Pink Walls

Sunday Morning [Part III]✓

"Ron's trust issues have nothing to do with me."

I didn't remember falling asleep.

The last thought I had before apparently dozing off was to have a short rest before we got back to the city, yet when my eyes shifted to the dashboard I found that the clock read a quarter past six.

I straightened in my seat and rubbed the blurriness out of my eyes. This was getting out of control. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

I didn't really expect an answer from Alex without Ron being here to pry it out of him, I had just asked our of concern because he was usually strict when it came to keeping appointments. The fact that he was okay with us being late to meet Antonia had been surprising enough, now he had spent hours just sitting here doing nothing.

It was an unusual thing for someone like him-who planned his life by the minute-to do.

But, Alex has been acting out of character all morning, why am I even surprised?

I took a glance out the window and caught the sun beginning to rise, lightening up the sky with its infant rays.

The buildings around us were not unfamiliar but the alley I and Frank lived in was nowhere around this area. This was the richer side of the Mid District-too expensive for homeless people to trespass without the possibility of being arrested. "Where are we?"

"South Street."

I waited for him to provide a more detailed explanation.

"Your mission," he added quietly.

I groaned and took my gaze off the window to look at him. "I wanted to see Frank before all this started."

"It would be best if you had limited contact with anyone you care about during this period."

I slumped in my seat, resigned to the fact that I couldn't go anywhere near my home for the duration of this mission.

If the Carmosinos really did end up putting a target on my head, going to Frank would just be giving them ammunition against me. But the man was going to murder me if I took his knife and ran off without saying anything-again. "Can you visit him in my place?"

"Why not her?"

I ignored the harshness of the pronoun as it left his mouth. Instead, I tried to think of a way to convince him to get out of his room and interact with someone other than me. "The boss scares him. If she visits him again, he'll think that I've died or something. He'll be more comfortable around you."

Alex stared at me blankly.

"Yes, I know." I held up a hand just to stop myself from seeing his expressionless face and caving in. "You might be the most feared person in this city but Frank was the right-hand man of the boss' grandfather. If you're going to be the boss' right-hand, you'll need his advice."

"Fine."

"Thank you," I mumbled and brought my hand down, surprised that he had given in so easily. I had expected more of a fight, even with me using the position of right-hand as a bargaining chip. He was usually adamant about not going out unless it was absolutely necessary, and he wasn't the type to do favors for people.

I should just leave before he changes his mind, I decided and reached down to unlock my seatbelt. My hand had just gotten to the buckle when I realized that Alex was still looking at me, and very intensely at that.

His stare froze me in place, because this time his silence seemed to be a contemplative one.

That usually meant that the conversation wasn't over yet and he wanted me to keep it going. But there was only one thing left to talk about that wasn't an absolutely touchy subject.