The Rock Star and The Mafia

Chapter 28

Cheri hated hospitals.  She'd only been in one twice, when her mother passed away and when Paulo was murdered.  She hated them with a passion because they never brought good news and as they started down the pristine hallway towards the ICU area, her stomach started to lurch and it took everything she had not to vomit.

She noticed that there were two men outside Tommaso's hospital room and she knew beyond a doubt they were Alessio's men.  She also noticed another man, in a suit, and knew immediately he was a detective.  This is exactly what Alessio wanted to avoid.

"Mr. Castellano?" he approached politely.  Alessio just stared at him.  It was not in his nature to be friendly towards law enforcement but he would be cordial.  "Yes, Detective?" Alessio responded.  "Salazar" the suited man replied.  "May we talk?" he asked, looking at me.

"She's my girlfriend.  You can say whatever it is you need to say in front of her.  We have no secrets from each other" Alessio replied stiffly.  The detective nodded.

"We have reason to believe that Mr. Bianchi's car was intentionally run off the road" the detective started.  Well gee, tell us something we didn't know already Cheri wanted to scream.  "Ma'm, you might want to look away" he said holding some photos in his hand.

Cheri shook her head no and the detective just shrugged his shoulders.  Handing Alessio the photos, it was an absolute miracle that Tommaso was even in the hospital and not the morgue.

There was nothing left of his beautiful Corvette.  It was a totaled, twisted heap of metal and fiberglass.  Cheri swallowed thickly and then turning to Alessio she said "Baby, I'm gonna go in.  Do what needs to be done here."  She never acknowledged the detective when she turned and walked towards Tommaso's room.

The two men that were outside of Tommaso's room just nodded respectfully as one of them opened the door for her.  She covered her mouth as she gasped.  So many machines, tubes and IV's hooked up to her friend.

She took in his serene expression.  One would think he was merely sleeping except there was a machine breathing for him, he had IV's in both hands, little round leads that monitored his heart and blood pressure and the very noticeable cuts and bruises that adorned his beautiful body.

Walking closer to him she finally reached the bed, bringing her hand to his head, moving hair out of his face.  "Hey Mas" she said softly, stroking his arm.  "We're here now.  You just need to get better, okay?  You know I don't know the first thing about cooking for the guys and who's going to fix my coffee?" she lightly laughed, trying anything to get a reaction from him.

"You know Alessio will take care of whoever did this to you" she promised.  "I'm so sorry about your car.  I know how much you loved it" she said sadly.  Sighing she sat back in the chair waiting on Alessio to enter the room.

Glancing at Tommaso's upper body, she couldn't help but notice the same belly tattoo that Alessio had, Mi Famiglia and he had the same ones on his inner forearms as well, Loyalty and Respect.  Must be a Castellano family thing she thought.

Cheri was getting fidgety waiting for Alessio and a doctor to come and give them an update on Tommaso's condition.  Hearing the door, she expected to find Alessio but instead it was a nurse.

"Hello.  I'm Cassidy" she said in a friendly, soothing voice.  "Hey Cassidy.  I'm Cheri" Cheri responded.  The nurse smiled back at Cheri putting her immediately at ease.  "Is Mr. Bianchi a family member?" she asked.  Cheri nodded.

"He's my cousin" she responded as she watched Cassidy take great care with Tommaso.  She replaced two IV bags, checked the readings on the monitors and then took a cool cloth and wiped his forehead down, his neck, shoulders, then chest and abdomen.

Cassidy was very pretty and petite.  She was shorter than Cheri, long blonde hair that she wore up in a ponytail, nice behind and a somewhat small chest.

"How long have you been a nurse?" Cheri asked as she was still seeing to Tommaso.  "Ten years" the nurse stated.  "You like what you do?" Cheri asked.  She nodded enthusiastically.  "I really do.  I meet some really great families, sometimes the outcomes are great and happy and sometimes they're not.  I found reflecting on the great ones help you get through the ones that aren't so great."

They continued talking about Mas and other things when Alessio finally entered the room.  Cheri stood, walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  "Baby, this is Cassidy.  She's Tommaso's nurse" Cheri introduced.  Alessio stuck out his hand.  "Thanks for taking care of my cousin" he said.

Cassidy blushed but kept her composure otherwise.  It was very hard not to blush in Alessio's presence.  He just brought it out in you.  "I'm sure the both of you have questions for Mr. Bianchi's doctor, so I will go find him and let him know that family is here" she said walking out.

Cheri chuckled a little bit.  "What are you laughing about?" Alessio asked her, confused.  "I think our cute little nurse has a crush on Tommaso" she said.  "Well I've been telling him for years that he needs to settle down" Alessio said shaking his head.

Taking his hand in hers, Cheri looked over at Alessio.  "He told me one morning, when I was helping him with breakfast, that he wanted to settle down but that he hadn't been lucky enough like you to find a girl he really wanted to make a home with."  This was news to Alessio.

Cheri stood up, not being able to stay still, and pulled the sheet up a little more on Tommaso when she noticed goosebumps on his skin.  She didn't want him getting too cool.  Alessio was pacing so there wasn't much she could do with him at the moment.

"How are you feeling, honey?" Cheri asked.  He shrugged but answered "It's still a little sore" he said "But not too bad.  I'll be glad when I can get the stitches out."  She understood.  She was so glad when she finally got the ones out of her forehead because they itched like crazy when it started to heal.

A young doctor walked into Tommaso's room as Alessio started to go see what was keeping them.  "I'm Dr. Timmons" he said, his hand out to Alessio's.  After shaking hands the doctor jumped right in.

"Mr. Bianchi suffered some head trauma, it's not severe, but it is causing some swelling to the brain so because of that we have him in an induced coma, only for twenty-four hours.  We'll do another head scan and if the swelling has gone down or disappeared completely, we'll take him off the machine."

"His left lung was punctured, but we took care of that and that's why he has the tube in his left chest and other than the cuts and bruises, the head injury is what concerns us the most.  We have the best trauma unit in state and I can assure you that Mr. Bianchi is getting the best of care."

"Here's my card.  Please, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call.  I have other rounds but I will check back in with you folks in about an hour.  Do either of you have any questions?" he asked.  Neither Alessio or Cheri had any questions at this point.  The doctor was very thorough.

"Alessio, you know I have never asked to be a part of your business, but with what happened to you and now Tommaso, I have to know.  I'm not making demands on when or where you tell me, but I need you to be honest with me and tell me who has it out for mi famiglia" Cheri told him.

"Capisco (I understand)" Alessio acknowledged.  "I know who it is, Cheri.  But I do not want to discuss it here.  Can we talk about this later?" he asked.  Standing and walking to him, she allowed herself to be folded into his arms where she felt safe and secure.  

She wouldn't like the conversation, she knew this, but these people were her family and she had a right to know.