Unraveling Secrets

Chapter 66

Nova

I ran out of the school to meet Toni and Elio outside. Once my eyes landed on Toni I ran over to him.

"Toni!" I say getting his attention as I made my way over. "Hospital? What? What happened?" 

"I don't know I texted what I know. That is literally all I know." He says,  clearly worried about his friend.

"Okay. Okay. No its fine. I am sure everything is fine." I say half trying to reassure myself, but Toni as well.  "We will just go down and find out what is going on." I say.

Elio nods. "Yeah you know how he is, its probably nothing." 

"I will meet you guys there." I say and they nod. I get into my car and follow them out of the parking lot. "You better be okay you fucking asshole. You probably did this shit on purpose." I continue to drive in silence before punching my steering wheel. "Damn it." 

I reach for my phone and call Jax.

"Hey where are you? I texted but you did answer." He says.

"Andres is in the hospital." I tell him.

"What!? Why? What happened?"

"I don't know. That is all anyone knows right now. I am following behind Toni and Elio to the hospital."

"Are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be. It's Toni we should be worried about. It's his best-friend."

"Nova don't be downplaying your feelings."

"I'm not-"

"Nova." He warns.

"I don't know. Okay. I don't know what I am feeling, but I know I am worried."

"Do you want me to come?"

"No its okay. Maybe after I figure out what is going on. Just- I don't know.  Were you guys friends? I know you were getting along better with the guys-"

"First off don't use past tenses Nova. Second, no we aren't really friends. If I am being honest I don't think the guy likes me too much."

"Oh come on-"

"Nova he likes you and your best-friend is a guy. He is bound to hate me and that is okay. We aren't talking about me and Andres though, we are talking about you."

"I am fine for now. For all we know he could have just broken his foot. Right?"

"Right. For all we know he could be a big cry baby. He does fight you over a seat everyday." Jax says and I laugh.

"Yeah he actually got it today."

"Wow he actually showed up to class? Early? He must really like you. Or just that seat."

"Yeah." 

"It's gonna be okay Nova."

"I gotta go, we are pulling into the parking lot."

"Alright keep me updated."

"I will." I say before hanging up. I park next to Toni and get out of the car. "You ready?" I ask him. 

"Yeah." He says and we walk in.

"Hi we are here for Andrés Perez." Elio says.

"And who are you to him?" The lady asks.

"We are his friends."

"I'm sorry I can't disclose information to those outside of his family." 

"Sorry let me rephrase that." Elio says. "We are his friends Antonio, Angelo, and Nova Rizzo. You probably know us, and our older brother Lorenzo Rizzo." He says and I have never seen him so serious in my life unless food is involved.

Her eyes widen before she speaks. "Oh I- I am so sorry. I didn't know."

"I don't care I just need to know about Andres. Where is he."

"I am sorry you can't see him right now, he is in surgery."

"Surgery?!" I accidentally yelled causing her to flinch. "Sorry."

"What happened?" Toni asks.

"He was shot." 

"WHAT" I yelled again but louder causing her to flinch again. "Sorry." I mumbled again.

"Is he going to be okay?" Elio asks.

"I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that. I will send a doctor out as soon as I can. in the meantime you can sit in the waiting room."

"Do you have any other details? Where he was shot? The condition he was in when he came in? How long the surgery should be?" I ask.

"I'm sorry all I know is that it was an emergency surgery and his condition wasn't stable when we came in. I really don't know anything else." She says and I nod.

"Come on lets go have a seat." Elio says.

We sit in the waiting room and about 30 minutes later Lorenzo, Matteo, and Marcello walk in. They go right up to the desk like we did. "Andrés Perez." Lorenzo says before Elio speaks.

"Guy's over here." He says and they all turn around and come over.

"Hey what's going on? What did they say?" Matteo asks.

"He was shot and is in emergency surgery." Elio says.

"What!?!" Mar says.

"Why wasn't he in school." Lorenzo asks.

"I don't know he was there in the morning." Toni says.

"He got a call." I say. "He got a call, said something about 'I will take care of it' and then left." 

"You were with him?" Toni asks.

"We had class together right before. He got the call almost right after class ended." 

I wonder who it was." Lorenzo says.

"Could it have been his father?" Mar asks.

"That is a possibility, but it also could have just been one of his men informing him of an issue that came up and he went to deal with it not knowing exactly what he was walking into." Lorenzo says.

"I don't know, but we will get the answers after he pulls through." Matteo says.

We had been sitting in the waiting area for what felt like hours before some guy came out and walked over to the desk. His eyes then flickered over to us before he heading towards us.

"Hi. You must be Andres friends, is that correct?" He asks.

"Yes that is us." Matteo speaks up.

"I was in the operating room with your friend. He is definitely a fighter that one." He says with a light chuckle. "You can go in and see him now. He will be out sleeping for a while though. Just keep that in mind when you go in." I follow behind my brothers through the doors and down the hall. "Here you are. If you would like I can have someone come talk to you with more detail of what happened." The doctor says with a sad smile before leaving.

My brothers walk through the room door first, and me slowly behind them. When everyone finds a spot I make my way towards the bed and my breath hitches. He is hooked up to a lot of machines and has a needle through is arm. I swallow back any emotions trying to come to the surface and take the seat on the opposite side of the bed that Antonio is on. 

We all sit in silence and I remember I am supposed to keep Jax updated, so I pull out my phone and send him a long ass text. Part of me was itching to grab his hand, but all of my brothers are sitting in the same room and there is no way I would get away with it. So instead I just stay in my seat and wait. 

Word Count: 1150