Ashes to Ashes (Book Two of The Kazuya Series) (✔️)

二 (Two)

(Arielle's POV)

I woke up to my phone going off.

"Hello?" I spoke softly, hoping not to wake Koan.

"I'll be there in fifteen." Doc said.

"Alright."

I put my phone back on the nightstand and carefully tried to get up without waking Koan.

I didn't succeed.

"Where you going?" He asked, his voice raspy from sleep.

"Doc called."

"Did he say who?"

I shook my head.

He looked at the clock.

3:25am

"I'll come with you."

"I'll be okay."

"I'm coming with you." He said, getting up.

There was no arguing with him. He'd gone with me a few other times too. He just followed me around with my bag of supplies or stood in the corner where he could see me and played with his lighter.

I pulled on the scrubs I usually wear to go with Doc while Koan pulled on a hoodie and sweatpants.

"You really don't have to go." I told him, seeing him yawn for the second time in ten minutes.

"Where you go I go." He said, slinging his arm around my shoulders.

Doc pulled up outside the gate to our driveway and gave Koan a look when he saw him standing beside me.

"Mask." Koan said, holding up the black mask he brought. To appease Doc and I, he brings a mask to wear when we go to unfamiliar places to try and minimize his risk of catching anything.

"Should've figured as much." Doc sighed as we climbed in to his truck.

"Where we going? How bad is it?" I asked, putting on my seatbelt.

"Believe it's some up and comers. Could hardly understand the guy. Sounded panicked."

"Irish? Italian? Russian?"

"Japanese."

I looked over at Koan.

"You know of any up and coming Yakuza's?"

He shook his head. "Forming not easy."

"Forming a Yakuza family is not easy?"

He nodded.

"I agree with him there." Doc said. "You can't really just luck out and find so many Japanese men to want to join your family. Not real loyal ones anyway. The Kazuya family has been around for almost a hundred years. The big family over in Japan has been around longer. Most up and coming families these days burn out quickly. The last person who tried to form their own was a guy that went rogue on his own family. He was f*cking nuts. He thought they weren't giving him the respect he deserved so he left, took some men, and tried forming his own. He was dead within six days."

"This will be interesting then, right?"

"Could be."

The ride there was a little over thirty minutes. Like normal, the silence was filled with Doc and I talking about anything and everything. Koan remained silent and kept his hand on my leg.