Page 9 of Falling for the Knockout

“Tony,” she whispered. She was sure it was him. She could still feel his lips on her skin.

Aurora heard people talking and she wanted to call for Tony again, but just whispering his name was painful. “Her blood pressure is high,” the woman on her right said. She hadn’t even felt anyone taking her blood pressure. Maybe the woman wasn’t talking about her, but then, who else would she be talking about?

“We’re taking her to the hospital,” another man said. “She’ll need to be checked for a concussion and probably kept for observation for a night or two.” Aurora wanted to protest. She couldn’t stay in the hospital; she had to bake and open the bakery. If she didn’t do that, she’d let Elio down and she couldn’t do that to him—especially right now with his health issues.

“Can I follow you guys in a few minutes?” Tony asked. “I called the police, and they’ll want to talk to me first. Will I be allowed back in the ER when I get there?” She wanted to tell the EMTs that she wanted Tony allowed back with her. She had no one to be with her and for some reason, the idea of Tony being with her through this mess gave her comfort.

“That will be up to the hospital, but I’ll tell them that you want to be with your, um—“ the woman said.

“My girlfriend,” Tony said. Aurora moaned and tried to open her eyes again but couldn’t.

“Just relax, Aurora,” the woman insisted. “We will have you feeling better in no time. If she’s not in the ER when you get there, she’ll be in X-ray. They’ll want to make sure that her nose isn’t broken and that she has no brain bleeds.”

“Shit,” Tony mumbled. “I wish I could have caught the asshole who did this to her. He took off when I pulled up to the back ofthe bakery, and I didn’t get a good look at him.”

“You scared him off before he could do any more damage to her, and that’s a good thing, sir,” the woman said. They lifted Aurora onto a gurney and rolled her away. Where they were taking her was a mystery, but every bump and sudden stop was more painful than the next. Sirens rang out in the distance, and she moaned again at the pain that the noise caused her.

“It’s okay, Aurora,” Tony said, his warm breath feeling like a caress against her face. “I’m going to talk to the cops and then, I’ll be right behind you. You’ll be safe, I promise, honey,” he said. She wanted to tell Tony that she might never be safe again. With Joe out there watching her—watching them, neither of them would be safe. But first, Aurora would have to wake up to tell him that. Then, she was going to have to get out of town and find another place to hide, because there was no way that she’d let Joe hurt Tony or Elio. That would be his go-to move. He’d go after the people she cared about to make her compliant to his demands. That was how he worked, and Aurora would have to get out of town before he got his chance to hurt either of them.

Anthony

“You again,” the nurse at the front desk barely looked up from her computer screen. “Is your grandfather okay?”

“He’s fine,” Tony said. “My, um, wife was brought in by ambulance. She was mugged at our bakery.” The nurse looked at him over her glasses, as though she seemed to figure out that he was lying to her. She shook her head at him and sighed.

“Can you just tell me if I can go back to see her?” Tony asked, nodding to the ER door. “I just need to see that she’s okay. I won’t get in the way, I promise.”

“What’s her name?” the nurse asked. He told her Aurora’s name and even her date of birth which he saw on her paperwork when he went snooping for Aurora’s phone number.

“You can go on back,” the nurse said, buzzing him through the double doors. “But if you get in the nurse’s way, I’ll kick you out myself. She’s in room 7. Take a left after the restrooms and itwill be two doors down on the right. I hope that your, um, wife is going to be okay,” she said.

“Me too,” he shouted back over his shoulder to her. “Thank you.” She didn’t bother to answer back. By the time the doors closed, he was already down the hallway and rounding the corner to Aurora’s room. He just hoped like hell that she was all right and maybe even awake. Once she was up for a visit, the cops wanted to ask her a few questions about the attack. Hell, he had a few questions of his own, but they could wait until he was sure that Aurora was out of the woods.

Tony nearly ran into a nurse coming out of Aurora’s room. “How is she?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, I can’t share that information with you, sir. How do you know the patient?”

“She’s my wife,” he lied. Jesus, what was up with him and lying? If he kept it up, he would eventually get caught and then, he’d definitely get tossed out of the hospital.

“Tony,” the nurse said.

“Yes, that’s me,” he said.

“Great, she’s been asking for you,” the nurse said. That was surprising to him, but then again, maybe she was alert enough at the bakery to know that he had been there with her.

“She’s awake then?” Tony asked.

“She keeps drifting in and out. I’ll call the doctor to come in to talk to you when he’s free.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Tony said. He thanked the nurse and walked into Aurora’s room to find her lying on the bed with hereyes closed. He didn’t want to wake her, so he quietly crossed the small room and sat down on the chair that sat next to her bed.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him, wincing and moaning at the pain that the gesture caused her. “Ouch,” she grumbled. “How’s Elio? Is the bakery okay? Oh, God, who’s running it today?”

“Wow,” he breathed. “Slow down, honey. Elio is doing surprisingly well, although I think that he’s just putting on a brave face. As for the bakery, it’s fine and I put up a sign saying that we’re going to be closed for a few days. Elio agreed that it was the right call.”

She turned her head to look over at him and groaned again. “You just rest,” he said. “You can look at me all you want to later.” She started to laugh at his joke and moaned again. “Sorry, I’m an ass,” he insisted. He hated that she was in pain because of him acting like an idiot.

“You are,” she agreed. Now, it was his turn to laugh. “What did you have to tell the nurses to get back here?” Aurora asked.

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