Alice Avery
Days passed silently, the quiet was unexpected. I'd gone through another session with April and it seems to be getting more and more tolerable, I don't dread going anymore. I haven't heard from Razzle, Vince has been irrelevant too. All should be well but it doesn't feel like it.
"How long will you be gone?" I ask Ricky again just as he's about to walk out. It's far too early in the morning and Ricky has a flight to Chicago that leaves in an hour.
"I'll be back tonight." He answers with a short laugh.
"Be careful, okay?"
"I'm not going to get hurt, nothing bad is going to happen." He reassures me although I'm hesitant to believe him. He's supposed to be going to Chicago for Brooks but he's promised not to go near him. Vince won't like that and that worries me.
I just nodded, trying to shake away all the uneasy feelings. "I'll see you tonight."
Ricky reached and tucked my hair behind my ear, "you gonna miss me?"
"Shut up," I laughed. "Go, you don't want to miss your flight." I kissed him on the cheek and opened the front door.
"Are you really kicking my out of my own apartment."
"Yes, now get out." I say and he grins at me.
"There's someone coming by to see you soon. Answer the door when you hear it."
"I don't want to see Razzle right now." I tell him, I knew he was the one Ricky was referring to.
"That sucks," he pouts with fake sympathy. "He'll be here soon, I better go." Ricky said whilst backing out of the doorway and into the hall. I rolled my eyes as I shut the door. I truly didn't want to see Razzle, the timing couldn't be any worse.
Speak of the devil, a knock on the door sounded. I sighed deeply while I tried to convince myself not to answer the door. Ignoring my conscience I turned around and opened the door for him.
He looked at me for a split second then reverted his eyes to the floor. "Can we talk?" He asked quickly.
I tapped my finger against the door frame. "Look at me when you talk."
He lifted his head and let out a small sigh, "may I come in?"
I moved out of the way and he walked in, shutting the door behind him. "Ricky told you to come here and you listened to him?" I hope for clarification. Razzle hates Ricky, he doesn't even want to talk to him and more importantly, he wouldn't want to listen to his advice.
"I listened to him because he was right. I owe you an apology."
I scoffed and crossed my arms at my chest, "you want to apologize?"
"I'm sorry, Alice. I should've never said that about Ricky or about you, we both know how wrong I was."
I let the silence linger, studying the look on his face which lead me to believe that he would go back in time just to fix his fuckup. "If you ever bring up Vince Avery again or compare him to Ricky, you won't ever see a street race again. I'm threatening you just so we're clear. You understand?"
He nodded. "I really am sorry, I feel awful."
"Why did you say it?" I question, "do you really think he's like him?"
"No. Not at all. I just hated that he hurt you, like I hated that Vince hurt you." Razzle explained and I understood where he was coming from but that still didn't excuse his actions. "I love you and I'll do better."
I smiled softly. All cliches were true when it came to Razzle, I couldn't live without him. "I love you and I mean it." I took a step forward and threw my arms around him. "Thank you for being there when everyone else wasn't."
"Aw don't go all soft on me now."
"Okay I'm done," I said and pulled away away from him. "However, there's something I want to talk to you about."
He clapped his hands like a little kid on their birthday. "Does Ricky have any booze 'round here?"
"It's like 7AM."
"So?"
I shook my head and laughed. "Let's just stick to coffee for now." I say and start a pot of coffee in the kitchen.
"You're a buzzkill."
"Let's wait until the sun fully rises before we pull out the liquor, deal?"
"Deal," he smirked. "So, what do you need to talk about?"
"Ricky," I sigh. Razzle took a seat at the counter while I stood on the opposite side.
"Do I have to hurt him or something?"
I shook my head with a smile. "You don't have to do that." I replied and set down two mugs in front of us. "But I think he might hurt someone."
"Well he's on his way to Chicago, isn't he?"
I nodded and began pouring that hot coffee into the mugs. "Vince called him a little while ago and said he had a job for him."
"And the job was?"
I set the pot down. "He told Ricky to fly out and take out this guy."
"Like on a date?" Razzle asks jokingly and I narrow my eyes at him, he just laughs. "I'm kidding. But why does Ricky have to fly three hours to shoot someone, why can't Vince do it?"
I pressed my lips together and clearly I looked guilty.
"Oh God, what did you do?"
"I slept with a guy when I was in Chicago and Vince wants to, you know, stop him from living." I explain and cringe while doing it. I don't know what I was thinking during that trip.
"He called Ricky to do the job?"
"For him to get revenge, I guess." I didn't realize how bizarre this all sounded until I said it out loud. "But I told Ricky not to do it and he said he wouldn't. I also told Ricky I needed him to leave the Mafia and he said he would. So I have no idea why he's going to Chicago, I don't know what he plans to do when he gets there, he didn't tell me anything and that's not a good sign."
Razzle raised his eyebrows and sipped on his coffee. I bounced my leg up and down and waited for him to say something. "When does he get back?"
"Tonight. Why?"
"How much damage could he do? He's there for a day."
"Are we referring to the same person. We're talking about Ricky here, like the man who kills people for a living."
"Jesus it's 7AM, don't be so morbid." Razzle replied with a sinister laugh.
I rolled my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair. "Fuck maybe I do need liquor."
"Or sleep," Razzle suggested.
"That's the first wise thing to come out of your mouth"
"You just need to stop thinking about it, that's all. If you stay up all day you'll go insane thinking about Chicago."
I ran my hands down my face," I just want him to come back to Vegas. And quickly."
Razzle stood to his feet and began going through all of the cabinets in Ricky's kitchen. Finally, he picked up a pill bottle from the cabinet above the stove and handed it to me. "Sleeping pills, goodnight." He said and kissed my cheek before heading towards the door.
"I'll call you tomorrow."
"I'll be waiting."
I shook two pills out of the bottle and popped them in my mouth, washing it down with coffee. I locked the door before heading to Ricky's bedroom which as slowly been taken over by me. Once I closed my eyes I hoped when I woke up I'd find Ricky beside me, untouched and free from the cruel Mafia.
