Forgiven (Touched Series #2) (14 page)

“It’s time, whore. You haven’t gotten me the money and I’m sick of you fucking with me. I’m done.” My eyes widen, the smoke stinging them, when I feel something hard press against my stomach. I look down to find the source and see he’s pressing a gun against me. I raise my eyes to him quickly as I struggle to get free, my hands pushing on his hand around my throat but with my cast on I can hardly put any pressure on it. “I’m done wasting my precious time on you. You’re not good enough to walk this earth anymore, trying to make something out of yourself when you still owe me so much. YOU OWE ME!” His spit hitting my face as he screams. My mind is trying to come up with a way out, but it’s so hard to think as I try to get air into my lungs, and at the same time the smoke is making it worse. Finally, my reflexes take over and my knee bolts up, hitting him near his nuts and his hand pushes on my neck harder. “God dammit, bitch! You won’t win. This will be over quickly if you’ll cooperate. Consider it me doing you one last favor,” he snarls. The gun is suddenly gone, but then I see dots when his fist hits my stomach so hard that I almost pass out. My body drops to the floor when he releases me, and I’m on all fours choking, coughing and spitting while I take in the smoked filled air.

Still gasping for air, I look up and see him standing before me, his gun pointed at my face, then everything happens so fast. My eyes snap up to see Bo lunge at the gun, grabbing it as Ricco’s head turns quickly. He pushes Bo away, but Bo holds on and grabs around Ricco’s wrist with his other hand taking them both down to the floor. I move back against the wall. My body is shaking in fear and pain as I watch them struggle for the gun. I scream when Ricco finally gets the gun from Bo’s grasp and hits him on his forehead with it. The adrenaline shoots through me with anger, and I rise, holding onto the wall and grab the first thing I can reach. I take the few steps needed and hold the object over my head bringing it down on Ricco’s upper back, which knocks him down to the ground. The gun flies out of his hand, landing on the floor right by my feet. I pick it up quickly, holding it with my good hand. My index finger on my casted arm around the trigger and aim it directly at Ricco.

He turns over, gasping and coughing, looks right at me and starts to laugh. “Ha, ha, ha. You can’t pull that trigger. You can’t help your lover now.” I look at Bo, whose body is still and then back at Ricco. “Give me the gun. Maybe I’ll let you live,” he sneers. He tries to get up, but I pull back on the piece at the top, making a clicking noise, and he stops still.

“He’s the man I intend on marrying and I’m done with you, you sick motherfucker.” Closing my eyes, I pull on the trigger and fall back onto the floor, dropping the gun, when it shoots. The wind is knocked out of me, but I struggle to sit up, my eyes full of water as the smoke burns them. I rub them finally able to see Ricco’s lifeless eyes staring at me, blood seeping through the front of his shirt. I lean over to my side and start vomiting, my arm around my waist and the pain stabbing me in my stomach where he punched me. A loud crash echoes in the room and I feel someone leaning over me, but I can’t turn my head as I continue to get sick.

“Stormy. Stormy, it’s Emerson. I’ve got to get you outta here, girl.” I shake my head wildly and when I can’t throw up anymore, I turn my head as I continue to choke on the smoke, my eyes squinting at him and cry out.

“No! Bo! He’s….” Emerson tries to pick me up but I fight him, as much as I can, until he stops and grabs me around my chin, holding up my face and peering into my eyes as he coughs.

“Girl. We got Bo.” He looks down at the floor around me and then back into my eyes. “You’re bleeding and they’re trying to get the fire out. There’s no more time to talk.” Before I can ask what he’s talking about, he picks me up, cradling me in his arms, both of us choking and coughing. I try to look around but the smoke is killing my eyes and I can’t seem to get any air into my lungs. My head hits his shoulder, my arm drops from my body and my eyes close.

Chapter Fourteen

“Someone had better tell me what the fuck is going on with my girlfriend and I mean now!” I scream out as two male nurses hold me down in the hospital bed and a female nurse pokes my arm with a needle. “Dammit! Tell me!” My eyes flash to the door when Dr. Phillip walks in, stepping quickly to the side of my bed. He looks at the two nurses holding my arms, nods and they release me. “Dr. Phillip. Where’s Stormy? What happened? I need to know now. Is she ok?”

He pulls up the chair next to me and sits down but then when he looks up, I know something is wrong. “Bo, Stormy is ok but she took in a lot of smoke, as you did. She has bruising around her throat and I’m sorry to say….” I swallow hard. My heart starts beating faster, and my hands clench into fists. “She lost the baby. I’m so sorry. I know it’s not much in the way of consoling but you all are young and after doing what we needed to clean her up and examining her, there was no permanent damage so she can still have children.”
What? What is he talking about? A baby?
“You look confused. Do you not know about the pregnancy?” My head moves slowly, and my eyes blink from the tears that have welled up. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I thought you knew.” I look down, a few tears dropping with my movement, as his hand lays on my arm. “Your parents are right outside. Would you like them to come in?” I look back up at him and just nod as I can’t get the words out. He pats my arm again and rises, walks to the door, and I hear whispering for a few minutes then the door closes.

I was going to be a daddy and Stormy a mommy. I lay my throbbing head back against the pillow, my arm bending over my bandaged face and cry. I startle when I feel someone putting their arms around me, as much as they can, and move my arm up, looking into the wet eyes of Mom. My arms move around her, my hands fisting the material of her shirt and I cry into her shoulder.

“I know, son. Let it out. It’s okay.” I don’t know how long we stay like this but I think I cried out everything I have in me. I remove my arms and Mom sits down in the chair, taking my hand and squeezing it.

“How….” My eyes close as I choke on my words and reopen them looking at Mom again. “How is she? Does she know she lost the baby?”

“No, sweetheart. Not yet. After surgery she’s been sedated. After having quite a bit of oxygen, a blood transfusion from the loss of blood and the minor surgery from the miscarriage, she’s at least okay now physically.” I nod and swallow hard. “I know this will be tough on her and on you, honey, but you have so much time to have more children. I know that doesn’t help right now but the main thing is you’re both safe now.”

“Ricco.” My thought comes out in a word and not knowing what all happened. I look behind Mom to see Dad standing there, the look of worry lining his face.

“He’s dead. Emerson said he’s not sure what happened but he found a gun laying by Stormy. Ricco was already dead by the time he got into the room.” He crosses his arms over his chest and his face turns into anger. “Apparently, Ricco managed to get all the alarms shut down, including the smoke alarms. Emerson said he cold cocked him and by the time he regained consciousness the downstairs was full of smoke. It took him a bit to clear his head and make it upstairs while calling the fire department on the way. He said he knew he needed to get you two out fast.”

My confusion is growing worse as he explains. “But who killed Ricco? I can remember trying to get the gun out of his hand but he pushed us both down to the floor and we struggled. I don’t remember anything after that. Do you think…?”

Dad smiles a little and then his face changes to sadness. “We won’t know until Stormy awakens but my theory is that she killed him.”

Mom turns her head to Dad. “Oh, she’ll have so much to heal from. Poor thing. And on top of that the restaurant having so much fire damage.” She turns to me and frowns. “They got the fire out before it reached the offices and your apartment but they are full of smoke damage. I’m afraid you’ll both have to come back home until everything is repaired.”

I lay my head back down, tiredness is starting to make my eyes heavy but I refuse to sleep until I see Stormy. She’ll need me. “The apartment and restaurant can be fixed. We’ll be fine coming home until that’s done. I’m more worried about Stormy right now.” I feel Mom pat my arm again as I close my eyes.

“I know, sweetheart. We all are. Get some rest. Phillip said it would be a few hours or so before Stormy wakes up. You need to heal too, you know?”

I take a couple of deep breaths, relishing in the clean air, and then nod, my eyes still closed. “I know. I want to be there when she wakes up. She’ll need me.” I start to fade when I hear her chair move, but I can’t open my eyes, they’re just too heavy.

“I’ll go stay with her and your Dad will stay here. I’ll make sure we get you to her before she wakes up. Sleep, honey.”

Just a few minutes. I’ll sleep just for a few minutes and then I’ll be good.

“Bo. Wake up, son.” I feel my body shake a little and open my eyes slowly. It’s dark in the room but I can see Dad’s face in the dim light. I’m so tired I think I could sleep for a week. I realize where I am and my eyes fling open. “She’s not awake yet. Don’t worry. Phillip says she should be coming around soon.” I look down, when he takes a step back and see a wheelchair. “Don’t argue. It’s the rules. You’re still hurt.”

I push the button on the guardrail, raising the bed, and grab the covers, pushing them off me. Dad’s right there, holding onto my upper arm, as I bring my legs around and off the bed. I sit there for a moment waiting for the dizziness to subside and then push my hands against the mattress as Dad pulls on my arm and I twist around making it into the chair with just a little grunting. I look down at him as he places my feet onto the footrests. “I wasn’t going to argue, this time.” He looks up at me and smiles as he gets my left foot placed. “I know when I’m licked.” He chuckles and stands then moves behind me.

As he pushes me down the hallway my mind is overtaken by Stormy. Her beautiful face. The way she lights up when she’s happy. The way she smells of peaches, all fresh and clean and her beautiful smile, the way her unique green eyes sparkle when she looks at me. We reach her room, Dad pushes on the door and then I see Mom, sitting in a chair by Stormy’s bed, holding her hand. My eyes move to the bed and then up until I see her face. Her eyes are still closed, her breathing light and a tube running out from the top of her left hand to a stand behind her. The cast on her right hand doesn’t look damaged and the thought just hit me that she should be getting it off soon. Once I get to the bed, Dad puts on the brakes and Mom stands, leans down and kisses my cheek then they leave without a word.

I reach over and grasp her fingers, protruding from the cast, and hold them. So much has happened. So much pain, dread, fear, and heartache. But I know my Peaches. She’s strong. We’ll get through this together. We can conquer anything as long as we’re together.

I must have fallen asleep and open my eyes when I feel a tug on my fingers. I quickly look up and see Stormy’s eyes blinking their way open. She looks to her left and then sweeps over the bed and then her eyes land on me. I smile, squeezing her fingers, and watch as a small smile appears on her sweet face.

“What?” Her voice is raspy, and I release her fingers so I can pour her a cup of water.

“Can you sit up a little?” She nods, and I push on the button to raise her bed but stop it before it raises her too much. I place the cup against her lips. Her left hand lays on top of mine, and she takes a few sips. “Is that enough?” She nods slightly, and I take the cup and set it back on the table, returning my fingers to hers.

She seems to sit there in a daze, then her eyes fill with tears, and she looks at me quickly. “Are you ok? You’re eye. You were…. He hit you so hard and….” Her breathing accelerates as she chokes on her sobs. “You didn’t move and…. I thought you…. Were dead.”

“Shhh, now. Slow down. Now, take a deep breath.” She swallows, takes a deep breath and lets out another sob. “Good. Now, take another one.” Her eyes blink rapidly, a tear falls down her face and she takes another big breath. “Better. I want to you try to stay calm for me, okay?” She nods again but the tears still fall. I smile. “Good. I’m fine. I have a big bump on my head but we all know how hard my head is and maybe that will knock some sense into me finally.” She chokes out a laugh and then another sob. “Hey, I don’t want you to think about anything right now except getting better, okay?”

She looks down at our fingers and then back at me. “You know.” It was a statement, one that I knew would be coming. “I lost the baby, didn’t I?” Her chin quivers as I nod and a loud sob escapes her mouth. I take my fingers away from hers and push both my hands down on the arm rests, lifting out of the chair, turning and sitting down next to her. I lean over and put my arms around her, moving her up a little and her hands wrap around me quickly as she cries into my chest.

“I’m not gonna tell you we’re young or that we have plenty of time to have kids. This is a loss and I feel it too, Peaches. I love you so much.” Her cries become louder, her body shaking as we hold each other. My own tears falls down my face as I listen to her mourn. “I wish you would have told me earlier. I would have been so excited, so happy and I can’t tell you what it means to me that I would have been a daddy.” Her shaking worsens as I speak so I decide to just be quiet and let her grieve in peace. We both need time to grieve.

♥    ♥    ♥    ♥   

I can’t seem to hold him close enough. To think he could have died, that I could have lost him forever. I know we’re all going to die someday, but we just got together, found each other again after so long, and it’s just too soon. He moves back a bit and I can see all the tears he’s shed and they’re still flowing. I reach up to his gorgeous face and wipe some away. “We’ll be ok. We’re strong as long as we’re together, we can get through anything. Our love can withstand anything no matter what happens to us. I love you so much, Bo.” His mouth presses against mine and the tingles I always feel with his touch invade me. He releases my lips and presses his forehead against mine, gently. “I lost our baby. Oh, my God, I’m so sorry,” I whisper.

He moves back within a breath’s length with a frown on his face. “No, Peaches. You didn’t lose our baby. The baby was taken from us. Don’t you dare blame yourself.” His eyes search mine as I think about his words. I look into his eyes and see such warmth, such love and I’m lost in them.

Laying my head on his shoulder, his hand rubbing up and down my back, I feel so loved, so comforted and I want to give that back to him. “I love you. I hope you know how much. You’re my one and only love. Please, don’t ever leave me.” I thought I had no more tears left in me but suddenly one drops on his shirt.

“Peaches, I’ll never leave you. Ever,” he whispers.

It’s been a few hours, and I’m thankful that everyone has given us privacy for a while. I look down at Bo, sleeping curled up next to me and just watch him. Since his bad eye has been uncovered it makes his bandage over his brow look that much worse. His eye is swollen from the cut, bruised around it but thank God that’s the worst of it. I’ve put him through so much in such a short time but he’s stuck by me and now I wish I would have had enough guts to tell him he was going to be a daddy before all this happened. It was selfish of me not to. Sometimes I wonder what in the hell gets into me. My fear always proceeds my good judgment. I watch his chest move up and down with his light breathing and my mind wanders. The restaurant will need to be restored again, our apartment and we both need healing, inside and out. I sigh out loud and turn my head to look out the window. Everything’s going to be okay and better than it was before. Ricco’s dead. I killed him. I think I need to get some counseling to help me deal with that and the loss of our baby. But, in time, I know I’ll be ok. And after that, I want to get pregnant again. I want to be a mommy and I want Bo to be a daddy. I know it will be a rough road ahead, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes. I’ll make sure of it. Suddenly tired I close my eyes and dream of us sitting in our living room, our baby in my lap and smiles on our faces.

“She’s actually doing fairly well, under the circumstances. She’s stronger than anyone knows, even me.” Bo’s whisper seems so clear, so real.

“I’m so glad. I can’t wait to get you both home and take care of you. I’ve got your room all clean and ready to go. When Stormy is ready and if she wants to, I have the number of the psychiatrist that Phillip recommended. I think she’ll really help Stormy deal with everything. Dad’s already got the crews over at the restaurant and they’re working on it as well as your apartment. They said it should all be done within a week or two but I’m hoping that it will only delay the opening by a week.” Jade’s voice is even clearer but still soft.

My eyes move under their lids as I slowly awaken. I don’t know how I got so lucky having them in my life. Opening my eyes, I notice them sitting at the round table in the room, Bo has a plate of food in front of him and there’s another one with a lid covering it. I push the button to raise the bed and their heads turn to me quickly.

“Well, look who’s awake. How are you feeling, dear?” Jade rises, picking up the extra plate and walks over to me, placing it on the bed table and pushing it over my bed as I make myself as comfortable as I can. “Try to eat as much as you can, honey. It will help you get strong. I saw Phillip this morning and he said you both might get to come home by this evening if you check out ok. He wants you to have at least two more breathing treatments and wants to give you one final check before he decides,” she jabbers as she lifts the cover and hands me a fork. The smell of the delicious food over takes me and my stomach growls loudly in the small room. She laughs as I begin eating, closing my eyes when the taste of pancakes hit my mouth. “I’m glad to see you have an appetite.” I don’t stop to answer. I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.

Once I’ve finished eating I relax and stare out the window, listening to the others talk, but I don’t feel like joining in. All I can think about is the baby and that I killed someone. Granted he was a vile man and I was protecting Bo but he was a human being. “Stormy?” My eyes come back into focus, and I turn my head towards Bo. He’s walking towards the bed, and I notice as he sits down next to me that everyone has left. “You were spacing out. I know it’s a stupid question, but are you ok?” He puts his arm around me, and I lay my head on his shoulder, his hand coming down as his fingers run through my hair.

“I will be, some day.” I sigh and close my eyes, the soothing of his fingers making me sleepy. “I thought I overheard your Mom saying something about a psychiatrist?” I ask with a yawn.

“Yes, Dr. Phillip gave her a name in case you feel you like talking to someone.” His voice is a little louder as he rests his head on top of mine. “Do you? I mean, it’s okay if you do. Sometimes talking to another person that’s not so close to you can really help.” His head moves as he yawns.

The yawning won’t stop and I feel myself fading quickly. “Yes. I think I really do. It’s not like I don’t have time with….” I yawn again and snuggle deeper against him. “With healing and the restaurant….”

After a good sleep and waking up in the arms of the man I love, I actually feel a little better. We ended up having two more breathing treatments, together, and lunch tasted really good, for hospital food. Dr. Phillip came in, checked out Bo and gave him the green light to go home. I had to make Bo leave the room, so he could check me out since mine’s a little more uncomfortable, and of course, he protested but finally left. “Everything is looking very well. I think you’ll be fine going home but if at any time you feel any pain or discomfort, please call me.” I nod and give him a small smile. He leans back in the chair and the look of concern develops on his face. “Stormy, you’ve been through quite a lot in your young life and now, with everything that’s happened, if you need someone to talk to, someone who would be willing to listen, offer suggestions to help you heal inside, a friend of mine, a colleague. She’s very good with people in similar situations. I would be happy to give you her number. Her name is Felicia Anderson. She also makes house calls, to make people more comfortable in their own setting or she can see you in her office, whichever you prefer.”