"I knew this was what he was up to. He was all foaming at the mouth and slamming his fists on tables and stuff like he was cray cray or something. Going all gorilla on everybody like a savage. Shame on him. He just all kinds of psycho and he needs jesus."
Oh god...here she goes again...
Andre nodded for the hundredth time and sighed inwardly as he listened to Wanda rail on and on about his sneak of a man who apparently had already reserved a seat right next to satan himself in hell for everything he'd put him through.
If he nodded but one more time, he'd have a stiff neck for sure. Add to that the splitting headache she was invoking and the much needed nap she was keeping him from and he was sure to start crying soon if for nothing else than to watch her panic and leave the room.
This was just not his day at all.
"And then, he gon' go and get all demonic like he was possessed by 'he who will not be mentioned' and dag on fired my ass with no remorse. Can you believe that? I swear that white man has no soul and he's dragging you right with him into the darkness."
He wanted to point out that Rafe was Italian and not white but what good would that do? The woman was firing on all twenty cylinders and giving conversation would only invite more.
Which is something he did not want at all.
He just wanted her to finish her thousand and one complaints and go on her way but it seemed she had much too many grievances to lay at his feet and was desperate to find something wrong with Rafe at every turn.
"I cried like a baby up in there and he just walked out without a glance back like he ain't even care how I was gon' pay my rent this month! Who does something like that? I'm telling you, that boy needs a sit down and some harsh words."
Well, he couldn't disagree with her there. Pfft! He sure did need a sit down and some harsh words and maybe a slap or two to his ever smirking, sexy face for his newest offense.
Rafe was gone. Again. And he'd only woken from his coma a week ago!
Did he have a death wish or something that he would actually sign himself out against doctors orders before they could even give him the all clear on his health? The least he could have done was make sure he functioned properly enough with one lung to go about his daily life without keeling over.
Wanda's right. He was crazy.
Oh sure, he had called many times in the past day to try to explain himself but Andre had slammed the phone down, accidentally on purpose every one of those times and denied him the chance to even say anything beyond his worthless and very late 'I'm sorry'.
Rather immature and harsh, he must admit but the man sure did have a knack for pissing him off. And he did it so effortlessly and quite professionally too that it just peeved him all the more. What the fuck?
"Wanda, I'm sure that Rafe is really sorry-."
"No, he ain't." she interrupted. "Long as you're here and alive then he did no wrong. He ain't sorry for nothing he does, boy. He think he always right and everything he does is justified somehow. I don't know how he does it but he make you wanna say sorry to him like you the one did him dirty or something'. I be so confuzzled."
Shit. Me too. If confuzzled meant, confused, that is.
You couldn't really be sure with Wanda. Sometimes it's like she had her own made up language that induced involuntary mind blanks and tiny migraines if you so much as tried to decipher its secrets.
"Well, hunny bun. I best leave you to get some rest cuz I see you all tired and ready to faint on me but don't worry, imma be back to check up on you soon. Just wanted to come and make sure you was okay."
Andre smiled sleepily up at the fierce woman and reached out his hand to take hers.
"Who would have thought you would change so much since I met you Wanda. At first, you wouldn't have anything to do with me and now, you are just about the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Thank you...so mu..."
Wanda stared down at the man and watched his body fall lax as it sought sleep. "You're welcome my little Andre." she whispered, letting his hand fall away from hers to rest on the bed before patting it gently in affection and walking out, quietly closing the door behind her.
Leaning against it, she sighed and worried her bottom lip as she thought about what she had really come to tell the young man but had chickened out at the last minute and started in on her tirade about Rafe instead.
Now was not the time to let the truth come out. He was only now recovering from major surgery and she had found that he was much too fragile to handle what she would have to divulge.
But someone would have to tell him sooner or later.
It was only a matter of time before he was found here due to the trail that would lead right to him and then all hell would break loose when the media showed up, something that was inevitable.
Brookoff's suicide letter had all but shed light to the real reason he wanted Andre dead and it wasn't good at all. The maelstrom that would ensue from his confession was bound to shatter what progress her fragile boy had made.
"You couldn't tell him either, could you?"
Wanda turned, her worried gaze seeking Rafe's as she shook her head. "I don't wanna hurt him." she said sadly. "This gon' hurt him bad and I ain't gon' be the one who inflicts that pain. I want no part in it, ya hear? You do it."
Rafe grit his teeth and glared before grabbing her arm and dragging her behind him down the hall, away from prying eyes and ears, straight into his office where he slammed the door and turned her to face him.
"You think I sent you in there for shits and giggles?" he ground out through clenched teeth. "It only stands to reason that I sent you because I can't. Or did you not get that!"
"Don't you raise your dag on voice at me boy!" Wanda yelled up into his face while standing on the tips of her toes. "You were the one Nathaniel sent. Not me. Suck it up and go tell him before he finds out from somebody else and he takes it worse."
The frustrated man swept past her and ran a trembling hand through his unkempt hair, wincing, when he raked his nails past a particularly sore spot on his head where he'd yanked his hair clean from the root not two hours before in his worry.
"He's gonna take it quite bad any which way we choose to let him know, Wanda. And I hate that I can't shield him from this, that I can't spare him. This is not something he will readily get over. It will break him."
"Which is why I should be the one to tell him the truth." came a voice from the now open doorway.
Both occupants turned and watched as Nathaniel Brookoff, the family patriarch closed the door and made his way to the desk where he sat with a tired plop and gave them what he hoped was a remorseful look.
"You shoulda offered to do it in the first place, you dag on chicken!" Wanda railed, making her way to the desk so she could lean over it to yell effectively, her ample breasts practically spilling onto the surface due to a loosened button. "You done dang near made me have a heart attack in there. And I done near shat myself thinking he knew what I was hiding from him."
Nathaniel leaned forward in his seat and pinned the woman with his fierce brown eyes before smiling a mischievous lopsided grin, which fell along with his jaw when his eyes strayed downward toward the luscious view she'd created.
How in hell does she hold those things up with her tiny frame? They were like pillows but the kind that you lay your mouth on not your head. Not just a nip or a lick but your whole damned mouth. I could just... just fukin eat those fukin marshmallows!
Holy Christ.
He breathed in deeply to compose himself then plastered a fake outraged expression. "Why, for shame, nurse Wanda, was that a swear word you just let slip through your christian lips?"
"Wh-what?" Wanda sputtered disbelievingly at him, straightening away from the desk thank god. "I ain't said no such..." Her brows furrowed then rose as realization struck, her hand coming up . "W-wait. No! Erase that. I didn't mean that like it sounded. Erase that!"
Nathaniel's eyes widened and he placed a hand faintly to his heart. "Oh no!" he whispered dramatically. "What will jesus think of you now? Especially, since you done dang near shat on yourself?!"
Clearly distraught, Wanda looked from one man to the other, at a loss for words before slapping a hand to her mouth and running from the room, not even noticing the boisterous laughter that followed her hurried exit.
"God, that woman is so easy to rile up." Nathanial said with mirth as he slapped a hand to his thigh. "Did you see the way her eyes bulged out? They were so dag on big. Bahaha!"
Rafe doubled over and clutched his knees as he laughed without restraint. "You just said dag on!" he got out through fits of laughter. "You sounded just like her."
That just made Brookoff laugh all the more till they both couldn't anymore and just slumped down into their chairs, both sobering up and nursing their aching stomachs.
"So..." Rafe said into the silence that followed. "When are you going to ask her out?"
Nathaniel regarded him with narrowed eyes. "Ask who out?" he questioned, trying to glare a hole right through Rafe for being too astute and observant for his liking.
Drat the man.
The younger man smiled a Cheshire smile and tilted his head towards the direction the woman in question had fled. "Why, nurse Wanda, of course." he said smugly, not missing the slight flush that rose on the older man's cheeks.
The patriarch cleared his throat and shifted in his seat so as to not face Rafe directly. "I'm not going to answer that." he grumbled. "Now, change the subject so I don't have to go cross eyed trying to burn a hole into your chest or something."
Rafe leaned back in his seat with a smirk and crossed one ankle over the other, regarding the man with a pensive expression. "Alright then." he conceded. "Let's get back to why you're here and how it is that you're going to handle this situation."
Nathaniel sighed and shrugged his shoulders, splaying his arms out on either side of his body. "You know, De' Notti, for probably the first time in my life, I am at a complete loss as to how to unravel this newest conundrum."
"All you have to do is go tell him. I don't find that too hard a task. What are you afraid of?"
Seriously?
"You've been hiding from him for two days, Rafe." came the taunt even as Brookoff rolled his eyes. "If anyone is afraid around here, it is you not I." Rafe snorted his way and dismissed him with an irritated wave of his hand.
"Crotchety old man." he mumbled, frowning at the far wall when said man chuckled. "I'm not avoiding him. You know nothing."
"Your wariness to face him is what makes me a little wary, actually." came the quiet tone. "You make it seem as if he is difficult to please or that he is easily angered. I do not want him to outright rebel and curse me to hades for something that was beyond anyone's control."
Rafe smiled at the wall and his face softened as he thought that over.
"He is anything but those things, Nathaniel." he replied softly. "I don't think I've ever met anyone more calm or loving or just...so fucking beautiful and angelic he breaks my heart just looking at him."
Well, well, well...
"You love him." a simple statement as the older man carefully regarded the one across from him and smiled at the way his hazel eyes fairly sparkled with love struck intensity.
Those same eyes looked up into his and the corners crinkled as he grinned widely. "Very much." came the breathless whisper. "I have, since I ran to his fallen form and cradled him to my chest and felt the tremble of it and its fragility. It hit me hard but not as hard as the impact of those chocolate eyes and how they practically spit fire at me as he tried to kick me out of his room."
"Ha! Sounds a lot like his old man if you ask me." Brookoff yowled slapping his thigh. "Atta boy, Andre! Now, I really can't wait to finally see him again."
"Me neither." Rafe stood up from his chair and adjusted himself uncomfortably, turning quickly away to hide the evidence of his sudden arousal from the patriarch at thoughts of his little angel. "Let's get this over with. The sooner the better."
"Right you are, my boy."
Nathaniel let out a long nervous breath before rising from his seat and crossing over to the door slowly, feeling as if an invisible noose was tightening around his throat much to his further dismay and subsequent ire.
He hated feelings of helplessness.
Rafe, noting his panic, patted him on the back in encouragement. "It will be alright, Brookoff." he soothed, unsure of the outcome himself. "It won't be so easy to take and he may well rebel but he is forgiving."
"And just how forgiving is that, might i ask?"
"Pretty forgiving if my experiences with him are anything to go by." Rafe answered pensively, stroking his chin. "His heart is pure and open and you will see that, in time, he probably won't want to imagine your severed head mounted on his wall like I used to."
Nathaniel looked at him in horror. "E-excuse me?" he stuttered, eyes narrowing. "You...you what?!"
His blunder, sinking in, Rafe fumbled nervously and shoved his hand into his pocket, frantically whipping out his non ringing phone and shoving it to his ear.
"Wanda, how nice of you to call!" he exclaimed into his very dead cell phone. "We were just talking about you! Uh...Sure. Yeah, I'll be right there."
Putting his phone back into his pocket very calmly, he opened the door wide and nodded carefully in Nathaniel's direction before widening his eyes and pointing at something in the far corner of the room. "Dear god! Is that a rat?!"
With a startled oath, the old man turned stupidly to look, giving Rafe his needed distraction and he smirked before pivoting on his heels and taking off at a dead run, the older man's threats to castrate him, ringing in his ears.
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