“Come here, baby.” Jack pulls me even closer and kisses me crazily, wonderfully deep. This is the kiss I’ve been dreaming of…and I’m feeling like I could conquer the world, with Jack by my side. We’re a team now. “I love you,” he murmurs.
He pulls back to look in my eyes. “I’m just so glad you’re here with me. All I thought about was getting you back in my arms where you belong.”
Just then, Rocco comes back, carrying a tray full of food. Jack and I sit up and lean back on our pillows while Rocco fusses over us like a mother hen. He places the food on the hospital tray. He wheels it over, and I see all kinds of delicious food spread out on the tray.
“How did you...” I ask. This isn’t hospital food.
“Oh, I had someone go get some real food. I hope I chose stuff you like.” Rocco sounds gruff, but he doesn’t mean anything by it. I start by drinking my glass of OJ. It's so delicious sliding down my parched throat, and I can’t wait to attack the strawberries next.
“Do you know how my brother is?” Jack asks, munching a piece of toast. I can hear the crunch of the bread and smell the butter.
“Yeah, he’s doing great. Doctor says he’s going to be just fine. He’s on the path to recovery. Your mom and Bob stayed with him last night. They just woke up and are taking care of him. Getting him to eat…you know the drill.”
Jack chews on the inside of his cheek, and it looks like he’s worried about Jeremy. Maybe he should go see for himself. Maybe we can both go down the hall after we eat this heavenly food.
But first, food. I haven’t had real food in days. “How long was I gone?”
“Felt like forever, baby,” Jack moans around a waffle stuck to his face, and it makes me laugh again. The syrup drips from his chin. “Nearly a week. Every day you were gone felt like torture.”
“Can we go see Jeremy after we eat?” I look over at Rocco with my eyebrow raised in a question.
“Sure, I’ll take you down there when you're finished. Eat up. Both of you need to eat everything on that tray,” Rocco orders while he munches on a croissant.
Yeah, Rocco’s in charge. He can be in charge for all I care, as long as he doesn't try to come between Jack and me. We’ve been through hell, but we’re here, together at last. I’m in love with this man. This man is all I need.
My heart does this flutter thing, and I look Jack in the eyes.
There’s nothing like being in his arms.
Nothing at all.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Jack
Talk about heaven. Having Alex with me, food to eat, and good news to boot! It's everything I need this morning. I feel like I could sleep for two days, but I need to see Jeremy before all that can happen. Damn, Rocco really held us all together, right? He’s amazing really.
Alex looks so happy, sitting there, smiling at Rocco while she eats her eggs. This woman is beautiful, even with all those cuts and bruises. She’ll heal right up, though. She’ll be back to her formerly amazing good looks in no time. I’m worried about her heart, though. That’s troublesome. I mean, they had to shock her...maybe she died in that moment, but thank god they brought her back to me.
Her eyes are all sparkly, and she laughs her cute little laugh. I find her completely adorable with her button nose and full, luscious lips. I could gaze at her all day long, but I’ve got to get Jeremy soon. Then I can rest. More rest is what I want—with her in my arms.
“Once you finish up your breakfast, we’ll all go down and see Jeremy, okay?” Rocco announces. That man has been a rock for me. I feel bonded to him for life.
“Thank you, Rocco. I mean it. You’ve been amazing. Don't know what I would have done without you, dude.” I look at him with sincerity that I feel throughout my heart. He loves Alex too. Like a father, for sure, but still—look what he was willing to do for her. I feel such gratitude for this man. At every single turn, he delivered. I would have been lost without his support. Without his knowledge and wisdom. He kept me from going buck wild crazy with grief and fear.
I think Alex and I are finally full as we push away the hospital tray. Only crumbs remain on the tray Rocco brought in. All three of us have had our fill.
“Let’s go,” I say, hoping I can move enough to get out the bed.
Alex winces as she pulls herself up out of the bed. “Maybe we should get you a wheelchair, baby.” She nods.
Nurse Susan comes in, rolling a wheelchair. She gets closer and helps Alex inside.
“Thank you, Susan,” Alex says. Then she looks over at Rocco. “Rocco, I appreciate you, thank you.” I know she’s talking about more than the food.
Rocco says, “Sure, sweetheart,” and pushes the chair out the door. I grab my crutches as all three of us make our way down the corridor. We stop in front of Jeremy’s door.
“You all go in now. I’ll wait out here,” Rocco says, pulling back just outside the doorway. I see Mom and Bob sitting by Jeremy’s bed, and Jeremy sitting up, eating his breakfast. I slowly crutch myself inside.
“Hey bro, how ya feeling this morning?” I give him a bright smile with a wish—and a hope—that he’s doing well.
“Jack, Alex, great to see you both!” he says with exuberance. He sounds good, full of energy, and not at all like he looked yesterday.
“I’m doing really well. The doc says I gotta stay for a few days, make sure everything’s cool. Can you believe they cut into my head?” He laughs a happy laugh. Thank god, is all I can think. I’m happy too.
I want to get out of here. We all want to go home. But I'm leaving when Alex gets released. I’m taking her home with me. I need to bury myself in her for a week.
Mom and Bob get up, and Mom says, “Hey, I think we’ll go stretch our legs.” The two of them silently leave.
Jeremy wants us to fill him in, so we do. We start with what happened after the crash. All that planning, all those men, and Alex kicking butt.
“Looks like everything turned out so well. You must be proud of her,” he says with a wink and a nod.
“I am. I’m so proud of my girl.” I slide my arm around her in a show of ownership. Alex snuggles right up against me. She moves out of the chair, sits on the edge of the bed, and kisses Jeremy on the cheek.
“I’m glad you're doing so well, Jeremy. Thank you for coming after me.” He looks relaxed and relieved. This isn’t the first time he’s meeting Alex, but now he knows how important she is to me.
“Okay, we’re going back to our room, bro. Let us know if you need anything.” Jeremy makes a ‘come here’ gesture, and I lean over as he whispers in my ear. ”I’ll go home with Mom, I'm cool. You’ve got some time to make up for with Alex.” I give his shoulder a squeeze. He’s right for real.
Alex slips back into the wheelchair, and we traipse back to our room, me crutching along while Rocco pushes Alex in her chair. When we get to the bed, Rocco helps her slide inside and then I slip in next to her. Rocco turns to look at us. “I’m gonna get back to the bar. Seems everything is under control here.” Alex pulls him down for a quick kiss on the cheek, and I’m so grateful for this dude.
“Tell Bark thanks from me. When we get out of here, we’ll have to get together with all your brothers,” I say, and Rocco nods. Then, he’s gone.
I turn to Alex and run my hands through her hair. The shaved sides are growing out now, and the top flops to the side. Her mohawk is down for the count, but her spirits are running high.
“Jack, I need to sleep,” she mumbles as she places her arms around me. I snuggle up closer and close my eyes. “Sleep, baby. I need to sleep too.”
“I love you, honey,” is the last thing I hear before I’m in dreamland, starring Alex and her beautiful smile.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Jack
I wake up the following morning feeling a bit more rested. Alex and I are tangled together in the hospital sheets. It amazes me that they allowed us to sleep together. I pull myself out of the bed quietly—nature calls.
As I start towar
ds the bathroom, I see a newspaper has been dropped off this morning. The headline makes my heart drop, and I take notice in a bigger than life way.
Cribs Man Found Dead.
My heartbeat strums rapidly inside my chest, and all I can think is, Oh fuck.
I take care of business, then I'm out as quick as I can, grabbing the paper to read the article. They found Norris last night when the cleaning staff discovered his badly beaten body. They entered the building at 4am and found him the way Alex left him. His eyeballs were crushed. Oh my god! His trachea was broken; he lay in a bloody, crumpled pile on the floor. I think he got exactly what he deserves.
Rocco told me the police came by during all the commotion and told him they’d be back today. I remember the doctor asked his nurse to call the cops when he heard Alex had been kidnapped, but we still haven’t talked to them to explain where Norris is or what went down.
My mind races back to the scene of the crime, and I visualize Alex taking Norris the freak down. She kicked some serious ass. She saved herself from this disgusting bastard. She saved her life.
The article goes on to say the police have no leads currently. But now ChuckD knows one of his main men were killed. Alex and I haven’t talked about any next steps. I’m not sure what the fuck they are thinking, but if they find out Alex is the reason for his death, he might be coming for her, threatening her life.
I’m trying to figure out what we should do about it when I hear Alex call me.
“Jack? Jack are you still here?” She sounds frightened, like maybe I left her alone.
“Baby, of course I’m here. I’m not leaving your side until you can leave with me.” I’m back at the bed and crawl in next to my sweet girl. There’s so much I need to say, but I don’t want to burden her with this crap until she fully recovers. I mean, I don’t think it will be a long recovery, but she deserves time to relax and heal. She deserves some peace.
Then we can talk about everything. I need to tell her about Lizzy and what we want to do about Norris’s death. Obviously, the police have been waiting to talk to her, but we’re running out of time.
“I guess I freaked out when I woke up without you. Sorry, honey.” Sorry? What the fuck?
“Come here, beauty. Get closer,” I whisper. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m here, and I’m not leaving your side.” I lovingly swipe the hair from her eyes.
I feel Alex relax in my arms. We need each other like we need air to breathe. I want to tell her about the news article, but I think we should eat something first. I want to get her fortified before reality tries to ruin our day.
I know ChuckD won’t just take the death of his second in command lying down. I wish we could hide Alex’s part in this, but maybe he already knows. The most powerful man in the city could come for us. I hope they think it’s a drug deal gone bad. The newspaper suggests a few things that could have happened. I know that will keep the police busy for a time, but what about the DNA Alex left at the crime scene? We need to discuss this; she might need to confess to the police officer who will certainly come back today.
The detective, I heard, showed up in the ER yesterday, but with everything that happened, they couldn’t talk to Alex at all. I’m sure he’ll be back.
All we need is the police coming for her, too. We need time to discuss this.
This whole thing is starting to make me feel crazy. I need to know what Rocco thinks. Maybe he’ll have an idea how to keep Alex safe from this ChuckD dude. Fuck! This could get out of hand fast. I’m out of my depths here. I need help. Well, we need help. Didn’t she just escape with her life? And now there’s another thing to worry about! Oh shit.
“How are you, baby?” I slide up to Alex and kiss her soft lips. I could kiss her all day long.
“I’m feeling better. Whew, I needed that sleep. I feel stronger,” Alex says as she kisses me back. Over and over her lips land gently on mine, and I’m lost in the moment. I’m lost in Alex and her luscious lips.
“You hungry?” Rocco says as he walks through the door. Speak of the devil; I was just wondering if he’d be by soon. It’s so good to see him.
“Yes!” we both chime in.
Rocco carries bags of food and lays everything out on our tray. I dive right in, cutting into the pancakes dripping with butter and maple syrup. The room quickly fills with the scent of bacon and eggs.
“Hey, how you doing, dude? Get some rest?” I eye him through my hair that has fallen over my face. Damnit, I need a haircut. It’s gotten out of control.
“I’m rested, buddy. Alex? How you feeling this great morning?” Rocco laughs as he chats with us. I can tell he’s feeling good; we almost lost this girl, and now nothing is going to come between us ever again.
“I’m fine, dude. I just want to go home. I guess we’re waiting for the doctor to come in and tell us we can,” Alex says, and then adds, “I need a shower. I'm going to go take a shower, okay?”
Rocco answers, “Sure, honey, go take a shower. Jack’ll tell you if the doctor comes by.” Rocco looks over at me and I nod.
Alex gets up and pulls a hospital robe around her gorgeous body. I watch her walk to the bathroom and think back on that first night when I watched her walk to the bar at Rocco’s to put in my order. She changed my life that night. She changed it from shit to fabulous with a stroke of a pen. I remember that slip of paper still tucked safely inside my wallet.
Rocco speaks as she disappears behind the bathroom door.
“Jack, did you see the paper?” Rocco whispers and pulls out the paper from his pocket. He cut out the article to bring with him. Fuck, the world is already coming for us, and I know we have to deal with this shit. I was hoping for a small reprieve.
“Yeah, I guess they deliver the newspaper. I saw it when I got up this morning. Not sure what to think, though. In fact, I’m really worried.” I don’t know what the Cribs’ reaction will be over Norris’s death. I think it’s probably an ugly answer, probably not something anyone should have to face, especially not Alex. She did what she had to do to survive.
“We’ve got a problem for sure. When you get out of here, we need to consider everything and try to mitigate the situation.” Rocco sounds so fucking reasonable, but I don’t feel reasonable.
I want to shout, “She had to kill him,” but I don’t. I stay quiet as Rocco continues. I hope with everything in me that we can figure out how to keep her safe.
I take a deep breath in through my nose and blow out all the air.
“I’m worried. We need to figure this shit out before we leave her alone even for a minute.” I nod just as I hear the shower turn on. I’d rather go in and scrub her sexy, naked body then have this fireside chat. But fuck me, it’s reality. I have to deal with this shit if Alex is ever going to freely walk around town.
“I don’t know anything about how this works. I mean, the Cribs lost a major player, dude. They’re not gonna let that just stand. Right?” I say while my mind keeps roaming to Alex and her banging body.
“First off, we need to talk to the police. I know a detective came by yesterday, but with all that happened he never got to talk to her. We might need to lawyer up. I'll deal with hiring someone. We can’t ignore the system, right?”
I agree with Rocco. I’ve got cash saved from my banking days.
“Do you know a lawyer? I can pay.”
Rocco nods and says, “Yeah, I think I know someone. So that’s one down and one more situation to go.” Fuck me, now I don’t even know what to say. The gang could be coming for both of us, and I have no clue how to deal with that sht.
“We’re fucked, aren’t we? We’re fucked.” It’s all I can offer.
“Hey, don’t give up so fast, dude. We haven’t done anything yet. They haven’t done anything. I’ll get ears to the ground,” Rocco says, and I think that’s a good start. “I’ll find out what they’re saying.”
I begin to wonder if we should try for a meet with the head of the Cribs. ChuckD might be down. I need m
ore information about this dude for sure. But then, how do we even try to get something like that to happen? Our only hope is if Rocco knows someone who can set up this meeting.
Maybe if we explain shit they’ll pull back? Of course, I know I’m way ahead of myself and need to calm the fuck down. Rocco is going to have to take the lead on this one. I feel like a naïve, stupid little boy.
“I’ve got an idea, Jack. You two have got to stay low until then,” Rocco says. I’m ecstatic that he might be able to get us out of this mess.
And in the meantime, I think it’s a good idea to keep a low profile. I just want to take her to my place and feed her to fatten her up. And I want to make love to her, to make up for lost time.
“We will. We’ll go hang at my place while we sort this shit out. Right?” I look over at him and pray his idea will work. Just then, Alex comes out. Her hair is sopping wet and her face all shiny and beautiful, freshly scrubbed.
“Come here, baby. Come back to bed.” As Alex crawls back on the bed and slides up against me, I think this has got to be what heaven feels like.
“Baby, you’re going have to talk to the police. I think honesty is best. We’ll talk to them together, tell them the whole story. Okay?” We all agree. I’m sure that detective will be by soon, and I want us to be on the same page.
And we’ll think about all this other shit in time. Rocco walks out, saying, ”I’ll be back later.”
Alex calls out, “Rocco, hold up. Can I talk to you?”
When she comes back, she crawls into bed next to me and takes my lips with hers. She starts kissing me. We can’t stop kissing. I love this woman with everything in me. She’ll never have to wonder about that. I’ll always be on her side, by her side, and for her side.
We will find a way to keep her safe. I know this is a big challenge, and I’ll think about it all later. Right now, I just want to feel her in my arms. We drift off to sleep for a morning nap, and I hope answers will come by the time we wake up.
The Call Page 25
