John came running, as did several others. The head bodyguard yelled, “Are you both okay?”
“Yeah,” Calderone shouted back as he stayed down. “Donavan was shot though.”
John gazed around and moved forward cautiously. “The shot had to come from somewhere close. Jovanti, get the men and spread out. Find this fucker!”
“Sure thing boss.” Jovanti turned and shouted for the rest of the men.
John knelt down next to Donavan and felt for a pulse. “He’s alive but just barely.” He tapped his phone. “I’m sorry but we will need an ambulance. I don’t think we can fix this.”
“Cal, get the fuck off me!” Leon grunted as he tried to push his very muscular and large son from his frame.
Calderone raised up. “Now, you go where it is safe.” He stared down at his father. “I mean it.”
“You could have been shot too, ya now?” Leon got up.
John kept talking to the dispatcher and gave them the address. He finally swiped his phone closed. “So, do you both want to leave and let me handle this? I can say you weren’t home when it happened.”
Leon shook his head. “Dammit, running away is not a Vincinti trait!”
“You need to have the Sinner’s come get you and no one here can know where you went,” John spoke up.
Calderone and Leon looked over at him.
“Well, if it was you after us, you wouldn’t even suggest this.” Calderone tilted his head at the man. He then took his phone out and texted Hawk, Need pickup immediately.
“Me?” John stood up. “I’ve been here ten years. If I’d wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have lived for very long.”
“Yeah, we know.” Leon nodded. “You were never on my radar.”
John almost smiled. “You told me about that once a few years ago. I’m glad I’m not an asshole.”
Calderone shook his head and walked over to where poor Donavan lay.
The man had been shot near the heart. He wasn’t bleeding that badly though. That could be a bad sign or a good one.
Leon knelt next to him. “I am so sorry this happened to you my friend.”
Donavan was still unconscious and couldn’t have heard him.
A roaring sound came up the drive. It was the roar of bikes.
“Damn they are quick. Like fucking firefighters or some shit.” John moved to the wall and got on the speaker to the gate house. “Let them in.”
“Come on Dad.” Calderone motioned for him.
Leon stood up. “You aren’t telling me, I gotta get on one of those cycles are you?”
Calderone shook his head. “No Dad, they brought a truck. The bikes are just the escorts.” He looked over at John. “Guard Donavan yourself. Don’t trust anyone else. I will call in some men from the council to help take watches.”
John nodded. “If I find out who has done this, can I kill him?”
Calderone raised his brows. “I want to do it myself, but if you have to. Do so.” Both he and hid dad went over to the truck and quickly got in.
After just a ten minute drive, they arrived at the Sinner’s compound. The front gate waved them through.
Hawk came out to greet them. “So, you are both okay?”
“We are my friend,” Leon replied. “We almost found out who is behind this and then someone shot the man who was about to tell us.”
Calderone grasped his father’s arm. “Come on Dad. I don’t want you out in the open.”
“Ok, ok,” his dad grumbled.
They went in and Calderone nodded at his father. “I need to see Willow. You stay inside and with Hawk at all times.”
Leon lifted his large .44 magnum from his jacket. “I got my own friend to protect me boy.”
“Wow!” Hawk whistled. “That gun is bigger than your head Leon! Wait… isn’t that a Dirty Harry gun?”
Leon shook his head. “Nah, it is a Dirty Leon.”
Hawk and several of the other brothers laughed.
Calderone chuckled as he left them in the main room and headed down the hall. He couldn’t wait to see his woman. He had only been gone for an hour and a half or so, but it had felt like a lifetime. Dammit, how could he have fallen in love so fast? He had though. He wasn’t a young kid, he knew what real love felt like and this was it. After his wife was gone, he never thought to feel it again.
He waved at the guard and opened the door.
Willow was still sleeping. Good, she hadn’t even known he was gone.
The dogs ran up to him and were anxious.
He looked down at them as they both whined and pranced in a circle. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Then he shook his head. “Like you can answer me.” He rolled his eyes then sat down gently on the bed and caressed her arm. She felt too warm. He frowned and felt her forehead, noting her face looked red. “Dammit!” He stood up and looked down at the dogs who were staring at Willow. They had known. He tapped his phone. “Hawk, get that doctor over here! Willow is feverish.” He felt panic. Damn, she could get infected from that wound. He’d thought she had recovered nicely but no.
He sat down on the bed again. Then a thought occurred to him. He got up and rushed to the bathroom, getting a washcloth he rushed back to the ice bucket. Dipping it in, he wrung it out and turned, placing the cloth on her forehead.
Willow gasped and bolted up, in bed. “NO!” she screamed. “No— don’t touch me!”
Calderone gasped as he grabbed her shoulders and tried to lay her back down.
The dogs whimpered like puppies and kept staring at her.
Her eyes were wild and she looked all around, yet she didn’t seem to see anything.
“Willow?”
“He is going to kill me! I just found love and I will never…” She slumped back down and was breathing rapidly.
Calderone furrowed his brows at her delirium.
The door opened and Hawk brought in the doctor, but Calderone barely acknowledged this, as he felt sick to his stomach. He hadn’t realized how traumatized she’d been by her kidnapping as she had seemed so strong and never showed him her fear. But of course, she had to be shook up by it. How stupid could he have been? Not to stay with her. Talk her through it?
“Move aside, please,” the doctor nudged him.
He stood and stepped away from the bed. He felt numb suddenly. It was an old feeling that he had forgotten.
Hawk asked, “What happened?”
“I don’t know, she has a high fever and I was using a washcloth trying to…” He shook his head. “Then she started screaming.”
Hawk patted him on the back. “She’ll be okay.”
Calderone stared at her pink face and felt his chest growing tighter. He forgot the bad part. The part where when you lost the one you loved… He had barely kept his sanity back when it happened with his wife. The only thing that had kept him going had been his search for his daughter. He had literally lived and breathed this search for years. Then he had settled for diving into the business and he’d spent years dead inside really. Only caring about his dad which really was his best friend and then after he found Peaches as she called herself, he’d had the grandkids. It seemed all right for a while. Now, he had these feelings for someone else. And he suddenly realized that he hadn’t handled this well so far.
The doctor finally spoke, “I am giving her an antibiotic shot then leaving some capsules here for her to take several times a day. The wound is a bit red and the fever will break in a few hours maybe?” He nodded at Calderone. “Come over and hold her down in case this wakes her up unexpectedly. Feverish patients can sometimes have hallucinations.”
Calderone came over and sat on the other side then took Willow in his arms.
The doctor prepared the needle then tapped her arm. He injected it.
Willow flinched as she screamed, “He cut me! He is cutting me!”
The dogs began to whine and whimper.
Hawk looked down at them and frowned. “Incredible.”
Calderone held her head to his chest. “No Willow. I’m here Tesoro, I’m here with you.”
Suddenly, she seemed to settle.” Calderone?” she called. “Y-you are—I love…” She then passed out again.
Calderone couldn’t stand this. It was too much. “Is she going to be okay?” he asked the doctor.
He nodded and looked sympathetic. “It will pass. I am hoping that the antibiotics work on this. Really, her wound looks only a little red, so I feel she will show improvement in a few hours.” He packed up his bag. “Give her these aspirin too. Really, there is no better fever reducer in the world. If her fever remains for longer than the 3 hours or if it rises, call me again. In fact, I’m going to be here at the club in a room. Hawk has my number.” He walked over and went out the door.
Leon stepped in past him. “Is she okay?” he asked his son.
Calderone sighed. “He says she should be?”
Calderone put an arm around his shoulder. “She will be. “I know this is hard, but you will be happy, son.”
“Will I Dad?” He stared at Willows face as he sat down and got the cold cloth again, dipping it into the bucket. Then waiting a moment for it to not be so cold this time as he spoke again, “I can handle any deal, any thug. Anything, but not losing…” He couldn’t finish.
Leon sighed. “I know what you are thinking. Don’t think like this. You will have her well and in your arms again, son. You are tougher than this and she will be better soon. You will see.” Then he looked down at the dogs.
Both canines were staring up at him.
“Were they just listening to my speech?” Leon queried while looking amazed.
Calderone gazed down at the dogs. “Yes…I think they heard everything.”
“Well good, maybe they can…” He shook his head. “Teach you a thing or two.” He turned and walked to the door. “I will check back in a few hours. Oh and I called a few men in to back up John.” He went out.
Hawk stood by the door. “I will wait and speak to you later.”
Calderone barely heard him or the door closing as he sat and kept dipping the washcloth into the cold water and repeating the cooling process.
He vowed that he would never let anyone hurt her again.
Willow awoke. Her body felt sore. Again, she didn’t know where she was. This was getting ridiculous. She let out a breath. She felt a lick on her cheek and turned to see Molly. “Oh, sweet girl.” She smiled. Zeus pushed his nose up too and she patted his head. Then she turned to see Calderone slumped over on the bed as he sat in a chair his hand resting on a wet cloth on the night stand. Oh, the poor man. He sat up all night?
A knock sounded on the door.
Calderone sat upright and had his gun out instantly.
Willow gasped.
He slowly turned his gaze back to stare at her. “Willow?”
She nodded, now very concerned. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Am I ok?” He smiled. “Your fever is gone. You ask if—”
A knock sounded louder on the door. Then it opened.
Leon came in and took in the scene.
2 dogs on the bed. Calderone with his gun out and… Willow looking… bright and well.
Calderone lowered his gun. “You coulda gotten shot, old man.”
Leon grinned. “I hardly think so. I see your…” He looked over at Willow. “…Woman is better.”
Willow paused then she beamed at the word.
Calderone turned to look at her. “So she is.”
Willow tilted her head at him. “You stayed up all night in a chair. Why?”
Calderone sighed.
“Because you were full of fever, my dear,” Leon answered.
Her gaze swung to Calderone again. “And you… took care of me?”
He nodded. “It wasn’t enough though.”
“Not…” She shook her head as tears formed in her eyes. “I remember I was so ill with a flu one time. It was so bad that I couldn’t lift my head from the pillow. And… my husband left the house to go to a bar, instead of caring whether I was well or not. I almost died, as I had to be taken to the hospital. Now that wasn’t enough!” She glared at Calderone and then placed her hand on his and her voice gentled. “You are enough. More than enough.”
Calderone shook his head.
“What?” she asked confused as to this new attitude he seemed to have.
“You should have never had to go through all that.”
“All that…” She bit at her lip. “I knew what might happen the minute I picked up my phone and called you to warn you. It was my choice.”
“I should have protected you better.”
“By doing what? Getting killed? No thank you. You did come to get me Calderone. Now, I don’t want to hear about this anymore. You have been kinder to me in two days than a man I was married to for thirteen miserable years. Now kiss me and then go talk to your father.”
Leon laughed. “Damn, Cal. I like her!”
Calderone smiled and then grabbed her face and kissed her deeply.
Willow felt like her world just tilted as he took her breath away.
Finally, he pulled back and stood up. He looked down at the dogs. “Protect.”
Willow saw them perk their ears and sit up. “Wow.” The man had her under his spell and her dogs too.
Leon laughed. “Come on. We will only be a minute, son.”
