“Don’t you ever put your hands on her.” The menace in his voice is downright frightening. But I can’t bring myself to feel sorry for her. My hatred for Kiersten runs so deep, I actually feel a tiny thrill at seeing Gabriel take her down. “If I ever see your face again, I’ll make sure whatever little life you have after this is obliterated. You do not come near me, Marley, or my family ever again.” I watch with twisted fascination as he continues to tighten his hand on her throat, causing her to struggle against his hold and gasp for breath. “Your relationship with my mother is dead as of this moment. You are no longer welcome in her presence. She’s been made aware of the circumstances, and trust me, she’s more than happy to abide by my wishes.”
“Gabriel, please,” Kiersten wheezes. “You’re hurting me.”
“This is nothing compared to what I’ll do to you if I ever find out you so much as look in Marley’s direction again.” He pulls her off the wall and slams her back, her head making a sickening thud against the sheetrock. “I will personally end you if you come near my girl again. Now get the fuck out of my sight.” With that, he throws her to the side and opens the office door. She stumbles on her heels and lands ungracefully on all fours, not moving for several seconds.
“OUT!” Gabriel barks, causing both Kiersten and me to jump. She scrambles to her feet quickly and makes her way out of the office, sobbing uncontrollably the entire time. When the door is slammed back in place, Gabriel turns to me and closes the distance between us in two long strides. Taking my face in his hands, he studies my expression closely.
“You okay, my bella?”
I reach up and wrap my hands around his wrists as I give him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, honey. I’m good.”
Relief spreads across his face and he leans down to press his lips against mine. “Thank you for trusting me,” he whispers.
“Thank you for doing that for me.” I smile against his lips.
Once we’ve disengaged, I bend to retrieve the pictures from the floor. I regret my decision the moment I see the first one. “Ugh.” Walking over to the trash bin, I drop them in, wiping my hands on my jeans.
Gabriel and Aldo both laugh at my reaction. Walking back over to him, I wrap my arms around his neck and look up lovingly into those beautiful gray eyes. “You know, if I didn’t hate her so much, I’d almost feel bad for her.”
“Almost?” Gabriel laughs.
“Well, I’ll just leave you lovebirds to it,” Aldo says, standing from the couch and making his way to the door. “Here’s hoping the rest of the day is nowhere nearly as interesting as this morning.”
“I can’t believe he did that!” Carmen exclaims. I somehow managed to make it through the entire shift without regaling Matt and Carmen with all the gory details of Gabriel’s little meeting with Kiersten, but now our shift is over, we are free to talk without interruption. “That’s fucking insane!” Carmen finishes.
“And hot!” Matt adds in.
“Right!”
I laugh and say, “I know; I didn’t know whether to be shocked, aroused, or terrified. It was so intense.”
“Some people might not necessarily take that whole scene as a white knight in shining armor, but we’re not exactly what you’d consider normal, are we?” Matt jokes. And he’s right. While normal people would have viewed what happened yesterday as barbaric, I saw it for what it really was—a testament to Gabriel’s devotion. He did it in the best way he knew how, considering the world he lives in.
We make our way out to the employee parking lot at the back of the building. The lighting back here is practically nonexistent, but we’re all so used to it, we never bother to take in our surroundings anymore, too comfortable after working here for so long, we ignorantly think nothing bad can happen. Tonight we’re proven wrong.
“Hey! What the fuck!” Matt yells, turning Carmen’s and my attention to what—or who—he’s yelling at. A black figure slumped over by my car stands quickly at the sound of Matt’s voice. Everything moves too quickly, none of us are prepared. Barreling toward our group, the man—I can only assume it’s a man based on his massive size, his ski mask and hoodie make it impossible to see his face—rushes Matt, landing a swift punch to his jaw sending a sickening crack echoing through the night. He follows up with more punches to Matt’s face, getting in as many as he can before Matt’s prone form hits the gravel surface of the parking lot like a rag doll, not getting back up.
But the man isn’t finished; lifting his arm, he swings out violently, connecting with Carmen’s face, the strong backhanded hit sending her flying. My mouth opens to scream, but before a sound can escape, he has one hand covering my mouth, the other squeezed around my throat, painfully tight.
He keeps moving fast until my back hits the cold surface of the building behind me. My head slams against the brick so hard spots dance before my eyes. Unable to scream past the hand cutting off my air supply, I stare wide-eyed into the menacing dark eyes of my attacker, scratching at his hand, doing my best to dig my fingers into his skin and break his hold.
“You opened your legs for the wrong fucking man, you stupid whore. You were warned. Now you’re going to pay.” Through the cutout of his mask, I can see his lips curl up into a smile so evil my stomach twists in fear.
“Let her go!” I hear Carmen scream as she scrambles to her feet. Holding a hand to her cheek, she attempts to run at the man choking me; but before she can reach us, he’s gone, letting me go and running off into the dark shadows of the buildings around us.
I collapse to the ground, sucking in huge lungsful of the air I’d been deprived. “Shit, are you okay?” Carmen scurries over to where I’m on my hands and knees on the gravel trying desperately to get my breath back. “Matt,” I croak out, wincing in pain, my throat beyond sore from being squeezed so tightly.
Carmen rushes to Matt’s side, her hands running over his body. Once I’m able to function, I crawl over to them, taking in Matt’s battered and bleeding face. His eyes are closed and he’s not moving. “Matt,” I cry, shaking his body. When he lets out a groan of pain, I look up at Carmen and see tears coursing down her cheeks as well. We’re both scared out of our minds, but it’s more than that. If something worse had happened to Matt, we wouldn’t know what to do. He is our family.
“Should we call the cops?” she asks me in a voice so scared I barely recognize it’s coming from her. Carmen’s always been so unshakable. Seeing her like this brings the seriousness of the situation to the forefront of my mind.
“No, I’ll call Gabriel.”
“You think this has to do with him?”
I recall the words the man said as he tried to squeeze the life out of me. “Yeah. It has to do with him. He’ll take care of it, I promise.”
She nods in quick, jerky motions before turning her attention back to Matt. He’s started making more noises now, thank God, so at least we know he’s alive.
“My bella,” Gabriel’s strong, smiling voice coming through the phone causes me to lose it.
“Gabriel?” My voice cracks on a painful sob, my throat throbbing.
“What’s wrong?” All traces of his good mood vanish, his voice hardening into a dark tone.
“We w-were attacked,” I cry.
“What!” he thunders through the line. “Where are you? Who’s with you?” I hear commotion in the background.
“The parking lot of Fletcher’s. I’m with Matt and Carmen. He’s hurt really bad.”
“We’re on our way.” I don’t know who we are, but I don’t care. I just need him to get here. Fast. “Try to get Matt inside, baby. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay,” I sniffle. I disconnect and stuff my phone in my back pocket. “We need to get him inside,” I manage to say, my voice scratchy.
Carmen nods at me, brushing away tears. “Matt, honey. We have to move you,” she tells him. He just moans in response. Between the two of us, we manage to get him up, an arm slung over each of our shoulders. It takes several minute
s, and we both struggle against his mass and dead weight, but we are somehow able to get him back into the now closed bar. I rest him the best I can on a barstool, making sure to hold on tight, while Carmen hurries to push two tables together. Once done, we maneuver him so he’s lying flat on his back.
“I’m okay,” he tries to grind out, but his wince tells us otherwise.
“Do you want us to call Caleb, Matty?” I ask, brushing hair off his forehead. I struggle to keep my tears in check. He just looks so awful. His face is so bruised and swollen. I can’t even tell where all the blood is coming from.
He shakes his head, unable to speak. If I had to guess, I’d say his jaw is most definitely broken.
“Babe, you need your man,” Carmen tells him. When I look up at her, I gasp at the massive black and blue lump forming on her left cheek. There’s a nasty cut along her cheekbone right under her eye.
“Oh God, Car. Your face.” I can’t hold myself together any longer. I start crying uncontrollably. My best friends, my family, were hurt tonight. They could have been killed. I can’t even think about what I’d do if I lost one of them. But the thought of losing both is unbearable.
She wraps her arms around my shoulders, pulling me in for a strong hug. “It’s okay, honey. I’m okay. Bruises heal.”
I’m just about to respond when loud banging on the glass door startles screams from both of us.
“Unlock the door, Marley!” Gabriel yells from the other side of the glass. I rush to the door and throw the deadbolt. As soon as I whip open the door, Gabriel charges in scooping me up in his arms before I even get a good look at him. The gravity of the situation comes crashing back down on me, and I hold on to him for dear life, trembling uncontrollably as the last of the adrenaline leaves my system. I’m shaking like a leaf, my teeth chattering together loudly in the quiet space.
Finally, Gabriel pulls back, holding onto my shoulder to examine me. The gray in his eyes turns thunderous as his gaze skates over my neck. I haven’t had the opportunity to look in the mirror yet, but I have no doubt the man left some serious marks.
“What the fuck happened!” I jump and spin around, shocked to hear Aldo’s booming voice from behind me. He’s holding on to Carmen’s chin, staring daggers at the gigantic bruise and cut marring her cheek.
Pulling away from Gabriel, I address the room as a whole. “When Matt saw some guy messing around with my car, he yelled at him. I thought he’d just take off, but he didn’t. He just charged us! It happened so fast we didn’t even have time to react. He beat the hell out of Matt, backhanded Carmen, and pinned me to the wall by my throat.”
“Did he say anything?” Gabriel asks, deceptively calm.
My gaze averts to the ground. I suck my lips between my teeth, not wanting to answer. I know how Gabriel will react, and it won’t be pretty.
“Marley,” he snaps at me. “What did he say?”
“He said…he said I spread my legs for the wrong man. And that I was going to pay since I ignored the warnings,” I whisper.
“Shit,” Carmen breathes.
Gabriel stays silent for several seconds, staring at my neck. I just start to think he’s not going to overreact when he walks over to one of the tables, and with a loud yell, grabs a chair, and hurls it across the room. It explodes into pieces as soon as it impacts with the wall. “Motherfucker!” he shouts, grabbing his hair in both hands as he paces back and forth like a caged animal. I’m stunned motionless. I feel like my feet are glued to the ground, unable to move toward him.
Matt groans from the table he’s lying on, breaking the strained silence. All four of us rush to his side.
“Shit,” Aldo hisses out. “We’ve got to get him to a hospital, man,” he tells Gabriel. “We don’t have a choice. Kid’s beyond fucked up, Gabe.”
Gabriel’s chin jerks up. “Yeah, I know. Marley, baby, I need you to call 911.”
“But…the police—”
He puts his hands on my shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “It doesn’t matter. Did you get a good look at the guy? Have you got any clue who it was?”
“No,” I answer with a shake of my head. “No, I couldn’t see anything. The guy was covered in black from head to toe.”
“Okay. So we call the cops. You tell them exactly that, and that you, Matt, and Carmen were attacked. Don’t mention what he said to you. Just keep it simple. If they ask, he was trying to car jack you, Matt startled him, and he attacked. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Carmen?” he asks, turning to my friend. “You good with that?”
Her arms are wrapped around her stomach, her shoulders trembling as Aldo looks Matt over.
“Y-yeah. Yeah. I’m good.”
“What about Matt?” I look back at Gabriel. I can practically see the wheels turning in his head.
“He was knocked out, didn’t hear, or see anything after he was attacked.”
He tilts his head to the ceiling and lets out a deep breath before looking back at me. “All right, baby. Make the call.”
“And he didn’t say anything to you?” the officer questioning me asks for the hundredth time.
“No. I already told you,” my tired, scratchy voice coming out in a clipped tone, “he didn’t say anything to me. And before you ask again, no, I didn’t get a good look at him through the ski mask and hoodie. I left my x-ray vision glasses at home today. Sorry.”
I know I shouldn’t act so sarcastic, that I’m being unnecessarily rude, but I can’t help it. I’m exhausted, my body hurts, and the chairs in the hospital waiting room are beyond uncomfortable. We’ve been sitting here for a half hour, Carmen and I being grilled by officers the whole time as they come up with fifty different ways to ask the same fucking questions. I’ve reached the end of the rope. My patience has fucking snapped. I just want to find out if Matty’s okay.
“I’m sorry, officer,” Gabriel placates, coming to stand next to me. “It’s just been a long night, and my girlfriend is exhausted and worried about her friend. I’m sure you can understand.”
Having a boyfriend so high up on the food chain is definitely a plus at times like these. The young officer and his partner know exactly who he is, and with his wealth and connections comes a certain level of respect—considering no one knows the seedy side to him, that is. Thankfully, Gabriel is able to pacify them enough to get them to leave, at least for the night.
“I’ll be sure to bring her down to the station if she’s able to remember anything else. You have my word. I want this man caught just as much as you do, believe me.”
“I’m sure you do, Mr. Bertozzi. We’ll do everything we can to catch the guy.”
“Thank you,” Gabriel says, giving the men firm handshakes. “I have the utmost faith you’ll do just that.”
Jeez, could he lay it on any thicker?
Carmen and I sit in silence, clasping each other’s hands in a death grip, while Aldo and Gabriel stand in the corner, whispering in hushed voices.
Closing my eyes, I rest my head on Carmen’s shoulder and begin to doze when a loud commotion jolts me awake.
“Where is he?”
I lift my head just in time to see Caleb run by the waiting room windows. Seeing us sitting there, he skids to a halt and backtracks quickly.
“Fucking Christ.” He bounds toward Carmen and me as we stand to meet him. He doesn’t stop until he has both of us wrapped in his arms. “Are you two okay? What the hell happened?”
I hate lying to Caleb, but this is necessary. “We were jumped. We think the guy was trying to steal my car, but we don’t know for sure. It all happened so fast.”
He pulls back, wincing when he sees my neck and Carmen’s cheek. Are you okay? Have either of you been checked out?”
Carmen gives him a warm, yet watery smile. “Yeah, we’re fine. Nothing broken, just some bruising.”
“And Matt?” he asks, his voice breaking.
“We don’t know yet,” I whisper, trying to get my own emotions und
er control. I need to try to be strong for Caleb. “The doctor hasn’t come out yet.”
He steps back and runs his hands through his hair before bending at the waist. I wish there was something more I could do to comfort him. When he stands back up, he finally notices we aren’t alone in the room.
Gabriel and Aldo come up to introduce themselves and forced pleasantries are exchanged for a few minutes. Because we’re all exhausted, we end up collapsing into the hard plastic chairs, sitting in silence for word on our friend.
Although it feels like an eternity, it’s probably less than an hour before the doctor walks into the waiting room. Carmen, Caleb, and I are all on our feet the moment he crosses the threshold, bombarding him with one question after another.
“Hold on, hold on,” he tells us, holding his hands up. “Are you family?”
“Yes!” all three of us answer at once.
The look on his face tells us he doesn’t believe we’re all related for one second, but he takes pity on us. “Your friend is going to be just fine.”
You can hear the collective breath whoosh from everyone in the room as soon as we hear that. It’s as if none of us has been able to breathe since we arrived at the hospital. I can’t control it, my emotions are just too strung out, and I break down into happy tears at the news.
“We’re keeping him overnight to monitor him, possibly tomorrow night as well depending on how things look in the morning. He has a fractured cheekbone, a broken nose, and a severe concussion. His suffered a broken jaw as well, so we had to wire it closed. Now, I know this all sounds bad,” he tells us quickly when he sees our expressions, “but everything will heal just fine, and he’ll be back to normal before you know it.”
We’re told we’ll have to wait for visiting hours tomorrow to see him; but after Gabriel explains that Caleb is Matt’s significant other, he’s allowed to spend the night in his room. Carmen and I give Caleb tight hugs, while Aldo and Gabriel give handshakes and back pats, then the four of us leave the hospital and head for home. The ride back to the apartment is quiet, neither Gabriel nor I functioning enough to fill the car with conversation. When we get home, we both strip out of our clothes and fall into bed without a word spoken between us. Gabriel pulls my body to his, wrapping himself around me like a blanket. I hold on to him just as tightly, needing his strength and the security I feel in his presence to soothe me. It doesn’t take long before both of us fall asleep.
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