Heavenly Virtues

Part 59

Ashley woke. In the last couple of days, the swelling and pain in her face had subsided a little. The pain in her heart had not though. She had spent the last couple of days locked in the little bedroom, Noah, who Ashley had learned was the boys Da had brought her food and water, which she had declined most of the time.

In their defense the boys had tried, they had tried to talk to her, tried to see her, but the greif of her parents and then the baby was too much, so here she was laying in bed fresh tear trails painting her face and unable to catch her breath.

*****

Murphy stood on the other side of the door. He could hear the faint sniffles and the muffled sobs that left the room, and it broke his heart. He leaned into the door, resting his head on it and feeling his fingers wrap around the knob before he heard Connor from the end of the hall. "Murph, ye gotta give er time, brother." He said sympathetically.

Connor knew Murphy blamed him. He could see it in the glares he shot his way these past few days and the silence he had gotten from him. He really had thought he had made the right decision, pushing Ashley away. He could see now that he was wrong as him and Murphy were getting the cold shoulder.

Murphy turned away from him, continuing down the hall to the other room. This house had been a safe house for their Da when he was running hits for the Italian mob, long abandoned and isolated, something they all needed to recuperate.

The hallway was narrow, with chipping paint and torn up carpeting. Murphy felt the subfloor along the bottoms of his shoes as he let his feet carry him to the next room. This room he didn't hesitate gripping the handle and pushing it open.

The sight in this room did nothing for his heartache as he stared down at his best friend. Even after all that time spent locked up, their Da had some amazing connections. Rocco was alive, thanks to the doctors their Da had brought in. Still hooked up to machines and in and out of consciousness, but alive.

Murphy sat on the bed beside Rocco, and as he had found himself since that day in Yakavetta's basement, he was lost for words.

*****

Connor stood in the kitchen, preping a lunch he knew Ashley wouldn't eat, but he had to keep himself busy. He carried the weight of it all, the baby, Rocco. If he had been smarter, if he hadn't pushed her away, if he hadn't listened to the call in the first place.

He could hear her muffled crys as he neared her room, and when he knocked, he could hear her shuffle and sniffle. "Ye should eat lass." He said through the door with pain in his voice. In the same pained voice, he heard her quietly respond, "Go away."

*****

The next few days carried on the same. The only real change being Rocco, who was up and walking around now. He sat now at the dining table in the small house, bandaged and broken, but alive. "All week?" He asked as he took a drag from his cigarette. Connor nodded, his arms folded across his chest and a somber look resting on his face. "Aye, she hasn't come out, wanted to talk, fuck she's barely eaten." Murphy said as he tapped his cigarette off the ashtray.

"She can't stay in there forever. We've got to figure out a plan, work this shit out to hit him hard, finish this for good." Rocco said, getting hyped up in his usual way. "Aye, not yet though. We just hit em, everyone will be on high alert. We've got ta lay low for now roc." Connor said almost exhaustedly, repeating what he had been telling all week to Murphy.

"Plus, we've got an inside man. He's helping us work something out." Connor threw in. Roccos ears perked up at the new information. "Who?" He said as he intently looked between the two boys. "That FBI agent," Murphy said. "Ye know, the one ye almost killed in the church." Connor butted in. Rocco became quiet, thankful he hadn't made any rash decisions that day.