Overflow: The Carpino Series

by Asher, Brynne

  This is the easiest decision I’ve ever made, I aim my gun down to his chest and he must realize what I’m doing because I hear Tony behind me yell, “No!” He runs to Gabby to push her out of the way as I pull my trigger, but I hear two gunshots.

  “No! No! No!” I hear Gabby scream, piercing my heart. Pope is down in front of me, but Gabby is down on her hands and knees again in front of Tony, lying on the ground, blood starting to seep out of his dress shirt from his gut. “No!” Gabby screams again trying to pull Tony’s head into her lap. “Call someone!”

  I already have my phone out dialing 911 as I kick Gabby’s gun away from Pope. I make the call while cutting the tie at Gabby’s hands. She immediately pulls her sweatshirt over her head and presses it to his stomach while cupping his head with her hand. Tears are streaming down her face as she looks down at her cousin and I say, “Tony, stay awake. An ambulance is coming, we’re gonna get you help. You need to hang with us.”

  Tony’s eyes come to me slowly, his eyelids half closed and his normally olive skin starts to look drab. Gabby begs through her sobs, “Tony, look at me, please look at me.”

  Tony slides his eyes back up to Gabby, even slower this time and barely gets out, “Gabba.”

  His eyes close and Gabby shrieks, “Oh dear God, no! Please, no!” She looks at me with her tear streaked face and says, “Jude, we have to do something, please! Let’s take him,” she begs me.

  “Baby, we need to wait, they will be here soon. They’re going to need to work on him,” I whisper back to her.

  I put my fingers to his throat and barely feel a pulse. After what seems like a fucking year while listening to Gabby sob and pray for her cousin’s life, I finally hear sirens. I look up at Gabby, putting my hand to her cheek and give her a little nod. Getting up, I leave to flag down the EMS and lead them to Tony.

  Chapter 22 - I’ll Never Have The Words

  “Sugar, put this on,” Jude says bossy, but soft and sweet. A remote part of my brain wonders how he can be sweet, soft and bossy at the same time.

  They wouldn’t let me ride in the ambulance with Tony. When I say they, I mean the EMS, police, my uncles and Jude. For one, my Uncle Tony rode in the ambulance and as Tony’s father, he took precedence, but I think it was more to the fact that I was a little out of control.

  Or a lot out of control.

  I wouldn’t let the EMS touch me to look me over. I couldn’t focus on anything other than watching them work on an unconscious Tony, seeing his blood seep out of his body and watch them load him up to take him away. I was also shaking so badly from the cold since all I was wearing was a thin t-shirt and old yoga pants. Jude finally told them we would follow the ambulance and have me checked out at the hospital. I had been wrapped in a blanket given to me by EMS, the heat in Jude’s truck blasting on me and after being checked out in the ER, and even after Jude made me take a hot shower, I still cannot stop shaking. After I was checked out in the ER, vaguely remembering someone saying something about shock and then Jude demanding I be able to take a shower since I was covered in blood, both from Tony and Pope. I went through the motions of taking a shower, doing my best to wash away all the blood with Jude’s help. My body will not stop shaking, even now as Jude pulls hospital scrubs over my head helping me dress, my fingers barely able to tie the pants that are hanging on my hips. I see Jude throw my blood soaked clothes into the hazardous materials bin. He comes back to me with another towel to squeeze as much water from my hair as possible.

  “Where is he?” I ask.

  “He’s in surgery, sugar. I’ll take you to your family in a second. Put these socks on, the nurse is bringing you warm blankets and we’ll go straight to the surgical waiting room,” he says, again super softly.

  We exit the elevator and turn the corner. I’m wrapped in another blanket with Jude’s arm around my shoulders moving me forward. I see my whole family, faces wracked with fear and worry. I go straight to my Uncle Tony and bury my face in his chest, feeling his arms come around me. Then Lizzie joins our huddle and my uncle engulfs both of us. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper, my sobs coming again.

  “Hey,” my uncle says, whispering into my head. “Stop talking like that. You didn’t bring this on. We were so worried about you, Gabby, that was an awful few hours not knowing where you were. I’m just glad they got to you when they did,” he gives us a squeeze as I hear Lizzie’s sob hitch, her face buried in my wet hair.

  We stand here for a few minutes before my uncle turns me back into Jude’s arms, where he leads me to a hard sofa, sits and tucks me into his side. We wait for what seems like an eternity before a young doctor in scrubs comes in and says, “Anthony Carpino, Jr.?”

  The entire room stands, coming to attention and my Uncle rushes forward holding Lizzie’s hand saying, “We’re his parents.”

  Nodding once, the young doctor lays it out, “Your son is out of surgery and in recovery. I want him to stay in ICU throughout the night. He lost a lot of blood and is still in serious condition. The bullet nicked and ruptured his spleen, which we had to remove but we feel certain we were able to repair all internal injuries. We need to watch him closely tonight and he will need to stay a few days. If he progresses as we think he will, he should make a full recover with time. He’s very lucky the damage wasn’t worse and if that bullet was an inch or two off, he wouldn’t be so lucky. They should be able to move him to ICU shortly and we will come get you so you can see him.”

  And with that, I slump against Jude who takes my weight as my tears come again and I don’t hear my aunt or uncle ask more questions or anything else the doctor has to say. Tony’s going to be okay. He threw himself in front of a bullet for me, but he’s going to be fine. Minus one semi important organ that he should be able to live without.

  I feel Jude’s lips at my ear as he says, “Sugar, he’s going to be fine. Try and get a handle on it.” I nod into his chest and try and take in a big breath. He pulls my head back a bit, gently placing his hand to the side of my face where I can feel a large bump and bruise where Pope backhanded me with my gun and says not so gently, “If I ever see another mark on your face, I’m going to fucking kill someone.”

  Thinking now is not the best time to point out that he already did kill someone, not to mention I don’t want to think about anyone being killed, past or present. I instead plant the good side of my face in his chest again and decide to focus on being thankful Tony’s going to be fine, I’m fine and this awful day is over.

  *****

  Tony

  I open my eyes to light coming through the closed blinds of the second hospital room I’ve already come to hate since I was moved here, deciding I hate this one only slightly less than the one I hated in ICU. I turn my head and see Gabby, curled up asleep in the recliner with Jude sitting in a chair next to her. I scan the room for anyone else, try not to get pissed because it hurts to fucking much when I see it’s just the three of us. My eyes return to Jude, his arms are folded across his chest, legs stretched out in front of him, but his eyes are open, alert and on me. I lick my lips and my dry mouth grunts, “Hey.”

  Jude doesn’t respond, but gets up and walks over to the rolling table to nab a plastic cup with a straw, moves to me to put it close to my mouth. I take a long pull of water while trying to ignore the pain in my gut every time I move any part of my body even a millimeter. I’m not sure I hid the pain very well because the first thing out of Jude’s mouth was, “Warning, man. I heard the nurse say that since you’re out of ICU, they’re gonna get you up to walk here in a bit.”

  I swallow, my mouth not feeling quite like sandpaper anymore and mutter, “Fuck.”

  Jude puts the cup down, staying where he is, crosses his arms again and looks down at me. Finally, after many countless beats, he lowers his voice and says, “I’ll never have the words, Tony.” He looks over to a sleeping Gabby, then back to me and goes on, “Forever. I’ll forever be grateful.”

  I barely lift my chin to him, because it hurts li
ke a mother, to let him know I get him. I look at Gabby, healthy and alive curled up in the chair. Jude and I give each other a knowing look and then all of a sudden his lips barely tip up and he says, “Oh, another warning. Gabby’s already talking about how she wants you to stay with us until you get back up on your feet. She wants to take care of you.”

  Shit. I am not letting Gabby take care of me, so I grumble, “What, is she building a commune over there for damaged bodies and troubled souls? Everyone’s moving in with Gabby.”

  Jude chuckles saying, “Something like that. But you also have to know, it’s turning into a competition for who’s going to take care of you between her, your mother and your sisters. Paige is even making plans to move into your house.”

  Ignoring the pain this time, I say with meaning, “No fucking way is Paige moving into my house. She just wants to get out of her shit apartment.”

  “Maybe,” Jude says with mirth. “But it should be fun to see how it all plays out. I’ll do what I can to have your back.”

  “You better. You owe me,” I say, looking over at Gabby, thinking he doesn’t owe me a thing. I’d do anything for her.

  Jude sobers and says, “Yeah, I owe you everything.”

  *****

  “I can’t believe he won’t stay with us,” Gabby says, almost whining.

  “Sugar, he doesn’t want to be babied by his mother, sisters and cousin. He will never be able to eat all the food you women made him, not to mention he’s been given the all clear by the doctors to stay by himself. You all made your rotation schedule to be there during the days until he can drive again and he barely gave in to that. Give the man some peace,” I say, trying to get through to her he wants to be on his own. I didn’t go so far to say that if he had a woman he’d be fine with her lovin’ on him, but his mother, sisters and cousin? No way. “Although, I’ll never forget the look on his face when you supplied him with a whole bottle of stool softeners. I thought he was going to bust his stitches he was so pissed. That shit was funny.”

  “Jude! That’s not nice!” she exclaims. “We all know what those pain meds can do to your body,” she says in a sing song voice while raising her eyebrows with big eyes.

  “Yes. Yes, we do,” I agree laughing as I back out of Tony’s driveway to make the short drive home.

  It’s been four days since Gabby was kidnapped, four days since Tony was shot and four days since I killed Pope. My shooting was investigated immediately and it was immediately found that I was justified in that shooting. But even more, it’s been four days since Gabby has learned that her parents were killed, their death being no accident. I’ve asked her repeatedly how she’s doing and she’s all but ignoring me. Gabby’s kept herself busy taking care of Tony, scurrying back and forth from the hospital. But Tony went home today, alone I might add, and she’s going to have to slow down to process everything. Her uncles and Tony are worried she’s upset with them for not telling her, she says she understands but I can tell they’re still concerned.

  I pull my truck into the immaculately clean garage next to Gabby’s Tahoe. I’ve learned Gabby appreciates the benefits of Let’s Make a Deal. Shortly after I officially moved in, I cleaned her garage, organized her shit and rearranged an unfinished room in the basement to create a workroom for her to labor on the shit she calls treasures. I even painted the garage floor with industrial strength paint made specifically for the task. In exchange for me getting to move her shit and make the garage the shrine it is today, new stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and a stone backsplash are being installed in the kitchen of the cabin two days after Christmas. We made a quick trip to Colorado two weeks ago to order everything, which included shopping all weekend. I finally quit bitching about it when Gabby talked circles around me explaining the massive weight of these decisions because, in her own words, “It’s not like you make over a kitchen every other year, Jude! These are huge decisions. Decisions that I might add will last years, if not decades and cannot be made in fifteen minutes!”

  The thought of decades with Gabby made me so happy that in the middle of the granite showroom, I pulled her close to me and put my lips to her ear and said, “Okay sugar, you shop as long as you need to, but I get to tie you to the bed tonight and drive your sweet body crazy.”

  I could feel her take in a breath as she pulled back to look up at me and whispered, “But you always drive me crazy.”

  “Not while you can’t move.”

  And I could see her eyes working and she finally grinned back at me to say, “Deal. But prepare for a long day, Jude, I have lots of decisions to make.”

  “Not a problem sugar, but you need to prepare for a long night. I’ll go get us coffee while you chew over the grout color for the backsplash.”

  And although it was a long day of shopping, the long night with Gabby in bed in our cabin, begging for all kinds of things from me, totally made up for it. In the end, it was a deal well made. Although, I’m pretty sure she would have let me restrain her anyway. And I would have bitched about it, but I would have shopped as long as she needed. But it was sexy as hell standing in the middle of the granite showroom having Gabby agree to being tied to our bed.

  We walk in the house, with Mia alternately attacking us wanting our attention. Gabby makes kissy noises while I ignore her. I watch Gabby move around the great room turning on Christmas lights. I thought Gabby liked pumpkins, but she might like Christmas trees even more. She has a twelve foot tree set up in the great room decorated in all white and old looking silver ornaments with brown twigs sticking out every which way. Then she has another skinny tree in the dining room covered in sparkly-girlie-glittery fruits and vegetables. Who knew there could be so many ornaments of fruits and vegetables? Not to mention, why would one person own so many, not to mention, any at all? There’s yet another tree in the kitchen covered in Christmas cookie cutters, and not new ones, but old rusty ones that hang between fake looking berries dipped in sugar strung on a string. Then, if you can believe it, there’s one more in the basement by the fireplace, but you could barely see the tree for all the ornaments. And not one of them matches. Gabby said her mom kept every ornament she ever made in school growing up, plus tiny framed ornaments holding pictures of Gabby, her parents and other family members. Not to mention the keepsake ornaments from travels or of something that reminded them of a special moment or event. She even has a King Tut ornament from when her parents took her to the traveling artifacts museum as a child. Who buys a King Tut Christmas ornament? This doesn’t include the large collection of carolers, the Christmas Village, garland hanging from everywhere and I can’t even count how many nativity scenes she has. And under the largest of the Christmas tree collection sits a mass of presents wrapped with huge bows. Gabby explained to me that over the last few years, her family has decided not to buy for the adults anymore, everyone just buys for the kids. But she added, “Although, my aunts and uncles break this rule when it comes to me since my parents are gone. I keep telling them not to, but they insist.”

  So watching Gabby go through the laborious process of flipping on all the Christmas lights, I can’t help but think how much I’m looking forward to it this year and I haven’t truly enjoyed Christmas in a really long time. But I need to make sure Gabby’s okay first. She hasn’t talked about everything that’s happened. I’m afraid she’s burying shit and not dealing with it.

  “Gabby, come here,” I say.

  “Hang on, I need to turn on the lights in the basement. I want them on for Leigh when she gets home from work later tonight,” she answers without looking at me.

  “Sugar, it can wait, she won’t be home for hours.”

  “It will only take a second, Jude,” she argues.

  That’s it. I move to cut her off after turning the lights on over the fireplace hearth as she starts to move toward the stairs. I tag her hand and surprised, she yells, “Jude! I said one second!”

  “Babe, the lights can wait.” I pull her over to the sofa as
she tries to yank her hand out of mine. I turn to sit, give her a good tug and she lands in my lap sideways. I right her, turn her to the side to look at her and say as she narrows her eyes glaring at me and I say, “There.” Now I’ve got her where I want her.

  “You know that’s super annoying, right? You couldn’t have waited three minutes?”

  “No.”

  She huffs out a breath and says, “Fine. What?”

  I take a few moments to let her cool down, take in her beautiful features, her blue eyes and put my hand up to the side of her face. Pushing my fingers through her soft, thick hair, I hold the back of her head with a grip. Her eyes immediately look to mine. The look on her face changes and she gives me a retiring look as her body slumps ever so slightly. Finally knowing she’s ready to listen to me, I say softly, “It’s been a hard few days, sugar. I need to know you’re okay.”

  “I’m okay,” she returns immediately.

  I tighten the grip on her scalp even more, pull her to me a bit and say, “Gabby. You were kidnapped by an awful man. You learned he ordered your parents death and found out their car accident was no accident. Then you witnessed your cousin, who you love and are closer to than anyone, get shot. For you, no less. To top it all off, you saw me kill a man, even though it was justified.” She takes in a small breath and her hands fist in my shirt while she bites her lip. Lowering my voice even more, I say, “Babe, I need to know you’re okay. And if you’re not, that’s fine, but we need to make you okay by talking it out or getting you to someone who can help you straighten that shit out in your head.”

  She sucks in air and pulls on my shirt, closing the distance between us and closes her eyes. She shakes her head a bit as she says so quietly, “They’ll never know you.”

  “What,” I ask?

  Opening her eyes, she returns, “My mom and dad. They’ll never know you. See us together, see me happy. It’s awful what happened to Tony, and don’t get me wrong because you know I love him. I’m so thankful he’s going to be okay and will make a full recovery. And Pope deserved everything that came to him, I’m losing no sleep over you shooting him. But what I can’t get out of my head is that my parents won’t know you and see me with you. They won’t get to be grandparents or enjoy that part of their life that they should get to live. That was stolen from them and me. Knowing it’s no accident that they won’t get that, but that life was taken from them deliberately hurts in a whole new way.”