Page 10 of Mine

“Are you shittin’ me?” He breathed out because he knew when I said two, I meant two hundred thousand.

“No, ’cause he owes me thirty, he owes Benji more than that, and he owes what Benji paid Luis for him. That’s bullshit that he doesn’t hafta pay.”

“Well, I think Adrian wants it, so just call Francesco for the next few days until you hear from me, all right?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, so I’ll tell Francesco that you’ll be by to see him, when—around lunch or later?”

“Later. I gotta fuckin’ sleep.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you.”

“Wait, which hospital is Benji at?”

“St. Vincent’s.”

“Okay.”

“You gonna go?”

“Yeah.”

“Before you sleep?”

“Have to, right? I mean, I gotta check on him, see what he needs.”

“Get him whatever and just take it from petty cash when you get back.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Just do what I tell you––anything you think he wants.”

“All right.”

When he hung up, I realized how much I wanted to go to bed. I wanted to lie down, do the deep stretch and the whole-body shudder before I let out all the air in my body. I wanted to deflate and close my eyes, but first I needed to go to the hospital and see Benji.

Walking back to the couch, I met Landry’s eyes first.

“Everything all right, baby?”

“No, a friend of mine is in the hospital, so I should really go and check on him.”

“Who?” he asked, reaching toward me.

I took the offer of comfort, slipping his hand into mine. “A friend. You met him that time. Benji, soft voice,” I told him. “Sweet guy; you liked his accent, remember? He’s from Georgia.”

His fingers tightened. “I’m sorry. You want me to come with you?”

“Aww, no.” I shook my head and turned to smile at his brother. “But Chris, buddy, you gotta go. I ain’t leaving my boy here alone to deal with this shit, so we’ll have to table it, and you can come back tomorrow morning.”

“Why not tonight?”

“Tonight I have to sleep, and I’m not sure how long I’ll be at the hospital. And Landry has to go to work, and Tuesday’s his late night.”

“But we could just talk some more and then maybe—”

“If you push, you won’t be pleased that you did,” I told him, sliding my hand over my hair that was shaved close to my scalp. “He ain’t seein’ you without me, and I won’t let you see him at all if you don’t back off.”