Chapter 18 Cesare
Two weeks. I had been laid up for nearly two weeks.
The first was the worst. Every time I stood up, I got dizzy and usually ended up throwing up.
Rafael would rush up to me with a cold cloth and a glass of water, wiping my face and telling me to sit down.
I swatted at him more than once. He just huffed and told me to sit like I was a goddamn dog.
Although, when I did sit, I heard that persistent clicking noise.
The one I was starting to think was Rafael fucking with me.
Now I was at least able to sit upright and to stand for a lot longer before I got a little bit dizzy. That was an improvement. But Rafael insisted that I wasn’t ready to be getting up and moving yet.
“Where is your medical degree?” I growled.
“I can call Melony over again if you’d like, and she can tell you the same thing,” he bit back.
Grumbling, I gave that fight up right away. I didn’t need a doctor poking things in me and taking little vitals.
“I’m trying to win a war here,” I grunted as I sat back down and leaned against the back of the couch.
“Yeah, well, if you go out there right now when you feel like shit, you’re going to fall on your face and win nothing. That’s what happens when you get in car accidents and don’t tell anyone.”
“It was a fender bender,” I muttered.
“No, no, it wasn’t.” The kitten jumped up on my lap. My big hand covered his body, and he purred against me. Rafael narrowed his eyes. “Go away, Furball.”
“His name is not Furball.”
“What is it then?” Rafael asked as he snatched up the remote and turned the TV on.
I shrugged. “No idea yet. For now he just… is.” I scratched behind his ear, and he stretched, his tail flicking in a way that meant he was about to attack. “Can’t believe he survived.”
“Yeah, well, he’s kind of the devil so—Goddamnit, not again!” Rafael launched into a full-blown language shift as he muttered to himself and tugged his hair. The kitten dangled from the clump in his mouth. “Do you see what I mean!” he said. “He’s ruining my life!”
I chuckled. “You’re batshit insane. Put something on and stop flipping through channels before I make you eat that remote.” I patted the couch. “Where’s my phone?”
“Charger,” Rafael said.
I blinked. “You’ve said that a lot lately.” I narrowed my eyes. “What are you up to?”
“Someone’s brain is starting to work again,” he groaned. “Damn.”
“Damn?” I asked.
“I mean yay!”
I glared at him. “Whatever you’re up to, I suggest you stop while you’re ahead, Rafael. I’m not in the mood.”
“You’re never in the mood,” he said. “That’s what makes you so hot.”
I stopped and stared at him. “I’m the last man to ever say this, but you need therapy. Deep, never-ending therapy.” He scoffed. “Get up and get me my phone before I show you how better I am by killing you.”
Rafael twitched. “Well, that’s mean…”
“Now!”
Rafael finally sighed and moved from the couch.
He walked away, and I shook my head. What the hell is going on with him?
He’d been helping me, sure, but part of me was starting to feel like he was fucking with me.
I could never tell with Rafael. When he returned, I took my phone. I unlocked it and then blinked.
“Shit!” I snapped as I shot up.
“What?” he asked.
“My fucking son,” I growled. “He used the time I was down to screw me.”
My smuggling business was under deep investigation.
It wouldn’t end up with me being in prison, but it would definitely shut down operations.
On top of that, my plans to bring Blu, his little nightclub, down to its knees had failed.
Everything was good, they were still operating, and his safehouse was good.
“What the fuck?” I muttered. I had been working on Blu, trying to control the sale of it and get it handled and into my pocket. Now? I was nowhere near that. “Fuck!”
Rafael stiffened. “Cesare, you’ve been out of it for two weeks,” he said. “Maybe you should rest…”
“No,” I snapped. “Someone said something somewhere.” I clenched my jaw. “I always know and I can find a rat from a hundred feet away. Whoever is sticking their nose into my and Benito’s business is about to find out why that’s stupid.”
It had to be one of his brothers or a close friend. Whatever had happened, there wasn’t going to be a way out of the consequences. Not anymore. I was sick and tired of playing the nice guy. Sometimes people just needed to learn.
The kitten crawled up to my chest. I didn’t name it, I couldn’t. Right now, I was involved in a war that meant I might not make it back. There was no point in naming something that I might not come back to.
“I have to go,” I said as I stood and picked the kitten up by his scruff. He protested, and I laid him on Rafael’s chest. “I’ll be back.”
“You can’t!” Rafael countered. “Cesare, you’re still hurt. What if you get worse? Come on, just stay here.”
“I can’t.” I stilled as I saw him staring up at me with those big, doe eyes everyone always gave me at some point. It was like the look before the fall. They needed me to be present, and I needed to handle the shit that no one else could or would handle. I swallowed thickly.
“I’ll be back,” I reiterated.
“Whatever,” Rafael muttered. “Go get yourself killed. See if I care.”
Now why did that make me want to pin him to the couch and shake some sense into him before I fucked the rest of the sense into him? I pushed my fingers through my salt-and-pepper hair as I stared down at him.
“Keep it up,” I said.
Rafael pouted. “Fine.”
I checked the rest of my messages and finally groaned.
Shit had really gone off the deep end. Benito knew what I was up to.
And he was going to make my life hell. I finally got up and waited for the dizziness to come, but it didn’t.
Thank god. I dragged on a fresh pair of slacks and a button-up before I slipped my feet into my oxfords.
“Where are you going?” Rafael asked.
“Don’t know yet,” I muttered, more vulnerable than I had ever shown.
“You can’t just go wandering off on your own, Cesare. You’re concussed! What if you get in another accident? You keep talking about not retiring, but you’re about to retire yourself! I’m going with you.”
I frowned. “Rocky can go with me,” I said. “He’ll drive.”
“Fine, but I’m still coming.” Rafael headed toward his room. “Give me five minutes!”
I stood there, staring down the hall. Why the hell did I keep standing there?
I should have left his ass, but Rocky still wasn’t here, and honestly, I knew Rafael would just follow me.
Sure enough, there he was, flouncing off the elevator in a more subdued outfit for once, which was good because where I was going, I needed subdued.