Page 65 of Naz & Roz

TWENTY-TWO

Naz stuffed his hands in his pockets, and eyed the familiar house in front of him. Never once had he felt out of place or nervous coming here. He could walk up those steps like he’d done from the time he learned how to fucking walk, and stroll right through the front door as if he actually lived here. Even though he didn’t and never had.

It never mattered. Those doors had always been opened for him no matter what. He could come and go as he pleased. Park his four-wheeler in the garage as a kid, and join them at the table for supper with no questions asked. Drank too much as a teenager, and didn’t want to go home? He could come here.

Next to his own home, this place was his safe haven.

So why did he feel so fucking nervous right now? Why was he looking at Zeke and Katya’s home like he’d never been past the threshold of the front door? Why were his goddamn hands sweaty?

This wasn’t like Naz at all.

“You going to stand out there in the driveway all afternoon, or what?” he heard a familiar voice call.

Naz found his godfather standing on the top of the steps. Zeke leaned against the railing with an easy posture, and a similarly welcoming smile. All of that meant good things because that was the thing about Zeke. He wasn’t very good at hiding when he was pissed off at someone, or rather, he couldn’t be bothered to try and hide it.

“I was thinking, actually,” Naz admitted.

“About what, exactly?”

“How many times I’ve been here before, I guess. All the shit Luca and I used to do when we were kids. You know, all of that.”

Zeke hummed under his breath. “A whole lifetime of memories for you two, I suppose.”

“So far.”

“You’ve got lots left to go. That’s what Cross and I wanted, you know? The same thing we had as kids growing up. Someone to watch our back because we knew nobody else was going to. We could always count on each other in that way.”

Naz nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

Zeke cleared his throat, and straightened to his full height. “So, are you coming in, or are you going to keep standing there like an idiot all morning?”

“Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome, principe.”

Zeke said nothing else, but rather, turned on his heels and headed inside the house. He left the door open. A silent offer for Naz to follow if he wanted. He did exactly that, and took the time to remove his shoes and coat inside the house. Eventually, he found Zeke in the man’s office where he was digging through a drawer.

“Roz isn’t here,” Zeke said. “She’s out shopping with her mother. Apparently, she needs to ship all the things to Australia within the week, or they’re not going to get there in time for her to have them when she gets there.”

At the mention of Australia, Naz wanted to both smile and frown. Funny how that worked. He was fucking ecstatic that Roz had nailed the audition. And not to mention, within a week, she got the call. The official, we would love to invite you to our company. Her spot was to be filled in a month and a half. A month after his sister’s wedding.

They hadn’t really got in to the details of what day she was going to officially get on a plane, but Naz knew that conversation was coming. He didn’t want to see her go. Fuck him straight to hell because he just wanted to keep her here.

At the same time, this was her dream. This was what she was made to do; what she wanted to do. There was no way in hell he was going to hold her back from doing all her amazing things.

So, yeah.

He was going to keep being sad and happy.

Privately sad.

Happy to everyone else.

“I know she isn’t here,” Naz said, taking a seat when Zeke gestured at the chair across from his desk. Once seated, he pulled out the glasses he had to wear when he read or used the computer just to have something in his hands to focus on. His nerves were fucking ridiculous today. “That’s why I came over today.”

Zeke glanced at his watch, saying, “Strange time for you to be around. Usually, you’re in the middle of the city working.”

Naz shrugged. “Nobody’s calling to send me running like a fucking cafone all over the city. I’m not going to speak on it lest my fucking luck run out, huh?”