Raymond Smith

// Chapter seven//

You decided to wear your silly black silk dress you brought with you from New York, it was plain and simple yet elegant and flattering. You wore your hair down and flat over your shoulders, you put kn some golden jewelry and sprayed yourself in some Dior perfume. You wore some simple makeup and your favorite black heels and as the door bell finally rang you quickly grabbed your purse and haded for the door.
"Evening."
One of two men in front of the door said in a incredibly low voice. He was extremely tall and buff but had such a sweet smile on his face.
"Hey."
"Right this way."
He guided you to the car and drove off with you and the other guy. In the car though a somehow awkward silence got created, you tried to think of anything to break it and said the first thing that came to mind.
"I'm Y/N, by the way."
"We know."
The guy next to you let out a small chuckle.
"I'm Jake, and this is Bunny."
He pointed at the driver, the one that had opened your door as well. They drove you to a huge mansion and guided you through its maze like inside. After you reached the most beautiful dining room you had ever seen they told you to wait and left the room again. Only seconds later Raymond came inside and greeted you with his smile.
"Good evening miss. You-you look beautiful. Did you have a pleasant arrival?"
Your heart melted and you almost tripes over because your knees just decided to turn into jelly.
"Buonasera. Thank you and yes. My arrival was quiet pleasant."
He looked at you almost shocked.
"You speak Italian."
"Yes?! I- wait. Did my brother not tell you?"
"It seems he didn't."
"Well you know my dad is the most British person you could've ever met. But my mom....she was quiet the mystery. She was from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. No one really knew where she actually came from until she died and my father let some sort of detective on the work. We found out she was originally Italian. So i guess that's why i am so good with languages."
"You must've inherited the mysterious part as well."
He said while looking around maybe thinking of some sort of seating plan.
"Wait. What do you mean by-"
"There you are."
Both of you turned around quickly to look at one of the doorways leading into this room where now your brother was standing with a gorgeous, tall, long, dark haired, red lip, amazingly dressed woman.
"Hey."
You said slightly confused. You hoped this wouldn't be his girlfriend or worse wife because in all these years he didn't even slightly mention any woman in his life.
"Y/N, this is Roselind. My wife."
She almost dropped her jaw as he said that.
"Honey. This is my sister."
You still couldn't believe he kept this from you all these years. They came over to you and you wanted to back away as if a huge black dog was slowly making its way over to you.
"It's so nice to finally meet you. Mickey told me so much about you."
She took one of your hands and places both of hers, which were very warm and unbelievably soft, around it which was the most comforting thing she could've done. Maybe she saw how stressed out you were. Maybe she just is an incredibly comforting person.
"It's nice to meet you too."
Sadly you couldn't give back the "hearing much about her".
"So."
You brother loudly clapped his hands.
"Dinner?"
His wife let go of your hands and walked back to him. Mickey told everyone where to sit and you were being placed in between his wife and your bodyguard, the food was being brought by your brother and it smelled just as amazing as it looked. He talked a lot with his wife while you silently ate next to Raymond who was incredibly quiet as well. You loved him so much for never making a silence awkward.
"So. How are you feeling? I'm sure this is all a lot for you."
"Oh, I'm fine. Really. This is all so exciting."
You chuckled nervously trying to hide your lie.
"You don't have to play the act anymore, darling. I won't tell my boss if your not ok. This is a totally private conversation. And you can trust me."
The last sentence was so heavy you needed a second to swallow that before you could give your honest answer. You looked over at your brother who was still talking to Rosalind.
"Well...I've been better. I guess. I mean the last couple years have been a grand mix of emotions. And i am so happy to be back home and be with my brother. But you know, the thing with my job isn't so cool and i don't know. I just wish i could've had more time to prepare for this."
He nodded while you spoke and listened carefully, no man had ever listened to you. They all needed to talk about themselves. It was a nice change.
"I completely understand."
He said in a little bit more quiet and slow voice while he still held eye contact with you. You quickly broke the eye contact and went back to your food. After you finished the dinner Mickey wanted to have a conversation with Raymond alone and brought him to another room.
"I'm going to be 20 pounds heavier if they keep feeding me like this."
Both of you, you and Rosalind, chuckled.
"So how did you two meet?"
"Oh that was at my garage. I fix cars and he needed his Porsche renewed so i helped him and he flirted his way into my heart you know."
You gave her a smile before thinking of something else to ask.
"So your a model, right? At least that's what Mickey said."
"Yes. That's right. I mean...i was i guess. I sort of lost my job when Mickey brought me here."
"Oh. Well that's not good. I wish i could tell you there are other agencies here but that wouldn't work. They would find you and us immediately if we put you on a big screen."
You sighed sadly and looked out the huge window. While the two of you were chatting Raymond had a serious conversation with your brother.
"...and without any hesitation. Do hear me? No matter what happens, she is the first priority. For way too long i thought it would be the best if i was as far away from her as possible, if she had no contact to me at all. That she would be safe that way. But i realize now that she was all alone in a huge city with so many mean and rude people that could've hurt her. I should've been there for her. And now with the Russians involved she is in more danger than we are. Than i am. So we need to keep her safe and close at all costs."
Raymond carefully and quietly listened. After a short moment Mickey dismissed him and Ray brought you home again.
"Tonight was sweet."
You noted on your way across the living room. You noticed a record player and immediately got excited.
"I didn't know you had one."
You said as you looked at Raymond and pointed at it.
"Yeah."
He said slightly confused over your excitement.
"My mom used to play for us in the evenings."
You said as you already searched through his records.
"Well if that's so..."
He said in a deeper voice.
"Then let me play something for you tonight."
He stood next to you but you had to look up to see his eyes stared you down. They might look piercing and emotionless to the untrained eye but as you looked into the once again you saw a spark of warmth and love in them. He picked one of the records and started playing it. It was a slow, soft jazz song. Your entire soul relaxed to it's sound. He walked to the bigger empty space in the living room and held out his hand towards you.
"Would you do me the pleasure?"
You giggled and walked over to him, grabbed his hand and slowly stepping close enough to him that you could rest your head on his shoulder. He still had your hand in his and lifted them up slightly as his other hand slipped around your waist and quickly pulled you even closer. As he did so your heartbeat became significantly quicker. You two danced very slowly and steadily until the records was over. He stopped as the music was off and stepped back a bit to look at you.
"This was really nice, thank you."
You whispered. He gave you a very genuine and soft smile. As you made your way up the stairs you stopped and turned back around.
"I enjoyed it a lot. Dinner and lunch. And mostly...your company."
You took a deep shaky breath.
"Thank you for this. All of it. I haven't felt this taken care of in a while. It's nice."
You voice was suddenly so quiet and unsure. He nodded and smiled and you quickly turned around and rushed into your (his) room without letting him notice that your basically running away from him. You slid out of your dress and let it fall to the ground after you took your heels off, you took off your make up and threw on a moisturizer before crawling into bed. The warmth and scent of his blanket rocked you into a soft sleep and you woke up to the same feeling.