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Chrissy dropped onto her couch after turning on the tub to run a hot bath, thoroughly exhausted, without taking off her work jacket. She kicked off one shoe, but the other dangled on her toe because she didn’t have the energy to fling it off. She could chalk up her weariness from the hectic day at work but it wasn’t the entire truth.
The fact was, her heart hurt. It thudded dully, as if given half a chance it would stop beating. Each thump spread of a wave of sorrow through her chest, and her lungs would only draw shallow breaths against the emotional pain. Chrissy had never believed that something like this could happen but it did.
Her heart was broken.
Now that the shock had worn off from seeing him lying in the hospital bed, she obsessed over those last moments with him like a teenager listening repeatedly to a favorite song. But there was no pleasure in these replays. Leaving Saks two nights ago took every bit of strength she had, and she hated herself for it. She chided herself for her heartlessness. Chrissy judged her family for the callous way they earned their living, but she was no better than they. Saks lay in pain after surgery, and all she did was walk away. If that didn’t make her a horrible person, she didn’t know what did.
But more than that, she missed him. That she’d receive no more suggestive texts, sexy phone calls in the middle of the night, or hold his handsome body against hers ripped open a hole in her heart that refused to close.
This whole situation was wrong.
The only thing right about it was that she was sure she didn’t want to get drawn into the type of world in which her father and grandfather lived. She wanted a normal life.
That wasn’t possible with Saks.
Heart versus head. Head: 1.
Her phone rang, and she remembered it rang several times on the way in, only she didn’t answer it. Sluggishly, she removed it from her purse and saw it was Gloria. “What?” she said unenthusiastically.
“Whoa,” said Gloria. “Who took away your joy?”
“What do you want?”
“I called to help. Unless you don’t care who ordered the hit on Saks.”
Chrissy sat up. “Who was it?”
“Oh, now you’re all business?”
“Gloria.” The warning in her tone was enough to let her sister know she wasn’t fooling around.
“Do you remember that ruckus last year with that Hispanic biker gang?”
“Yeah?”
“They’re pretty pissed that Saks belongs to the family that brought the DEA down on them.”
“So, it wasn’t from our side?”
“The Rojos hired those goons to attack him as payback.”
“What? How do you know this?”
“Grandpa made some calls, found out where those guys came from. They’re from New Jersey.”
“Wait. Isn’t that—?”
“Yeah, the DiMea family. But these two stunads decided to take on some contract work without permission. They’re in big trouble. Probably lucky they’re in jail now.”
“And the Rojos picked them?”
“To make it look we were taking potshots at the Roccos to cause a war.”
Chrissy seethed. This was the sort of shit that made her want to disown her family and disappear into a black hole. Only, with her family, you can’t disappear. Someone will always find you.
“Do you think Saks will be okay?” asked Gloria.
“He’s got the Spawn and his family around, so, yeah.”
“But what if he doesn’t know who sent those guys after him? What if he thinks it was our family?”
“Why are you so concerned?”
“Because you really seemed into him, and you haven’t liked anyone since high school.”
“Gloria, you know our grandfather told me to stay away from him.”
“Yeah, but he should know hospitals are public places. Anyone can walk in.”
“Gloria,” growled Chrissy. She’d walked away and wasn’t about to walk back in to hand off gang gossip.
“Okay, okay. He’s your boyfriend. You should tell him.”
“He’s not...” She sighed. “I’m sure his family and his gang are watching out for him.” She forced the subject closed by changing it. “You coming home tonight?”
“Sis, you’re lucky I’m still paying rent. No. If you didn’t have your head up your ass you’d have noticed I’ve been moving my stuff out for weeks. Marcus says he doesn’t mind me hanging at his place.”
Chrissy rolled her eyes. “That’s horribly romantic.”
“Shut up. We’ve been looking at rings.”
“You mean he hasn’t picked up on oh-so-many hints on the one you want?”
“Some days I swear you’re more evil than our family. Or maybe,” she said gleefully, “you need to get laid.”
“Gloria,” huffed Chrissy. She pinched her nose, utterly exasperated with her sister. Why was Gloria trying to push the Saks issue now? What did that little agitator have rolling around in her manipulative mind?
“Hey,” said Gloria, “you want to see your boyfriend get whacked by a biker gang, that’s no business of mine.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Chrissy sputtered.
“Whatever. I’ve done my part. ‘Bye.”
The call abruptly dropped and Chrissy stared at the phone. She scoffed her indignation and dropped the phone onto the couch. What the hell did Gloria mean, she did her part? Chrissy loved her sister, but sometimes Gloria said and did the most outrageous things.
Chrissy stood and paced the living room, entirely agitated. Was Saks in danger? She couldn’t be with him, but she didn’t want to see him hurt any further. What if he didn’t have that piece of information? Anyone could walk into that hospital.
He had to be warned.
As worry knotted her gut, she reached for her phone and didn’t find it on the couch. Chrissy pulled up the couch cushions and didn’t see it there. Frustrated, she dropped to her knees and looked under the couch, groping the carpet fruitlessly for the phone as the minutes ticked. Conceding defeat, she grumbled her irritation and turned to stand.
Then bashed her forehead on the corner of the coffee table.
“Damn!” she swore as the stinging pain stunned her and white stars burst behind her eyelids. She stumbled to the bathroom and examined the damage in the mirror. The right side of her head over her eyebrow turned a brilliant red, and she could tell this was going to leave a nasty black and blue mark.
She jerked open the medicine cabinet and gobbled a couple Tylenol tablets, using a handful of water from the tap to wash them down. She cursed her heritage and circumstances for the mess she was in. Why was she so worried about one goombah? Why did it distress her if he went the way so many Roccos did?
Chrissy brushed bangs over her forehead to hide the bruise and tried to will away the image of the drop-dead sexy biker that popped into her head, but it was no good. She couldn’t stop thinking about his chiseled body, the sexy muscles of his arms, the look on his face when he gazed into her eyes. It was as if she was the most precious thing in the world to him. That look made puddles of her traitorous heart. And those puddles spread and suffused through her body, spreading a delicious warmth as gooey and sticky as a cinnamon roll.
Love.
With a shock she dropped her butt to the toilet, her rear thumping hard on the seat.
Fuck. She was in love with Saks.
How did that happen?
Danger, Will Robinson.
She didn’t need to be in love right now, especially while she was trying to navigate the broken and rocky ground in her career. Plus, she was too young to get serious with anyone, and she certainly shouldn’t be with someone like Saks, who was the wrong man for her.
But if she loved him, how could he be the wrong man?
Chrissy hugged herself, devastatingly confused and gloriously elated at the same time. Now she understood why her sister was so over the moon about that lug Marcus. If Gloria felt half as much as what Chrissy did for Saks, no wonder she was willing to manipulate her family to steer Marcus down the aisle.
She swallowed hard. What an idiot she was walking away from him, especially when he lay in a hospital bed. Chrissy should be at his side. He had saved her from harassment or worse from those bikers at the Red Bull, and she’d thanked him by kneeing him in the balls and dumping her breakfast on him.
Chrissy wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t want to see her again.
That thought ripped a pain through her unlike anything she’d ever felt. She had made a horrible mess of her life, and the least she owed Saks was an apology. If he threw her out, she would understand. But she had to try.
With fresh resolve, she grabbed her purse off the couch and clattered down the stairs to her car. The hospital wasn’t far and she would be there in fifteen minutes.
As she drove, she tried not think the hollow sensation in the pit of her stomach or the dryness of her mouth. Chrissy was determined to get to Saks, and that was her only thought.
Her heart beat double time as she rode the elevator to Saks’ floor, and harder as she approached his room. But when she peered in, it was empty. She gripped the edge of the door, steadying herself. Chrissy was sure he’d be here. What happened? Was he okay? Or did he take a disastrous turn for the worse?
“Excuse me,” said a nurse’s aide from behind her. “Are you looking for someone?”
“Yes. Saks, I mean Anthony Parks.”
“Parks?” she said. “Oh, yeah, he’s gone.”
“Gone?” Chrissy said, panicked. She was too late! “What do you mean, gone?”
“Oh, honey, don’t have a heart attack. He went home, is all.”
