And for good this time.
So instead I headed out to Castle Hill and did what I’d been putting off for months. I still don’t know what I’m going to do with the empty house, but getting it cleared out makes me feel a little bit better. I’m getting things done, moving forward in life.
I hop down the front brick steps. My stomach lurches. Ethan and I stayed up for hours after Mindy stormed away, trying to decide what to do. I almost chased after her but he stopped me and convinced me she needed some time alone before we came to her again.
I know he’s probably right, but I can’t help but feel we’ve already lost our chance. The look on Mindy’s face when she accused me of having a plan to catch her said everything I need to know. In her mind I’ve betrayed her.
It’ll be no wonder if she never speaks to me again.
I also can’t help but wonder if I did do her wrong. Was I following my own secret plan all along, one I’d unconsciously concocted and wouldn’t let myself face?
There are too many questions and not enough answers. All I know is I need to keep my hands busy. Ethan and I agreed we’ll try and contact Mindy tomorrow. We’ll do whatever we can to win her over, whether that’s sending a thousand roses to her home or jetting her to Paris for the weekend.
She’s worth those things and so much more.
I close the gate to the front yard and turn for my car, parked on the street. It’s a quiet night, the air so cold it feels like ice cubes slipping down the back of my collar.
A guttural yell interrupts the silence. I halt and look down the street. I can’t be sure, but it sounded like the yell came from the direction of the subway station.
Most likely it’s some teenagers out way too late.
I go to unlock the back of my car but another yell punctuates the silence, this one female. My heart seizes up. Something real is going on.
Dropping the box on the sidewalk, I run in the direction of the noise. Rounding the corner, two figures emerge, their dark profiles outlined by the street lights. The one closest to me moves back in a frantic way just as the other figure goes down.
My heart plummets all the way to the other side of the earth. It’s Mindy. I know it.
She hits the ground hard. The man, holding her backpack, turns and runs in my direction. His eyes go wide when he sees me.
I open my mouth to say something but a roar comes out. This is what people mean when they say they saw red. My obscured vision has nothing to do with the lack of daylight.
The man skids to a halt and tries to dart around me. I’m too fast for him, though. I leap forward and grab him by the collar.
“What did you do to her?” I yell in his face.
“N-nothing man,” he stammers.
Behind him, Mindy remains motionless. I rip the backpack from the guy’s hands at the same time I clock him with an upper cut to the jaw. It’s a perfectly spot-on hit, the one I learned to use years ago when you want to knock out a man.
The punch hits home. He crumples to the ground.
I leap over him and rush for Mindy.
“Mindy! Mindy!”
I drop to my knees and grab at her head. Her eyes are closed and there’s no indication she hears me.
“Mindy, wake up!”
I feel along the back of her head. My fingers meet warm, thick liquid. She’s bleeding, but in this poor lighting it’s impossible to tell just how much.
One hand holding her head up, I reach into my pocket for my cell phone and dial 911. I give the dispatcher the address and the breakdown of the situation.
As soon as I hang up I start talking to Mindy again. Hot tears burn my eyes. My hands are shaking. Her cheeks are so, so cold.
“Mindy,” I say again and again, checking her breathing and shaking her lightly. “Mindy, wake up!”
I don’t move until the paramedics are there. They place Mindy and her attacker onto stretchers and load them into the ambulance. I hate that she has to ride in the same vehicle as a man who did God knows what to her, but it’s the least of my worries right now.
I grab Mindy’s backpack and jump in my car to follow the ambulance to the hospital. More sirens are whirring in the distance, most likely belonging to the police. They’re going to want to question me and I’d prefer they do it at the hospital, where Mindy will be, rather than out on the street.
I grip the steering wheel so hard I can’t even feel my hands. The ambulance goes to Bronx-Lebanon, the place where Mindy probably just got off work.
My car screeches into the parking lot, where I get lucky with a space. Before jumping from the car I take one extra moment to pull my phone out again.
Ethan has to know what’s happened. He has to know Mindy’s hurt. He has to know she… she…
I can’t even finish the thought. Instead, I type a text with shaky fingers.
Mindy’s been hurt. Come to Bronx-Lebanon. It’s bad.
I send the text and then pray the situation will remain just ‘bad’, and not progress to ‘worse’.
18
Ethan
I hit the gas harder, pushing the Maserati to its limit. Every two seconds I glance in the rearview mirror then check the block ahead of me, looking for cops.
Maybe if I get pulled over they’ll let me off on account of my woman lying unconscious in a hospital.
My woman.
I don’t need to test the word out any more to know how perfect it sounds. Zack’s text made me nearly have a heart attack. I called and forced him to explain just what’s happening. He was choked up, barely able to talk, but he did it.
According to him, the doctors and nurses have no answer yet. She’s unconscious from a fall. That’s all the staff told Zack.
“Fuck,” I yell out loud into the car.
How did we get to this place?
If only we hadn’t let her leave last night. If only we’d made her stay…
No. That’s not the answer and I know it. Even if Mindy had expressed undying love for us she still would have gone to work the next day. She still would have ridden the subway home and gotten mugged.
Damn subway.
If we make it through this I’m never letting her ride the subway again. I’m sending my driver to pick her up from work each and every day.
If we make it through this…
I can’t think such a thing. I have to tell myself everything will be all right. If I don’t I’ll lose my damned mind.
At Bronx-Lebanon I drive the car into what’s probably not even a spot. It’s just a little extra area at the end of the parking lot. I don’t give a damn. Let the car get towed. I’m not leaving here until Mindy’s leaving with me.
The hospital is a blur of activity. I call Zack as I make my way through it. He answers and tells me he’s in Mindy’s room, then gives me directions to it.
I run all the way down the hall. Finding the right door, I fling all my weight onto it and burst into the room.
Zack’s wide eyes meet mine. He’s sitting on the far side of a white bed, in which Mindy lays.
She looks like she could be sleeping. Her face and hair are smooth and worry free. Machines beep and flash around her.
I take a tentative step into the room, my eyes on her the whole time.
“Is… What did...”
Zack licks his lips. “They said they don’t know when she’ll wake up.” His voice is nothing more than a raw, throaty whisper.
I stare at him, trying to absorb the full meaning of his announcement. “You mean she might not wake up?”
Zack shakes his head and looks at the floor. “They don’t know... They don’t know.”
I grab at my hairline and spin around. I’m pacing the length of the room, unable to stand still but also unable to bear the movements of my own body.
I cross my arms tightly and turn to face Zack. “What happened?”
He runs a palm over his face and sighs. “I was leaving my Dad’s house when I saw some drug-addicted fool running away from her. She fell a
nd hit her head on the sidewalk.”
“And that’s all? That’s all you know?”
He stares at me like I’m crazy. “Yes, that’s all I know.”
For the first time I notice the bandage wrapped around his knuckles. “You get the crackhead?”
He lightly touches his hand. “Yeah.”
“Good,” I growl.
I stamp over to Mindy’s bed but stop several inches away. She’s so fragile laying there, so perfect. She’s like Snow White, suspended in time in a glass coffin.
And who knows if she’ll ever wake up.
My throat burns so badly I can barely speak. I have to, though. I need to push out at least one small set of words. I need to let the world know just how I feel.
And that’s convenient because, right now, for me, the whole world is in this room.
“I love her,” I gasp.
Zack stares at me.
“I love her,” I repeat, though he already heard it.
He slowly nods. “I do too.”
I furiously shake my head. “I’m sorry if I gave you grief about it. I didn’t think… I didn’t know...”
“You didn’t know this would develop between us,” he quietly says. “I don’t think she or I did either, and we’ve known each other since the beginning.”
I sigh heavily and rub my eyes. “So how long? How long till we know?”
Zack shakes his head. “They don’t know that.”
My teeth carve into my bottom lip. Blood hits my tongue. “I can’t just sit around here waiting.”
“I’m not leaving her,” he automatically says.
“I know. I know that.”
He nods at the door. “Go home and get some rest. I called her parents and left them a message. They’re probably asleep so I’m going to keep trying them, see if I can get them to wake up.”
“I can’t sleep.”
His lips purse. “Just try to rest then. You and I can take turns staying here with her.”
I look back at Mindy and my heart nearly climbs out of my throat. Why have I been so hard on her? On Zack? On myself?
It’s because I couldn’t admit the truth. I began feeling things for Mindy from the start, things which weren’t purely physical. As time went on it became harder and harder for me to deny those feelings.
Yesterday I finally knew for sure I wanted her.
Now I know I want so much more than that.
“I’m going somewhere,” I tell Zack. “To take care of something.”
He dumbly nods. “Okay.”
“Call me if anything happens.”
He nods again.
I whirl around and rush from the hospital.
I’m going to do my part to make things right, to show Mindy just how much Zack and I love her.
All I need now is for her to do her part as well.
Please Mindy, please… Just wake up.
19
Mindy
Bright white light presses against my eyes. I squeeze my lids tighter and turn my face away. Everywhere I go, though, the light is there.
“Mindy?”
Someone calls my name. The voice is so familiar and yet distorted.
“Mindy?”
I open my mouth to respond, but my tongue is heavy and thick, sounds impossible to form.
“Mindy can you hear me? It’s me, Zack.”
“Zack?” I rasp.
Slowly, so slowly I open my eyes. The light’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Zack’s face hovers inches away from mine.
Something comes flying back to me. The mugger. My backpack. His punch. I stumbled and fell. The last thing I remember, my head was hitting the ground.
Is that where I am now?
No. There’s too much light here and it’s too soft and warm… too familiar.
“Bronx-Lebanon?” I dryly murmur.
Zack laughs. “Yeah, that’s right.”
His hand clutches mine and I’m filled with even more warmth.
“Get her some water.” It’s Ethan’s voice.
A glass appears and two hands help me sit up. I gulp the water, putting down half the glass in a few seconds. My eyes begin working properly and I see I’m in one of the private rooms downstairs.
My head is sore and throbbing. I reach up to touch the back of my head and find a tender spot.
“I’m calling the nurse now,” Ethan says.
He arrives, a nice man named Daniel who I don’t work with but who I’ve said hello in passing to a few times. He checks me out and then calls the doctor in. I’m told I’m lucky, that I’ve been out for about twelve hours, and that Zack is my guardian angel.
I look at the man at my side in admiration. No one had to tell me that last part.
After a string of tests the staff finally departs, leaving me alone with Ethan and Zack. They settle into seats on either side of my bed. I take their hands in mine and sit up.
“Be careful,” Ethan warns.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
“You had us worried there,” Zack whispers, his voice cracking. “It scared the shit out of Ethan.”
Hearing the fear in his voice makes me nearly break down. My chin trembles but I hold back the tears.
“I’m sorry I scared you.”
“Don’t be,” Ethan harshly says. “But you’re never riding the subway again.”
I laugh. It makes my head hurt but my heart feel good. “It’s the street I got mugged on, not the subway.”
“Then you’re not walking on the street alone ever again. I’m hiring a bodyguard to keep an eye on you.”
I start to laugh again but Ethan doesn’t smile.
“Wait… You can’t be serious?”
He shrugs, as if the answer should be obvious.
I snort. “Wow, I don’t know what to say...” I look down at my lap then peek up at them, giving them each a long look. “Does this mean you guys forgive me?”
Zack places his second hand on top of our already entwined ones. “There’s nothing to forgive you for.”
“I freaked out. I said some things...”
“I understand them.”
“I do too,” Ethan chimes in. “This whole thing has been...” He exhales long and slow. “Terrifying.” His eyes lock onto mine. “But also amazing.”
I smile at him, new tears filling my eyes. These are different, though. They’re from joy.
I look back to Zack. He’s finishing something up on his phone.
“I’m texting your dad,” he explains. “Your parents will be here soon. They were just here a few hours ago. They went to church to pray for you.”
I gasp. “My parents! Oh my God. They must be freaking out.”
Zack rubs my arm. “It’s all right now.”
Ethan murmurs in agreement. “I guess prayer can do some good after all.”
I give him an admonishing look. “Of course it does.”
He gives me his whatever shrug. Already, everything feels back to normal.
Ethan’s thumb rubs the top of my hand and his face becomes serious. His face falls down towards the bed and he looks at me from under his eyebrows. “We need to say some things to you.”
I suck in a sharp breath. Maybe this is it. Maybe they’re about to drop me for good. They say they understand why I said the things I did, but perhaps they’re still fed up with me. Maybe they now get how easier their lives will be without me in them.
I bit the inside of my cheek. No matter what happens, I won’t cry. I swear to God I won’t.
“I love you,” Ethan says.
I stare at him, not sure I heard correctly. “You...”
“Love you.”
I want to cry.
Ethan gulps. “I love you so, so much Mindy Dean.”
“And I love you too,” comes Zack’s soft voice.
I turn to take in his wide brown eyes. “While you were unconscious we got a little taste of what life would be like without you. We never want to go back to that.”
I look back at Ethan. He’s pulling something from his pocket, something which fits perfectly in the base of his hand.
His palm turns right side up and his fingers unfurl to reveal a blue velvet box.
My heart stops. I’m struggling for breath. I look up and into Ethan’s eyes.
How can this be? It makes no sense.
“But you,” I gasp at him, “You… Since when are you into commitment?”
His lips purse in a rueful smile. “Since you.”
I gulp and laugh out loud. The promise I made myself is broken. I’m crying.
“Say yes.” Zack states. “Marry us.”
Tears spill down my cheeks. I would wipe them away except nothing on God’s green earth is going to pull my hands away from Zack’s and Ethan’s.
“Marry two men?” I choke over my joyful tears.
Zack bobs his head in agreement. “I know. It sounds crazy.”
“But we’ll figure it out,” Ethan adds. “We’ll get a place big enough for all three of us.”
Now I really laugh. “Your places are humongous.”
Zack brushes his thumb along my chin. “So your answer is...”
“Yes!” I cry. I still can’t believe it. This must be a dream. Maybe I haven’t woken after all. Maybe I’ve died and hell is much more fun than it’s cracked up to be.
Zack’s kiss makes me realize it’s all very real. I break away from him and plant my mouth on Ethan’s, his strong lips drawing me in.
When I break our kiss he opens the box to reveal a giant diamond ring. It’s huge, cut in a tear drop shape. He takes my hand and slips the ring onto it. I hold it up so we can all admire it.
“Oh my God,” I murmur. “This is amazing.”
Suddenly fear fills me. I’m engaged. To two men. I’ve got no problem with it, but what am I going to tell my family? They don’t even know I’ve been seeing Zack again, let alone his best friend. They’ll never understand my love for the both of them at the same time.
Two Billionaires Next Door: A Dark Bad Boy MFM Romance Page 13
