Oceans Submerged: Book Two, the Oceans Series (16 page)

It was officially Sunday morning and I was feeling much, much better compared to Thursday’s events. My infection healed and as of this morning, per the doctor, it was totally out of my system.

I was in the massive gyms training room, the one Santi liked to use. Santi was awesome! I couldn’t have asked for a better trainer. Even though he was still working on motor skills with my left hand, I couldn’t have asked for anyone better. Of course with any trainer, he had a condition which I was more than willing to comply with when he told me what it was.

As long as I didn’t give up during his sessions, I was allowed to yell, scream, cry, hit, kick, punch and curse his ass into the next millennium. After the first hour or so of rehab for my arm, this came in handy. Once my hand would start trembling to the point that I couldn’t open or close it anymore, I would do all of the above.

He would hold back much of his aggravation with me but we made it work. If he wasn’t such a great guy, then this would be a totally different experience. I watched as he unlocked the door and walked in looking half-dead.

Since I absolutely had to categorize every person I met, I labeled him as a Laz Alonso look alike. Every woman who envisioned a good looking man knew that Mr. Alonso was a fine ass specimen. I already belonged to an extremely sexy and complicated ass hat named Ocean, but it wasn’t a crime too look, was it?

“Don’t hurt your face Livie.” he said, laughing to himself.

I rolled my eyes playfully. “People that laugh at their own jokes are naturally unfunny, so stop before you hurt your brain, Santi.”

As he passed me, he pulled on my ponytail. My hair needed a serious trim; it was too long. If Ocean saw someone else pulling my hair he would flip…at least I still hoped he cared about me that much.

Every morning and every night before I went to bed, I sent both of my boys a text message. Law always replied, while Ocean would simply read them…I assume he would read them at least…and then nothing.

Each text was simple.
Good Morning…love you…miss you...good night…love you…miss you
. Not that complicated, right?

“Really Livie, your face looks like it’s going to fall off. What you thinking about?”

I blinked a couple times, clearing the picture of my boys out of my vision. “Thinking about getting this torture over with.”

“In that case, start praying because today you start strength training. It’s pretty simple actually. One hundred push-ups and once you’re done; you’re free to go. I’m sure you have visitors today.”

He smiled his celebrity smile at me.

My stomach churned thinking about seeing Ocean again. If he even came.

“Santi come on,” I begged. “I’m not ready for that yet; I can barely hold a pen for four minutes at a time in my left hand.”

“You’re not supposed to Livie you’re right handed.”

“Smartass! You know what I mean.”

He breathed out heavily through this nose. “Look, you are going to do one hundred push-ups and that’s the end of it. Warm up as best as you can so we can get started.”

He must have had one hell of a night because usually he was amped and ready to work. When he yawned, stretching his arms over his head I saw light scratch marks along his lower abs. I couldn’t help but tease.

“So that’s why you’re so tired this morning. Pet cat or a girl you picked up?”

He looked down to his stomach and lifted his shirt to see the claw marks and of course, his mischievous smile came back. “How about a cat woman?”

“Gross, come on let’s get this over with! Por dios!”  

****

Three hours later, I finished my one fucking hundred push-ups. I was sweating as if I was running from the cops for robbing a freaking bank. My arms still shook from the strain of supporting my own weight and my shoulder was killing me. It was embarrassing that I could not even hold myself up right with both hands down on the mat in front of me.

Santi had to use a resistance band that he snuck under my stomach to pull me up and let me down slowly.

He high fived me and told me I did great but I sent him to hell verbally and walked out of the gym. That was such bullshit; he knew I wasn’t ready for that. Now I would have to do ice and heat treatments just to relieve the ache and trembling of my fingers.

When I got to my room, Garfield was walking down the opposite end of the hallway. When he didn’t see me, I ducked into an open doorway to watch him. He stopped at our room peeking through the glass panel on the side of the door. Looking behind him and to the sides, he opened the door and walked in.

Shit!

Was Dulce in there? It was 2:15 p.m. and she was usually getting ready to help out in the kitchen. The girl loved being around food. Eating it, cooking it, drooling over it, you name it she was there!

I high tailed it, jogging as fast as my leg would allow and not bothering to knock, twisted the knob pushing open the door.

What I saw made heat roll off me in overwhelming waves. Pinned to the wall was Dulce, by the throat. When he turned to look at me, he let her go and she fell to the ground.

I looked them both over, making sure he didn’t have anything on him and she was still fully clothed. Thank god she was.

I kicked the door shut behind me forgetting all about the pain in my hand, arm, and shoulder. “What the fuck was that?! Who the hell do you think you are?!”

When he didn’t answer I stepped closer.

“Hello?! Earth to asshole! Who the fuck do you think you are just walking into our room when you want and putting your hands on her like that?”

He straightened his long polo shirt while staring me down. “Just mind your business. This is between me and Dulce, not you or your damn hound dogs.”

I closed the distance reaching out and punched him with my right jab in the face. My left jab would have been better, but this still did the trick.

His top lip split and the sight of blood on his face by my fist gave me a high. A high that was short lived when he grabbed my good arm squeezing it like he was trying to dismember my elbow from my forearm.

I winced as he increased his grip. “What the hell?!” I gritted through my teeth as he shoved me aside towards my side of the room.

He made his way towards the door turning to smile at Dulce, who was laying on the floor with her hands around her neck and eyes squeezed shut.

As I slowly walked over to Dulce, I rubbed my arm which was starting to turn a deep blue already with a bruise.

Damn it, wonder how long it will take Ocean or Law to see it?

Chapter Thirty-One

Ocean

I woke with a vibrating sensation on my face. I grimaced as I opened my eyes. My head was on the verge of splitting in half and my nose burned something wicked. I rubbed at my nose, wrinkling it up and down with my face muscles trying to figure out what happened. The recognition of how I felt after I sniffed coke hit my jumbled brain.

I opened my eyes wider ignoring the burn, searching around the unfamiliar room. I was definitely in a hotel. I could tell by the stuffiness in the air and the thick white comforter with matching plain sheets.

“Good morning baby.” A raspy voice startled the shit out of me as I jumped up, stumbling off the bed.

From underneath the covers two girls popped out, a brunette and a blonde.

No! No! No!

The brunette grinned at me and I followed her eyes down my chest then to my dick. Thank god I wasn’t hard but I wasn’t completely soft either. I mean…I was big either way, not to be cocky but I was.

“Don’t act shy now.” She teased.

I wanted to smack that grin off her cross-eyed face. The girl was pretty and so was the blonde, but they were nothing I would date. They weren’t Livie. The pulse of a vibrating phone sounded again. The brunette reached under the pillow and fished out my phone.

“Too scared to answer your phone tiger?” I rolled my eyes at her, leaning forward snatching my phone out of her hand.

Looking at the home screen there were six missed calls from Law. When I saw the date on the phone, I knew why he was blowing me up. It was three in the afternoon and it was Sunday.

Liv! Fuck!
 

I didn’t bother to call him back. I didn’t need the father figure lecture from him right now.

I bent down picking up my clothes, socks and shoes from the floor when I froze in place. On the floor was my credit card lined with coke and a small glass vial with left over coke in it. I stood up fast facing the girls who were watching me like I was a damn science project.

“Whose blow is that?”

“Yours big daddy. You bought it at the club before you snatched us up to share. A little disappointed when you preferred we do each other instead of you, but the blow made it so worth the while.”

The blonde was talking and I wanted to slam my fist into her pretty face for being so dumb. I wanted to punch myself too for being even dumber.

“Did I pay for the room?”

“Yeah…cash.” They both answered together.

“I’m hitting the shower ALONE then getting the fuck out of here. Don’t call me or look me up.” I opened my wallet and tossed what looked like five one hundred dollar bills at them.

Greedily, they snatched it up.

“When I come out I want you two gone. Got it?”

They giggled to each other as they scrambled to put their dresses back on.

I turned, running into the bathroom and slamming the door. I took a quick peek in the mirror to make sure I looked intact. All was good, except for two pink hickies on each side of my damn neck.

Awe fuck, my baby is going to flip out on me
!

I turned on the shower, stepping into ice-cold water. I couldn’t remember when the last time I called her my baby was and I was going to show up with two fucking hickies after not seeing her for two days or returning her text messages.

ASSHOLE!

****

Livie

Dulce and I sat at one of the many picnic benches outside in the visiting courtyard. Most of the residents were outside today. I guess it was a privilege to have this free time with minimal to no supervision and just about everyone was taking it.

After I cleaned up Dulce’s brain and heart off the floor, we both showered and got dressed to come outside. That was after I threatened her to go to Marion and telling Law about the show down if she didn’t spill it and tell me what the hell was going on.

I had to promise her my first born that I wouldn’t tell a soul, not even Law or Ocean under any circumstance. It was horrible what they did to her and I vowed silently to myself it wouldn’t happen again and that Oscar would never touch her again.

I was tired of people having to come and rescue me all the time. It was my turn to start returning the favors and the two high priorities in my life were Ocean and Dulce; of course after learning her story.

“Damn, I know it’s hot but you two dressed like that are making this bitch of a heat wave even hotter.”

I turned to see Law looking refreshed and happy to be here. I jumped up, skipping into his arms before I’d even realized I got up in the first place.

As he caught me in the air, he started swinging me around like a little kid and I laughed and giggled like one.

“Hey beautiful,” He said, kissing my forehead and cheeks. “Looking good Sunshine. I’ve missed you.” He gave me another tight hug before setting me down.

I moved to turn around but he grabbed my hand bringing my arm to his face nearly lifting me off the ground.

“Come on, Law.” I hissed from the angle he had my shoulder in.

“Please tell me you were playing some type of contact sport with Blue because if I have to start integrating the assholes around here it’s not going to be pretty. They’ll all be admitted to this fucking place for physical therapy if anyone touched you Sunshine. What happened?”

He let my arm go and stepped closer staring down at me.

“Relax Law, I am in PT you know. I had to do one hundred miserable push-ups this morning and I can’t even hold a snickers bar in my left hand to save my life. So relax. I probably bruised it this morning.”

I never faltered in my stare back at him, hoping he’d buy it. He looked around the courtyard before taking in a deep breath and backing up.

“I don’t believe you, especially if that’s the story you want to go with right now. You suck at telling lies Sunshine. I’ll play along but you will tell me the truth.” He leaned forward, kissing my forehead roughly this time as he passed me making his way to Dulce.

He really was going to be a great father one day. Nothing got past him. He had a built in bullshit radar and I hated it right now because if Law knew then Ocean would know just as fast too.

I looked around, wondering where Ocean was at that moment. Maybe he was parking or talking to Marion.

Or Livie, he could possibly be home or somewhere else
.

I gave up on my search for Ocean so I did not ruin my somewhat of a good mood now that Law was here. I made my way over to our table.