Page 25 of Rise
14
Antonio
Someone really hit me.
Someone or something.
Rubbing the sore spot on my jawline, I look up at the ceiling, then scan around the hospital room, turning to each side in case someone is behind me. It’s still just me and Vinny in here, but he lookslike he’s still fast asleep.
”What the fuck was that?” I ask myself aloud, looking above me again to figure out whether something might’ve accidentally fallen from the ceiling and hit me in the face. Nothing above me looks loose. I look down at the floor around me. Nothing seems out of place at first, but out of the corner of my eye, I notice something rolling away along the floor, itsmovement strange as it takes an irregular path along a curve. It stops when it hits one of the wheels attached to a rollaway shelving unit on one side of the room. Alert and awake now, I grip the armrests at my side and push off from the guest chair where I fell asleep, wondering what hit me. When I cross the room and find a sealed cup of green Jell-O, I know it wasn’t an accident.
“Whothe fuck would play games at a time like this?” I say and look back at the door. My head snaps back to see if Vinny is okay. My eyes land on a conscious Vinny. Everything looks normal, except for that playful look in his eyes, which are wide open now. He’s awake? Thank fuck. As soon as I see the raised whiteboard in his hands, I forget about the stupid Jell-O hitting me and return to his side.
“Vinny, you’re awake! Thank god. You scared the living fuck out of us, man. You’re okay?”
Giving me a groan, he points at his throat, silently letting me know he can’t speak yet. A second later, he flips the whiteboard around to show me a message he’s already written in all capital letters.
GET A ROOM, MOTHERFUCKER
“Get a room, motherfucker?” I repeat the words and see a smile creep up on his face. “For fuck’s sake, Vinny,” I groan out with a gentle laugh. “You’ve been in a coma for all this time, and that’s the first thing you decide to write after smacking me with a cup of Jell-O? ‘Get a room, motherfucker?’ Real classy.”
Nodding, he wipes off the words and starts to scribble onto the smooth surfaceagain. A moment later, he grins and turns the written side toward me so I can read his next message.
AT LEAST I DIDN’T OPEN THE JELL-O CUP FIRST
“How about saving your strength for messages that are worth a damn?” I answer, unable to stop smiling as he adds yet another bunch of words.
STOP JERKINGOFF AT MY FUCKING BEDSIDE
“I’m so fucking glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor in all this,” I say with a smirk, feeling only a little guilty that I might’ve been stroking myself during the intense dream about the first time I had Natalia. I mean, he woke me up with a cup of Jell-O to the face. How can I feel bad about starting to rub one out at hisbedside? “It’s damn good to have you back with us, brother.”
He gives me a thumbs-up then and quickly erases the whiteboard and jots down another message. My smile instantly dissolves when he turns the board to me this time. All our initial good cheer is sucked out of the room, quickly replaced with seriousness.
IS NATALIA OK?
I struggle with his question. I know I need to tell him about her kidnapping, but he’s just waking up after being in a coma for over two months. The thing is, if I want to hear everything he knows about the day they were ambushed at the airport, I’ll have to tell him Natalia is missing.
I shake my head from one side to the next, giving him a semblance of an answer without words.
WAS SHE HURT?
“I don’t know. Someone took her from the airport that same day. We haven’t been able to find her since. The Pinuccis were behind it. Fucking traitors hired some bikers to do the hit at the airport and to take her. We took out Lorenzo after he refused to give up Natalia’s location. Cristiano’s gone underground. We’vebeen following every lead, but… she’s out there. Someone has her.”
FUCK. THIS IS ALL MY FAULT. SHOULD’VE KNOWN. DIDN’T EXPECT AN AMBUSH AT THE AIRPORT.
“It’s not your fault. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me,” I tell him. “That’s the thing, though. I know you. You might think there’s plenty of blame to go around. But this one’s on me,brother. Let’s just forget about who’s at fault for a second. Natalia’s still out there. Listen, what I need from you is for you to try to remember that day. I had my men to follow up on everything you sent me in that text after you were shot. But there are a few parts we couldn’t decipher. A few words were garbled. We couldn’t act on those because we weren’t sure what they meant.”
YES. I HEARD YOU AND NONNA ARGUING WHEN I WOKE UP. WAS TRYING TO HELP.
“Shit. You heard us?” He nods. “Fuck.” A part of me feels bad that my conversation with Nonna Romano played a part in waking my friend out of his coma. But maybe some things happen for a reason. That conversation wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t accidentally cross pathswith Nonna Romano here at the clinic. We were more or less avoiding each other. Well, I was avoiding her, to be honest. If we hadn’t talked, Vinny might still be wasting away in this bed.
He erases the whiteboard and feverishly adds something.
SHOW ME THE TEXT I SENT YOU
“Right. Give me a second.” I tug my phone out of thepocket of my slacks. Finding the message, I increase the font size then pass the phone to him. His face falls and his composure changes. From one moment to the next, Vinny goes from upbeat and relaxed to stern. His face is stone cold, and I have to wonder if he’s reliving the moments before and immediately after he was shot. Then he scribbles another message on the board.
WILL REPLY ON YOUR PHONE’S NOTEPAD.MUCH EASIER THAN WRITING BY HAND
