And as smoothly as if he was turning into an intersection, Albert straightened the wheel, joining regular traffic like it was just another day. I stared at him with shocked eyes.
What the hell kind of Bourne Identity?!
However, the sight of blood gushing out of a wound in his neck caused me to reach for him.
I opened my mouth to tell him that he had been shot, but no words came out…only grunts. It was then I realized I was more hurt than I thought.
Albert reached back and grabbed my hand that was shaking very badly. “Don’t try to talk, sweetheart, we’re almost there.”
Letting my hand go, he picked up his phone and pushed a button.
“Meet us at St. Lutheran. Journey’s been shot!”
I blacked out…
********
When I came through again, I was in a hospital bed surrounded by nurses and doctors; the light was so bright it was blinding me. I reached up and tried to stop them from cutting away my shirt.
“Stop! What are you doing?”
“Relax, ma’am, you’ve been shot, we have to get you out of this shirt.” A nurse said taking my hand. But her worried gaze shot to the corner of the room. There was a commotion over there.
Although it hurt like hell, I turned my head to see what was happening. Albert sat in a chair in the corner of my room holding some kind of bandage to his neck while clutching Ayana’s car seat in his lap. He didn’t look too good. There were several nurses and doctors telling him that they needed to see about his neck.
“No, don’t worry about me, just help her. Do you hear me, dammit? Help her!” His eyes looked delirious.
“Sir, you’re going to pass out if you don’t let us stop the blood loss!” Another doctor told him as he tried to take Ayana’s car seat from him. Albert reached into the back of his pants and pulled out his gun pointing it at him.
“Nobody touches this baby.” His voice was calm and deadly. “Now help her before I blow your damn head off.”
Chills went down my spine. My goodness, Albert is a beast. That was the last thing I thought before the beckoning blackness claimed me once again.
Joseph
“He’s sleeping it off.” My father’s psychiatrist said as he joined Tim, my mother and me in the study.
My mother stood and hurried to him. “How is he?”
“He’s fine, just had one too many last night, that’s all.”
I lifted my scotch to my lips and took a sip. “Thank you for coming over on such short notice.” I told the doctor from where I stood by the window.
“I don’t have to tell you to keep this confidential.”
The doctor nodded his head empathetically before assuring me I’ll never have to worry about him leaking anything to the press. I didn’t respond, just turned back to gaze out the window watching as people headed out to work.
I was sick and tired of this life. This was not my father’s first time pulling a stunt like this. In fact, it was becoming his norm. I don’t do what he wants me to and he goes and does something drastic to get me back in line.
Well, not this time. There was nothing he could do to get me to change my mind about making Journey my wife. She was a part of me and my parents had to get used to the idea.
“Joseph, you can at least pretend to give a damn about your father!” My mother cried after the doctor left.
I drained my glass, placing it down on the windowsill before heading towards the door. That was just it, I was tired of pretending. I wanted to go home to what was real. Being here made my skin crawl.
She grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?”
“Home.” My gaze went to Tim. “Call me if anything changes.”
It was as I was turning the key in the ignition that I got Albert’s call. He said three words that stole the breath from my body.
JOURNEY’S BEEN SHOT!
Whipping my truck around, I raced towards St. Lutheran. I didn’t call him back; it sounded as if he was driving fast and needed to focus on what he was doing.
Something stirred in me.
No!
Not yet!
I began to take deep calming breaths. It was critical that I keep my head until I found out what was going on. I knew from experience that if I got too emotional, the other part of me would take over, but I needed to see what was going on before that happened.
My other half was not the type that reasoned. It didn’t barter, negotiate, or compromise. It didn’t value anything, let alone human life. It is a destructive force that once released, will not stop until all it perceived as a threat was eliminated.
Although it was true that I’ve learned to depend on The Politician to help me escape the pain that comes from making certain choices, for Journey’s sake, I had to keep my head.
Ten minutes later I pulled my car behind Albert’s at the emergency room. There were two police officers searching it.
“What the f***?!” I growled when I got out and saw that all the windows had been shot out.
Rage!
Pure uncut rage shot through me. “What the f***?!”
Somebody was going to die for this. My woman was in that car, my child. I balled up my fists as I walked through the emergency room doors. I could feel the killer waking up inside of me. My rage was
