by Barb Shuler
I jerked, seeing the blowcoming. He must not have expected my movement, ‘cause he let my hair go enough that I pulled free. I pushed back and tried to move away from him, only to be snagged by the hand on his way over the ledge. I screamed, pulling free of his grip but it was too late.
I was going over. My arms went out and I grappled to grab anything. As I fell, I reached out to grab the metal bars covering a window. I just needed to stop my desnt. Another scream left my lips as the sudden stop jerked my entire body.
My heart hammered and my head spun as the pain tried it’s best to consume me. The bile I had been holding at bay came tumbling from me. I managed to miss myself, I think, but I felt sorry for anyone below me.
“KENNEDY!” I heard Max’s voice boom out across the night.
“Max,” my voice came out in a hoarse whisper. I felt my hands slipping. My grip just wasn’t holding me up. “I’m falling… Max!”
“Kennedy! Hold on, baby!”
“Max, I can’t.”
The grip I had on the bars slipped again and I was falling. This was it. I had lost. After all of this, I was the one taking everything away from him.
16
Maximus
“What’s he doing?” Rodriguez asked through my earpiece. I had no idea what he was referring to. My focus was on getting to my girl. There was a moment of silence as I climbed the back of the A/C unit before me. That’s when my world stopped turning.
“She’s going over!” Alvarez called out. I jumped down from where I was, rolled across the gravel and popped back up. My eyes watched as she fell.
“KENNEDY! Son of a bitch! NO!” I yelled.
My heart dropped as I saw her form fall over the wall and out of my sight. I was too damn far away. I ran, hurtling towards the edge of the building, pushing the top part of me over the ledge.
The darkness of the alley below broke my heart. I couldn’t see her.. Suddenly, the mics came to life again.
“Holy shit! What is he doing?” Alvarez asked, astonishment in his voice. “Is he running down the side of the building?”
The next few moments were filled with utter silence. I was seconds from diving after her when I heard it.
“I’ve got her! Max, I’ve got her!” Rooster’s voice called through the earpiece. I heard Kennedy scream in what I assumed was pain. “Get us up!”
“Max! A little help!” Hunter called out to me. I jumped up and ran to where he stood, his feet pressed against the edge of the building while his body reclined back. What the fuck was he doing?
I looked around and saw he was tied to the big metal pipes a few feet away. “Hurry, asshole. Rooster’s fat ass is heavy.” I moved to him and gripped the same rope he had in his hands and we tugged.
“I’m not fat, I’m just healthy,” Rooster crowed through the mic. I shook my head as we pulled Rooster and my girl up.
“Max?”
“Go ahead, Tony.”
“The package is loaded up and headed to St. Mary’s; Tango’s on her six.”
“Roger that.”
“Captain, suspect is in the alley below. We’re retrieving the second package now-”
My words cut off when Rooster’s head popped up over the ledge. I moved to take Kennedy from Rooster and kissed her face, her head and her lips. She was bloody and bruised, and the minute I had her against me she collapsed.
“I can’t…” she trailed off. Her body was like a wet noodle in my arms.
“I need a medic, now!” I called over the mic.
“I’m here.” I sighed seeing Tony.
He dropped down to his knees beside Kennedy. I pulled her shirt closed and ran my fingers along her cheek.
“Come on, baby, stay with me.”
“Man, I don’t know what that was you just did, but props my man. Props.” Alvarez called out over the mic. I looked up and saw Hunter slap Rooster on the back where he was bent over, his hands on his knees.
“She. Okay?” Rooster asked me. I looked back down to where she lay. A groan left her lips as Tony moved to check her side.
“Tony?” I asked.
He hit the button on his vest and called downstairs. “Cap, we need EMS now. We have a female patient. One shoulder is dislocated, the other has a partial dislocation. She has a large laceration on her temple. Possible broken ribs. Various cuts and abrasions.”
“Copy, they’re on the way up.”
His gaze met mine and I leaned down where my lips were next to her ear.
“You hang on, baby. I have some groveling to do.”
“Max…” her soft voice was no more than a breath on the wind.
“You’re going to be fine. You hear me?”
She groaned as her eyes opened slightly. I met her gaze. “The baby…”
“What baby?” I asked confused. “Was there a baby inside?”
Shit. Did we miss something? She grabbed my hand weakly and drug it to her stomach.
“Yours… baby is yours…” her voice trailed off as her eyes fell closed. It felt as if someone had sucker punched me. The breath I had in me escaped in a rush.
“Did she just say it was his baby?” Rooster asked.
“Yeah…” Hunter’s gaze met mine and a sly grin tugged at his lips. “The old man still has game.”
“Kennedy, hey, stay with me, beautiful.” I patted her check softly and smiled when her eyes fluttered open again.
“Move aside, let us through.” A medic said as he came forward with a back board in hand. The large duffle bag was dropped beside Kennedy as he got to his knees. “Ma’am, do you know where you are?” Kennedy whispered a simple ‘yes, roof.’ He nodded. “I’m going to put a c-collar on you, then get you some oxygen, okay. Stay with us, alright.”
He and his partner moved quickly, efficiently. They had the c-collar on, her strapped on the backboard, and her head wound dressed all within just a few moments. We all moved off the roof as one. I rode in the elevator with Kennedy and the two EMT’s while the boys waited on the next one. It took no time for us to be in the ambulance and on our way to the hospital. Cap didn’t even bat an eye when I walked to the ambulance with her. I’d give my statement, and do my paperwork, once I knew my girl and my sister were okay.
Ten minutes later we were brought into the ER. My heart was hammering with adrenaline and worry. It was like my world was in a freefall. I saw Kelly standing outside of an ER bay and I moved to him.
“How is she?” I asked.
His face was in a tight scowl.
“They’ll only tell me she’s stable. I’m not family. The only reason they allowed me to stay here is because I said she was under protective custody. There’s her nurse.”
“Ma’am, can you tell me how my sister is?” She gave me a hard look.
“She’s stable, now please let me through. I will update you when I can.” With that she pushed her way through the curtain and into the room. I growled out my frustration.
“Calm down. Don’t get us all kicked out of here.” Kelly’s voice was calm, though I could hear the anger in it.
I hated hospitals.
“Fine. Keep me posted.”
“Of course. How is Kennedy?”
“I’ll let you know in a few. She took a beati-” I was cut off by a loud scream.
My feet were instantly moving me toward the room they had pushed Kennedy into. I pushed through the curtain and pulled myself to a stop. The doctor was on the bed with Kennedy’s arm in her hands, snapping the shoulder back into place. The nurses were bustling around, getting IVs started and fighting to get the oxygen mask back on her.
“Get off me!” Kennedy’s voice held no authority, but it was pleading.
I pushed my way through the throngs of people and bent over her head so she could see me. “Hey, beautiful. I need you to calm down and let the nice ladies in this room do their jobs okay? Let them get you all fixed up.”
“Hurts…”
“I know, baby. Be strong, okay?”
“You t
he husband?” I looked up towards the voice.
“Fiance,” I replied without a blink.
“Can you tell me if she is on any medications?”
“No. She’s in perfect health. She’s pregnant, though.”
“Noted, thank you.”
The room quieted slightly as everyone moved around. I went out, while she had x-rays and other tests, to check on Jenn.
“Doctor, can you please tell me how my sister is? She’s in bay ten.” I glanced over and saw Hunter and Kelly talking. The doctor looked from his clipboard to me and nodded. “Care to join me in there, I’ll give you all my findings. I will say, your sister is a lucky girl. Damn lucky.”
I followed after him and pulled Hunter with me. The Doctor gave me a look and I shrugged. “He’s her fiance, he ought to know what’s going on as well. Also, not to be an ass, but can we hurry this along? I need to go back and check on my fiance who’s in twenty-one.
“Very well. Ms. Callahan, I’m Doctor Kristos. Remember me?”
“Yeah,” she nodded and reached a hand out to me. I took it and gave it a light squeeze.
“You got lucky. I’ll be honest, I don’t see how you didn’t have any internal injuries with this stab wound. It’s location should have lacerated your intestines, but it didn’t. You’ll make a full recovery - and in a few weeks you won’t even know you were injured. Your bruising and small cuts will heal in a few days. I want you taking it easy, nothing strenuous until you’re healed. This means no working, and no exercising” the doctor paused to glance at Hunter then looked back to her, “of any kind. I’m giving you a script for pain meds and an antibiotic, just in case.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” I said. I gave Jenn’s hand a kiss and handed her off to Hunter. “I’ll be back, Jenn, gotta check on Kennedy.”
“She okay?” Jenn yawned and I nodded.
“She will be, kid, she will be.” I hurried from the room and moved back to Kennedy’s. It was empty. Panic rolled through me. I turned and saw Kelly coming my way. His hand went up to stop my question.
“She’s having a CT. They said it would be about ten minutes. Preston is outside the radiology door waiting on her. Relax, man. We got ya covered.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Not needed. It’s what family does.” I nodded and moved to lean against the wall so I could wait on my girl. It seemed to take forever but finally they brought her back in. The Doctor from earlier was back alongside her.
“Your girlfriend-”
“Fiance,” I corrected while moving into the room to take Kennedy’s hand in mine. I pulled it to me as I bent down to kiss her nose. She was blinking so slowly. My poor girl. I looked up at the doctor and she nodded.
“Your fiance is going to be fine.” The doctor spoke as she took the collar off of Kennedy’s neck. “We’ve given her some medications to help with pain and to help her relax. There’s some damage to her left rotator cuff which may need surgery if it doesn’t heal on its own. I’m referring her to the orthopedic clinic for further diagnosis. She’ll need to keep that sling on until she sees them. Her other injuries are moderate to minor in concern. Her head injury, even though it was a deep gash, will have no lasting effects. While she does have a slight concussion, there are no skull fractures or brain bruising that we need to worry over. She’ll need to follow up in ten days with her family practitioner to have the staples removed. There are three cracked ribs on her left side that will bother her for a few weeks. All in all, she went through a lot and came out like a champ.”
“What about the baby?” I asked, my voice cracking slightly. The doctor smiled at me then, but it was not she who answered me. It was Kennedy.
“Baby is fine…” The doctor nodded and looked down at Kennedy.
“You rest now. Give us a little bit to get your discharge papers ready and you can get home.”
Once the Doc left the room I turned to Kelly. “Can you and Pres do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Can you go to Ken’s and get Bruiser. You’ll need to grab his food, it’s in the white bucket in the kitchen pantry. Oh, and grab his bed and any toys he has out. The bed should be in the living room under the window.”
“Roger that.”
Once he left the room I leaned down and kissed her softly. It was time to move on with life, embrace it and take what I wanted. Right now, that was my girl and our unborn child. I laid my hand on her belly as I plopped my ass in the hard plastic chair beside the bed.
Today has taught me so much. One, I was never letting her out of my sight again. I doubted that was going to go over very well. But instead of being a demanding alpha meathead, I was going to sit her down and we would talk this all out.
I loved this woman and, as soon as I got her home, I was going to make her my fiance. I had my grandmother’s ring, which my mom had given to Jenn, who in turn had given it to me many years ago, just for this occasion. Jenn would be so excited about it too.
17
Kennedy
After the attack Jenn and I suffered at the restaurant, so much has changed for us both. There were days that turned into weeks of being in a hospital bed. So many painful procedures. So many days of watching our boys try to stay calm, only to have them breakdown. Nothing breaks your heart more than seeing your six foot plus, two hundred and fifty pound fiancé crumble into tears of anguish and worry at your bedside.
I thought the hard part was over when we left the hospital. I was wrong. That had been a cake walk. Dealing with the aftermath of the attack was a whole new ball game. There wasn’t much to be had in the way of arrests, because most of the people shooting at each other or the cops were killed. Only a few of the thugs survived, and Thurgood.
According to the sniveling little weasel his uncle was into a lot of things. Since the man was dead he told it all. The drugs, the sex trade, the violence against others. He spilled his guts, so-to-speak. Sang like the proverbial canary.
They’ve managed to make connections to open cases and, through some tough police work, they’ve been able to put a stop to some of the crime around here. Thank God!
As for Thurgood, he’s now in a nice big jail where he’s becoming someone’s bitch. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
The hardest part of all this was seeing what was left of our beautiful restaurant. That sight had been truly heartbreaking. There were so many good memories there, but now it was ruined. The first day Jenn and I walked in after the attack, the tears had been instant. The anger that followed had us both throwing things and looking like utter idiots. We ended up selling the Magnolia to the hotel chain that had been after it for months. It just wasn’t a place either of us wanted to be anymore.
Thanks to some of the guys on the police force we found a new place that was in great shape and bought it. After a few weeks of setting up and making it ours, we were good to go. It’s not a fancy little restaurant, but after only a few weeks of being open, the Sand Castle, which is a cute little bar and grill on the boardwalk, is hopping. The credit for that is due to Guerillmo and his new crew. Jenn and I, as things get more into a routine, will eventually be back to our old selves, busting our asses and loving every minute of it.
I never expected the last six months to end up with me suffering from PTSD, yet still dealing with life as it was. Without Max at my side, I couldn’t do it. My heart pounded as I stared down into the eyes of the man I loved more than life itself. My hand cupped the side of his face as he pressed yet another kiss to my growing belly. I was at thirty-seven and a half weeks. I loved my little man already, I did, but I was really ready to not be pregnant anymore. My back was always hurting, my boobs were growing larger every day - though Max had absolutely no problem with that - and I felt like I was the size of a house.
“Would you two stop with the damn touchy feely shit?! We’re in public for fuck’s sake!” Rooster yelled across the beach, laughter in his voice.
I snorted and watched as Max slowly stood, wearing a
cocky grin on his face. My ring - the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen- which he had placed on my hand as soon as I’d come home from the hospital sparkled in the sun as I brought my hand up to rest on my belly.
“You know, it’s a shame I can’t crack you a good one,” I muttered, glaring playfully at him as I walked towards the water.
“But you love me!” Rooster replies. He was right, I did love him. He was the reason I was here to be with my family still. The laughter behind me made me grin. Jenn ran over and threw an arm around my shoulders.
“I think you guys should tell him.” She spoke in a fake loud whisper. I pretended to shush her while my grin grew.
“There’s nothing to tell him. Hush.” I tried to look stern but ends up grinning all over again.
“Tell me what?” He asked, his brow rose as he cocked his head to the side. I glanced quickly at Max and when he nodded from where he stood by Hunter I smiled to myself.
“Oh, alright…” I huffed out a loud breath and put my hands on my belly again. The baby was beginning to get restless, which meant my bladder was about to become a soccer ball again.
“You’re killin’ me Small Fry,” Rooster frowned.
“You see… well…”
“For Christ’s sake, tell me, woman,” he said, his brow pulling into a deep frown.
“Come on, baby, tell him.” Max was feeling sorry for the big squirming man, who had moved closer to where I stood. I grinned as I looked up and met his gaze.
No one, except Max and Jenn knew the baby’s sex. We’d been waiting for the right time to tell everyone. Plus, we needed the timing to be perfect. Right now seemed to be as perfect as we needed.
“We’re naming the baby in honor of you guys. He’ll know that his namesakes are not only his godfathers, but they’re the men responsible for us being here, for saving our lives.” My voice cracked, but I held it together. “Little Michael Hunter Callahan will grow up knowing he’s part of a very special family.”
I watched as both Hunter and Rooster just stared at me. Their eyes went to Max and then back to me. Rooster’s mouth opened and closed a few times but nothing came out. I was beginning to worry when I saw him turn away from everyone. He took a few steps, stopped, took a few more steps and after a few seconds he turned back and moved towards me. I was scooped up into his big arms and he spun me around. I let out a shriek of laughter before my feet touched the sand again.