by Alexa Davis
I started to chase after them, but Roger grabbed my arm. “He’ll be okay. Let them do their jobs.”
“But, Roger, he was shot,” I said as I looked at him and brought my hands to my face as I began to cry.
“Brooke, he’s going to be okay,” Roger said as he pulled my hands away from my face and tipped my head up. “He’s going to be okay. The shot wasn’t that serious.”
“How the hell do you know that?” I asked.
“I was a medic with my unit in Iraq, and I’ve seen guys live after far worse shots,” he said. “She wasn’t shooting to kill.”
“I need to get to him,” I said as I headed for the dock. Roger pulled me back and reminded me that we needed to answer the investigator’s questions, and then I needed to get Jordie on the phone and have him start arranging bail for Riza.
“We have a job to do, Brooke,” Roger reminded me. “Let the doctors take care of Dax, and let’s go take care of everything else.”
I nodded and let him help me up on to the dock. “Oh hey, my shoes,” I said as I stood looking down at him in the boat.
“Got ‘em,” he grinned as he held up my pumps with one hand.
“How did you…” I laughed.
“Hey, I know women!” he laughed as he hopped up and handed me my heels.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Dax
As I came up out of the drug-induced sleep I’d been under, I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. I was groggy and my mouth was as dry as the desert. I tried to lift my head and ask for some water, but I couldn’t move.
I turned my head to see exactly where I was. When I looked to my left, I smiled as I saw Brooke curled up fast asleep in a large lounge chair that she’d dragged over from the other side of the room. Her hair spilled down around her shoulders and her mouth was slightly open as she slept. She looked beautiful.
“Mmmm,” I said as I tried to get her attention.
“Huh? What?” She shook her head as she tried to orient herself as she woke. She quickly looked over at me and when she saw that I was awake, too, a smiled spread across her lips, reaching her beautiful blue eyes.
“Hey, you,” she said softly as she stood up and moved over so she could sit on the edge of my bed. “I was waiting for your lazy butt to wake up.”
“Mmm mmm,” I grunted through dry lips that refused to open enough to make sounds that normal people would understand.
“Water, you need water,” she said as she got up and went out to the nurse’s station to ask if I could have it. She returned with a big pitcher and a glass with a straw sticking out of it. “They said you could have little sips of water, and they trusted me to make sure they are little sips, Mr. Malone. So don’t get me into trouble!”
I smiled as best I could and waited for her to bring me a drink. She sat on the edge of the bed and held the cup parallel to my chin as she bent the straw and slid it in my mouth. I took a quick sip and let the cool liquid spread out across my parched mouth. She held it there until I took another sip, and by the third one, I could open my mouth and speak.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Who, me? I’m fine,” she laughed. “You were the one who took one for the team, mister!”
“I’m fine. What about Riza?” I asked.
“I’m not going to lie, she’s got a long road ahead of her,” she said. “She killed Lydia, and she tried to kidnap Roger and me. And while we’re willing to not press charges, she’s going to have a tough time with the murder charge.”
“Can you help her?” I asked before I bent my head forward to take another sip of water.
“Roger is going to help her get expert witnesses from the military to talk about PTSD and its effects, but she might very well have to do some time for Lydia’s murder,” she said. “I know it’s hard, but she needs help.”
“I know. I just wish I would have understood that before it got to this point,” I said as I looked away and tried not to think about my best friend in prison.
“Dax, it’s not your fault,” Brooke told me as she set the cup down and then very carefully lay down next to me so that her body was stretched out next to me. I could feel her warmth through the thin hospital blanket. She lightly rested her hand on my chest, and I lifted my other arm so I could lay mine over the top of hers. We lay there like that until the night nurse came in and told Brooke that visiting hours were over.
“Brooke?” I said as she gathered her things to prepare to go home for the night.
“Yes?” she turned and focused her bright blue eyes on me. I felt my heart expanding so fast that it felt painful in my chest. I winced a bit, and she rushed over. “Are you okay? Do you need the nurse?”
“No,” I whispered as I reached up and ran my fingers through her hair as I studied her face. “Brooke…I love you.”
She tipped her head and smiled warmly as she reached out and stroked my cheek. Then, she leaned down and lightly kissed my lips before she whispered, “I love you, too, Mr. Malone.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
Brooke
I stopped by my parents after I left the hospital and checked in to see what Pop had heard in the newsroom.
“Well, if it isn’t my big fancy lawyer daughter,” he laughed as he crossed the kitchen to meet me at the front door.
“TONY RAINES!” my mother yelled at the top of her lungs. “How many times do I have to threaten to kill you before you stop walking on my freshly cleaned kitchen floor?”
“Apparently more than you already have,” my father said as he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. “I needed to hug my daughter!”
“Well, fine then,” my mother grudgingly agreed as she, too, crossed the kitchen and pulled me into her arms. “I’m so glad you’re okay. If anything had happened to you…”
“Yeah, well, it didn’t, now did it?” I said as I pulled away and looked toward the kitchen. “What’s for dinner?”
“Tony and Gina are bringing dinner over, didn’t I tell you?” my mother said as she returned to her mop and gave the floor one more swipe to clean up the prints my father had made.
“Nope, you sure didn’t!” I said as I sunk down in the comfy chair near the door and looked over at my father who had take up his position in the recliner. He looked up at me over the edge of his glasses and said, “You sure you’re okay, kiddo?”
“Yeah Pop. I’m fine, I promise,” I said raising my hand in a swearing in position.
“What’s happening at the firm?” he asked.
“Well, Roger is helping with Riza’s case. We think we can get her sentence reduced on the grounds that she was suffering from severe PTSD,” I said. “Jordie and I are handling all the other cases that are streaming in as the result of this exposure. I think we’re going to have to hire more help in the front of the office. Alma can’t keep up with all the calls and everything else!”
“That’s a good thing! Get her to organize the place and keep you all on track,” he laughed. My father had had several run-ins with Alma and come away from them re-thinking his entire office organizational policy. I thought he was nuts, but my mother said it had been a lifelong affliction.
“Where’s Beck?” my mother called from the kitchen. “He knows he’s welcome here anytime, right?”
“Mom, Beck doesn’t even know us,” I said. I had tried to remind my mother that she couldn’t just adopt everyone who came into my life. “Besides, I took him back to the rehab facility so he could finish his treatment. He wanted to be sober when Dax got out of the hospital.”
“When do they think that will be?” my father asked.
“Probably next week,” I replied. “They want to make sure the wound is healing properly and that there’s no infection.”
“He’s doing okay otherwise?” he asked as he looked at me pointedly.
“He’s fine, Pop. Why are you so nosy?” I laughed.
“I’m a reporter, it’s my job,” he said with a flourish of his hand. “Besides,
it seems like you might like this guy or something.”
“Pop…” I warned.
“I know, I know, I’m not supposed to say anything about it,” he said waving me off. “Got it.”
“I should never have trusted you with that information. I thought as a reporter, you’d be safe!” I sighed. “I should have known better.”
My father pulled he paper down just enough so that I could see the twinkle in his eye as he smiled at me. He was happy that I’d met someone who loved me in all the ways that his difficult daughter needed.
“Hey, hey, hey! Whose hungry?” Teddy called as he pushed open the front door and walked through with a huge pot full of something that smelled like heaven. He looked at my father and me and quietly asked, “Mom mopping the floor again?”
We nodded as my mother yelled, “I heard that! Just don’t get my clean floor dirty!”
We all burst out laughing as Gina entered, carrying several full bags. I jumped up off the chair to help her as my father followed Teddy into the kitchen and lifted the lid on the pot.
I set the bags down and looked around at my family, marveling at how warm and welcoming they were and feeling excited about introducing Dax to them all.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
Epilogue – Brooke
“Pop, what are you doing?” I cried as I looked at my father over my shoulder.
“Nothing, just checking something,” he said as he bent down and pulled something out of his shoe. He handed me a penny that had obviously been smashed by something enormous and said, “Here you go, kiddo. I’ve been saving this for this day.”
“Pop, what is this?” I asked as I turned it over and felt the smooth copper in my hand.
“It’s my lucky penny. I’ve had it since I was eight,” he smiled. I put it in all my shoes for good luck. I wanted you to have it today.
“Pop, where am I going to put this?” I asked as I looked down at my outfit and tried to think of where I could tuck the good luck charm.
“Oh, I didn’t really think about that,” he said as he looked me over and then kissed my cheek. “You really look beautiful, Brookie.”
“Oh, Pop, stop it,” I said as I tried not to let the tears well up and ruin my makeup.
“You ready to do this, kiddo?” my father asked as he held out his arm and smiled warmly.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I smiled and took his arm just as the music started.
We walked through the kitchen to the backdoor where we stopped and looked at each other and laughed because we knew we were both waiting for my mother to yell at us.
“Stop dawdling and start walking,” she called from her seat out in the yard. The whole crowd burst out laughing because they, too, knew about my mother and her floors.
The music started as my father took a step forward, and I followed down the stairs and across the lawn. The backyard had been landscaped especially for this occasion, and it looked like a botanical garden with all the trees and flowering bushes. I smiled as we started up the center aisle, lined with flower petals that led all the way to the handsome man waiting for me at the end of it.
I held his gaze the whole walk to him. And when I reached his side, my father took both of our hands and joined them before he said, “Be kind to one another. Always.” He turned to go join my mother, but before he reached her, he looked back at us and added, “And, stay off your mother’s floors.”
The crowd erupted into a fit of laughter and the officiate began, “We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in the bonds of holy matrimony…”
When we got to the vows, I looked up at the handsome man in front of me and in a confident voice I said, “Mr. Malone, I promise you a lifetime of love, joy, laughter, and warmth. I promise that I will cherish and respect you. I promise that I will listen to you and talk with you. But most of all, I promise that our home will always be a place where you will want to return to after you’ve been out in the world. I promise to be your partner, your friend, your lover, and your biggest supporter. As long as I’m with you, I will always be at home.”
Dax smiled warmly as he looked into my eyes and said his vows, “Brooke, you had my heart from the moment I met you. And every day I’ve spent with you has simply served to confirm that I’ve found a home for my heart. I promise that I will protect, respect, and love you. I will support you and listen to you, and I will strive to make a home for your big, beautiful heart as we spend our lives living and loving together.”
There was not a dry eye in the house as he slipped the ring on my finger and the officiate pronounced us man and wife. Dax lifted one hand to brush the stray hairs from my cheek before he bent down and wrapped his arms around me. He looked deep into my eyes as he mouthed, “I love you,” before he bent and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and returned the kiss as he lifted me off of my feet and raised one arm in victory.
“Hey, don’t drop me, Malone!” I cried as I felt myself slipping out of his grasp. “This dress cost a fortune, buddy!”
“Don’t get sassy with me, Mrs. Malone,” he said as he kissed me again and gently lowered me to the floor. We joined hands and as the crowd of friends and family clapped and cheered, Dax and I walked down the aisle into the next chapter of our lives.
Epilogue – Dax
In the low light of our bridal suite, I looked at my wife and shook my head. How had I gotten so lucky? This had been a day more perfect than I ever could have imagined. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have my parents alive to see it.
Brooke looked beautiful, in a dress that was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It started out deep blue at the base and got lighter and lighter until at the top it was the lightest shade of robin’s egg blue. I knew this because I’d been the one to help her pick it out. We’d decided to reject all the traditional wedding dictates and create a celebration that reflected everything we valued and loved.
We’d had a rough time after the shooting while I’d recovered. And we’d had to go to court to support Riza as she was put on trial for Lydia’s murder. When the judge asked her why she’d done it, Riza simply said she didn’t know. There was no good reason for it, and she couldn’t remember doing it. I still had my doubts about whether she’d actually done it or whether she’d been the fall guy for someone else’s crime, but she had seemed to make peace with it. Roger proved to be a solid lawyer and a good friend to her.
After the trial was over, I’d kept my promise to Brooke and done everything in my power to extract myself from the drug trade. I’d made a deal with one of the north side guys to let him be silent owner of Apex if he’d let Kesha run it the way she saw fit. I wanted to sell it to her, but she just didn’t have the cash to buy it. So I did the next best thing and retained ownership of the club until Kesha could raise the cash to buy it. I let the north siders do their thing in the back room and didn’t ask questions. I knew that Kesha had made her own deal with them, but I didn’t interfere. Once she’d made enough bank to buy the place, I’d be out of that world for good.
Then, I took the profits I’d been banking and bought a couple of properties on Skid Row and set out to develop them so that folks living there could have a grocery store and other small neighborhood stores. I trained the workers and only hired people from the neighborhood. I would never want for money, so I figured I could use my good fortune to help change the neighborhood for the better and maybe benefit kids who were in the same situation as Beck and I had been.
Beck got clean, and I bankrolled his college degree. He was now a sophomore at UCLA, working on a degree in nursing and hoping to enter the rehab sector once he graduated and earned his license. All in all, we were doing pretty well.
I looked at my wife and smiled as she wrestled with the zipper on her dress. She’d never looked lovelier than she had looked standing in front of me reciting her vows, and I’d never loved her more than I did today.
“C’mere, and let me help you with that, silly woman
,” I chuckled as she walked over and turned around. I couldn’t help myself as I reached up and swept her hair off of her neck before I leaned down and kissed her softly. She sighed as she leaned into my kiss and I slowly unzipped her dress, letting it sink in a brilliant blue pool on the ground at her feet.
“Mrs. Malone, you were the most beautiful woman at the party today,” I whispered as I slipped my hands around her body and ran them up until I gently cupped her full beautiful breasts, one in each hand.
“And you were the most dashing man at the party, Mr. Malone,” she sighed. “I’m so lucky to have married such a handsome man.”
“And talented,” I said. “Don’t forget how talented I am.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll ever let me forget that, Mr. Malone,” she whispered as I bent down and ran my tongue up her neck.
“Not if I have my way, you won’t,” I said, smiling as I teased her nipples with my fingers and drew a soft moan from between her lips.
“You do that so well,” she sighed as I slid my hands under her lingerie and began teasing in earnest. I quickly undid the rest of her trappings and before I knew it, my wife stood before me naked and shining in the low light.
“My God, you are beautiful,” I murmured as I scooped her up and carried her to our wedding bed. “I’m never going to be able to get enough of you.”
“Mmmm,” she replied as she stretched up and wrapped her arms around my neck so she could pull me down into a deep kiss. “Get those clothes off and come test that theory out!”
I quickly shed my wedding suit and climbed into bed next to her. I loved running my hands over her bare skin, not only because she was so soft and warm, but because it elicited a response I loved no matter how many times I did it.
“Do you think we’ll ever get tired of this?” she asked as she ran her hand up my arm and watched me admiring the curve of her hip as she lay pressed against me.