24. Take care, Lake
TWENTY-FOUR
TAKE CARE, LAKE
Lake
Hurricane Alessio hurled Leo and me onto his private jet. I’ve never been on a private jet before, and if I wrote about it, I’d describe this one as a modern-traditional luxury apartment that glides on air.
Leo sprints down the aisle between gray leather seats while I pause at the mini bar I see right as we enter the passenger cabin. Behind me, Alessio reaches for the caviar hors d'oeuvres. I turn my head, and he offers it to me. I shake my head, and he pops it into his mouth, chews, nods.
“Good enough,” he says.
“We’ll buy better ones at the destination,” the flight attendant who welcomed us onboard the plane says from behind Alessio.
I move into the airplane and swipe my hand over the gray leather seat, then pick up a pillow. I run my palm over the coarse fur.
“Which animal died to make this pillow?”
“A cow,” Alessio says.
“Poor cow.”
“My condolences,” Alessio deadpans as he sits on an executive-looking seat on the left side of the aisle, near the bathroom. But there’s an alcove behind the seat that’s separated by the wall behind which Leo disappeared.
“May I?” I ask Alessio, but he’d already answered his phone.
I peek behind the wall and discover a small bedroom. Leo’s lying down on a raised queen-sized bed right next to a large window with his feet crossed at the ankles and his arms folded behind his head.
I climb the steps to see what he’s watching on TV. It’s a view of the cockpit as the pair of pilots prepares for takeoff.
“May I join you?” I ask.
Leo acts as if he’s considering telling me no. “If you promise we won’t study today.”
I sigh. “Fine.”
I lie next to him, and we watch the pilots prepare the airplane for takeoff. Once we start taxiing, I think about the gun I’m supposed to deliver. The woman will search the bathroom for it, and when she leaves empty-handed, she’ll go for my aunt or little brother. Or both.
I’m going to Paris on a private jet, and all I can think about is a weapon that’ll save someone’s life. The irony. I would burst from joy about this trip if only I could hear my uncle’s voice, if only I could know my family would be okay.
I hope my uncle survives. I hope nobody hurts him. Perhaps an angel will look over him.
“I want to be a pilot, you know,” Leo says.
“I didn’t know that. Why a pilot?”
“Because I love airplanes.”
“What do you love about them?”
“They’re nice.”
For the most part, I agree. Except, on this one trip, I sat in the middle of some smelly folks and threw up in the barf bag twice. Once during takeoff. Once during landing. I don’t tell Leo this. He might never even fly in economy because his uncle will give him the world.
We watch the clouds in silence, and as the island disappears from view, tears run down my temples. I wipe them and hope they’ll stop before anyone notices. I’m trying to tell myself that the sadists will know Alessio has left the island and can’t very well expect me to deliver a weapon when I’m not there. But I worry about the reason he took the gun with him. If it’s not his, why carry it?
He's now carrying two. I saw the other one in his holster already.
“Don’t cry, Lake. It’ll be okay.” Leo rolls over and puts his head on my chest and hugs me around my waist. “My uncle won’t let anything bad happen to us.”
Alessio pops his head inside and takes in the scene, namely how his nephew is trying to comfort me. I’m trying not to be sad, but I’m so worried about my uncle now that I can’t meet the extortionists’ demands that I can’t hide my tears.
If they spared my uncle last night, they might end him tonight. I lose hope that the woman will understand why I couldn’t deliver the gun, and I hitch a breath that’s half sob, half plea for Alessio to turn the plane around and go back home.
“A word with you, Lake,” he says.
Leo moves away, and I join Alessio in the cabin. He offers me a seat across from him, and I take it. At the same time, the flight attendant, a short young man with dark hair and eyes, offers me a gray blanket.
He lays it over me. The blanket is heated and weighted. They must all think I’m anxious about flying. I’m not. I’ve got a bunch of murdering maniacs after my family while I’m flying to Paris on a private jet with a dangerous man who likes me and who I will eventually betray.
“Would you like something to drink?” the flight attendant asks.
A bottle of your strongest tequila. “No, thank you.”
“Sir?”
“No, thank you. Leave us, please.”
Uh-oh.
The man closes the cabin door.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” Alessio says. “Your uncle is in a hospital with a severe concussion. It appears he fell down the stairs. His neighbor called the ambulance, and now he’s being treated.” When I don’t respond, Alessio leans in. “Lake, he’ll make it. He was bleeding from a cut on his ear and not from any brain damage. He’s just shaken up, is all.”
I can’t speak. It’s like there’s a rock stuck inside my throat, and I can neither swallow nor breathe. I bet they hurt my uncle. I bet they pushed him down the steps.
“Say something,” Alessio orders softly.
I inhale a troubled breath. On the exhale, I ask, “Does my aunt know?”
“From what I understand, they’re divorced.”
“Yes, but they remained close. What about my brother?”
“He was at your aunt’s already. It seems there’s a court arrangement where she has him on the weekdays during his school.”
“How do you know all this?”
“You’re a part of my household, and I inquired about your family and their whereabouts, routines, etcetera.”
Is he saying he’s following my family? To have heard about my uncle falling down the steps, he must have a person who delivered this information. I should be asking about my uncle’s well-being, but I can’t summon the courage to speak with Alessio at all because I don’t know how much he already knows and how much he’ll uncover since the perps are also following my family.
Alessio tilts his head. “I hope shock is the reason you didn’t ask about your uncle but instead asked about my information network.”
I’m shocked and terrified. That’s why I dare not ask. “You told me he’s in the hospital and that he’s okay after the fall.” If Alessio follows my family, then he’ll realize the perp who pushed him down the steps is the same man who was in the back of the cab. I’m pretty sure of it. Then this entire situation will unravel, putting my little brother even more at risk. The criminals could think I told Alessio about them.
“Please stay away from my family,” I say, my voice surprisingly steady. I mean it. My brother is everything to me. “It’s creepy that you’re having them followed.”
Alessio shows me his teeth, but before he says anything, he closes Leo’s partition. Sitting back down, Alessio hisses, “You’re the one who showed up in my house. Since I was clear that night in the hotel about how I want to fuck you, which is every which way I damn well please, I’m now having to live with this want in my pants each and every hour of my day.
“Excuse the fuck out of me if I’ve taken an interest in your family, who I’ve never met. Believe me, my interest in you is as much of an inconvenience for me as it is for you. But you’ll deal it as I’m dealing with it. One day at a time, until we fuck again. And we will fuck again, I have no doubt. And we will like it, no doubt.
“By the end of this week, I will know everything there is to know about you and yours. They live ordinary lives, so I’m thinking the reason you’re so freaked out over my acquiring information about your family is your ex.” Alessio loosens his tie and licks his lips. He appears excited now, and I don’t know why. “When my people delivered your passport and the new phone, your ex called. I answered and pressed him to tell me why he called.”
I’m getting a headache. “Why did he call?”
“He called to inform you about your uncle. Apparently, one of his buddies works in the hospital where your uncle was admitted.”
“Karen. It’s Karen who works there.”
“Karen told him, then. Which violates patient privacy, but that’s neither here nor there.”
I rub my temples and look out the window. “Thank you. I guess.”
“He asked who I was, and I told him I was your new boyfriend. I hope you don’t mind. He then proceeded to call me names and threaten me, which I ignored because if I ever meet him, he’ll piss in his dirty jeans. One thing did bother me. He claimed you’re still his.”
“We broke up.”
“He hasn’t moved on,” Alessio says.
“I know.” I check the time. It’s early morning in the US. “I’d love to call my uncle when we land.”
“Unfortunately, due to the concussion, he’s unconscious.”
“Oh no.”
“I spoke with his physician, and he’ll text you with progress updates every morning starting today.”
“This is all a little too much.”
Alessio offers me his hand. I know what he’ll do if I take it. He’ll pull me onto his lap.
I take his hand, and Alessio sets me on his lap, then arranges my blanket over me. When I hug him, I tuck my nose into the crook of his neck and inhale the smell of him. His arms hold me tightly, and with the blanket over me, I’m in the safest place on earth.
“I want to take care of you, Lake.”
“I know.”
“Let me take care of you.”
I can’t.