Page 53 of Sal Gabrini: Man on Fire

They stood there as the paramedics worked furiously on Lucky. Sal placed his injured arm around Gemma, but Gemma did even feel his touch. She was devastated. Seeing her child passed out and burned so badly, she could hardly stand up.

Sal was an emotional wreck too. That was why he didn’t give a shit about some little burns and scratches he suffered. “Work on my son!” he yelled at the paramedic who came over to offer him some aid. “Work on my son!”

But the incriminations were already coming Sal’s way. Lucky’s teammates were pissed. His coach was pissed. And the coach, speaking for all of them, let Sal have it.

“How could you save your wife before you saved your own child?” he asked him. “How could you do that to Lucky?”

Robby looked at Sal. Normally, he would have cussed that coach out no matter if he was wrong or right. He was just that combative when his back was against the wall. But Sal didn’t even look that coach’s way. He didn’t take his eyes off of his son.

Even Gemma had been upset with Sal when he wouldn’t let her rescue Lucky, and a part of her was still pissed with him. Because a part of her couldn’t help but wonder what his teammates and coach were saying out loud: had Sal let Gemma save Lucky before Sal saved her, Lucky would not have been in such bad shape.

But she couldn’t deal with that right now. That required processing, and she was in no condition to process a thing. She just wanted her son to be okay. And he wasn’t. He wasn’t even conscious.

But when Lucky’s teammates got in on the bashing too, it was almost too much for Sal to bear.

The teammates were all crying and upset. “You should have saved Lucky,” one of them cried out. “Why didn’t you save Lucky first!”

“You killed our leader,” another cried out. “You killed him!”

Robby was worried sick for Sal. He knew how emotional his boss could be when it came to his family. And it was Robby who came to his defense, telling the coach and the players to back off and that Sal did what he knew was right. But although the coach was still fuming, and so were Lucky’s teammates, they saw the devastation on Sal’s face. Sal looked as if his world had imploded with that car. They backed off.

When the helicopter landed and Gemma got onboard alongside Lucky on the gurney, Sal was about to get on too. But the medics held him back. “No room,” said one. “Just the mother!”

Sal was livid. “What are you talking? That’s my son!”

“No room!” the medic yelled over the sound of the chopper blades. The other medics not on the helicopter held Sal back as the chopper took off.

Sal watched his wife and son sail away, feeling so alone and guilty and pained that he could hardly bear it, then he hurried to his car. He knew where they were taking them, and he wanted to be there as soon as he could get there.

But Robby was running with him. “Give me the keys, Boss,” he said as they ran. He could see the condition Sal was in. There was no way he was going to let him drive.

But Sal wasn’t thinking about Robby. He opened the driver’s side door of his Bugatti, but Robby slammed it back shut. “Give me the keys, Boss,” he said.

Sal looked into Robby’s eyes. And he didn’t see accusations like he saw in everybody else’s eyes. He saw concern. And he knew Robby was right. Sal’s heart was beating as if it was going to beat out of his chest. And the pain of his injuries weren’t helping either. He was in no condition to drive.

He handed Robby the keys, got in on the passenger side, and Robby got behind the wheel and took off.

Sal leaned his head back, not even capable of thinking about who could have done this shit, as he sat like a zombie trying with all he had not to disintegrate.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Gemma and Robby sat side by side in the VIP waiting room at the burn center. Sal was standing at the window staring out. Gemma knew he was in just as much pain as she was in. Maybe even more because of the guilt. But she couldn’t comfort him. Because she felt the decision he made to save her first was the wrong decision. They both should have dived into that backseat and got Lucky out of there, and then let the chips fall where they may.

But Sal saved her first, and then he saved their child. On some level she understood why he did it. He was risking losing both of them had he not pulled Gemma out of the way first. But she would have been in that backseat far faster than Sal’s actions got him back there, and Lucky might have been okay. She might have been at that burn center fighting for her life, or Sal might have been there. But at least their child would have been okay! Gemma was in no condition to comfort anybody.

Proof of that, she felt, was when Reno and Trina and Carmine and Marie came hurrying through that waiting room door. As soon as Trina and Marie hurried to Gemma and threw their arms around her, she broke down. Robby moved and Trina sat down and Gemma began sobbing uncontrollably in Trina’s arms. Robby had told them what had happened when he called Reno, and they all looked as devastated as Gemma and Sal.

Carmine hurried over to Sal, and hugged him, and Sal kept his arm around Carmine too. He needed that human contact because that guilt was kicking his ass. He wasn’t feeling human at all in that moment.

“How is he?” Reno asked Sal. A very worried Trina and Marie looked too.

Sal shook his head. “Still in surgery,” he said.

“Is it bad?” Reno asked point blank.

Sal hesitated. They knew he didn’t want to face that truth. But he nodded his head.

The pain became like a force of nature in that room when Sal nodded his head. It’s bad. Lucky was in bad shape. All of their hope of anothing to see heremoment where there was a grave misunderstanding and Lucky was just fine, was gone. They all deflated after that.

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