Inferno (2 page)

Danny’s forehead wrinkled in confusion as he looked at the new nurse. “But, why would she tell me Betty had gone home if she hadn’t?”

“I’d like to know that as well,” Dr. Jones replied. “Nurse Jenson and I are going to go out in the hallway and discuss that. I’ll send Nurse Betty in to give you your release papers and go over anything you might need to know.”

Danny’s eyebrows shot up when Dr. Jones grabbed the protesting nurse by the arm and escorted her past the curtain and out of the cubicle. No sooner had the cubicle fallen back into place than Danny heard a low, stern voice begin chewing the nurse out.

His head started to throb.

When Nurse Betty came in, Danny could barely find the energy to turn his head and look at her, and she was one of his favorite nurses.

“Hello, Danny.”

Danny rolled his head and flashed the nurse the best smile he could muster. “Hey, Betty.”

“Let’s see about getting you out of here, okay?”

“Mmkay.”

Betty chuckled at Danny’s slurred reply. “I’ve already called Vinnie and he’s on his way. He’ll make sure you get home okay.”

“I like Vinnie.”

He was a great guy.

Nice Italian accent.

“I know. That’s why I called him.” Betty smiled again as she put all of Danny’s medications into a bag along with his discharge papers. “Don’t forget to read through these once your meds have worn off.”

Danny nodded. They had been through this enough times that the nurses no longer tried to explain things to him when he was medicated. They just put everything in a bag that he went through later.

“Now, do you need Dr. Jones to write you a prescription for pain?”

“Ah, Betty.” Danny rolled his eyes toward the nurse. “You know this stuff just makes me loopy.” Like he wasn’t already loopy. He couldn’t even see straight.

Oh wait, he didn’t have his glasses on.

Betty patted Danny’s leg. “I know, honey.”

The curtain moved again and a short, dark-haired man stepped into the room. He took one look at Danny and started laughing. “Oh, Danny, you are so stoned.”

Danny beamed. “Yep.”

The man’s dark eyes moved to the nurse. “Is he ready to go, Betty?”

“Yes.” Betty held up Danny’s discharge bag. “Make sure he doesn’t lose this.”

The man nodded as he took the bag. “He has a spot on the table by the door of his apartment where I always put his discharge stuff.”

“Just make sure he gets inside and laid down, Vinnie. We don’t need him tripping again.” Betty pointed to the stitches on Danny’s head. “He’s going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up as it is.”

“How many stitches this time?” Vinnie asked as he peered closer at the bandaged wound on Danny’s forehead.

“Five.”

“Better than the last time.”

Danny nodded his agreement. The last time he had gotten stitches he had ten. There had been more stairs to fall down. Danny raised his cast. “I didn’t break anything last time.”

“True.” Vinnie shot a quick look at the nurse. “What did you break?”

Betty rolled her eyes. “Wrist.”

“Damn, that’s going to—”

“No swearing, Vinnie,” Danny said. “What would your mama think?”

“My apologies, Danny.” Vinnie was the one to roll his eyes this time. He grabbed Danny’s good arm and rested another hand on his back. “Come on, dopey. Let’s get you home and tucked into bed before you fall on your face.”

“Again?” Danny started giggling.

Vinnie shot the nurse another quick look. “How much medication did the doctor give him?”

“Unfortunately, the normal dosage for anyone that has a broken wrist and stitches in his head.” Betty grimaced. “In Danny’s case, it’s knocked him on his ass.”

“Not to worry, Betty,” Vinnie replied. “I’ll make sure to get him home safe and sound. I’ll even tuck him into bed.”

Danny smiled when Betty laughed. He liked it when Nurse Betty laughed. It made her seem so much younger than her fifty-four years. He liked it even better when she got that twinkle in her brown eyes that said she was thinking something naughty.

It usually involved Vinnie.

Danny wondered if Vinnie knew how much Nurse Betty liked him. “Vinnie, are you married?”

Betty inhaled sharply.

Vinnie’s brows drew together at the sudden change in conversation. “No, Danny.”

“You should come back here after you take me home and have coffee with Betty. She’s so sweet and she could really use a friend. That new nurse is mean. She lied about Betty.”

Vinnie seemed a little nonplused. “I just might do that, Danny.”

Betty flushed but Danny could see the growing smile on her face. His work was done. “Okay, I can go home now.” Danny scooted off the exam bed and nearly went right down onto the floor when his legs refused to hold him up. If Vinnie hadn’t grabbed him, he probably would have needed more stitches.

Danny giggled as his head rolled against Vinnie’s broad shoulder. “Nice catch.” He patted one of the big beefy arms wrapped around him to keep him on his feet. He flung the other arm out toward the curtain. “Home, Vincent.”

* * * *

There was a horrible ringing in Danny’s ears. He went to plug his ears only to smash something really hard into his head.

Ouch
.

Danny blinked rapidly, tears filling his eyes as a deep throbbing started deep within his wrist. As his vision cleared, he realized he was staring at a neon green cast from his fingers halfway down his arm. He had broken his wrist.

Again.

Right
.

The cement steps and a new book, a broken wrist and a few stitches, not to mention a nice trip to the hospital. Danny groaned as the memory of tripping down the stairs filled his head.

He was so clumsy.

It was no wonder he couldn’t get a date on his own. He had to rely on his friends to set him up on blind dates, and those never went well. He usually tripped over something, dropped food in his lap—or worse yet, his date’s lap—or he was so tongue-tied that he could barely speak.

Danny frowned as he turned his head and glanced around. He could still hear a ringing. When he couldn’t immediately spot the offending object making his head pound, Danny swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, careful to not use his injured wrist as leverage.

Danny followed the direction of the sound until he realized that the ringing wasn’t in his head but actually the pocket of his pants, which were folded but on the floor. He kicked at his pants until his cell phone fell out.

Darn thing was still ringing.

Resigned to the fact that he was going to have to answer it, Danny reached down and grabbed the offending device. His heart sank even more when he recognized his father’s phone number. Possibly the last man in history Danny actually wanted to talk to, and yet he knew he had to.

Not answering the phone when Charles O’Shay called was like taking an obituary out in the local newspaper and then putting money down with a bookie that he wouldn’t get hit by a passing bus before stepping in front of it.

Nothing good ever came from stepping in front of that bus.

Danny grimaced and held the phone to his ear. “Hello, Father.”

“Where have you been?” Charles shouted into the phone.

Danny winced at the loud tone, his head starting to throb just as much as his wrist did. “I was sleeping?”

“All night?” Charles snapped. “I’ve been calling you for the last twelve hours.”

“Oh.” Danny started chewing on his bottom lip. His father was going to be pissed when he learned Danny had made yet another trip to the hospital. He wouldn‘t care much that Danny had been injured. More like he wouldn‘t want to have to explain Danny’s continued trips to the emergency room. People tended to frown on it. “Well, I—”

“Never mind. I don’t have time for one of your excuses. Get dressed in something presentable and be at the house for brunch. Don’t be late.”

Danny jumped when the phone suddenly disconnected, and he heard the phone go dead. He had just been hung up on. No big deal. His father had hung up on him a million times. It was the demand that he come to the family home that bothered Danny so much. He never got told to come home. If anything, he was told to stay away.

Danny’s family members weren’t very understanding of people that didn’t measure up to their standards, and Danny didn’t measure up in any shape or form. He wasn’t beautiful enough. He wasn’t smart enough. And he definitely wasn’t refined enough.

He just simply wasn’t enough in their eyes.

Even though it hurt every time he was reminded of his shortcomings, Danny had grown used to it. He often wondered what that said about him that he had grown used to the verbal abuse from the people that should care about him the most in the world. Most of the time, it just rolled over him like water on a duck’s back.

Or at least, that was what Danny tried to tell himself. Deep down inside in a place Danny tried not to go to very often, he ached every time his father shouted at him or one of his siblings told him he wasn’t welcome when they all got together for a family gathering. They avoided him like he had the plague.

None of them had even called last week when he had turned twenty-five. He had celebrated his birthday by himself with a pint of double chocolate fudge ice cream and a good book.

Which made this demand for him to visit the family home all that more puzzling. Danny hadn’t been home in almost six years, not since he moved out to attend college. He hadn’t even visited during the holidays, preferring to stay at the dorm instead of face his disapproving family. It had been lonely but better than the heartache he felt every time he saw his family.

Resigned to the fact that he couldn’t get out of going home this time, Danny quickly scrubbed down and then dressed in the best charcoal-gray slacks he owned. He wore a white dress shirt, a gray striped tie, and his favorite knitted cardigan sweater—the sleeve would pull down over his cast. Dark socks and shoes topped off the outfit. It was the best he had.

He didn’t own a suit.

Not knowing how long he would be at his family’s home, he packed a change of clothes, including some jeans and a couple of simple cotton shirts, his pajama bottoms, and comfortable pair of shoes.

He also grabbed his laptop bag and his laptop. If he was going to be there more than a day, he wanted to make sure he could get some work done. He supplemented his income while attending the university with designing websites, book covers, and promotional material for romance authors. He made enough to not have to work an outside job as long as he was frugal.

Once he had everything gathered up and ready to go, including his discharge papers bag, Danny started straightening his apartment until he realized he was just putting off the inevitable.

He was stalling, plain and simple.

Danny’s shoulders slumped as he walked to his front door and let himself out, carefully locking the door behind him. He wasn’t going to get out of this. If he refused to go, his father would only send his older brothers to retrieve him, and that would hurt. They weren’t malicious but they weren’t exactly gentle either. They just didn’t care as long as their father wasn’t yelling at them.

Knowing he was postponing the confrontation with his family, Danny grabbed his stuff and hooked the bags over his shoulder. He needed to make sure that he didn’t jar his wrist or the pain would practically knock him out. And he didn’t want to deal with his family while he was stoned out of his mind on pain medications.

Who knew what would happen?

The city bus dropped Danny off six blocks from his father’s estate, and all too soon as far as he was concerned. He would have preferred just riding it around the city streets all day long. As much as he didn’t like dealing with strangers, he would rather be snuggled up to one than go home to face his family.

He felt like he was headed to his execution.

Danny climbed off the bus, readjusted the straps to his bags, and then started the trudge toward the house he had grown up in. He hated that house. It felt cold and foreboding even when he was a child. There was no amount of window dressing that would ever make it warm and welcoming.

When Danny rounded the corner on the street where his father’s house sat, his steps slowed. He could see his brothers’ cars sitting in the circular drive and knew all three of them were there. It looked like even his sister had come over.

Gee, a family reunion.

He was so excited—
not
.

He didn’t know who the other cars belonged to but it didn’t really matter. Maybe, if there was a crowd, Danny could lose himself in the throng of people and he would never have to face his family.

And rainbows were going to shoot out of his butt at any moment.

It was all Danny could do to put one foot in front of the other and walk up the drive to the back of the house where the servant’s entrance was located. He wasn’t allowed to go through the front door. He had learned that rule by the time he was five years old.