Chapter 2
Peter just sat in bed, gaping at his visitor like the village idiot. The biker stirred and said: “Maybe I should come back later?”
“No, no! Uh, I’m sorry. I just…didn’t expect to see you,” Peter said hurriedly, laying his book across his lap.
“Well, I had to come and make sure that you were all right. It’s not every day that you save somebody. I suppose I sort of consider you a pet project,” the big man replied with a quirk of his lips.
“Thank you,” Peter blurted out, turning a little red. “For saving me, I mean. If you hadn’t come along…” he shuddered as he thought about what his fate night have been.
“I just had good timing, I guess. Glad I did. Are you feeling okay, now?” his eyes ran over Peter’s face, taking in the ugly fading bruises and the stitches.
“I’m feeling better. They’re letting me go home later today,” Peter told him. “Uh…would you come in and sit down? It’s kind of hard to look up at you right now. I sort of have a headache.”
“Sure thing,” the biker ambled into his hospital room and eased his bulk down onto the chair beside Peter’s bed, which creaked dangerously. “That better?”
“Yes, thanks. Err…” Peter wasn’t sure what to say, but finally settled on: “My name’s Peter Singer, if you didn’t know. And you are…?”
A small smile passed over the biker’s lips. “Jacob. Jacob Hartmann. But you can call me Jake.”
“Okay, Jake,” Peter liked the name. He paused, then went on: “The cops are looking for you!”
Jake Hartmann lifted a single brow. “Are they?”
“Yeah. Not for anything bad, really…they just wanted to talk to you about what happened. But if you don’t want to talk to them, I’ll understand,” he added quickly.
Jake shrugged. “I’ll talk to them. If it’ll help to catch the bastards who beat you up.”
“Oh, they already have one in custody. Well, sort of. He’s in the hospital. Apparently you broke his jaw and some ribs,” Peter explained.
A vicious little grin parted Jake’s lips. “Good,” he said, and the tone of his voice made the hairs try to stand up on the back of Peter’s neck. Seeing his expression, the biker shrugged. “He had it coming. If I could have, I would’ve beaten the shit out of the rest of them, too. Sniveling little s.o.b.s, attacking someone who can’t fight back but running when they see somebody bigger than they are.”
Peter squirmed a little uneasily. Jake’s eyes narrowed a bit. “Am I making you uncomfortable? I didn’t mean to. If you don’t like to talk about it, we won’t. You have my word on that, Pete.”
“Pete?” he asked, blinking.
The big man grinned. “Yeah. You look like a Pete to me. You don’t like it?”
“No, it’s okay,” he replied, feeling odd things happening in his abdomen. “It’s just that everybody else calls me Peter.”
“If you want me to call you that, I will,” Jake told him.
“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind Pete,” he said hurriedly.
A nod. “All right. Did you say that they’re letting you go today?”
“Yes. I’ll be glad to go home. I don’t like hospitals,” he said, glancing around the room with a grimace.
“No, I don’t either. How are you getting home?” Jake asked him keenly.
“Oh, a friend of mine is giving me a ride home. My parents took my car back to my apartment already. From the mini-mart…” Peter’s fingers spasmed together in his lap, and his shoulders hunched a little.
Jake’s eyes were watching his face. “Do you live alone?” he asked, bring Peter out of his haze.
“What?” he asked in confusion, giving the biker a wary look. Was the man trying to finds out personal things about him for some reason?
The biker’s lips quirked at the suspicious look he received from those big blue eyes. “They haven’t caught the rest of the guys who beat you up, yet. I’m just worried they might find out where you live and try to finish the job.”
His face went pale. This thought had never occurred to him. Seeing the terror in his eyes, the biker leaned forward. “Do you have anybody who can stay with you? You shouldn’t be alone, anyway. Not when you’re still all beat up like this.”
“I-I don’t…my p-parents don’t live around here, and I didn’t w-want to put them out. And I c-can’t ask my friends to stay with me for who knows how long…” his fingers were clenched together so tightly that they were going bloodless.
Jake’s eyes flashed to his hands, then came back to his face. “Don’t be scared, Pete,” he said softly, as though he were talking to a small animal. “If you want me to, I’ll come and stay with you for a while. Keep you company, watch your back, that sort of thing.”
His mouth dropped open. “Why would you…? What do you get out of it? How can I…How can I…trust you? I don’t even know you!” he blurted out, then turned brick red in embarrassment for having talked to his savior that way.
Jake nodded. “You’re right, you don’t know me. You have no reason to trust me. Even if I gave you my word that I wouldn’t hurt you, it wouldn’t matter. I could be a psycho killer for all you know.”
Peter stared at him. For some reason, Jake’s words made him want to laugh. He just couldn’t see the man as a serial killer, no matter how big or dangerous-looking he was. “Why would you want to stay with me?” he asked softly, chafing his fingers together to return the blood to them.
Jake shrugged. “Call it a sudden attack of the ‘mother hen’ syndrome. I just don’t like the thought of you being alone. I wouldn’t want anything else to happen to you after I saved you. If it’s make you happier, you could think of me as your bodyguard/nurse.”
The bodyguard part he could see, but the image of Jake as a nurse made him want to giggle helplessly. “I can’t pay you much,” he began doubtfully.
The biker looked amused. “I don’t need your money, Pete. Staying with you will give me a place to crash; that’d be enough. I get tired of motels. A couch will be a nice change of pace.”
Peter looked at him doubtfully. “I’m not sure you’ll fit on my couch,” he said, his eyes running over Jake’s huge body.
“Your floor, then,” the biker replied. His eyes met Peter’s, who flushed when he realized he’d been caught ogling the other man. “So what do you say? You want some company? If not, I’ll hit the road. I was thinking of heading up north when I rode into that mini-mart a few nights ago.”
“Oh,” Peter bit at his lip, weighing the pros and cons. But the thought of his empty apartment, and drowning in the silence with nothing but his aches and pains for company, was not a palatable one at the moment. Even the thought that those men might try to find him and finish him off…probably they wouldn’t, but he didn’t want to take the chance. Fear was a solid weight in his chest as he met the biker’s eyes. “I…I’d like it if you’d come and stay with me,” he said, his voice trembling a little. “Please.”
Jake nodded. “All right. Where do you live? I’ll swing by later after your friend has taken you home. I’ve got to pick up a few things.”
Wondering if he wasn’t being a complete idiot, Peter gave the biker his home address. But for some strange reason, he found himself trusting this man. Maybe it was because Jake had saved his life, but he couldn’t be as suspicious as he should be about this virtual stranger.
Jake rose to his feet, towering over the bed. “Okay. I’ll see you later, Pete,” he said, striding out of the hospital room.
Left alone with his book once more, Peter could only shake his head(mentally, not physically) at himself. He was actually going to let that huge person live in his apartment?! What was he thinking?! Obviously, his concussion had been worse than the doctors had told him it was. Because he was now mentally unbalanced, completely off his rocker…
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