Fate (37 page)

Vince straightened up again
,
careful not to injure his arm further. “Where are we?”

“From my calculations
we’re
about ten miles from where we’re supposed to be.” The sergeant covered the hole again
,
and once again they were in the dark. Only now at least Vince’s eyes had a chance to f
ocus enough to make out shapes.

“What is this place?”

“If I had to guess,
I’d say
someone’s family bunker. This whole area was a thriving city once upon a time.” Fetherman looked out the hole again. “Damn shame. It’s nothing but rubble now.”

“Are we the only ones in here?” Vince looked around the dimly lit bunker and thought he saw bundles in corners that could be bodies.

“Nope. But we’re the only two still breathing.”

Vince pulled his arm back from whatever it was he was touching, igniting the pain again. “Augh!” He clenched his teeth. It hurt like a sonofabitch.

“You have to stop moving that arm around,
P
rivate. It’s busted up pretty bad. I did what I could to cover up the wound
,
but I’m not sure if it’s infected.”

Vince sat still
,
breathing in slowly
,
willing the pain to subside
,
but the entire length from his elbow to his shoulder throbbed merciless
ly
. “Is it broken?”

The sergeant laughed. “Only thing more broken than that arm is your sleep
-
talkin’ heart.”

Vince’s head shot up. “What?”

Fetherman turned back to Vince
,
covering up the hole halfway
,
so they still had some light. “Anybody ever tell you, you talk in your sleep, boy? Now
,
I don’t know if it’s because you were delirious with pain or if that’s how you normally sound
,
but it was irritating as shit trying to get the story straight. But you
did
answer questions. Like who the hell is Hose? Took me a while
,
but I finally got that you were trying to say Rose.”

Vince stared at him
,
not wanting the sergeant to see how much this pissed him off. “You listened to me talk in my sleep then asked me questions about it?”

There’d been no masking the annoyance in his voice
,
but at this point Vince didn’t care.
Much like when he replayed that night in Anita’s room, t
he adrenaline coursing through him now was actually helping drown out the pain in his arm.

“What else was I supposed to do? You kept going on and on
,
so when I finally asked who the hell Hose was and you actually answered, I figured I may as well entertain myself. You got it pretty bad for this Rose
,
huh?”

Vince didn’t answer. He was racking his brain now trying to remember any dream he had recently
,
but
he couldn’t remember any
,
except for the one that ended in Rose telling him to run.

“She must be something else—”

“
She
,”
Vince said trying to keep his cool
,
“
i
s none of your damn business.”

“Al
l
right, al
l
right,”
t
he sergeant said chuckling as he looked out the hole again. He immediately closed
it
. “Don’t move,” he whispered.

Vince froze in place
,
literally able to hear his heart thump in his chest as footsteps and voices outside not speaking English got louder.

Something rattled above them sending sand flying all around them
,
and Vince covered his mouth
,
trying not to cough. As the rattling continued
,
it became apparent that the men outside were trying to make
their
way into the bunker. Vince thought about the
s
ergeant mentioning he’d been collecting canteens. Why hadn’t Vince thought to ask what else he’d collected—like weapons?

He sat there feeling completely vulnerable. If they were caught they’d either be taken prisoner or assassinated on the spot. He squeezed his eyes sh
u
t
,
picturing his beautiful Rose. If he was going to die
,
he wanted her face to be the last thing he saw.

Rose

Lorenzo had been right. Giving her a shot had been a cinch for him. She felt kind of rotten about lying to Ben. She’d told him one of her co-workers was studying to be a nurse and would give the shot from now on. He knew the truth about Vincent now also. She’d told him the night after she’d written the marathon letter to Vincent. But after all he’d done for her and all the times he’d been there through it all even taking the time to come
to
her work to give her the injections
,
she hated having to admit that he was being dismissed so easily. But she didn’t have much choice. Lorenzo was threatening to tell Vincent
,
and after everything they’d been through already
,
she didn’t want to add this. Not yet anyway. She’d explain it to him eventually. She’d continue to text
Ben
and talk to him on the phone
,
but the visits would have to stop. He was juggling several girls at the moment anyway. He’d be fine without her company.

Feeling much better now that the injections were really kicking in, Rose no longer had shaky hands or tingling feet and fingers. It seemed now that the weight of the world had come off her
,
both from knowing that something was being done about
her vitamin deficiency and knowing
the truth about Vincent
.
E
verything was going perfect
ly
.

Even her college soccer team was one game away from winning their division for the season and moving on to state finals. Everyone had gone to her game even her mother. It couldn’t have gone down in more dramatic fashion with Rose’s team scoring
at the
last minute to take the lead and avoid having to wait until her next game to
clinch
the division.

With Grace being so pregnant and wobbling around, swollen ankles and all, Alex suggested they all go back to his place after the game to celebrate. Lorenzo had been at the game
,
but an hour into the gathering he still wasn’t there. She was anxious to ask him if he’d heard anything from Vincent yet. She still hadn’t received a response from him herself and was beginning to worry maybe he was angry or too hurt to respond.

“I don’t know
;
maybe it’s just me,” Romero said as Rose walked out into the patio where they were all gathered.

“It
is
just you,” Eric laughed.

“I’m sorry,” Romero threw his hands in the air
,
“I don’t like other men touching my wife.”

“He was rubbing her pregnant belly.” Sal laughed.

“Yeah, but you didn’t see how he was doing it
,
” Romero protested.

“And didn’t you say he was an older man?” Grace asked holding her hand to her back as Sal helped her sit down.

Romero shook his head making a face. “Izzy said that. He wasn’t
that
much older
…i
n his forties probably. And what does rubbing her belly have to do with him talking about her pretty hair?”

Isabel laughed now. “I swear you turn everything around. He said the baby would probably have thick pretty hair because mine was so thick.”

“You see!” Romero said picking up his beer bottle. “There you go.”

“There you go
,
what?” Sal laughed again. “So you kicked his ass for that?”

They all laughed now
,
even Rose. All the men in this family had short fuses
;
she even saw it in Lorenzo
,
but she’d heard stories about Romero. His temper was legendary.

“I didn’t kick anybody’s ass.” He turned and leaned into Isabel for a kiss. “I don’t do that anymore, right babe?”

She kissed him but rolled her eyes. “Um
,
yeah
,
only because the guy practically ran when you grabbed his wrist and threatened to break it.”

Everyone except Romero laughed. “Yeah, but I was bluffing.” He smirked. “I wasn’t really gonna break his wrist.”

Sal answered his phone
,
and then stood up suddenly walking inside to take the rest of the call in there. Rose saw Alex and Angel exchange glances but didn’t think anything of it. She flinched when her mother very uncharacteristically came up next to her and rubbed her back. “Where is your boyfriend?”

“My boyfriend
,
if he’ll have me back
,
is in Iraq.” She smiled shrugging. “I was never really with Ben,
M
om. I just told Grace that so she wouldn’t worry so much about me being depressed. But now that I know what really happened with Vincent
,
I don’t wanna be with anybody else but him. I’m gonna wait for him to get home.”

To her surprise her mother smiled. “Grace told me a little bit about that. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me.”

Her mother told her she’d explain why she’d always been the way she was
,
but up until now she still hadn’t. Like the last time, now wasn’t the time. “I’ve had a lot on my mind lately
,
b
ut I was going to
,
” Rose lied
,
not even sure why she was trying to save her mother’s feelings when her mother had never bothered doing the same for her.

Rose noticed Alex who had walked into the kitchen earlier walk back and whisper something to Angel
.
T
hen Angel followed him into the kitchen where Sal was. Grace was in there with him now also and looked her way several times
,
but shook her head adamantly. Rose suddenly sensed something was wrong.

Try as she might to stay with the conversation with her mom, she couldn’t help
but
continue to look in Grace
’
s direction. Sofia joined them now
,
and her hand was immediately at her mouth
.

Rose finally excused herself for a moment and walked over to them. They all hushed as she approached.

“
Is s
omething wrong?”

No one said anything at first
, and
then Sal cleared his throat. “No, uh, the alarm went off at one of the restaurants
,
but it was nothing.”

Rose’s eyebrows pinched as her eyes went from Sal to Grace. Why were they all looking at her so weird? “So everything is okay?”

“Yep
,
just fine,” Sal said.”

There was something about the way Alex looked at his wife
,
Valerie
,
as she approached him. The look was as if he were warning her of something. Valerie barely made eye contact with her. Why
were
they
being
so cryptic?

“Maybe you should get your friend
,
Alison
,
and her boyfriend something to drink.” Grace suggested
,
looking behind Rose in Alison and Ezekiel’s direction. Romero was now standing with them
,
and it appeared he was talking to Alison about her soccer moves, demonstrations and all.

Alex attempted to sound amused. “Yeah, you might want to save your friend from Romero’s bullshit.”

Rose turned to look at Alison who if she wasn’t mistaken was looking at Romero a little dreamy
-
eyed. If anyone looked a little annoyed by Romero’s
bullshit
,
it was Ezekiel.
She turned back to Grace and the rest of the group in front of her. It still felt like she was missing something.

She went and joined Alison’s little circle. Romero’s tips on how to elbow a player good without getting called on it by the refs had her mind immediately off the weirdness of the crowd inside.