All He Wants (19 page)

“Can I see him?” Maxi repeated. “I
need
to see him.”

“They just took him to radiology to run a few tests and after that he’ll be put in a room. I’ll find out what room and take you there so you can wait for him.”

Maxi crossed her arms, wrapping them around her waist, as she nodded and tears filled her eyes. “Okay. Thank you.”

Jamie gave her a quick hug before heading over to the information desk and picking up the phone. Billy knew that they weren’t out of the woods yet, but the fact that Charlie was awake and they were running tests seemed like good news to him. He was holding onto that sliver of hope, but it looked like the information wasn’t doing much to comfort Maxi, whose tears were now falling down her face.

His chest tightened seeing her look so scared, so fragile. Not knowing what else to do, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him. He knew there was a chance that she’d stiffen, or even push him away but he didn’t care. Neither of those things happened. Instead she melted against him, burying her head into his chest.

He held her tightly, running his hands up and down her back. Everything else going on seemed so wrong, but this was right. Nothing had ever felt as right to him as this. She belonged here, in his arms. This was what he was made to do. To
hold
her. To
protect
her. To
love
her.

He never thought he was capable of this kind of love. The kind of love that made everything else in his life seem insignificant. The kind of love that he would die for. That’s what he felt for Maxi.

He wanted to tell her, the words were on the tip of his tongue. But he kept them there. She was dealing with enough without adding his feelings on top of everything else. Running his fingers through her hair he cradled her head as she nuzzled closer to him.

“Okay,” Jamie’s voice snapped him out of his haze of emotion and Maxi stepped out of his embrace. “He’ll be in room three sixteen. I’ll take you there so you can wait for him.”

“I’m going to head out.” Seth gave him the one arm man hug. “Call if you guys need anything.”

“Thanks, man. I will.”

Jamie and the Colonel made small talk as the four of them made their way to the elevator banks and Billy reached for Maxi’s hand. She threaded her fingers through his. He may not be able to tell her with words how he felt, but he could show her. He
would
show her.

“I
’m going down to the cafeteria to get some coffee. Can I get you youngins anything?” Grandpa J stood from the chair beside the window.

They’d been waiting in the room for a little over an hour, but it felt like much longer to Maxi. She’d been staring at the round clock that hung above the door. Each minute that passed was like an eternity.

“No, thanks.” Her foot tapped up and down silently, thanks to the rubber bottoms of her flip-flops.

“I’m good.” Billy shook his head.

Grandpa J stopped beside Maxi. “Hey now, don’t you worry your pretty little head, your daddy’s gonna be just fine”

She wanted to believe that, and coming from Grandpa J she almost did. Maybe she would after she saw her dad with her own two eyes.

“He’s probably givin’ those nurses grief as we speak,” he added with a wink before heading out of the room.

Maxi nodded as a small smile lifted on her lips. Her dad was a horrible patient. About five years ago he came down with a bad case of pneumonia and insisted on mowing the lawn and changing the oil in his truck before going to the hospital. He was one of the most stubborn people that she knew and he didn’t tolerate being doted over.

The door shut and Billy reached over and placed his hand so that it was covering Maxi’s knee. She’d been doing her best not to lean on him, but he was making it almost impossible. His touch just felt so good, so comforting. When they’d been in the waiting area and he’d hugged her, she’d done a lot more than just lean on him, she’d practically dissolved into him.

The past few months had been a roller coaster of emotions and she’d tried her best to strap in and hold on. But tonight had had more twists, turns, flips and drops than she could handle. Having sex with Billy was the wildest ride she’d ever been on and it was sandwiched between a panic attack at the club and her getting the news that her dad had collapsed and was at the hospital.

As Billy sat silently beside her, she noticed for the first time that there was a pained look in his watery gaze that shot towards the door at every voice coming from the hall. Tension radiated off of him and he kept rubbing the back of his neck. Of course, this was affecting him as much as it was affecting her.

Why had she been so blind to his suffering?

Since getting the call, he’d done nothing but take care of her. He’d dressed her, driven here, even to calling the hospital so she could try to get some information. But who had been taking care of him?

Billy was always so hard on himself. He thought he could fix everything and everyone. Which was understandable since most of the time he could. But she’d seen the torment that he’d gone through with his mom. He couldn’t fix her and now he couldn’t fix this. She knew he was probably beating himself up over that, even though he shouldn’t be.

Lifting her hand she slid it over his resting on her knee. He looked over at her and what she saw in the endless depths of his cognac colored gaze broke her heart wide open. The tortured expression on his face twisted her already raw emotions like a wet rag before he quickly masked the pain. For her, this was more than she could bear.

“Do you remember the first time you met dad?” She sniffed.

Letting out a wry laugh he nodded. “Yeah, how can I forget? It was at the corner store. He was in there shopping and caught me stuffing things in my jacket. He followed me down an aisle and told me I had two options, I could put it all back on the shelves and leave
or
I could take it all out and pay for it. I was a punk ass kid with a
huge
chip on my shoulder and a serious problem with authority. I told him to mind his own fucking business and I called him an old man.

“I still remember the cold, savage look in his eyes as he took one step towards me with an eerie calmness. He scared the shit out of me and I almost tripped on my own feet backing up. I was sure I was about to get my ass kicked or worse. But instead of doing that, he told me that this was his neighborhood and I’d made it his business when I decided to steal from his neighbors. Then he asked me why I was taking the food. I didn’t answer for a minute, I thought about lying, but for some reason I told him the truth, that my mom’s latest boyfriend had cleared out her checking account and even found my cash stash and then she’d taken off with a new loser.

“There was no judgement in his eyes, no pity. He just turned around, went to the front of the store, grabbed a basket, came back and told me to put whatever I needed to last a week in it and meet him at the cash register. I did and he paid for all of it. Then he told me to meet him at Gianni’s Gym the next day. I asked why and he told me that he had a job for me. The next day I showed up and he put me to work mopping the floors, cleaning the toilets, wiping down the equipment. Then at the end of my shift, he let me get in the ring. Every day I’d clean the gym and then Charlie would train me for a couple of hours.

“He got me off the streets, gave me a job and a career,
and
he paid for our groceries every week until my first big fight. I don’t know where I’d be without him.” His eyes fell to where her hand covered his. “I still don’t know why he did it.”

Maxi smiled. “Did I ever tell you what he told me when he came home from the store?”

Billy shook his head.

“We were having dinner and he told me that he met a kid that was stealing from the store and that he was giving him a job. I asked him why. Wouldn’t he be scared that the kid would steal from the gym? He said no, that in this world there were bad people who sometimes did good things for bad reasons and good people that sometimes did bad things for good reasons. He said you were one of the good people, and this job would let you prove it. Not to him and not to the world, to
yourself
.”

“He did?”

“Yeah, he knew that all you needed was the chance to be who you were. And he was right, Billy. You are one of the good people. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you this past week. I don’t know where I would be. And I don’t know how to thank you—”

“Don’t.” His tone was so serious that it took Maxi by surprise. “Don’t thank me for that.”

“I know it was your job, but I can still thank you—”

“This week wasn’t about the job.” His stare turned from passive to predatory.

It was like she’d inadvertently switched the atmospheric pressure to super charged. Goosebumps rose on her flesh as she tried to explain that she knew it was more than that. “I know that it was more personal than just a job.”

“Yeah.” The trademark Billy Marshall bad-boy smile tilted his lips and he moved forward, lifting his hand and cupping her jaw before rasping, “It was
personal
.”

She leaned into his touch and a soft sigh fell from her lips. No matter how upside down her world turned, Billy had the magical ability of righting it with a word, a touch, or even just a look.

“I know Mr. Rizzo, but it’s hospital policy.” The sound of a female voice filled the room seconds before the door opened and Billy dropped his hand.

“I can walk on my own two feet,” her dad grumbled, as he came into view, seated in a wheelchair being pushed by a very attractive nurse.

“Dad!” Maxi sprung up from her chair and rushed to his side.

Bending down, her arms flew around his neck and she hugged him as tight as she could without hurting him. Emotions that she’d done her best to keep at bay began flooding out of her. Her entire body shook as tears started pouring down her eyes.

“Shh, shh, shh pumpkin.” His arms wrapped around her. “I’m okay. I’m fine.”

She held tight and nodded, unable to speak and unwilling to let him go.

“I’m fine. Really. It was no big deal,” her dad continued minimizing his condition, “It was just a little reminder that I need to take it easy.”

“And change your diet.”

At the unfamiliar male voice, Maxi reluctantly stood up. An older man with salt and pepper hair in a white coat was now standing beside the nurse.

“Dr. Shaw, Stephanie this is my daughter Maxi and the closest thing I’ll ever have to a son, Billy. Maxi, Billy this is Dr. Shaw and my nurse Stephanie.”

After some resistance and more grumbling Stephanie helped her dad into his bed while the doctor explained what the tests had revealed.

She hoped that Billy was taking it all in because only keywords stuck out to Maxi. Heart attack. High blood pressure. Stress. High cholesterol. Cardiac rehabilitation.

“Alright, I’ll be by around ten a.m. Do me a favor and try to get some rest,” the doctor instructed her dad before leaving.

“How does that feel? Do you need another pillow?” Stephanie asked as she adjusted a tube hanging from the IV stand.

Her dad shifted and grouchily responded, “I’m fine.”

Stephanie smiled, seeming to be completely unfazed by his less than friendly temperament. “Great. Here’s the button to call me if you become un-fine. And Dr. Shaw was right, you need to rest.” The nurse directed that statement to Billy and Maxi.

They both nodded as her dad answered with a dismissive, “Yeah, yeah, rest. I got it.”

“We won’t stay long,” Maxi promised the nurse.

“I’ll be just down the hall, push the button if you need anything,” Stephanie reiterated before heading out.

Maxi returned to the seat beside the bed where she’d been waiting. For the first time since he’d arrived she really looked at him. His normally olive skin was pasty and looked paper-thin. His eyes were sunken and his cheeks were hollowed. Seeing her tough, strong dad looking so frail and lying in a hospital bed with tubes sticking out of his arms and nose was a lot to take in.

She tried not to let how much it was affecting her show on her face as she asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Sore, tired and hungry.” Lowering his voice, he tilted his head towards her and wagged his eyebrows. “Hey, you think you can sneak in a cheese steak and beer?”

Maxi and Billy laughed.

She knew he was joking, trying to make her feel better. “No, dad. No cheese steak. I don’t think that will be on the menu for a while.”

“I leave for two minutes and look who decides to join the party!” Grandpa J came in with three coffees.

The conversation quickly turned to sports, the weather, and the fishing trip. Maxi sat quietly listening to all of them talk. All she could think about was how close she’d come to losing her dad tonight. How from one second to the next her entire life could’ve changed.

She hadn’t noticed that her foot was tapping until Billy’s hand covered her thigh. He was touching her, in front of her dad. She froze and looked over at him. He appeared to be totally engaged in the conversation, but he had to know what he was doing.

A week ago, she would’ve moved his hand or shifted her leg away. But tonight she left it there. It made her feel safe. Protected. Loved. And after everything that had happened tonight, she wasn’t thinking about what that meant a year from now or how she would deal with the aftermath when it was gone.