Chapter 93 – Jimmy and Tony
There were some things that had been removed from Chapter 92....
Chapter 92 contained two key plot points:
1. Lip still has lingering feelings for Karen. He even changed some of his behaviors for her, like breaking up with other women. However, despite that, he ends up hooking up with Mandy—Ian's girlfriend.
2. Frank discovers that Ian is gay, and Ian's love interest is none other than the married owner of the convenience store where he works—a man in his 30s with a wife and children. Frank beats the man up, and the story picks up from there.
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"Ian, what's wrong?" Fiona asked, noticing Ian's gloomy mood.
"Kash is in the hospital," Ian replied.
(Kash is the name of the married man.)
"What happened?" Fiona asked, concerned.
"He was attacked during inventory check at the store. Got robbed and beaten pretty badly. He's in a coma now... still hasn't woken up." Ian stabbed at his scrambled eggs with a fork, clearly not in the mood to eat.
"If only I had stayed with him a bit longer that night, helped him finish the inventory before leaving... maybe none of this would've happened." Ian said, full of guilt.
Ian knew Kash well. Kash was a cowardly man—so timid he wouldn't even speak up when bullied.
Mickey Milkovich, that neighborhood thug, would frequently walk into the store and take whatever he wanted for free. Kash never dared to say a word.
Yet even someone like Kash had been beaten so badly...
Just thinking about him lying unconscious in the hospital, his face wrapped in bandages with only his eyes and mouth exposed, made Ian's heart ache. How could someone be so brutal?
Ian blamed himself. If only he had stayed, he could've protected Kash. After all, Ian had been training in the ROTC program for over a year—he could've handled a petty robber with ease.
"This isn't your fault. He was just unlucky," Fiona tried to comfort him.
"I'm done eating." Ian got up and left for work at the convenience store.
Even though Kash was hospitalized, the store still had to stay open—it was now being run by Kash's wife.
"Ian..." Fiona called out, but he was already gone.
"Hey, Fiona," a voice called from a distance.
"Tony?" Fiona turned, surprised to see Officer Tony walking over.
"I heard you're studying again, trying to get your high school credits back. Need any help?" Tony offered.
Tony hadn't given up on pursuing Fiona—especially now that he had Frank's "support" as a future father-in-law.
He had been busy recently due to a shapeshifter-related serial murder case and Officer Eddie's death in the line of duty. But now that things had settled down at the station, Tony started visiting Fiona frequently—more often than Jimmy, even.
But Fiona had changed. She was no longer the impulsive woman who had sex with Tony in a car just to get over Jimmy and accidentally took Tony's virginity in the process.
Tony's attempts to woo her now were met with polite rejections.
One afternoon, Tony sat in his police cruiser outside Frank's house, watching longingly.
Suddenly, a sports car pulled up. Jimmy stepped out.
He noticed Tony sitting there and smirked playfully in his direction before knocking on the door. When Fiona opened it, Jimmy wrapped her in a hug, glanced at Tony again, and walked inside with her—shutting the door behind them.
Tony clenched his fists. Despite all his efforts to win Fiona over, Jimmy was still the man standing in his way.
Bang! Tony punched the steering wheel in frustration.
"Damn it, Steve..." he muttered through gritted teeth.
It was hard for any man to watch the woman he loved get stolen away—especially when the other guy taunted him like that.
Tony believed that Jimmy was the only thing keeping him from being with Fiona.
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Meanwhile, Frank had learned about Kash's condition and was growing increasingly uneasy over Ian's mood.
Ian was obviously depressed. He didn't even care about Mandy anymore—his usual boldness had been replaced by guilt and worry, which baffled Frank.
'What kind of spell did that married man put on Ian?' Frank thought.
Even when Frank himself had disappeared for days in the hospital, Ian hadn't seemed this upset.
'Still... that night, he probably didn't see me, right?' Frank wondered to himself.
Thanks to the South Side's poor infrastructure, there were no street cameras around, and the alley where the assault happened was poorly lit. No one had seen Frank beating up Kash.
But Frank wasn't sure if Kash had recognized him that night.
Frank and Ian's relationship was already rocky. If Ian ever found out Frank was the one who assaulted Kash, things could get ugly.
'Why couldn't I just hold back that night...' Frank regretted.
But to be fair, it was hard for Frank to keep calm. He saw all the Gallagher kids as his own, no different from biological children.
No father could stay calm seeing his teenage son involved with a married man twice his age.
If it had been a boy Ian's age, Frank wouldn't have reacted so violently.
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While Frank was agonizing over Ian, Jimmy's own troubles started catching up to him.
He had been staying at home, taking care of his neurotic mother Candace, ever since his father was hospitalized from a car accident.
But now that his dad had recovered and returned home, Jimmy no longer needed to stay.
He was supposed to fly back to Detroit to continue his studies at Michigan Medical School.
At least, that's what he told people.
In reality, Jimmy was preparing to resume his secret life as Steve in Chicago.
He had kept his nose relatively clean while caring for his mom—aside from stealing one gift for Karen's birthday, he hadn't boosted a single car.
But his hands were starting to itch.
He had also burned through most of his savings. He needed money—and fast.
So, Jimmy went back to his old ways.
He began scouting for targets in parking lots. Soon, he found a nice car in an unmonitored lot. Jackpot.
Jimmy had his own code: Never steal cars in rich neighborhoods.
Most thieves would target luxury vehicles—and those were most concentrated in upscale areas.
But Jimmy avoided those. Rich areas had too many cameras, too many security systems, and cars with GPS trackers.
Instead, he stuck to working-class areas like the South Side—where flashy cars were often owned by people pretending to be wealthy while surviving on instant noodles.
Those were the people Jimmy enjoyed "teaching a lesson" the most.