"What I think we’re going to do tonight, Mr. Carmichael, is get you up off the bed and walk you back and forth between the bed and the wheelchair over here. We’ll do that a few times and see how you feel, and then maybe we'll do some physical therapy while you’re sitting down on the chair. How does that sound?"
"Sure, I think I'm up for that," Brody said as he sat up in bed a little. I could tell he was getting ready for the moment when the cop would unlock the handcuffs by the way his eyes became black and intensely focused.
I watched Brody’s eyes as he watched the cop walk over to the bed and pull out his keys, and just as he bent over the bed railing and unlocked the handcuffs, I came up behind him and hit him over the head with a vase I had grabbed off the table in the nurses’ lounge. Glass shattered all over the bed and floor. The cop slumped over on top of Brodie's legs and then fell to the ground completely unconscious.
"Holy shit, Jess! I can't believe you did that! That was perfect!"
"I can't believe I did that either. It was just an impulse. I grabbed the vase when I was picking up the duffel bag and … wow, I can't believe I did that," I said with my hands over my mouth. I bent down and felt the cops pulse and even though he had blood trickling out of the back of his head, he was still breathing with a strong pulse so I wasn't too worried about him. I hadn’t planned on hurting anyone. I just wanted to help Brody get out of there.
Chapter 14
Brody
"Throw me the bag with the clothes," I said as I tossed the glass-covered blanket off the bed. "And get the cuffs on him." Jess brought the bag to the bed and I pulled some jeans and a shirt off the top. It was a little weird to put on another man’s underwear, but I didn’t have the luxury of being picky just then. I threw on the socks and some sneakers that fit surprisingly well, and started to get up off the edge of the bed.
"Grab his gun for me, will ya? And don’t forget to tape his mouth," I said as I tried to stand. Jess grabbed the gun and laid it on the bed then came rushing over to me.
"How does your stomach feel? Are you doing okay?" she asked as she tried to help me stand up. "Here, let me help you over to the wheelchair."
"I think I'm doing okay … it’s still pretty painful," I said as I wrapped my arm across my stomach, "but … I think once I get used to being up and around … I’ll be ok," I said through gritted teeth as I walked slowly across the room. I lowered myself down onto the wheelchair, but even with Jess helping, I was still in a lot of pain. I thought I’d be doing a lot better by now, but it was still hard for me to even hold myself upright. I wasn’t looking forward to what was ahead of me when Jess and I got to where we were headed.
"Oh God, Brody, are you okay?" Jess asked after I let out a loud groan. I sank into the wheelchair, gripping the armrests and wishing this was already over. How the hell was I going to confront Joe Fontinella in this shape?
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just get me out of here."
Jess put the gun in the duffel bag and set it on my lap, then covered me up to my shoulders with a blanket. She opened the door and looked out into the hall to make sure it was clear and as she did I put the gun down the back of my pants. It wasn’t very comfortable at all but there was no way I was leaving it in the bag where it would be almost useless to me if I needed it. I put the surgical mask over my face just as Jess pushed me out into the hall and before I knew it we were in the elevator and were heading down to the ground floor.
"Hey! Wait up, Jess! I finally found you!"
The wheelchair came to a stop and I heard Jess curse under her breath. I had no idea what was going on but I had to just sit there and pray that I was going to get out of that damned place.
"Hey Monica, what's up?" Jess asked in a somewhat impatient tone.
"We just got these test results back for the patients in 515 and Dr. Maxwell instructed us to make sure that we got any of the test results for that patient to you ASAP. I just wanted to make sure that you got these."
"Oh thanks, Trish. I think he’s already been released. He’s not in our department anymore. You might want to check in recovery."
"Oh thanks, Jess. I was wondering where that cop went that had been outside his door. I got the creeps every time I walked past his room.
"Well, now we don’t have anything to worry about. He’s not our patient anymore. I really have to get this patient over to oncology. You know how they hate to be kept waiting."
"Yeah, ok, Jess. I’ll see you back up on five."
I felt the wheelchair moving again and I was finally able to breathe.
"Holy shit, I thought we were toast."
"Don't worry about it, Brody, we’re almost there," she said as we approached a set of sliding glass doors. They opened up in front of us and then we were outside in the cool night air. I was so happy I wanted to jump up out of the wheelchair and run to the car, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
But I was free. I had been thinking about this moment since I woke up in that damned place and the feeling of leaving through those doors was a million times better than I could have imagined.
Jess wheeled me over to a mid-sized SUV and threw her duffel bag in the back seat, then helped me into the passenger seat. She ditched the wheelchair in some bushes then ran around the car and got in and started it up. She looked over at me with big, worried eyes but then a warm smile spread across her face. It was at that moment that I really hated myself for what I was going to have to do to her. What I had already done.
"So where are we going?" she asked and even though my eyes were closed I could still see hers in my mind. Those big, beautiful, trusting eyes.
"Just drive out to the highway and head east," I said, with a sick feeling in my stomach.
"Ok," she said, and by the sound of her voice I could tell that she was still smiling.
Chapter 15
Jess
"So, where are we going?" I asked as I followed Brody’s directions. The windows in the car were down and a cool breeze was flowing through my hair. It had been a long time since I’d felt this good, like I was going somewhere and I had something to look forward to. I didn’t know what was going to happen but just the knowledge that I wasn’t just on one of my trips back and forth to work gave me a feeling of excitement for my future. And I was with Brody. I looked over at him because he hadn’t answered my question.
"Are we going somewhere in particular? Are we headed up to the mainland?"
"There’s a house … a hideout that was set up before the job went down. It’s not too much further, we’ll be getting off the highway in a couple of exits. "
"What do you mean a hideout? I thought you said you didn't have anything planned with this guy, that you just went with him on the spur of the moment."
"Yeah, that's right. I didn't know anything at the time. He mentioned something about a place that he had set up in case something went wrong and he told me where it was. It’s this exit here."
"Oh, ok," I said as I turned off the highway onto a secluded road that ran along the water. I didn’t want to think about it, but I was starting to wonder what was going on. What Brody was saying didn’t sound right. He didn’t sound the way he had when he was in the hospital. And he didn’t seem to care that I was there with him. He wouldn’t look at me at all.
I didn't say much the rest of the way. I just let him give me directions and eventually after driving quite some distance along thick forests of mangroves and lagoons we came to a narrow dirt road and Brody told me to turn in and stop the car. I could just see the edge of a house about a hundred feet up ahead and around a bend.
"Turn off the engine and kill the lights," he said.
"What's going on, Brody? What are we doing here?"
"Look, Jess. I'm sorry. You’d be better off just turning around right now and going back to the hospital. We made it look like I forced you to help me so you shouldn’t have any trouble convincing the police. You might have some explaining to do about the smashed vase when the cop wakes up, but
I think you can do a good job of convincing them. You’re a smart girl."
I looked at Brody in disbelief. I could hear what he was saying but my mind wouldn't allow me to accept that it had all been a lie, that he wasn't really interested in spending the rest of his life with me. That he wasn't fantasizing like I was about the two of us being on the run together and hiding out in secret places and making love on secluded beaches and staying in little huts on islands that we had found together.
"Not smart enough, I guess," I said as I stared straight ahead into the black night.
I had always known that I was a little bit gullible, but now I realized that I had been utterly ridiculous. I wanted so badly to believe that someone loved me and was going to take me away from my sad life, that I had built all these impossible fantasies up in my head. I knew that the small amount of money that I had pulled from my savings wouldn't have lasted us very long. And I knew that being on the run was probably nowhere near as romantic as I had made it out to be in my head. But worst of all, I knew a man like Brody could never have fallen for someone like me.
Even though he was apparently everything that the cops said he was, a criminal and probably involved with the mafia, he was still the kind of man I had always wanted. He was exciting and interesting and incredibly sexy, but even more than that he had a kindness about him.
I saw it when he was talking about his childhood and the things that were painful for him and I saw it in the way he looked at me and seemed interested in me. And as crazy as it seemed, the things that I saw in him were the things that made me fall for him, even though he was being held for possible connections to the mob. But maybe the whole thing had been in my head. Maybe I wanted to believe him so badly that I had only seen what I wanted to.
"So now that you don't need me anymore, you're throwing me away?" I asked, too ashamed of myself to look at him anymore.
"Jess, I don't want to get you any further involved in this than you already are. You've done enough for me. You’ve helped me more than you can imagine, and I will always be grateful to you for that. But now you have to go back to your own life. You don't deserve the kind of life that you’re in store for if you stick with me, and you don't deserve what is going to happen to you if you walk into that house.
You're a good person and a very special woman and I swear if my life was different I would have you turn this car around right now and never let you leave my side. But there are things I have to do and I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want your life to be ruined because of me."
"I don’t want to go back, Brody. I don’t know what to do or what to think. I thought you wanted me to be with you," I said as tears started to stream down my face.
"Look, I don't expect you to believe anything that I say to you now. I’m sorry about everything that has happened, Jess, but if you come in that house with me you’re as good as dead."
"What do you think I have to look forward to if I go back to my life?" I said as I looked over at him. "I don’t think they’re going to believe that I was forced to help you, not with the way we've been talking all week. The detectives have noticed. And I’m sure the guards have noticed how much time I’ve spent in there with you. If I go back, I might be the one that winds up in prison. Is that what you want? Now that you’re free you don’t seem very concerned with who else goes to prison. Just as long as it’s not you," I said as I turned my head back to the steering wheel and started to cry.
"Jess, please, you have to listen to me. You’re not safe here and I don’t know if I can …"
Just then there was a sound like a piece of metal tapping on the glass of the driver’s side window.
"Oh fuck," I heard Brody say under his breath. "Just follow my lead, Jess. You’re my hostage and I need you to take care of me. Got it? Put the window down."
My hand was shaking as I pushed the button and as I turned my head I saw the barrel of a gun poking through the top of the window.
"Joe! It’s me, Brody!"
"I thought I heard your voice, Brody. Man, I thought you were dead. Turn on the light so I can get a better look at you."
Brody opened his car door and the overhead light went on.
"Who’s this with you?" the man outside the car asked.
"A nurse from the hospital. I’m still in bad shape, Joe. I need her to take care of me. That fucking cop shot me in the stomach and I’ve been in the ICU under a guard for the last week. I got her to help me put the guard out who was sitting outside my room and I got out of there. I told her I’d let her go when we left the hospital, but I still need her to take care of my wound."
"Sounds like you’ve had a lot of excitement, Brody. No wonder I didn’t see you in the news. I kept looking to see if they found your body but it never turned up. It’s funny, though, my face has been plastered all over the goddamned place. Sasha and I can’t even leave this shithole. Maybe you can help us figure out how to get the hell out of here."
"Sasha’s here?"
"Yeah, she’s inside. It should be nice and cozy in there now. Let’s get inside."
I looked over at Brody and he nodded for me to open the car door. I got out slowly and saw the outline of a large man, then I shut the door and started to walk around the back of the car.
"Where the hell are you going?" the man with the gun asked. I turned and looked back at him as he came after me. He grabbed my arm and pushed me up against the car.
"I was just going to help Brody get out of the car. He can’t stand up on his own," I said, my voice shaking.
"Alright, let’s go over there together. Next time you make a move like that you’re gonna wind up in worse shape than your boyfriend," he said with a laugh.
I walked around the car with the man’s hand gripping my arm tightly and when we got to Brody he let me go.
"Take it easy on her, Joe."
"Sure thing," Joe said as he reached out his hand to Brody. "Need some help up?"
"Yeah, thanks," Brody said as he grabbed Joe’s hand and pulled himself up out of the car.
"Can you grab the bag in the back, Jess," Brody asked as he steadied himself on the car.
"What’s in the bag," Joe asked as he opened the rear car door, then unzipped the bag.
"Just some clothes and meds from the hospital."
Joe rummaged around in the bag then stood up and looked at Brody.
"Satisfied?" Brody asked.
"Hey, I’m just looking out for myself. I don’t know what’s been going on or what you’ve told the cops. For all I know they’re on their way over here right now."
"Lighten up, Joe. I didn’t tell them anything. They told me that you were seen leaving the scene of the crime in your girlfriend’s convertible."
"So that’s why she’s all up in the news too. I guess I should have figured that scumbag DiFazio would have his own daughter hunted down."
"What the cops told me is that he’s claiming that you kidnapped her. That’s all I know."
"Ok, well, let’s get inside," he said as he grabbed the duffel bag out of the backseat.
We made our way up to the porch with Brody leaning on me and taking small steps. I could hear his heavy breathing as we climbed up each of the stairs to the porch. I could tell he didn’t want that Joe guy to know how bad of shape he was in, though. I didn’t know what Brody’s plan was, but it didn’t sound like they were very good friends. And it didn’t sound like it was that far from the truth that he needed me around to help him.
But the truth for me was that I needed him too. No matter what lies he told me up until that point, no matter how scary the situation was, I didn't want to leave him. I didn't want to go back to my life.
"Hey, Sasha, it was Brody. You can turn the lights back on," Joe said as he opened the door to the house and walked in ahead of us. Just then I saw a young woman with long blonde hair as she turned on a table light. She walked up to Joe and wrapped her arms around him but was looking right at Brody.
"Hey there, Brody. It's good to s
ee you alive," the blonde girl said as she smiled at Brody. "Who’s this?"
"Sasha, this is Jess. She’s here to take care of me while I recover from a gunshot wound. You know, the one I got in the stomach while we were pulling the job at the Shady Palms," he said, sounding like he was making a point.
"Sorry about that Brody. I wanted to wait for you but …" She sounded like she stopped short then changed the subject. "So what, did you kidnap her or is she with you?" she asked, looking a little too interested in our relationship.
"I kidnapped her, Sasha. She’s here to help me get better and that’s it," he said as I helped him sit down on the couch.
"Yeah, and then what?" Joe asked, still pointing his gun in my direction.
"Will you put that goddamned thing away?" Brody said as he looked up at Joe.
"Well, what the hell are we going to do to make sure she doesn’t run, Brody? I’m not going to risk going to jail or being found out by the family just so you can …"
"All right, all right! Just let me lay down here for a while and I’ll figure it out," Brody said as he laid down on the couch. He looked pale and like he was in a lot of pain.
"I think he needs some painkillers out of the bag," I said as I looked up at Joe. "Is it ok if I get them out?"
"Yeah, go ahead," Joe said as he sat down in a chair. "But you better figure out something quick if you know what’s good for you, Brody."
"Just let me worry about it, will you Joe? Jess is just about the least of your worries right now if you ask me."
Chapter 16
Brody
"I don’t know man, I thought you were dead and now I’ve got two more people to worry about."
"Gee thanks," I said as I glared at the little weasel. I was going to enjoy killing that bastard. I just had to get some strength back first.
"I told you I’ll take care of her. If you’re so worried that she’s gonna run go take the distributor cap out of the goddamned engine for Christ sake." I said as I tried to get comfortable with the gun underneath me on the scratchy old couch that I was laying on in the middle of the room.
I Need A Bad Boy: A Collection of Bad Boy Romances Page 8
