Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic (23 page)

The doctor brought him
behind a curtain where Molly was crying on the bed. Seeing her bruised, bloody
face nearly brought him to his knees, but he forced himself to walk forward,
reaching for her.

“Baby, I’m here,” he
whispered as he knelt over her, brushing a kiss on her forehead.

“Is he dead?” she whispered
back, reaching out to put her good arm around his neck.

“I don’t know,” he said, his
eyes meeting hers. “Zakk hit him pretty hard…”

Her eyes narrowed
slightly.  Even in all this pain, she knew Dom had been the one hitting
Tim.

“Don’t worry about that,” he
continued. “Let the doctors talk to us so we can figure out what you need. Are
you in pain?”

She nodded slowly.

“Tell me what hurts,” Dr.
Patel said in a quiet but efficient voice.

“My arm.” Molly used her
right arm to touch her left. “And my face is throbbing. I can’t see out of this
eye…” She pointed again.

“You’re going to need x-rays
and maybe a CAT scan.” The doctor looked down at the frightened woman and spoke
in a softer voice. “We need to see if the arm requires surgery or if we can
just put it in a cast, and then we’ll assess the pain in your face. I’m afraid
your orbital bone may be broken.”

“My…” Molly winced. “Is that
the bone around my eye?”

“Yes.” The doctor wrote
something in her notes. “I’m going to give you something mild for the pain so
that you can relax but won’t be completely out of it. Then once we’ve done a
few tests we’ll talk about what we need to do next.”

“Can Dom stay with me?”

“He can’t go into X-ray, but
he can wait right here. Don’t worry—it won’t take long.”

Molly nodded and closed her
eyes. One of the nurses put something into the IV and Dom could feel Molly
start to relax in his hands. He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her
fingers. “I’ll be right here, baby.”

He watched them wheel her
away and sank into the nearest chair. The doctor approached him slowly. “Are
you injured, Mr. Gianni?” she asked softly.

“Dom,” he corrected
absently. “And no. Any blood you see is hers.”

“Your knuckles are bruised.”

“I punched the wall a few
times when I heard her ex-husband had kidnapped her.”

The doctor raised her
eyebrows but said nothing. Finally, she walked over to the cabinets and removed
a few items. Pulling up a chair, she gently took his hands and began cleaning the
dirt and dried blood from his raw knuckles.

“I can do that,” Suze said,
joining them.

“It’s all right,” the doctor
smiled. “It’s nice to take care of someone who takes care of others.”

Dom looked up at her with a
slight frown, but the doctor just continued her ministrations until she stood
up, dumped everything in the trash, removed her gloves and slipped from the
room. Dom watched her go and then looked at Suze. “Can you find out what’s
happening with… everything?”

“Hey, I got a shirt for
you,” Cody came in, handing him a t-shirt he’d found in his car.

Dom pulled it over his head.
“Thanks. Where’s Zakk? Did they arrest him?”

“They hauled everybody down
to the station.”

“What about Tim?”

“He’s beat to hell, Dom,”
Cody said under his breath. “I don’t know if you can let the kid take the rap
for this.”

“Just let me make sure
Molly’s okay, and I’ll turn myself in,” Dom replied automatically.

“Let’s wait and see what
happens first. It looked pretty bad, but apparently the mayor sent a special
task force to handle the investigation.”

“Should we call a lawyer?”
Suze asked.

“Toli said he had everything
under control,” Cody said. “You know he’s going to raise all kinds of hell
about his brother being kidnapped.”

For a while they were all
silent, the only noises coming from out in the hallway. Cody sank into one of
the other chairs and pulled Suze onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her.
She rested her head against his chest and they sat, waiting for someone to come
back.

When they wheeled Molly back
in, Dom jumped to his feet. He leaned over her, taking her hand. “Hey,
beautiful.”

Her eyes opened slowly and
he could see the drugs were making her sleepy. “Hi,” she croaked. “Can I have
some water?”

“I don’t know,” he said.
“Let me ask.”

“I’m right here.” Dr. Patel
came in, a Styrofoam cup in her hands. She handed it to Dom and he quickly put
a straw in it before helping Molly lift her head to take a sip.

“What can you tell us,
Doctor?” Suze stood next to Dom.

“Her arm has a very small
fracture, but won’t require surgery. We’re going to put it in a soft cast and
in six weeks or so it should be good as new.”

“But?” Dom knew the look on
her face wasn’t good.

“Her injuries, as I
suspected, are extensive. She has two broken ribs, a fracture in her jaw, and
her orbital bone is indeed broken. Her nose is swollen so badly I can’t even
tell if it’s broken yet. She’s also bruised her left kidney and has a slight
concussion. The cuts and bruises to her face are severe enough to possibly
require plastic surgery.”

“Whatever she needs,” Dom
said. “Please take care of her. I’ll find a plastic surgeon to take care of her
face, but in the meantime, I don’t want her in any pain.”

“Dom.” Molly’s voice was
soft.

“Yeah, babe?” He leaned
over, taking her right hand between both of his.

“You need to make sure the
guys are okay.” She managed to open one eye, and looked at him intently.

“I’m not leaving you, Mol.”
He shook his head.

“I’ll go…” Cody stood up.

“You sure, man?” he glanced
at his friend.

“I should be there—I’m the
team captain.”

“I would go…” Dom’s voice
trailed off.

“You’re staying right here.”
Cody shook his head. “We don’t know if anymore of Tim’s buddies might come
sniffing around to finish the job, so I don’t want the girls to be alone.”

“Yeah, okay.” Dom nodded.

Cody kissed his wife and
then headed out.

After the cast was put on
Molly’s arm, she went through another battery of tests. Everything seemed to
take forever, and Dom paced for what felt like hours. They moved her to a
private room so she would be more comfortable, and finally, late in the day,
they gave her stronger pain medication to help her rest. Dr. Patel told him
that she would probably sleep for the rest of the night. After getting
something eat, Dom fell asleep in the chair next to her bed, his head resting
on the mattress next to her. Suze fell asleep on the small sofa in the back of
the room. Dom opened his eyes often, always on guard, but he managed to rest on
and off. Sometime overnight, Cody slipped in and fell asleep beside his wife.

That’s how they were in the
morning when Brad, Toli and Sergei arrived. Brad gently woke Dom, who came
awake quickly. Cody’s eyes snapped open when Dom’s chair scraped across the
floor.

“Hey,” Dom sat up, rubbing
his eyes. “What happened?”

“Let’s go outside so we
don’t—” Brad began.

“I’m awake, don’t go,” Molly
whispered. “Could I have some water?”

Dom reached for the cup next
to her bed and gently held her head again. She smiled gratefully.

Suze had gotten up too, and
they looked up expectantly.

“What happened?” Molly
whispered.

“We took care of
everything,” Brad said, nodding. “It was a long day yesterday, but I don’t
think Tim will be bothering you anymore.”

“Is he in jail?” Suze asked.

“Well, he’s in the
hospital.” Brad glanced at Dom. “But he’s been arrested.”

“Zakk?” Dom asked quickly.

“No charges.” Brad shook his
head. “We had all kinds of evidence against Tim and his friends. His partner,
Hank, the one Toli hit over the head the night of the break-in, started singing
like a fucking bird. Zakk told them what happened at the house: Tim was hitting
Molly and Sergei tried to stop him, so while you went to protect Molly, Zakk
put Tim out of commission.”

“That’s it?” Dom arched an
eyebrow.

“Basically,” Brad chuckled.
He turned his eyes to Molly and they softened. “How are you feeling,
sweetheart?”

“Like someone beat me with a
hockey stick?” She tried to smile, but it hurt too much.

“Do you need anything?” Toli
asked softly, reaching out to touch her hand.

“I need you guys to take Dom
home and make him rest so he can play tonight.”

“No way!” Dom shook his
head. “I’m not leaving you! It’s pre-season—they don’t need me.”

“He’s right, honey,” Brad
said. “The game tonight doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does!” She
protested. “It’s the first
ever
Sidewinders game—it’s historical and
he’s not going to miss it because of me!” Her eyes filled with tears as she
looked at him. “I want you to play!”

He stood up straighter,
brushing her hair out of her face as he traced a line along her chin. “You
sure, sweetheart?”

“Can he play, Brad?” She
looked to the older man.

“If that’s what you want, he
can play.” He nodded.

She gave them a faint smile.
“That’s what I want. I want to see all you guys on the ice tonight. It’ll be on
TV, right?”

“Yes,” Dom smiled faintly.
He didn’t know how the hell he was going to get out on the ice in nine or ten
hours, but if that’s what she wanted, he would find a way to make it happen.

“Suze, will you stay with
me?”

“Of course.” Suze nodded.

“I don’t want you here
alone,” Dom said. “No matter what they say, I still don’t trust that one of
Tim’s friends won’t come looking for revenge.”

“I’ll stay,” Sergei said
automatically. “Those guys won’t sneak up on me again.”

“Don’t you have to be in
Boston?” Suze asked him.

“They thought I was in
Russia,” he shrugged. “When they hear about this I’ll probably be in trouble
anyway.”

“I’ll talk to your coach if
you need me to,” Brad said. “I can have our lawyers make a call to let him know
you were a victim and not involved in anything you shouldn’t be.”

Sergei smirked. “I don’t
know about
that
.”

Toli snorted. “Probably you
should say nothing.”

They laughed together.

“Go get some rest,” Molly
said to Dom, squeezing his hand.

“I’ll call you later,” he
whispered.

“Andra will be by after she
takes CJ to school,” Brad said to Suze. “So let her know if you need her to
pick up anything for you?”

“Go home and get a shower,”
Molly told Suze. “Sergei will be here, so I’ll be okay. You guys need to stop
fussing.”

“If you think you’ll be
okay, I’ll go home and shower, pack up a few things for both of us, and then
I’ll come back with my own car.” Suze looked at her questioningly.

“Do that.” Molly nodded. Her
eyes started to close and Dom leaned over to gently kiss her bruised lips
before slipping out.

Suze came back a few hours
later pulling a small carry-on size suitcase with her. Molly looked over at her
and would have laughed if it didn’t hurt so much. “Are you moving in?” she
asked.

“Smartass!” Suze smirked. “I
have clothes for you, clothes for me in case I need to stay over, my laptop,
slippers and pajamas for you, and a bunch of toiletries for all of us.” She put
her things in the corner and sat beside Molly. “Any news from the doctor?”

“They can’t really do
anything for the orbital bone,” she said. “I just need to rest and give it time
to heal. They’ve taped my ribs and they’re watching to make sure there isn’t
any bleeding in my kidneys.”

“That’s good, right?”

Molly didn’t say anything.
Finally, her eyes met Suze’s. “How bad is it?” she asked softly.

“What?”

“How bad do I look? Tell me
the truth.”

Suze hesitated. “I don’t
know, Mol. I mean, your face is literally swollen beyond recognition on one
side and there are cuts and bruises all over.”

Molly sighed heavily, a look
of despair filling her eyes.

“They can fix it,” Sergei
said. “You’ll find a good surgeon.”

“I’ve caused so much trouble
for you guys…” She bit her lip. “And now I might be disfigured…”

“Stop.” Suze put a finger on
her friend’s lips. “Dom knew what he was getting into the day he and Cody found
you. He was on a mission to save somebody, and he found you. Somewhere along
the way, he fell in love with you. Since he met you, he’s been the happiest
I’ve ever seen him. His demons are fading, and you’ve become important to all
of us. You can’t worry about how you’re going to look—I’m sure we can fix
that.”

“I’ve got that under control
for you.” Drake walked into the room followed by a slender blond in an
expensive suit. He smiled as he extended his hand to Molly. “How are you,
Molly?”

“Hanging in,” she admitted.

“This is my sister, Dr.
Mackenzie Riser. She’s a plastic surgeon in Chicago, and she flew out this
morning to take a look at you. After we found out you might need a plastic
surgeon, I figured I’d bring in the best.”

“Hi, Molly.” Mackenzie
leaned over and smiled, touching Molly’s hand. “If you will sign a consent
form, I can take a look and see what’s what.”

“Um, sure, thank you.” Molly
blinked, glancing at Suze, who gave her a tiny nod. She signed the piece of
paper they put in front of her and Mackenzie put it on the counter.

“Okay, let me look at you
first.” Mackenzie gently touched Molly’s chin and lifted her head slightly. “So
the orbital bone is broken and you have a fracture in your jaw?”

“That’s what they tell me.”
Molly told her as much as she knew.

Mackenzie nodded. She picked
up the clipboard at the end of the bed and read through everything, nodding to
herself and making notes on the iPad she had with her. She checked the stitches
on Molly’s cheek and frowned. “I don’t like these stitches—I think they’ll
leave a scar. But I can fix that.”

“Okay.” Molly was grateful
for Suze’s hand squeezing hers.

“Your nose may be broken as
well, but there’s so much swelling it’s hard to tell.”

“I can’t make any decisions
without Dom,” Molly said softly. “And he has a big game tonight so I don’t want
to bother him right now.”

“That’s okay. I’m going to
go over your x-rays and blood work, and then I’ll be back to chat some more.
You take it easy.”

“Thank you. And thank you
for coming all the way from Chicago.”

“My little brother called,
so I came.” She winked and he smiled.

“Plus it means she gets to
see us play tonight,” Drake said, making her smile.

“Since I taught him how to
play, I enjoy watching him.”

Drake rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, okay, sis.”

“What?” She folded her arms.
“Did I not put you on the ice for the first time when you were four years old?”

“Yeah—and then promptly went
back to college!” He shook his head; Mack was 17 years older than he was, and
insisted she had raised him even though she’d left for college when he was only
a year old. They were, however, exceptionally close.

“Whatever.” She turned away
from him, and winked down at Molly. “So, now that I have your permission, I’m
going to go find your doctor and see if we can coordinate some services.”

“Thank you.” Molly watched
her easygoing efficiency and wished she could feel so calm about everything.
She hadn’t dared look at her face because she knew it would probably horrify
her. Hearing that she needed a plastic surgeon worried her—what would Dom think
if she didn’t heal right? She couldn’t even think about it.

“You need to get that
worried look off your face,” Drake said gently. “My sister is a phenomenal
surgeon. Google her and you’ll see. She’s one of the best in the country. In
fact, she’s so good she’s moving away from traditional plastic surgery and
working on a study to try out new procedures to help burn victims. It’s
cutting-edge stuff, so trust me when I say she will fix you.”

“I appreciate your calling
her,” said Molly. “I appreciate your having Dom’s back, too. I don’t even know
what you guys were doing there.”

“When Dom and Toli got to
the locker room and found your text messages, they went nuts,” Drake said,
settling into the nearest chair. “Once we figured out what had happened, Karl
and I got on board, and then Zakk followed us out.”

“So he didn’t get in
trouble? I know he wasn’t the one who beat up Tim.” Molly looked at him
intently. “Even though I don’t want Dom to get in trouble, I don’t want someone
else taking the blame either.”

“They have statements that
he was simply restraining your ex, and Tim fought back,” Sergei said calmly.
“Dom, Zakk and I all have the exact same story.”

“What do I say?”

“You were mostly
unconscious—you have no idea what happened once Dom and Zakk arrived.”

“Okay.” Molly nodded. “I’m
surprised the police haven’t been here yet.”

Drake smiled. “Let’s just
say Toli has some
very
expensive lawyers involved, and they threatened
to sue the entire city of Henderson if you were harassed after you’d been
traumatized by a member of the police department. There were reporters
there—it’s all over the news.”

“Oh, my God.” Molly’s eyes
widened and Suze shot Drake a dirty look.

“Was I not supposed to say
that?” He winced.

“Don’t hide anything from me!”
Molly looked at Suze in irritation. “This is my life—I should know what’s going
on.”

“Don’t worry,” Sergei said.
“The team has hired a crisis control publicist. She’s flying out from New York
to handle this for you and Dom.”

“A
publicist?
” Molly
looked upset again.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Suze
said abruptly, noticing Molly’s hands were shaking. “You don’t need to worry
about the details. Brad is handling everything and Dom isn’t in any trouble.
The truth is, the Sidewinders’ PR department is eating this up. A bunch of guys
on the team went out and took on a bunch of dirty cops, saved one of their
girlfriends from being beat to death, and rescued a fellow NHL player who’d
been kidnapped? This is a PR wet dream. The guys are already hometown heroes
and they haven’t even played their first game.”

Molly was gaping at her.
“Are you serious?”

“One hundred percent. So
close your eyes and rest.”

“You won’t let me sleep
through the game, will you?”

“Absolutely not.” Suze
squeezed her hand.

Deciding she couldn’t do
anything else until she saw Dom play, Molly closed her eyes and slept.

Waiting for the game to
start, Dom paced around the dressing room impatiently. He was excited and
nervous at the same time. Though he’d slept for several hours this afternoon,
he’d been online and knew that the press was all over Molly’s situation and the
team’s involvement. Though no one knew he was her boyfriend, his was one of the
names mentioned as being involved in the “incident.” Toli and Sergei seemed to
be getting most of the notoriety since Sergei had been kidnapped as well, and
Sergei had stuck to the story he and Toli had apparently come up with: Toli and
Molly were good friends, Sergei was in town visiting and Tim had mistaken
Sergei for Toli, kidnapping the man he thought was sleeping with his
soon-to-be-ex-wife.