Chapter 16 - 126 Bleecker Street (1)

Cross my heart, hope to die

To my lover, I'd never lie

He said "be true", I swear I'll try

In the end, it's him and I

He's out his head, I'm out my mind

We got that love, the crazy kind

I am his and he is mine

In the end, it's him and I, him and I

— G-Eazy, Halsey

T Y L E R

The night turned into morning and before I realized, it was afternoon. I was still sitting on the balcony, waiting for the front door to swing open with Autumn walking in. I knew I've seen her this morning but it felt like weeks instead of merely a few hours.

I shifted in my seat and rested my head. I've drunk a total of five cups of strong black coffee, my eyes were tired and my body wanted to rest. But I couldn't sleep now, not until I made sure she was home. Not until we had a talk. I rubbed both hands over my face and took another drink.

My phone buzzed and I immediately pulled it out of my front pocket to find that it a text was from Mario. Maybe I should put a different ringtone for him so I'd know. His text was short as always. An address.

126 Bleecker Street.

It wasn't far from where I lived but Autumn wasn't home yet and I didn't want another day went without us making up and talking this through so I typed my reply before hitting the send button.

Not today. I'm sorry but I can't work today.

I tried to keep my message clean, without telling him the real reason because I honestly didn't know what they'd think if they knew I chose Autumn over them. Mario's reply came shortly.

No day off. You must come.

I let out a deep breath. I knew this job didn't have any off days but I really couldn't leave the house right now. I've sent a dozen texts to Autumn and none of them was replied. Clearly, she was still angry at me so there was no way I was going to go before seeing her.

I'm sorry, man. I really can't work today.

It took about ten minutes before Mario sent me a reply. His text was in Italian.

Il grande capo non sarà contento di questo.

My Italian was not as good but I could understand his message. The big boss won't be happy about this. I honestly didn't know who the big boss was, whether it was Santiano or someone else. These past few days I've only been dealing with Mario. Although there were other people who were wearing a black shirt, coming in and out the room that I was guarding, and maybe one of them was the big boss but I wouldn't know since none of them made any gesture or eye contact with me. For them, I was merely a security guard, someone of no importance.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket and looked far ahead at the blue sky hovering over New York City. So many scenarios played in my head, some of them were just a fantasy, something exaggerated that I was sure would not happen to Autumn. But those that seemed so logical, something that could happen to Autumn, scared the life out of me. No matter how many times I tried to shake those images away, they still haunted my mind. I just wished she'd be here as soon as possible so that I could watch her with my own eyes and make sure she was okay.

The tiredness and sleepiness started to come down on me again so I jumped off the chair and began pacing from one end to the other in the balcony.

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