Abel (26 page)

“
Calm down, dude.” Hector said as they both ran into the front room again. “Doesn’t look like there’s anything here that’s gonna help us. She’s probably somewhere, hiding out from the press.” Abel must’ve looked as terrified as he felt because Hector stared at him, looking very concerned. “Just relax. Shit.” He looked around toward the bar. “Have a shot, Abel. You’re freaking out on me.”

Normally Abel would say
“hell no” to the shot. But the way he felt now, he needed it badly. “Pour me one,” he said before double checking the rooms again.

Feeling completely helpless now because he had no idea what to do n
ext, he called Noah. “What happened with the hospitals?”

“
She’s not been admitted to anything local. Roni’s expanding her calls to further hospitals.”

Abel took the shot
that Hector handed him as he reached the bar area. “Well, she’s not here.” Both knots in his stomach and throat were growing with every moment that passed. “I don’t know what else to do, Noah.”

“
Maybe she is just hiding out, man. Just give it a couple of hours.”

Hours?
Was he nuts? He took the shot, wincing as it went down his throat. “Damn,” his face soured instantly. “What was that?”

“
I don’t know,” Hector laughed. “It was in one of the fancier bottles at the bar.”

Abel told Noah to call him back
, and the pacing began. He dared not turn on the television and watch all the stuff that would remind him of what could’ve triggered another one of Nellie’s attacks.

“
You want another shot?” Hector offered.

Shaking his head, Abel pulled out his phone to check it again. He felt guilty that he had yet another call from his mom
that he’d ignored. He figured this was as good a time as any to call her back. It might take his mind off things, and it would certainly kill some time because she’d for sure keep him on the phone for a while. But mostly, he needed his mom right now. He was so fucking scared that he hoped hearing her voice would somehow soothe the ache in his heart. There was no explaining it, but as much as Noah and Hector seemed certain she was okay, something in his heart feared the worst.

D
eep inside, he knew there was something wrong—really wrong. He didn’t know what it was, but if he didn’t get a grip, he might start slamming his fists into walls in a desperate need to calm himself.

Hector spent his time on the phone with Charlee while Abel talked to their mom. The call was somewhat calming
, except for having to explain about the scandal. He hated talking about it, but when he’d told his mom about not knowing where she was and about her asthma attack that morning, he had to leave the room because he thought he might break down, and he didn’t want to do it in front of Hector.

“
I just have this really bad feeling, Ma . . .” He couldn’t go on because he was so choked up.

“
Okay,
Mijo,
let’s pray,” she said, immediately with conviction. “Why not? I’ve done more praying today than I have my whole life. God and I have a direct line now.”

Abel smiled
weakly and listened as his mother prayed for Nellie, her future daughter-in-law, to be fine. She assured Abel that everything would be okay and made him promise that he would think positively. “Always positive, Abel. The way I did today, even after you were knocked down. Okay,” she admitted, “so I turned off the TV, and for one moment of weakness, I screamed, jumping up and down, clutching my heart, so close to crying, but then I remembered.
Positive
. And I prayed some more and look how everything worked out.”

He
’d just gotten off the phone with his mom and had splashed some water on his face when he turned off the faucet and heard Noah’s voice in the front room. He rushed out, his heart once again beating against his chest. Any ounce of hope that he had good news was gone the moment both Hector and Noah turned to look at him grimly. “She’s in a hospital in Henderson. It took this long to track her down because she was under another name. Somehow Roni thought to check under her married name. It suddenly came to her that Nellie might not want to check in under her name because of the scandal.”

That gave Abel
some
hope. “So she checked herself in.” Already grabbing his keys and wallet, he turned back to Noah. “She wasn’t rushed there? How is she?”

Noah shook his head.
“Nah, she was rushed. They didn’t want to give us a whole lot over the phone. But they did say she was rushed there by ambulance and she’s not conscious.”

Feeling his heart and stomach sink all at once
, he blinked hard, willing the same tears from earlier—tears he hadn’t felt since his dad died—to go away. Hector clapped a hand on Abel’s shoulder. “Let’s go, brother. There’s a car downstairs, waiting to take us to the hospital.”

It
had been a long time ago since the day his mom told him his dad had died, but Abel couldn’t remember feeling this agonized in his life, not even then. He was the last one to slide into the limo, but as soon as he got in next to Roni, she hugged him, crying against his shoulder, and he would be eternally grateful for that moment. While his tears were silent compared to hers, he could at least let them out as he hid his face in her hair. “I’m so scared,” he whispered in her ear.

“
So am I,” she whispered back. “She’s never been out this long.”

He pulled away from her
, feeling even more frantic now. “How long has she been out?”

Roni
wiped her tears, and he wiped his own with the back of his hand. “She was unconscious when they arrived, and she still was when I called. She’s been there for over two hours now.”

Abel sat
up, throwing his head back against the seat, glad that it was so dark in the car. The tears ran freely down the side of his face, and he was certain of one thing. Never—not in all the fights he’d been in or even the ones Hector had ever been in, which made him more nervous than his own—had he been so terrified in his life.

***

Being told that Nellie was in the ICU was an even bigger blow, but Abel held it together. Somewhere on the drive from Vegas to Henderson, he’d gone numb. Nellie had not only listed Roni as one of her emergency contacts but family according to her insurance, so she was the only one allowed to go in to see her. But Roni fought tooth and nail to get Abel in there with her. Abel wasn’t sure if he should be grateful for it now because he thought he might be sick as they walked through the ICU ward.

Roni brought her hands to her scrunched face and began to fall apart as soon as they got to the door of Nellie
’s room and saw her hooked up to all those tubes. The nurse in there, checking her monitors, motioned to let them know they could come in. Once again, he was ever so grateful to have Roni there with him, because he felt ready to fall apart. She took his hand as they walked up to the side of Nellie’s bed.

Instantly
, everything inside him went from agonized to on fire. “Why does she have a black eye?” he asked the nurse in an all-too-demanding voice, but he didn’t give a shit.

The entire side of her cheek was swollen
, and in all his years of boxing, he knew a shiner when he saw one. If someone in McKinley’s camp had done anything to her, Abel would be in jail for sure before the night was over, because someone would be paying dearly.

The nurse pressed her lips together then looked at Nellie
’s chart and nodded. “She was checking in at the hotel when she passed out.” Wincing, she looked up at Abel. “Her face hit the counter on the way down.”

“
Oh my God!” Roni gasped.

“
But nothing is broken in her face.” The nurse assured them as if that would make them feel better. “It’s just badly bruised, and there is some swelling.”

“
She’s never been out this long,” Roni said to the nurse. “Do they know what’s wrong?”

Abel stared at Nellie
, feeling numb again. His beautiful girl looked so helpless now, all bruised swollen and full of tubes. He
hated
that he hadn’t been there for her. It almost hurt that she hadn’t had enough faith that he’d believe she had nothing to do with the obviously staged scandal that she’d been dragged into.

The nurse
told them that the doctor would be in to explain exactly what they were doing and to give them an early prognosis. Just like when he’d gotten that vibe from the guys before the fight that they weren’t telling him something, he got the distinct feeling from the nervous way she looked at him that she knew more than she was saying.

“
In the commotion at the hotel, no one noticed a few things fell out of Nellie’s purse. Among them was her phone. They had someone bring it in about a half hour ago.” The nurse opened the drawer next to Nellie’s bed and pulled it out. “Since you’d already been contacted, we turned it off. It kept ringing.”

The nurse handed it to Roni as Abel sat back.
“I’ve notified her parents already,” Roni whispered. Abel glanced at the phone when he heard it start up. Roni hit the screen a few times. “All our calls when we were looking for her, and . . . Hmm . . .” Abel noticed an odd change in Roni’s tone as she sat up, but he didn’t look up at her. He was staring at Nellie again. “Sam’s been calling too.”

That didn
’t just get his attention. Abel was immediately glaring at the phone, his insides warming instantly. “When did he call last?”

“
A couple of hours ago.”

That asshole still had the nerve to be calling her? Did he want to taunt her now?
Or were they trying to keep the bullshit story going for the media?

As if she
’d read his mind, Roni clicked on the side of Nellie’s phone, making the screen go black. She reached over and squeezed his leg, shaking her head. She obviously didn’t want him getting worked up over this now, but it was too late. After everything Sam and his fucking brothers had caused, he thought calling her was still going to fly? The very thought had him on his feet because he couldn’t sit anymore. He walked out into the hallway and paced. His emotions were being pulled in every direction. Part of him felt like a wild caged animal just waiting for someone to come close enough so he could tear a limb off. Yet another part of him felt so tormented that he’d just as soon curl up in a corner and cry like a child.

He paced until he saw Roni walk out of the room. Turning to her
, afraid of what she might be coming to tell him, he held his breath. She shook her head. “I’m just going to go update everyone out in the waiting room that nothing’s changed.”

Abel nodded
, a bit relieved, but at the same time let down that it wasn’t good news. Not wanting Nellie to be alone for even a few minutes, he walked back in her room and stood at the side of her bed. His entire chest ached to see her like this. He closed his eyes, trying desperately to keep it together. As soon as he opened his eyes, a blinking light near where he’d been sitting earlier, got his attention. The screen on Nellie’s phone lit up, and with it once again, so did his insides.

Walking toward it
, he could see that Roni must’ve left the phone on silent, because it wasn’t even buzzing. But there was no doubt a call was coming in, and as he got closer, his suspicion about who it might be was confirmed. The three letters flashed on the screen just below the green incoming call indicator:
Sam
.

Without the slightest hesitation
, he picked up the phone and answered. For the sake of not blowing up in Nellie’s hospital room, he did his best to remain calm. “What do you want, Sam?”

He walked out of the room
and was glad to see Roni on her way back to Nellie’s room. She saw him on the phone, but didn’t seem to realize that it was Nellie’s phone he was on. She didn’t comment. She just smiled faintly before walking past him and into Nellie’s room.

The silence on the other end went on a bit long until he finally heard Sam
’s voice. “Is this Ayala?”

“
It is. What do you want?” Abel’s hands were already fisting, but he wouldn’t give this guy the satisfaction of hearing him lose it, so he did his best to remain calm.

“
I want to apologize to Nellie,” Sam said, clearing his throat. “I won’t lie. My intentions going into this were every bit as despicable as I’m sure you both are thinking. It was all about getting to you with no regard for her feelings. But halfway through it, as I got to know her, I had a change of heart. Nellie . . . She’s different. I connected with her in a way I never expected.”

Abel gripped the phone
, breathing deeply. Unbelievably, what Sam was saying now, as unexpected as it was, was worse than what he
had
expected.

“
She’s one of the sweetest and sincerest women I’ve ever met, and she’s—”

“
Mine
,” Abel informed him very firmly, his calm beginning to unravel as he walked further away from Nellie’s room in case Sam said anything that might make him lose it. “She’s mine, Sam. So you listen very closely because you only get this warning once. I have not and will not waste even an ounce of energy entertaining the
bullshit
stories you and your brothers are trying to—”