Big Ted cleared his throat. “Do you have the money?”
“Yes.” Reaching into my pocket, I unearthed the check Andrew had given me. Before I handed it to Big Ted, there was something I had to be clear of. “As soon as I give you this, you and me are done. You stay out of my life, my sister’s life, and everybody else’s. You are dead to me. Understood?”
His eyes black as coals sparked with anger. “You really think you can tell what I can do or not do? Don’t you see how my own men cower with fear when I’m around?”
“I’m not one of your men and I’m sure as hell not scared of you. Why should I be? You have already taken a sledgehammer to my life and destroyed everything close to me.”
Taking a menacing step forward, I held my ground as a sadistic smile spread across his face. “I can make you watch the blood leave your boyfriend’s body.”
Fear catapulted straight to my heart but my face remained emotionless. “That’s not who you are, Ted. You don’t kill people; you have your minions doing your bidding. A real man would hold the gun in his hand and be responsible for the bullet that tears into a man’s body.”
“You are toeing the line, girly,” Ted growled.
I stood toe to toe with him, my chin jutted upwards, and we locked eyes. A bravery that didn’t dive below the surface seeped into my words. “Then prove it. I’m sure you have a gun somewhere on you. Aim it at my head and kill me.”
Big Ted’s jaw ticked while his hand moved behind him. My breathing became shallow and my pulse kicked up three notches. I wanted to swallow my dare but it was too late for that. Waiting for the cold nozzle against my temple, time slowed.
Abdication entered Big Ted’s gaze. “You are fucking crazy.”
“I learned from the best—my mother.” Wasting no time, I brushed past him and smacked the envelope against his chest. “Where’s Sumiko?”
“Living room.”
People lay passed out on the overstuffed couches, their heads lulled to the side. Discarded needles and bags of drugs haphazardly littered the floor. Sumiko stared blankly up the ceiling, motionless. I chose my footsteps carefully as I walked to where she lay.
“Sumiko?” I whispered furiously.
Her unfocused gaze roamed the room until it settled on me. Saliva pooled in the corner of her lips. Bending down at the knee, I took her limp wrist into my hands. Her pulse was weak and threaded. Jesus.
Lifting Sumiko to her feet by her armpits, I snaked my arm around her waist. “How much did you shoot up?”
As if she couldn’t support her head, her chin tucked to her chest. Based on my years with my mother, Sumiko was borderline overdose. Andrew and I needed to get her to a hospital pronto. Dragging her through the house like a rag doll and onto the porch, I signaled for help. Andrew bounded up to us, swept Sumiko into his arms and laid her on the backseat of the car.
“How far is the hospital?” I asked him.
“About fifteen minutes.”
“Ok, let’s go.”
As the car peeled out into the street, I glanced back at Sumiko. Despite the mistakes and choices she had made, at the core she was a good person. As a little girl, she was a ray of sunshine but her father had stolen her spirit. I should have protected her. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I climbed into the backseat and put her head in my lap. As my hands stroked her hair, I softly sung our favorite song, “You Are My Sunshine,” underneath my breath.
The hospital smelled like cleaning fluid and the air felt like a walk-in freezer. Why hospitals always blasted the air conditioning on high 24/7 was a mystery. I had half a mind to complain to the nurses, however, I didn’t want to be that person.
Andrew and I had been twiddling our thumbs for the past hour, waiting on news about Sumiko. When we brought her into the E.R, she was straddling the line between life and death. For a terrifying moment there, I thought I’d lost her. The doctors zapped her chest and got sinus rhythm after she flat lined for a full ten seconds. Whatever heroin she shot into her veins was potent. As the doctors wheeled her back through the swinging white doors, Sumiko’s arm slipped off the gurney, bringing forward a memory of my dead mother getting removed by the paramedics. She’d looked a lot like how Sumiko did. Losing another person to drugs would have caused me to run away to the woods and became a hermit—the world too cruel of a place to live in.
Andrew returned from his trip to the vending machines with a bag of mini Oreos and a hot chocolate. He set the chocolate fest onto the side table. “Breakfast of champions.”
Pulling my knees to my chest, I cocooned myself inside my coat. “Thanks.”
“Do you want me to ask the nurses for a blanket?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll survive.”
Andrew plopped into the hard plastic chair next to mine. He stretched his long legs out in front of him and watched the Telemundo soap opera blaring on the television. Sneaking a side-glance, he looked as exhausted as I felt. Once Big Ted had the check, Andrew and I were supposed to have a clean start. No family drama, no drug dealers, no death threats, a normal healthy relationship. I should have known that wouldn’t happen. Normal didn’t exist in my vocabulary.
“Hey, are you ok?” I asked softly.
Andrew tore his attention away from a woman getting slapped on the screen. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” I pried. “My life isn’t the easiest to handle. If you want to leave, you can. I won’t hold it against you. Shit, I would leave if I could, but Sumiko is my sister and she needs help. I’m going to put her in rehab come hell or high water.”
His brow furrowed together as he attempted to follow my train of thought. I longed to smooth away the lines on his forehead, but instead kept my hands in my lap.
“I told you once and I’ll tell you a thousand times in order to get it through your thick skull. I’m. Not. Going. Anywhere.” Andrew emphasized each word. “Is that clear? You can’t get rid of me, Haven.”
While clear, it didn’t make sense. Andrew had the looks of an Abercrombie model and had droves of women that would love to date him. Why did he choose me? My mistrustful, independent personality usually scared guys away.
Andrew grinned. “What did I say about thinking too much?”
“I just don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
I threw my hands in the air, exasperated. “Why don’t you leave? It would be easy. We haven’t known each other for very long and you can go meet a nice woman like a preschool teacher or a nurse or something. Chalk up this period in your life to lapse of judgment.”
He threw the questions back in my face. “Do you want me to leave?”
The thought of Andrew being a stranger caused my heart to collapse. I wanted to him with every bone in my body but I didn’t deserve him. That’s what it came down to. I didn’t deserve his love and unrelenting support. Girls who grew up like me didn’t get happy endings.
Andrew tipped my chin. Compassion churned in his dark eyes. “I have no idea why you keep questioning this connection between us. A picture of your soul now hangs in an art gallery because I wanted you to witness what I see. You don’t forget beauty like that. How can you?”
“You don’t want normal?” I breathed.
“Normal is boring.”
“My whole life I have strived for normal. I just don’t understand how you don’t want that.”
“Because I want you. I don’t care about some preconceived notion about what life should or shouldn’t be. Life is about the people you fill it with, the moments that happen, good or bad, and what you make of it.”
“But…”
Andrew shushed me by placing his lips on mine, my favorite way to get shut up. It was a quick and tender kiss and while the doubts still lingered, they were quieted for now.