Chapter 22

Tank
I was sitting in Prez’s office talking about what we were going to do with our prisoner. We had him in our lock up for two days now. We were letting him sweat it out a bit before we talked to him. It was the only thing keeping that fucker alive. If I would have gotten a hold of him the first day he came in I would have killed his ass before Prez got a chance to question him. It wasn’t hard to figure out he was just the muscle. We want to know who hired him. We are going in four strong. More for his protection not ours. Brick and Ace are going in with Prez and me to keep us from losing our shit.We are about to go down to get some answers when Prez’s phone goes off. “ Goof.” Prez greets him. “ When? She wants to do what? You put a stop to that shit. I’m on my way.” Prez stands and grabs his keys. “ Tank, Ace. With me.” I stand and Ace asks “ Problem?” “ Lilly is getting released in an hour. She told Silvy she had nowhere to go and asked her help to get a hotel and a cab. That shit is not happening. This is her home.”

We raced to the hospital full speed. I’ll be damned if Lilly is going to a hotel. She would be unprotected. And she is still healing for fucks sake. She shouldn’t be on her own. When we get to her room Goof is standing outside her door talking to Silvy. “ Silvy, I’m telling you. Don’t make that reservation. The brothers are on their way. They will handle it.” Silvy shakes her head “ Goof, she doesn’t want to deal with the club. She says she has nowhere to go so I’m going to help her. She needs a safe place to heal. She needs a place where she can learn how to live without her vision. I may not be able to do much but I will do this for her.”

Silvy walks to the nurses desk, sits down and picks up her phone. Just before she can dial Prez stops her. “ Silvy, I know you want to help Lilly. So do we. You are right she needs a safe place to heal. We are going to take her home. I know she told you she doesn’t have a home. But she does. With us. We had a misunderstanding and we are going to fix it. We will make sure she is taken care of properly. Trust us please?” Silvy looks at Viper then Ace then me. “ Are you sure you are going to be able to take care of her? She still has a lot of medical needs. I can’t tell you anything. I’m not allowed. But maybe you can get her doctors to tell you about all her needs. And you have to promise me she will be safe. If she isn’t, I don’t care who you are. I will come after you.” I got to say I like her spunk. She is five foot six and maybe a buck fifteen. And she just threatened our club. It would be funny if I didn’t think she was serious. “ I give you my word. Lilly will be safe. She will be protected. She will have more help than she knows what to do with. All her needs will be taken care of. She will be with family. We are her family.” Prez says.

Silvy thinks about it for a minute. “ Fine. I’ll wait on the reservations. You have to get the doctor's approval. You have to get all of her discharge instructions and follow them to the letter. And Lilly has to be willing to go. If not, I will take her to a hotel myself.” Prez nods “ Deal. Your good people Silvy.” “ Yea, yea. Don’t make me regret this.” Viper pulls out his phone. “ Ryans we need to know everything about Lilly’s discharge. She is coming home with us. I want to know how to care for her. Her follow up appointments. Everything.” Viper listens for a minute then hangs up. “ He will meet us in the waiting room. Goof ,don’t let her leave with anyone but one of us.”

When we get to the waiting room Ryans is already there with a doctor I know is on Lilly’s team but I don’t know what she does. “ Boys.” Ryans greets us. “ Take a seat. This may take a while.” We have a seat across from the two doctors. “ Before we start I have to ask. Are you sure you want to do this? Caring for Lilly. It isn’t going to be easy. Especially for Lilly. There are things she is going to have to adjust to. She is going to get frustrated at times. Maybe even angry. She may even lash out. She isn’t going to be able to go back to the way her life was before.” Ryans is sounding very ominous and I’m getting worried. What the hell happened to Lilly that we don’t know about?

The other doctor speaks up “ Maybe if we explain Lilly’s recovery. Give them all the facts. They can make an informed decision. After, if they feel they can’t handle Lilly’s needs we can help her find an alternative.” Ryans nods. The doctor stands and holds her hand out “ I’m Dr. Rodgers. I’m Lilly’s optomotrist.” We all shake her hand then sit down again. “ I will tell you this. Lilly is healing remarkably well considering what happened to her. Where I come in is when Dr. Ryans was concerned about Lilly’s vision when she first woke up. After various tests the conclusion is that the head impact she took as well as the swelling in her brain has a permanent effect on her vision. Lilly’s eyes are very sensitive to most lights. That is an easy fix with the special sunglasses I’m getting for her. The bigger problem is her depth perception is off. To her things are further away than they really are. She can see shapes but no defining details. And if that wasn’t enough her vision is blurry and has spots all the time. She can’t read. She won’t be able to drive. Everyday things she is having to learn how to do them all over again. Something as simple as eating or brushing her teeth is a challenge for her right now. We have been working with her here but when she gets home she is going to need a lot more help.”

Wholly shit. My poor girl. I just want to run to her and hold her. Keep her safe from the world. Lilly has already been through hell this past year and now this. “ As Dr. Ryans has said. There will be times where Lilly is frustrated, angry, even sad. She may fall apart over the fact she can’t button her shirt, or tie her shoes, or brush her hair. Before she gets used to her vision she will be more prone to injuries. So keeping a close eye on Lilly will be imperative but doing it in a way that doesn’t take away her independence. Before you decide to take over her care you need to make sure that anyone helping her needs to understand this isn’t going to be easy. Not on the caregiver and especially not on Lilly. So you need to be absolutely sure you want to take this on. Remember essentially Lilly is blind.”