All I can do is stare up at him. I mean, I was drunk last night, but not incoherent. I know I said things to Jude that I would not otherwise have said had I not been loose lipped and drunk, but every word I let loose was true. I remember everything and meant absolutely every word. I like him, a lot. I like him here with me, in my house and with my family. It’s only been five days, really just four and a half if you want to get technical, but everything that has happened in that time has been weighty and meaningful. I remember not wanting him to leave me last night to sleep on my sofa again, I remember wanting to be close to him and him giving that to me but not taking advantage of it. But most of all, even though the last four and a half days have been crazy, emotional and tiring, I haven’t felt the loneliness I’ve been overflowing with for the past three years and eight months. Before last Friday, I’ve felt alone with nothing to hold tight, grasping at things that make me happy for a while, but nothing that brings me happiness. I’ve prayed about it and God’s given me a peace in my heart that I will see my parents again someday, but on this Earth, I don’t have anything to embrace that matters. But for the last four and a half days, I haven’t felt the overflow of loneliness. It’s different, it’s still new and it scares the hell out of me. I don’t know if I can trust it because I don’t want to get used to it if it’s going to be taken away. If I hold on tight to something again and it’s ripped away, it might undue me.
I pull in a breath as Jude gives me a little squeeze to get my attention and as if he’s reading my thoughts, he says, “You can trust me, sugar. Please, please let me trust you, too.”
“Okay,” I barely whisper.
“Thank you,” he says as he pulls me in for a soft kiss. Leaning back to look at me again, he says, “Can you scale back your shopping today? The thought of you in and out of places all day makes me crazy.”
I sigh. “Okay. But can I at least go to Gloria’s? It’s a frame shop, I have prints I need to have framed for a client and if I wait any longer it will hold up my project. One store can’t make you that crazy, right? I’ll text you again, I promise.”
He sighs and says, “Fine. One store, but come straight home,” he instructs, back to Bossy Jude.
I smile big and say, “Thank you! And, um, will you be back here tonight?”
“Yeah, babe. You shouldn’t be by yourself and I want to be here tonight if that’s okay with you.”
I try to ignore how happy that makes me so I change the subject and say, “I’ll make dinner.”
“No. I’m taking you to dinner tonight. Be ready to go by six thirty.”
“Jude, you don’t need to take me to dinner, I don’t mind cooking.”
“Babe. No offense, because I’ve had three of your salads now, and don’t get me wrong, they’re great salads. But I think I might become anemic if I don’t eat some meat soon,” he says with a grin.
“I did put chicken on the taco salad, are you forgetting that?”
“Gabby. You’re cute. But I’m still taking you to dinner tonight. Nothing fancy but we’ll make sure you can get a salad, okay?” he says sarcastically.
Feeling a little defensive, at the same happy that he finds me cute, I bite out, “I do eat things besides salads, Jude.”
“Oh yeah? What did you have last night with your girls?”
I clamp my jaw shut and glare up and him. He throws his head back and laughs out loud while pulling me tight to him. I hold my glare as best I can because listening to his deep raspy voice laughing is super nice and a little distracting. He looks down at me still laughing and I say, “Stop it, Jude! So I had a salad, but it had grilled salmon smothered in pesto, it’s my favorite dish there!” He continues to chuckle as he pulls me up for a kiss.
“I believe you sugar,” he replies through a chuckle.
“Whatever. Don’t you have somewhere to be and a bad guy to catch so I can roam free and shop at will again?”
“Yeah,” he says. “I don’t want to inhibit your shopping any more than necessary, Gabby. And don’t answer the phone if Megan tries to call you again. Keep the alarm on and look out the window if someone comes to your door. And by the way, how well do you know how to use your gun?”
“Good heavens, you are bossy! I have my Conceal and Carry, remember? I passed the class!”
“That’s an easy class, really how much have you worked with a gun, now I’m just curious.”
I sigh again, “My family is full of hunters, Jude. I grew up around guns and was taught to respect them. When we were old enough my dad and uncles would take us kids shooting, although I didn’t shoot a handgun until I was an adult. Lanny and Sophia own about 90 acres in southeast Nebraska with a little house on it and they use the land to hunt on. That’s when I learned how to shoot a handgun. I’m not a bad shot.”
“Good. Keep your gun close, you never know,” he leans down to kiss me. “I’ll call you later and check in. Be good.”
He lets me go, I turn to let Mia in and follow him to the garage door so I can set the alarm after he grabs a coffee to go. “Bye, Jude,” I call.
He turns to wink at me with a grin. I lock myself in, set the alarm and head to the shower. I need to get my day started and I really need coffee. Mia follows me and I throw my winter robe on the floor for her to sleep on while I get ready. She curls up for her morning nap and I set about my day not thinking about what I need to get done, but about how that overflowing feeling is starting to come over me again, but this time it’s filled with something other than loneliness. Enjoying this new feeling, I step into my shower smiling.
*****
“Thanks! I appreciate your patience, they’re just what my client wanted! The grass cloth matting has great texture and will really make a difference,” I say to the sales associate at Gloria’s Custom Framing.
“No problem, Gabby. You’re always fun to work with, thanks for coming back in! They should be ready in three to four weeks since we have to order the matting. We’ll give you a ring!”
I move to the door looking over my shoulder and turn to give her a wave, saying, “Thanks again! I’ll wait to hear from you!” I turn to the right on the sidewalk toward my car and pull my cell from my back pocket to text Jude that I’m on my way home. He’s called me once to check on me, giving me the bad news that they have not found Trevor. He’s proving to be difficult or resourceful, whichever side you’re on. Jude said the other side of his case is ramping up so he would be a bit later, making it closer to seven for dinner.
Pressing send on my text to Jude, I look up as I near my Tahoe. That’s when I feel a hand from behind me, a grip so hard on my left bicep I wince from the pain. I am yanked to the right into a hard body. I look over and I let out a small surprised scream. He’s got an arm around me from the back and this vice grip is totally different than Jude’s, causing searing pain to shoot through my arm.
“Shut the fuck up, Gabby!” he bites out.
The pain in my arm is so overwhelming, I find myself at a total loss and I barely whisper, “Trevor?”
He starts moving me fast, turning me down the side of the building and before I know it we are behind the storefront area of the outdoor shopping center of Rockbrook Village, but more importantly, away from shoppers. He whips me around, shoving me up against the brick wall with so much force that my head flings back hitting the wall with a thud, pain shooting through my head and neck. Trevor puts a hand to my chest to keep me where I am. I can scarcely whisper out, “Please, Trevor. Stop!”
“What the fuck, Gabby? Since when did you hook up with a cop, huh? You hold out on every man who might want a piece of your sweet ass for years, won’t talk to anyone, like you’re too fucking good for the general population, but you choose a cop? Now? Why is that? Answer me!” he screams, his face mere inches from mine.
Barely finding my voice, scared out of my mind, I whisper, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
With that, he pulls his arm up, back and with what feels like full force backhands me
across the face so hard I fall to the side, landing hard on my hands and knees. “Don’t lie to me, Gabby!” he continues to yell venomously. “Just this morning some FBI Agent told Megan to quit calling you. I’ve seen him coming and going from your house. Are you informing on me Gabby? What the fuck do you know?”
I can barely lift my hand to touch my temple where he hit me and cower. I don’t utter a word. I dropped my phone along the way and my purse is about three feet away from me on the ground with my gun in it. There’s no way he’s going to let me reach for it so I decide talking is my best bet. “I don’t know anything about you, Trevor. You know I love Megan. I would never do anything to hurt either of you or your kids.” I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes from the pain and fear combined. Tears that I haven’t shed in so long. Months after my parents died I felt like I was cried out, dried up, nothing left in me. But now I feel them coming with a vengeance and there is nothing I can do to stop them.
Still on my knees, balancing on one hand, Trevor kneels down to me, his face so close I can feel his breath on my face and he spews in a quiet, menacing voice, “You better not have, you fucking bitch. If I find out you had anything to do with what went down at my house last week, I will come after you Gabby and this is nothing compared to what I will do to you, but I’ll fucking play with you first. We’ll see how sweet you are, but trust me you won’t enjoy it one fucking bit, do you hear me? You’ve got that coming to you for being such a cold bitch for all these years.” With that he stands up and I feel a powerful kick to my torso, my body hurled to the side with the force of his boot. I close my eyes and feel the pain shoot through me instantly like lightening. With that, he is gone and I don’t have enough energy to see which way he went. I lay here for a few minutes silently crying then try to get up but my middle hurts so badly I can hardly move. Finally, I manage to pull myself up to a sitting position when I hear a noise and a door slam. Scrambling as fast as I can to put my back to the wall thinking Trevor has come back, I wince from the pain in my head, face and I think my ribs. A younger kid comes around the dumpster wearing all black with a white apron carrying a huge bag of trash.
He takes one look at me, drops the trash and rushes to me. I don’t know why, but I cringe trying to move away, but grimace from the pain it causes and let out a sob.
“It’s okay,” he whispers, stops and holds his palms out to me showing me he’s not going to hurt me. “Don’t move, I’m going to call for help, okay?” He pulls a cell out of his back pocket and starts to dial.
I close my eyes, concentrate to find a place on my body that doesn’t hurt as I listen to the young kid talk on the phone describing the mess in front of him. Then I try to remember back to just this morning when I didn’t feel alone, thinking that was really short lived as the tears I dread so much start to flow freely for the first time in years.
Chapter 9 - Mine
“If you don’t calm the fuck down, Ortiz, I’m not letting you walk into that hospital. I’ll hold you down myself, boy, you understand me?” Mac says, driving too fast through the city streets. He insisted on bringing me, like I couldn’t fucking get to her on my own and I could have done it a hell of a lot faster. “She does not need to see you like this, do you understand me? Get your shit together.”
“I’ve got a handle on it, would you just get me there?” I bite out. I got a call fifteen minutes ago from Tony, letting me know Gabby has been transported to Lakeside Hospital. He got a call from the police and was on his way so he hasn’t seen her yet. All the police told him is that she had been worked over, she was in bad shape and had been taken by ambulance. When I hung up the phone from Tony I lost it. Not knowing what had happened to her, thinking of the possibilities of what could have happened to her made me lose my mind. I threw my chair across the office and put my foot through a wall. It took three guys to hold me down. Mac called his close contact at the PD and they haven’t gotten her statement yet because EMS needed to transport her right away, which cannot be good. The only thing that made me get it together is that Mac did find out that none of her clothing had been ripped, torn or removed from what the first responding officers could see.
I didn’t do enough. I knew she had been threatened on the wiretap, her house had been broken into and I still let her talk me into going out this afternoon by herself. One fucking store. Damn it! It had to be Harper or one of his henchmen and it’s been five days and we don’t have them behind bars yet.
We finally get to the hospital and Mac pulls up into a no parking lane next to the ER entrance. Some security guy is standing there, walks up to us as I get out and run to the doors. I hear Mac tell him who we are and badge him, but I don’t look back. I turn, get to the waiting room and I see Tony, his dad and Gino standing there in suits.
“Where is she?” I demand.
“She’s in CT, we haven’t seen her yet,” said Gino. The three of them look like what I feel, a wreck of worry and rage.
I turn and look to the attendant at the counter, pull out my credentials and move that way, “I need to speak the EMS team that brought in Gabrielle Carpino. Now. Where can I find them?”
She looks at my badge, then me and says, “Through those doors, I’ll buzz you in. They should be repacking their equipment.”
I look back at Gabby’s family and say, “I’ll see what I can find out.” Giving me head lifts, I turn to the doors and the attendant buzzes me through to the ER. Looking to the left, I see a pair of EMS packing up their gurney and bags.
Showing my badge again, I say, “Did you bring in Gabrielle Carpino? Young woman, thin, about five seven, blonde?”
The tall guy says, “Yeah. She was beat up pretty bad. They’ve got her in CT checking for a concussion, she had two blows to the head, one in the back and one at her temple. They are taking her to x-ray after that. From what we could tell, she already had bruises forming on her torso, so I’m sure they will be checking for cracked ribs. They will have to assess for internal damage from that blow, the bruises were forming fast.”
“What else?” I demand, glaring at them hoping they catch my inference. I might lose my mind again if I have to spell it out. “Was there anything else?” I say slowly, each word containing meaning.
“I was in the back of the rig with her,” the female said. “She had all of her clothes on when we got to her. I was trying to keep her talking because of the blow to head, watching her eyes, making sure she was coherent and knew what was happening. She said he back handed her and gave her a boot to the gut, but other than that just threatened her. I asked if she knew him and she just said yes, but wouldn’t talk anymore. Other than the injuries we just told you about, I don’t think anything else happened.”
Closing my eyes and dropping my head, I let out a breath. Getting it together, I look up and say, “Thank you. Do you know who the doctor is that is working on her?”
“Yeah, it’s Dr. Aimes. He’s good, evaluated her and sent her for tests right away to see what he was dealing with. She should be back soon,” the guy answers.
“I appreciate it,” I turn back to the waiting room to let her family know. When I get there, the Carpino’s have started multiplying. Nic is here with two of her aunts and some of her cousins. I tell them what I know and we have to wait for her to get back. Mac is standing off to the side, so I join him.
Twenty minutes later, a white haired, but not old looking doctor in green scrubs comes out the doors and says, “Gabrielle Carpino?” More of Gabby’s cousins and other aunt have shown. The group is huge. Her aunts jump up and get to the doctor first. Realizing he has such a large audience, the doctor starts informing everyone on her condition, “Gabrielle has a concussion and severe bruising to her ribcage. We don’t see any fractures, but they don’t always show on the scans and the treatment is the same if she has a fracture or just bruising. She has a good bump on the back of her head and at the temple. We don’t see any signs of internal bleeding or damage to any organs. I’d like to keep her overnight
to observe her for the concussion and make sure she doesn’t present with any signs of internal damage. All in all, for what she experienced, she’s lucky her injuries aren’t more substantial and she should make a full recovery. She will need time and rest to heal.”
“I want to see her,” Lizzie demands.
The doctor looks over her shoulder at Gabby’s massive family and says with a warning, “Just a couple at a time, we will be moving her to a room shortly. She’ll be drowsy because of the medication we’ve given her for the pain. She’s going to have one heck of a headache, so she’ll need quiet and rest.”
Lizzie, Tia and Emma forge ahead through the doors to get to their niece. I want to take them all down to get to her myself, I need to see her. But I’ve only known her for five fucking days. I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around to see Tony and he says in a low voice, “Hey, I’ll make sure you get in there, and soon.” I don’t know what my body language is saying, but clearly he could tell that I need to get to her. All I can do is lift my head in appreciation and I move to the wall and wait for her aunts to come back out.
As I stand here waiting for what feels like a year, Gino walks up to me and says, “Jude, I need a word.” I see him taking me in, looking for something in me, what, I don’t know. Finally, he crosses his arms and starts, “Gabby’s a strong girl. She gets that from her mother. Meredith was a tiny little thing, but no weakling, that’s for sure. Gabby was strong like her mom until she lost her parents. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still a spitfire and even though she has all of us, she doesn’t have siblings, so she couldn’t help but feel alone when she lost her family. She puts on a good front, but every one of us can see it, she’s been going through the motions of life, holding herself back. That fuckwad, James, broke her heart at a time she was already broken and although we’re happy as hell he’s gone, we hated to see her experience that even though she downplayed it at the time. Now, you’ve barely been around a week and don’t get me wrong, you seem like a good guy. We can all tell there is something going on with you and my niece. I would never ask this, but with what’s happened today, we have to do everything we can to protect her from every angle. I think you being here now means something, but I’m gonna say it anyway. If you don’t have a true interest in my niece, you need to get going. But, if you think there’s something to you and Gabby and you plan on sticking around to see it out, then you’re welcome to stay. But now is the time for you to make that choice. And once you choose, son, you’d better damn well stick to it.”
Overflow: The Carpino Series Page 11