Falling for Him 11: Karen and Robert, Book 3 Read online

  Falling for Him

  Karen and Robert

  Book 3

  (Book 11 in the Falling for Him Series)

  Jessica Gray

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, and places in this book exist only within the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons or locations is purely coincidental.

  Falling For Him, Karen and Robert, Book 3

  (Book 11 in the Falling for Him Series)

  All Rights Reserved

  Copyright © 2016 Jessica Gray

  This book is copyrighted and protected by copyright laws.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from the author.

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

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  Chapter 1

  Robert was finally dozing off after hours of self-loathing when his cell phone rang. He jerked awake and took a moment to orient himself. His phone was beeping on the nightstand and he identified the call was coming from an unknown caller ID. The hospital? Or the police? Or…? He braced himself for the worst before he slid his thumb across the screen.

  “Hello?”

  “Robert?”

  “Thank God! Karen, where are you? Are you okay?”

  He’d never experienced her in such an agitated state of mind. The words flew out of her mouth a mile a minute as she told him the unbelievable story about some knife stabbing and a man who’d saved her and now needed a nurse – Marcela – to help him.

  “Babe. Give me your location and I’ll call the ambulance.”

  “No! No police. Just call Marcela. Please?”

  He ran a hand through his thick hair, trying to come up with…what? “Karen, if you need help…”

  “No police.”

  “Are you okay?” Robert cradled the phone between his ear and shoulder while he stood and dressed.

  “I’m fine. Robert, please, promise me you won’t call the cops or the ambulance. Just bring Marcela here.”

  “Karen, are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. Please trust me.”

  “Fine. Give me the address.” Karen recited it to him and he wrote it down. “I’ll go get her and we should be there within half an hour.”

  “Please hurry. I don’t know that he’s got much more time than that.”

  Robert’s first reaction upon hanging up was to call the cops anyway. But then he thought back to Karen’s request that he trust her. He’d made enough wreckage of their relationship by not trusting her with his big secret. If he betrayed her another time, she’d never come back to him.

  He slipped his shoes on and dialed Marcela’s number with a sinking feeling in his gut.

  A very groggy voice answered the phone. “Hello?”

  “Marcela, it’s Robert and I need your help.” What the hell am I doing?

  “Robert, you know what time it is?”

  “Yes. Karen just called me. She’s at the community center with a man who’s bleeding after a knife stabbing. He refuses to let her call the police or ambulance, and she doesn’t think he’ll make it until morning without help.”

  “What community center?” Marcela asked, alertness apparent in her voice. Robert gave her the address and she cursed, “Mierda. That is a bad area of town. What is Karen doing down there?”

  “I don’t know. I’m coming to get you right now.”

  “I’ll be ready. We’ll be better off walking from here. It’s just a few blocks.”

  “See you in a few minutes.” Robert hung up feeling like his sheltered life had been turned upside down.

  By the time he and Marcela were headed to the community center, he was sick with worry. This was like a bad movie, and once Marcela began talking about how the gangs controlled this part of the city, Robert’s spine tingled with fear.

  “They don’t like white people. No one comes down here without a reason, and most strangers don’t make it out alive.”

  “And yet, here we are…”

  “You’re safe with me. I can always wave this.” She held up the first aid kid she’d grabbed before leaving her apartment. “And this is the only street in this quarter where the gangs have agreed to a truce, which they usually adhere to.”

  “Gee, you’re making me feel so good about this.” As ridiculous as it sounded, Marcela’s presence gave him sangfroid. If she weren’t afraid with her five foot two, then he wouldn’t be afraid either.

  “I wasn’t trying to make you feel at ease. This is a dangerous area, and I would never come here without a reason. Not even during the day. We see patients every week from this area, usually suffering from a knife wound or a gunshot. Most of the people who live down here refuse to visit the hospitals, so sometimes we don’t see them until they’re already septic.”

  “Why don’t they seek medical help?” Robert increased his pace until she barely kept up.

  “They’re afraid the hospital will call the cops and they’ll end up in prison. Most of the men down here are probably wanted on multiple warrants.”

  “What you’re telling me is outrageous. Something you only see in the movies.”

  Marcela groaned. “Welcome to the real world. Where do you think the producers get their ideas for the movies? This is what life looks like for lots of people. Every day.”

  He wondered if this was the kind of life Marcela had lived like before coming to the United States, or if this was what she would be looking at if she were deported. While he had been a mess of nerves and anxiety, she’d remained calm since he’d picked her up at the front door of her shabby ten-story building. She’d already been waiting for him, dressed in blue jeans and a black woolen sweater with an emergency case in her hand that looked more like an oversized tackle box than a first aid kit.

  Just when Robert was about to ask how much further they had to go, they rounded a corner and she said, “Here we are.”

  He knocked on the wooden doors, breathing a sigh of relief when a visibly disturbed Karen opened them amidst her tears of gratitude. “Thank God you’re here. Fernando’s over there.”

  Fernando? Robert took a glimpse into the big room, and the sight of a very muscled, very handsome man naked from the waist up threw him off balance. Jealousy gripped him like a fist and he had to swallow several times to gather his composure.

  Marcela didn’t waste time; she kneeled down beside the man, working to stop the bleeding from his wound. She talked softly with him in Spanish and the agony in his expression slowly faded. Robert admired Marcela’s gift for helping people. It seemed she’d chosen the perfect profession.

  Then he turned his attention toward Karen. Half relieved, half angry, he wanted to pull her into his arms and feel her soft body pressing against his, while demanding an explanation for the situation she’d gotten herself into. But she didn’t even bestow him so much as a glance and was glued to the bare-chested man’s side – holding his hand.

  Robert wanted to scream with jealousy.

  Chapter 2
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br />   Karen hoped her nightmarish day had finally passed its lowest point, when she was crouched over the bleeding man who’d saved her life. Marcela, her boyfriend’s wife, knelt next to her and Karen prayed to God the registered nurse would succeed in stopping the bleeding and keep her savior alive.

  Marcela inspected the stab wound and said, “You’re a lucky man, Fernando. One inch deeper and the knife would have pierced your heart.”

  Karen wanted to vomit at the thought of witnessing a murder, but Fernando shrugged as if his own death was nothing for him to be concerned with.

  “It’s going to need stitches.” Marcela said.

  Stitching? Karen’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know nurses gave stitches.”

  “They normally don’t.” Marcela didn’t even look up as she opened the oversized tackle box that turned out to be a first aid kid. She removed needle, thread, and a bottle of disinfectant, which she poured over the wound.

  “Ayeeee!!!”

  Karen was horrified at the scream, but Marcela simply said, “Maricá.“ Holding her breath, Karen expected an angry outburst from Fernando at being called a faggot, but much to her relief he only sent Marcela a scornful glance and took the piece of rope she handed him.

  “Bite on the rope before you scream again. I don’t want to be caught here helping you.”

  This is surreal, Karen thought, while she watched Marcela do her work. This was a far cry from the woman’s everyday nursing duties, and yet she appeared to be very much in control of the situation and her reluctant patient. She inserted the thread into the needle and then sutured the wound. After the first stitch, she commanded, “Karen. Scissors.”

  Karen obeyed and searched for the scissors in the oversized box, then wanted to hand them to Marcela, who shook her head and pointed with her middle finger. “No. You have to cut. Right here.”

  Not sure if she could do it, Karen took a deep and calming breath before she cut the thread as instructed and Marcela tied a knot. Karen recalled Marcela’s self-talk earlier this day and how she’d been on the run from her uncle for years. Maybe one learns this type of survival skills on the streets? I can’t imagine how life was for her before she came here.

  Fernando winced a few times as the two women repeated the stitch, cut, knot procedure six more times, but he didn’t make a loud noise. Finally Marcela said with a satisfied tone, “That should do.”

  Marcela proceeded to clean everything and provide Fernando with instructions as well as Coke and cookies, when Karen suddenly found herself being lifted from the floor by Robert. She’d totally forgotten her boyfriend was here as well. “What?”

  He pulled her a little distance away from the other two and hissed at her, “What are you doing here?”

  Karen shrugged off his hold. “How dare you ask me that?”

  Robert grabbed her again, his face red with fury. “I’ll ask anything I damn well please. Do you have any idea how worried we’ve all been about you? And you’re off doing God knows what with…” he nodded toward Fernando, “a common thug?”

  “He’s not a…”

  “Marcela told me how dangerous this place is. So I ask again, what are you doing down here?”

  Blood was rushing through her ears and she wanted to scream with desperation. Robert was unfair beyond measure; it wasn’t her fault she got mugged in the first place. Okay, maybe it was. But just a little. I should never have left the hospital. Or followed him to Los Angeles in the first place. “You know what, Robert? I don’t have the patience to deal with you right now.”

  When he reached for her again, she slapped him. “Don’t touch me!”

  “Children,” Marcela whispered to them. “The no-shouting rule applies to everyone. Trust me, you don’t want to draw attention to our presence here.”

  Karen apologized. “I’m sorry.”

  Robert, though, was more agitated than she’d ever seen him in their three years together. “Well, I’m not.” He picked her up around the middle and carried her further into the building, away from the prying eyes and ears of Marcela and Fernando.

  Furious with his high-handedness, Karen struggled to free herself from his grip and beat her fists upon his shoulders, but to no avail.

  “I want answers and I want them now,” he said as let her down once they’d reached the other room.

  Chapter 3

  Robert knew he was acting like a Neanderthal, but there was nothing he could do about it. He’d been on a roller coaster of emotions the entire day – a day he hoped would soon be over and fade into memory as the worst day of his entire life.

  The moment he’d seen Karen and how much she cared for this Fernando guy, the green-eyed monster of jealousy had pushed all other emotions aside and gripped him with a force he hadn’t thought possible.

  Fernando’s body was the kind fitness models and athletes sported, and Robert couldn’t compete in that department. He’d been in great shape when he’d met Karen three years earlier, but since then?

  Slightly embarrassed, he acknowledged he’d put on at least fifteen pounds and only went to the gym a couple of times a month now. Exercise, just like many other things in his life, had taken a backseat to work. Even his relationship with Karen fell into that category.

  They hadn’t done anything fun or exciting in such a long time, he was hard pressed to remember their last adventure together. They kept going through the normal routine, week after week. Month after month. Even their sex had become average. Boring. Things need to change when we get back to Santa Clara.

  He took a calming breath and tried to steady his voice. “Karen. Babe. Please. Marcela said you were in the hospital. Why did you leave?”

  “She told you?” Her face flushed pink and she put her hands on her hips.

  “Yes. And I was worried to death. Why did you leave?”

  “That’s none of your business.” She glared daggers at him and he felt the situation spiraling out of control.

  “Why are you even in Los Angeles?” Robert wanted to take her into his arms, but more than that he needed answers and the more she resisted, the more his jealousy captured his heart and brain.

  “I had business to do here.”

  “You’re lying. You were spying on me. I told you I would call and let you know what was happening, but you just couldn’t trust me, could you?”

  ”Do you even deserve to be trusted?” Karen bit her upper lip and took a step sideways.

  Robert followed her and soon they circled each other like boxers in the ring before attacking. “So who is Fernando?”

  “He…”

  “How did you meet him? Was he the guy who answered your phone?” Robert was growing more enraged as time went by. All the pent-up emotions between them from the last several weeks surfaced, fueling his rage. Anger. Hurt. Shame.

  “My phone? He didn’t answer my phone.”

  “So there’s yet another man? Two in one day? How many others have there been?” He wasn’t even trying to temper his words; they were spilling from his mouth, a torrent of hateful accusations he would no doubt regret once he calmed down, but he was beyond reason. “Tell me! You said you loved me and you treat me like this? All this time you’ve been betraying me with every hunk that crossed your path.”

  Karen opened her mouth to respond and shut it again, her face a wall of hatred and scorn. “Watch your mouth, asshole. I’ve been betraying you? Oh, that’s rich coming from the man who conveniently forgot to tell me he’s been married to someone else all this time.” She slapped him in the face before turning on her heel and announcing, “It’s over.”

  Robert felt like a cold shower had hit him. He intended to go after Karen, but just at that moment Marcela stepped out of the other room with her stuff packed and ready to go. “We need to get out of here.”

  “I need to get Karen…”

  “No. I’m done here and we need to leave. It’s not safe.”

  “What about Karen? We can’t just leave her here.”

  Marcela
glanced back to where Karen was sitting next to Fernando, holding his hand. “I don’t think you have a choice. Let’s go.”

  Robert wanted to protest, but Marcela was already heading back to the other room and he followed her. She stopped to say good-bye to Karen.

  “Karen. Your friend should be fine. But make sure he drinks the whole bottle of Coke and eats the cookies I left. The sugar will give him energy. If the wound doesn’t start bleeding again you have to call an ambulance, or…” She didn’t finish her sentence, but everyone in the room knew exactly what would happen otherwise.

  “And make sure he stays conscious. Talk to him. Pinch him. He’s your protection, so make sure he stays awake.”

  He’s her protection? Robert swallowed down her fear and noticed Karen doing the same. She looked so small and lost in this moment, he wanted to forget their stupid fight and make everything all right for her.

  “I can do that,” Karen said with a nod of her head.

  “No. She can’t stay here. Not with him,” Robert insisted, glaring at Fernando. He turned to Marcela and whispered harshly, “He could still pose a threat to her.”

  “He’s no threat to her. Weren’t you listening to what happened? He saved her life,” Marcela whispered back. “We need to leave, the sooner the better.”

  “Don’t listen to him, Marcela,” Karen said. “I’ll stay here with Fernando and I’ll be fine. Robert is only jealous. I don’t know why, since we’re finished.” Karen gave Robert a dirty look and then turned her attention back to the nurse.

  Robert saw Marcela hide a smile as she whispered to Karen, just loud enough for him to overhear, “He sure is a hunk.”

  Karen returned the smile and said, “Yeah. I know.” Then she locked eyes with Robert and added fuel to the fire: “His chest is the stuff dreams are made of.”

  He knew she did this to irritate him. And irritated he was. Apart from the fact his girlfriend preferred a common gangster over him, now the two women who should hate each other allied themselves against him.