Page 74 of Rematch
My chest tightened at the fact that now, as he faced his own nightmares, I couldn’t offer him the same comfort.
The other side of the bed sank as Papa joined us. One of his arms went around my back while the other embraced Dad.
We sat, huddled together, for a long while. Although we were thankful Dad was going to be alright, sadness over the decline his health took still lingered. There may have been a solution to the symptom today, but there may not be for the one he might experience tomorrow.
Our fear of the unknown was never going to go away. Still, in the little moments like this, we did our best not to let it take our gratitude away.
Chapter 30
Max
One hour.
Jayden is one hour late.
I checked my phone again to make sure there weren’t any calls or texts I may have missed, but there still weren’t any from him.
“What’s wrong?” Tony asked. I glanced up from my phone to see him lean his shoulder against the wall beside me. “Kid flaked on you?”
“Jayden isn’t flaky,” I replied. “He’s always here on time. This isn’t like him.”
“Well, it is Thanksgiving week. Maybe he’s traveling and forgot to tell you.”
“I doubt that.”
Last week, we talked about the adjustments we needed to make to our schedule due to the holiday. I offered to cut down some of the hours so he didn’t have to juggle training with work, but he declined. He insisted he could come - that he wanted to stay consistent. His progress has been on the uphill rise, and I think he’s finally noticing. With the end of every week, he’s been less concerned about getting the money in his hand and more on hitting the goals we’d set. He was starting towantto be here. If he had to miss a session, then he would’ve said something.
“Have you tried calling him?”
“Yeah, after the first ten minutes I spent waiting. He didn’t answer. I sent a text too, but I haven’t gotten a response to that either.” Jayden may be a pain in my ass, but his silence was worrying me.
“Maybe he got caught up with something. Life happens.”
I scoffed. “Let me have been an hour late without notice - life happening or not - and my ass would’ve been grass by now.”
Tony chuckled. “Well, if you wanna go track his ass down and grip him up, you’d better go ahead and do it now. It’s getting late.”
“You don’t need help closing tonight?”
“Nah, I’ll bribe some of the rookies into doing it.” He patted my shoulder. “Go check on your brother. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Nodding, I bid him goodbye and headed to the office to grab my stuff.
I drove down to Jayden’s house. As I rolled down the street, I noticed the black car I’d assigned my men to use for surveilling his apartment building was still parked a few feet down the road. I couldn’t make out the figures through the tinted windows, but since I hadn’t received any calls, I assumed they were still there.
I walked up to the fifth floor and rapped my knuckles against the wood of his apartment door. A few moments passed before I heard the clicks of locks. The door flew open and a woman appeared in the doorway. Her dark brown skin and mane of curls reminded me of my mother. But she didn’t carry the same sharpness in her eyes. Hers were softer, gentler, and wearier. They widened as they raked over my face. The door started to swing towards me, and I pressed my hand against it to stop it from closing.
“Wait, wait,” I told her. “I’m Max; Rafael’s other son.”
Her brows stitched together. Again, her eyes raked up and down my face. “Well, I’ll be damned,” she murmured. “I thought I was seeing a ghost.”
I almost smiled. “The man isn’t dead yet.”
“To me he is.” For a moment, her soft tone shifted, hardening with every word. It quickly reverted back to its normal state as she spoke again. “What brings you here?”
“I’m looking for Jayden.”
The crease between her brows deepened as her head tilted in confusion.
