Chapter 22 Fire Eyes
Beep…. Beep… Beep….
The heart rate monitor continued its predictable slow and steady sound as Nicki laid on her side, and stared at her blank phone screen. Barely blinking.
Another tear fell from her eye onto the wet hospital pillow.
Sasha crept into the room quietly.
“Miss Nicki? Can I get you anything?” he whispered.
She remained lying silently, fixated on the phone.
“Still no word from any of the guys?” he asked.
Beep… Beep… Beep….
The heart rate monitor filled in the silence.
“OK, I’ll just be right outside if you need anything, OK? I’m really sorry, Nicki. But I’m here for you.”
Sasha delicately retreated back out into the hall, to the string of chairs with Christina and Mac.
Nicki continued the excruciating hopeless stare onto her black phone screen. Her eyes glossed over.
Suddenly, a text message notification beeped so loud, it interrupted the sound of the heart rate monitor.
Her body flinched and she rushed to unlock her phone to read it.
An unknown Canadian number.
My angel, it’s me. I am OK. All of us are OK. None of us can have our phones on until we get back. We are coming home tomorrow. Don’t worry. I love you. T.
The message made Nicki rise up and exhale so hard she curled over, releasing the last of her tears. She had none left.
The heart monitor jumped up again with a remix version of her heart beat.
Nicki took another deep breath and closed her eyes in the intoxicating relief.
When she opened them again, fire infused the green and made her eyes practically a green amber-orange.
Her forehead crossed, she stood up, and tore the heart rate pads off of her body.
“I’m ready to go!” she shouted to the nurse outside of the room.
On the way back to the Compound, Nicki made an announcement in the sterile silence of the SUV.
“We need to make a little pit stop first,” she stated.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ryan said.
Nicki stormed into the cigar shop, now with Christina, Sasha and Mac flanking her.
“Hey!” she shouted at the counter.
A man came out from the back room, older than the two young punks from this morning.
“Hello, how can I help you?”
“I’m here for my order. Box of His Majesty’s Finest. Now.”
“Oh, OK,” the man said uncertainly, clicking something into the computer.
“Oh, yes, I know that we had processed that order, I’m not sure if we have it ready—”
“Actually, you do have it ready. I ordered it, I paid for it in advance, I called about it, I came here this morning to these two dumbasses who didn’t know the difference between left and right. So, I want it now!”
“Alright, what name—”
“Nicole Mother-Fucking Dorien.”
“Uh, uh, your Mr. Dorien’s wife?”
Nicki got closer to his face, leaning across the counter.
“You better fucking believe I am. Is this wife enough for you?” she demanded, holding up her hand with the giant yellow diamond engagement ring. “Is this wife enough for you?” she asked, taking out her gold lion’s tooth chain and showing him the pendant.
“I didn’t know—”
“You know now. And if you don’t want Mr. Dorien to know how I’ve been treated and how incompetent your staff is for an order worth as much as a small car, then I suggest you go to the back room, and get my cigar box for me!”
“Right away, Miss, uh, Mrs. Dorien, right away!” the man said and ran to the back.
A little smile tugged at the side of Christina’s mouth.
The man returned in a hurry and proceeded to package the mahogany box into a velvet sack and into another protective hardened case. He delicately placed that into a thick paper gift bag and stepped around the counter to hand it to Nicki.
She took it, stepped up closer to him, her fire eyes staring directly into his, then turned and walked out of the store without another word.
Her entourage followed.
“Wow, Miss Nicki, when I suggested not to be so nice, I didn’t exactly have that in mind,” Christina said, now releasing her smile into a full grin. “Good job, boss-lady.”
“You were right. It was really good advice,” Nicki quipped, shooting over a quick appreciative wink at her.
They continued back to the Compound. Cigars secured.
The PJ touched down onto Seattle soil and the crew enjoyed one last shot of celebratory whiskey upon landing.
“We fucking did it, boys!” Tyler shouted.
“Hey, we can all turn our phones back on now,” Jake stated. “Don’t get them mixed up with the burners. Which we’re going to literally burn anyway.”
Tyler scrolled the 28 missed calls from “My Angel” along with listening to a frantic voice message from Nicki right after she saw the news.
“Fuck!” Tyler shouted.
“What is it, brother?” Tommy asked.
“Nicki was freaking out. Shit, I forgot about the news,”
“Well, you can call it even. She made you worry when she was in Montana, now you got her back, haha!” Tommy offered.
The brothers tussled on the floor of the plane while it taxied on the tarmac.
Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Let’s go home boys! We fucking did it!” Tyler shouted getting up off the ground. They poured themselves yet another round before deplaning.
“We’re continuing to follow breaking developments at the U.S.
–Canada border. Canadian authorities have confirmed the accepted custody of Kane Leeman, the alleged crime family head, now accused of orchestrating the shocking truck explosions on Friday.
Kane Leeman, seen here arrested by FBI agents, is expected to face a sweeping list of charges, including racketeering under R.I.C.O.
statutes, international terrorism, use of explosives, endangering public safety, and the large-scale importation and distribution of hundreds of illegal firearms and ammunition.
Authorities are also signalling that this arrest may be just the beginning.
Investigators are actively working to dismantle what they describe as a widespread and deeply embedded criminal network tied to Leeman’s organization. ”
“Wow, you really did it,” Nicki whispered, watching the TV in the Compound living room.
“Looks like they just pulled in,” Sasha said, peeking through the blinds.
Nicki ran to the door and sprinted out of the house and onto the driveway.
Tyler was the first to get out of the SUV and bolted to her.
She jumped on him, releasing her pent-up anger, worry, and sadness into him.
“How could you do this to me?” she let out, kissing his neck and squeezing him as tight as she could.
“I’m sorry baby, but I had to. I didn’t do this to you, I did it for you. For our family. We got it all back, baby, all of it. We won the war.”
Nicki thought she could scold him with the monologue of anger she had prepared but her relief was too overwhelming. Her instant forgiveness seeped into him.
“I’m so mad at you, baby,” she said through her tears and kissed his cheek and neck.
“My sweet angel, I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
He put her down gently and wiped her tears from her face.
“What a stunt you pulled,” Nicki said, shaking her head. “And you, too!” she shouted at Tommy coming in to greet her.
The crew came piling inside the house and plopped down on the couches, allowing themselves to finally unwind.
“You guys are crazy!” Nicki shouted to the living room full of exhausted men, coming home from actually winning a war.
“Hey I have something for you guys,” Nicki said, taking out the gift box of cigars.
“Alright! Perfect timing! Thanks for picking these up, baby,” Tyler exclaimed, taking them out of the box. “This is for our celebration of winning the war!” Tyler announced.
“Fuck yeah!” Jake yelled.
The other guys cheered and Luca brought in a reserved bottle of whiskey to the table.
“And this is to celebrate my baby on the way!” Tyler added, kissing Nicki’s cheek.
“Except you’re not having a baby,” Nicki said, now her face serious.
The room fell silent.
“What did you say?” Tyler asked, his eyes darkened.
The room waited for her response.
“You’re not having a baby.”
“What—”
“You’re having two! And guys, I’m going to rely on your help cause it’s going to be two boys and I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle them all by myself. Girls, maybe. But boys? No.”
Tyler fell to his knees.
“You’re… we’re having…”
“Twins! Twin boys!” Nicki exclaimed to the dumbfounded crew of stunned men.
The lion’s den erupted with roars.
Tyler managed to get up off his knees and collapse onto Nicki, barely holding himself up.
“I can’t believe this, my angel. You have no fucking clue how happy I am,” he said, grabbing her face.
They kissed passionately to a room of ooh’s and more cheering.
“Oh my God, two boys!” Tyler whispered to her in between kisses. “My angel, my love, I love you so much.”
“Now I got you back for telling the guys I was pregnant!” Nicki snapped.
“Fine. Call it even,” he said.
Tyler cracked open the cigar box and handed them out to the crew.
“Boys, a much-deserved celebration for winning the war and my fucking…” Tyler coughed in an attempt to mask his cry but the tears gave him away.
“My fucking SONS!” he finished triumphantly.
“Yeah, boss! Congrats, king, you deserve it!” Jake said, raising a toast. “To Alpha, for leading us through the war and coming back out on the other side of it!”
“We dismantled the Leemans!” Tico shouted proudly.
The room beamed with their pride which could only be settled by a much-deserved dinner at Nancy’s diner and some home-made chicken pot pie.