I hear her phone go off and I watch her from the corner of my eyes. I watch as her face pales and she looks up frantically, looking around. And then sirens.
Oaklee slides down yelling at me to do the same. I follow Oaklee as she follows the rest around a corner.
Waiting.
"What's going o-"
"Shhh"
"I see 2. Tall and scrawny and donut guy." I hear Koa say.
"We can take them?" Royce asks.
"Yeah. You and Mason push and we're out." He explains. I feel Oaklee grab my hand.
We watch as the 2 police officers walk in the building. I see Mason and Royce push off the wall and shove the police down once they were away from the doorway.
"Go! Go! Go!"
We all sprint out of the building. Running the opposite direction of the house we were at. I watch them as they hoop and holler, with the biggest smiles on their face.
"Ay! They're behind us!"
I turn seeing them a good bit behind. I look back to see everyone splitting. I feel a tug on my hand as Oaklee pulls me towards a fence with Royce in front of us.
We hop over the fence, landing in someone's backyard. We hop maybe 3 more fences till we were in front of the house. God that was a mess.
"I think it's best we get home." She looks at me for approval. I nod and head towards the passenger side seat. I get in and watch as Oaklee pulls out her phone and shows Royce something.
He looks up at her. Any smile that was in his face, gone. He starts talking to her. She responds, with no emotions on her face. He nods as he turns his head towards the car. I see his eyes fill with unshed tears.
He looks back at her, rubbing his eyes. I watch as she points to me then him then the house, as she talks. He shakes his head, pulling her into a hug. He says something in her hair, then let's her go, not bothering to wipe the tears that spilled out of his eyes.
She walks to the driver side and rolls her window down as she sits down. "You don't have to do this. There's better options." Royce pleads.
"Enough. We just talked about this. We are done talking about it. I'll see you." She says. Her tone is final.
Nodding his head. "Just be careful. It doesn't need to happen again."
She nods once, rolling up her window. He backs away and she drives off.
What were they talking about? Why was he crying? Why was he telling her to be careful? What doesn't need to happen again? What's going on?
I hope she'll tell me. Maybe. Hopefully. God, do you hear yourself right now? You just spent the night acting like a bunch of teenagers and now you're overthinking shit. Get it together.
Maybe I should get it together. I mean, I'm the Italian Don. I shouldn't be running away from cops that I pay. They don't need to know that. But seeing that smile on her face, I'd do it all over again.
She pulls up the the U-shaped driveway, in front of the door. I get out of the car and turn waiting for her but instead she rolls down the passenger window.
"What are you doing? Aren't you coming in?" I ask confused.
She shakes her head, looking straight ahead. Something's off. "I um- I have to do stuff tomorrow. I can't."
I furrow my eyebrows waiting for something. Maybe for context? I'm not sure. But she just stays that way. Staring in front of her, she looks like she's barely breathing.
"What's happening? Cosa c'è che non va?"(What's wrong?) I ask, it almost sounds insecure.
She just shakes her head, turning her head to look at me she smiles and says, "There's nothing wrong. Just go in and I'll see you later." And with that she rolls her windows up.
I step away and watch as she drives away. There's something wrong. I know there is, most of the time she comes in and sees Nova.
I walk inside, heading straight to Nova's room. Barging in her room, she yelps. " Cosa sta succedendo con Oaklee?" (What's going on with Oaklee?) I ask.
"I don't know, why are you asking me instead of her?" She says. I watch her for any signs that she could be lying to me. She isn't.
"I already did, lei non me lo dirà." (She won't tell me)
"Maybe it's personal. Y'all aren't dating, yet, she doesn't have to tell you everything. Why are you freaking out anyways?" She asks shrugging.
"We were out with her friends and she got this testo sul suo telefono (text on her phone) and she started talking to Royce and before we left he told her 'stare attenti' (be careful) but it wouldn't make sense. Why would she need stare attenti?"( be careful).
She shrugs. "I don't know fratello, don't think about it to much. If by tomorrow you're still worried, you can go see her. She's always at her office anyways." (brother)
"Yeah, you're right." I mumble. I turn, leaving without another word. I don't understand why she wouldn't tell me. I mean, she's been pretty open. At least I think she has been.
Nova's right, I need to stop thinking about this. I'm sure she's just tired and wants to go home. She's done a lot today. Yeah. That's it. She's tired. There's nothing to freak out over.
She's gone.
She's not at her office. She's not at her apartment. She's not at the coffee shop. I'm on my way to Royce's right now.
This sounds like an obsession, but I've never felt this way. It's like having something so close, all you have to do is reach your arm out and it's yours. But then the second your arm is out, it's snatched away. Never to be seen again.
I reached my arm out and now she's gone. Everything has been left the way she's left it. She wouldn't leave. Right?
Arriving at Royce's house, I slam my car door running up to his door. Knocking rapidly. I take a deep breath. Maybe she's here. Maybe she came back to talk with Royce about what they were talking about before.
The door finally opens and shows a surprised Royce. "Don? What you doing here?" He asks, scratching the back of his head.
"Do you know where Oaklee is? She's not at her office or her appartamento."(apartment)
He sighs, rubbing his eyes. "Nah man, I don't know. You wanna come in for a minute and chill then we can go look or something?"
"I want to find her." I reply shaking my head. There has to be something. There's a feeling in my gut, something isn't right.
"Let me grab my keys and we'll go." And with that he walks away mumbling something, I don't think I heard. He would tell me if his friend was in danger. I mean, what kind of friend wouldn't?
He returns with his keys in hand. Locking the door, we both head over to my car. He puts on his seatbelt. Why doesn't she put hers on but he does?
God, this is a nightmare. All I want to do is lay with her. I've already had people looking on street cameras. They haven't gotten back to me yet.
Almost like they can hear me, my phone goes off. Looking down at the caller id it's the people I hired to review the cameras.
Leonadas
Other guy
"What did you find?"
"The cameras have been hacked between the times of 12-5 PM. The only thing we can see is a replay of a video of road runner"
"Fanculo!"
And with that I hang up, slamming my phone down.
As soon as we got to her apartment and we were in, he went straight to her room. I follow him. I watch him go to her bathroom, in her shower, he pushes on a tile and it opens. He pulls out a bag and steps out of the shower, putting the bag on the counter. He looks in it and starts pulling pill bottles, tiny bags of white powder, a gun, some cash, and a passport.
He looks up at the ceiling. He whispers one word and with that word my heart drops.
"Shit."