Avenues: The Finale, Part 1

He was definitely hiding something. I kept visiting my father in prison, pretending to rebuild the kind of father-son relationship he so desperately wanted, just to gain his trust. It’s been months and he hasn’t coughed anything up worth any value to me. Nothing that would allow me to gain any leverage towards Oliver who still hadn’t made his move yet. Months have gone by and not a single bomb has been thrown on this side of the fence. It made me uneasy and it was causing my insomnia to resurface.

That and the fact that Susie was no longer sleeping beside me. She meant it when she said she was leaving New York for good. I insisted she couldn’t just up and leave in the middle of this storm with Oliver. He could have her followed and instantly killed just to get to me if she were anywhere else but here. As much as I hated to admit it, the streets didn’t just end lives, it protected them too.

Susie wasn’t exactly thrilled about the situation. She didn’t like not being in control of her life. And since I haven’t gotten anything concrete on Oliver just yet and our arguments have done nothing but increase since I found out she was pregnant, she decided she needed her space again and moved in with Marissa. Although my cousin was elated having Susie around, I wanted this war brewing between Susie and I to stop as soon as possible. If we were going to be parents, we needed to find a better way to communicate than not communicating at all.

I was hoping to fix that today during the baby shower. I handed Marissa my credit card and told her to max it out if she had to in order to give Susie whatever she wanted. And she definitely did from the looks of it. I looked around her apartment as she held the door open for me and placed a kiss on my cheek. The place was filled with cool watercolor urban art from Susie’s spring collection and a buffet in the kitchen that would put most restaurants in the city to shame. A generous donation from Marissa's mother, my Aunt Tori, no doubt. Her cooking has been ranked the best four years in a row now.

“Who the hell is coming to this baby shower? The entire United States Navy?” I asked my cousin, as she closed and locked the door behind me. I was the only early guest so far. It was only one in the afternoon. The shower didn’t start for another hour.

“Hey, alot of people want to see you guys happy. Don’t spoil it for them,” Marissa warned as she smacked my arm on her way to the kitchen, the rollers stuck in her hair bouncing along with her.

“I distinctly remember asking you not to invite alot of people.”

“Your guest list only had three people.”

“Exactly.”

“Julian, that was simply unacceptable for a baby shower. Besides, the more guests you have, the more gifts you get, the less shit you have to buy for the baby later on,” she explained as she opened up a bag of nachos and brought out the covered cheese dip from the refrigerator. I could only laugh at her reasoning. She wasn’t wrong.

“Did my boss contact you?” she asked after stuffing her face with chips.

“He did. And I’m not sure--”

“Julian, just take the job. It’s good money. You get great benefits and a decent retirement plan.”

“You just want me to take that job because then you’ll be my boss.”

“I mean...yeah. That was definitely factored into my decision into telling you about it,” Marissa answered unabashedly. I chuckled at her tenacity and shook my head. She was right. The private security firm she was hired for a few months ago was definitely the kind of upgrade a responsible father-to-be would consider. But it wouldn’t give me the kind of freedom I had now. With the two jobs I had, I didn't really have any strict company policies to follow other than to show up to work on time and wear clean clothes.

“I’ll think about it,” I replied as a warning, letting her know not to keep bugging me about it. She sighed in defeat and nodded.

“Susie will be out in a few. She’s trying out outfit number a hundred and fifty-two. That baby bump is making her lose it,” Marissa mentioned as she wiped her hands off with a paper towel and disappeared down the hall into her bedroom. I wasn’t sure how they were able to live together in this small apartment, but they seemed to be making it work. I haven’t seen Marissa this happy in a while. Maybe she was overcompensating for the loss of her own child. Maybe she just liked having a new friend to talk to. Whatever it was, I was glad to see her like this.

The doorbell rang and I took a chip and popped it into my mouth before I went ahead to answer the door. I looked through the peephole and saw Luey and his crew behind him. I smirked and opened the door to let them in.

“Holy shit. She went all out,” Luey exclaimed as we gave each other a pound and I let the rest of the guys in, all their gifts in hand and wrapped perfectly in baby neutral colors, then closed the door behind them. We planned on doing the gender reveal today as well. Only Marissa knew what it was.

“Yeah, I got the credit card bill to prove it. Thanks for the gifts man,” I explained and he laughed as he ordered the guys to place the gifts on the table set up next to the giant cake.

“No problem bro. You deserve all this shit and many more to come,” Luey grinned, jinxing the possibility of me having more kids. I shook my head in terror. One was terrifying enough. I couldn’t imagine having more to worry about.

The doorbell rang again and before I could even hand Luey a beer from the refrigerator, Marissa was flying out of her room, white dress flowing along her, as well as half of her rollers still stuck in her hair. She answered the door quickly, without bothering to look through the peephole. She merely threw her arms around the man who came into her apartment and closed the door behind him.

Luey and I shared a look and he didn’t seem to know who that man was either. He was tall, sporting shaggy dark hair, with an accent that made me think he came from somewhere in Europe. South Africa maybe? His caramel skin tone and hazel eyes weren't giving anything away. He knew how to dress. I’ll give him that. He strolled in with Marissa beside him in a clean Armani suit and expensive dress shoes. I could tell seeing them together bothered Luey. But not many people could read Luey’s face like I could. He looked unbothered. But I already knew this was eating him up inside. I could only imagine what stupid shit he was going to get into later to forget about this.

“Everyone, this is Luca Boliviar, my boyfriend,” Marissa announced abruptly and while I was still trying to process this news that my cousin no doubt purposely withheld from me so that I wouldn’t tell Luey, I looked up to see Susie finally emerge from the bedroom. My entire body coiled with tension and I cleared my throat as I figured out what to say to her. She looked beautiful. I should start with that.

“You look beautiful.”

“I look like a whale in a pretty dress.”

“I’m a big fan of those,” I insisted. It made her laugh, which was a good sign.

“I’m assuming Marissa didn’t tell you about Luca,” she changed the subject, as she usually did to avoid having any heavy discussions with me lately. I only indulged her because there was a tiny person growing inside of her who had no reason to pay for what his or her parents are having trouble with.

“You guessed correctly,” I answered, glancing towards my beaming cousin as her new beau whispered something in her ear as he helped her remove the rest of her curlers while making their way into her bedroom. They were all smiles and laughter. My best friend was clearly not. Luey and Marissa had a complicated past and although Marissa might not be aware of it, he still cared about her in a way most street thugs were too ashamed to admit.

All he could do now was accept that she had finally moved on. Once and for all.

Would I be able to do the same if fate gave me no choice?

My gaze turned towards Susie and I watched her smile as one of the guys helped her organize the baby gifts, wondering if I had the balls to walk away from someone like her again. Especially now, when there was so much at state. Too much.

“What’s up?” Luey interrupted my thoughts as if he knew I was already digging up a whole for myself inside my mind.

“I’m not getting anywhere with Emilio. I’m going to have to go to the source directly,” I replied, as Oliver’s face popped into my thoughts, my hands balling into fists at the mere thought of having him in front of me.

“Yeah, right,” Luey laughed in my face and took a swig of beer before continuing, “There’s no way Oliver will agree to see you without putting a bullet in your forehead first.”

“If he wanted me dead, I would be, Luey,” I argued, which caused him to sigh in frustration, “Think about it. Why hasn’t he made a move yet? It’s been half a year and nothing. Not a fucking peep out of him. He must be after something else.”

“And if we figure out what that is…”

“Then we make a truce. I get him what he wants and he leaves me and my family alone.”

“What if he’s just messing with you?”

“You saw that shit during Christmas Eve. He wasn’t fucking around. Waiting isn’t his style. He wants something. And that something is more important than finishing what he started that night.”

“I’ll get some guys on it. We should have answers by the end of the night.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Something on your mind?” The question came from Susie and I turned around, wondering how she managed to get up here on the roof of Marissa’s building considering her delicate condition. I watched her waddle her way towards me and I pulled her into an embrace, exhaling deeply with relief. I was glad she was calling a truce for now. I missed her beyond comprehension.

“I think Oliver might be after something. Something that could get us the kind of leverage we need to keep his ass in check without putting a bullet in his head,” I explained and she nodded, wincing in pain when our baby began to kick at her ribs again. I placed my hand over her stomach, rubbing it gently, which seemed to calm him or her down a bit.

“I was looking through my brother’s files again this morning. And I came across a weird code name that was mentioned quite frequently. Does Sweet Daisy mean anything to you?” she added and I tried to remember if I had heard that name before. It sounded familiar. But seeing as there was a big chunk of my life that was missing due to my injury, I couldn’t trust myself. Maybe Diana knew something.

I shot Luey a text and told him about the new information. He instantly replied and promised to give Diana a call as soon as possible. And that it was also time for the gender reveal. I smiled with excitement and kissed Susie’s temple.

“Julian…” The panic in Susie’s tone made me look up from my phone instantly and I was met with the barrel of a gun, and Oliver Polscotti aiming it towards Susie.