“What’d he wan’ if he ain’t taking you in?” “You know Santos, I’m wanted for questioning, but he’s letting me come in on my own.”
“Why?” “Probably because of the way it’ll look in front of those news vans. If it ain’t really against the law, Santos will always help out.”
“You wan’ I should call Vito?”
“No, let him rest as long as possible, he had a long night.”
“So’d you.”
“Yeah, but he’s not a spring chicken anymore.” Nicco just had to laugh at that remark. “If he’d ‘eard you,” Nicco said as he continued to chuckle. And for that one moment, Calix smiled.
“Call Marco, tell him to meet us at the precinct. I want this done as soon as possible, so I can come back to Anya.”
“K, you wanna grab a coffee and biscotti on the way down? I could use some. I’m betting you could too.”
“Yeah, sounds good.” Though he’d said they were leaving, he was hesitant and gave pause.
“Calix, Danny’s gonna call if anything changes, and Aldo is still here. She’s in good hands, com’ on.”
Chapter 35 “My client has already told you all he knows. Asking him the same questions over and over and re-wording them, is not going to change his answers. I’ve talked to the DA and submitted documentation. Pending his test results, she is not going to press any charges. So, you have nothing to hold him on until then. You’re wasting our time. Mr. Anastas would like to return to his fiancé. So, if there’s anything else,” Marco paused for a moment.” No? I didn’t think so. Calix.”
As they left the station, they passed Santos and gave a quick nod. You could see Santos wanted to say more, but here was not the place.
3 days later… “Calix, you need to go home. The apartment has been cleaned and cleared. You’ve been sleeping on that cot too long. Carol will be coming to visit soon, and your mother a while after that. When Carol gets here, I want you to leave no arguments.”
“Zio, I want to be here when she wakes up. I won’t leave her.” Calix tried to change the subject not wanting to argue with his uncle. “What did Santos say?”
“Don’t worry about it. Your results came in, and Marco sent them to the DA. You’re officially cleared. All you need to worry about is yourself, Anya, and el bambino.”
“I keep thinking over and over who would want to do this? They framed me, and attacked Anya. They wanted me to suffer. The only person that comes to mind is Richards.”
“Richards? You think he would have this done to his own child?” “He’s a smart man, that’s how he has gotten away with so much for so long. He had to have known I’d been the one to expose him. None of his connections would do it; they get protection from him and the cops he’s bought off. His political
opponents would never have been able to dig so deep so fast without it being known they were digging. He doesn’t care about Anya. You should have seen them
whenever they were in a room together.”
“Richards has some power, yes, but his connections are low level and mostly from the same syndicate. None of them are as good as who did this.”
“You don’t think they could hire out?” “Listen, think no more of this. I said I would handle it, and I will. Anya is doing better, no? She has some more color to her.”
“Yes, her doctor says most of her wounds should heal in three to four weeks, and there has been no spotting.”
“Good, very good.”
*** “Calix, Calix.” Carol had walked into Anya’s room a little after one in the afternoon. Knowing that Calix would be there as he has since she was admitted, she stopped by her favorite Greek Café and picked him up something to eat. Over these last few days, he refused to leave her side. He’d been sleeping on a cot in her room and eating nothing but hospital cafeteria food and junk food from vending machines. Carol tried once more to wake him up gently, since she did not want to startle him. He had fallen asleep with his head next to Anya’s thigh and his hand covering her belly.
“Calix, honey.” When he finally woke, Carol smiled at him and handed him the bag of take out. “I don’t know if you like Greek food or not, but this is one of my favorites.”
“Thank you, smells good,” he replied as he opened the bag to see what was inside.
“It’s a lamb gyro. I love them, especially with the tzatziki sauce.”
Calix looked at her confused. He had no idea what that was.
“It’s a cucumber sauce. I know sounds weird, but it’s so good, trust me.” They continued to talk and visit as they had for the last couple of days since Carol and Maria’s return from Italy. As usual she stayed until visiting hours were over, kissed Anya on her forehead, said goodbye to Calix, and left.
Anya had been moved from the ICU to a regular inpatient room. She was stable, no brain swelling, no spotting, and her vitals were normal. She just hadn’t woken up yet. At one in the morning, all was quiet on their hospital floor. Unable to sleep, Calix once again pushed the chair close to Anya’s bed and rested his head next to her leg and palmed her belly with a warm, masculine hand, something he found himself doing most of the time. He just needed to assure himself that Anya was near and safe and that their child was still safe in her belly. Only like that, next to her, did he get any peaceful sleep.
“Argggggg,” a soft weak voice groaned. Calix begrudgingly woke up as he heard some sort of sound. His head still down, he glanced around the room. No one was there, and he knew one of the boys was sitting outside the room, so what had woken him? Then he felt Anya’s fingers twitch and move beneath his hand. He sat erect instantaneously.
“Anya?” he asked as he turned to look at her face. There were no lights on in the room, only the soft glow that came from under the door and the light from the moon and stars through her window. His eye’s raked over her face, looking for some sign that he didn’t imagine everything, and as he watched her, he saw that she started to blink her eyes, slowly opening them. Calix reached to hit the call button and spoke to Anya softly.
“Anya, love, can you hear me?” He could see that she was trying to swallow but wasn’t too successful. Her throat must be dry. “Hold on, I’ll get you a sip of water.” He rose to go to the bathroom and fill the small, flimsy, pink pitcher they had given him. While in the restroom filling the pitcher, the hospital door opened with Nicco walking in with a small, older nurse following behind. Nicco spoke as softly as he could.
“You call the nurse, Calix?” Calix excitedly walked back in from the bathroom. “Yes, Anya’s awake. Call the doctor.”
Their heads turned toward Anya so fast they almost got whiplash. With the bright light spilling in from the hall, her face was perfectly shown, and you could see that she was turning her head away as much as she could from the sudden brightness of the light. The short, portly nurse waddled over to Anya with a big smile on her face. Her cheerful voice sounded just as your grandmother’s would when you’d go to visit.
“Well, hello, Miss Richards, welcome back. I’m Vera, your nurse. I’ll page your doctor. Is there anything I can get you?”
Anya tried weakly to raise her hand and block the light, but she barely got it up passed the rail on her bed.
“She’s thirsty,” Calix answered. “Nicco shut the door and turn on the low back light.” Calix cut in front of Nurse Vera. “Here, love, just a sip, I’m not sure if you’re allowed to drink anything yet.” He gently placed the straw to her lips, so she wouldn’t have raise her head too far. Anya was weak and only able to take two small pulls from the straw. Anya closed her eyes and licked her lips before she spoke. Her voice was barely audible and rough from her throat being so dry, even with the couple of sips of water.
“Calix, where am I?”
“The hospital, there was an accident.” At hearing his reply, Anya’s eye widened with panic and immediately moved her hand to her belly as fast as she could in her weakened state.
“Shhhh, love, don’t worry, the baby is fine.” Relief instantly
shown on across her face as his hand joined hers atop her womb.
“I don’t remember anything, what happened, Calix?” “Never mind that right now, let’s just concentrate on you. We’ll discuss the details of what happened later.”
In the background, Nicco discreetly pulled his cell phone from his pocket and sent a short text to Vito, informing him that Anya had awoken. Vito’s quick response text simply said: Watch her closely.
Anya was trying to ask more questions. She desperately wanted to know what had happened, but she kept getting non-answers from Calix. She was starting to get annoyed and a little pissed, but in her weakened state and with the pounding in her head, her pain was winning her
attention over her irritancy.
“Calix, I want an answer. What happened?” She tried to sound hard and stern, but her voice was still as weak as a feather.
“Anya” he used a little firmer voice, “you’ve only just woken up, and it’s a little past one in the morning. We’ll talk after the doctor checks you over.”
Anya was about to open her mouth to ask another question when a very, very tall, lanky man walked through the door. His head just barely made it under the door jam. He had messy dishwater blond hair, a long skinny pointed noise, and a bright smile.
“Well, Miss Richards, good morning and welcome back. I’m Dr. Shaw, I’m the resident doctor tonight. How are you feeling?”
“My head is pounding, and I hurt when I try to move.” “That’s to be expected with your injuries,” Dr. Shaw replied as he began to check over Anya’s wounds, asking her several questions as he did so. He had a very gentle touch and took care not to push too hard on her injuries, but his hands were ice cold, and Anya would jump slightly when he ran his finger across her injuries. “Okay, Miss Richards, your healing process is right on track, you still have some weeks before you will be completely healed. So, you will need to take it easy and will need to get as much rest as you can. No quick twisting or heavy lifting, it might cause you to pop a stitch. Since you just woke up and still have a concussion, we are going to keep you for another forty-eight hours for observation before we let you go home. And, I know that once you leave, you will probably not want to see the inside of doctor’s office again for a while, but you will need weekly checkups. Not that your wounds are extreme, but we want to keep track of your healing process and the health of your baby. I know you must be hungry, but you just woke, and I’d like you to wait a little before you eat anything, okay? And, when you do eat, I want you to start on the BRAT diet. That’s easy on the stomach. BRAT stands for bananas, rice, apples, and toast. Now, if you or your fiancé don’t have any questions for me, I’m going to go update your chart. I’ll be back to check on you again in a couple of hours. I’m also going to have Nurse Vera bring you some pain medication for you. It will be safe to take with the baby.”
Before Dr. Shaw could turn and leave and knowing Calix wouldn’t tell her, she quickly asked, “Dr. Shaw what exactly are my injuries?”
Calix sent Anya an incensed look and broke in before the doctor could answer. “Anya, I told you we will talk about that later, love. We need to concentrate on just getting you better.”
“Calix, how can I get better if I don’t what’s wrong? I need to know what happened,” she countered firmly.
Calix huffed out a deep irritated breath, relented and told her everything that he knew about what happened that. Dr. Shaw followed after Calix, telling her about all her injuries. Anya was horrified and tears fell freely from her eyes. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing; it sounded like something that would happen on a CSI episode not in real life and most definitely not in her life. Then a frightening thought came to her, and she could barely voice the question that now haunted her.
“Was, was I raped?” Calix hurried back to her side to squelch her fear. “No, love, you weren’t touched that way,” he answered as he bent down to kiss her forehead to reassure her. Anya let out a sigh of relief, her body relaxed, and once again you could see the relief on her face.
Chapter 36
2 Weeks Later… “Anya, get the fuck in bed now God damn it!” Calix shouted at Anya as he saw her in the kitchen, trying to make herself a snack. “All you had to do was text me, and I would have gotten what you needed,” he growled.
“Calix, I’ve been in bed for two weeks if I stay in there anymore, I’m going to go insane and pop a stitch, just so I can get a ride to the hospital and leave the room and this house. Besides, you were in your office working,” she stated matter of fact tone as she continued to slice an apple and some cheese.
“That’s not funny, Anya,” he stated flatly as he made his way over to her to take over her task. “And, I wasn’t doing anything that couldn’t wait.”
“Calix, you haven’t been to work in weeks. You can’t stay here with me forever. I’m close to being fully healed, and our mothers are here every day. You had the additional cameras installed. The new fingerprint locks are in, and so is the additional security. I’m safe, nothing will happen.”
Calix set down the knife and turned to seize Anya by her shoulders. He was still leery of touching her; he didn’t want to take the chance of hurting her. He hadn’t made love to her since that night, and he wanted her so badly that he didn’t trust himself around her, so he kept his few touches to her arms, shoulders, and face. His voice was grave when he spoke to her, and, as she looked up at him, as he spoke she saw that haunted look is his eyes once again.
“Anya, you were out for everything. I know you suffered the worst of all the injuries, but you didn’t see what I saw. I still have to blink to clear my vision when I go into the bathroom, because I still see you unconscious, your body lying distorted on the tile floor with a pool of your blood surrounding you. I just can’t leave you, don’t ask me to. Not just because you are still healing but because until we find that bastard who attacked us, I won’t be at ease.”
Anya reached up and gently stroked his cheek with the tips of her fingers. He was right, she remembered nothing, and she couldn’t even imagine what a gruesome site he must have seen to put that look in his eyes. When the police came to get any kind of statement that she could give, they had the case file with them. He had forbidden her to look at the crime scene photos. She stood up on her toes to place a soft, soothing kiss on his lips. He hadn’t touched her in weeks, and she missed his touch, craved it. She knew that they both needed the healing touch and comfort that only making love and connecting physically could give them.
She draped her arms around his neck and tried to pull him down to her to deepen the kiss. Calix knew instantly what she was trying to do, and, as gently as he could, he pulled her arms from around his neck.
“Anya, no, you’re still hurt, we can’t.” Calix was still holding her by the wrist as he rebuffed her as gently as he could. Anya knew he was only trying to keep from harming her, but she couldn’t help the hurt that flashed in her eyes and the irrational thought that maybe he was disgusted by the site of her mangled body. They both knew she would have scars, what if he no longer found her attractive? She asked as much.
“Don’t you want me anymore? Do my scars lessen your desire for me? ” Her voice was small and insecure.
Calix dropped her wrists and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He tried not to squeeze her, and his voice was subdued against her skin as he spoke. “God, Anya, of course, I want you, love. I want you so badly my body aches to be deep inside your warmth. You are beautiful, and I crave your touch every day. Never doubt that. I just don’t want to hurt you or the baby; you’re both so delicate.”
Anya caressed Calix’s hair and spoke to the back of his head when she answered his concern, since he refused to remove his face from her neck. “Calix, I need you. You need me. Don’t deny us both of what we so desperately need.” Her voice was earnest.
She then gently nudged his face with her shoulder to remove him from his hiding spot and brought his lips to hers. Calix acq
uiesced, and, this time, when she tried to deepen the kiss, he didn’t stop her. No, he took hold of her face on each side and kissed her strong and hard. Attacking her with the ferociousness of his desire, and Anya reciprocated with the same ardor. His hands slowly slid down to the luscious swells of her breasts, gently rubbing his fingers over her excited and puckered nipples careful not to rub over the one healing stab wound on her breast before he slid them around to the curve of her ass, grasping them in his warm strong hands to lift her up.
“Wrap your legs around me, love,” his raspy lust induced voice commanded her. As she did, he made his way over to the couch with her in his arms, slowly sitting down with her straddling him. She was in nothing but her robe and one of her nighties. As he untied her robe and slipped it off her shoulders, a slow crooked grin spread across his face. When he saw that she was wearing the pink nightie he had used to stroke himself the night before she came home, he clutched it by the hem and peeled it from her body.
“Lift your bottom,” he ordered as he did the same to remove the sweats he was wearing. Her eyes immediately widened and filled with a carnal hunger as she watched his impressive length spring free. He was hard and already dripping with precum. He wanted her, and her heart swelled with the thought that he wasn’t just saying the words to make her feel better about her now scared body. No, he still craved her and responded to her exactly as he had in the beginning if not more.
With one hand holding her hip, Calix grabbed his engorged member and guided it to her warm, wet opening, slowly easing her down onto him, watching for the moment he would see Anya’s eyes roll.
“Fuck,” his garbled voice ground out as he became fully immerged balls deep in the depths of her warm, tight, feminine embrace. Closing his eyes, with his head thrown back, as he relished the feel and pleasure of being inside her body.
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