Chapter 8

"What are you doing here, Pete?"

Pete managed to force a little air through his constricted throat. "My God, Raul! You're awake!"

Raul smiled faintly. "That seems to be the standard reaction."

Pete maintained his smile, thinking his straining cheekbones might explode out of his face at any moment. "There's been someone from the force stopping by every few hours since the shooting. Just my luck you woke up on my turn."

"Hey, Pete," said Bobby as he entered the room. The nurse accompanying him moved to take Raul's vital signs.

"H-hi, Bobby."

"You're here just in time for the grand re-awakening, eh?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so. Gosh, I better go make some calls - let everyone know the good news."

Bobby's head tilted to the side.

"Sure," said Raul. "Thanks for coming by."

Pete shook their hands vigorously to mask his own tremors and left.

"Mom, Sammy, and Gina are on their way," Bobby reported.

Raul sighed. "I hate that they had to go through this."

"They were pretty shook up but they're okay. I've been taking care of the garage," he said with some pride.

"Oh, yeah? Thanks, son. You'll have to tell me about it when I can stay awake longer."

"No problem. Did you know that the police don't do anything to clean up a crime scene after they're done with it? I had to find a cleaning agency that specialized in that kind of thing."

Raul glanced up at the bags draining fluids into his body. "There was a lot of blood I imagine."

"They were able to get rid of it out in the shop, but your office had to have new carpeting."

"I wish Pete got there sooner for Ron's sake. But we probably would have been dead before that if Ron hadn't interrupted them when he did." His eyes widened. "Shit ... Sandy."

"She took it pretty hard," Bobby confirmed.

"We'll have to look after her." Raul shook his head. "I wish I wasn't so damn sleepy."

"Why don't you go ahead and sleep now while the ladies are on their way? We'll wake you up when they get here."

"Okay, son, that's a good idea. Be sure to wake me up again – I wouldn't want to miss them."

"It's done?" asked Jack Polanski from the back seat.

Pete's eyes darted around the parking lot. "Yeah; let's get the hell out of here."

Al Skelly looked for a nod from his boss before starting the car. "Any problems?"

"No."

Al eyed him closely before clapping him on the shoulder. "Welcome to the family."

"Thanks."

The adrenaline rush began to fade, but Pete still felt trapped in his own web. They owned him now, as sure as the sun rises. Being part of the family meant the only way out was through his death.

Unless...

Collette marked her place in the textbook on her lap before answering the phone. She'd been staring at the same page for a while anyway.

"Hello?" At first she heard nothing; then, a faint sniffle.

"It's me."

"Patty?"

"Yeah."

With her numbing breakup with Bobby still fresh, she wasn't in the mood to be solicitous. "What's up?" she said curtly.

"I just wanted you to know, I told Morton."

"Good for you."

Patty was taken aback. "Well, I just..."

"Bobby and I broke up."

"What? Oh my god, Collette, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault!"

Collette sighed. Looking out the window at the university campus, a sudden urge to leave everything 'high school' behind washed over her.

"No it isn't, Patty. It would have happened eventually, anyway. Don't worry about it. Bobby will be fine, you'll be fine, I'll be fine. It's time to move on."

"But ... I don't want to move on from Morton. He's pretty mad at me, though."

Collette's lips tightened. "Well, your first love is free again."

Patty was truly stung, but held her tongue until she'd taken some deep breaths. "I am not chasing after Bobby, Collette. I'm truly sorry that you guys broke up."

Collette's shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry, Patty. I'm just upset right now."

"I want to see you." When Collette didn't respond, she added hurriedly, "Maybe I could buy you lunch sometime when I'm on campus."

"Sure, I should be able to do that."

"Great." There was a long awkward feeling silence. "Well hang in there; how about if I give you a call during the week?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay ... well ... bye, Collette."

"Bye, Patty."

She sighed again. She still cared for Patty, in spite of her flaws. But she couldn't be the one to help her through her troubles this time. Not without further complicating things, and not while living at USC. She had her own problems.

She couldn't ask Bobby to look after Patty - that would send the wrong message entirely. She decided she should just let her network back at the high school know that Patty might need a shoulder to lean on, and hope for the best. Someone else would have to take it from there. She hit a speed dial button on her phone.

"Hey bro, how you doing?"

Raul Ramirez was dreaming.

He was looking through the door into a hospital room admiring his family. He could see the concern on his beautiful wife's face. He could see the signs of strain in his son, having to become the man of the house not once but two times in his young life. His heart melted at the lovely vision of his two daughters, the youngest care free with the blissful oblivion that can only come with youth.

His focus came to rest on his oldest child, wracked with anguish.

Suddenly he could feel the presence of his first wife and calm washed over him.

"Maria?" Raul said in wonder.

"Yes, my love. There's something you need to tell our daughter."

Patty stared at the phone, her eyes brimming with tears. Collette certainly hadn't been sympathetic about Morton's reaction to their liaison, but who could blame her? And her spiteful comment about Patty chasing after Bobby had sounded just like Morton's.

So both of them believed Bobby was the only one she really loved? Her tears slowed to a halt, as anger began taking the place of grief. Her boyfriend and best friend thought she was that shallow and immature?

She stalked downstairs to the living room where the baby grand piano sat, and attacked the keys. Her mother peered furtively around the corner and quickly withdrew from the anger finding its voice through her pounding of the instrument.

'I'll show them!' she raged. 'I don't need Bobby, I don't need Collette, and I don't need Morton!'

Suddenly her hands froze over the keys, as she heard her mind working.

That was just what Morton expected of her. He expected her to go back to Bobby or find some college guy to quickly take his place. It would merely confirm she was a self-centered bitch that only thought about herself. He didn't believe she had ever really loved him.

Well ... had she? Did she?

She remembered her indifferent comments about him to Collette, deriding his annoying insecurities about her. She'd said it was 'easier' to simply not mention things that might upset him, rather than share herself completely.

And whose fault was that?

She remembered Morton's sister's barely concealed sarcasm when she had picked Morton up for their picnic, and knew Leticia thought the same things about her. She had given up making love with Morton out of respect for his relationship with Patty. Now she probably thought Patty was pissing on her gift.

"Fuck!" she shouted aloud. She had met the enemy, and it was...

She grabbed her purse and stormed out of the room.

"What was that, dear?" her mother said reproachfully as she passed through the kitchen on the way to the garage.