Love Without Boundaries - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

*Special shout to xD_Gingerrr, thanks for being an awesome fan!!*
Forty
It was Friday and Robert’s uncle hadn’t tried to do anything, maybe now he could breathe and not have to worry about something bad happening. He still wasn’t talking to him, but he could deal with that. Today was also the day he was able to finally pick up the ring. When he went downstairs he was relieved to see his uncle wasn’t there.
“Morning everyone.” Robert said as he sat down.
“Morning mijo, so today is the day you pick up the ring, are you planning anything special for tonight?”
“Yeah you better be doing something special for Preston.” Nora added.
“Yes I have something plan for tonight, oh by the way don’t be expecting me home tonight.” Robert said.
“Can I go with you to pick up the ring; I want to be the first one to see it.”
“How about all of you just come with me, it will save me the trip on having to go there and then come back here, then to Vera’s and then to dad’s.” Robert said.
“Ok let’s go, I want to see how it came out.” Nora said. Robert laughed and shook his head. They finished breakfast and took off to pick up Vera. By the time they got to the mall Nora and Vera were bouncing in their seats. They were more excited to see the ring than Robert. They walked into the store and Robert went to the counter to pick up the ring. They handed him the box and he opened it, pulled out the ring. It was exactly how he pictured it would be, he placed it back in the box and turned to everyone else.
“Let me see it,” Both Nora and Vera said.
“Ok here but be careful and tell me what you think.” Robert handed them the box. As soon as they opened the box they started to cry.
“Oh my God it is so beautiful, there is no way he won’t love it.” Vera said.
“Yeah no way.” Nora added. They passed it to Tanya, she thought it looked perfect.
“Thank you guys for all the help picking it out.” Robert said.
“No problem, that’s what friends and family are for.” Tanya said.
“Well I was going to dad’s house I hope you guys don’t mind me stopping there before I take you all home?” Robert said, when he said this he was looking at his mom. It had been six years since she had seen his dad and he wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“No problem at all.” Tanya said. Robert nodded and they walked back to the car. The drive to his dad’s house was quiet. He felt like he should have called ahead to tell his dad he was going to be bringing people with him. He pulled up to the house and got out, he told everyone to come on. Robert went up to the door and knocked, he abuelita opened the door and welcomed everyone in, but stop when she saw Tanya.
“Tanya it’s nice to see you again, how have you been?” Liliana asked.
“It’s nice to see you too Liliana and I have been doing fine.” Tanya said.
“Well come on everyone sit, can I get anyone a drink, something to eat?”
“No abuelita that’s fine, we can’t really stay long. I just stopped by to show you and dad the ring. Speaking of dad, where is he?” Robert said.
“Oh he is in the back working let me go get him.” They watched as she walked to the back of the house. A few minutes later they came back, as soon as Cristian entered the room he stopped and his eyes landed on Tanya. Even after six years, he still thought she was the most beautiful woman ever. Their eyes met as they stared at each other. After all these years apart from each other, they still looked at each with a burning desire of love.
“Tanya it’s been a long time, how have you been?” Tanya stared at Cristian, the only man she had ever loved even to this day she still did, “I’m fine, how have you been Cristian?” Tanya said.
“I have been doing fine also.” Tanya nodded and looked away; she couldn’t afford to allow herself to fall in love with him again. Her heart couldn’t take it if he left her again. Robert could see his mom was upset about something so he jumped in and showed his dad and abuelita the ring.
“Well here is the ring, what do you think?” Robert handed the box to his dad; he opened it and took the ring out. He thought it looked perfect.
“It looks wonderful mijo; he is going to love it.” Liliana said.
“Thank you abuelita, I really hope he does.” Robert said.
“He will son.” Cristian said. They stay for a while longer to talk about how Robert should propose to Preston. It was late in the afternoon when they left. As everyone was saying their goodbye, Cristian pulled Tanya aside to talk to her.
“Tanya I just want to say how sorry I am for leaving y’all like that. I know that when I left I left you heartbroken. I know I don’t really deserve forgiveness. I just want you to know I still love you and will always love you. I hope that one day we could once again be together again.” Cristian said.
“I don’t blame you for leaving; it’s what you thought you had to do. I still love you too and I really do hope we can be together again, but until then I just think we shouldn’t see each other. Not with how things are right now.” Tanya said.
“I understand I’m willing to wait forever, just to be with you.” Tanya nodded her head and went to the car where everyone was waiting. She could feel the tears slowly spilling out; she got into the front seat. Robert saw that saw was crying, he reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. He whispered to her, “It’s going to be alright mom; you two will be together again.” Tanya just nodded her head; Robert put the car in drive and took off back home.
It was almost time for Preston to meet Ann Marie for coffee; he decided to got dressed in what he was going to wear for dinner with Robert. Just in case he ended up running late. He went downstairs to ask his mom for a ride.
“Hey mom do you think you can give me a ride to Starbucks, I’m meeting Ann Marie for coffee.” Preston asked
“So she is finally coming around?” Erin asked.
“Yeah I think so.”
“Ok let me just grab my keys and purse and I will take you.” They walked to the car together and took off. When she pulled up to the Starbucks she asked if he was going to need a ride back home.
“No after this I’m going out to dinner with Robert, but I will call you if I’m going to be really late coming home tonight.”
“Ok honey, have fun.” Preston got out of the car and walked inside. He looked around and saw that Ann Marie wasn’t here yet, he stood in line to order his coffee; he would just have to wait for her. He found a table by the window empty and sat down. He was sipping his coffee while he waited. Thirty minutes had passed and he was almost done with his coffee, and there was still no Ann Marie. He was starting to get the feeling that she stood him up. He only had an hour until he had to go meet Robert for dinner. He was about to get up and leave when he heard a familiar voice call his name. It was a voice he hadn’t heard in months. When Preston turned around, he was right about the familiar voice, he was face to face with Grant.
“Sorry I’m late, I got caught in traffic.” Preston looked at him, and wondered what he was talking about. He never remembered saying anything about going to meet him.
“What are you talking about?” Grant looked back at him, to see if he was joking. When he saw the look on his face and saw confusion written all over it, he knew Ann Marie had set him up. This must have been some scheme to get some revenge on Preston for stealing her boyfriend.
“Ann Marie never talked to you about us getting together to talk?”
“No I thought I was here to meet her for coffee, but you know what I have somewhere else I need to be.” Preston got up and grabbed his sweater to leave, but stopped when he heard Grant said, “I know you’re going out with Robert, that’s why I wanted to talk to you.” Preston sat back down.
“Well it’s not really any of your business who I’m dating now; you’re the one who decided to cheat on me with my roommate no less.” Preston shot back at him
“You’re right I have no business knowing who you date, but what I do want to know is how long you were in love with him?”
“Why does it matter to you?”
“It matters to me because I want to know if the whole time we were together even meant anything to you. I’m just getting the feeling that the day you met him, I was no longer the only one you desired.” How was he supposed to answer that, part of it was right. The day he met Robert changed everything about how he felt for Grant. He felt guilty at the time it started happening, but he couldn’t help it.
“I take it from the look on your face that I’m right about you falling for him the day you met him.” Grant said. Preston could only nod his head. “Unbelievable you’re not even going to try and deny it?”
“What for, so I can spare your feelings. You sure as hell weren’t thinking about my feelings when you jumped into bed with my roommate.” Preston replied back.
“Like I said had you not been so upset about not being friends with Robert and paid attention to me I wouldn’t have to jump into bed with someone else.”
“Your still with that, nothing about what you just said justifies your actions for cheating on me. No one ever has the right to cheat on anyone and think they can get off scotch free. Robert was right about you, had I listened to him sooner I wouldn’t be here arguing with you.” Grant slammed his fist on the table, everyone was now looking at them, but Grant didn’t notice. He was beyond pissed right now.
“I freaking knew it, I knew he was the one putting things in your head. I bet he was the one telling you not to come out to your family. Feeding you mumble jumble about how it is better to wait it out, just to make me look like an asshole.”
“You know what I don’t need this bullshit from you, I have somewhere to be, with someone who loves me.” Preston got up and walked passed him, but was stopped when Grant grabbed his wrist. That’s when Grant noticed his tattoo, as soon as he saw the letter R, he shot up from his chair causing it to fall over.
“You got his initial tattooed on your wrist?” crap Preston thought, he didn’t want him to see it. Grant had wanted to get matching tattoos together. But Preston thought it wasn’t a good idea.
“I love him and he loves me, beside it’s none of your business what I do. Now let go of me before you regret it.” Grant let go of his wrist, Preston rushed passed him and walked out of the building. When Preston was far enough he pulled out his phone, it was already ten till eight. He dialed Robert’s number.
“Amor are you on your way? Do you want me to go pick you up?”
“Yeah I just left; no I’ll be there soon.”
“Ok I’ll be waiting for you, I love you.”
“I love you too.” Preston hung up the phone and continued walking. The good thing was that the Starbucks he was at wasn’t really that far from the restaurant he was meeting Robert at. He had a few more blocks to go, as he was getting closer to the restaurant he had to pass a group of guys who were standing at the street corner. The closer Preston got, the more he was feeling uncomfortable about the way they were staring at him. Preston just put his head down and continued to walk. Just when he thought he was going to walk past them without problem, one of the guys stepped in front of him. This wasn’t good at all.
“Where do you think you’re going?  Anyone who passes here must pay a fee.” The guy said as he stepped closer to Preston.
“Look I don’t want any trouble; I will give you everything I have if you just let me pass.” Preston got out his wallet and pulled out all the money he had in it. He handed it to the guy; he took it and started to count it. It wasn’t much just about twenty-five bucks.
“Well this isn’t enough to let you pass, what else you got?” Preston was starting to panic; he didn’t have anything else on him.
“I don’t have anything else on me; can’t you just let me pass this one time?”
“I don’t know, if I let you pass without paying the fee what are all the other people going to think. Maybe we can work something out.” The guy reached out and started to caress Preston’s face, that’s when it hit Preston. This guy was going to want some kind of sexual favor in order for him to pass. There was no way in hell that was going to happen; he did the only thing he could do. He kicked the guy in the groin and took off run in the opposite direction. Preston hadn’t gotten far before he was tackled to the ground. He was pulled off the ground and was held by two guys. The guy he had kicked came up to him and Preston could see the anger in his eyes.
“You little shit, you think you can just hit me and think you could get away?” the guy punched Preston in the gut. He cried out in pain, the guy continued to hit Preston over and over. Soon Preston couldn’t feel anything at all. His vision started to go dark and then he fell face down, before he passed out he could hear somebody yelling and people running.
In the Broward General Medical, where Gregory was working, not much had happened. It was a pretty slow Friday night. He was drinking his coffee when the ambulance pulled up. He and Dr. Howard rushed to the door. When the EMT’s pulled out the stretcher, Gregory saw it was a teenage boy, but when he stepped closer he saw it was his son Preston. His body was covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises.
“What happened to him?”
“Well according to the witness, he was attacked by some gang members. They really did a number on him.” The EMT said. That’s when Dr. Howard noticed that the boy was Preston.
“Gregory you have to move we need to get him into the ER.” He moved aside but started to follow them. ”Gregory I can’t allow you into the ER, not when the victim is your son. Go call your family and tell them what is going on.” Dr. Howard tried to push him out of the room.
“But that is my son; I have to be in there with him!” Gregory yelled; he was regretting the way he had been treating Preston. Now there was the possibly of him not making it and he never had the chance to tell him he was sorry.
“I know Greg and that is why I can’t let you in there. You are not thinking clearly just let me handle it and I promise your boy will come out of this just fine. Go call your family they need to know.” He just nodded his head and went into the waiting room; he pulled out his phone and called Erin.
“Hey honey, what’s going on?” he started crying before he even had a chance to speak. As soon as she heard him crying she knew something was wrong.
“What’s wrong Gregory?” he took a deep breath before he spoke.
“It’s Preston, he was attacked and they just brought him in. Dr Howard is with him and he is doing everything he can to get fix him up, but he won’t let me in the ER. You and the kids need to come down here right now.”
“Ok I’m on my way.” After she hung up with Gregory she called Xavier and Ann Marie and told them to get to the hospital. Erin was out the door in less than five minutes and drove to the hospital. When she got there everyone was waiting for her.
“How is he doing, do you know anything yet.” Erin said as she was trying hard not to cry, but failed. Gregory pulled her into his arms and was trying to calm her down.
“It’s going to be alright, Preston is a strong boy and he will pull thru this. I just don’t understand what he was doing in that part of town and why was he walking.” Gregory said. Erin got out of his embrace and turned to face Ann Marie, whose face was red and puffy.
“Wasn’t he with you, I thought he was meeting you for coffee?” When Erin asked that she started to cry harder, it was her fault this had happened to him.
“No he never met me for coffee, he was meeting Grant. I just had told him it was me he was meeting so he would agree to be there and now it is my fault he is here. I’m so sorry I didn’t know this was going to happen.” Erin just nodded her head; he must have been on his way to meet Robert, why didn’t he just take a cab? That’s when it hit her, Robert wasn’t here. Nobody had called Robert. She pulled out her phone to call him.
Robert looked at his watch, it was already nine and Preston still hadn’t showed up. He was starting to get worried, he had called his phone five times already and he wasn’t answering it. Just when he was about to try to call again, his phone rang he didn’t know the number, but answered it anyway.
“Hello”
“Robert this is Erin.”
“Oh hello Erin, what can I do for you?”
“Robert I don’t know how to say this but here it goes, something has happened to Preston. On his way to meet you he was attacked and he is in a critical condition; and we are all here at the Broward General Medical.” Robert felt his blood run cold.
“I’m on my way.” Robert hung up and left the restaurant and headed towards the hospital. When he got to the waiting room he saw Preston’s parents talking to a doctor. He walked up to where Xavier was.
“Have you guy’s heard how he was doing?” Xavier shook his head; Robert could see that he had been crying.
“Why didn’t he let me to pick him up, I should have never let him meet me at the restaurant.” Robert said as he felt tears slowly escape and roll down his face. He should have never let him go by himself. Robert started to pace back and forth in the waiting room. He could see that the doctor was talking to Preston’s parents for a while; it only caused him to worry more. The expressions on their face didn’t look too promising. Once the doctor left and Preston’s parents walked up to him, he could see that something wasn’t alright.
“How is he, is he going to be alright?” Robert asked, Erin stood next to Robert and placed her arm around his shoulder. Now he was certain that things won’t alright.
“He is stable; he suffered a lot of injuries. They were so bad that he slipped into a coma from the pain he had to endure. The good news is they don’t think he will be in the coma for long.” Gregory said. Robert only could nod his head, but in his mind he could only think of the negative and the possibility of Preston never waking up.
“They said we can go in and see him, but only one at a time.” Erin said. They let Robert go in first, when he walked into the room and saw Preston lying in the bed. He started to cry, it was too much to see the love of his life lying in the bed motionless. Robert could see that Preston was cover in so many bruises and scrapes. He could only image how much pain he was in and how he couldn’t do anything to help him. He reached for Preston’s hand and he knelt down and started to pray that he would wake up soon.
“Amorcito please wake up and come back to me. i dont think i could live without you in my life.” Robert kissed him on the cheek, he stayed in that same spot until they came and told him he needed to leave so someone else could see him. Robert walked back to the waiting room and sat next to Xavier. All they could do was wait it out.