Thirteen
1716 Words
It had been a few months since he woke in the hospital just two weeks after being put there. His mind wandered back to the day he woke up.
At first, he’d assumed he was dreaming, but the pinch of the needles in his skin told him otherwise. The stink of disinfectant stung his nose as he became fully aware of his surroundings. After a few minutes of dealing with the nurses and doctor trying to gauge his responsiveness, he snapped at them.
“Callum!” An angry growl silenced the room, sucking the heat from it as the hospital staff fell quiet.
A voice from his memories filled his head, and he automatically turned to the source. He felt the tears start when he spotted the tall, well-built white man with blond waves and ice-blue eyes that were staring him down. He assumed it was a dream or that he’d died and was now saying goodbye to his father from the spirit world or something. “Dad? Is… Is it really you?”
The man nodded as he approached the bed, smoothing back the blond waves of Callum’s hair. “Yeah, buddy, it’s me. You have no idea how much I missed you.”
“It’s been no picnic, but I stayed alive, Dad. I kept fighting because I knew you wouldn’t give up on me,” Callum sobbed. Showing emotions wasn’t always a good thing in the Underworld, but he had to let it out.
“You’re going home now, Callum. You’re coming back where you belong,” Hans said with conviction.
Shaking his head, Callum pushed his father back. “What about Ambrosia? Where is she? Has she come to see me? I have to call her.”
“You won’t get through, Master Callum,” another voice said softly once they were alone in the room.
He lifted his gaze and winced at the bruised face of David Marks. His eyes darkened, “Dad, what happened to David?”
“He got taught a lesson in crossing me. He should have recognized you from your picture, but he conveniently forgot it at Everett Towers. He should have recognized-”
Callum’s hand on his sleeve stopped Hans’s angry rant. “No, please, Dad. At least he answered when Amber called for help. No one else did. No matter how many times she called in secret or slipped them notes behind her father’s back, no one bothered to save me from Justin. Well, no one except my angel.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” someone grunted. “Hans, I told you this would happen. The girl’s mother found out from Mike Stone that you were mob, and now she got her daughter being kept out of the loop as much as possible.”
Callum scowled, “I want to see her, Dad. Where is she? Where’s Ambrosia?”
“She’s safe with her mother and twin brother now, Callum. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you on sight, but I didn’t place you with that man on purpose, I swear,” David managed before Callum watched his cousin, Ross, shove the man to his knees before backhanding him.
“Leave him alone,” the teen snapped.
Ross frowned, “He could have saved you.”
Ambrosia’s words echoed in his head as Callum let his gaze fall to the scratchy cotton blankets covering his legs. “A lot of people could have done the same, Ross. A lot more people could have stepped up, but they didn’t. He showed up when he was called, and that’s more than any of the other Workers did for me. She’s with her twin brother, Declan, right?”
Shocked, Ross nodded. “I drove David to the house myself to drop her off. She really was close to you, wasn’t she?”
A light blush crossed his features. “We, um… yeah. We were, um, intimately close. Her father found out, flipped his lid, and she got in the middle to save me. It’s the first time she ever broke her word to me, Dad. She’s helped me so, so much. I really need to know she’s okay.”
“I don’t know what’s going on with her, but I hope she’s not the one that breaks you,” Hans whispered from the chair beside the bed. Someone walked into the room, and Hans looked over at Felix. “What?”
“I’m sorry, Sir, but the house is empty now. I swung by this afternoon only to find out that they had been slowly moving their stuff at night. There’s no forwarding address, either.” The man replied.
Hans watched his son’s eyes darken. He watched the emptiness take hold as the boy’s heart visibly shattered.
“No, I can’t lose her. It can’t end like this, Dad. I have to find her,” Callum said, moving to get up. He stopped as pain ripped through him.
His father stood, easing him back into lying down. “David, did the girl say anything about my son?”
Not bothering to look up, David said: “She begged her mother to take care of him the night I left her there, but the woman backtracked. Please understand, Boss, Ambrosia’s not a danger to your son.”
Weeks later, when he was finally able to move around on his own with limited range, they were summoned to court. He hadn't been allowed in the courtroom during her testimony, but he was able to see her briefly when she walked out.
Though the officer with her family tried to pull her back, the boy with them got in the middle. “Let them see each other or I’ll be the one in cuffs.”
“For God’s sake, he’s a criminal!” The red-haired woman snarled.
Breaking from them, Ambrosia threw her arms around him and sobbed. “I wanted to see it through to the end. I don’t know when or if we’ll ever meet again, but I have to go.”
“You’re safe. That’s all I care about, Amber,” he murmured, knowing that his father was watching them closely. “Go be with your brother, and keep those other promises to me, okay? I know why you did what you did, and I appreciate it.”
“Ambrosia!” Her mother snapped, ripping the girl from his arms. “We don’t have time to pity criminals. You! You stay the hell away from my daughter, do you understand me? Don’t bother looking for her, either. I’ve already made sure you’ll never find her.”
******
A knock on his door dragged him back to the present. His eyes narrowed as he thought about the woman Amber vaguely resembled. He didn’t think she’d actually be able do it, but the woman had effectively erased her daughter’s existence.
Physically and mentally, he would be fine and he knew it. It was another pain that was killing him. The feeling that he’d lost someone more important that life itself held him back from emotionally healing. He needed his Angel so that he could talk freely and forget about being a mob heir for a while, but she was no longer by his side.
He blinked back the stinging tears of anger and pain as a vile truth surfaced in his mind. They had been disconnected, and there was no telling when they would ever cross paths again.
Again, someone knocked on his door. He tilted his head to the side, calling out for David to come on in. Once the man was inside the room, he tossed Callum a bottle of chocolate milk.
“Ambrosia said to keep you stocked, so that’s what I’m doing. She told me as much as she could once she woke up in the car on the way to her mother’s house, Callum. I’m still apologizing to your father for not doing my damn job right. If it’s any consolation, I left CPS to be your personal guard.”
“I never asked you to do that,” Callum said.
David shook his head, “I stay close to you, and your father let’s me keep what little life I got left. I’m not a martyr, but I would take a bullet for you. Since your body is fully healed, Mr. Drake said you start training in the morning after breakfast.”
“Ross, David. His name is Ross. Don’t call him Mr. Drake,” the teen scowled.
“I don’t have a choice. I f****d up when I was your age when I tried to lift his wallet. I got my face busted in, then offered a job. Your father put my ass through college while Ross trained me. I should have noticed you were his kid with the way you said your name the first time, but I didn’t. I really am sorry that you went through that hell, but I’m glad your girl had your back.”
“My girl?”
Smirking, David said, “Yeah, your girl. What? You think I’m about to let you forget her? Hell, nah. She was the first one you asked for even though your father was right there when you woke up. You didn’t get closure, so she’s still your girl. Your challenge will be to prove me wrong. Just give it a while. Wait for the smoke to clear completely, then we – meaning you and I – will seek her out ourselves. Okay?”
“Serious?” Callum asked, his incredulity clear in his voice.
“I wouldn’t lie, man. Not to you. I know your history, Cal,” David replied softly.
Shaking his head, Callum finished off the milk and tossed the empty bottle to David, who knocked it into the trash next to the door. “I want you on my team, my immediate team. That means you work under me, not my father. Deal? All you need to do is train with me, show me who I can trust in the mob that’s around my age, and just be someone I can count on,” Callum replied.
David nodded, grinning like he’d won a great prize. “Whatever you need, Kid. I got your back.”
- Writer
