29. Luka
Luka
I stare at my Gattina while I try to process what she just said.
She loves me, too. I knew it; I knew by the way she acted that she loved me.
I just thought I would have to work harder to get her to admit it.
She quickly leaned over me, hit some button on the side of the bed, and pulled out her phone, sending a quick text.
She lays her phone down beside her and stares at me.
"I am so glad you are awake. You had me so worried.
" Her eyes are bloodshot and she looks like she hasn't slept in days.
How long have I been out? She rubs her hand on my cheek and then moves her fingers onto my forehead.
I can't feel her fingertips on there. I reach up to find my head wrapped in a bandage.
"What happened?" My throat still feels so dry. Instead of answering me, she leans over and gets me more water. After I take a drink, I look at her, hoping she will tell me what the hell is going on.
The door to the room pushes open, and a scrawny-looking guy walks in. "Mrs. Rizzoli, what can I get for you?" My head snaps to Adrianna. Mrs. Rizzoli? How fucking long was I out?
"Luka is awake!" Adrianna's voice sounded so cheerful that I almost decided to let go of the fact that the guy just called her by my last name.
"That's great to hear. How are you feeling, Mr. Rizzoli?" The guy comes over, hits a button on the wall, and starts looking at some machine I just now realized I am hooked up to. "Mr. Rizzoli is awake. Send the Doctor in, " he tells the speaker on the wall when it connects to someone.
"What is going on? How long have I been out?" I am starting to get irritated.
"Too fucking long, Brother." Liam walks through the door with my Ma and Pops. My heart breaks seeing my Ma's face. I can see she has been crying just as much as Adrianna.
"Bambino." My mom rushes to my side and starts kissing my cheeks.
"I am fine, Ma. I promise." She grips my cheeks and runs her eyes over every feature of my face.
Doc walks in with a woman. They walk over to the bed.
"You scared us, Little Rizzoli." Doc pats my hand, and the woman flashes some light in my eyes.
She looks down at Adrianna, still in the bed with me.
I can see the annoyance on her face, so I wrap my arm around Adrianna and pull her closer to my chest.
"Oh, you don't have to worry. We have tried to get Mrs. Rizzoli out of your bed, and as you can tell," she waves her hand down at us, "it hasn't worked."
"Okay, what the fuck is going on? What happened and how long have I been out?
" I raise my voice and Adrianna places her hand on my chest. Running her fingertips over my chest. That was the swirling motion I kept feeling.
Realizing that it was her, I felt the whole time has my heart tightening, and I pull her closer to my chest.
"Doc, can you take them out?" Liam motions toward the woman and the guy, who aren't family. He nods and shows them out the door as Liam walks over to me.
"A little over 24 hours," he says and I close my eyes. It's not as long as I thought, but long enough to worry the ones I care about. "You were jumped when you left the arena yesterday. Do you remember what happened?"
I close my eyes and try to remember. "Yeah, I had a shitty practice.
Coach had some words with me and I was the last one to leave.
I remember someone hitting me in the face.
" I pause and try to remember what happened after that.
"Then I was on the ground. There was more than one person; they were kicking me.
I don't remember what happened after that. "
"Maddie found you." Adrianna answers but continues to run circles over my chest. "She called 911 and applied pressure to your head. One of them kicked you in the back of the head. She called me, and I made it there when they were getting ready to load you in the ambulance."
"She saved you, Son." My Pops lightly places his hand on the top of my head. I look at him and nod. There will be no way I can ever repay Maddie for what she did. I will owe her my life, forever.
"Do we know who did it?" I look from my Pops to my brother, but it's Adrianna who answers me.
"Tucker's brothers."
"Why in the hell would they do that? It doesn't make any sense."
"Well, from what Cross has been able to get out of them.
You took their brother's spot on the team.
He thought he was guaranteed the spot, but Kincade liked you more.
He started drinking too much and it eventually caught up with him when he wrecked into someone and almost killed them. He is in jail right now."
"You found them?"
"Yeah, Adrianna recognized them from the video and Cross put the word out. Skee tracked their car from the arena with local cameras and once we found them, Cross had a local cop pull them over and wait on them. They are at the warehouse."
I am surprised my brother is talking so freely in front of Adrianna. Normally, he doesn't talk business in front of anyone not connected to our family. He must see the question in my eyes because he laughs. "I don't keep anything from your wife, Luka. I suggest you don't either."
"Your wife? I must have missed something." Jackson says, standing in the doorway.
"Jackson?" Adrianna climbs off the bed and runs to her brother. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, Squish called me to tell me what happened to Luka." He wraps his arms around her and looks over her head. "But, it doesn't look like he is in that bad of shape. I don't know why she was making a fuss." He winks at me and causes me to laugh. Which fucking hurts.
"How did you get here?" She keeps her arm around his waist and walks him over to the bed.
"Jake's family is loaded. Did you know that?" He looks at Adrianna. "Anyways, Squish asked him to send a plane to come get me, and he did." He lifts a shoulder and then looks at my family like he is just now realizing my family is standing in here. "Ah, hi." He lifts his hand.
"Sorry. These are Nina and Matteo, Luka's parents, and this is Liam, Luka's brother. Everyone, this is my little brother Jackson." She squeezes his side and then lets him go and climbs back into the bed with me.
"Nice to meet you guys. But, back to my original question. What did I miss? When did you get married? And why didn't you tell me?" Jackson looks hurt, so I lessen the blow.
"Yeah, when did that happen?" I look down at Adrianna.
"That was me," Liam speaks up, and Adrianna turns her face to my chest. "They wouldn't let her ride with you. I told the kid that she was your wife. We just let everyone else think that also so that they wouldn't make her leave and would talk to her if she wanted to know something."
"I don't think they would have been able to make her leave either way." My Ma says and smiles down at my girl.
"But whenever you are ready to make it official, you let me know. I can have you married in five minutes," my Pops says.
Liam turns to him. "How?"
"Well, after you decided at the last minute to marry Mia. I got ordained in case we needed it." My Pops smiles at me and then at Adrianna. "Whenever you are ready, Cara." I feel her nod against me and look down at her.
"You will marry me?" I stare at her for a minute and she starts laughing.
"Is that you asking me, Luka?"
I lift my fingers and pinch my arm, making sure this isn't some crazy dream I am in from the concussion.
I take her cheek in my hand and run small circles over it.
I gently place a kiss on her lips. Looking into her beautiful green eyes, I ask her the question I never thought I would ask anyone: "Will you marry me, Gattina? "
"Yes," she nods. "Yes, I will marry you, Luka." I lean down and kiss her. Everything else fades into the background.
"He calls you kitten?" Jackson starts laughing, and my family joins him.
The rest of the day is filled with people coming in and out of my room.
The whole time, Adrianna doesn't leave my side.
For the brief minute she was in the bathroom I told Lacey and CeCe to go pick me up a ring from the family jeweler in town.
I told them exactly what I was looking for.
I hope he has something that she will love there.
If not, I will order something for her. Thankfully, he had the perfect ring and I tell everyone I need to talk to Adrianna and to give us a couple minutes.
She stares at the ring as I place it on her finger. It's a thin white gold band with small diamonds lining the entire ring. On top is a beautiful pear-shaped natural ruby with marquise diamonds forming a frame around it.
"It's beautiful, Luka. Are you sure this is what you want?" Tears form in the corner of her eyes.
"No more crying, Baby." I press my thumb against one that has fallen to her cheek. "I want this more than I have ever wanted anything in my entire life."
"Then let's do it now." She grabs a hold of my arm. "I don't want to wait. Your family is here; Penelope and Jackson are both here. Let's do it now."
"Baby," I take her face in my hands. "Don't you want your parents to be there? Your friends?" Before I finish my question, she shakes her head.
"No, everyone I care about is already here. Let's do it now. Unless you want to wait?"
"I can't wait to marry you, Gattina."
Penelope brought Adrianna a beautiful simple white dress and her red and black heels.
The Doctor was pissed, but I got dressed in a suit that my brother brought me.
I am standing inside the hospital room; even though Adrianna was just here five minutes ago, I feel like I am lost without her with me.
The girls took her to another room to get ready.
"Are you sure this is what you want, Son?" I am looking out the window when my Pops comes and stands beside me.
"Marrying Adrianna is the only thing I know I want right now, Pops." I turn to look at him. He has changed into a suit. He hasn't worn it in a few months, but I can already tell how much weight he has lost.