XOXO, Winter

by Bloom, Nikki

  He held Victor’s fist in his hand, eyes burning.

  “Big mistake,” Monroe said before he reached for his gun. “You mess with my brother; you mess with me too. This is my town now and if you think for a second I’m going to let you win this fight, you’re dead wrong.”

  “No!” I screamed as I lunged forward, the world seemingly moving in slow motion. I swear, I saw the bullet leave its chamber and pierce right through Reed’s shoulder. He stumbled back, blood soaking through the whiteness of his shirt. “No!” I screamed even louder as I caught him in my arms before he could fall to the ground. “You bastard! You didn’t have to shoot him! All we wanted was our dog!” The words were laced with venom, but the gang leader didn’t show an ounce of emotion on his face.

  Druggies emerged from the woodwork and ran for the hills. If something was going down then they didn’t want to be a part of it. I wished I could do the same – run and turn back time so none of this would have ever happened.

  “See, Winter, things would have been easier if you had just given me what I wanted,” Victor said and snickered.

  Thud!

  Monroe fell to the ground in a spasm as an officer held a taser gun in his hands.

  “Get down!” The second officer shouted at Victor. Since he was unarmed, they couldn’t tase him outright.

  Victor defied their request by snatching the pistol from the ground and holding it up to my temple. “It didn’t have to end this way, Winter,” he whispered against my ear as his arm tightened in a choke hold.

  “Why?” I croaked. “Why me?”

  “Because…I just happened to like you and I always get what I want. You brought this upon yourself, baby. If you had just kept your damned mouth shut as far as the police were concerned, then I’d be rolling in the dough and you’d be living a life of luxury.”

  I nearly shrieked as the cold metal of the gun’s barrel made contact with my skin. Tears ran down my cheeks. This was the end.

  “You’re a lunatic if you thought, even for a second, that I would ever live my life with you.”

  Click.

  “Put the gun down!”

  I clung to Reed as he continued to bleed out. If I was going to die tonight, then I wanted it to happen while I held the love of my life.

  “Don’t do this,” he wheezed, trying to plead with Victor.

  “Put the gun down – now!” The officers were a few feet away, taser at the ready, but since my life was in jeopardy, they hesitated in doing anything too hasty.

  “Quit this game and be done with it,” said Monroe. “I don’t have time for this.” The electric shock that had gone through his system was starting to wear off and if it did, we were all in big, big trouble.

  Victor smiled and it was the pure sight of evil. To keep from looking at it, I squeezed my eyes shut, praying for a miracle.

  Zap!

  Suddenly, I felt something hit the ground. A second later, the sound was repeated. I dared to open my eyes and saw both brothers shaking as a result of being tasered.

  Thank God.

  The officers were on top of them, restraining them with handcuffs.

  I was able to breathe again.

  Reed!

  I looked down and he was horribly pale. “Oh no…” There was blood everywhere and his eyes had this glazed-over look to them. “Reed, talk to me, please.”

  He responded by squeezing my hand. “I’ll be fine. It was just my shoulder.”

  “There’s so much blood…” I cried.

  “Apply pressure,” he directed.

  “Right.” I was so worked up that I could barely think straight. My palms became slick with the crimson liquid, but I didn’t care. I would do anything if it meant letting Reed live another day. “I’m sorry.”

  “Please, don’t cry.” With his uninjured arm, he reached for my cheek and wiped away my tears. “Smile for me.”

  “Smile? How am I supposed to smile at a time like this?” I shook my head. “I… I can’t afford to lose you. If you die, Reed, then I die alongside you, too.”

  “I’m not going to die,” he promised, but even as he said so, his voice was becoming weaker and weaker. I could tell by the rise and fall of his chest that it was becoming harder and harder for him to breathe. “You can’t…get rid…of…me…that easily.”

  “Please, save your strength,” I said. “The ambulance will be here soon. Just…stay with me.”

  Bark! Bark!

  Timber came rushing towards us. A cat zoomed past in a blur of black fur. I thought for sure that he would continue to run after it, but as he neared, he slowed to a cautious sort of walk, his ears pulled back and flush against his skull. He whimpered as soon as he saw Reed lying in a pool of his own blood. He looked at me as if asking if his owner would survive.

  My heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces. This couldn’t be happening.

  Wake up, Winter! I screamed at my subconscious, but nothing changed. I was stuck in this horrible reality.

  The wail of an ambulance siren lifted my spirits. My chest loosened a bit, but it constricted harder than ever when I looked down and saw that Reed had closed his eyes. “Reed?” I shook him slightly, but he did not respond. “Reed!”

  “Ma’am, we’re going to have you to step aside.” The paramedics took charge of the situation. With great efficiency, they had him loaded into a stretcher and straight into the back of the ambulance. Before they even said a word, I got in alongside them. There was no way I was going to leave him.

  Timber sat down on the grass and whimpered.

  “We’ll take care of him,” said one of the officers as he grabbed Timber by the collar.

  “Get him to my friend, Iris. She works at the diner.” And that was the last thing I said before the doors were locked shut.

  The road was bumpy.

  Reed groaned with pain.

  I felt so damn helpless just sitting there. If only there was something I could do to help him.

  “Is he going to…survive?” The question hung in the air.

  The paramedics exchanged a glance that made my stomach churned.

  “He has lost a lot of blood,” answered the one closest to me. “He’ll need a blood transfusion once we get back to the hospital. Do you happen to know what blood type he is?”

  “I have no idea… But he works at the hospital, I’m sure they have his records,” I said, trying to be helpful.

  He nodded. “At this point, only time will tell.”

  “Please,” I whispered underneath my breath. “Do not let me lose the love of my life. There is still so much we have left to do together…”

  31

  Reed

  I felt like I was swimming through a fog. I forced my way through it and came across a series of bright lights. A dozen or so faces hovered above me but I couldn’t make out their features. They looked like a Dali where everything melted and swirled together in a cloud of surrealism.

  What is going on? I thought.

  Something silver caught my attention.

  Was that a knife?

  A strange sort of pressure penetrated through my shoulder, but I didn’t feel a lick of pain.

  “How are his vitals?” someone asked but their voice was so far away it sounded like I was deep underwater.

  “Good.”

  * * *

  I don’t know how long it took me to wake up, but when I did, the first thing I saw was the sleeping face of my lover. Winter had her hand in mine, our fingers laced together. Even as she slept, she was washed with worry.

  A nurse walked in carrying a tray of food. “Ah, Mr. Goodman, you’re awake.”

  “What happened?” I asked but my voice did not sound like my own.

  “I’m afraid you were shot, sir.”

  Whatever pain medication they had given me, it was messing with my memory. I couldn’t remember a damned thing.

  “They had to put you through surgery to retrieve the bullet.”

  “How long ago was
that?”

  “About six hours.” She raised a cup of water to my lips and it felt like fire as it trickled down my throat.

  “Six hours… and she has been here the entire time?” I asked.

  “Hasn’t even bothered to get herself something to eat,” the nurse answered. “Even after telling her that you would be okay, she refused to leave.”

  “I see.”

  “Do you need anything else?’

  “Do you think you could lift the bed a little?”

  “Certainly.”

  As she did so, I became acutely aware of the sling around my arm. There was a numbness in my shoulder and it trickled down to most of my chest. But still, I could feel the beating of my heart and the way it thumped a little bit harder as I thought of Winter’s dedication.

  “Anything else?”

  “That’ll be it, Sandy,” I said, remembering her name.

  “I hope you recover quickly. There are plenty of people counting on you to do so.”

  “I know.”

  She dimmed the lights on her way, making it a little easier on my eyes.

  Even though it was uncomfortable to do so, I pivoted towards Winter’s direction. I’m sure I was being pumped with enough pain medication to fend off the pain, but my joints were stiff and my muscles felt like I had just gone through a full-body workout.

  With my good arm, I reached out and ran my fingers through her hair. I tried to be as gentle as possible, but still, she woke up and blinked away her sleepiness. “Reed?” she whispered like she couldn’t believe her eyes.

  “It’s me,” I said with a nod.

  Without warning, she launched forward and wrapped her arms around my body.

  I gasped, sucking in air through my teeth. Okay, now that definitely hurt.

  “Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” she cried out when she realized what she had done. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s okay,” I said as I focused on my breathing.

  “Do you want me to call a nurse?”

  “What happened to your cheek?” I asked abruptly, noticing the bit of bruising that had popped up on her delicate skin.

  “What?”

  “Your cheek,” I repeated. “Something happened.”

  “Oh.” She reached up and touched it.

  “Did those bastards do something to hurt you because I swear–” My memory came back like a speeding train, depositing everything into my brain in a great big pile. My pulse quickened as I relived the moment. The gun to Winter’s temple. That deafening click of it being cocked. I had been so sure that I was going to witness a tragedy.

  “No, they didn’t, thanks to you.” She sat down at the foot of the bed. “But you’re an idiot for diving between me and that bullet. You could have gotten yourself killed. A few more inches and that bullet would have grazed the side of your heart.”

  “But it didn’t,” I countered. “And if it meant saving you then I would willingly put my life on the line a thousand more times.”

  “I don’t need you to play the hero, Reed. All I need is for you to grow old with me – to make me laugh when my days are gray – to watch horrible movies on the couch with me – to catch me when I trip over my own two feet–”

  “And I will.” I brushed my fingertips over her cheek and offered her a smile.

  “I fell?”

  “What?”

  “That’s how I got this bruise – I fell.”

  “How?”

  “Out of the ambulance.”

  “Why were you in an ambulance if you didn’t get hurt?”

  “I was with you, and when they carried you out of the stretcher, I went to follow and well, I fell and banged my cheek against the metal door.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re such a klutz.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I was worried sick about you. I wasn’t particularly concerned with where I was going.”

  “Even then, you were falling for me.”

  “I’ve already fallen for you, Reed, more than you can ever know.”

  “Did it hurt?”

  “Huh?” She furrowed her brows together, confused.

  “When you fell from Heaven.”

  She groaned at my cheesy pickup line. “You know, love you or not, you’re making me seriously reconsider my life choices right now.”

  “Ouch,” I feigned injury at her words. “And just after I took a bullet for you too.”

  “Just don’t ever scare me like that again, okay?”

  “Okay,” I promised. “So long as you promise to always stay by my side.”

  “I’ve sat in this uncomfortable chair for the last six hours. I think I more than proved that I am capable of doing that.”

  Laughing brought back that stinging sense of pain but I couldn’t help it. “You’ve got a point there.”

  * * *

  Later that night.

  “Why is it that they have to make hospital food so damn disgusting?”

  “I can go across the street and get us something from the café.”

  “Don’t bother. It’s probably closed by now anyway.”

  Winter checked her phone. “You’re probably right. I guess we’re stuck with this.” She snagged my pudding cup.

  “Hey! That’s the best part of this whole meal. You can’t just take it away from me like that.”

  “Too late, I already did.”

  I stabbed my fork into an overcooked nugget and frowned. “Did they even give me any ketchup packets?”

  “Yeah, right here.”

  “Mind opening it for me? I’m sort of handicapped at the moment,” I said while wiggling the fingers of my non-functional arm. “How long am I supposed to stay like this anyway?”

  “As long as it takes your shoulder to heal properly and I don’t even want you to think about doing anything before the doctor gives you the okay to do so. If you’re going to return to being a surgeon then you need that arm to be as good as new.”

  “Right,” I agreed. “But this is still going to suck.”

  “I’ll be here to take care of you.” She kissed me on the cheek.

  “At any point do you dress up as a nurse and give me a sponge bath?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You can keep dreaming.”

  “I’m in a hospital bed. There’s no need for you to be so mean.”

  “You’re just grumpy because you’re eating chicken nuggets instead of the fancy food from Dante’s and drinking grape juice instead of Malbec.”

  “I think that’s a pretty good reason for someone to be upset,” I said. “This stuff is just downright appalling to my taste buds. The people working in the kitchen didn’t even try, it seems like.”

  “It can’t be easy trying to feed–”

  Suddenly, we both fell into silence. On the TV were our two aggressors. A blonde reporter held a microphone to her lips and said something, but the volume was muted, so I couldn’t catch what it was.

  “Where’s the remote?” I asked but Winter already had it in her hands. She held it up to the TV and raised the volume.

  “Residents are shaken as the news of the recent shooting makes its way around town. Reed Goodman, a surgeon from Boston, was the victim, getting shot through the shoulder. He has made it through surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.”

  But what about those two assholes? I thought to myself. What happened to them?

  “Brothers Victor and Monroe Sigsworth have been taken into custody. Upon further investigation, police have found both brothers heavily involved in drug trafficking. The basement to Victor’s home was the prime example of a meth lab–”

  “Meth?” we both said in unison.

  “And tests have shown that Victor Sigworth had traces of the drug in his system. Both are due to face criminal charges and many, many years in jail.”

  “He was using meth? Weed, sure, but meth” Winter looked like she had just been slappe
d in the face. “I mean, I know he wasn’t the best guy in town, but I never would have thought–”

  “That would explain why he was such a douchebag. He’s probably been using for a long, long time.”

  “Iris did have her doubts – that’s one of the reasons why she broke up with him, but she could never find the evidence to prove it.”

  I waved towards the TV. “I think this more than proves it.”

  “How long do you think they’ll be locked up for?” I asked.

  “If I have my way then our lawyers are going to make sure that they aren’t given any sort of deal. I want them to suffer for everything that they did because I’m sure you and I weren’t their only victims.”

  “Yeah,” Winter agreed. “But remember how Monroe said he had connections–”

  “He’s not getting away with this,” I said. “I won’t allow it. Mark my words.”

  32

  Winter

  A few days later.

  “We’re taking a taxi home, right?” Reed asked as I wheeled him towards the hospital’s exit. “I mean, I know Iris is your friend and all, but I don’t think my arm could survive the ride.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “I wouldn’t put you through that kind of risk. But she is demanding that we have dinner together one of these days – her treat. She says she needs to thank you for saving my life.”

  “Sounds good to me. You think she’ll like Dante’s?”

  “On her budget, you should probably expect some fast food.”

  “Hey, anything is better than the crap they served me in there.” Reed tilted his head towards the hospital building. “Seriously, that was downright horrible.”

  “Oh, quit your bellyaching. When we get home, I’ll be sure to whip you up something nice.”

  “Promise?”