Vintage Volume Two (18 page)

thirty

“You think I don’t know how to pay off the right people? Besides, how many times have we hidden shit from the cops here? You think I don’t know my way around?”

My eyes moved from the gun to his face.

The memories of Randy from my childhood didn’t match the train wreck in front of me.

He’d always been heavy-set, but he’d managed a charm that made him somewhat less repulsive—at least up until the night he’d hit on me.

The man standing in front of me looked thinner than I’d ever seen him, but instead of it looking good on him, he looked greasy. He looked as if he hadn’t showered in a few days. Deep shadows circled his eyes. His hair was too long and hung in stringy cords around his face.

It hit me that it was because he’d been running. He had to have been. He’d killed a man. Even if he hadn’t done it himself, he’d paid someone to do it.

He was responsible for it.

And he was going to pay.

Or maybe he wasn’t.

Some people just got away with the things they did. Some people worked hard for success, while others pushed their way to the top and stepped on everyone who helped them get there.

Randy made a lot of money because of my dad and his connections, but none of that mattered.

The second Damien had threatened him, Randy became a different man.

He didn’t care who he had to run over to protect himself, and in doing that, he’d caused a lot of turmoil…specifically in my family.

And now he was pointing a gun at me.

My eyes met his for just a second. I saw everything I needed to there.

He would pull that trigger in a heartbeat. There was no remorse behind his dead eyes. No sympathy or love or friendship despite the fact that Randy had known my dad since before I was born.

No honesty.

No empathy for the girl he’d watched grow from a newborn into a toddler, a toddler into an adolescent, an adolescent into an adult.

His eyes were full of hatred, vengeance, and confidence.

And it was the confidence that scared me the most.

You could talk a person out of hatred if you knew the right thing to say. You could even battle vengeance for the right price.

But confidence was unshakable.

He’d come to do a job, and he wouldn’t leave until it was done.

My eyes moved back to the gun in his hand.

My dad and I both remained completely still, both of us frozen in fear.

I noticed absently that my dad’s tumbler was still raised in the air.

I wasn’t sure what could be done to stop Randy from shooting that gun.

“Randy, let’s just talk about this,” my dad said, reason hiding the fear. He was used to his onstage persona, and I could tell he’d slipped his mask on. He was acting.

Unfortunately, Randy could also tell. He knew my dad better than most.

My dad didn’t move, but something in the room changed ever so slightly. He had a plan, but he couldn’t inform me. He always came through, and I knew he would now, too.

Randy’s eyes focused in on me.

“Nothing to talk about. You know what I want, but you’re too goddamn stupid to give it to me. First you stole Jadyn from me, and then you got your hands on that DVD. You made a copy, hid them all over town, wherever the fuck. So now you pay the price.” He cackled a twisted laugh and his eyes landed on me. “Get it? The Price. Like Roxy Price? Good thing you’re not married yet, sweetheart, or that line wouldn’t have worked so well.”

I looked at him like he was deranged. Because he was.

He was absolutely fucking psycho, and he had no qualms about killing me. That twisted laugh even prompted a smile on his lips. He was enjoying this.

He was finally getting his revenge.

“You’re a fucking idiot if you think you’ll get away with this. I’ve got security everywhere. You can’t just shoot someone and walk off.” My dad was trying to reason again, but he wasn’t getting through to Randy.

“I’m done, Gideon. I give up. I know I won’t get out. I’m going to kill the one you love, not the one you fuck. Let’s get this over with.”

He brought his other hand up to steady the gun just as my dad threw his tumbler at Randy’s head with all of his might.

Randy was quick, though, despite all signs pointing to the opposite. He ducked out of the way and the glass hit the wall behind him, putting a dent there with the force before shattering to the ground. He cackled again. “That was really fucking dumb. You’ve always had poor aim, though.”

“Not when it comes to your women,” my dad retorted, incensing Randy.

His face turned a purplish-red in anger. My dad had pushed him over the edge.

He’d already been teetering there, anyway. All it took was a few words, a reminder of what my dad had taken from him.

Randy’s eyes shifted back to me.

My eyes moved down to the gun, focusing in on his hands.

And then I watched as his finger pulled the trigger.

I screamed a blood-curdling scream and closed my eyes, waiting for the impact of the bullet. I wasn’t quick enough to turn away from the bullet speeding toward my torso.

He was aiming for my heart. If he was a good shot, he’d end my life with one bullet.

I heard a grunt and then a loud thud.

I didn’t feel any pain.

Doors were opening and people were screaming and the silence of the office and the quiet moment between my father and I was long forgotten.

My eyes flew open, and I focused on the scene before me. The police officer was running toward Randy.

I didn’t see what happened to him next because my eyes swung down to the floor in front of me.

All I saw was the pool of blood and the man on the floor clutching his arm.

My dad.

Randy had shot my dad.

thirty-one

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“A man has been shot.”

It was a blur of sound in the room, but for some reason, the voice coming through someone’s speakerphone stuck out to me as I stared down at my dad in horror.

I collapsed to the floor beside him.

His eyes were closed, clenched tightly shut, but he was breathing.

“Dad, what can I do?” I yelled. I lowered my voice. “Dad, stay with me. It’s okay, Daddy. It’s your CC. I’m here, Daddy.” I tried to keep my voice soothing, but it sounded like a shrill mixture of panic and fear.

I brushed his hair away from his forehead. I laid my hand over his where he was clutching his arm. I couldn’t tell where the bullet had hit him. It was either his chest, his arm, or his shoulder. All I knew was that he’d saved my life. He dove in front of Randy’s bullet to save me.

And he was bleeding everywhere.

He was so handsome in his tux.

My last words to him crashed over me. I’d thanked him for being the best dad a girl could ask for.

I couldn’t lose him.

My dream…

My dream flashed back through my mind.

I knew Katie and Damien had been in the room with me. I’d wrongly assumed it was for me.

But they were here to take my dad.

They couldn’t have him. It wasn’t his time. It couldn’t be.

“Dad, stay with me,” I said again, my voice desperate as I tried to hold onto him.

I couldn’t lose him.

He wasn’t responding. I couldn’t tell if he was awake. I just watched the slow rise and fall of his chest, a reminder he was still breathing. He was still alive.

A flurry of activity in the doorway pulled my attention away from my dad, and I saw Jadyn rush in with Parker right behind her.

“Where is that son of a bitch? I’ll fucking kill him myself!” Jadyn screamed.

I looked at her in horror.

Who was she talking about?

She looked over at me, and I saw the anger in her eyes turn to pure love when her eyes met mine. She saw me holding my dad’s hand, brushing his hair back, and she came and knelt on the other side of him. She looked beautiful in a dignified lavender gown.

“Gideon, you’re not leaving me, baby. I love you.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead, the same forehead I’d just brushed his hair back from.

I felt Parker kneel beside me. He gently touched my shoulder.

“An ambulance is on its way,” he murmured next to me. “Are you okay, Jimi?”

I lost all control of my emotions at the raw and genuine affection in his voice.

Sobs racked my body as I fell into Parker. His strong arms encircled me as I cried into his chest. I heard Jadyn crying quietly across my dad from me.

She reached one hand across my dad, and I took her hand in mine.

We held hands over my dad, a silent prayer and a silent truce that had been a long time coming.

Stolen journals and material items and money no longer mattered.

All that mattered was that my dad made it through this.

George’s voice broke into our private moment. “I need some space.” He held a cloth in his hand, and Parker pulled me up from the floor and into his arms. I watched as George applied pressure to the top left side of my dad’s body. I still didn’t know if he’d been shot by his heart or his shoulder. Either way, I knew that the damage could be fatal.

I glanced beside Jadyn, where Randy had been standing moments before. He was gone. The knowledge hit me, and I feared that he got away.

I started trembling.

“Baby, they got him. Randy’s going to prison for a long time,” Parker whispered quietly into my hair.

I nodded, but I couldn’t stop shaking.

“You’re dad is going to be okay. He’s a fighter.”

I knew he was a fighter, but I wanted to scream that Parker wasn’t a doctor and there was no way he could possibly know if my dad was going to be okay.

But my dad was still on the floor. I needed to stay positive, to send out positive vibes while he was in the room, because I couldn’t risk my dream coming true.

It wasn’t time for Damien and Katie to take him.

“Parker, toss me a pillow,” George said, and Parker let go of me for only a second to grab one from the couch.

George was talking quietly to my dad, but I couldn’t hear him over the loud rushing in my ears. I thought I saw my dad nod at something George asked. Relief coursed through me. It didn’t mean he was out of the woods, but a response was better than nothing.

Guilt washed over me. This was my fault.

It was always my fault. I somehow always managed to hurt the people I loved most without even trying.

If he’d have just stayed where he was, it would be me on the floor. And I’d take that bullet so that he didn’t have to. I’d take it for him any day of the week.

I looked down at my dress for the first time. Blood was splattered all over the white fabric. My dad’s blood.

I didn’t see Parker hand the pillow to George. I just knew that Parker’s arms were around me and I was staring down at my dress.

When I’d envisioned this day, it had a much different ending than reality.

I heard sirens in the distance, and paramedics were rushing through the door to my dad what seemed like seconds later.

They made quick work of asking him questions. He was awake enough to whisper through gritted teeth what had happened. They secured an oxygen mask over his face and strapped him onto a gurney. They wheeled him out to the ambulance. Jadyn rode with him. George drove Parker and me. I wasn’t sure what happened to the rest of our guests, but I had much bigger things to worry about.

Parker was quiet beside me in the back of the Tahoe. He knew everything I needed. Always. And he knew that I just needed quiet time to process everything that had just happened.

“You look beautiful,” he said as we got closer to the hospital. His voice was low. “Even better than I ever could have imagined.”

“I love you.” My voice came out in a whisper.

He squeezed my hand. “I know, baby. And I love you.”

thirty-two

Checking Gideon Price’s status was harder than it sounded. He was in the ER, and they were pretty strict about allowing visitors back there in a normal situation. But considering his celebrity status, hospital staff was vigilant not to bend any rules.

Jadyn was in the ER room with him. When Parker and I had rushed through the front doors of the ER, people kept looking at us with sympathetic eyes. The poor girl in the wedding dress with blood all over it. I couldn’t take it.

We were ushered to a private waiting room. George was out front making calls, presumably to my dad’s publicist.

I wondered briefly about the wedding guests back at my dad’s house for only the second time. Did they know he’d been shot? Most of them were there for him, not for me. Were they as scared as I was?

I thought back not for the first time to those days of apathetic indifference. If only I was still floating numbly through life, I wouldn’t feel the heavy burden of guilt and fear that weighed on my chest. It was crushing me. It hurt to take deep breaths.

I paced back and forth. The room was a tiny box, but at least it was private. It was ten steps in one direction and then ten steps back in the other. I walked from wall to wall. I felt Parker’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop.

I wanted to do something. Anything. I wanted to see what was going on. I wanted to make sure my dad was going to be okay. I wanted to make sure my dad would still be able to play the guitar and hug me close and walk me down the aisle.

Down the aisle.

The place where we should have walked just moments after Randy appeared in my dad’s office.

Instead we were at this place, and I wasn’t sure if my dad was going to live or die.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how fragile life was. One minute I was telling my dad he was the world’s greatest dad as we toasted to my wedding, and the next minute my dad was lying on the floor as blood oozed from a bullet wound.

Life wasn’t just unfair. It was cold and cruel.

It should have been the happiest day of my life. I still wanted to pledge my life to Parker’s. I didn’t think it was possible to want to marry him more, but I did. He was my steady rock. He understood everything I needed and selflessly gave it to me.

I could wish our day had gone off without a hitch until I was blue in the face. It wouldn’t change a goddamn thing.

Even amidst the fear and panic, just having him near me was helping me keep my sanity. 

Parker finally broke the silence.

“Babe, come sit.”

I shook my head and kept walking.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

I stopped midstride. I turned to face him. “He was aiming for me,” I whispered.

Parker was on his feet and in front of me in two strides. He took my chin in his hand and forced my eyes up to meet his. “This isn’t your fault.”

I never said I thought it was, but Parker could just tell. That’s how it was with us. That’s how it would always be.

I shook my head free of the grasp he held on my chin. “Yes, it is. You can’t convince me otherwise. That bullet was meant for me. My dad dove in the way and literally took a bullet for me.” Saying it out loud for the first time caused a violent rush of fear searing through me.  I started sobbing uncontrollably. I tried to voice my thoughts through my tears. “Goddammit, the idiot took a fucking bullet for me.”

Parker held me in his arms, held me tighter than he’d ever held me. I felt the breath squeezing out of me, but I needed it. I needed
him
. I needed his arms to hold me up, because I was sure I’d fall without them.

We had to have been sitting in that room alone for an hour. Maybe more. I lost track of time.

The door finally opened. Both my head and Parker’s swung toward it.

Jadyn walked in, her face pale and her eyes wide. Her beautiful lavender dress had blood all over it.

I left the comfort of Parker’s arms to give Jadyn a hug. It was the first time we’d ever hugged. Ever. I didn’t even hug her when she had married my dad.

“How is he?” I asked, my voice small as tears continued to stream down my face.

“He’s okay, Roxy. They treated him for shock and then took him into surgery.”

I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

She continued, “I guess they don’t always remove bullets, but this one is lodged in his shoulder and is resting near a nerve. They need to get the bullet out to protect the nerve. The good news is that if he’d been hit a few centimeters either way, the damage could have been much, much worse. Fatal, even.”

I felt the “but” coming. “And the bad news?”

“Well, potentially bad. It all depends on his recovery.” She took a deep breath, and when she spoke again, I could hear the pain that she felt because she loved my dad so deeply. “The doctors aren’t sure if he’ll be able to play guitar again.”