Page 51 of Running Winter

“Bud, she said, and I quote, ‘it would ruin the friendship,’” I said bitterly, as he whistled.

“So fucking what? Worth it, though, surely? One minute, Chase,” I heard Rafe say, holding the phone away from his mouth as he spoke in fluent Italian, talking to his father.

I knew some of what he was saying, but I was a little rusty. But I heard enough to hear the words guns, fire, and hiding.

Lucas wasn’t fucking around.

“Sorry, so that's it? That's her reason?” Rafe asked.

“No,” I sighed bitterly, recalling the conversation with Rayna with annoyance. “She wants to experiment, and she thinks I want the Fallon fairy tale.”

“Did she use those words, or are you saying that for the dramatics?” Rafe demanded before groaning as he moved.

“You ok?”

“No, I feel like shit, I have the hangover from hell, and now you’re telling me Rayna wants to fuck around.”

“Yup, that’s pretty much it,” I glumly said as I sighed heavily.

“Alright then, fuck it. Let Rayna whistle, the silly bitch.”

“Rafe,” I said warningly, failing to catch myself. I will always defend her, no matter what. “She’s amazing, man. I just need to move on.”

“Great, the one time we need to fuck off to Vegas, I’m a cripple. Give me a few weeks, and we will be fucking our way through Winterburg.”

I didn't reply. Instead, I wondered if I could’ve prevented Rafe from getting hurt. Probably not, but I would have felt a damn bit better than I did now.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” I quietly said as Rafe exhaled.

“Nah, I’m glad you weren’t. It wasn’t personal, more a message for Dad.”

I winced, hating the fact that my cousin was used as a fucking weapon against his crazy-ass father.

“Dad said they are looking at CCTV,” I offered meekly as he chuckled.

“Whereas my dad is hunting the fuckers down with guns. Jeez. Chase, I have to sleep. These pills are knocking me out. I’m dribbling like a cunt here.”

I laughed before ending the call.

I felt better speaking to Rafe, but my anxiety wouldn’t calm until I saw him.

How is he so calm about being sliced up?

Maybe it was a good thing he was drunk; he wouldn’t have felt the pain. One good thing that would come from this was that Aunt Alice would get her way; Rafe would have nothing to do with the family business now.

I fell back into bed, hoping sleep would come back to claim me, but it didn’t.

I toyed with the idea of messaging Rayna, which was a hard habit to break.

I just wanted her to fucking want me back. Why did she insist on making everything so complicated?

Then again, I didn’t like the fact Rayna wanted to try again when we were nearing ninety years old, which would probably be when she wanted to settle down.

So instead, I clicked onto my emails, sorting through my college acceptances.

I’d managed to get a few reasonable offers in California, and if I wanted to take them, I needed to head out there and see which one I wanted. I was lucky that Mom and Dad had saved for me to go to any, private or not.

I didn’t want to major in anything in particular, so I was inclined to go for the cheaper options. With no Rayna to occupy my thoughts, I decided that I would instead focus on California.

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