical in the ICU. I got the first flight out that I could get this morning. You’re in pain, I can tell. What’s wrong?” She said as she leaned back and looked into his eyes.

“The table for the CT scan machine is narrow and very hard. It made my back hurt really bad. I almost couldn’t stand to lay there long enough for them to finish but I made it. Now I’m just waiting to hear the results from Dr. Green. I’m just praying I don’t have to lose my kidney.” Manny said.

“I’ll go replace the nurse and see if they can up your pain meds.” I said as I left the room. I ran down to the nurses’ station and asked for more pain meds for Manny and the nurse said she would call down and ask Dr. Green and if he authorized it, she would be in in a few minutes to give it to him. Just then Dr. Green stepped off the elevator and the nurse immediately asked if Manny could have more pain meds.

“Yes. Bring it to his room immediately. I was just headed there.” Dr. Green told the nurse and then turned to me. “Is he in a lot of pain, Cheryl?”

“Yes, sir. He said the table for the CT scan was really hard and it hurt to lay there long enough for them to finish. His mom is here too. She just got here a little while ago.” I told him as we walked back down to Manny’s room.

We walked in and Manny introduced his mom to Dr. Green and Mrs. Hastings asked “Doctor, is my son going to be alright? He said you had to give him a CT scan to see if his kidney was going to have to come out?”

“Yes, ma’am. But I’m glad to report that while his kidney is badly bruised it is not bleeding. Most of the bruising is coming from the muscles where he kicked you over your kidney. If you were a skinnier person, he would have caused your kidney to burst but because you are in good shape and have good muscle tone in your back, it’s your muscles that are badly bruised and so painful. You are going to be on bed rest for at least a month and 6 weeks would be better. The more you rest and sleep, the faster you are going to heal. Moving around is not only going to be unnecessarily painful but potentially harmful not only for your kidneys but the busted ribs. I’m going to keep you in the hospital for at least the next three days but you are going to have to have somewhere safe to go when you leave. I’ve talked to the financial aid person downstairs and she’s going to come up later today and get the paperwork started to get you some medical coverage. Do you have any questions?”

“Not questions really but concerns. I’ve still got 6 weeks of school left and final exams. This means I’m not going to be able to graduate with my class.” Manny said and I could tell he was getting choked up. He’s smart as a whip but class time counts for a large part of our grades and final exams were an absolute must in order to graduate.

“I’m sure the school will allow you to do online classes and I’ll talk to your teachers and make sure they can give you your final exams at home.” Dr. Green said. “I’ve known the principal of the high school for many years. I’ll explain to him what has happened and I’m sure he will understand and be willing to work with you.”

A look of relief passed over Manny’s face but I could tell he was still in pain. Apparently Mrs. Hastings noticed it too. “Dr. Green, can you give Manny something for the pain now? He’s hurting, I can tell.”

“I told that nurse to bring his meds before I came down here. What is keeping her?” He said and stepped back into the hall and saw her coming down the hall carrying a meds tray. “Hurry up girl. What took you so long?” He demanded when she came close to the door.

“I’m sorry Dr. Green. We are short-handed this morning and the phones have been going crazy all morning with family calling to check on patients.” The nurse apologized. She immediately administered the pain medication and within minutes, Manny was feeling better. She left the room immediately and Dr. Green just about came unglued because she did not note the medication on Manny’s chart. “I wish we could replace a hospital full of Kaylee’s and Millie’s. It was a big loss to this hospital when Millie retired but I’m so glad she’s happy now. She definitely deserved it.”

None of us had any idea who he was talking about but made no comment. He left after telling Manny to rest as much as possible and that he would be back to check on him tomorrow morning. As soon as he was gone, I turned to Mrs. Hastings and asked, “If you are going to be here for a little while, can you watch over Manny while I take a shower and put on some clothes?”

“Sure, dear. You go right ahead.” She smiled at me. I gathered my clothes and thank goodness my mom had thought to pack my toiletries so I grabbed the plastic bag of shampoo and conditioner, my toothbrush and toothpaste and went into the tiny little bathroom. I took a quick shower and had to leave my hair wet but got dressed in my street clothes.

After I came out of the bathroom, Manny had fallen asleep again because of the medications they had him on. Mrs. Hastings and I continued to visit with each other for a while longer before she said “Cheryl, I need to go and get a shower and some sleep as well while Manny is asleep. I guess, so long as Jeff is in jail, I won’t have to rent a hotel but can go back and stay at the trailer. I had no sleep last night because I was so worried about Manny and getting ready to catch the plane this morning. Let me get your phone number and here’s mine. Call me if anything changes or if you need anything. I’ll come back later but right now, I’m getting lightheaded from the lack of sleep.” She told me as she quickly wrote down her phone number and I gave her mine.

“I’m going to be here until he’s ready to leave. You go and get some rest. It doesn’t do him any good to have both of us sitting here watching him. Don’t worry, I will call if anything changes.” I assured her.

“I’m so glad that you two found each other. I pray you will always be happy together.” Mrs. Hastings said as she gave me a big hug. She bent over Manny and carefully hugged him and gave him a kiss on his forehead and then left the room.

I didn’t want to watch TV so I stepped outside and visited with Hulk and Ronnie for a while. My natural curiosity got the better of me when I noticed the differences in the back of their vests so I asked,

“Why are the back of your vests different?”

“What do you mean?” Hulk asked.

“Well, they are almost identical except yours says “Enforcer” and his says “Prospect”. I can figure out what “Enforcer” means just by looking at you but what is a “Prospect”? I asked.

“Well, I’m the Enforcer because I’m part of the executive staff of our MC. What I’m doing now is a big part of my job because I enforce the rules of the club, protect innocents and take care of the bad guys that try to hurt innocents or members of the club. Ronnie is a prospect because we are training and reviewing him to become a “patched in member”. Once Prez says that he’s proved his loyalty to the club he’ll become a patched member, he will get a road name and a definite position within the club.” Hulk explained.

“Oh, so a “Prospect” is basically a biker in training?” I asked.

“Exactly.” Hulk said with a small smile.

“Will Manny have to go through that if he starts working at the garage?” I asked.

“Yes. Our garage is owned and operated by members. A lot of the prospects work there at one point or another. They have to learn how to take care of not only the bikes they ride but any vehicle. We also have SUVs and vans as well as cars that mostly belong to the ole’ ladies.” Hulk explained.

“Ole’ ladies”? I asked.

“An ole’ lady is a woman who has been claimed by a biker. She is basically his wife and in our world, it’s a very serious matter because it is a lifetime commitment.” Hulk said very seriously.

“As any marriage should be. Do you have an ole’ lady, Hulk?” I asked.

“Yes. My wife’s name is Nessa. We rescued her from a human trafficking ring when she was kidnapped by another biker club called the Cobras.” Hulk said proudly, with a big smile.

“How about you, Ronnie? Do you have an ole’ lady?” I asked.

Ronnie blushed about 3 shades or red and shook his head.

“Ronnie is still enjoying the sweet butts.” Hulk teased him.

“What are “sweet butts”? I asked, replaceing this all very interesting.

“They are young women who come around the clubhouse on a regular basis to “entertain” the men in the MC for mutual physical pleasure, if you get my drift?” Hulk said, now wishing he had held his tongue, as his cheeks also turned slightly pink.

“Oh! Ewww.” I said. I understood a bit more about being in a biker club than I wanted to know I think.

Just then two new men got off the elevator with the same type of vests on that Hulk and all of the others before them had been wearing. “Now, who is this?” I asked.

As the men came closer, Hulk introduced them. “Cheryl, this crazy looking brother is Jailer and that is Razor. Brothers, this is Cheryl Preston. She is the fiance of our innocent Manny Hastings. Cheryl, their arrival means our shift is over. I’m not sure if we will be reassigned to watch over you again but it was very nice meeting you and I do hope things work out for both you and Manny.” Hulk said as he shook my hand and then he and Ronnie left.

I looked over Jailer and Razor, trying not to be obvious about it but my curiosity was at an all time high. “Hulk was just explaining his role in the MC. What are yours? I must say, your names are a lot more intimidating than his, even if his size is more intimidating.” I said honestly.

“Hahahaha. That’s a good description of Hulk. He is definitely intimidating and while our names may be, I want you to know that we are here to protect you and would never do anything to hurt you. I’m called Jailer because when we have to take prisoners, I’m the one to secure them until either the cops show up or we have to deal with them to get justice for our innocents.” Jailer explained.

“I’m called Razor because I’m good with knives, best at throwing them but also carving.” Razor said.

“Interesting. Why do they call your president “Rooster”? I asked.

“Because he rules the roost! He’s a natural born leader and he’s the one we all know we can trust to lead us into any situation and get us out alive, so long as we listen to him.” Jailer explained.

“Hmmm. Interesting. Do all of the names of the members have meanings?” I asked.

“Yeah. Once they become patched members, we drop our legal names and only use our road names. For legal purposes, we have our legal names on our drivers licenses but no one uses them. If someone came asking for us by our legal name, no one would know who you are asking about but ask for our road name and everyone knows who we are.” Jailer explained.

A nurse came to the door and said “I need to check on Manny.” So we stepped aside and let her enter but I followed her inside and watched what she was doing. “Dr. Green ordered a light meal for Manny for lunch and told us to replace out if you wanted to order from the kitchen. We can have it come up with his, if you want.” The nurse said.

“What’s on the menu for lunch?” I asked.

“Nothing I will eat. I don’t know how long you are going to be here but the only half decent thing that ever gets served here is the meatloaf and that’s not on the menu today. If one of the guys outside wants to go somewhere to get you something, that’s fine. If not, you are welcome to order from wherever we nurses order from.” The nurse, who’s name was Nancy, told me.

I stepped over to the door and asked Jailer “Jailer, I’ve just been told that the food for lunch is not really edible. Can I bother one of you to go get me some food from somewhere? Or I can order from wherever the nurses order from.” I said.

“We can have the diner make you plates and Razor can go pick it up. If I had known I would have brought you food from the clubhouse. We have a really good cook there. I’ll make sure the next shift of guards brings you dinner.” Jailer said.

“Great! If you can get me two fried chicken dinner plates, please. Dr. Green ordered a light clear meal for Manny but he told me that he’s okay to have more, just not to eat heavy but clear liquids are not going to fill him up and he needs his strength to get through this. I don’t have any cash but I do have a credit card.” I said, reaching into my pocket for the card my mom had given me.

“Don’t worry about it. The MSMC owns the diner. We’ll take care of the bill.” Jailer said with a smile.

“Thanks.” I told him.

“Cheryl?” Manny called out.

“Yes! Manny, I’m right here, baby.” I said as I rushed to him.

“Hi! I was dreaming about you.” Manny said. “Can I have some water, please?”

“Sure.” I said grabbing his cup and putting some water in it and got a straw from the cup by the sink. I helped Manny to drink some and then kissed him lightly.

“I ordered us some fried chicken for lunch. How does that sound?” I said.

“Good but your lips taste better.” Manny grinned at me and I leaned over and kissed him again, this time deepening the kiss. I wanted so badly to crawl up into the bed next to him but he was in no condition for us to start anything. “I love you, Cheryl. More than anything.” He whispered when I pulled back.

“I love you too, Manny. More than I ever thought it possible for one person to love another.” I whispered back.

“I wish you could come lay down with me.” Manny said.

“I do too but I don’t want to take a chance that I would pull something loose. You need to heal up and then we can get out of here.” I told him.

“You need to go back to school, Cheryl. I’ve got the MSMC watching over me. You need to finish out the year. There’s no reason for you to miss classes when I’m going to be laid up in bed for the next month or two. At least one of us will be able to graduate.” Manny said.

“No. I’m not going to leave you.” I told him stubbornly. “I’m going to be here for you until you are ready to leave and I can take you home.”

“Home? Where is that? I can’t take you back to my grandparents house. They would flip out. Your folks are definitely not going to let me stay at your house. When I get out of here, I don’t know where I’m going to go. Rooster pointed out to me that the trailer will probably be confiscated for non-payment of rent before I can get enough money together to stop it, even if I got out of here tomorrow and got a good paying job. We are basically going to be homeless by the end of the month.” Manny said.

“Baby, don’t worry about all of that right now. Things are going to work out. My mom gave me a credit card. I’ll get us an apartment in town and we’ll be okay. Don’t worry, just get better.” I told him and kissed him again.