Chapter 18
DANTE
T he only thing I can do to keep myself from exploding is pace up and down the small hospital room.
The sound of a beeping heart monitor and my boots against the white tile floor is all I hear for hours.
That, and the hustle and bustle of the hospital staff as they go about the day helping other patients.
I almost want to scream at them. Why aren’t they in here with Ethan? Why aren’t they worried?
He still hasn’t woken up.
I take another look at him. He’s all bandaged up now, dressed in a thin hospital gown with several white blankets tossed over him. If it weren’t for me, he’d only have one, but I insisted on more.
An IV is stuck in his hand and he looks paler than usual, but that might be because of the bright white lighting in the room.
I’m about to put my hand over his when I hear footsteps and the door swings open.
“Oh, Ethan,” a feminine voice whispers from behind me.
I look over to see a woman with the same blonde hair as him come rushing over to his bedside.
“Good Lord, what happened?” she asks as she places her hand on his chest, and then she looks up at me. Her eyes take in my face. I take a little bit of a step back, as to not crowd her. I straighten my shoulders and take a breath, trying not to appear as distressed as I feel.
“You must be Ethan’s mother,” I say quietly, but confidently. “I’m Dante Romano.”
“Yes, I’m Anne Moore. Oh, you’re…Dante, yes. He told me all about you this morning,” she says, and her brow furrows.
My brows rise. “He did?”
“Yes, he did. I can’t say I approve of your background, so to speak, but I’m glad he’s found someone,” she tells me, and then looks at Ethan again. “Oh…poor thing.” She brushes her fingers gently through his hair.
I look at her, uncertain. How much did Ethan tell her? Why did he tell her?
What does she mean by “found someone?” Does this mean Ethan told her that he wants to be with me?
I shake the thoughts out of my head. They aren’t important right now. Ethan is.
“He was attacked from behind,” I tell her quietly. “He didn’t see it coming. It happened in the coffee shop parking lot.”
She gasps. “In the middle of the day?” she asks. “And no one saw?”
I clear my throat. “I got there while it was happening,” I explain, my hands balling into fists.
“You saved him?” she asks. “He said you saved him before.”
I shake my head. “No, he saved me, Mrs. Moore.”
Her eyes soften. “It seems you’ve saved each other.” She sighs. “Will the police be involved, then? Since you caught the attacker.”
I look at Ethan, then down at myself. I have his blood all over me. It’s not just Ethan’s blood, though.
“No,” I say, and look right into her eyes. “The fucker’s been taken care of.”
She stares back at me, and I see fear cross her face, but she just nods.
“Good.” She turns to Ethan again. “My sweet boy. How bad is it?”
I step closer. “He hasn’t woken up yet, but they say he will.”
As I’m about to continue explaining, two more people walk in. This time, I recognize them immediately.
“Why the fuck weren’t we called earlier?” Nathan huffs as he walks in with Lena at his side.
“They said they called you earlier, and you didn’t answer,” I say to Nathan. I don’t look at him, just talk to him with my eyes on Ethan.
“Dante…what are you doing here?” Lena asks.
I stay quiet. I’m not interested in making nice with either of them.
“Anne, what’s going on?” Nathan asks. They step to the end of the bed to talk to each other.
“Ethan was attacked, and Dante saved him,” Anne explains in a cut and dry manner. I respect that.
“He was attacked because of Dante,” Nathan accuses. “If the two of them hadn’t gotten involved, none of this shit would’ve happened!”
“Involved?” Lena asks, clearly confused. “Wait, I knew there was something weird going on, but…you two actually…? I’m so confused.”
“Yeah, they’re involved, and Dante wants Ethan to be part of his fucked-up crime family, and now look what’s happened!” Nathan steps closer to me and waves a hand at Ethan. “Look at him! Is he even going to awake up?”
My fists tighten and my jaw clenches. “He’ll wake up.”
“Oh, that’s all you have to say?” Nathan steps closer and shoves my shoulder.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I give him one more chance.
Nathan glares at me. “My best friend is hurt because of you!”
“I did my best to save him. I killed the fucker, okay?” I growl at him. “What more do you want? You want me to show you where he’s buried?”
Everyone in the room goes silent, and their eyes are glued to me.
“Okay, let’s…calm down,” Lena says after a moment. There’s still fear on her face, but she takes a deep breath and steps between me and Nathan. “Whatever happened, you protected him and got him out of there, right?”
I nod stiffly.
“What do the doctors say?” she asks. Her eyes move to Ethan and her face falls even more. I step to the side, away from all of them, and let Lena hold his hand.
“The head trauma isn’t serious. The worst of it is his shoulder. His shoulder blade was shattered. He’ll need physical therapy,” I explain.
“It could be worse, I guess,” Lena whispers.
“The fuck it could,” Nathan grumbles.
It’s clear neither of these people wants me here, but I’m not leaving.
“I’m sorry for threatening you, Lena. I swear, all I wanna do is take care of Ethan,” I tell her.
Lena sighs, but doesn’t look at me.
“Let’s give them some time with Ethan,” Anne suggests. She puts her hand on my arm. I flinch at first, but then relax.
I look nervously at Ethan.
“He’s not going anywhere.”
I nod and allow her to lead me out of the room and into the hallway. We walk until we reach the end of the hall, passing door after door of coughing, beeping, and groaning. It smells so sterile and clean that it’s unsettling.
“Why isn’t Mr. Moore here?” I ask.
“Oh, he’s ice fishing. I left him a voicemail but I’m not sure when he’ll get it. When he does, he’s a few hours away,” she explains. “I’ll call him again to tell him Ethan is recovering, and there’s no need for him to rush here.”
“So he’ll stay on his trip?” I watch her face. Some of her expressions are similar to Ethan’s.
“No, he’ll rush here anyway,” she chuckles weakly.
It’s silent for a few minutes as we walk up and down the hallway, passing Ethan’s room three times.
“You’re pissed at me, aren’t you?” I finally ask.
She shakes her head. “I’m upset, don’t you think I’m not. However, you did save his life, and being angry at you isn’t what Ethan needs right now.”
“Most parents would kick me out, make the choice for him,” I reply.
She sighs. “My parents made enough of my choices, so I let Ethan make his own. If he regrets some of them, then he’ll learn from that. Obviously, I want him to live through those choices, but telling him not to see you wouldn’t do any good.”
“Would you rather he didn’t?” I brace myself.
“I don’t know yet. You’ll have to show me who you are outside of a bad boy who rescues my son and gets into trouble,” she insists with a small smile.
I can’t help but smile weakly back at her.
“Get us all some coffee.” She pats me on the arm. “I’ll take cream, no sugar.”
She steps back into the room. I nod. She didn’t offer to pay, which is good because I would insist she didn’t.
After asking what the other two want and getting clipped answers, I head down to the hospital cafeteria to get the coffees. Having an errand gives me some time to get my head on straight.
Before I go back up with the coffees, I make a phone call.
“Marco, what’s going on with the Greivans?” I ask him the second he answers.
“Everything’s good. The guy who attacked Ethan was one of the rebels. Now that he’s gone and you made an example outta him, the others are either crawling back into Callum’s lap or leaving the city completely.” Marco sounds proud.
“So I ain’t gotta worry about anyone else coming after him?” I ask.
“No. They were your biggest problem, so I don’t see there being another one now that we’ve got everything settled. As long as Ethan’s connected to you, there’s always gonna to be some risk, but that’s the same for all of us, brother,” Marco replies.
I sigh, a weight lifting off my shoulders. “What has Father said?”
“He’s already bought you a bottle of scotch to thank you. I think he’s sending a gift basket to Ethan’s room,” he chuckles.
“Really?” I step into the elevator.
“Yeah. I think this’ll be enough to make him forget about the ritual for a little bit. Ethan took the damage, Dad reaps the reward.”
I huff. “Of course. I don’t like it, but this does make things a little easier. If Ethan can forgive me, anyway.”
“Wow, forgive you? You’re really going to get on your knees and apologize? That’s a first for you,” he says teasingly.
I smirk slightly as the elevator reaches Ethan’s floor. “I’ll be on my knees, but I won’t be apologizing.”
“You said it, not me. Talk later.”
“Later.” I hang up and balance the coffees as I head to Ethan’s room.
“Dante,” Lena says breathlessly as she suddenly steps out of the room.
“What is it?” I ask, stepping into the room quickly as I see the panic on her face.
Anne grabs the coffee cups from my hands and puts them on the nearby table.
“Ethan’s waking up.”