“She won’t,” Solomon said. “I don’t want her. She’s just another woman.”
Kandace leaned against the wall with her eyes closed and Solomon could feel her fear as he watched her tremble.
Carmen shook her head. “You don’t mean that,” she said with tears welling up in her eyes. “I saw how you looked at her. I know you’ve treated her better than any of those other women you used to tell me about. There is something different about her. That’s why you brought her up here. But she doesn’t love you the way I do.” She haphazardly pointed the gun at Kandace and Solomon jumped. “Why won’t you give me a chance?”
“I will, if you put the gun down,” he said as he extended his hand and reached for the gun. “Carmen, we can’t do anything while you’re waving that thing around.”
She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Then you tell her to get out, go back to wherever she came from. Her friends want to use you, Solomon.” Carmen turned back to Kandace. “Look at me, bitch!”
Kandace opened her eyes and focused on Carmen. As she looked at her, Kandace silently prayed that she wouldn’t shoot her. “Carmen,” Kandace said, “I’ll leave so that you and Solomon can be together. You’re right, I do just want to use him.”
“Shut up, you liar. See, Solomon,” Carmen said. “She only wanted you for her own business. She doesn’t love you—you heard her. She doesn’t care about you and she can’t take care of you the way I have and the way I will.”
“I know. I can never be what you are to him,” Kandace said, fear rolling down her spine like ice water.
“You don’t know anything!” Carmen barked, pointing the gun closer to Kandace for emphasis. Solomon took two steps closer to Carmen, then he reached out and touched her arm, forcing her to focus her attention on him.
“Carmen,” he said. “Let her go.”
She looked into Solomon’s eyes and lowered the gun. “Do you love me, Solomon?” Her voice sounded like a wounded child begging for her parents’ love.
“You know how I feel about you,” he fudged.
Carmen lifted the gun and pointed it at him. “Say it. Say it so that she can hear it and know that there is no chance for her to try and steal you away from me,” Carmen ordered.
Solomon swallowed. So many things ran through his mind as he looked at the barrel of the gun pointed at his chest. Richmond had warned him that he’d find himself looking at a woman holding a gun over him one day.
“You can’t keep playing with women’s emotions because you got hurt,” his older brother had said when stories about Solomon’s flings ended up on Page Six.
Heather Williams had told Solomon that she loved him, and he’d replied, “Too bad.” Then she’d thrown a lead crystal vase at his head.
“I hope I’m around the day some woman cuts your balls off,” she’d screamed as he’d pulled his jacket on and strolled out the door.
Maybe this was karma. The universe had given him a woman he could love, a woman he wanted to love, and now, with a gun pointed at his heart, he was a slip of the tongue from losing his life or costing Kandace hers.
“Say it,” Carmen demanded again.
“I—I love you,” Solomon stammered.
Carmen rushed into Solomon’s arms, holding the gun at her side as he closed his arms around her. He looked at Kandace and mouthed, “Call the police.”
Kandace had forgotten that she stuck Solomon’s BlackBerry in the pocket of her robe. She quickly pulled the phone out and dialed 9-1-1. Before she could bring the phone to her ear, she saw that Carmen was looking directly at her.
“What are you doing?” Carmen demanded. “Put that phone down or I will blow your brains out.”
“Carmen, Carmen,” Solomon said as he grabbed her shoulder. “She’s not important.”
She whirled around with fury floating in her eyes. “You’re trying to trick me. I’m not going to allow you to do this to me. You’re not going to trick me,” she bellowed, then pointed the gun at Kandace, who had dropped the BlackBerry on the bed.
Solomon stood in front of Carmen. “If you want to shoot her, you’re going to have to shoot me first,” he said. “Put the gun down and we can talk about this.”
“Talk? Talk about what, Solomon? I’ve seen you with so many women in and out of your life. Women who you didn’t even bother to say good-bye to. I waited and waited until you realized that I was the only woman in your life who loved you. You still don’t see it. You lied to me to save her, a woman you barely know. What’s so good about her? What does she have that I don’t?”
“Carmen, please, put the gun down. You don’t want to hurt anybody. I know you don’t,” Solomon said.
“Answer me!” she yelled.
“Carmen, please!” Solomon exclaimed. He looked up and saw two police officers rushing in the room with their guns drawn.
“Drop your weapon and put your hands where we can see them,” one of the officers yelled from behind Carmen. She turned and faced him, but kept her gun trained on Kandace.
“Solomon, tell them to go away,” Carmen cried. “Tell them to leave us alone so we can be together.”
“Drop the gun, lady,” the officer ordered again. Carmen glared at Kandace as if they were the only two people in the room.
“This is all your fault,” Carmen said to Kandace. “You told him lies about me, just like Danny told lies about me. Do you know what happens to liars?”
“Carmen, please, I don’t even know you,” Kandace said. The officers behind them continued to order Carmen to drop her weapon and Solomon wanted them to shoot her, get her out of the way. Carmen slowly started walking sideways as if she was trying to get a clear shot at Kandace.
“Ma’am,” the officer yelled. “This is the last time. Put your gun down.”
“No,” Carmen said without turning to face the officer. “I’m not putting anything down. Everyone is out to get me.”
“Carmen, the police will shoot you if you don’t put that gun down,” Solomon said. He wanted them to shoot because he could see it in her eyes that she was going to shoot Kandace. Her finger trembled on the trigger. “Please, do something,” Solomon yelled at the officers.
Carmen looked at him, her face darkened in a fit of rage. Then she pulled the trigger. With lightning fast reflexes, Solomon flung himself in front of the bullet as the two officers opened fire on Carmen.
Kandace rushed to Solomon’s side as blood poured from the bullet wound in his shoulder. She touched his face as she cried. “You saved my life,” she said. “Solomon.” His eyes rolled back in his head as he cried out in pain. The officers called for an ambulance on their radios, but Kandace couldn’t compute what they were saying as she focused on Solomon’s pain and the blood. “Oh my God, please, be all right,” she said with her hand hovering over his wound.
“Ma’am, you have to get back,” the officer said as he knelt down on the other side of Solomon. “Sir, look at me.”
“Grr,” Solomon groaned as he tried to focus on the officer. “Damn, it hurts.”
“When is the ambulance getting here?” Kandace asked. “You can’t let him sit here and bleed to death.”
Moments later, four emergency service workers burst into the room. Two of them rushed to Carmen’s side and the other two rushed to Solomon. “Give us some space,” the paramedic said to Kandace.
“Don’t go,” Solomon said faintly, trying to hold on to her hand.
“I’m right here, baby,” she said.
“Sir, we need to get you out of here and we can’t do that if you don’t let your wife’s hand go,” the paramedic said. “She can ride to the hospital with us.”
Solomon nodded and let Kandace’s hand go. Then the paramedic got to work, cutting the sleeve of his shirt off and examining the wound. “We’ve got to stop the bleeding and get some antibiotics in his system. Sir, are you allergic to penicillin?”
Solomon shook his head, then his body started shaking and his breathing became shallow.
“He’s going into shock,” the paramedic yelled to his partner.
“What’s happening?” Kandace asked. “Is he going to be all right?”
“Load him on the gurney and let’s get some oxygen started and an antibiotic drip going.” As the paramedics pushed Solomon out the door, Kandace followed behind them, not caring that she was only wearing a bloody hotel robe.
She didn’t glance sideways at the paramedics working on Carmen, didn’t care if Carmen lived or died. She just knew that Solomon had to live because she loved him. The paramedics loaded Solomon’s gurney in the ambulance and then one of the men helped Kandace climb up. He motioned for her to sit near Solomon’s good shoulder.
“How is he?” she asked.
“Blood pressure is low and he’s in shock, though the wound doesn’t seem that deep,” the man said.
Kandace held Solomon’s hand, which felt so cold. Dear God, please save him. Please don’t let him die, she silently prayed.
The ambulance rolled into the emergency department at the Watauga Medical Center and Solomon was rushed in to a trauma unit. When Kandace tried to follow the doctors inside, a nurse placed a hand on Kandace’s shoulder. “You can’t come back here. Do you want me to track down some scrubs for you to put on?” she asked as she looked at Kandace’s bloody robe.
“Yes,” she said as she wiped tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. The nurse waved for an orderly, then told him to take Kandace to get a pair of scrubs.
“No, no, I don’t want to leave him,” she said as she looked at the doors of the trauma unit.
The nurse nodded. “He’ll bring them here and there’s a restroom around the corner.”
Once the nurse entered the trauma unit, Kandace paced back and forth, fighting the tears welling up in her eyes. What if he died? What if he lost his arm?
“Ma’am,” the orderly said when he returned to Kandace, “here are the scrubs.”
“Thank you,” Kandace said though her tears.
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked. “You look kind of faint.”
Kandace shook her head and wiped her eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she murmured.
The orderly led Kandace to a bench, then waved for a nurse. “She looks like she’s going to pass out,” he told the nurse, who rushed over to them.
“Ma’am, my name is Kelly. Can I take your blood pressure?” the nurse asked.
Kandace nodded and tried to take a deep breath to calm herself down. The nurse sent the orderly to get a blood pressure cuff while she listened to her heartbeat.
“Your heart is racing,” she said. “What happened to you?”
Kandace’s hands shook and words wouldn’t form in her mind or her mouth. “Get a gurney,” the nurse yelled. “She’s crashing.”
Solomon opened his eyes and the first thought on his mind was Kandace. Where was she? Was she all right? Then his mind tried to comprehend where he was. The room began to come into focus, the machines, the blinking lights, the doctors surrounding his bed.
She didn’t get shot, I took the bullet. She has to be all right, he thought.
“Mr. Crawford, I’m Dr. Rivers. Are you with us?” he asked.
Solomon nodded and coughed as he attempted to say yes. “We were able to remove the bullet from your shoulder with minimal damage. But you did lose a lot of blood.”
“K-Kandace,” Solomon croaked. “Wh-where is she?”
The doctor placed his hand on Solomon’s arm. “She’s fine. She’s resting right now because you gave her quite a scare.”
“Not hurt?”
“No, not at all,” the doctor said.
Solomon coughed and the doctor instructed the nurse to bring Solomon some water. She rushed to his side with a cup of water with a straw. She pressed the button to raise the bed so that he could drink the water. Solomon took a sip of the water, then said, “Want to see her.”
“Not just yet,” Dr. Rivers said. “We have to get your fever down. You have a slight infection.”
“Don’t care,” Solomon said after taking another sip of water. “Want to see her.”
“Look around, Mr. Crawford. You can’t get out of bed right now,” Dr. Rivers said as he pointed to the IV in Solomon’s arm. Solomon rolled his eyes at his doctor and reached for the tube in his arm. Dr. Rivers grabbed Solomon’s hand. “Don’t do that. You need to rest and let the medicine work.”
Solomon groaned. “I need to see her.”
“Your wife is all right, sir. I wouldn’t lie to you,” Dr. Rivers said. He turned to the nurse and told her to check on Kandace. The woman nodded and left the room. “You must really love her, because if you pull that IV out, it is going to hurt a lot.”
“I do,” Solomon said.
About twenty minutes later, the nurse returned to the room with Kandace in tow. Solomon smiled when he saw her.
“Oh, Solomon,” she said as she rushed over to his bedside. “I was so worried about you and so scared.” Kandace brushed her fingers across his forehead. “How are you feeling?”
“Like somebody shot me,” he said in an attempt at a joke.
“That’s not funny,” Kandace said as she grabbed his hand. “I was really worried about you. I can’t believe you did that.”
“I thought I was Superman.”
“Stop trying to make light of this,” Kandace said with tears in her eyes. “She could’ve killed you.”
“Or she could’ve killed you,” Solomon said as he reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Don’t cry, baby. We’re fine.”
“Yeah, we are. How long are they going to keep you in here?”
“I don’t know, but I was ready to snatch the IV out and come find you. Where were you?”
Kandace pointed to a bandage on her arm. “Getting my own IV. I passed out in the hallway.”
“I knew something was wrong,” he said. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
She kissed him on the cheek. “Yeah. I mean, I’m not the one who took a bullet, right?”
“You’re trying to make me laugh? It kind of hurts when I do that.”
A nurse walked into the room and smiled at the couple. “I’m glad to see you made it in here, Mrs. Crawford. He was moaning and calling your name for the longest time before he came to. You don’t see a lot of love like that in marriages these days.”
Kandace opened her mouth to tell the nurse that she wasn’t Mrs. Crawford, but Solomon placed his finger to his lips and Kandace just smiled at the nurse.
“We’re going to move him to a private room in a little bit. The doctor wants to make sure the fever goes away before sending him home,” the nurse said as she checked the machines.
“All right,” Kandace said. “We’ll be ready.”
The nurse touched Kandace on the shoulder. “And there will be a roll-away bed in the room for you to sleep in, Mrs. Crawford.”
“Thanks,” Kandace said.
Mrs. Crawford sounds good on her, Solomon thought before he drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 24
When Carmen opened her eyes, she wished she was dead. She wished the bullets that the officers had shot at her had killed her. Solomon didn’t love her and he didn’t want to be with her. She knew he’d never love her now that she’d shot him. And she was sure the police had figured out what she’d done—every desperate act. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she couldn’t wipe them away because she was chained to the bed like an animal.
Oh, Solomon, how could you betray me for that woman? You told those cops to shoot me. You’re just like my mother, wanted me out of the way so that you could have what you wanted. No one ever cares about what I want and what I need. Damn it, damn it all to hell. I swear, I’m going to make him pay. I’m going to take what he values most if it’s the last thing I do, she thought as she shifted in the bed.
The room door opened and a doctor walked in with two detectives. “It looks like the patient is finally awake,” the doctor said.
&nbs
p; “Suspect,” Detective Myer said as he walked over to Carmen’s bed. “Hello, Chelsea.”
“My name is Carmen,” she said. “Chelsea died a long time ago.”
“A lot of people seem to die around you, Carmen. Tell me about Danny Jones.”
Carmen rolled her eyes and kept silent. Detective Myer leaned in to her. “You can tell me now or when we fly you back to New York where you will be charged with his murder, Chelsea. And then there is the death of your aunt. You’re still facing charges in that case. Was he worth it?”
She narrowed her eyes at him and clenched her fists. If she wasn’t shackled like a stray dog, she’d teach this pompous ass a lesson. “I’m not going back to New York,” she said.
Detective Myer threw up his hands. “You’re facing serious charges right here too. Either way, you’re going to prison for a long time, Chelsea.”
“Stop calling me that,” she shouted.
“Is it your temper that causes you to kill?”
Carmen turned her back to him. I’m not telling him a damned thing, she thought.
“Detective,” the doctor said. “I need to check her vitals.”
“Don’t take those cuffs off, because this is a dangerous woman,” he said as he and his partner headed out the door.
“Good news, Mr. Crawford,” the nurse said. “Your temperature is ninety-eight point six. The meds are working.”
“Great, now I can make my tennis game,” he quipped.
The nurse laughed and Kandace rolled her eyes. They had been in the hospital for two days waiting for Solomon’s temperature to return to normal. Kandace had gone back to the resort and gotten Solomon’s BlackBerry and a change of clothes. When she’d walked back into the suite, her mind returned to the night of the shooting. She saw the blood, felt the fear again, and trembled as she grabbed her clothes. Kandace hadn’t been able to get out of there fast enough.
“Are you all right over there?” Solomon asked after the nurse left. “You have this strange look on your face.”
“I was just thinking that I should call my friends and let them know what’s going on,” she said, not wanting to say what had really been on her mind.
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