Broken Bells • Bishop Losa

Chapter 2: The Babysitters Club

The first thing that Annabelle felt was the pounding in her head from the lights above that shined too brightly even with her eyes closed. Slowly as her body began to wake the numbness she felt faded and pain began to settle across her body- each limb felt like it was being weighed down and her eyes shot open as blind panic filled her.

"Hey, you're okay. You're at the hospital."

Her chocolate eyes connected with an unfamiliar dark pair drowning in concern and relief filled her when she realized they did not belong to Christopher. The man held his hands up for her, showing that he would not do her harm before he slowly reached out to press the nurse call button. Annabelle stared at him silently, too weary of the burning in her throat to speak. She inspected him with careful eyes, still on edge from the events she had faced. The man was Latino, his dark hair had the slightest bit of grey peppered through it and he had a thick mustache but her eyes were drawn down to the leather vest that he wore. She had seen it many times before and she recognized the "Mayans" patch on the left side of the vest, her eyes latching onto the "Presidente" patch on the opposite side. He watched her cautiously as they waited for the nurse- he could see her green eyes were glued to his kutte and he shifted uncomfortably. She looked cleaner than she had when she stumbled into the yard yesterday morning, beaten and caked with dirt. They had taken her to the hospital and waited as the doctors did a procedure to reset the multiple breaks in her right arm and another to cleanse the large amount of dirt from her lungs after she inhaled it while in the hole.... the doctors would not give them any information but he had overheard them talking about how it looked like she had been buried alive. The police and doctors were unable to identify her, therefore unable to contact her family and no one who had seen the damage done to her wanted her to wake up alone so the motorcycle club took turns sitting with her until she was awake.

A doctor entering the room broke Annabelle from her trance, her brown eyes shifting to the woman in scrubs and a long white coat as she wrote something on her chart.

"How are you feeling?" The woman asked, offering Annabelle a calming smile. Annabelle's hand raised to clutch her throat as she tried to speak but she hesitated.

"You inhaled a large amount of dirt, your throat will be sore for a while and you may feel a slight burning in your chest but a lavage was performed and the heavy feeling should go away soon." The doctor promised, slipping her stethoscope into her ears. Annabelle breathed as deeply as she could, making eye contact with the biker over the doctor's shoulder when she winced at the burning sensation.

"Can you tell me your name?" The doctor asked once she was finished listening to the wheezing in the woman's chest.

"Anna-." Her voice was quiet and scratchy. "Annabelle Ortiz."

"People are going to have lots of questions for you, Annabelle, I suggest you get as much rest as possible before then." The doctor recommended before exiting the room, leaving Annabelle and the man alone in the room.

"May I?" He asked, gesturing toward the chair beside her bed. Annabelle felt soothed by the deep yet smooth tone of his voice. She nodded her head, gesturing for him to sit. "I didn't think you'd want to wake up alone." He explained his presence, "You were in pretty bad shape."

"Th-thank you."

"Bishop." The President looked over his shoulder as another two men entered the room. They wore similar leather as their president, and they stopped in their tracks when they seen the girl was finally awake.

"Annabelle, this is Angel and Coco." The man she had assumed was named Bishop introduced the two men hoping it would help her grow comfortable with their presence.

"Damn girl, we weren't sure you were ever gonna wake up."

"Angel." The president hissed, not wanting his men to scare the poor girl as his phone rang in his pocket.

Bishop gave his men warning looks before making his way out into the hallway to answer the call from his cousin.

The two men watched her as her hand flung to her throat, though this time it had nothing to do with her breathing but a missing piece of jewelry. "Where is-"

"The cops took your stuff." Coco explained, "Evidence or some shit. They'll probably stop by soon to find out what really went down."

"Angel, Coco." None of them had noticed Bishop had reentered the room until he spoke. The two men made their way over to their president, leaving Annabelle to her own thoughts.

"That was El Padrino." Bishop spoke as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Turns out Annabelle here happens to be a Samcro princess. Someone's coming down but we keep someone posted with her for now... it could have been a club retaliation."

Annabelle had been trying to sleep, key word being trying. Bishop had gone outside for a smoke and in his absence Angel and Coco had found entertainment in a game of tic-tac-toe on the back of a discarded piece of paper they had found. Annabelle lay with her back facing the men, her eyes shut too tightly in an attempt to make herself fall asleep but the two bikers giggling like children were keeping her awake. She debated telling them to shut up but she was unsure of how they would receive her hostile message. A knock on the open door caused both men to look up from their game.

"Hey, Frankie." Angel greeted, sending a nod to the police officer as he entered the room.

"Angel, Coco." He greeted, his eyes looking past them to the girl. "She asleep?"

Annabelle sighed, rolling over to glare at the men. "No."

Her eyes caught glimpse of the bag in his hands that contained all of her things. He seemed to notice what her gaze was drawn to and stepped forward to hand her the bag. She used all of her strength to tear open the plastic, her contents flying everywhere but she didn't care, she was only looking for one thing. She clutched the long gold chain in her hand so tightly that her knuckles turned white as she took a long breath of relief. She could feel the men's eyes on her as they picked up the rest of her belongings from the floor. Annabelle lifted her arms to clasp the necklace around her neck but her arm was weighed down by the bulky white cast and her hand was not dexterous enough to clasp it herself. "Help." She pleaded, her eyes growing glassy as she felt the prolonged emptiness where the necklace usually sits against her chest.

None of them had even noticed Bishop had reentered the room until he squeezed past the other two bikers to help her with her necklace.

"I brought you some water." He said softly, placing the full glass onto the table beside her. Water... she had not realized just how thirsty she was until now. He felt the coldness of her pale skin and she nearly shivered as his rough hands brushed the skin on the back of her neck ever so gently. He pulled her hair out from under the chain for her before she once again leaned back in her bed, avoiding eye contact with him entirely.

Frankie had a suspicion when he had originally seen the wedding rings that hung off the chain, he figured one was hers and the other belong to her husband- he had thought that maybe her husband had been the culprit for the attack but as he watched her interact with the rings now he could tell she was a widow, mourning the loss of her beloved husband.