I wanted to call her right away. Fuck, I wanted to go back, crawl into her bed and say it to her loud and clear while I was buried deep between her thighs. But I needed to give the girl some distance or she’d get tired of me real fast.
My phone rang, and I wished it’d been her. It was my VP, though. “Molar, bro.”
“You gotta come back, y’all. I can’t hold your sister off anymore. She won’t shut up about taking a plane by herself to come down to you. She’s screaming at me at the hospital, driving me nuts.”
I chuckled. “Put her on the phone.”
“Can’t. Chemo started already.”
“Okay. I’ll call her tonight and tell her I’m coming back this week. How is she?”
“Kicking butt. Missing your old ass, though. When you say this week what day exactly is that, Prez?”
“Look, I wanna come home right away, but I’m trying to hash things with Rex.”
“You think you can get that done in a week, y’all?”
I sighed. “Well, I’m giving it one last shot. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t…”
“I didn’t wanna say something now, but you gotta know Armando Lanza landed in town an hour ago.”
“The fuck? Why didn’t you tell me right away?”
“Because I’m taking care of it until you return. Did he request a meet?”
“No. Is it just Armando?”
“For now, I reckon.”
“Okay. I’ll shift gears and come as fast as I can. I’ll send Fort over right away. Keep me posted.” Fuck. I hung up and called Fort.
“Prez, I’m dropping Jo from the school. We’re down at her place.”
“Put her on the phone.”
“Laius.”
I picked something in her tone that set me on edge. “What’s wrong, baby?”
“Nothing. I was just sorting a few things at the school. You know saying goodbye to my friends and getting my reference letters.”
Hadn’t she done that already? She was planning on leaving the city weeks ago. “Baby—”
“I finished the letter, by the way. I gave it to Fort, and he’ll give it to you.”
“What fucking letter?”
“For Rex. I thought if you gave it to him soon enough, and hopefully, he’d respond in your favor, we can start our road trip to H-town.”
I should be over the moon now that she was agreeing to come home with me, but something was off. My instincts never lied to me. “That’s great news, baby girl. Thank you so much for doing this. I’ll send the letter right away, but I won’t wait for Rex to respond.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Shit is happening back home, and we need to get going. How soon can you pack?”
“Um…give me a couple of days.”
“How about I come help, and we leave tonight?”
