New chapter! Some people have expressed feelings of confusion about the direction of the story, well….. It did jump ahead a great deal of time but it was supposed to do that for 2 reasons, 1. It was meant to be abrupt so as to really depict how abrupt Ronnie's leaving was, it was supposed to be out of the blue, and reason 2. I had a bit of writer's block while meshing the two parts of the story so needless to say the last chapter was the result. I may at some point decide to through some flashbacks in or edit/redo some bits of it. Anyway hope you guys like this new chapter, keep up with the reviewing, I know you're reading it because I see the stats and get the alerts but please take an extra second and review!
Two months passed and Ronnie finally felt like she could see the light at the end of the Vince tunnel, she hadn't thought about him near as much as she used to, she didn't ask Dom for updates, she was moving on to a life with Taylor, a smart choice, a safe choice in her world.
Ronnie walked into Matty's restaurant clad in her normal attire of black jeans, black boots and a black top, it was turning cold in New York and she desperately wished she had not chopped all of her hair off into the short bob she now sported, "Hair would be good now, my neck is fucking freezing." She mumbled to herself as she opened the front doors.
The faces of her colleagues did little to brighten her frost bitten nerves, to the untrained eye they looked angry, pissed even, but to Ronnie they looked scared. "What's going on?" she questioned evenly.
"Ron, why don't we go outside for a couple minutes, have a chit chat." Taylor tried to usher her out the way she came.
" 'Chit chat'? Who are you, Martha mother fucking Stuart?" she glared, when he tugged at her elbow, urging her towards the door.
"Look Rimaldi, you do not want to have this conversation in front of customers." He whispered in her ear, the use of her father's last name informed her that whatever the subject matter it was in fact business related.
They came to a stop at her SUV, "Alright Taylor spill."
"You know a couple months ago when I blew off that guy's head?"
"That narrows it down. Specify."
"The guy that was going to take care of getting those guns and ammo out to California for us." He offered.
She nodded her understanding, "Yea, what about him."
"We got a new investor if you will." He hesitated; any time Taylor Reese hesitated was not a good sign.
"Taylor, what are you getting at here? You're making me nervous."
"It was going to cost us a small fortune to get that shit out there , so I talked to Dom."
Ronnie's eyes flamed but she bit her tongue.
"we hired some guys to drive our product out to L.A. in a rig, once they get there Dom and his crew are going to highjack it, drive it to our drop point , take care of the yutzs driving it and give me back our money, minus a small fee of course."
"Someone is gonna get hurt Taylor." Ronnie ground out through gritted teeth.
Taylor rolled his eyes, "They have done this before."
"It's been years Taylor, God what if something goes wrong? Last time they did this they all almost got killed! You have to call it off." She exclaimed.
"I can't, its already in progress. The truck gets there in about 5 hours." He replied calmly.
She shoved him out of her way as she climbed into the driver's seat of her SUV, "You know I hate you right now." She yelled out the window.
"I love you too pookie." He called as she drove away.
She raced through the Manhattan traffic trying desperately to get to JFK, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed quickly.
"Hey it's Dom, I'm not here. Leave a message."
"Shit" she cursed waiting for the beep. " YOU IDIOT! DUMBASS BASTARD, I CANT BELIEVE YOU AGREED TO THIS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? IF YOU GUYS FUCK UP AND GET KILLED I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL JUMP OFF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE AND BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!" she yelled into the phone before hanging up. "I don't think he's going to call me back." She muttered throwing her phone back into her bag.
The flight was unnervingly long, and by the time the pilot announced their final decent into Los Angeles Ronnie was ready to create a makeshift parachute out of her bra and make a run for it. She headed towards baggage claim where Mia was picking her up unbeknownst to anyone and sworn to secrecy of Ronnie's current presence. Ronnie's face lit up when she saw Mia, she embraced her strongly, "Hey girl, I've missed you."
"I've missed you too." Mia giggled as she hugged Ronnie.
"I can't believe they're doing this." Ronnie sighed as they walked out to the car.
"I know but there is nothing we can do now, they're already on the road."
"I know but I guess I'll just wait at the fort until they get home and then I'll beat the shit out of all of them, except Letty, she bites."
Mia laughed loudly, "Yea shes a real bitch! Why don't you just wait at Vince's house? We both know he's the one you want to yell at the most."
"Vince's house?" Ronnie questioned.
"Yea he bought it about 6 months after you left, I think he thought if he settled down you would come back."
"How was I supposed to find out? Through my psychic friend."
"He was a mess Ronnie." Mia said suddenly after a few minutes of silence.
Ronnie looked down at her hands, "Yea I was too, still am I think, I mean seriously I just flew across the country with nothing but my purse all because I need to make sure that he's still in one piece when all this is over."
"I think its romantic."
"I think its retarded."
Mia smiled, "Maybe." She pulled into the driveway of a large white house over looking the beach. "This is it."
Ronnie got out of the car and looked around, "You're not serious are you?"
"Serious as a heart attack, the spare key is under the flower pot by the door. I'll see you before you leave right?"
"yea well I'm sure once he sees me tonight I'll be needing a place to stay." Ronnie muttered as she watched Mia get into her car, she just smiled a knowing smile and drove off.
Ronnie found the key and opened the door, she was instantly hit by all things Vince, his scent first thing when she walked in the door, his guitars when she entered the living room, his jacket thrown carelessly on a bar stool in the kitchen. She looked around in awe of the house, she loved everything about it, especially the kitchen, she always told Vince that the kitchen was her favorite room in any house and that one day she wanted a huge kitchen with windows over looking the ocean, and here it was.
"Yo Dom, you sure about this?" Vince questioned as Dom drove them to the spot where they would meet up with the truck.
"Stop being such a pussy." Dom chuckled at the offended look on Vince's face.
"Does she know we're doing this?"
Dom nodded and reached for his phone, quickly pulling up his voicemail and playing Ronnie's angry message for him. "She found out this morning, not exactly thrilled with the idea obviously."
Vince smiled, "Apparently not."
What Dom didn't let Vince hear was the message that Ronnie left an hour later before she boarded the plane, "Hey Dom, it's me again. Look I'm sorry about yelling but I'm just worried , just be careful ok…..If one hair on his head is hurt I will kill you." She spoke softly and grimly before hanging up and if Dom was being honest with himself, that second message scared the crap out of him.
"Vince, be careful tonight alright, we're all older, not quite as sharp as we used to be."
"Course bro, don't ya know safety is my middle name."
A couple hours passed and Ronnie found herself in Vince's bedroom, browsing through his closet, snooping through his drawers when she found a photo album in his side table, she pulled it out and started to flip through the pages. Each page was full of pictures of the two of them, her eyes started to water and she threw the book back into the drawer. "Pull yourself together Santos." She whispered to herself. "God this is boring."
She was jolted out of her thoughts when her phone started to blast whatever new hip hop ringtone Taylor had downloaded, "Hello?" she answered not recognizing the number.
"Ronnie, It's me"
"Mia what's wrong?" Ronnie immediately sensed the worry in Mia's voice.
"It's Vince and Dom, they're in the hospital." Mia hesitated.
"What happened are they ok, what about Letty and Leon?"
Mia sighed loudly, "Letty and Leon are here they got a little freaked and just dropped the guys off and came back to the house, I'm not exactly sure what happened just meet me at the hospital the keys to Vince's truck are by the garage door."
"Ok see you in a few."
Ronnie hung up the phone and shuttered slightly before pulling herself together and going in search of Vince's truck. She found the keys and walked into the garage to come face to face with a brand new black tahoe, "Very impressive." She mumbled.
5 minutes later Ronnie met Mia in the hospital parking lot. " Hey Mi."
"You nervous?" Mia asked following Ronnie in through the automatic doors and into the Emergency room waiting area.
"A little, but if it was really serious Letty and Leon wouldn't have left them right?"
"That's what I keep telling myself." Mia directed Ronnie towards the nurses station where they learned that Dom was in the suture area getting stitched up but Vince however was down the hall in a private room.
The girls found Dom with a piece of gauze stuck above his eye and dried streaks of blood down his face, Dom saw them coming and instantly paled at the sight of Ronnie.
"Are you gonna kill me for real?" he chuckled trying to break the tension.
Ronnie rolled her eyes, "no just tell me what happened."
Mia sat down next to him inspecting the gash above his eye, "damn this is going to leave one hell of a scar, Letty is going to go ballistic."
"I know." Dom smirked, Letty loved scars.
"Story!" Ronnie demanded loudly.
"Sorry, anyway Vince was up on the side of the rig and the dumbasses driving threw something out the window , it hit my window and shattered the damn thing , that's how I got this." He paused pointing to the gash on his head.
"And Vince."
"Well when they threw the thing they swerved and tossed Vince around like a fucking rag doll, dislocated his shoulder , the bad arm, he is feeling pretty shitty and letting the whole world know, that's why they put him in a cryer room."
Ronnie sat down on the other side of Dom, "You know I'm very angry at you right now."
"Yes." Dom answered hesitantly.
"You know that I love you like a brother."
"Yea."
"So be honest with me, is he going to hate me when he sees me?"
"I think he will be relieved, he's been worried about you. He doesn't hate you but it might be tense for a while." Dom was honest, plain and simple and that was what Ronnie truly loved about him.
She got up silently and walked down the hall towards the private rooms, instantly Vince's voice hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Listen lady I don't care where you got your degree but you're not fucking touching my arm now get the hell out!" He screamed and Ronnie cringed.
She made her way to the room his voice was coming from and opened the door quietly.
"Mr. Cruz if you do not settle down and let me do my job we will have to sedate you and restrain you." The doctor was being surprisingly patient with an impossible Vince.
"Absolutely not, you're not coming at me with needles ,straps or your voodoo hands." He exclaimed.
Ronnie closed the door loudly making her presence known. Vince's head snapped towards the door, the look of shock on his face made Ronnie want to giggle but she controlled herself given the situation.
"Ronnie what the hell are you doing here." He asked.
Ronnie walked over and sat down on the edge of his bed , she took his good arm and draped it across her lap, "well I heard the Dumbass plan that Dom got himself into and decided I would be here just in case it blew up in your faces, which I'd like to point out that it did. Now then are you going to pull the stick out of your ass and let the doc help you, I promise it will feel better after she is done." Ronnie began to run her finger through Vince's hair, she couldn't help herself, Vince was magnetic, he was her gravity and she couldn't find the strength to fight it especially when he was in the state he was in.
"how would you know anything about a dislocated shoulder?" Vince grumbled.
"Thanksgiving day, I was 14 playing football with my brothers, I told them I could handle tackle, not the smartest thing when you're 5'3 and 95 pounds anyway I spent the entire night in the ER." She smiled when Vince rolled his eyes at her story.
He looked towards the doctor, "ok fine you can fix it but you only get one try, fuck it up and its over."
Ronnie laughed loudly , Vince's good arm wrapped around her lap and clung tightly to her hip, "you 're pathetic."
"Yea I know just don't tell anyone ok, you know how much I hate hospitals and doctors."
"I'll try not to be offended by that." The doctor smiled right before she snapped his shoulder back into the socket.
Vince roared and dug his fingers into Ronnie, who winced slightly but still managed to stroke his head and whisper comforting words.
10 minutes later Ronnie was at the nurses' station getting Vince's prescriptions and care orders while Vince stood by, arm in sling and glaring at everyone in scrubs.
"Come on, Dom and Mia already left, I'm staying with you by the way, in your house your big ass house."
"you know about the house?"
"I was at the house , how else do you think your truck got here?" Ronnie opened the car door for Vince and helped him climb in before walking around and climbing into the driver's side.
"Yea sorry but these drugs they gave me are making me kind of nuts."
"The nurse said that you might feel a little weird because they gave you more but you're at home pills are a smaller dose so you wont feel crazy everytime you take it."
They had fallen back into their banter so easily, Ronnie knew it was the drugs talking but she enjoyed it none the less.
They pulled up to Vince's house several minutes later , Ronnie helped a woozy Vince into the house and to his bedroom before disposing him on the bed, she watched as he stood up and tried to take off his shirt a few times, he almost made it each time but stopped in a howl of pain.
"Vince stop you're going to make yourself puke." Ronnie grumbled walking over to him and pulling his left arm out of the shirt then pulling it over his head and finally down his injured right arm. She paused to admire his toned chest, he had gotten bigger since the last time she saw him, broader, firmer, she enjoyed the new view.
"Pants." Vince nudged her arm.
"What?" she looked up at him.
"I cant get the fly with my left hand , and my shoes don't forget those." He was toasted, gesturing wildly and completely oblivious to the fact that she was still intensely checking him out.
She pushed him to sit on the bed and knelt down to untie his boots and remove his shoes, "hey babe while you're down there want to give me a little ya know, its been a long time and you are the best."
"Only you would think of a blowjob an hour out of the ER. Stand up." She helped him stand and made quick work of unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans before tugging them down lightly.
Vince removed his sling and climbed into his plush bed, Ronnie fixed his arm up under a pillow before going to his closet and picking out her favorite tshirt of his, it was blue and unbearably soft from years of washing, she didn't know where it came from nor did she care all she cared about was that when she wore it she felt at home, she felt safe the same way she did when Vince held her. She kicked off her shoes and pants before pulling her shirt over her head and removing her bra.
She heard Vince moan lightly and turned to look over her shoulder, she caught him staring at her back, "You ok?"
"Yea are you going to sleep in here tonight?"
She pulled the shirt down and turned towards him, "yea if its ok with you, I figure I should get my good nights sleep in tonight because tomorrow you're going to remember to hate me." She crawled in next to him and sighed, content for the first time in years.