Chapter 127: Only a Few Days
- DEX -
Raya is still in the shower when I reach my phone and see Luciano’s name on the front.
"Hey," I answer before the voicemail picks up. I quickly wrap the towel around my waist and pad out through the hallway, making sure there’s no way Raya can hear me.
"You called cuzzo?" He replies. "Keep it short."
I understand the warning immediately. Don’t say anything stupid. You never know who’s listening.
"Yeah, I’m going to need to stop by today. I just wanted to make sure someone will be around."
"We won’t be at the house. Want to meet up?"
"Yeah, that will work."
"What time?" He asks.
It sounds like he’s smoking a cigarette. I can hear him take a long drag and then exhale, and I can almost see his dark eyes flashing, scanning the surrounding area wherever he is.
I can’t imagine what it’s like to be my cousin, always needing to look over his shoulder—always needing to worry about who is listening in on phone conversations. There’s no way I would want to live like that. And yet here I am, sharing this call with him with my brother tucked away somewhere at my request.
The reality of what I’ve done having Lawson taken tries to edge its way in and skewer me with anxiety, but there’s no fucking way I’m going to regret doing it. My brother deserves it. He’s lucky I don’t kill him or have someone else do it for me.
"Right after I drop my girl off at work," I say, shaking my hair out with one hand and feeling the cold drops scatter across my back.
"All right. I’ll come to you," Luciano replies, and then he hangs up without another word. I stare at the phone in my hand, water dripping on my shoulders and the floor.
When I return to the room, Raya is already pulling her work clothes on. A towel is curled on top of her head and her cheeks are pink from the shower’s warmth still clinging to her. She smiles, her lashes thick with water, and I’m positive I’ve never seen her look more beautiful than this. But I think that every time she smiles.
"How is he?" She asks, and for a moment I think she’s referring to Lawson. But in the shower I told her it was likely my father calling again.
"The news is good," I sigh, shifting gears back to what I heard from my father this morning.
It was such a relief to finally hear his voice. I should have called him earlier, but I’ve honestly been... afraid. It’s not something I’m proud to admit, but there is obviously a very strong barrier trying to protect me from the loss of another parent. I can feel it refusing to accept the possibility that he will be gone soon, too. Right now, it’s easy to think of him as just being sick and needing time to recover. And now that seems to at least be partially true.
"Fortunately, it turns out the tumor he has in his pancreas is a rare form that grows very slowly. It’s in the late stages, but there’s still a great chance for several more years..."
My voice breaks, and I have to stop. Putting it like that—with a time line—is not the way I want to think about this. I swallow back the words that were on their way out and try again, pulling the towel from my waist and drying my hair while I think about how to phrase it.
"His doctors are very optimistic, but they want him to fly to Switzerland and get a treatment that’s not yet approved in the U.S."
"Oh," Raya says.
I try to avoid her eyes when I see the complicated mixture of emotions there. It’s not as simple as she was hoping for. I would like to say that the diagnosis was a mistake and that he doesn’t have cancer at all. That would be preferable, but of course that’s not the truth.
"Why is it not approved in the U.S.?" She asks carefully, and I hear what she’s really asking: is it not approved because it’s not safe? Is it too risky?
"I’m not sure. He’s undergoing a surgery to remove the majority of the tumor tomorrow, and then they are flying him overseas for the rest of the treatment. It has something to do with targeting other tumor cells that may not be able to be removed."
"Wow, that’s all very fast," she says on a hushed breath. "That’s good. Are you going to be with him then?"
I’m already pulling my suitcase out of the closet when she asks, grabbing clothes to wear now on the plane and tossing others to take with me.
"Yeah. Lawson and I are going to fly there today to at least be with him during the surgery. He’ll be going to Switzerland on his own. I asked if he wanted us with him there too, but he’s insisting that we stay to take care of the company."
"Okay," she says, watching me.
It’s a few minutes of packing and getting dressed before I realize I’ve been lost in my own thoughts and not saying anything, and Raya hasn’t interrupted me.
"I’ll leave the truck for you to drive so you can get back and forth from work and anywhere else you may want to go," I tell her.
The idea of Raya being alone in this city suddenly sends a shot of fear through me. But I have to leave. I can’t not go see my father right now when he’ll be in Switzerland for who knows how long undergoing that treatment. And this separation from her will only be for a few days. Everything should be fine for a few days.
"You don’t have to do that, Dex. I didn’t have trouble getting to work in the past," she says with a soft laugh.
"You’re not taking the bus, Raya. Do you have any idea the crime rates on public transit this year?"
"I can call a cab," she tries.
"No way." I finish pulling on my shoes and walk over to her, kissing her forehead. "I’m sorry this is so fast. But I want you to stay here at the house where there’s a security system. You already know the code. There’s plenty of food. Your things are in the guest house. Make yourself comfortable, have Rory over if you want, but please don’t take public transit to work and back."
"Are you going to tell me not to open the door to strangers, too?" She jokes.
"Don’t open the door to anyone you haven’t invited over," I tell her seriously. "Lawson will be with me, so thankfully we don’t have to worry about him appearing." I try unsuccessfully not to growl at the thought.
"Lots of people take public transportation, Dex," she says, changing the subject from my brother and the nightmare he created for her on Saturday. "You make it sound much more dangerous than it is."
"But you’re not lots of people," I say, gripping her wet strands of hair in my hand and then letting them slide through. "You’re you, and you also happen to be mine. And we already suspect that you’re a beacon for bad guys, remember? So you need to be extra cautious."
She presses her lips together and nods. "I just have to dry my hair really quick and then I’ll be ready to go," she says softly.
I watch her disappear into the bathroom, my mind flitting over all the possible dangers that I need to worry about while I’m gone. The Kenneth guy won’t be getting out of jail since he was already wanted for who knows how many crimes. Lawson will be with me. There’s no one else who is an immediate threat, but I’m not leaving anything to chance, either.
When I talk to Luciano this morning about picking up Lawson for our spur of the moment getaway, I’m going to have to ask him to keep an eye on Raya for me, too. It’s one more favor that I will be asking of my mother’s family, but at least this is a relatively small one. And like Uncle Saul said, it’s not a favor when it’s family.
Hopefully Luciano feels the same way. It’s unlikely that I will have time to ask my uncle directly if someone can keep an eye on Raya if Lawson isn’t already with him when I go to retrieve him today. I doubt Uncle Saul has even laid an eye on Lawson himself when he has plenty of men who can effectively intimidate my brother for him.
Maybe Luciano can have one of his guys watch Raya, but I would much rather know exactly who it will be. There’s an unspoken code in the mafia that no one touches someone else’s woman. But I’m not one of them. I may be family, but I’m only family to my cousins and uncle. The code doesn’t necessarily apply to me.
"It’s only a few days," I mutter, staring at the open suitcase on the bed as the blow dryer whirs in the bathroom. "Luciano shouldn’t mind watching her for a few days, especially if I’m taking my stupid brother off of his hands."
