by Jake Biondi
Michael counted to three and then Derek and he struggled to lift the door off those trapped beneath it. Suddenly, Tyler rushed over and assisted them.
“Be careful,” Michael instructed as they slowly managed to lift the door. Groaning occasionally, Derek. Tyler, and Michael pulled the door and dropped it to the side of the people underneath it. Then they returned to them.
“Joyelle! Joyelle!” Derek called to his unconscious wife.
“Oh, God,” Tyler said, bending over Joyelle’s body.
Michael checked Cole O’Brien’s neck for a pulse. “He’s alive,” Michael told Derek. “But his pulse is slow.”
Derek was focused on his wife. “Joyelle. Joyelle, please wake up.” Two paramedics rushed over to them. “Please help her. She’s pregnant.” The paramedics stooped down to examine Joyelle.
A third paramedic ran over to Michael for his assistance. “Over here! Hurry!” Getting up from Derek’s side, Michael followed the paramedics to two other bodies lying one on top of the other. With the assistance of the paramedic, Michael carefully rolled the top body over and onto the ground.
“He’s not breathing,” Michael told the paramedic as he looked down at the bruised face of Gino Ciancio. The paramedic quickly knelt next to Gino as Michael looked at the other person on the ground.
Justin Mancini had been lying on the ground beneath Gino and, with Gino’s body moved to the side, began to moan softly. His body trembled and his arms stretched out above him as if they were trying to grab the air around him. “Help me, help me,” Justin cried out. “I can’t see. I can’t see anything.” Michael looked toward the paramedic and then back down at Justin.
As the paramedics worked to assist the victims, fireworks exploded high above the city. Their vibrant colors and patterns welcomed the new year to Chicago. Reflections and sounds from the fireworks bounced off nearby buildings, including the hotel in which Ben and Jacqueline were staying for their holiday visit.
Ben rushed into his hotel room. He turned the lights on and scanned the room. “Jacqueline? Jacqueline?” He quickly checked the bathroom, which was dark and empty, and then returned to the main part of the suite.
There was no sign of Jacqueline anywhere. He opened the closet and saw that all of her clothes were gone. Then he turned around and noticed that only his suitcase was on the couch; Jacqueline’s was gone.
“No!” Ben yelled as he pulled all the empty hangers from the closet and threw them on the bed. “Damn you, Jesse!”
While Ben raged over Jacqueline’s disappearance, across the hall in another hotel suite, Marco Ciancio kissed Rachel Carson. Their naked bodies intertwined, Marco and Rachel kissed each other deeply. She dug her fingers into his back as he worked his tongue along her jaw line and down to her breast.
Then he sat up somewhat and ran his hand down the side of her body, over her stomach and between her legs. Rachel moaned with pleasure and he smiled as he watched her body squirm beneath him.
Raising her hands to his head, Rachel pushed Marco down between her legs. She held his head in position with one hand, grinding her hips up toward his mouth. With her other hand, she reached over and grabbed the condom from the night stand. Quickly and with precision, she poked her fingernail into it, causing a small tear. Then she returned the condom to the night stand.
Moving his mouth up her body, Marco reached over to the night stand and picked up the condom. Quickly pulling it on, Marco wasted little time pushing into Rachel. He pumped her quickly, rhythmically, as he looked into her eyes with confidence. Rachel clung to his hips as he worked himself deeper inside of her. Leaning forward with one final, powerful thrust, Marco filled the torn condom.
Eventually, Marco rolled over onto his back. Rachel turned and put her head on his chest as he reached over to grab their half-filled champagne glasses from the night stand.
“We did it,” Marco said, passing a glass to Rachel. “A triumph for the Ciancios. I just wish I could reach my brother; he isn’t answering his phone.” Marco took a sip of his champagne. “This is a night the Mancinis will never forget. The beginning of the end.”
“The end of all of them,” Rachel added, smiling.
Marco touched his glass to Rachel’s. “Happy new year.”
Rachel smiled. “It’s going to be a great one.”
Marco and Rachel drank from their glasses as the fireworks continued to explode outside the hotel window. Some people are at their best when things are at their worst.
Episode #22
The past has a way of working itself into the present. As Derek Mancini knelt next to his wife Joyelle in the back of the ambulance, images from the past invaded his mind. He recalled the stormy night that he first met Cole O’Brien in Boston, a one-night fling that turned into so much more. He recalled the Christmas party at which Joyelle stunned him with the news that she was pregnant, only later to find out she was, in fact, carrying twins. He recalled his promise to Cole that he would find a way for them to be together permanently. And he recalled the look on Joyelle’s face as she watched him confess his love for Cole in the video that played at the engagement party earlier in the evening.
The paramedic sitting with Derek startled him from his daydream by asking, “Sir, are you okay?”
“Me?” Derek refocused on the man sitting nearby. “Oh, yes. I’m sorry -- just worried about my wife.”
“I understand,” the paramedic replied. “Everything will be okay. We’ll be at the hospital very soon.”
Derek forced a smile and then looked down at Joyelle, whose bruised face was covered with an oxygen mask. “Hang on, Joy,” Derek whispered to her. “Hang on.”
As the ambulance raced to get Joyelle to St. Joseph Hospital, Keith Colgan was following Michael Martinez toward the hospital’s emergency room entrance. Michael was a few steps ahead and Keith rushed to catch up to him and grab his arm.
“Michael, please,” Keith said as Michael turned around to face him. Keith looked at Michael’s blood-stained forehead and cheeks. “Let a doctor check you out.”
Michael put his hands on Keith’s shoulders. “I’m fine, Keith. I promise you.”
“Fine? You’re covered in blood.”
Michael smiled. “That’s part of my job. Your boyfriend’s a stud, remember?” Michael winked and Keith wrapped his arms around him in a warm hug.
“You’re a hero.”
“A hero? Naw!” Michael paused. “But that Cole O’Brien sure is. He jumped on top of Joyelle to try to protect her when that bomb exploded. It’s the second time that I know of that he’s risked his own life to save someone else.”
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Michael laughed. “Me? Never. I have more lives than a cat. Now, I have to get in there to help the others.” Michael released himself from Keith’s embrace, kissed him on the forehead, and turned to enter the hospital. “Don’t worry so much.”
Keith let out a sigh as he watched Michael go inside the hospital. He stood for a moment in the cold night air until Emmett Mancini and Max Taylor rushed up behind him.
“Have you seen anyone?” Emmett asked as he came face to face with Keith.
“Michael just went inside, but I haven’t seen the others,” Keith replied. “There are ambulances arriving left and right.”
“We should get inside then,” Max added. “And find out what’s going on.”
“Wait,” Keith said abruptly. “Before we go inside. I just want to say...I’m sorry this is all happening on the night of your engagement party. You both deserve better.”
Emmett forced a smile. “Thank you.”
“We all deserve better,” Max said. “No one deserves what happened tonight. Especially not Joyelle.”
“Let’s pray they’re all okay,” Emmett said. “Come on, let’s get inside.” Emmett turned and headed through the glass doors; Max and Keith follow him.
At the same time in the Napa Valley, Carlo Ciancio sat in his leather chair near the roaring f
lame in the fireplace. A sparkling Christmas tree standing proudly behind him, Carlo had his cell phone in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other. While he listened to the person on the other end of his phone call, he raised the champagne glass to his lips and took a sip. Then it was his turn to speak.
“I wish you a happy new year as well, my friend. I am sorry to intrude on your evening, but you must get on this first thing in the morning. And I’ll have my boys on it with you as well -- once I can finally reach them. Apparently, they are partying a bit too much in Chicago, because they are not answering their phones.”
Carlo paused a moment as the person responded. Then Carlo added, “Excellent, my friend. I knew I could count on you. Buon anno.”
Carlo ended the call and tossed his cell phone onto the nearby table. Then he stood up from the chair and stepped over to the Christmas tree. He touched an ornament that his wife had given him long ago and then sipped his champagne again.
“If there is a fourth Mancini son out there, I intend to find him before they do.” He smiled and then let out a soft laugh. “It’s going to be a great year.”
While Carlo pondered his next move, Cole O’Brien struggled with one of the nurses in the emergency room. She was trying to clean a cut on his forehead, but he was agitated and arguing with her.
“I’m okay; just let me go,” Cole said.
“Sir, you are not okay. I need to tend to these bruises,” the nurse said sternly. “Now please, relax.”
“If I let you do your work, will you let me go then?”
“Once the doctor has checked you out.”
“I told you,” Cole said, rolling his eyes, “I’m fine. I need to see how my friend is.”
“I’ll be right back,” the nurse said. “Please stay put.”
“I’ll make sure he does,” David Young said as he walked over to Cole’s bed and sat down beside him.
“You shouldn’t be here,” the nurse said. “But if you’re going to keep this one from rushing off, you can stay.”
David smiled. “I’ll do my best. Thank you.”
As the nurse walked away, David pulled his chair closer to the bed and took Cole’s hand. “Hey, how are you?”
“I’m fine,” Cole said. “I wish everyone would just let me out of here.”
“So you can find Derek?”
Cole pulled his hand from David’s and looked at him directly. “Maybe. What difference does it make?”
“After that video of you two tonight? I think it makes a pretty big difference.” David paused a moment. “And I don’t think it would be wise of you to go rushing after him here in the hospital. Where his wife works.”
“How are they?”
“I don’t know. I came here to see how you are. You are my concern.”
“Well, thank you, but I’m fine.”
“Your head doesn’t look fine,” David said.
“I’ve survived worse, remember? That’s how you and I first met.”
David smiled. “I remember. You’re a super hero.”
“Not quite.”
“Well, Derek is going to need to be. To survive that video. If he survives the explosion.”
“David, I had nothing to do with that video,” Cole said. “It was just as surprising to me.”
“I understand,” David said. Then he asked, “Do you remember what you were doing just before the video was shown?”
Cole forced a smile. “Yes. I was drunk, but not that drunk.”
“Good,” David said, chuckling. “Because I enjoyed--” Before he could finish his statement, the nurse returned to the area. David stood up from his chair. “I kept him from running for you.”
“Thank you,” the nurse said. “Dr. MacMahon will be here to see you in just a moment.”
“Great,” Cole said. “Then I can get out of here.”
“I’ll be in the waiting area,” David said.
“Thank you again,” the nurse added.
David smiled and headed out into the waiting room. After passing through the doors and entering the room, he was greeted by Tyler Bennett.
“Tyler!”
“Have you heard anything? From anyone?” Tyler asked his roommate.
“I just saw Cole. He seems like he’s okay. But I haven’t heard about any of the others.”
“Well, I’m going to see what I can find out. Derek and Joyelle must have arrived by now.”
“That would be great.”
“Is there any news?” Max asked as Emmett and he rushed in from the other hallway.
“Tyler is going to try to find out something,” David said.
“I’ll be right back,” Tyler said as he disappeared behind the nurse’s station.
“I just saw Cole. He seems to be okay; the doctor is with him now,” David explained.
“Well, that’s some good news,” Emmett said.
“Yes, now maybe he can explain that horrible video to us,” Keith said as he entered the room behind Max and Emmett.
“For God’s sake, Keith, not now,” Max said, rolling his eyes. “There are a few more important things going on here.”
“He’s quite the hero,” Keith continued. “At least according to Michael. He said Cole jumped on Joyelle to protect her. And her babies.”
“Then we all owe him a great deal of gratitude, don’t we?” David asked. “Especially if Joyelle and the twins are okay.”
“That’s right,” Max added.
“What about Justin?”
“What about him?” Keith asked.
“He’s my brother, Keith,” Emmett said. “I need to know he’s okay.”
“Of course,” Keith sighed.
“I’m sure Tyler will be able to get us some information soon,” David said.
“Michael is checking on things, too,” Keith added.
From the doorway behind them, Tyler returned to the room carrying a stack of scrubs. “Here you go. I thought you might want to change out of those costumes into these. They are hardly fashionable, but they are comfortable and clean.”
“Thank you,” David said, taking the scrubs from Tyler.
Tyler smiled. “One size fits all.”
“Have you found out anything?” Max asked.
“I’m on my way,” Tyler said. “There’s a bathroom right through there,” he added, pointing to his right.
“Can you find out if my brother Justin is here?” Emmett asked.
“Sure. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
As Tyler left the room once more, David handed the others the scrubs. When he tried to hand Keith a set, Keith put his hand up.
“We ask for information and he brings us a bunch of rags. What the hell?”
“He’s just trying to help,” Max said. “As most of us are.”
“Except for me, of course,” Keith added sarcastically.
“Okay, guys,” Emmett interrupted. “Let’s just all take a breath and change out of these costumes. By the time we do, maybe we’ll have some information.”
David smiled. “Good idea.”
While the men changed into the scrubs, Jesse Morgan was stepping out of the shower in his apartment. While drying off and staring at himself in the mirror, he reflected on the events of the night: his plan that had gone all wrong, the looks on Logan’s and his mother’s faces when they saw him in bed with Ben, and the pain of Ben forcing his way inside of him. But most of all he revisited the agony in Logan’s eyes, a hurt he wondered if he could ever soothe.
A loud pounding on his apartment door startled Jesse from his reflection. He grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist, and hurried to the front door as the pounding grew louder and louder.
“Okay, I’m coming!” Jesse yelled toward the door as he approached and finally opened it. When he saw Ben Donovan standing in front of him, he tried to slam the door but Ben put out his arm and stopped it.
“What have you done with her?” Ben demanded as he grabbed Jesse’s arms.
Jesse pushed ba
ck at Ben. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Where is she? Where is your mother?”
“How the hell should I know? I haven’t seen her since you last saw her. And we both know what a horrific sight that was.”
“Never mind that now,” Ben said. “I have to find her.”
“Well, I haven’t seen or spoken to her. In fact, I just got home after finally getting myself free from the bed you tied me to. I couldn’t wait to get into the shower and wash the filth from your body off me.”
“I still don’t know exactly how your little scheme tonight was supposed to work--”
“--my mother will never speak or even look at you again,” Jesse said. “That’s all that matters.”
Ben grinned oddly. “Don’t underestimate me, Jesse. I’ll come out on top. Just like I did with you in that hotel bed tonight.” Ben turned and left the apartment, the door vibrating as he slammed it behind him.
Jesse pulled the towel from around his waist and hurled it across the room. “Fuck!” Then he headed into his bedroom to put on some clothes.
Meanwhile, Marco Ciancio was on the phone in his hotel room. Standing naked against the dresser with his cell phone in one hand Marco looked down at Rachel Carson as she knelt before him. Her hands wrapped around his muscular thighs Rachel looked up at Marco as he continued his phone conversation.
“Thank you for the update,” Marco said. “Keep me posted. And let me know if you hear from my brother. He’s been unreachable.” Marco ended the call and looked down at Rachel. Running his hands through her long hair, he smiled and said, “Apparently, they are all scrambling to figure out what’s what. They received the message loud and clear: don’t fuck with me...or my family.”
Rachel stopped her activity for a moment to reply, “I like fucking with you.”
Marco laughed. “And you do it so well, babe. Don’t stop.”
