Chapter Twenty-Seven Rome
I ’ M NOT PROUD to admit that I pretended to sleep.
Alex did a mighty fine job when we moved as a single entity from the shower to the bedroom.
Helped me out in all the right ways. Made me so, so happy to see him again after only a few days away.
Afterward, lying together, he encouraged me to take a nap and sleep off the jet lag that had consumed me from all the traveling.
Bless his heart, he stayed in bed until my eyes stayed closed for awhile.
My eyes shot open when he closed the door to the bedroom. My mind had been racing on how to talk to him. Something was up. Something had changed . And not from the incredible, amazing, life-altering sex since our admission of love back in Rhode Island. No, Alex was keeping something from me.
The realization had only come after I left for Annapolis.
The distance from him gave me time to reminisce about our time together during my break, which then allowed me to explore the moments.
I found inconsistencies in there. Where Alex had once been adamant about keeping to his shooting schedule, he loosened up.
Suddenly, Alex had a lot of free time. For me.
I didn’t like that—I had purposefully set boundaries for myself to respect his time, his occupation.
Yes, I could certainly take care of us for the rest of lives many times over, but Alex was an artist and loved photography.
There was no reason for me to pull him away from that just because I could easily pay the bills.
Snooping was beneath me. Besides, I trusted him. I didn’t think he was seeing someone else. All of this felt like… I didn’t know how to describe it. A good secret. Like a big, wrapped box sitting under the Christmas tree just waiting to be opened. But what was it?
We confessed our love for each other. We made love to each other. He expressed desire to move in with me. What else could he be hiding…?
Marriage?
No. I rejected that immediately. That was too soon.
A home?
That could have been. I would live anywhere with Alex, even in his current apartment. Heck, I’d buy him a manor house if he let me. I already owned homes in Florida, Rhode Island, and Sicily. What was a fourth?
One that he wants to contribute to, idiot .
I stared at the ceiling of my bedroom, hands tucked behind my head.
Yes. I could picture it now. Alex real estate shopping.
Trying to find the best place for us. Something he could afford but big enough for me and my ego (or so he thought).
Close enough to the stadium but not a bad distance from Rhode Island and my family.
Maybe he planned a few days for us to hit the open houses together during a break?
Doesn’t explain his open schedule .
Darn it. The voice in my head was right. Looking at houses didn’t quite explain why he no longer had photoshoots planned.
Ugh. Back to square one.
I should have asked him. Cornered him somewhere in the house, made sure he couldn’t squirm away, and demand to know why he had all this free time. Well, maybe not demand. Politely ask why he—
The front door slammed shut.
I sat up in bed, then called out Alex’s name.
No answer.
Got out of bed and stepped into the hallway to holler for him again. Maybe he had run out to get something to eat. I noticed a light on in the office and saw his big, bright monitor I bought him.
Web browser opened to his email.
Private .
Temptation swelled inside me. Devils on my shoulder whispering words of encouragement to violate trust and privacy and love. He had left in a hurry. Alex never left his computer on and open like this. Ever. Not that he had anything to hide.
Did he?
I warred with myself right there in the hallway, too far to read any descriptors of the email despite the size of the monitor.
Oof. Those devils knew all the right things to say in my ear. I stood, stock still, frozen in indecision. This wasn’t me. I always knew which direction to move. How to take it. Guided by my sense of right and wrong and good and bad and…
Screw it .
My little devil won. I would repent later.
I stepped into the room and up to the computer monitor.
Frozen again.
Ricky . My hand was on the mouse and scrolling before I could help myself.
Threats. Pictures. Of us . How did he get those? He must have hacked the picture sharing site Alex had used during our first few weeks together.
I didn’t care. Let him release every picture of us into the world. That didn’t matter.
Only one thing mattered and the line in the email stayed highlighted in my eye: “come to your apt so we can talk about it.”
Alex was trying to protect me from Ricky’s threats. But what Alex didn’t know was that I didn’t care if Ricky released those photos. All I cared about was Alex’s safety.
I was dressed and out the door in well under a minute. My car burned rubber along the driveway. I’d apologize to Hiroshi later.
?
I called the cops first to warn them of a potential stalker issue.
They said they would send over a cruiser.
The second person I called was Devin. He was fiercely angry but I told him that didn’t matter and that he needed to hurry and get to Alex’s apartment as soon as he could.
I was only a few minutes away. Thankfully we were past rush hour and I had no problem getting into Cambridge.
I white-knuckled the rest of the drive. Would the cops get there before I did? How far behind would Devin be?
What if it’s nothing?
No, it wouldn’t be nothing. Instinct revealed the truth and I knew to trust my gut. Ricky lured Alex in by exploiting his sympathy, his need to protect me. To protect us.
I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if anything happened to him.
Ricky had only hit Alex once. Of course once was enough.
But did the man have it in him to go again?
What exactly did he expect from Alex? On a primal level, I understood the threat.
What I didn’t understand was what Ricky wanted in return.
He doesn’t want anything from Alex , I realized. My heart thudded faster. Harder. He only wants revenge .
My tires squealed as I made the sharp turn into the parking lot of Alex’s apartment. Halogen headlights flooded the area, my highbeams bringing light to everything nearby. I came to a screeching halt as a head popped up from behind Alex’s car. Ricky. Where was Alex?
I threw the car into Park and popped out of the car so fast the door bounced and strained against the hinges. I rounded the car and came to Ricky at a dead sprint. My feet didn’t falter as I tracked him, the periphery of my vision taking in someone bloody and motionless on the ground.
I funneled my rage. Tunneled my vision. Zeroed in on Ricky.
And he laughed . Held up his hands and motioned for me to come at him. I faltered for only a second, suddenly unsure. I had almost a foot in height on the guy. Surely my size would just plow him over?
I ran right at him, figuring my size would do the work for me.
He waited. Almost patiently. The moment I stepped inside his guard, Ricky’s right hand went up, the palm of his hand connecting hard under my chin.
My neck exploded backward and my entire head went numb.
My legs continued forward but my upper half came to a cold stop from that sudden strike.
I went down hard on my ass with an oomf .
Ricky’s boot connected with my stomach and it drove all the wind from my lungs. Dazed, unable to breathe.
Don’t care .
I’ve fought through worse pain. I sprang to my feet and Ricky let out a surprised chortle.
“Slugger here has some spirit,” he said appreciatively.
I put my hands up in a fighting position. I had never done this before, but all I needed to do was buy time for the cops to show up. If I could put Ricky’s entire focus on me, he wouldn’t touch Alex.
“Don’t care,” I said and tasted blood on my lips. “Release those pictures. I don’t care.”
He shrugged and turned out his lower lip. “Honestly? Neither do I. I just wanted to see the little fucking slut here one last time so I could kick the shit out of him. Such a pussy. Just like you.”
He moved like a cobra. I swear I couldn’t even track his movements.
One moment he stood there, and the next he dashed forward and his fist caught me in the face from a right hook.
I felt something split just over my eyebrow as a ribbon of blood arced through the air.
He followed with driving the heel of his left palm into my solar plexus.
My entire body petrified in electric shock as pain radiated from between my ribs.
Ricky left me no moment to recover. Just as quickly as he hit me in the chest, he delivered an earth-shattering right uppercut to my gut that lifted me from my feet.
I doubled over as spit flew from my mouth.
Staring only at his lower half, I watched him dance back, spin, and then the greatest explosion of pain yet as his foot connected with my kidney.
I dropped, where he kicked me three times in the side.
Taken out. In less than five heartbeats.
My kidneys screamed like they had been doused with gasoline and set on fire. There wasn’t a single patch of me that didn’t hurt. No, this was beyond hurt. I had never experienced pain like this. A thousand pricks from a red-hot poker traced my body. Could I even move?
Slowly, grunting through it, I rolled until I hit all fours, then crawled toward my car. Ricky laughed and laughed.
“Look at this fucking bitch-ass pussy,” he said through fits of raucous laughter. “Running away?” He looked at Alex as if Alex could respond. “ This is what you want? This fucking pussy? Can’t even stay to fight?”
I crawled past the open driver side door and used the frame to climb back to my feet. Ricky went back over to Alex and I felt renewed energy surge through me. Carrying me.
To the trunk.
Popped it open.
My favorite aluminum practice bat.
Walked back toward Ricky, who had returned to Alex.
I wound up. Ready to strike him right to the moon.
Ricky could punch, yes. He could kick. He could dance around me all day, all night. He could even place the perfect strike on my jaw.
But I’d hit two hundred and ninety-two home runs in my career and I knew how to fucking slug.
“Hey, asshole!” I shouted . He started to turn…
The bat took Ricky right in the chest.
His eyes almost popped from his head as he doubled over from a metal baseball bat hitting his chest at ninety miles per hour. Spit sprayed from his mouth like a geyser. The satisfying crunch and thud resounded all at the same time. I had no doubt ribs broke.
I drew back. Took in a breath. Switched from righty to lefty because I am the best damned switch-hitter in the league.
I stepped into the swing this time, like a fastball coming right at me.
I aimed and struck his knee. His leg went in the direction human legs weren’t meant to go.
The howl that came from his mouth was unlike anything I had ever heard—or would ever hear again.
High-pitched, guttural, strained. Career ending, really. I wanted to take out the other knee.
Sirens and blue lights split the air. That seemed to pull Ricky from whatever bloodlust had taken over.
He hobbled on his one good leg and made a break for it, cutting through the cars and attempting to amble toward the trees.
He wouldn’t get far. I let out a breath and dropped the bat.
It sang something fierce as it bounced on the pavement.
The cruiser pulled up beside me and I saw a cop hop out of the car. He spoke into the radio strapped to his shoulder.
I dropped beside Alex.
So much blood . I couldn’t process what I was seeing.
His face had become pulp. If I didn’t know it was Alex, I wouldn’t have recognized him.
Bruises covered every inch of his body. Blood.
Blood everywhere. I put two fingers to the sides of his neck and felt a pulse.
He moaned like he was stuck in a bad dream.
Maybe he was. If only I could wake him from the nightmare.
I heard the officer radio for an ambulance. He asked me a few questions that I barely understood. One moment he was there, the next he was calling for backup as he chased after Ricky.
“Alex,” I said carefully and touched his face. He winced. “Alex. Alex you’re gonna be okay. It’s Rome. I’m here, all right? Ambulance is on its way. Alex?”
He gurgled as he tried to take in air.
I crossed myself. Said a Hail Mary as quick as a hummingbird’s beating heart. Said two more.
I kissed Alex’s forehead despite the blood everywhere.
Sudden red lights washed over the parking lot followed by the whoop-whoop announcement of the sirens.
Time blurred as paramedics rushed out from the open double doors.
Someone peeled me off of Alex and assessed me while I sat on the ground.
Alex was placed on a stretcher while I fought my way to my feet, determined to get in the back with him.
Someone—I think it was the cop?—held me back.
I finally bellowed out for them to wait, then pulled the medal from around my neck. I fitted it over Alex’s head, onto his body. Saint Sebastian would need to watch over him while I couldn’t.
“He needs to go, too,” someone said. One of the paramedics who came back after loading Alex into the back. “Come on, Romo, we’ll get you patched up on the way there.”
He knew who I was. I nodded as they helped me climb in the back. My eyes found the officer. I said, “His brother will be here shortly. Can you stay and tell him when he gets here?”
“Sure thing, Romo.”
Another one who knew me.
My hand intertwined with Alex’s during the ride. The paramedic took care of me while another one started a line for Alex.
“He gonna be all right?” I asked as the paramedic applied butterfly bandages to the bleeding, split skin over my eyebrow.
“We’ll know once we get him in. Best not to think about that right now.”
My lower lip quivered. Squeezed my eyes shut.
“He’ll be all right,” I told myself, the answer the paramedic was supposed to give. “I know he will.”