"You were shot in the stomach and were brought into the ER …"
Holy shit, that’s right. The cop shot me when I heard him behind us. Oh fuck, what about Joe? Is that little cocksucker here too?
"They operated and removed the bullet and repaired the damage that was done to your liver. You're in the ICU now. My name is Jess and I'll be your nurse for the rest of the day and this is Dr. Maxwell. She will be taking care of you while you’re with us in the ICU," she said as she put the wet sponge on my lips again.
"Can you rate your pain for me, Mr. Carmichael? One being very little or no pain and ten …"
"I’m ok. When can I get out of here?" I asked as I tried to move my arms to push myself up in bed. Suddenly every organ in my body felt like it was sinking into my stomach when I realized that one of my hands was cuffed to the side of the bed.
Mother fucker, I’m toast.
"I’m sorry, Mr. Carmichael, you won’t be leaving here anytime soon. You’re in the ICU. There was significant damage to your liver and you lost a lot of blood. I’m going to need to keep you under observation for at least a week," the doctor said.
"Do you know what happened? Do you know what happened before I got here?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Carmichael, I don't have any of that information. There were some police officers here earlier and they’ve been pretty insistent on questioning you but I told them to come back later. I don't want anything to exacerbate your condition while you're recovering and I’ll decide when they will be allowed back into your room."
"Thanks, doc," I said as I looked at the two women who were standing over me. The doctor wasn’t bad although she was a little on the skinny side. But from what I could see the nurse looked like she had a body that wouldn’t quit. I was still confused and exhausted as hell, but I definitely had enough energy to admire a hot nurse when I saw one.
"You need to rest now, Mr. Carmichael. We’re doing everything we can to take care of your injuries and you need to help us by resting and getting your strength back."
I looked up into the nurse’s eyes, suddenly seeing them for the first time since I’d opened mine, and I was startled by their kindness and catlike beauty. She didn't appear to have any makeup on at all but her eyes were framed by the thickest lashes I’d ever seen that seemed to get longer at the far edge of each eye.
"Brody."
"I’m sorry? What was that?" she asked as she walked around to the other side of the bed.
"You can call me Brody. I don’t respond to well to Mr. Carmichael."
"Ok, Brody. I’m Jess. My name is written on the board up there in case you forget. Is there any anything I can bring you? Ice chips or another blanket?"
"No, I'm fine. Thank you, Jess," I said as I continued to stare up into her eyes. What I really wanted was for her to stay and talk to me for a while, but I was starting to have a hard time keeping my eyes open. Besides, I figured she probably had a lot of other patients to take care of.
"I’ll be back in to check on you later," she said in a soft voice as she set the cup with the sponge on a stick next to my bed. "The water is right here. Just press this button if you need anything at all," she said as she smiled softly and laid the call button next to my hand on the bed, then walked across the room and out the door.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open a second longer, and even though all I really wanted was to drift off to sleep all I could think about was how unbelievably screwed I was.
How the fuck am I gonna get out of this mess? I thought as the image of Joe popped into my head again. I knew that if they had any idea at all that Joe Fontinella was involved with me the cops were going to keep a tight grip on my room and I was pretty sure that they already had one posted outside. I was just going to have to wait to find out if that bastard made it out of the resort alive. I really hoped he was lying in a morgue somewhere, not only because my reputation and job were at stake, but because that guy made me sick.
Chapter 3
Jess
"I really hope that's not what you're planning on wearing tonight," Madonna said as she came busting into the ICU nurses lounge in a skimpy orange dress that clung to every curve of her body.
"What’s wrong with this?" I asked, looking down at my jeans and striped t-shirt.
"You’ve got a pair of mom jeans on and a t-shirt that looks like you bought it out of a fifty-five and over fashion catalog. You’re only twenty-six, Jess, and we’re going dancing. You’re not going to need a sweater," Madonna said as she picked a fuzz ball off the old gray sweater I had just pulled on.
"What's wrong with this sweater? It's my favorite. It's been with me through hard times."
"Yeah, and it looks like it's seen a hell of a lot better times too. You need to put on something sexy Jess. You need to get out there and have fun with a guy. I know you still miss Marcus, but there's a whole world out there that could actually help you move forward."
"Looking good for some shallow player isn't even in the top ten things I think about, Madonna. I want someone who's going to appreciate me for who I am and when the time is right I will meet him. I'm not interested in coming off as anything but who I am. I’m comfortable in this. If some dude doesn’t like it that’s his problem."
"Yeah yeah, you are woman hear you roar, I get it. But I still think you need to get out there. Show a little skin. Have a little fun. You never know, you might actually have some. And don’t forget how long I’ve known you, lady. I’ve seen you in some incredibly slinky dresses that melted a few faces when you were out on the dance floor before you even met Marcus. I’ve seen you working it in a pair of silver strap-ons and a tube top dress that every man in the room was praying would shimmy right down off your tits and past your ass and then drop to the floor. You’ve got it going on, girl, and you’re covering it all up with these baggy-ass clothes that aren’t gonna be turning any heads."
"Yeah, you're right," I said as I shut my locker and turned back to Madonna. "I might need some help putting something decent together, though."
"That's what I'm here for, sweetie. I’ve got your back."
***
We walked into the flashing lights and thumping base of Captain Jack’s and I felt an old familiar rush of excitement that I hadn’t allowed myself to feel in a long time. Madonna was right, I used to have a lot of fun when we would go out dancing together and I really missed it. And I had been so down in the dumps for so long that I just didn't realize that I might actually be ready to get out there again.
Every night this last year I had stayed home alone trying to soothe myself over my loss and the loss that I had caused and I didn’t even realize that I had gotten myself into a massive rut. And after all this time that rut had become my comfort zone. But that comfort had been turning into a deeper and deeper hole that I wasn’t even sure I could dig myself out of anymore. I wanted to find someone that would make me feel as good as Marcus did, but I just wasn’t sure how to do it.
"Everybody is over there," Madonna said as she pointed across the club. "That new EMT is here too," she said as she jumped up and down and clapped her hands like a little girl.
"Looks like you’re getting some tonight, Jess, whether you like it or not," she said as she did a little twist dance and shook her ass.
"You better put a lid on those moves if you know what’s good for you. You’re gonna erupt right out of that teeny little dress you’ve got on," I said as I watched her breasts jiggle dangerously close to the edge of the fabric that was holding them in.
"How do you know he’s even gonna be interested in me?" I asked, but she had already stopped listening. She was scanning the room for prospective dance partners and from what I could tell she had the pick of the room. It looked to me like every guy sitting within a ten-foot radius of the club entrance felt the same way. All eyes were on Madonna as we descended the short flight of stairs to the main floor of the club and made our way to the bar. The music in the club was pounding and every pair of eyes we passed looked her up
and down.
It's not that I didn’t have the assets that Madonna had, but I was a little shorter and a little curvier and a lot less confident so I never seemed to turn heads the way she did. Plus, she really knew how to sashay her ass through a crowd. We grabbed our usual margaritas, on the rocks with no salt. I was shocked to see that I had already sucked half my drink down before we even got to the back of the bar where all our friends were. As we approached the table I realized just how nervous I was. I hadn't seen a lot of these people in months, a couple of them I hadn’t seen since the incident, and I realized how afraid I was of being judged.
"Hey, girl!" one of the nurses said to Madonna. "Sit yourself down!" Madonna made a bunch of noise, squealing and kissing the other girls at the table then walked over to two empty seats, and I followed behind her but without all the fanfare.
"Hey, Jess!" the nurse said with a surprised look on her face. "I’m glad you came out. I haven’t seen you in so long."
"Hey, Angie. Yeah, it’s been a while. I guess I've been a little bit of a homebody lately. It's really good to see you."
"What's that?" she said as she held her hand up to her ear.
"It's good to see you!" I said a little louder with a smile. I was starting to lose my motivation. Madonna could pull off all this yelling and high-fiving, but it just wasn’t me. I kept wishing I was at home wrapped up in an afghan and reading a good book instead of pretending to have a good time around a bunch of people I barely knew anymore. I felt like everyone here, including Madonna, was in a big gang that didn’t include me. I wanted everything to be like it used to be. I wanted to yell and laugh and have fun and make jokes, but it felt like that part had been sucked out of me and I couldn’t find it no matter how hard I looked.
"Is anyone going to introduce me to the new EMT?" Madonna asked while staring right at two of the men across the table from us.
"Yo, Madonna, this is Johnny," said one of the EMTs that I recognized.
"Thanks, Freddy, I owe you one," she said with a wink as she leaned over the table and dropped her cleavage down right in front of Freddy’s eyes. She had been flirting with him for a while now and I was pretty sure by the look on his face that she had just caught his attention for good. Madonna reached out and shook Johnny’s hand while she sat down in her chair.
"Nice to meet you, Madonna. I see you at the ER reception desk a lot."
"That's me, ER reception. Feels like I'm there twenty-four hours a day every day, that's for sure. And this is my friend Jess."
"It’s very nice to meet you, Jess," he said as he reached his hand out to me with a big grin on his face. He was incredibly cute and had those giant arms like tree trunks that usually drove me crazy, but I just couldn’t get excited about anything tonight.
"It’s nice to meet you too, Johnny," I said a little too softly for Madonna’s taste. She put her arm around me and pushed me forward so my breasts were pressed together and resting right on top of the table.
"She used to be primary trauma nurse in the ER up until about a year ago. Now she's head nurse in the ICU.
"I hope you save a dance for me tonight," he said, his gaze wandering down to the cleavage that was being presented to him by the little black halter dress Madonna had picked out for me. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to fit into any of my old dresses. I had been sitting at home on the couch on my days and nights off for so long that I was sure I had gained at least twenty pounds. But the dress fit, and it and my old silver strap-on sandals made me feel like I was making an offer to Johnny that I knew my brain wasn’t willing to make good on.
"Oh, I don't know about that. It's been a long time since I've been out on the dance floor." I wanted to flirt with Johnny. I wanted to cut loose and have fun with everyone and forget about everything that had happened in the last year, but I just couldn’t. The odd thing was, even with this cute guy with massive arms sitting in front of me, my mind kept wandering to the man that I had watched come into the ER the other day. The man who was now handcuffed to the bed in my ICU.
"You gotta be kidding. With a body like that? You should be dancing up on the tables where everyone can see you."
"Yeah, Jess. Get up and shake that booty," Madonna said as she did a little seat dance in her chair.
I started laughing and could feel my face get hot as I sucked down the rest of my margarita in one swallow.
"I’m gonna need another one of these before I get out there," I said as I raised my glass up. I was hoping some alcohol would help get my spirits up, or at least help me to stop thinking about things I that I really shouldn’t be thinking about. Like the guy that reminded me so much of Marcus.
"What’re you drinking, Jess? I’ll go up to the bar and get you and Madonna another round," Johnny said as he stood up.
***
After a couple more drinks I was out on the floor with Johnny and the longer we danced the closer our bodies got. It wasn’t long at all before his arms were wrapped around me and his hot breath was on my neck and I was starting to feel like I could get used to something like this. His big arms felt so good around my waist, his hard chest and shoulders made me feel all safe and cozy as I leaned up against him, and on top of all that I could feel his cock getting hard as it pressed into me.
"You’re so beautiful, Jess," Johnny said as he pushed his hand up into my hair. "Your body is so amazing. It’s taking everything I’ve got to keep from moving my hands down a little lower," he said as he started to kiss his way up my neck.
It all felt so amazing and sounded so good, but suddenly I felt like I had to get out of there. I pushed Johnny back and staggered a bit on the heels I hadn’t worn in over a year. Johnny grabbed me so I wouldn’t fall over then let go of my arms when he saw that I was ok.
"What’s the matter, Jess. Was I going too fast? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to …"
"No, Johnny, I’m sorry. You weren’t at all. I’m flattered, but I … I have to go. I need to get out of here."
"Well, let me take you home. I mean, I’ll just take you home. Let me drive you home," he said with a worried look on his face. I knew I was being dramatic, but I just didn’t want to be there anymore. I felt like I was going to burst into tears at any second and I didn’t want to do it surrounded by a bunch of people who I used to consider my friends but who hadn’t made any effort to talk to me in the entire year since I had left the ER.
"No, really, I’m fine, Johnny. I’ll take a rain check on the dancing. It was really nice," I said as I walked off to find Madonna.
"Really? You’re leaving? Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I just need to be alone right now. Everything was just harder than I thought it would be. I just … I can’t stop thinking about Marcus and everything that happened."
"Oh, honey, I’m so sorry that I pushed you into this. I thought you were feeling better. Did something happen?" she asked as she put her arms around me.
"No, it’s not your fault. I just … I’ve just had Marcus on my mind lately and I think this just intensified everything. I’m just gonna head home."
"You want me to come with you?"
"No, I’ll get a cab. I’m fine, Maddy, really. I’ll talk to you tomorrow," I said as I gave her a hug. I walked out of the club and into the night air wishing I could get that guy in the ICU out of my head. I felt like everything I had said to Madonna just now was a lie. It wasn’t Marcus I couldn’t stop thinking about, it was Brody Carmichael.
Chapter 4
Brody
"We are going to need your full cooperation on this Carmichael. You're in a hell of a lot of trouble. A cop was shot and it’s all on you if you don't tell us exactly what was going on at the Shady Palms. We have an eyewitness who identified known mobster Joe Fontinella as leaving the area in a black 2015 Lexus two-door convertible with plates that are registered under the name Sasha DiFazio. That’s Vinny DiFazio’s daughter. And in case this piece of information has slipped past your radar, Vinny DiFazio is not only the owner of that resort hotel,
but he’s also the head of the DiFazio family. You do know who the DiFazio family is, don’t you?"
"You’re gonna have to enlighten me, detective," I said to the stalky schmuck that looked like he was taking a bath in his own sweat. "I don’t know any DiFazio’s. I’m kinda new to the area."
"You’re gonna have to do better than that. You were found at the scene of a crime that involved a high-stakes poker game at a mob-owned resort. You didn’t just wake up one day and decide to take a stroll into the office where the safe was. Look, DiFazio is claiming his daughter was kidnapped and neither Fontinella nor the daughter have been seen or heard from since the robbery. If you can tell us where they are your charge will be reduced from first-degree murder to second-degree or maybe even manslaughter. We want to work with you, Carmichael, are you willing to cooperate?"
I was still groggy from the painkillers and a bullet ripping through my gut, but there was no way I was going to play that game with these assholes. I knew they weren’t going to let me off that easy, and there was no way in hell I was going to spend even one night in prison.
"I'm telling you. I didn't even know the guy’s name."
The two cops looked at each other like they had thought their strategy was working for them but just realized that they were going to have to up their game.
"We find that really hard to believe, Carmichael," the other cop said. I wondered if he was going to play the good cop or the bad cop, but it didn’t really matter, all cops were bad as far as I was concerned. "We’re not buying any of this bullshit, Carmichael. You’re telling us that you traveled to a resort on a private island in The Keys with this man, Joe Fontinella, went directly to the office where the safe was kept on a night with a fifty-million-dollar poker game in progress, and you didn't even know the guy’s name."
"I'm telling you, I met the guy in a bar in Key West. We were talking about being down on our luck and he told me that he had this big idea. He said he knew how to make a whole lot of money in one night and that he just needed a hand for a couple hours. He said it was a sure thing, that I would walk away with a couple hundred thousand dollars and that I could start a new life. He told me that there was no way we would get caught because it was his girlfriend’s dad's hotel and he knew the combination to the safe. I’m telling you, that's all I know."
I Need A Bad Boy: A Collection of Bad Boy Romances Page 2
