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Damn.
I hadn’t planned this very well. Then again, I hadn’t planned it at all. I wasn’t supposed to be there.
I rarely used my position for matters involving the women in my life, but I’d make an exception for her.
I walked back into the bedroom area to get my phone, then stepped outside into the hall to make my call.
The phone rang twice before Andre answered with a sleepy, “What? What? Are you okay?”
Because I never called him this early in the morning unless I wasn’t.
“I’m fine. I need you to do something.”
“At 6:00 am? Are you in the slammer?”
I rolled my eyes. “No. I’m in New York. I’m staying here for the weekend.” He was quiet. “I’m going to need a few things.”
“Like a gun and a shovel?”
“For fuck’s sake, Andre. I’m at Suzanne’s. I need some clothes and some toiletries...enough for a couple of days.”
He yawned into the phone. “I see. Any particular occasion?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, what are you planning? Dinner? A picnic in the park? Help me out here, Boss.”
“Yeah, I mean. Something like that. Just something casual for two days and...yeah, maybe a suit for dinner tonight.” And then I realized as I looked through the crack of Suzanne’s door - she didn’t even have a real dining table. We’d have to eat on the bistro set in front of the window or use the small coffee table in front of the couch. Suzanne’s apartment was cozy, but damn right too small with both of us in it.
“I need reservations.” I thought out loud.
“Like for dinner?”
“Yeah, for dinner. But also, a hotel room. Something nice. A suite, overlooking the park or something.”
“Wow. You’re really trying to impress this girl.” He hesitated. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
My jaw clenched. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean...am I talking to you as a friend right now or as the Boss?”
I had never had to clarify the difference for him before, but this shit was complicated. He knew it.Iknew it.
“Would it change what you have to say?”
“Not really. As your second, I advise you to be careful with this girl. St. Valentine isn’t going to like you screwing around with his sister, figuratively or literally. As your best friend, I gotta tell you I’m worried. Even if you’re just pumping her for information, this is out of character for you. She seems like a nice girl, Gabriel.” He paused as he chose his words carefully. I could forgive him a lot of things, more than most people, but there were lines no one could cross, friend or not.
“And?”
He sighed. “And you don’t donice girls, which is what makes her so dangerous. She could be your kryptonite and you’d be too fucking stubborn to notice.”
The mention of kryptonite brought up the memory of Suzanne calling me “superhuman.” Andre meant well but waking up next to Suzanne that morning was the most human I’d felt all week, super or otherwise. A man could do worse than ask for forty-eight hours of blissful ignorance. Was it irresponsible of me? Yeah, it was.
I completely ignored his concerns...because he was right. If I thought too hard, I’d be back where I was twenty-four hours ago, and I didn’t want to go back there, not yet.
“Call me back in an hour. Let me know where you made the reservations. Maybe something near Rockefeller Center where we can walk around-”
“Okay. Back up. I also need to advise you, as your second, that you’re going to be out in public...alone...unprotected. For two days. Do you have a death wish?”
