“Wake up, Mick, open your fucking eyes.”
I try, but I’m just too tired. I hear yelling around me.
“Get in here, I can’t feel a pulse.”
Who are they talking about? I can’t hear anyone anymore. The bright light is shining in my eyes.
I open them slowly, and I’m suddenly in a huge flower field, the flowers reaching mid thigh. The sun high in the sky makes the flowers’ color bold and beautiful. I walk in the field, my hand grazing over them. They feel like satin in between my fingers. I continue walking, hearing laughing in the distance.
I can see a woman in the distance, so I walk to her. She twirls a baby girl in her arms, her brown curly hair flying with them. I put my hand over my eyes to block out the sun and to get a better view of the two.
When she stops twirling, she looks straight at me. “Mom,” I whisper. She’s healthy, she’s happy.
She smiles at me. The little girl in her arms looks exactly like I did when I was younger. The little girl looks at me, smiling also. “Look, it’s your brother,” my mother says. The little girl puts her head on my mother’s chest. I try to get closer, but my legs don’t move.
“Mick, you shouldn’t be here,” she says with her voice low and soothing.
“Mom,” is all I can say because she continues.
“You can’t be here. It’s time for you to go back.”
I feel peace fall over me, a feeling of being free, a feeling of flying through the world. “I just got here.” I try to get closer and closer to them, but no matter how much I try to run they just get farther and farther. “Mom,” I yell out, and then she waves one last time and turns around to walk.
She smiles over her shoulder. “Go back to your family, Mick.” And she disappears in front of me.
“Clear.” I hear my body shocked back to life. “We got a pulse.” My eyes try to open, but they can’t do it. “We need to get him into the OR and stop the bleeding.” I hear when all of a sudden I’m flying again.
Chapter Forty-Two
Marissa
I’m sitting on the couch next to Lori, trying to watch this show, but my mind is going a million miles a minute. I get up to get water for the fiftieth time.
I look out of his kitchen window at the water. The sun is shining in the sky. Looking to the left, I see a woman standing with brown curly hair, holding a baby girl in her hands. Eyes I’ve seen before, eyes I’ve looked into before. She sees me and waves at me the minute that Brian’s phone rings, and I turn to him.
I turn back around to search for the woman, but she isn’t there. I look back at Brian, and his eyes rise up to mine. The way he looks at me I know the phone call is about Mick.
His face goes hard and all I hear him say is, “I’m on my way.”
Then I hear yelling in the background. A shrilling yell that rocks me to my core. I don’t even realize it’s me making that noise before I see black.
“Mom, Mom, wake up,” is the next thing I hear. “Mick, Mom, he needs us,” she says, and I blink my eyes till I don’t see blurry anymore.
Brian is right there with her.
“Are you okay?” he asks, and I shake my head no. “We need to go. You want me to call an EMT or can you get there on your own?”
I sit up, shaking my head. “Mick needs me.” This is my time to be strong for him. I look over my shoulder, glancing at the water, the lady gone.
We walk out and drive to the hospital, getting there in record time. I don’t even wait for him to put it in park before I run into the hospital. The sight that waits for me has me stopping in my tracks.
Jackson is sitting looking at his hands. Hands covered in blood. Hands covered in Mick’s blood. I hold on to the railing for support. Gasping out, he turns his head to look at me. Sorrow, sadness, and defeat are written all over his face. His eyes are wet with tears. Thomas is sitting across from him with blood on his shirt. A woman is holding his hand next to him.
Then my eyes find Chris’s. He’s got blood splattered on his white shirt and hands. His eyes look at me for forgiveness. Look at me for me to tell him it’s okay.
These men went into a war zone, and they didn’t even know it. They went in there, not even knowing that guns would be blazing. That one bullet would get one of them. Lori rushes in with Brian at her heels. She looks around the waiting room, her eyes landing on Chris’s.
He gets up and walks to her while she runs to him. Her hands go around his waist, his arms going around her while she places her head on his chest and he kisses her head. He whispers to her, and she cries into his chest.
Jackson gets up and walks to me, holding out his hand. I put my hand in his, and we go sit down and wait for the heavens above to answer all our questions.
We sit here for what seems like days. The minutes creep by. The hours go slower than a snail. As more people hear what has happened, the waiting room becomes fuller.
Bella shows up with Lilah. Brenda shows up with Nancy, and Phyllis shows up with enough food to feed an army. She sits by my side, holding my hand while Lori holds my other hand. Chris is never far from her side.
Jackson sits in front of me. His hands are clean now, and his clothes changed thanks to Bella bringing some for him. Bella holds his hand, whispering things in his ear, but his eyes never leave mine.
The doctor walks into the room, ripping off his mask and cover-up from his scrubs that are covered in blood. He looks over at us. “Mick Moro’s family.”
I don’t say anything. Instead, it’s Jackson who says, “They are right here.” He points to Lori and myself.
We both get up, looking at him.
“He’s going to make it.” Collective sighs fill the room. “He was shot in the side of the stomach. Bullet went right through him, tearing through his liver and kidney. We were able to stop the bleeding. A centimeter more to the right and he would have been a goner. He almost flat lined a couple of times, so we are keeping him in the ICU till I’m comfortable with moving him.”
Tears are falling down my face, my hands on my chest, on my heart. The beating finally back to normal knowing he’s going to be okay. Lori grabs my shoulders in a hug.
“He’s going to be okay, Mom,” she says through her tears. “He’s such a badass.” She laughs through her tears.
“Can I see him?” I ask, afraid they might not let me.
“You can, but it has to be one at a time,” the doctor says. “I know that visiting hours are over, but we will make an exception for this one time.”
I look over at Jackson. “Do you want to go first?”
He shakes his head no. “You go first.”
I don’t wait for him to change his mind. Instead, I follow the doctor down the hallway leading to the ICU, leading to my man. Leading to the man who made my dreams come true. The man who saved my daughter from the devil. The man who has given me my own little piece of heaven.
Chapter Forty-Three
Mick
Fuck, this hurts like a bitch. I try to sit up, but the pain is just too much. I open my eyes, blinking them while I get used to the light that is coming through the curtains. I hiss through my teeth when I look down at the hospital gown. I raise my hand to see the IV injected. I touch my side, feeling the bandages on the side. Fucker got me good.
I look around the room and see the chair right next to me with Marissa curled into a ball, her head on a pillow that is on one of the chair handles. The way she’s sleeping, I know her neck will be hurting like a bitch.
I look around at the flowers that fill the room, nothing like the flowers from my dream. A couple of balloons also with pictures drawn by Lilah are all around the room.
I press the button next to my hand, hoping the nurse comes before I fall back asleep. My lids are already heavy. The nurse walks into the room. From the look on her face, she doesn’t expect it to be me who has pressed the button.
“You’re awake, Mr. Moro,” she says, and her voice breaks Marissa from her sleep, who opens her eyes and swif
tly sits up in the chair.
“You’re awake!” she says, getting up and walking over to me. Her eyes fill with tears, but she blinks them away. “You’re really awake?” She rubs my face with her hand.
The nurse pushes Marissa aside to take my vitals, making her glare at the nurse. I laugh, but the pain just makes me groan. The nurse looks over at Marissa. “If you get in my way again, I’m going to have to ask you to wait outside.”
Marissa rolls her eyes at her, stepping back. The nurse leaves my side to write on the chart.
“Is it okay if I hug my fiancé now?” she asks the nurse, and the nurse looks up, glaring as she walks out of the room.
“Fiancé?” I ask her.
“You’ve been asleep for a week and that is the only thing you have to say to me?” she says. “We had to lie to them to have me sleep here,” she says, walking close to me.
“Is that so?” I hold my breath because of the burning that is now going on. “Fuck, this hurts.”
“It should hurt, you almost died.” She leans down, her face coming closer to me.
I move one hand to her face, touching her softness. Her lips find mine, and her scent invades me everywhere. Softly, she kisses my lips, till my hand finds the back of her head, bringing her deeper into me. When I let her go she doesn’t move far from me, this time sitting on my bed, trying not to hurt or move me. “I missed you.” She grabs my hand and places it in her small one.
I don’t have a chance to respond to her because Jackson comes through the door.
“About fucking time you got off your ass,” he says with a smile. “Who knew you’d be a slacker!”
I smile and don’t even try to laugh, but I point at him. “Wait till I’m better. I’ll show you slacker.”
He walks over to the chair, sitting down, crossing his legs. “You waking up is going to kill Chris. He was gunning to be my partner. Guess that is put on hold also.”
Marissa starts laughing with him.
I glare at both of them. “Is everyone else okay?” I ask him, wondering how my team is.
Jackson nods his head. “Only you were hit. It was touch and go there for a second. Fucking bullets flying everywhere.”
I look over to Marissa to see if it’s too much for her. But she sits there. Shoulders square, head high.
“What the fuck happened?” I ask, trying to piece shit together.
“You walked into a trap of sorts. You heard Tim fall and busted in the door. What you didn’t know was that Daniel was loaded and waiting in the corner. Gun drawn.”
I look at both of them. “Daniel? The guy that was Lori’s ‘mentor’?”
“The one and only. Not only was he Lori’s mentor, he was also Tim’s father,” Jackson tells me.
“Shut the fuck up,” I say, shaking my head. “How do we know all this? How the fuck do they have anything to do with my father?” I wait for the answer.
“Daniel. The minute we took him in, he sang like a fucking canary. He was on your father’s payroll. Seems like daddy dearest was trying to get rid of you.”
I look at him. “Why? I don’t get it.”
“Seems your mother was blackmailing him even from the grave. She has a lawyer send him letters once a month. So every month he had to put ten thousand dollars into a trust in your name. Now, unless you weren’t around to collect it...” Jackson looks at Marissa, who nods her head. “They were framing you. The goal was for Daniel and Tim to drug Marissa and Lori, fill them with drugs until they overdosed, and they planted shit around her house with your fingerprints all over it. Like a smoking gun.”
The thought of my father hurting them is like a punch to the stomach. “What the fuck?”
“Everything was going according to plan till Sandie came in and took you away from them, fucked it up. You weren’t around anymore so then they were going to get Daniel to start dosing them, but then you fucked up there by coming around again. But then Tim thought he could get them to go away with him. The guy was on so much coke I’m surprised he had insides.”
“Where is my father now?”
“He’s dead,” Marissa says. “Killed himself at the scene.”
“Bastard,” I growl. “Fucking worthless piece of shit.”
“Pretty much. We also found Flakka in Daniel’s apartment, so we have him on intent to sell, attempted murder, and a whole shitload of charges. Basically, he’s going to die inside,” Jackson says and then gets up. “I think you’ve had enough for one day.”
I nod at him while he reaches for my shoulder and squeezes it.
“Good to have you back, partner,” he says before walking out.
“Tell Chris to get off my fucking desk,” I tell him, and he smiles at me.
“How did you know?” He shakes his head, walking out.
I look at Marissa, who returns my gaze.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“Marry me?” I ask her. I don’t have a ring, I don’t have a plan, but I know that I can’t let another minute pass without knowing she will be mine. That she will be the one holding my hand forever. That she will be the one carrying my kids. That she will give me my piece of heaven.
Her lips curl up into a crooked smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Epilogue
Mick
I pull up, parking on the street. Toys litter the grass along with three red cars, two tricycles, and a pink electric scooter all thrown in the driveway.
I make my way around them, jogging up the stairs. Opening the door and walking inside what I consider my very own personal daycare, the door doesn’t even close behind me till my boy Liam runs to me.
“Daddy, Momma said I can’t have dessert because I bad.” He frowns at me.
I lean down and pick up my little monster, who just turned six.
He is my clone, just don’t say that in front of Marissa. The whole time she carried him for nine months is a sore subject since he has nothing of hers.
“And why are you bad?” I ask him.
He shrugs his shoulders.
“I’ll tell you why, because Liam thought it would be a good idea to get worms and put them in Sarah’s doll carriage,” my wife says, coming out of the kitchen holding one of my twin girls Sierra while Sarah hugs her legs. Where Liam is all me, my two-year-old twin girls are all their momma. Soft blond ringlets fall to their shoulders, but their eyes are all me. They are the bane of my existence, and they play me like a fiddle. All they have to do is smile at me and I’ll do whatever they want. Fuck, throw tears in there and I’ll fucking go to the ends of the earth just so they don’t have those tears.
I look at my boy, who is trying to hide his smirk at this revelation. “Did you put worms in Sarah’s stroller?”
He looks down, so I know he’s lying.
“Did you clean them up?”
“No, Momma did,” Sierra says. “She yell ‘ahhhhhahahahah’,” she says with her hands in the air.
I look at my wife, who looks just like she did nine years ago when I married her. The day she walked toward me wearing a white lace gown on Lori’s arm, both of them walking toward me. To join me. To take my name. Both girls are now Moros. And I couldn’t be any more fucking prouder. I walk over to her, bending to kiss her lips. Slipping my tongue into her mouth, my cock stirs.
“Hmmmm,” she says to me, wiping my lower lip with her thumb.
“So gross,” We hear coming downstairs. Our eight-year-old son Jackson walks down the stairs. “When does the kissing stop?” he asks, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge.
“Never,” I say, and he groans.
“I wish I had normal parents.” He pours himself a glass of milk.
We both roll our eyes.
“Did you finish your homework?” Marissa asks him while she goes into the dining room to put Sarah in her booster seat while I put Liam down in his chair and buckle Sierra in hers.
Marissa walks away, and I watch her ass as she walks out. Her shape never changed. She is sexier
today than before. The first time she told me she was pregnant I fucked her till we were both raw. The fact that she carried my kid in her was the hottest fucking thing ever.
Then I saw her stomach swell with my child. I fucked her anywhere I could.
I remember being at a restaurant and getting into the car and parking so she could ride my cock while I sucked her swollen tits. Her nipples getting darker and darker as the months passed. She took off the piercings when she fed our children but put them back in the minute she stopped nursing.
She must feel me thinking about it because she still has her back to me when she says, “Out of the gutter, Mick.” It’s like she feels me place my hands on her. Fuck. I need to sit down before my eight-year-old sees my boner.
It’s never a dull moment in the Moro house, especially when their older sister comes to visit. Well, except the time that Jackson took her earring to try to put it in his pecker. That was an explanation I didn’t ever want to have. Looking at my twenty-year-old daughter while my son explained he wanted one just like daddy is something I never ever want to do again. The fact that she looked at my junk after, pointed at me, and laughed wasn’t great either. Or the fact she high fived her mother.
Marissa comes to the table with the lasagna. The meal goes as smooth as it could be with two toddlers, a boisterous son, and an almost hormonal boy.
Three hours later, we are lying on the couch watching some fucking reality show that Lori has been obsessed with. You would think being a mom to a one-year-old would slow her television time, but not her.
Not one to let the opportunity to grope my wife pass me by, I slide my hand up Marissa’s shirt to cup her tits. Fuck, still a handful. I roll her nipple and still after all this time she moans.
My hand slides down her still flat stomach into her shorts, then right into her slit. She’s already wet and primed. “So fucking wet for me already,” I tell her, shifting so she could spread open for me.
“Hmmmm. I played with myself in the shower,” she says, and I know she isn’t lying.
“Did you?” I ask, sliding one finger in her and then two. “What were you thinking about?” I finger her harder while she snakes her hand into my basketball shorts, her hand gripping my cock, squeezing it and matching the way I finger her.
Pieces Of Heaven: Pieces Of Heaven (Heaven & Hell Book 2) Page 23
