by Lea Hart
There was a light knock on the door and then it opened. Bruce stuck his head in and she waved him in. “Hi, Bruce.”
“You look good, sis.” He gave her a peck on the cheek and picked up her hand. “It’s nice to see you smiling.”
“I can’t seem to wipe it off my face. Turns out surviving getting shot puts me in a damn good mood.”
“Yeah, I can see how that would happen.” He pulled up a chair and sat down. “Mama and Daddy are going to be by later. They’re a little worn out because they hadn’t really slept since I called them Monday night.”
“How is Mama holding up? Has she driven everyone crazy yet with her fussing?”
“No, I think it’s Matt they want to kill. The guy has been relentless in his questions and concern. He doesn’t have Mama’s charm to smooth things over, so he’s not real popular out there with the nurses.”
“It’s been only three days. How has he had time to make a nuisance of himself?”
Bruce shrugged and then checked to see if the bathroom door was still closed. “The guy was scared out of his mind so he went a little crazy. Especially when they took you in for the second surgery.”
“Holy moly. I’m going to send him out to buy some cookies and brownies for the staff.” Tipping her head, she started chewing on a nail. “I have a better idea. You and Matt can bring your championship belts in and visit with the kids downstairs.”
“Sure, I’ll check with the nurses and have them set it up.” Crossing his leg over his knee, he studied her. “I can’t believe you were shot in front of The Ritz-Carlton.”
Pushing her damp hair over her shoulder, she wrinkled her nose. “Neither can I.”
The bathroom door opened and Matt walked out in a pair of jeans, a long-sleeve blue T-shirt, and flip-flops. Bree studied him and decided he looked a lot better. She wasn’t sure that he’d gotten much sleep and it was probably time for him to go home and get some rest. “Better?” she asked.
“Much.” He walked over and gave her a kiss, then shook Bruce’s hand. “She looks a lot better, doesn’t she?”
Bruce stood and nodded. “Absolutely. I’m going to head out and check on the gym and then go and pick up the folks. They want to spend the afternoon with you and they said something about picking up some flowers.”
Bree looked around the room and then shook her head. “Please don’t let them. Have Mama get me some magazines.”
“Okay.” He looked around and then asked, “Did they bring your briefcase by? One of the nurses said that the EMTs had it and they delivered it yesterday.”
“Not sure. It would be nice to have my phone and iPad back,” Bree replied.
“I’ll go ask them,” Matt said as he moved toward the door.
“Uh…honey, why don’t you let Bruce do it on his way out?” When he gave her a funny look, she just smiled at him.
He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. “It’s totally normal to ask a lot of questions and ensure that your girlfriend has everything she needs.” Raising an eyebrow, he shrugged. “I used my manners…mostly.”
“Let’s just give the nurses a break from your charm for a while.”
Bruce let out a bark of laughter. “My sister, the diplomat.” He gave her a kiss on her head before he headed for the door. “I’ll text you the address of a good bakery so you can get them back on your side, Matt.”
Bree laughed and watched Bruce walk out the door. “Matt, come sit down.”
Grumbling, he complied and took the chair that Bruce had vacated. “I wasn’t a pain in the ass.”
She patted his hand. “And as long as you believe it, then that’s all that matters.”
“Whatever,” he responded. “Let’s see how reasonable you’d be if I was shot up and lying in a hospital bed.”
“Point taken.” Flipping her hand over, she waited until he took it. “Are we back together?”
“Absolutely. The break has officially ended and whatever issues we have will be worked out together. I almost lost you and I’m not letting you go.”
“I had lunch with Kendra and her mama on Sunday and I had come to the same conclusion. I missed you terribly and I didn’t want the past to poison my future anymore. When I feel a little stronger, I’m going to explain the whole thing to you and hopefully, it will make sense. I think the simplest explanation is that I got scared and I needed to figure out why.”
“So, you were going to call me on Monday?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes, that was my plan.”
Standing, he gently wrapped his arms around her and said, “I love you, Bree.”
She pressed her face into his chest. His scent surrounded her and the full heart she’d been feeling earlier exploded. “I love you too, Matt.”
She felt him sit down next to her and lift her face with both his hands. His calloused fingers held her gently and she realized that Matt Hall was perhaps the kindest, gentlest man she had ever met. He’d been straightforward and honest from the beginning. What you saw was what you got. He was like a bright primary color. He had big, beautiful, strong emotions and he was absolutely certain of them. His openness and conviction had cracked her frozen heart and filled it with love.
If she had to pick a color to paint his heart, she would choose gold. “I’m in love with you, and I’m ready to fight for us as well.”
The big bad MMA fighter let every emotion he had show, and she felt like he had given her the best gift in the world. A tear tracked down his face and she leaned forward and kissed him for the first time in two months. Really kissed him. The way she had been dreaming about.
“Love you, Bree,” he said against her lips.
“Love you more.”
***
Thursday Afternoon
Bree’s folks had just left and she was ready for a nap. Looking over at Matt, she saw that he was about to doze off on the couch that sat next to the window. He hadn’t been out of the room much and she hoped that she could get him to go home tonight and get a good night’s rest. Sleeping in the hospital was going to wear him down and that’s the last thing he needed, considering he had a fight in about nine weeks. He was going to have to leave for fight camp next week if he expected to be ready in July. As soon as he woke up, she was going to make sure he was squared away and had his plans confirmed.
Just as she closed her eyes, she heard a knock on the door and Nicole walked in. “Hey, honey. How are you doing?” Bree asked quietly.
“Is this a bad time?” Nicole asked.
Matt sat up and rubbed his hands over his face. “Hey, Nicole. I’d ask how you are, but I’m afraid of the answer. You look wrung out.”
Putting her hand on her hip, she smirked. “Always the charmer, Matt.”
Holding up his hands, he shook his head. “Sorry. I haven’t slept much and I’ve lost my filter. Apparently, I’ve been a real ray of sunshine.” He looked over at Bree and gave her a faint smile.
Bree held out her hand and when Nicole came closer, she took it and squeezed. “I heard you’ve been camping with the SFPD trying to find out who’s responsible.”
“Honey, you know I can’t rest until I have all the answers. God bless my brother for putting up with me. I’m going to have to do something really nice for him when this thing is over.”
Matt pushed a chair next to Bree’s bed and motioned for Nicole to sit down. “You want anything to drink?” he asked as he took her briefcase from her.
“No, thank you. I’ve had way too much coffee and shouldn’t have any more.”
Matt pulled another chair over, sat across from Nicole, and took Bree’s hand. “So, who is the fucker that shot my girlfriend?”
“That’s a pretty good description,” she replied quietly. Leaning over, she pulled open her briefcase and pulled out a legal pad. “This is not some simple answer and I have to look at my notes so I don’t miss anything.”
Bree looked at Nicole’s yellow pad and let out a laugh. “Your notes still look like chicken scratc
h and yet you graduated three spots above me.”
Nicole tapped her head and smiled. “It’s not pretty but it works beautifully.”
She looked over at Matt and shrugged. “Nicole graduated number two in our class and I graduated number five.”
Nicole lifted her pad of paper proudly. “My notes look like a new language and Bree’s looked like you could frame them, they were so perfect.”
Matt sat back, lifted his hands behind his head, and locked his fingers. “Good thing you two are on my side.”
“True,” Nicole responded. “Okay, want to hear the SFPD working theory on what happened Monday?”
“Yes!” Bree almost shouted.
“Get ready because this sounds like a script from a television drama.”
“Is Grayson at the center of it?” Matt asked quietly.
“Yes,” Nicole responded.
“It’s a good thing he’s still in critical condition. Otherwise, I might have to let him know how I feel,” Matt said.
“Ready?” Nicole asked.
“Go,” Bree responded.
“Grayson had a gambling habit, as we know from Victor. Unfortunately, he was in the hole for around three hundred seventy thousand dollars. And the folks he owed the money to are part of the Chinese secret society called the Ghee Kung Tong. They’re known for their smuggling operations, prostitution rings, and gambling operations. High-stakes poker, to be specific. The actual people who run the games work under a fellow known as Shrimp Boy. He runs a gang called the Wah Ching and they are the actual soldiers on the ground. Our boy Grayson had run out of time to pay back his debt.”
Bree sat up and moved her hair off her face. “He told me during our meeting that he was going to talk with his parents, confess his sins, and ask for access to his trust fund. He must’ve known he was running out of time.”
Matt shook his head and sat forward. “So, Shrimp Boy ran out of patience and decided to put some bullets in him. That doesn’t make any sense. If he’s dead, he can’t pay them back.”
“It seems the soldiers didn’t follow orders. They were supposed to scare the shit out of him, not spray the front of The Ritz-Carlton with bullets and put two people in the hospital. Shrimp Boy is now in FBI custody and has spilled his guts so he can get the list of charges reduced.”
Bree shook her head. “This was a power play. Those soldiers meant to hit Grayson and whoever else was standing nearby. They wanted to move up the food chain and show they were capable.”
“My brother, Kevin, agrees. He thinks there is a power struggle within the gang and this was meant to answer any lingering questions about who should lead.”
“Are the shooters in custody?” Matt asked.
Nicole shook her head. “One is and the other is in the wind. They were in a stolen vehicle and they ditched it at the Marina. They caught one and lost the other.” She looked through her notes and then sighed. “This has been fascinating, watching the investigation unfold. The city is covered in security cameras and they tracked the vehicle through the city and then used these amazing facial recognition programs to come up with a match for the shooters. The future of crime doesn’t look good because the powers that be can track almost anything that happens on the streets.”
“Why use automatic weapons?” Bree asked. “I know that sounds like a weird question, but that is the one thing that stuck in my mind from the afternoon. I saw the car barrel down the street and then I heard round after round being discharged as they got close. Somehow, it didn’t make sense. I assumed it was a terrorist attack and I wondered who was inside the hotel.”
“The Wah Ching like to use the TEC-9. It’s an automatic weapon that is essentially converted to a fully automatic submachine gun. They can fire an astonishing one thousand rounds per minute as an automatic weapon. They are meant to show power and are not often used inside the city limits.”
“Holy moly. I’m lucky they had to dig only two bullets out of me,” Bree responded faintly.
“That’s exactly what Kevin said when he read the report. Grayson will be lucky to make a full recovery,” Nicole said.
Matt looked at both women and crossed his arms. “Seems karma worked out after all.”
Smoothing the blanket, Bree made sure that it was perfectly straight. “I have been blessed beyond measure to walk away from something like this. That fact is never going to be far from my mind.”
Nicole looked at her notes and then tapped the pad of paper against her knee. “Hand of God,” she said as she lifted her briefcase. She slipped the paper inside, then stood. “That’s all I have for now. Kevin will keep us updated as things progress. I’m going home to sleep for a day or two. I’ll come visit you in a few days and see how you’re doing.”
“Thank you,” Bree said as she watched her friend walk toward the door.
Nicole waved and then walked out. As the door closed, Bree looked at Matt. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Honey, we have to make something of the chance we’ve been given.”
Bree took his hand, felt tears stream down her face, and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Nicole had been right—the hand of God had saved her life, and she was going to make sure she made the most of everything good that came her way. Glancing over, she decided that Matt was going to be the first thing she made the most of.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Friday, May 12th
It had been eleven days since Bree had been shot and they’d been home since Wednesday. Matt stirred the eggs as he studied her lying on the couch. Her color was coming back and she seemed relatively pain-free. When he saw her move and start to get up, he shook his head. “Where are you going? You are supposed to be resting and not having any strenuous activity.”
“I’m going potty. Is that okay with you?”
He turned off the heat and set the eggs aside. “Let me help you, honey.” He saw her hand fly up in a stop motion and he knew she was about to lose her temper. He’d been shadowing her since he arrived at the hospital last week and she was about done with him. Taking a step backward, he picked up the pan and finished making the scrambled eggs. “Just call if you need me.”
Watching her out of the corner of his eye, he saw her talking to herself and knew she was calling him names. Didn’t much matter because he wasn’t going to stop. “Breakfast will be ready when you come back.”
Not a word of response, except the closing of the bathroom door. Didn’t hurt his feelings. He’d known she was going to be a bad patient and he’d been right. The woman had very little patience with the recovery process and she was itching to go back to work and to her routine. He figured a big part of that was her need to reclaim her life. He could see that she didn’t want the shooting to affect her, but it was.
Being told what to do and how to do it wasn’t something Bree handled well. Unless, of course, they were in bed and he was dominating her. She liked that just fine. Which is not what he needed to be thinking about. He put the lid on the eggs and then shoved some bread into the toaster. His mind did not need to get anywhere near sexy thoughts of him and Bree. It was going to take a while before she was going to be able to make love and he did not want to torture himself with memories of them together.
It had been sixty-five days since they’d been intimate and he would wait another sixty-five if that’s what it took. The one thing that wouldn’t help was torturing himself with thoughts of Bree and how they were together. Definitely time to get back to training. There was a place for all that energy and he meant to put everything he had into fight camp until he and Bree could be together.
The fact that they got to sleep together for the last two nights had soothed his soul and let him know that he would do whatever it took to make them work. Lying together in bed had set him right in a way that he’d been craving.
Bree returned to the kitchen and he gave her a smile. “Breakfast is ready.”
“Thank you for making it and taking such good care of me.” Be
fore she sat down, she wrapped her hands around his waist and hugged him. “I’m sorry I’m being such a grump.”
He gently hugged her back and rested his head on top of hers. “You can be as grumpy as you want. Being shot is bound to make a person have a few bad days.”
Tipping her head back, she looked up at him. “That’s the thing. I don’t want to let it.”
“Not much of a choice. You have to recover and that’s going to take time and patience.” He leaned down, kissed her, and then let her go. “Sit down and let’s eat.”
After they had finished their meal, Matt sat back and drank his coffee. “Why are you staring at me?”
“’Cause I like your face.”
“And…”
“You have nine weeks before your fight. You should’ve left for fight camp last week.” She placed her cutlery on her plate and then gave him a smile. “When are you leaving?”
“Fight camp is not always ten weeks long. It can be from six to eight, and to answer your question, I’m going to stay and do fight camp with Jaime at the gym.” When she sat forward, he knew she was going to have all kinds of opinions about it. “It’s already set.”
“I don’t like it, Matt. Are you staying in town because of my accident?”
“Yes.” He saw the wheels turning in her head and he knew she was about to unleash an unholy argument. “Before you say anything, let me explain.” Raising an eyebrow, he waited for her to agree.
“Fine.”
“Fight camp is designed to make sure that I’m in good shape, have a strategy for my opponent, make weight, and stay injury-free. I can do that here just as easy as I can do that in Las Vegas, which is where I was originally going. In fact, it’s easier to stay here and meet my goals. Jaime has a slate of fighters for me to spar with, and that’s the most important thing.”
