“Saw it happen on the screen while talking to my mom.” I knew he wanted to say more but with the firemen, the paramedics, and the cops who were pulling in, it wasn’t the time.
“That is a lot of blood,” Bry stated as we stood staring down at the sidewalk where they were working on Ms. Maddie.
“Anyone try to get ahold of Reese,” Mike ever the serious one would think of his friend.
“Not that I know of, only happened fifteen minutes ago. Cops just pulled in and the paramedics have been working on her since I got here. It’s bad. When I got here they were hitting her with the shock paddles. From what I can tell and what I heard them saying is she is in bad shape. She took two hits to her chest. They aren’t sure on the damage yet; they were more concerned about getting the bleeding stopped. With all the blood, I’m surprised she didn’t bleed out. When I ran up she had coded on them but they got her heart to start back up and wounds packed right now, which is keeping them from bleeding more.” Tony ran his hand down his face and looked to me and my brothers before he continued.
“Fin, I thought I watched Ms. Maddie die right in front of me. Could have done without seeing it, you know? But then I have to thank God we have those cameras because if I hadn’t seen it and called it in as quick as I did, I don’t think we would be standing here, watching her chest move up and down.”
“What about Harvey there?”
“Damn, Cal, thanks. I couldn’t think of his name. Which like seriously pissed me off, I mean I watched a dude get shot, you should know his name, right?”
“Tony, you’ve met him a hundred times,” my best friend looked at Cal.
“Fuck, I know, but my knowing his name doesn’t matter, the man was hit three times. They stopped the bleeding but they don’t think he will last through surgery to remove the bullets, there are no exit wounds, which usually means it hit something to stop it from going through. He is barely hanging on now.”
People were standing up and down the street trying to get a good look at what was going on. I noticed no one was talking, just watching on with solemn faces.
“Right here, right now, this is the reason we all came back. It was all to make sure this was not Ms. Maddie’s day to leave this community.” I looked around and my brothers were nodding in agreement, as the paramedics were setting the gurney down preparing to lift Ms. Maddie on it. That was when the yellow car stopped in the middle of the road with a screech of it tires as the driver side door swung open and we heard “No” being yelled from the driver who was stepping out of the car.
“Holy shit, who the hell is that babe? And why is she wearing clothes that belong on our mother?” Falon had no sense of appropriate. His mouth had always worked before his brain.
But I had to agree, as I looked her up and down. Shoes with no heels, skirt flowing down passed her knees and a blouse with a blazer over it. We watched the woman as she headed toward the paramedics and Ms. Maddie. Shit this woman was beautiful. And it was a natural beauty too. As she moved closer, I noticed she was hardly wearing any make-up and her dark brown hair was long but she had it high on top of her head in a messy ponytail, which looked sexy as hell on her.
“I don’t know but I want to find out, does that count?” I couldn’t help but smile at my friend’s words and each one of us watched the woman like we had never seen anything with breasts. Okay, breasts like hers—full, big and pushing through the white blouse and straining against the blazer as if to say “let us free.” Plus, it took our minds off what was happening with Ms. Maddie.
“Ma’am, you can’t come any closer. They are working to get this victim in the ambulance. Please step back.” We all watched as the police officer stopped the woman before she got too close to the scene.
I moved closer to her and noticed Tony did as well. The officer stepped in front of her as she tried to look around him. I could tell she was barely holding it together.
“What happened? Is she going to be alright?” I watched as she tried to step around the officer.
“Ma’am, I’m warning you, you can’t come any closer.” Yeah, the officer was losing his patience. I looked over at Tony and he nodded as we both stepped up beside her as I chanted to myself, please don’t be a reporter.
“Officer Marks,” Falon yelled to get the cop’s attention. And, Christ, I hoped he was not going to say something that we would all end up regretting. The man had no couth whatsoever.
The officer looked toward him and the next words out of Falon’s mouth not only shocked me, but as I looked at my other brothers’ faces, they too were wearing what I like the call the “Fuck me” face. And Tony, well he was going to have to wash the sidewalk grime off his chin from his dropped jaw.
“Marks, that’s Ms. Maddie’s daughter.”
Only one word came out of each of our mouths and at the same time, “Brooklyn.” When the hell had she grown up?
She looked toward us then and I could see the tears floating in her eyes waiting to overflow. And I found myself reaching for her, wanting to offer her comfort. To my surprise, she walked into my arms and buried her face into my chest. I felt her body shake from her silent sobs so what else was I supposed to do but wrap my arms around her and let her get it all out.
“Ma’am, are you riding in the ambulance with your mother? They are in a hurry and can’t wait on you,” the officer asked and I felt Brooklyn stiffen and fight to gain her composure. She stepped back out of my arms and turned her head in time to watch as the gurney rolled, with Ms. Maddie aboard, toward one of the waiting ambulances. Harvey was already loaded in the other one as its lights flashed and it was beginning to pull away from the curb. They wouldn’t run the sirens until they were on the street. That man, if he made it, would have a long road ahead of him.
Tony chimed in before Brooklyn has a chance to answer Marks’ question.
“Brook, go with your mom. One of us will bring your car to the hospital.”
“Oh my God, my car. I didn’t even turn it off before I jumped out.”
“Done, and I grabbed the keys.” Sean, the ever polite one, held out his hand with the keys in the palm.
“Thank you. The O’Malley’s and Tony Roark, I haven’t seen you in ages.” I saw a small smile form on her lips as she reached for the keys in Sean’s hand, only to snatch them up and hold them out to Tony. “Thanks again,” was the last she said before she turned and headed to the ambulance, jumping in with Ms. Maddie.
No one spoke as we watched the ambulance head down the street and turn at the corner. Between the shooting and the grown up version of Brooklyn, I was spent. The crowd started disbursing and the emergency vehicles pulled away leaving us standing on the sidewalk.
Tony
“Who’s driving Brooklyn’s car to the hospital?” Looking toward the guys ‘cause I knew they drove over together from the bar and I had come over in my SUV.
“I’ll drive it there. No problem.”
When Falon spoke to volunteer, it reminded me of what he said earlier. “Falon, why did you ask who the babe was if you knew it was Brooklyn?”
“‘Cause I wasn’t looking at her face when she got out of the car. I was watching those legs and by the time I made my way up to her face to recognize her, she was pushing to get to her mom. What can I say, I got distracted?”
“How come you have seen her since we moved back here and the rest of us haven’t? Then you don’t mention it or how the gangly shy teenager has turned into a—”
“Hot piece of—”
“Don’t even finish that sentence, Falon.” By the look on Fin’s face he was three seconds away from punching his younger brother and Mike, Sean, Bry, and Cal moved closer to Fin, I knew they expected it too.
“I ran into her and Mia down in Little Italy one time while I was out on a date. And I greeted them, then moved on. Saw her for like a minute. Bro, other things on my mind, you know, like the woman I was taking back to my place so I could get laid. Not focusing on little sister and her friend. Get me?”
“Oh, I get you, bro. I get that Ma and Dad have been keeping the fact you are adopted close to their chest.”
“You wish; I can’t help it if I get laid more than the rest of you. Am I to blame because there are so many ladies that want a piece of this?” When Falon motioned his hand from his head to his feet, that was all it took to lighten the situation and put a smile on our faces.
Christ, how Fin and the rest of his brothers didn’t kill Falon, gave me a higher respect for their patience, ‘cause the smirk he was flashing made me want to kill him. And that feeling made no sense because I knew how Falon was, but I had no time to analyze it right at that second as my cell phone rang in my pocket.
Pulling it out, I noticed the time and the caller’s number that was flashing on the screen.
“Yes, Ma?”
“Where are you?!” I held the phone out to save my hearing. This and the fact I knew they could hear my mother screeching on the other end had the guys chuckling.
We needed a distraction right now, and laughing instead of fighting seemed better, you know. It may have seemed weird and slightly inappropriate, but that was the way it was. All of us could be serious, but right now, we could tear the fucking town apart and it wouldn’t help Ms. Maddie. If my mother could be the comic relief in this situation, then hey, good for her.
“Ma—” the woman cut me off before I even get two words out so I rolled my eyes and watched Fin hand his keys to Mike while Falon reached for Brooklyn’s, which I still held in my hand. Turning them over, he walked off along with the other O’Malley brothers, leaving Fin to witness my second round of my mother in one night. Lucky me.
“Anthony, I raised you better than to just blow your family off, not to mention the young woman who set her evening aside to meet you. You were to be here for dinner over an hour ago. I want you to know there is no excuse you can give me for doing that or for hanging up on me earlier. What do you have to say for yourself?”
I waited to respond to see if she was done. With her, it could be she was just catching her breath. When she didn’t say anything else, I answered.
“I am at Southside Haven with Fin, Ms. Maddie was shot a little while ago.”
“Oh, Tony.” I knew I was forgiven when she called me Tony instead of Anthony and I also knew that her mind was in full out mode on what the neighborhood was going to do for Ms. Maddie.
“I will reschedule dinner for next week with Regina. And tell Fin I will call his mother and let her know what is going on. Madeline is a huge presence in this community—” My turn to cut her off because if I let the woman get started, I would never get to the hospital.
“Gotta get to the hospital. Brooklyn is there by herself and Fin and I are heading there now. I will keep you posted.” Fin and I reached my truck and I sat in the driver’s seat, started the vehicle up, “And, Ma?”
“Yes, son?”
“No more dinner dates,” was the last thing I said before disconnecting the call and pulling onto the street with Fin’s laughter filling the vehicle. Yeah, comic relief was what we needed.
Chapter Three
Brooklyn
I sat in the back of the ambulance and had little to no idea what the heck was going on. The only thing I could focus on was my mother, and the two men who were still working on her, cutting the clothes gently from her chest, around what looked to be a makeshift bandage wrapped all around her chest, I could see the blood that had soaked through. There was a lot of it, too much, I didn’t need a degree in medicine to figure that out.
The EMTs were talking to each other, and the man driving was yelling on a little microphone thingy and all I wanted to do was tell them to shut up, even though I knew they were trying to save my mother. I just wanted to blank it all out, focus on my mom, and get her to open her eyes.
I closed my eyes again and tried to blink it all away but it didn’t disappear, the sounds were still there. The steady beep…beep…beep of the machine that was measuring my mom’s heartbeat. I bit my lip and finally got the nerve up to say in a whisper, hoping beyond all hope that my mother could hear me.
“Mom?”
One of the men paused and looked at me, almost like he finally realized I was there.
“Sorry, ma’am,” the man said and moved a little so I could reach out and take my mother’s hand. “Just so you know, she was shot twice. When we get to the ER they will take her right into surgery. We are prepping her right now for what they will need to do, one of the nurses will come out and get you and show you where to go. If you need anything, just let me know, yeah?”
I looked at him in surprise, his tone had softened and he looked at me with a serious expression. Holy shit, he was preparing me for my mom to die, that would be the only reason he would be talking to me like that. Shit, I could see it for myself, and still I was unable to believe it. I wished this was a nightmare, that I would wake up and shake it off. Since the moment I stopped my car and saw my mother, nothing seemed to be making sense. Who had done this? Why had they done it? Everyone loved my mother, I knew it ‘cause everyone told me.
“Uh,” I said and then stopped, I couldn’t think. The sounds of the machines were distracting.
“Robert,” the man said and nodded at me. “My name is Robert, we will be in the ER for a while, if you need me just tell them. Also if you need us to explain anything to you.”
I nodded and then gripped my mom’s hand tighter, I couldn’t think of anything other than my mom. I looked at our hands, they looked alike. We both had long fingers, and then I wanted to cry, how stupid to think of fingers at a time like this. Is this the last time I was going to see my mom? Oh my God, Reese. I needed to call Reese; he was coming in the morning but he needed to be here now. I needed him here now.
I felt the tears gather in my eyes, it was her birthday tomorrow. We were going to dinner, a nice one at the local Italian place my mom loved. She was going to have Chicken Parmesan like always. Reese and I were going to give her a trip for her birthday. It was all arranged, she worked too much, it was the perfect gift. We planned to make sure she took the trip; the way we did that was to give her best friend the trip as well. Norma knew already, thankfully she didn’t have a big mouth.
I felt my mother’s hand move and I gasped. “Mom?”
Robert looked at me and then at my mother. “Ms. Maddie?” he said loudly.
“She squeezed my hand,” I cried loudly.
“Ms. Maddie? You have been shot, we need you to remain still right now. I am going to give you something to relax and take away the pain. If you can hear me, just hang on,” Robert said louder.
She moved and I saw her eyes flutter. Both men moved quickly and they were putting something in the IV that was already attached to her arm. I didn’t care, I pushed through and leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Mom, I love you.” Then began to sob.
I hoped it was not the last thing my mother heard on this earth, I had more to say, but apparently the drugs the men gave her began to work because her hand went lax in mine and I knew she was asleep again.
“She is lucky,” the doctor said to me and all I wanted to do was slap him. Is he serious? My mother was not lucky, she had been shot in the chest, twice. According to him, she died on the table once, and they brought her back, blood loss was the reason he said and then shrugged, once they gave her a transfusion during surgery she stabilized. Now he was saying she was lucky? How was that luck? “One of the bullets went through, it caused a lot of bleeding, the other one missed her heart by a millimeter. It will take a while for recovery, but she is strong, her vitals look good.” Why was he telling me this in detail?
He finished explaining what would happen, and then he shook my hand and left. I stood in the hallway of the hospital with people all around me and I had never felt so alone. We had a small family, only the three of us. My mom, my brother, and me. My father died when I was younger, everyone knew the story, but I looked around the room and saw it was filled. Even with a small fami
ly, there was a ton of people who cared, lives my mom had touched. She was good like that.
It had been six hours since I pulled up to the front of Haven. Six hours, of waiting, pacing, talking to people who had come to keep vigil, six hours to think about my mom. Reese was on his way, soon he would be here and I would have someone to lean on. I looked back at the people in the room, specifically to the group of men who arrived shortly after I did. The O’Malley brothers, and their sidekick, Tony Roark, Mia arrived soon after and since then she sat with me, the brothers had been busy on their phones. I knew any of them would have taken the load, but I couldn’t let them. Right now, I needed this control, because everything seemed to be spinning so far out of my reach, it was driving me nuts.
I knew what Tony Roark did, I also knew that he was the best in the business, security. They ran it for Haven House, my mother had told me often enough. She always said these boys were a success because of their family, and the community. Back when we were growing up, everyone took care of everyone else. Now, it was every man for themselves, and no one cared about their neighbors. It was sad, especially considering the violence in the neighborhoods in the South Bronx meant that companies like Roark’s were thriving.
Fin O’Malley was a retired MMA Champion, he owned the old gym and was doing well, especially helping the community. He was trying to bring back the old feeling into the neighborhood, and my mother loved it. Having them pull together was the only way to get the criminal influences out of the area. Apparently Fin O’Malley and Tony were leading the charge.
Mom told me every single time we talked about what they were up to. She knew I had a crush on them when I was younger, but then what girl who went to school with the handsome boys had not carried a flame for them. They would never look at me other than Mia’s friend, I knew that, I also knew even if they did, I wasn’t their type. But that didn’t stop me from hoping and praying one day they would wake up and knock on my door, sweep me off my feet and claim their undying love and stupidity for waiting so long. Yeah, a girl had to dream a little.
Vengeance: MMA/Ink Romance (KO Ink Book 1) Page 3
