Undefeated

by C. D. Gill

  Gia rubbed her neck as she walked around him. She slipped the hammer from his tool belt, climbed the ladder, and smashed the hammer into the remnants of the ceiling drywall. There were two small sections left that she demolished before climbing down. She lowered the ladder out the window to the side. Tommy grabbed the second one and did the same. Gia knelt in the corner and yanked the edge of the carpet free with a grunt.

  On her second pull, Xander joined her until all four of them were tugging patches of carpet from the floor. No one said anything so the music went on again. As Xander and Tommy chucked the largest section into the dumpster, a car rolled into the driveway. Lucy popped out, calling to Xander as she trotted toward the door.

  Xander waved and turned to Tommy. “Don’t let her get you alone. She’ll steal your virtue.”

  Tommy laughed until he gasped for air, clearly underestimating Lucy’s cunning. He’d find out soon enough. Lucy’s voice echoed inside. Then she popped her upper body out the window opening and thrust her hand out, her bright smile aimed at Tommy. “Hi, I’m Lucy. It’s just like Gia to keep three gorgeous men to herself.’

  “Is it now?” Tommy grinned and shook Lucy’s hand. How mad would Lucy be if she found out that two were not considered eligible for Gia in the first place?

  “Not to mention, making me hear her house burned down from a very good-looking fireman. Selfish, right?”

  Gia shouted something about inviting her over for dinner.

  Lucy rolled her eyes and shouted behind her. “No, sweetie. I invited me over for dinner. It’s all a girl can do to get out these days.”

  Xander took the moment to sneak away. After he showered and changed, he tiptoed through the kitchen and out to the deck where Tommy and Joey were hiding out, taking turns checking the meat on the grill. Lucy came out to set the table and stayed to swoon over stories from the other two. He wandered into the kitchen where Gia was tossing a salad.

  “Escaping?” Gia smirked.

  “It’s hard to enjoy a conversation when Lucy’s drooling over their every word. I thought I’d rescue my appetite by coming to see what you were doing.” Xander leaned against the counter next to Gia and watched her. “Where’d you go?”

  Gia stilled. “I went to see an old friend for time to think.” Her brow scrunched. “I didn’t think you’d—” She closed her eyes and exhaled with a shake of her head.

  Xander boxed her between his body and the counter, tilting her chin to bring her gaze to his. “Miss you? Absolutely. Wish you didn’t leave me with your almost brother and ex-boyfriend? Definitely. Have an intense need to talk this all out once things settled down?” The intensity boiling in his chest threatened to boil out before was ready. “You were wrong. I want that. You make me want that.”

  “I couldn’t stay.” The intensity of her whisper matched her grip on his shirt. As if he were her lifeline. “In case you don’t notice, I run when I get overwhelmed.” Her arms slipped around his waist as she rested her head against his chest. It’d been so long—too long—since a woman had held him like this. He closed his arms around her and breathed in the scent of her hair. She felt perfect. They’d known each other for a month, and already she felt like home.

  The sliding glass door to the deck squealed giving them a moment to separate before Joey strolled in. “Meat’s ready.” He dropped onto a stool with a sigh. “If I give Lucy some time alone with Tommy, she can really latch on and make him her favorite instead of me. He likes his women with a hint of crazy in them. Wow, that woman is intense.”

  Xander snorted as Gia shoved the salad bowl into his hands. “Joey, get the drinks, will you? Let’s eat.”

  The second-best part of the evening were Lucy’s pies which were as delicious as Tucker thought her muffins were. But as much as he loved her baking, the house itself seemed to sigh with relief when she said goodbye for the night.

  *****

  Early the next morning, Xander met Gia in the kitchen. The box of baked goods Lucy brought the night before lay open on the island.

  He snagged a muffin and poured himself a glass of milk. “I’m going to see my mom’s psychologist this morning. I’ll go to the office when I’m done.”

  Gia nodded as she sipped her tea. “You can take my car. I’m working here for the day. The yard needs work. The contractors start today and the guys, mainly Tommy, asked to tinker with Chachi. Apparently, its vintage status has them eager to peek under the hood.”

  “Who put Chachi together?”

  “Hmm?” Gia stared at her lap.

  “You told me when I first got here that people came over and worked on Chachi and kept the car here in exchange for yard work. Who was that? Shouldn’t they finish it?”

  Gia bit her lip and picked at an invisible fleck on her cup.

  Xander crossed his arms. “It was Grant, wasn’t it? Tell Joey and Tommy to examine every inch of that car. I’m not sure how the thing is still running.”

  “Grant is a mechanic, Xander.”

  “And you’re telling me that he couldn’t keep this personal project of his in the mechanic garage he owns. He had to keep it here?”

  Joey sauntered into the kitchen and grabbed a muffin. “What is with the serious talk this early?”

  “Chachi is Grant’s project that Gia has been keeping in her garage for him. The guy owns his own mechanic shop in Golden,” Xander said.

  “He was looking for an excuse to see me on the weekends. Is that bad? He didn’t start trying to shove his tongue down my throat until last week, so it wasn’t that horrible of a thing to do. Besides,” Gia lifted her chin, “I had the space free in my garage and he did yard work for me in return. This is not that big of a deal.”

  Xander traded looks with Joey. “Just tell Tommy to give that car a really good look over. Cameras, tracking systems, anything that looks out of place.” He grabbed Gia’s keys with her office keys on it. “I’ll let you know when I’m on my way home from the office.”

  Gia waved him out the door. Xander was backing out of the garage before he realized how domestic he’d sounded. All that was missing was an adoring peck on the cheek and a mumbled “I love you.” Xander shivered. He cut those thoughts off as he drove to Weathersfield. Any thought of a speech dissolved in the wake of his last visit. He’d even taken the time to be considerate and call ahead for an appointment with Ed.

  He signed in at the front desk with a girl who actually looked like a Carli this time and declined her offer to call someone to accompany him to Ed’s office. When he rounded the corner, Joyce welcomed him and motioned to the couch, but Xander declined the man-eating sofa in favor of staying mobile.

  What was it like to dedicate your entire life to people’s mental health? Was it subjective? An intuitive science? None of the people he’d seen walk out of Ed’s office seemed ill, but perhaps that meant he was a really good doctor.

  Joyce jerked her head toward Ed’s door. “He’s ready for you.” The woman must have ESP, because he hadn’t heard a sound.

  With a brief knock, Xander cracked open the door and let it click shut behind him. He relaxed into Ed’s stiff sofa. With no agenda and the tension gone, the details of the room stuck out to him more. The bay window with a seat and cushion. The cleanliness of Ed’s desk. The odd fishing trinkets. It was a comfortable space.

  “Alexander, thank you for making an appointment with me. Should I give you paperwork to make you officially one of my regulars?” Ed settled in to the chair across from him, his eyes smiling but his mouth invisible in the way of bearded men.

  “That won’t be necessary. This is the last time I’m coming.”

  Ed’s bushy eyebrows rose.

  “I’ve come to accept that my parents aren’t interested in contacting me. I did find out in the last couple of days that a scholarship soccer player was being blackmailed into dropping off and picking up envelopes which were used to implicate me. Of course, he didn’t come forward as that would have endangered his future.”

  Ed sa
id nothing, so Xander continued. “The reason for my visit is to ask for your psychological expertise. The list of people who could have had the money to gather blackmail material over a number of years on the players would probably limit who it could have been. It seems that the person needed to have been in the athletic world at our university as they had access to records and information that is limited to the coaching staff, athletic director, and team doctors.”

  “Alexander, I’m not a criminal profiler.”

  “There’s something I missing here, Ed. I’d love it if you could provide any insight.”

  Ed tilted his head and stroked his beard as naturally anyone with that length of beard should do, often. “Before I agree, answer a couple of my questions first.”

  Xander’s heart jumped into a chaotic rhythm, but no panic attack. He opened his hands and nodded.

  “Tell me what made you opt for solitary.”

  More probing. “Death threats.”

  “Lots of people get death threats in prison, but they don’t always go straight to isolation. You had to know exactly what happens in solitary. In prison, those kinds of stories—the worst-case scenarios—are the first ones everyone hears. The second ones are about who runs the inside. So, again I ask, what made you opt for the worst scenario?”

  Steady breaths. Slow intake. Measured output. What was there to lose? This doctor had no bearing in his life. He had no desire to hide his shame from Ed. Xander pushed to his feet. The truth was why he was doing this. His reputation hadn’t mattered for five years. He gripped the bottom of his shirt and lifted it to his shoulder, exposing the scar that had once been a wound that split his left shoulder blade to his hip bone.

  Dr. Cantella didn’t flinch. He merely spent a couple of seconds looking at it. “Torture?”

  Xander dropped his shirt into place and sat down. “Attempted murder because my cell mate was serving time for gang-related activities. I was collateral.”

  “They were literally carving you into pieces.”

  “But they were interrupted by the guards coming to take my dead cell mate’s body from the block.” Xander ran his hand along the back of his hair. Fear had branded every moment of that day into his memory and anxiety relived those moments with every slamming door followed by footsteps. “I was an inconvenience to take to the medical area. The doctor was annoyed because he had to miss part of his lunch to oversee my stitches. My life was disposable to them which was really no surprise, so I asked for solitary. And surprisingly, I survived. I’d assumed I was going to die either way.”

  “Do you ever plan on telling your family what happened?”

  “I’m not sure they’ll ever care and I don’t need their pity. Their absence hurts as badly as being sliced open with a makeshift knife. The truth is I expected more from two people who preached the enduring bond of family for my whole life. Now, I wonder if it was manipulation to force a family allegiance.”

  “You’ll spend your entire life wondering about the manipulations of the past and possibly even proving those speculations right. Every generation swears they’ll be better, but they make different mistakes. Heal who you are now without permission from your parents. That takes time to work through. It won’t happen in a day. Stay with it.” Ed shifted in his seat. “Now, you gave me what I asked for. Here’s what you asked for. In my professional opinion, you were in someone’s way or you were the fallout boy. If we go with the first, someone in the soccer world wanted what you had and took you out to get there. Look at who replaced you. Or maybe who you replaced. Did someone get fired and you got their spot? If we go with the second, someone drugged your team and you were the person who got caught with the hot potato. It seems the steroids were intentional. Who benefited from a team on steroids? The starting lineup? The athletic director? A doctor with something to prove? Start there.”

  Xander’s mind raced as he took notes. Ed had so much clarity. It was stunning. “Your insight is genius. Thank you.”

  “Glad I can help. From what I see in here, you seem to be adjusting well. Would you say that’s true?”

  Xander swallowed hard. “I have a lot to be grateful for. Someone is helping me become independent again and that is one of the greatest gifts life has offered me thus far.”

  In the silence, Ed stood, grabbed a card off his desk, and pushed it into Xander’s hand. “Please, call me if you need anything.”

  Offering him a half smile, Xander shook Ed’s hand. This could be goodbye for good.

  “Remember that your past doesn’t define you and what you become. You decide that. Labels can be identity limitations and we all have them to varying degrees. As time goes on, there will be labels that fall away and others that we hold on to because we think they identify us. But when it comes time, let them go.”

  With a nod, Xander left Ed’s office and waved at Joyce who was on the phone. What he wouldn’t give to have experienced what Ed’s perspective provided him? To be on the other side of this looking back and knowing it was all going to be fine. His age didn’t offer that kind of wisdom yet. He’d have to wait another decade or two for that.

  Hopping in the car, the radio cranked up to pull him from his funk. The car smelled so much like Gia that it was distracting. Pulling onto a four-lane highway, Xander was in autopilot mode. He hadn’t thought of looking at who he’d replaced. There was a late opening and he’d applied.

  A black car in the right lane swerved over the line. He couldn’t see the driver’s face. The black bumper inched closer to Xander’s front bumper at an alarming speed. The person would not back off. Xander stomped on the brakes. The anti-lock brakes activated. His front bumper nicked the black car.

  No, not in Gia’s car. Xander jerked the wheel to keep from hitting the car full force. The rumble strips hummed their warning. In the moments of silence between the rumble strips and the ear-splitting smash into the steel side rail, Xander slammed his eyes shut and relaxed his arms.

  The car dove into the railing, whipped around, and hit again. The airbag deployed in his face. When the movement stopped, Xander sucked in the air to replace the breath he’d been holding.

  He was alive.

  Arms? Check. Legs? Check. Face? Something warm dripped down the side of it. Chest? Slivers of pain stabbed at his ribs.

  A door slammed and running feet followed. Ice shot into Xander’s veins.

  In a second, his mind transported him back to prison. Jerry’s rival gang had come to finish him off.

  Chapter 20

  By mid-morning, workers overran Gia’s property like ants. Tommy was halfway under Chachi on the driveway. The contractor’s team was in her master bedroom working, so Gia joined Joey in the backyard. As he mowed, she did the trim and weeded. The plant life growing around the base of her house was admittedly the least of her worries at the moment, but it was therapeutic to rid her life and flowers of the ugliness choking their space. The sun’s warmth kissed her skin and, for the first time in weeks, things felt like they were on the path to being okay.

  Abbott’s words about forgiving herself for her mistakes so she could be ready for life’s new challenges rattled around in her mind. It sounded like a good idea, but was it realistic? Every day the past woke up with her and went to sleep with her like an unwanted shadow. The truth was that the problems this past month had thrown her so far off balance because she’d not regained her footing from the mistakes she’d made three years ago. Gia glanced over her shoulder at Joey pushing the lawn mower around like he had as a teenager for her parents to earn extra spending money.

  Those days were simpler.

  Now Joey and his little sister Cara had no dad to call or laugh with or come home to, because she’d sneaked out of the house to attend the forbidden drag races with friends. When shots were fired, Uncle Angelo was the first person she called to rescue her. And he didn’t hesitate when she asked. She led him right into the crossfire. His blood pooled around her as she held him in her arms screaming for help, not caring if the
ones shooting the bullets aimed at her next.

  Her chest heaved as she bent over the flower bed. How could it feel so fresh after three years? Her phone played a soothing melody, ripping her from her memories. A Denver area code flashed on her screen.

  With a steadying breath, she pressed the button to answer. “This is Gia.”

  “Is this Ms. Giovanna Carter speaking?” A deep male voice spoke with alarming somberness.

  Gia’s heart leapt into her throat. “Yes. Who is this?”

  “This is Officer Morton with the Denver County Police Department. Were you aware that your car was involved in a hit-and-run this morning?”

  “No.” Gia pinched the bridge of her nose willing away the pressure that built there as she hopped to her feet and paced. “Xander. Is Xander okay?

  “The driver of your vehicle was taken to the Denver Memorial Hospital. I don’t know about his wellbeing. Ma’am, we’ll need to speak with you in person regarding your vehicle.”

  “Meet me at the hospital. I have to go see how Xander’s doing.” Gia ended the call and ran to Joey.

  He let the mower shut off as she approached and wiped the dripping sweat with his t-shirt. “What’s wrong?”

  “Xander’s in the hospital. Hit-and-run. Let’s go. You’re driving.”

  Leaving the lawn mower in the yard, Joey sprinted into the house behind her to grab his rental car keys. Neither stopped to wash up or change. Joey shouted an explanation to Tommy who lay on the driveway half under Chachi, bewildered.

  Not a word was spoken between them except Gia’s turn-by-turn driving directions. Her fingers tapped against her leg. When did Joey start driving like an old man?

  Pressing his palm against her tapping fingers, Joey shot her a glare. “I will not get pulled over for speeding, so quit. We’ll get there. It’s going to be okay.”