Page 101 of The Midnight Club
The doctor held up his hands. “Now, this is good news, but she still has a long way to go. It could take a while for her to regain consciousness and we won’t know until she does if she’ll suffer any long-term effects. She lost a lot of blood, a lot, and if her brain was starved of oxygen … well, we’ll just have to see. But this is a step in the right direction. I’ve checked her abdominal wounds, and I think we’re out of the woods as far as the abdominal artery is concerned. She’s a fighter.”
Maceo, tears in his eyes, nodded, half-laughing. “Yes, she is.”
Lucia was waiting outside the relatives’ room when the doctor left, and she hugged Maceo as tightly as she could when he told her the good news. “Oh, thank god, thank god,” she kept repeating, and he laughed.
“I know, I know. Look, let’s go sit with her and see if we can coax her awake quicker.”
Lucia laughed, but when she saw her friend lying so still in the bed, her smile faded. “She doesn’t look more awake.”
Maceo stroked the hair back from Ori’s face, his gaze taking in every detail of his lover’s face. “Her color is better,” he said softly, and bent to kiss Ori’s cool lips. “Come back to me,mio amato.Come back to us.”
Lucia’s heart ached for her boss, her friend. At that moment, she knew the depth of his love for Ori; they truly belonged together. She began to cry softly and Maceo, noticing, came to hold her hands.
“It’s not fair,” Lucia said through her sobs. “She had years of unhappiness and abuse and now this. Just when you found each other.”
Maceo wrapped his arms around her. “I swear to you, Lucia, she will come through this. I swear it, and when she does, I will give her the best, the happiest life anyone could ever have.”
Lucia hugged him back. “I know you will. I know.”
“Without her, I am nothing,” Maceo said in a low voice. “Nothing. If the worst should happen …”
He didn’t continue, but he didn’t need to. Lucia pushed him away and made him look at her. “I never want to hear that from you, Maceo Bartoli. Ori would be furious and heartbroken. She’s fighting, I know it, and if she loses, it won’t be because she hasn’t tried. So don’t you give up on her, on me, or on yourself, Maceo. I won’t permit it.” Her voice was shaking so much he could barely understand her, but the pain in her eyes was unmistakable.
“Perdonami, Lucia, I’m so, so sorry.”
She let her hold her before wiping away her tears. “Ori would kick your ass all the way out of heaven.”
Maceo smiled, his green eyes tired but soft. “Come on. She’d try, but then she’d look at all this hotness and forgive me...” He exaggerated a swagger to make her laugh.
“God, Bartoli, you never change.” But she squeezed his shoulder. “How about I go track us down some decent coffee?”
Outside, she slid her phone from her purse and called Benoit. “I think Maceo’s close to cracking up, I really do. I don’t know what to do.”
Benoit listened to her patiently. “Lucia, don’t worry, we’ve got this.”
Lucia sighed. “Thank you, Benoit. Listen,” she hesitated, “It may not be the best idea for … I mean, no offense to him, but …”
“It’s okay,” Benoit’s voice was soft. “Alex won’t come near the hospital.”
“Thank you, Benoit. I’m so sorry.”
Maceo, standing at the door to Ori’s room, listened as her friend ended the call. He felt conflicted; right now, he needed his brothers, his rocks. But after what he’d said to them, he was surprised they were still speaking to him. His rage that day … he still felt it, but only towards Alex. He had never been so sure as he was that Alex had done this to Ori. The police had called him in to watch the gas station’s security footage. God, he would never get those images out of his head.
The black-clad masked stranger getting into the car; Ori’s surprise, then shock … the way the man had stabbed her, so savagely, without mercy. Maceo was grateful for the graininess of the video that he couldn’t see the stabbing in detail, but he saw the blade catch the light as the killer plunged it into Ori’s belly again and again. Her hands uselessly clawing at him. The man bending over her for a long moment, then leaving her to bleed to death.
Oh god, Ori … I’m so sorry. He returned to her bedside and sat down, taking her small hand in his, raising it to his lips. “Il mio amore, la mia bella amore.” He wished he could go to sleep and join Ori wherever she was, hold her, kiss her, just the two of them, in a world without danger, or fear.
Ori’s fingers twitched, and Maceo froze. “Ori?”
Nothing. He sighed and placed her hand flat against his cheek, trying to warm it. Her thumb moved, sweeping along his cheek. Maceo’s eyes widened as he saw her eyelids flicker. “Ori?Mio amore?”
Her fingers moved, cupping his cheek and her eyes opened just a little, trying to focus on him. Maceo leaped up, calling for the nurse, but never taking his eyes off Ori’s lovely face. “Ori? That’s it, try to focus on me, oh my love, my love …”
Netta was steppingout of the shower when Seth knocked on the door. She grinned at him. “Why are you knocking? Get in here.”
Completely uninhibited she went to him, naked, and kissed him. “You’re smiling.”
Seth laughed, indicating her still-damp body. “Any red-blooded man would be, but for once, you’re not the only reason. Ori’s coming out of the coma.”
