Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Dom
It’s taking everything in me to not take a swing at Brian Fitz. The bastard has done enough damage to his son’s psyche. And to his face and body, if Callum heard correctly.
I spin him around instead, pushing him back against the wall with my forearm across his neck, my face inches from his. “Now tell me what shit you’re in that got Callum hurt.”
“I’m not—”
“Don’t lie,” I growl low. I’m getting tired of repeating myself with this asshole.
“I’m the only one who sees the truth in all this,” Brian rushes out, puffs of his sour breath hitting my face.
“The only truth I want is the trouble you pushed onto your son.”
“Are we having an issue here?” Lyric asks in a tone that’s far from friendly. “Do I need to call security?”
I step back, dropping my arm. “No trouble.”
Brian whips his head around and glares at the male nurse. “No, I was just leaving.” He steps back with a parting shot to me. “I’ll be seeing you around.” He then strides away.
“Do I need to add him to the list of people not welcome back to Mr. Fitz’s room?” Lyric’s voice isn’t quite as tight.
“Yes.”
“Mr…” Lyric begins to say.
“Just Dom,” I correct, looking down at the shorter man.
He’s quite pretty—I noticed his looks when he was eyeing Pen in the ER. He has creamy flawless skin and those interesting violet eyes, which he’s thinly lined in black to accentuate their shape. I can see why Raef is rattled by Lyric’s beauty.
One would also assume, from looking at the man, that Lyric is gentle in nature. But appearances can lie. I know firsthand how fierce Lyric can be with his verbal banter. He holds his own.
“Do you need extra security posted here?” His question jolts me out of my thoughts.
I clear my throat, glance down at the hallway and say, “We have it covered.”
“Alrighty.” Lyric shrugs and goes behind the nurses’ station.
I head back to Callum’s room, walk in quietly, and see Callum is sound asleep. Soft noises from the bathroom draw my attention and I hear Pen on the phone, talking with someone.
A few minutes later he comes out, a frown on his face. I lift a brow, conveying my unspoken question.
“That was Detective Faller. He and Longe are coming to talk with Callum. He said he only called out of courtesy—do you believe that? Anyway, they’ll be here soon,” Pen explains, his eyebrows furrowing deeply in agitation. “Couldn’t they have waited another day?”
“The attack is still fresh in Callum’s mind. He might have details he could forget the longer they wait. Then we can tell them about Brian.”
“Who are you telling about Brian?” Danny asks as he and Connor walks in.
“The cops,” Pen relays, his eyes never leaving me.
“Good. Hopefully, they can track down who hurt Callum, and throw his ass in jail,” Connor grates out indignantly.
“Hope so,” Danny says, equally angry. “What if it’s not because of Brian?”
Danny makes a good point. “If it’s not because of something Brian did, then who would want Callum hurt? Any grudges—does he have enemies we don’t know about?” I ask, trying to make sure we have all avenues covered.
Danny drops into the chair that sits adjacent to the bed. “Tobias asked the same questions. And the answers are I don’t know and No. Callum isn’t the type to create enemies. But his father… Let’s just say Brian is a piece of shit. Especially to Callum.”
“We know all about Brian’s foul mouth, but how does this pertain to Callum’s attack? There are no connecting dots,” Pen says, reaching my side.
“Don’t quote me and I don’t know details, but I remember overhearing my parents talking about Brian and the shady shit he did back in Australia. Right, Connor?”
“You got that right. Brian Fitz is a parasite,” the drummer rumbles out with disdain.
“What’s the shady shit?” I ask, needing to know how far Fitz senior would go to hurt Callum. “Would he purposefully have his own son hurt?”
Both band members glance at each other before Danny refocuses on me and says, “I wouldn’t put it past the bastard. Though his mouthing off is usually worse than his bite.”
“Motherfucker,” Pen spits out.
“I wonder why his mom uprooted Callum and moved to the states?” I ask, since Callum is tight lipped with that bit of detail.
“From what Callum told us when we were kids, Brian was involved in illegal shit with back in Australia, but he didn’t know what. And it was Callum’s grandfather who sent them here,” Danny whispers.
“You ladies talk too damn loud,” Callum mutters sleepily. “And that’s all hearsay about Australia.”
“Sorry,” Danny utters.
“Too late. I’m awake. And no, Brian might be a fucker—but I don’t see him wanting to physically harm me. In all the years…” Callum yawns… “he’s only hit me once. But Granddad put a stop to that. If he had ever laid a hand on me again, Granddad would have skinned him alive with his Bushman.”
Callum tries to sit up, but I quickly lay my hand on his chest to stop him. “Hold still,” I order. “Let me move the bed into a better position for you.” I take the remote from his hand and slowly incline the top half of the bed until Callum winces. “Shit. Let me move it back down a hair.”
“No. This is good.” Callum smiles, sort of, before shifting his attention to his bandmates. “Why do you two look like crap?”
“Because we’ve been worried about you, asshole,” Danny says with watery eyes. “Who did this to you?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t get a look at the guy’s face.” Callum blows out a heavy breath. “When I opened the door, all I saw was a guy in a hoodie standing there with his back to me. The next thing I knew, I was down on the floor.”
“Whover this fucker is, he’s a dead man,” Connor growls.
“I wouldn’t be saying that out loud,” Danny grimaces to his bandmate, as he slides more lip gloss across his lips.
“I would agree, since the detectives are on their way here,” I remind them. The band seems to be a magnet for trouble, and we don’t need to create more.
“Too late, they’re already here,” Lyric announces as he walks in. “Mr. Fitz, are you up for talking?”
“Please, call me Callum. I’m not my father. And yes, might as well get this over with,” he says with a sigh.
“Alright. And I also want to let you know that I’m going off duty,” Lyric says before turning to me. “Veronica will be here shortly. She’s great. She knows what’s going on and the stipulations on who comes in and out of Callum’s room.”
“I don’t like that idea. I told you we want only you to tend to Callum while he’s here,” I say, not trusting just anyone for Callum’s care. Granted, I don’t know this male nurse either, but something’s telling me that I can trust him. And I always follow my gut.
“I’m sorry, but the hospital made a concession to your request and allowed me to finish my shift up here. And I guarantee you that they won’t pay me overtime. So, you’ll have to deal with it. Veronica is good and I trust her.”
The moment Lyric stops talking, Dante appears in the doorway like a magician.
Their makeup is flawless, their suit cut to perfection, and their trademark four-inch black heels don on their feet.
Dante’s androgynous look belies their Rottweiler tendencies, and right now their eyes are sharp like a knife’s edge as they focus unblinkingly on Lyric. “Please, may I have a word with you?”
“Umm… Sure,” Lyric says hesitantly and follows the band’s manager out of the room.
“What was that all about?” Danny asks, looking at each of us.
“I have no clue,” I say before we are interrupted again as Detectives Faller and Longe stride into the room.
They both scan the space before Longe says, “I’m assuming this is the rest of the band?”
“No, only two of five. I’m Danny Wells, and this is Connor Wild.” Danny extends his hand, which Faller shakes.
Longe ignores the greeting and moves to the foot of the bed. “If you don’t mind stepping out of the room, we have a few questions we want to ask Mr. Fitz.” His eyes jump to me, to Pen, and then to Danny and Connor.
“No,” I say flatly. “We’re on duty and we’re not leaving Mr. Fitz.”
“Dom,” Pen says in warning.
“Mr. Rossetti,” Longe begins, but I cut him off.
“We are Mr. Fitz’s bodyguards. We will remain here, with him.” I narrow my eyes on the cops, giving no fucks if either detective likes it. Pen and I aren’t leaving Callum’s side.
Tobias and Dante come into the room and I smirk. I can’t wait to see the detectives try to go toe-to-toe with the band manager.
Our lead eyes me and then assesses the electricity in the room. “I’ll stay with Callum,” he jumps in.
“For legality purposes, I have to also,” Dante adds, then looks at Detective Longe. “I’m Dante Ross, the band’s manager. My pros are they and them.”
I watch the detective slow blink as he takes in Dante, then quickly gather himself.
“That’s fine,” Detective Faller says, not affected one bit with Dante’s announcement.
“We’re not leaving either,” I insist.
Tobias shakes his head. “You two are way too close to this. You and Pen go with the band to the waiting room.” His rigid tone gives me no room to argue—no matter how much I detest his interference.
But I get it. Pen and I are too close to this case—too emotionally connected to be reasonable—especially me.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me. Go,” Callum says sleepily, but the glazed look in his eyes shows that the drugs to numb his pain still have him feeling slightly high.
“Want to lean back a bit?” Without waiting for his agreement, I grab the controller and lean Callum back a little more. He sighs with relief and the corners of his eyes lose their hard lines.
“Thanks,” Callum mumbles out, his shoulders relaxing. My guy isn’t going to last long before he falls back to sleep.
I shoot a warning glance at Tobias to keep Callum’s comfort in mind before Pen and I leave the room.
“Callum will be okay,” Pen says, but there’s worry in his words.
“Between the cops, Tobias and me standing guard next to the bed, no one’s going in there to hurt him. I promise,” Dante says and waves us off.
I don’t know what it is, but I’m not comforted by Dante’s encouragement. Something in my gut is telling me that Callum’s attacker will try again.