AJ was taken straight into surgery when they reached the hospital leaving Stormy standing, lost and scared.
A nurse guided her to an empty waiting room. “You can wait here for him. There’s a bathroom at the back, coffee and snacks, and a phone.”
“A phone?” Stormy looked up at the nurse confusion plan in her eyes.
“In case you need to call someone.”
It dawned on her then that she needed to call Denise. “Thank you.”
The nurse left her alone and Stormy looked down at her hands. They were covered with blood, AJ’s blood, but the ring he’d given her sparkled in the fluorescent light of the waiting room. The ring…he’d given it to her in LA last week. He’d asked her to be his girl and he’d been so nervous and shy and so unsure of himself. Memories of the weekend in Virginia took over her thoughts and she felt the rush of warmth. He couldn’t die, not now. He was the perfect man for her. The tears were immediate as she stood helplessly in the room.
The door opened slowly and Ricky came in. Seeing his sister, he moved to her and took her in his arms. As he held her close to him, she cried. “Ricky, I can’t lose him.”
“You aren’t going to lose him, Danielle. Come on. You got to think positively. Now, you need to wash your hands and I got one of my men to get you some clean clothes before I left. Go in the bathroom and get cleaned up.”
“I need to call his mother,” she whispered tearfully.
“Okay, but do it after you’ve cleaned up. It’s not going to take you that long.”
Stormy didn’t protest any more and took the clothes that Ricky handed her. Going to the bathroom, she closed the door and proceeded to clean up. Ricky had been right, it didn’t take her long and she came back out to find several of Ricky’s men at the door and windows.
“What’s going on, Ricky?”
”I’m not taking any chances. Diaz is after you to get at me. If you’d called
me this weekend, I could have warned you.”
“What do you mean if I had called you? I didn’t know anything about calling you.”
“Daddy was supposed to tell you to call me. Obviously he didn’t bother,” said Ricky angrily.
“Please, don’t Ricky. I’m sure he just forgot.”
“Uh huh. Why don’t you go call his mother?”
Stormy dreaded this but she knew she had to do it. Going to the phone, she picked it up and dialed the number. Her wait for an answer wasn’t long.
“Hello?”
“Denise…” Stormy had to stop to get control of her voice.
“Stormy? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Alex…he’s been…he’s been shot.”
There was a strangled gasp from the other end and Denise’s father picked up. “Stormy? What’s wrong?”
“Pop, it’s Alex. He was shot and he’s in surgery right now.”
“Where are you, sweetheart?”
“I’m at Orange County Memorial.”
“Are you okay?”
“Not really but my
brother is here with me.”
“We’ll be there as quickly as we can.”
Stormy hung up and turned to her brother. “Come here, Danielle,” he urged as he opened his arms to her. She moved into his arms gratefully and he held her close. “He’s going to make it and you two are going to go on with the life you two have started.”
”What about Diaz?”
“I’ll take care of him but in the meantime, I’m gonna leave my men with you and one on his door. They’re after you.”
“Why?” Ricky was silent prompting Stormy to look up at him. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Diaz wants you. He agreed to cease hostilities if you married him.”
“And?”
“I refused. I wasn’t going to give him my sister just to stop a war. You deserve better than that. So, tell me about Alex. I take it you two took that step with your relationship that you asked me about?” asked Ricky as he led her to a chair so they could sit.
Stormy told Ricky about their trip to LA and then to Virginia and they sat talking as they waited. As soon as Denise, her father, and Tony arrived, Stormy started crying again. They sat with her as she explained what had happened the best she could. Ricky helped her, explaining why Diaz’ men were after his sister. Then they all settled in to wait for word on Alex.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
