Gaining Gibbs (Marco's MMA Boys #4) (14 page)

CHAPTER 30

JADE

Fuck, I feel like I’ve been hit by a damn bus or something. Trying to move, I realize my leg is stuck and my arm feels like it weighs a hundred pounds.

“Hey, Firecracker,” I hear Clay say softly.

“H-.” God, my throat feels like sandpaper.

“Here, put this ice chip in your mouth. I’ve been running a piece over your lips for a little while so they don’t crack. Your throat is dry from the tube.”

I take a sip from the water. “Thanks,” I croak out. “What happened?”

“Where does your mind leave off?” he asks.

I sip some more water. “The van. My hands were tied and I was kicking Gavin in the face.” I keep trying to think back. “I used my body to shove Gavin, he hit the driver, then everything went nuts. I remember screaming. I think I remember seeing you at some point, but that could’ve been a dream.”

“Nope, I was there. I came in the ambulance with you. Let me tell the doctor you’re awake. Sly and I made your mom and Kara go home to get some rest, but I’ll call Sly to let him know you’re awake, so he can let them know,” he says, smiling before he leaves the room.

A few minutes later, two doctors walk in with Clay behind them.

“Ms. Chambers, I’m Dr. Macon and this is Dr. Reagan. We were your surgeons the other night.”

Huh? “How long have I been out?”

The man who identified himself as Dr. Macon steps forward. “Two days. Your body needed rest. Once you were out of the woods, we moved you to a regular room. This young man was pretty adamant about staying with you.” He walks over closer to me. “We had to remove your spleen and repair a nick on your liver. After the first twenty-four hours, your brain didn’t appear to be swelling so we moved you out to the floor. You did suffer some blood loss so we gave you a couple of transfusions, but other than taking it easy and letting your body heal, you’re good from me.”

Dr. Reagan steps forward. “I wish it were that easy for me.” He starts to explain my broken bones, physical therapy and the fact that I’ll have to be out of work for weeks. I’m wheelchair bound until my shoulder and arm heal.

“Great, my apartment should be fun,” I grumble as the doctors leave the room.

Clay looks at me. “Yeah, about that. I had the guys, Liz and Chelsea pack up your apartment. It’s all at my house and in a storage building. You’re going to be living with me.”

“What?!” I say, trying to sit up in the bed.

Before I can say anything else, my mom comes racing in the door with my sister waddling behind her. She tries to hug me. “Oh, sweetie. I was terrified. Are you feeling okay?”

I chuckle a little. “Well, I feel like shit actually.”

“Smartass,” my mom says.

I make small talk with my mother and sister for a little while. Finally, my sister reaches the subject of my living arrangements. “So, moving in with Gibbs? Big step.”

I laugh. “Well, I really didn’t get a vote in the matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“He just told me right before you walked in that he moved my stuff. We were just about to get into it when you got here,” I say quietly.

She stands up. “Clay Gibbs! What do you think you’re doing moving my sister into your house without her permission? You big bully.” She shoves him with her belly. No joke, it’s just sticking out there.

Sly steps over to her, directing her back from Clay. “Babe, I’d move your ass in, too. He knew she would worry about her rent, getting up the stairs and overall taking care of herself in that apartment. He’s taking care of her.”

She crosses her arms in a huff. “Fine.”

My mother is standing by the door laughing softly.

“Oh shit,” comes from my sister’s mouth.

Everyone turns to her and the look on Sly’s face is priceless. “Did you just piss on my foot?”

She looks up in shock. “No.”

He grabs her arm. “I didn’t think so.” He looks back. “We’re going to have a baby, guys. Be back soon.”

“Eve, call Mom, please,” I hear Sly say from down the hallway.

My mother laughs. “He’s such a character. He always brings in the laughter. Now, you take care of yourself. I’ll be back by in a bit. I need to go call Elaine so she can corral the group.”

Clay looks at me. “So are they going to do a C-section again?”

I nod. “Yeah, there was too much damage the first time from the trauma of the attack so the doctor suggested strongly that she not have a vaginal birth.” I stop and think. “Oh my God. That could’ve been Gavin delivering her baby.”

“Well, it’s not,” he says bluntly. “And it never will be again.”

It finally occurs to me that I haven’t asked about the men. “Is he? Are they?”

“Gavin is in the hospital here. He lost a lot of blood and is still touch and go. Although if he lives, he’s lost his job here and the hospital has requested he be brought before the state licensing board. Mike is still alive, just barely though,” he says with a certain aggravation. “The other two died at the scene.”

“Oh.” I pause. “He said that he killed your mom,” I croak out.

He nods. “I know, baby. I always had my suspicions but was never positive.”

“I’m still under probation at both hospitals. If I have to miss this much work, they’re going to fire me.” I sigh.

He barks out a laugh. “Oh, this hospital will never fire you. The hospital administrator, the public relations lady and some of the board members have been by to wish you well and say how utterly sorry they are for the whole sexual harassment ordeal. Especially since it turns out Gavin is a looney toon. They’re very sorry and I think they really hope you don’t sue their ass for work endangerment and all kinds of other stuff.” He shakes his head. “Kara lit into them pretty good. I just thought you were the firecracker.”

I nod. “Good, now about me moving.”

Getting as close as he can to me, he kisses my temple and speaks softly. “I moved you in because I don’t want to ever be apart from you again. Chelsea was right. I love you so damn much and we’ve wasted too much of our lives playing this game. When you coded in that ambulance on the way here, I lost it. I thought I’d lost it when my parents died, and maybe I did. Maybe being a kid, I was able to push it all in a little compartment, but when I thought you were gone…I never want to feel that way again.”

My big tough fighter has tears welled up in his eyes. This just got way too serious. I need to break the tension. I feel all of those things, but he’s too stressed. “Okay.”

He looks at me dumbfounded. “Okay? That’s all you have to say?”

“Well, I’ll move in. I guess I will need someone to help me bathe and stuff. My sister will be busy and it’s been a long time since my mom did it. Soooo,” I drag out, trying to play with him.

“That’s all you have to say?” He gets quiet and almost cold.

“Oh um, yeah. I love you, too, and I don’t want to be without you either. I agree, we’ve wasted too much of our lives being apart,” I say slyly.

He laughs. “Oh, my sassy little Firecracker. If you weren’t wrapped in about forty pounds of plaster, I’d spank your ass.”

CHAPTER 31

GIBBS

It’s been a busy night around here. Everyone from the gym is here, along with the wives and the kids. They’d all been giving Jade some time but now since Kara is here, too, having the baby, it’s like open season. There is a very big possibility that the hospital will kick everyone out before it’s all over with. Even Gia came by to apologize, once again, for everything and tell Jade that she’s glad she’s okay.

Chelsea steps in the room. “Gibbs,” she calls my name, motioning me into the hall.

Once we’re outside, she speaks quietly. “Okay, so I made the call you asked me to. I don’t feel good about it. I feel like Jade’s not gonna be happy if she finds out.”

“Thank you for making the call for me. I know you didn’t want to, but I want him gone,” I say quietly.

“The power struggle amongst those groups go back a long way. I can remember my dad and Mack talking about them. Your parents were just the tip of some of the shit they’ve done. They’re all bad people, I know this. My question is can you live with this? Can you go on knowing the events you’ve set into motion?” she hisses.

I think back to my dad’s slit throat, my mom’s mutilated body and last, Jade’s beautiful face in that smashed van. Her arm bent in an unnatural angle. I look up with an inner peace. “Yeah, I can.”

“You better hope no one else gets hurt during this. I can get past the Mike and Gavin thing, but if an innocent person gets hurt in this…I’ll turn you in,” she conveys before walking away.

Walking back into the hospital room, I smile at Jade. “Hey, Firecracker.”

“Hey. What did Chelsea want?”

“Just asking me a couple of questions, no big deal.”

She gives me the look. The look she gets when she knows I’m lying. “No big deal, my ass.”

“Don’t worry about it, okay? Just let me handle all of this. It’s for your safety,” I say, almost pleading.

She gives me a small nod and pushes the red button asking for some pain medicine.

Just as the nurse comes in with the pain meds, Huck steps in. “Another little girl in the family. She’s eight pounds and six ounces, twenty-one inches long. Selah Elaine Webb.”

“Where did Selah come from?” I ask since I’ve never heard that before.

Huck shakes his head. “Sly wanted an S for the first initial this time since they already have two K’s.” He chuckles. “So he found this name, it was in the bible a couple of times or something.”

Jade starts laughing. “Did my sister suggest it perhaps?”

“I don’t know, why?” Huck asks curiously.

“It was one of the kids’ names in that Ya-Ya sisterhood movie.” Her eyes look like she’s drunk so I know the meds are kicking in. “Kara always loved that movie. Made me watch it all the damn time. So it wouldn’t surprise me if she manipulated the situation a little.”

Huck laughs, but then shrugs. “Well, he named Krista after a female fighter. I guess she can name this kid after a movie if she wants to.”

I look back over to see Jade asleep. I whisper to Huck, “I’ll ask the doctor if she can be brought down somehow later so she can visit Kara and see the baby.”

“Oh, the Tornado Princess has already put in to come down here, along with her trusty side kick, Linc.” He laughs. “If it weren’t for Mom, I’m sure Krista would’ve gotten us kicked out by now.”

“What about Slick?” I ask because he’s older and it’s strange that as close as he and Jade are, he hasn’t come down here.

“I think this really scared him and he doesn’t want to see her hurting. Jade was his little baby boy crush and since he’s only ten, in many ways she still is. He cried a lot last night. Lox said he took all of it really hard. Woke up screaming last night.”

“Damn.” I didn’t even think about how hard it would hit him. With all of the adults around here and the little kids, poor Slick is stuck somewhere in the in-between. “We’ll make sure he gets to spend some time with her once she’s at the house. He can help, maybe that’ll make him feel better.” I shake my head. “He’s a great kid.”

Huck nods. “Yeah, he is. I still remember that little guy coming into the gym with the girls when we needed people to practice with. He was so funny about working out.”

I snort. “Yeah, it was all fun and games until Sloan threatened to beat ass if any of us, including Marco, fed him Reese’s and Mt. Dew again.”

Huck gives a deep laugh. “Well, I’m gonna head back down. I think Krista is going home with us tonight. Wish me luck.”

“Night, Huck. Give Kara our best until we can get down there.”

He nods, leaving the room. I sit down and watch TV, thinking about the plan I’ve set into motion.

I’ve studied the cops the past few nights in here. They have them posted on Mike and Gavin’s rooms, but they change shifts at certain times. That’s the best time for someone to get in there and do what needs to be done. Am I going to be responsible for killing Mike? Yes. Can I live with that? After all he’s done to my family and so many more, yes. Gavin…well, karma is a bitch for Gavin.

CHAPTER 32

JADE

After a couple of days in the hospital, I wake up to what sounds like a stampede of people running down the hall. “What’s going on?” I ask Clay, who seems to have already been awake.

“Something with the cops down the hall,” he says casually, like it’s not a big deal.

“Clay,” I hiss, “What did you do?”

“Nothing, Jade.” He waves me off. “I’ve been sitting right here.”

I sigh and roll my head the other way.

A few hours later, after the sun rises, the doctor comes in. “Well, Ms. Chambers, we’ve had a request for you to go over to the post-partum wing. Your sister is very insistent that one of you get to come see the other. Since she still has a day or two before we want her moving around and you, on the other hand, need to be trying to move around, we are going to allow you to go via wheelchair to her room.”

“Why is Kara still in the bed?” She was up moving rather quickly once she woke up last time.

The doctor looks at me as the orderly comes in with a chair. “I’m not sure. That’s just the word Dr. Coleman sent with me.”

I nod. “Okay. Thank you.”

I use my left arm and the bar thing to pull my body up. Clay jumps up to help me, but I shake my head at him. “No. I got it.”

He ignores me and helps me get into the wheelchair. “I’ll push her,” he says sternly.

Out in the hallway, I look up to him. “Jackass,” I whisper. “You don’t have to go all caveman on the orderly.”

“I don’t want other men helping you.”

“Well, it’s too bad. While I’m at the hospital, people are going to help me. Some of them will be men,” I say with some sarcasm.

We roll up to my sister’s room and I hear a baby whimpering. “We should probably knock,” he says.

“Yeah, we should. She might be nursing.” I lean forward and tap on the door.

Sly sticks his head out. “Hey, girl. She’s nursing.”

“Okay, well I wanna see her. Clay, just hang here until she’s ready. Sly can push me in.” Sly moves behind my chair.

Once I’m wheeled inside, I see a bundle on my sister’s chest and I feel my heart being ripped into a million pieces. I may never get that, get the closeness. That fulfillment of a child’s love. I tear up. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” my sister says, smiling now. “I just wanted one of us to get around.”

“So why are you still in bed?”

She sighs. “A lot of scar tissue from the first C-section. It’s a little harder to heal this time.”

“But everything is okay, right?” I say, worried.

“Yes, everything is fine with me. I could ask you a lot of these same questions. You scared the shit out of me and everyone else. I hope if that fucker Gavin lives, they prosecute his ass,” she says with a mixed emotion of anger and fear.

“Well, if he gets out of here, he doesn’t have a job here anymore, and they’ve offered me just about everything they can to keep me from suing their ass for his harassment claim. Do you think I should ask to be on the board?” I say, trying to make a joke.

She giggles a little. “I think you should.”

“So you roped Sly into a name from one of your favorite movies? That’s just cold, sister.”

Trying to act shocked, she puts her hand to her chest and asks, “What do you mean?”

“Really? You’re going to try and go for the dumb card? That name was from the Ya-Ya movie you made me watch.” I shake my head. “You should really feel bad. Jesus saw you manipulate your husband. And with a name out of the Bible, no less.” I tick my tongue. “Shame on you, Care Bear.”

She grins. “Hey, I just didn’t think I could deal with another fighter name. If Jesus saw that part, I’m for sure going to Hell for some other things I’ve done with my husband.” She laughs.

She removes the baby from her chest, covering herself back up, and burps her. Sly steps back in about that time. “You finished, babe, so Gibbs can come in?”

“Yeah, sweets.”

Clay comes in the room and smiles, coming over to look at Selah. He motions to her. “Can I hold her?”

My sister nods and I’m jealous. I want to see him hold our baby like that. I want to hold this one myself, but I can’t. He must read my thoughts because he steps over to me and makes it so I can cradle her with my good arm. Looking up into my eyes, he whispers, “Don’t worry, baby, we will have this one day. One way or another. I promise.”

After a few minutes of visiting, I’m still trying to figure out what he has to do with whatever happened last night. To tell the truth, I’m exhausted and I can tell that my sister is as well. “Can you take me back to my room? I’m kinda tired.” As soon as we get back, he’s going to answer some fucking questions. I feel it in my gut, he had something to do with it.

He leans down and kisses me on top of my head. “Sure, babe.”

I wave to my sister with my good arm. “I love you, Care Bear. I’ll be back by.”

“Love you, too, Jadie Bug.”

Once we are back in my room, he helps me into bed. A light tap comes at the door before it’s opened. Mack, the guy that’s friends with Chelsea, comes in, along with Huck and Sly’s brother, Eli.

Eli smiles at me. “Girl, I was so worried about you the other night.” He leans over and hugs me.

“Were you there?” I’m genuinely confused.

Clay smiles. “Mox here is doing some ride alongs for school. He happened to be riding with Mack the other night.”

Mack steps forward. “Ms. Chambers.”

I interrupt him. “Call me Jade, please.”

He nods. “Okay, Jade. We’re here to inform you that your testimony against Mike Juarez will no longer be needed.”

I shake my head, trying to understand. “What exactly do you mean?”

“Well, I probably shouldn’t be talking about this but I feel you’ve been through enough. As you know, there was some crime family turmoil going on. Some of Mr. Juarez’s former associates slipped into the hospital last night during our shift change. They were apprehended, but not before slipping Mr. Juarez a lethal dose of a drug that induced a heart attack. By the time everyone got in there, he was already deceased.”

“What about Gavin?” I ask nervously.

“He is ready to plead out so he can go into protective custody. He’s not what you would call a hardened criminal, so he doesn’t like the idea of people trying to wrap up loose ends.”

“I just don’t want another patient to be subjected to him like I was. I know I’m not innocent in our relationship, but I know now that he was using me,” I say, defeated. I wanted him to hang or well, at least suffer.

“No worries there. He’ll be lucky if he can even place a Band-Aid on a person after this,” Mack says with a serious face.

I sigh. “Thank God.”

Mack walks toward me and touches my hand. “You did good, young lady. From what I understand, you fought and annoyed the hell out of those guys. You should be proud of yourself. Now we just need to get my Chelsea to teach you how to handle a gun.” He chuckles and looks at Clay. “You take care of this girl. I’m pretty sure she could take you in a fight, but she might need someone to hold her purse or get her, like, a beer or something.”

Clay laughs. “Thanks, Mack. I’m so glad I met you, because I needed one more person to give me shit about my badass girlfriend and my fighting skills.”

Once Mack leaves the room, I glare at Clay. “You did that, didn’t you? You brought those people here, where innocent officers could’ve been killed. Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Firecracker, I can explain, but I’m not doing it here. I WILL NOT talk about this until I get home.” He levels his eyes at me. “Understand?”

I let out a heavy, aggravated breath. “Yeah.”