However, three knocks did come to Gloria’s hotel room door before eleven. She waited an agonizing minute as she waited to hear the sound of the man or woman’s feet dragging along the carpet as they walked farther away from her room. Using her room’s peephole, she spied outside, but she could not see a soul around.
Gloria kept the deadbolt on the door as she placed a hand out first. She fell to her knees as she searched for the envelope. Her hand finally touched a rough brown package. Her heart raced. It worked! She unhooked the latch and opened the door enough to pull the package in and then quickly re-lock everything once more.
The package was loaded with one hundred dollar bills in four stacks of ten. Gloria felt the texture of the green paper in her hand as she untied them from their rubber band. She separated out the money, putting one stack down her top and secured to her bra, another hidden deep in a pair of shoes in her bag, a third in her purse, and the fourth remained in the package clasped in her hands.
Gloria exited the room as she tripped down the hall. The hallways continued to be a deafening quietness that overtook her as she struggled to make out any signs that she may not be alone. But no one appeared. No one even followed her outside as she started up her car and drove off into the night. She chose right, hoping her intuition would lead her right and away from danger.
As she made it out to the highway, Gloria finally let go of the package she had clasped in her hands. As she kept one hand on the wheel, she leaned over and unlocked the glove compartment and tossed in the bundle of one thousand dollars. Using some paper and some trash, she covered it up so it was hidden amongst the rubbish of her car.
She was now free to focus her attention once more to the task at hand. It was nearly midnight and she had finally found the exit to a highway heading back up north. As the states passed her in a blur and the dawn began to break, Gloria finally found courage to pull over to a truck stop outside of an unknown small town.
Surveying the area, she found herself, once again, alone with herself and her money. An ache came over her as she thought to what Vinny was doing and where he had been. It had been so long since she had heard from him, since she had touched his hot skin and tasted his flesh. He was not the type of company she usually kept, but he became the company that she wanted, especially in times like these where her life had felt so perilously close to ending.
Gloria remembered all of their small moments as she leaned up against her car and watched the cars on the highway go by. One by one, they sped off to their destination, all looking certain at where they were coming and going. Gloria was certainly not among them.
She was not sure where she was running to, but she knew for sure what she was running from. The men in the hotel were just another sign that Gloria had made the right decision to leave while the danger was mounting and the clubs were on her tail.
From the opposite end of the highway, heading south, she heard what sounded close to long thunder. Its roar tore through the sound of cars and trucks and made itself known throughout the roads. Gloria stood up straight as she placed a hand to her forehead to get a better look through the piercing sun. The gleam of the engines caught her eye first, followed by the outlines of the drivers.
Motorcycles, dozens of them, rode in parade style with no one breaking rank. Three men flanked the leader of the pack, forming a triangle around him. The rest sat back and followed through every curve, each tracing the path of the rider before him.
Gloria couldn’t make out the colors, nor identify the men. She was, as she figured, so far from home that seeing the gang ride like a true motorcycle club could just be a one off coincidence. But the men who rode past her looked like they were out hunting, and Gloria knew she was in season.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Beeps, buzzes, voices. Beeps, buzzes, voices. Beeps, buzzes, voices. Vinny could not escape the noise.
“Rest, Mauricio. Rest! Mama will be in tomorrow to visit.” The sound of his neighbor’s visitor faded into the background over the television. He watched as a young, attractive woman passed by his open curtain as she called out her goodbyes to Mauricio once more.
A dry, disinterested voice came over the intercom once more, “Paging Doctor Jepson to the emergency room. Doctor Jepson to the emergency room. Code 472.”
Vinny reached up quickly behind his head to grab a pillow to smother his face and ears. Any relief would be welcome, but the motion made his body go white-hot. Stings of pain surged through him as he grunted in pain. He gritted his teeth as he sputtered out, “Motherfucker!”
County General Hospital had been his home for over a week now, and it was looking like he was stuck there for the time being. Several stab wounds to vital organs and a massive loss of blood would do that to a man, even one like Vinny.
He tried to think back on the first day he was in the hospital. It was a blur, really. Vinny’s memory only allowed him to see jumbled faces of concerned people, white-coated doctors all staring down at him as he laid helpless in a gurney. A nurse continued to ask him over and over again who they should call for him. He had come in alone.
He tried to think of anyone worth calling or informing, but he was coming up blank. His family was long gone. Asking someone in the gang to come would mean more trouble for all of them. So when the nurse leaned over him, phone in his hand, he just whispered the only name he could think of, “Gloria. Call Gloria.”
But Gloria never came. The nurse could not make out his instructions nor find her information on his phone. She was practically a ghost who had existed only his mind and thoughts. Her presence, or the lack thereof, got him through the times in which he was unsure if he could survive and the moments his mind went numb from boredom.
Vinny had never been one to lean on anyone. He hated the thought of being someone’s bitch or companion. Women were for fucking and leaving. They were cold companionship with an expiration date. But she had served a purpose in his life. She had been the one there for him after his last injury to his rib. She had stayed by his side, cooked his food, and washed his hair. No woman was supposed to play that role, but she had managed to do it all and more.
But she had made her escape. The two of them had magically found a way out for her by faking her capture by the Devils. The last time he had seen her, she had a bag in her hand as he destroyed her townhome bit by bit. He couldn’t leave a sign that she may come back. And, now, he was starting to come to terms with that.
Vinny attempted to push himself up to sitting. His hands trembled as he held onto the metal bar and lifted his hips up. The same burning feeling instantly came back, causing him to spasm under his weight. But he pushed through. Sitting like an invalid in this dank hospital room was not going to get him anywhere. He had to get better. He had to make his own escape – and fast.
A piercing sound flooded his ears. He turned his head towards his monitor to watch it light up like a Christmas tree. Red, green, and yellow lights flashed as he watched his own heart rate numbers climb higher and higher and higher. It only took moments before a nurse in pink and white scrubs burst through the door. A mask covered her face, but Vinny could see her annoyance with her piercing eyes. What he was doing was obviously not allowed.
“Mr. Di Molto, I have told you you’re not allowed to sit up.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Vinny lifted his hands slowly in defense as she pressed a button on his bed to forcefully lay him back down.
“No, I’m not ‘fucking kidding’ you. If you refuse to stay put, I’ll ask Sargent Tully to let me restrain you to this bed.”
A police officer had been assigned to him the second he was back from the operating room. As the cops had seen it, a man with over twenty stab wounds to his torso, back, and legs had to have gotten into trouble or was in danger of trouble finding them again.
But when Vinny refused to nark and tell the officers what happened that night at the back of the restaurant, the attention turned to him. It was clear he was not just an innocent
victim. Background checks and old police reports identified him and his affiliations with the Black Horsemen.
No way the police would let someone with his reputation out of their sight. A police officer by the name of Tully had, instead, been assigned to sit at the nurses’ station to keep an eye out for him and any other Horsemen who dared to show themselves in public.
The last thing Vinny was afraid of was the cops or the incessantly bossy nurse. He muttered under his breath as he sank back down in the white sheets of the hospital bed, “I’d like to see you try.”
He watched the nurse reach up towards the monitor above his head as she pushed several buttons in rapid succession, resetting the system back to normal and clearing the lights and alert sounds. Without another word, she turned her back towards him and walked out the door, slamming it behind her.
Without a second hesitation, he sprung into action. Vinny reached underneath him and grabbed the handful of pills he had been saving since earlier the week. He was going to need every bit of pain medication he could get to pull off what came next. With a gulp, he ingested at least ten of them, letting the rest spill out back onto the bed.
He then placed his pillow in his mouth, smothering the sound of a scream as he pushed himself up to sitting once more. The first alarm began to buzz almost instantly, but he was quick. He had studied his nurse enough to know the pattern. And without missing a step, his alarm was reset and then turned off.
Vinny knew he had only minutes before a nurse or doctor noticed his monitors were no longer picking up his signal. He turned his legs off the side of the bed and allowed them to touch the ground. As he took his first painful step forward, he was pulled back by the tug of his wires and IV lines. He pulled each off quickly, like a bandage. Small drops of blood pooled along his arms where the needles were resting.
Once dressed in the bloody and cut clothing he came in with, he rummaged through the hospital closet for something, anything to conceal himself with. He opened the next compartment, the one belonging to his hospital bed roommate. He could see a neat pile of clothing and a baseball hat sitting on top of the built-in dresser.
Mauricio’s clothing was baggy and gray – not at all Vinny’s style. But he knew walking around in a blood-soaked shirt with his face completely exposed was the quickest way to get caught and returned. He placed the cap over his head and tucked his dark hair behind his ear as the wide black brim lowered to cover his eyes. He grabbed the wallet from the pocket of the man’s jeans and went through the contents. Thirty bucks and a host of credit cards and ID cards were messily stacked in the leather pockets. Vinny helped himself to what he thought he would need.
“Thanks, Mauricio,” he whispered quietly knowing the man laying next to him had no idea what was going on. The thin sheet between them had concealed everything.
Vinny quietly opened the door leading out to the hallway. An unfamiliar nurse smiled at him as he quickly turned back towards the room and shouted, “See ya later, man. Feel better.” It covered his tracks as she continued in one direction, and he went the other way through the dark corridor towards where he thought the elevators were.
“Excuse me? Sir?” A woman’s persistent, shrill voice made him turn. With his head tucked towards his chin, his eyes careful not to make contact, she looked him over and over again before asking, “Who are you visiting today?”
“Mauricio. Just leaving.” He lowered his voice almost comically. He was not great at disguising himself.
“All right. Have a nice day.” Vinny could tell she had not exactly bought it. She had walked straight into his old room. Only minutes later, she heard him shout for help from the nurse he first passed by.
But Vinny was already in a stairwell by the time the rest of the nursing staff and the police officer on duty could spring into action. Getting down the three flights of steps proved to be a challenge, but he knew that whomever was looking for him would probably be checking elevators rather than emergency exits.
When he had made it down the last step, he pushed hard against the large metal door, allowing the emergency siren to sound above him. He stepped outside to the courtyard. A group of nurses and doctors chatting and smoking turned their heads to see the source of the commotion.
Vinny attempted to look embarrassed and frazzled as he lifted his cap and looked around bewildered. He then quietly said, “I, uh, didn’t know that door would go off. Anyone know where the actual exits are?”
An orderly smiled at him in sympathy. This wasn’t the first time a visitor had set off the emergency alarms from the doors. He pointed towards the door on the other side as he explained that would get him to the west side parking lot. Vinny thanked him profusely as he headed out, clutching at the stitches in his sides.
He walked through the parking lot, weaving through the cars and ambulances until he came upon a taxi idling. The driver had leaned back his leather driver seat as he dozed away. “I need to get out of here man,” Vinny yelled, thumping his fists loudly against the window. “Open up!” The driver unlocked his doors as Vinny slipped in the back and gave the address of his final destination. The hospital grew smaller in the rearview mirrors as they sped away.
As Vinny had predicted, the Black Horsemen’s headquarters was all but deserted. It was a Monday morning and most of the members were at their normal nine to five jobs or were nursing their hangovers from the weekend. The only people there were the leadership, the men who were paid to be there twenty-four/seven.
However, Vinny was not prepared to walk straight into Quimby. The large, immovable man stood before him, his arms crossed across his chest and a sly smile spread across his lips. He chuckled hardily to himself as he planted his body in front of the entrance, preventing Vinny from going through the door.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Quimby?” Vinny had no tolerance for the man who was his one-time partner. He was as dumb as they came and obsessed with brutality. He was the worst kind of motorcycle man, the kind that made Vinny rethink his loyalty.
“If you weren’t stuck up in that hospital bed like the pussy traitor you are, you’d know we ain’t letting just anyone get in. Direct orders.” Quimby looked Vinny up and down.
Vinny had lost weight, at least twenty pounds, since his hospitalization. He had lost most of his imposing muscles and his face had sunk in to the bones. The oversized clothing made him look even more like a child. “You damn well know who I am. Let me in before I call the boss.” Vinny took the phone out of his pocket.
“Go right ahead—traitor.”
Vinny ignored the last comment. Whatever Quimby called him was nothing of importance to him. He would pay for it later; Vinny would be sure of that.
He turned his back from the white-washed building and paced the parking lot as he dialed Benni’s phone number from memory. The phone rang once, twice, and three times before being picked up.
“Benni, put down the guard. It’s just me.”
“Who the fuck is this?” Benni spit hard into the phone.
“It’s Vinny, man. I just broke out of the hospital.” Vinny looked up towards the video camera the group had installed after the last attack in the parking lot just a few weeks prior. Ever since, Benni had stood watch in his office, peering at the video monitors as men streamed in and out of the building. Vinny knew that if he was inside, he was watching.
The phone clicked as the man on the other line hung up on Vinny. But after several long moments, there was nothing. No voice called out, nor did Quimby move from his post.
Vinny watched and waited in the abandoned lot for something to happen. His head raced for scenarios on why he was not being allowed entry to his own club. Quimby laughed manically to himself as each moment passed and Vinny was still standing alone.
Out of Quimby’s direct sight, Vinny walked slowly towards the far side of the building. The short, metal windows were his only way in as he attempted to guess at which one would be the best to try first. Vinny slipped off his borrowed shirt and wrappe
d it around his hands over and over again, making a bandage. He stood before the glass and attempted to look in one last time, but the frosted glass gave nothing away.
He took a deep breath as he pulled back his arm and then slammed it with all of his might into the window. Every bit of his body called out in agony as he could feel his stitches stretch and give way under the powerful motion. His punch had made damage to the window as he used his black boots to finish the job.
He scaled the side of the brick building, lifting himself in the hole he had made just as Quimby started teetering in the sound of the loud bangs and crashes. The large man couldn’t keep up with Vinny as he dropped himself into the building, feet first.
Vinny fell to the ground, thrashing around the large pile of shards and slivers of glass. He held in a scream as he used his hands to push up to his feet.
As he started to stand, two brown leather boots came into view. He looked up from his crouch to see Benni and two men behind them. Each held a gun pointed directly at Vinny’s head. This was not the welcome back he had expected.
Don’t You Dare: A Bad Boy MMA Fighter Romance Page 41