Illusions Complete Series (72 page)

“Come on, buddy,” Ryan said. “I had to tap that ass. That sweet piece of ass. That’s all she was to me.”

That’s what finally set Andrew off. “You asshole! Don’t you dare disrespect my wife like that!”

What happened next went in slow motion, like when I was in a car accident. Andrew let go of me, then I reached into the drawer for a butcher knife, then plunged it into his back.

However, before I plunged the knife into his back, he shot Ryan.

Chapter Sixty-One

Somebody was screaming, but I didn’t know who. My beautiful husband was lying on the floor. There was blood. So much blood. I desperately put my hands on his wound, and the screaming sound seemed to come from everywhere around me. There was another body next to me, but I didn’t know who it was. I could only concentrate on my impotent hands, my bright red impotent hands that were desperately trying to stop the bleeding. I could hear an ambulance in the distance, screaming to a stop in front of our house.

Somebody was prying me off my husband. “Miss, you need to come with me,” the person said. “Miss, please, you need to come with me.”

“NO, NO, NO,” the screaming voice said. “NO.”

Then it was like I was floating above the room, watching myself, screaming and crying, being violently pulled off my husband while the ambulance workers loaded him onto a gurney, a bag of blood having been infused into him. Somebody had his arms wrapped around me, and I beat into his chest while I writhed and cried. There were police in the room, too, then a yellow tape was brought out that clearly said the words “crime scene.” I had a blanket wrapped around me by somebody, then I saw myself demanding to be taken in the ambulance with Ryan. Somebody else then escorted me out of the house, and I saw myself getting into a police car.

Then I was back in my body again. I was in the back of a squad car that was screaming down the street at a mad pace, the blanket still wrapped around me, and a feminine voice soothingly telling me to calm down. “Shhh,” the voice said. “We’re going to join your husband at the hospital. Everything’s going to be ok.”

No. It wasn’t going to be ok. Nothing would ever be ok again. If my husband was dead, then I would be dead, too.

Not literally. I had to live for Dalilah.

But I would be as good as dead.

The story concludes with
The End of
Illusions, which can be found at
goo.gl/xriRbc
.

Extra Extra!

Want to know what happens next? Sure you do! To get updates on upcoming books, please subscribe to my newsletter at
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. I promise not to spam you, but I want to keep you in the loop. In the meantime, be looking for the third and final book of the Ryan and Iris saga, titled
End of Illusions
, due out
September 23, 2013.

This series will shortly be followed by a brand-new spinoff series, which will be a New Adult series featuring a grown-up Dalilah, followed by another series featuring everybody’s favorite man whore, Nick O’Hara. These are fascinating secondary characters to me who deserve their own stories, don’t ya think?

In the meantime, you can like me on Facebook -
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. Or contact me through e-mail at
[email protected]
. Trust me, I get stoked by every new like and everybody who contacts me through my e-mail. I answer every e-mail as soon as I possibly can.

And, of course, we authors rely on word of mouth. If you love the series, or if you hate it, you should tell the world how you feel. Reviews are the secret sauce to success. I’d be totally jazzed to get reviews on this book and
Beautiful Illusions
.
Deeper Illusions
can be found at
goo.gl/qnDGPg
.
Beautiful Illusions
can be found at
goo.gl/LUi7Eq
.
End of Illusions
can be found at
goo.gl/xriRbc
. Even if you only leave a line or two, it makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks, and happy reading!

Acknowledgments

To my mother, Dolores, for always believing in me. To Joey, for supporting me through all the craziness. To Debbie, Florence and Carol for giving me courage and confidence. To Nancy for giving me courage, confidence, and some wicked ideas. To my father, Thomas, for giving me my writing ability. To my sister, Christine, just for being you. I love you all.

End of Illusions

by

Annie Jocoby

Copyright © 2013 Annie Jocoby

Published by Annie Jocoby on Kindle

All rights reserved

ISBN:
1491268778 

ISBN-13: 978-1491268773

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the above author of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Chapter One

Iris

Your husband is dead. We’re sorry, we did all we could, but there was too much internal bleeding.

I stared blankly at the doctor who was standing above me in a white coat, looking very serious. He had just appeared in the waiting room where I sat, alone, except for the female cop who was staying there with me. I guess that there was a fear that I would fall apart. I said nothing, just stared at the floor. I planned, in my head, the way that I would join him. Some way that wasn’t too messy and wouldn’t be too traumatizing for the people who loved me.

There was no way that I could live without him.

“I, I, I have to call somebody,” I said in a monotone voice. I got out my phone, and proceeded to dial some numbers. They were random numbers. I had no idea about anybody’s phone numbers at this point. There was just no way that I could possibly call anybody.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I need to take this in the bathroom.”

The doctor nodded, and the police woman looked at me sympathetically and shook her head.

On the way to the bathroom, I was thinking about finding a razor somewhere and slashing my wrists. Or busting into a drug storage room and swallowing a handful of whatever I could find.

Dead. There was no way this was true. My mind couldn’t even start to comprehend it.

The image of Ryan lying on the floor, with blood squirting out from god-knows-where, was flashing through my mind like a neon sign that I just couldn’t shut off. I took several clumps of hair in my hands, and pulled. I got into the bathroom, and started banging my head against the mirror, over and over again, and started screaming at the top of my lungs.

Then I collapsed.

Chapter Two

I was woken up by a kindly gentleman who was gently nudging me in my chair. “Mrs. Gallagher. Mrs. Gallagher,” the voice said, shaking me gently.

I looked at him. He was the man who just informed me about my husband’s passing.

I just shook my head.
Go away. I don’t want to talk to you. Leave me alone
.

“Mrs. Gallagher, I wanted to keep you updated on your husband’s progress in surgery.”

“My husband’s progress in surgery? I don’t understand.”

“Your husband has been in surgery for the past 10 hours. You must have nodded off in your chair for a few minutes.”

I was still foggy. Was this a dream? Or was I dreaming before? I prayed that this was the real scene, and that the other was just a horrible, horrible, horrible nightmare.

“Surgery?” I put my head in my hands. Why was it so difficult to comprehend anything? I just shook my head. I felt the lady cop put her arm around my back.

“She’s still in shock,” she said. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with her husband, and I’ll tell her when she’s a bit more coherent?”

“Well, this has been a very delicate surgery, very touch and go. The bullet went through his abdomen and lodged near his spine. The spinal cord was not injured, but there is some swelling. Mr. Gallagher might be paralyzed for awhile, but hopefully that will only be temporary. He’s still not out of the woods, but we are making progress.”

“You hear that?” lady cop said. “Sounds like your husband is going to make it through surgery.”

I nodded and said nothing. I had an Indian blanket wrapped around my shoulders, and I wrapped it around me tighter, clutching it for dear life.

“Do you mind if I look at your cell phone?” lady cop asked.

I just shook my head mutely, then pointed to my bag.

Lady cop dug through my bag and found my cell phone. “Now, Mrs. Gallagher, if you don’t mind, I’d like to look through your contacts. Is there anybody on here that I can call to come and be with you?”

I nodded my head. “Nick. Call Nick.”

Then she dialed the phone. “Hello,” she said. “Is this Nick?...this is Officer Cecelia White….I’m sorry to wake you…Mrs. Gallagher is here at the Emergency Room at the hospital…she asked me to call you. Can you come and keep her company?..I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier. Mrs. Gallagher has been in too much shock to give me permission to use her phone until just now….the doctor will have to explain…ok, see you then.”

“He’s on his way now, Mrs. Gallagher. He said that he’ll be here in about 20 minutes or so.”

I said nothing, just stared at the floor and wrapped my blanket around me even tighter.

Sometime after police lady got off the phone with Nick, I heard his familiar voice. “Hi, I’m Nick O’Hara. You must be Officer White.”

“Good to meet you, Mr. O’Hara.”

“What’s going on?”

“The doctor will be out in a few more minutes.”

“No, tell me now. What’s going on?”

“Mr. Gallagher was shot. In front of Mrs. Gallagher. Mrs. Gallagher stabbed an intruder, but not before he shot Mr. Gallagher.”

“Holy Christ.” Then he was sitting right next to me, putting his arm around me. “Iris, Iris, are you there? Talk to me, Iris.”

I looked at him, and then the tears started gushing. He wrapped his arms around me while I sobbed, my hands still clutching my blanket tightly. He gently put his hand in my hair, and I immediately felt comforted.

It felt just like Ryan’s touch.

Then I remembered that Ryan was in surgery, and he might not make it, and, even if he does make it, he might be paralyzed.

“Shhhhh, Iris, it’s going to be ok. Ryan’s tough. He’s survived this long, in the most messed up scenarios imaginable. Shhhhh, it’s ok. It’s going to be ok.”

I just shook my head. “Dalilah,” was all I said.

“Where is Dalilah?” he asked.

“Daniel. Daniel has her. Please call him, I need to see her.”

At that, he whipped out his phone. “Daniel, it’s Nick…I know what time it is…you have Dalilah there…could you bring her to the hospital?...Ryan was shot……….he’s in surgery…….good point.” At that he looked at me. “Uh, Daniel’s ok with watching her. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to have her here in the waiting room.”

“Is she ok? I need to talk to her.”

“Is Dalilah ok?” Nick asked. “She’s sleeping? Of course, of course, it’s like 4:30 in the morning.”

I pleaded with Nick, tugging on his shirtsleeve “Dalilah doesn’t have anything there. No diapers, no toys, no breast milk, no nothing. I just gave her to him without anything at all. Please tell him to go by the house and get what she needs. Everything is in her room. There’s a diaper bag with everything she needs, and the fridge is full of bottled breast milk.”

I was amazed at how much just having Nick here was helping clear up my mental fog.

Nick said “Iris says to go by the house and get Dalilah’s things. A diaper bag in her room, bottled breast milk in the fridge and…” Then he looked at me. Addressing me he said “She got any favorite toys that Daniel should pick up?”

I nodded. “A Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear, her Etch-A-Sketch, and some puzzles. Everything’s in her room.”

Nick turned back to the phone “You get all that?....ok, great, thanks…bye.”

Addressing me again, Nick said “Daniel’s on his way back to the house, and he’ll call if anything is going wrong. Right now, he said that it’s not a problem to take care of her.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

He sat down. “Now, do you feel like talking about what happened?”

I didn’t feel that I could talk without breaking down and crying, so I just shook my head.

“Ok, then, I’ll ask Cecelia.” Cecelia had stepped out, and was back in the waiting room with us. She talked into the receiver on her shoulder.

“So, Officer White, what happened?”

“We arrived at 6:07 PM to the Gallagher household. A neighbor who was walking his dog by the house called 911 after hearing a gunshot go off. We arrived and Mr. Gallagher was lying on the floor after having been shot. Mrs. Gallagher was with him. We rushed Mr. Gallagher to the hospital, and trailed behind them in a squad car. Mr. Gallagher was brought into surgery at 6:17, and has been in there ever since.”

“Crap,” Nick said. It was like the news just now hit him. He went pale, and sat down next to me. He was shaking. He put his head in his hands, his entire body visibly quivering.

I couldn’t comfort him the way that he comforted me. I still felt numb, like my limbs simply wouldn’t move. I cursed myself silently for my impotence.