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I frowned. He sounded anxious. “I’m in the dining room at Moonlight. Is something wrong?”
“That’s great,” he said, relief in his voice. “Nothing is wrong. I just need to ask you for a favor. I’ll be over in a minute.”
He hung up before I could reply. I knew he was staying with Sean this week, and since my brother’s cottage was on the grounds of the hotel, it would probably take only a minute for Jeremy to get here. I did wonder why he couldn’t just ask me over the phone.
Sure enough, Jeremy walked into the dining room a short time later. I stood to give him a hug. “So what’s the emergency?”
Jeremy smiled and shook his head. “No emergency.” He blew out a breath. “I guess I’m just a little nervous.”
“About what?”
He pulled on his bottom lip with his teeth. “So you know I’m going to premiere my new piano concerto with the Queer Urban Orchestra this month, right?”
I nodded. “Yes, I’m really looking forward to hearing it. Did something change with the concert? I know it was put together kind of last minute.”
He shook his head. “No. It’s all still set for the same date and time.” He took a deep breath and continued. “I’m going to propose to Sean at the end of the concerto.”
My eyes went wide, and I hugged him again. “Oh my God. That’s great. Sean will be so happy.”
“I hope so,” Jeremy said.
“I know so,” I retorted. “So what do you need me to do?”
“I’d like as many of his friends as we can gather to be there. I know it’s a tough time of year and the concert is three days before Christmas, but I’d like to try.”
I nodded. “I can do that. You might need to get me some names and phone numbers, but I can make the calls for you. Do you have a block of tickets saved?”
“Yes,” he said. “I have twenty-five seats set aside.”
“Excellent. We can make this happen.”
Half an hour later, Jeremy and I had a solid plan to get the word out, and luckily, my brother hadn’t walked in to interrupt us. I decided to go home after that because the lunch crowd was coming in and I didn’t feel like taking requests.
My phone vibrated with another call as I walked to my car.What was up with this day? When I saw it was Tony, my heart rate kicked up. He rarely called me, especially when Marco was out of town. “Tony? What’s up?”
“Marco got hurt.”
My chest constricted. “How bad?” I asked, my voice hoarse with worry.
“Bad enough,” Tony ground out. “He was grazed by a bullet and then one of the motherfuckers pushed him down a flight of stairs.”
I was having trouble breathing. “Where is he now?”
“They’re on a chartered plane back to the States,” he replied. “They’re scheduled to land at Newark in another four hours. I’m going to meet them at the airport.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “Why isn’t he in a hospital?”
“Because he’s a He-Man Navy SEAL asshole, that’s why,” Tony growled. “You know what he’s like when it comes to hospitals.”
I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, trying to keep myself from screaming. It wasn’t Tony’s fault Marco was a stubborn pain in the ass. “What are his injuries?” I finally asked.
“Aside from the bullet wound, he has a concussion, a sprained ankle, and bruising all up his left side.”
I rolled my shoulders and straightened. “What do you need me to do?”
I heard Tony sigh with relief. “Can you meet us at his house? He’s going to need someone to watch over him for at least twenty-four hours. And I know he will try to walk on that ankle before he should. I’d prefer to have someone who won’t take his shit watch over him.”
“Oh, I can definitely do that,” I replied. “But I don’t have a key.”
