Moment of Weakness (Embracing Moments Book 1) (34 page)

A mist of blood coated his lips as he coughed. “There may not—be a later, Julia.”

My head shook. “Don’t say that!” He reached for my face, his thumb sweeping away each tear that cascaded down my cheek. He gazed up at me, and although his lips moved into a small smile, his look was raw and pained.

“I’m sorry—I lied to you . . . But I meant it . . . when I said you changed me.” He stopped to suck in a breath, and then continued speaking, his voice shallow and raspy. “I never expected to fall in love with you . . . but I did, and I don’t regret it. I’d do this a thousand times over if it meant knowing you and everyone you love are safe.”

I wanted to reach up and grab his hand, but I refused to move my hands from the pressure they held against his wound. Instead I turned my face into his hand and kissed his palm. I chuckled a sad chuckle. “Always trying to protect me, Roman.”

“Always, Miss Parker,” he whispered with a sad smile on his face. Roman’s breath faltered, and a moment later, his eyes faded to a close. My heart moved up my throat and every muscle in my stomach clenched.

“Roman?” I said, sniffing back tears that his fingers were no longer catching. Panic crawled up my throat in the form of a sob. And when the rise and fall of his chest slowed, I leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips, fearing it would be the last time I’d feel their warmth.

“I love you,” I whispered against them, trying to convince myself that this was a dream—that my hands weren’t actually feeling the slowly fading beats of his heart.

The overwhelming smell of antiseptic clogged my nose as I paced back and forth in the brightly lit halls of the hospital. It had been four hours since we arrived, and the only hospital employee that approached me was a nurse who offered a pair of clean hospital scrubs and a hideous shade of green socks. I guess the blood that soaked my dress and spotted my Converse had drawn a lot of nervous attention from the other people in the waiting room. While the paramedics had fought to keep my father and Roman alive on the trip here, I had turned to Theo looking for comfort. If neither of them made it, Theo would be all I had left, and that scared me. Theo never asked questions, but I found myself telling him everything, who Roman was, and how I had fallen in love with him. He just sat back and listened, like he always did. When I finished, Theo confirmed what I had thought all along. Roman had moved in front of the bullet to protect my father and me. Theo arrived just in time to take out Roman’s shooter.

“Why haven’t we heard anything yet?” I asked Theo, hoping he’d know the answer. He always knew what to say in the past, and I counted on him knowing what to say now. But he didn’t say anything. He just stared at me as I sat down beside him, and I was sure it was because he was feeling just as lost as I was. The chances of us even receiving information on Roman were slim. We weren’t family, and hell, I wasn’t even sure if Roman was his actual name. Just then, an older gentleman with gray hair and round bulbous cheeks pushed through the set of doors, his blue scrubs hidden underneath his white lab coat. As he approached us, he said, “Benjamin Parker’s family?”

Theo and I rose to our feet at the same time. “How is my father? Is he going to be okay?” I asked, my voice rushed.

“He will be just fine. The surgery went well, and the bullet didn’t hit any major organs. He is in recovery now. You should be able to see him within the hour.”

Theo pulled me into a tight embrace and the nerves in my body relaxed. The doctor smiled, and I only caught bits and pieces of what he was saying. My father was going to be okay. That’s all I needed to hear. That’s all that mattered at the moment. The doctor clutched his clipboard to his side and began walking away. “Wait! What about Roman?”

He stopped, turning toward me. “I’m sorry?”

“Roman Hayes, I mean, Michael Hayes. He came in the same time as my father. He also suffered a gunshot wound.” The doctor’s cheery expression faded, and terror clawed at my insides as I watched his eyes grow full of sympathy.

No. Please no.

“Are you family?”

I shook my head. “No, but—”

“I’m sorry, Miss Parker, but I can’t disclose—”

“Please,” I begged. “He has no one else. I’m all he has.”

The doctor drew in a heavy sigh and then waved to an empty office. “Let’s talk in here.” I followed behind him, the weakness in my knees spreading throughout my legs, and as soon as he pulled the chair out for me, I dropped in it. Rather than sitting across from me, he sat beside me, and a heavy weight settled against my chest.

“Mr. Hayes is still in surgery as we speak. The bullet just missed his heart, but he suffered a collapsed lung, along with internal bleeding, resulting in an enormous amount of blood loss. His condition is very unstable at the moment.”

I brought my hand to my mouth, trying to hide the uncontrollable quivering of my lips. The doctor handed me a tissue, and I pressed it against my tear-filled eyes.

“We are doing all we can for him, Miss Parker, but if you’re someone who believes in the power of prayer, he could really use them right now. I will come and find you as soon as I know more.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

He patted his palm against my knee. “You take all the time you need in here, okay?”

I nodded, grabbing another tissue from the desk in front of me. The doctor rose to his feet and disappeared out the door behind me. A moment later, Theo entered. “Miss Julia?”

I got up from my chair and moved to wrap my arms around him, allowing his coat to soak up my falling tears. “He lied, Theo. I fell in love with him and he lied to me.” Another sob escaped my throat, and Theo gripped me tighter, trying to alleviate the shudders rolling through me.

“Sometimes, Miss Julia, it’s easier for us to pretend we are who we want to be, rather than face the truth of who we really are. I think after meeting you, Roman figured that out, but it was too late. He was already living the lie.” Theo’s fingers curled around my jaw, and he tilted my head back so I was looking at him. “Despite who he is, Julia, I will be forever thankful that he risked his life to save you and your father.”

I buried my face back into his chest and allowed his arms to support me. We stayed that way until a nurse entered the room, letting us know we could see my father.

THE RELIEF I
felt at seeing my father awake and talking was something I couldn’t even put into words. As soon as we entered the room, I moved beside him and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said, his voice sounding tired and groggy.

I tried to focus on just him, and not the hundreds of wires running to his chest, or the large IV in his arm. A small smile spread across my face and tears escaped the corners of my eyes. “Hey, Daddy.”

His thick brows pulled together as he stared at me. “Why are you crying, sweetie?”

“I’m just happy you’re okay.” My palms moved against my cheeks, sweeping away the tears that rolled down them.

“Ah, come on now. You didn’t think you’d get rid of me that easy did you?” I frowned. Leave it to my father to take a serious moment and turn it into something of humor. “Hey, don’t stop.”

“Stop what, Dad?”

“Don’t stop smiling. I like seeing you smile.” The smile returned to my face, and he shifted in his bed, knocking his morphine button to the floor. He groaned. “Mind grabbing the magic juice button for me?”

I giggled. “The magic juice button?” Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door. I turned around to see the doctor I had spoken with earlier standing in the doorway.

“Miss Parker, can I have a minute of your time?”

I nodded my head and ran my sweaty palms along the length of the blue cotton pants covering my thighs. My heart pounded not only in my chest but in my ears as I stepped out of my father’s hospital room.

“I just wanted to give you an update on Mr. Hayes.” My hands trembled, and I clamped them against my sides trying to calm them. “He made it through surgery. We wheeled him up to recovery about an hour ago. As of now, he is stable. We are keeping a close eye on him. We ask that you give him some time to rest and recover, but if you’d like, you are more than welcome to see him first thing tomorrow morning. He is in room 203 in the ICU.”

I nodded again, my fingers clawing deeper into my sides, a wave of mixed emotions hitting me. The doctor smiled and moved to walk around me. “Oh and, Miss Parker?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” I breathed.

“He’s been asking for you. I just thought you’d like to know.”

I offered a painful smile. “Thank you, Doctor.”

He nodded, and I stood in silence, watching him vanish down the hallway. I walked back into my father’s room to hear Theo discussing everything that had happened.

Apparently, my father was in his office, but moved to his bedroom when he realized he had forgotten his phone. He heard the gunshot go off that presumably killed the security guard in his office. He ran to it, and that is when he got into a scuffle with the shooter, resulting in his own gunshot wound. Grabbing the gun from the guard who lay dead on the floor, he fought back. The guy took off and my father hid in my bedroom, trying to call out, but when he realized the lines were down, he moved to get out of the house. That was when he ran into me.

I sat in silence, listening to Theo tell my father about Roman. Hurt and shame crossed my father’s face.

“How did we not know?” he asked Theo.

Theo’s lips tightened in disappointment. “We were working with a professional hitman, Ben. If we had known, then he wouldn’t have been very good at his job.”

Crossing my arms over my legs, I dropped my head to my knees.
Hitman.
It was surreal listening to that word even leave my father and Theo’s mouths. Until today, I thought that was a term that only existed in movies and video games. Yet here I was, in love with one.

“And about Grace. Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

Theo sighed, and his hands gripped his arms as he folded them over his chest. “I don’t know. This news is coming from someone hired to kill you. I really don’t know what to believe. It’s hard to determine if anything he fed to us was the truth.”

My heart hurt listening to them discuss Roman right before me. I wanted to scream at them. Remind them I was in the room. I didn’t know how to feel. I was in love with him. He lied. He hurt me. And I was angry. But Theo’s words sank in my head like an anchor hitting rock bottom.

How much of what Roman said was actually true?

Was any of it true?

I hadn’t gone to see Roman that next morning. I couldn’t. I wasn’t ready to face him. It wasn’t until three days later, when my father was released, that I gained enough courage to go to him. By that time, he had been moved from the ICU to a normal room.

I stood in front of his door, my nerves a chaotic mess underneath my skin. Every muscle in my body had twisted and tightened uncomfortably and my heart pounded against my chest so fast it hurt.

Knocking, I stepped around the heavy metal door and stopped in my tracks. His hair on his face and the top of his head was longer than usual, and his eyes revealed just how tired he was. A white blanket covered his legs, and his head rested against a white pillow as he stared at the blank flat screen on the wall. Even now, he looked handsome, and it took every ounce of strength in me not to run to him and throw my arms around him.