Not long after Ava went to sleep, Ray's phone started to ring.

He sat up to check who it was.

It was Lorenzo, Ray subconsciously stiffened by the name alone. The last time they called wasn't the best experience for the both of them.

It left Ray thinking about many things. He thought about how he left the gang without goodbyes, never contacted them not even for birthdays . He erased them from his life to build a better one for himself.

But he never thought about how it would affect them. Especially Lorenzo.

He and Lorenzo used to be inseparable everywhere Ray went Lorenzo was not far away and vice versa . It has always been that way. And though Ray had moved on in his life he would always consider Lorenzo his brother.

"Hello." Ray said answering the phone.

" Meet me right now at the address I sent you. I won't have time to meet you later." Lorenzo said not having time for formalities.

" Right now? It's almost 12 am." He said getting up.

" Raymond, you're the one that wanted to meet. I'm not the one affected if we don't." Lorenzo said.

But Ray was still stuck on the fact that Lorenzo had called him his full name.

That's the first time he'd heard him call him that and a small ache grew in his heart.

"I'll be there in 20 minutes." Ray said before hanging up.

He went over to we're Ava was sleeping and kissed her forehead before heading out her door.

Thankfully no one was awake so he didn't have to answer any questions.

His car had been delivered here about a week ago so he didn't have to take the bus or subway.

He went inside his black Audi and drove silently to the location.

He arrived after 20 minutes and parked right in front of the small caffe. It was not open but in front of it stood Lorenzo and Damon. Another gang member and ex friend of Ray's.

They both sat in front of the caffe talking among themselves.

" Hey." Ray said, pulling up a chair to sit.

The both just nodded their heads not responding to Ray's greeting.

"Enough with the bullshit greeting, get to the point. Why the hell did you call us?"

Damon said, sounding very irritated.

Day sighed but did as he was told.

" I called you guys so you could help me find someone. Since you guys are way bigger than you used to be I feel like you could help."

" Who do you want us to find?" Lorenzo asked.

" Have you heard of Ivan Alek?" Ray asked.

Both Lorenzo and Damon sat straighter at the mention of the name.

" Why you bringing him up?" Damon asked.

" Well someone I'm close with is being stalked by them and might have a target on their head. Ivan is working with someone and we need to figure out who." Ray stated.

" Man, we are not getting involved with Ivan. You on your own." Damon says standing up.

Lorenzo sighed but stayed seated.

" We can't physically get in touch with Ivan so there won't be much we can do but I'll see if anyone has been dealing with him and if they've seen him with someone in particular but that's about all I can do." Lorenzo says.

" Are you for real? That you gone go through all that trouble for a snake like him?" Damon fumed.

" Yeah but it's the only time I'm going to do so." Lorenzo says standing up.

Ray stood up after him.

" I actually wanted to talk about that." Ray said catching both of their attention.

" Are going to spit some bullshit about how sorry you are for leaving us." Damon says.

" No, because I'm not sorry I left. I wanted a different path than you guys and I needed to figure myself out. I never knew what I wanted but now I do, now I have a chance to prove that I'm worth something. I'm sorry for not contacting you guys. That was a foul move but I'm not sorry for leaving." Ray

says.

Damon scoffs and walks over to Ray.

" Your lucky Lorenzo still considers you a brother. You can take your apology and shove it up your ass"

" why the fuck are you even affected by my leave. We weren't even that close." Ray finally snapped, the only person he thought would care about him leaving was Lorenzo.

He didn't expect Damon or anyone else to care.

"You're right we weren't that close but watching someone you love hurting because of a shitty guy like you makes me want to punch you in your shitty ass face.

" Love?" Ray asked, ignoring Damon's speech.

Lorenzo walked up to Damon holding his hands. " Yeah love."

Ray looked at him with a small smile growing on his face.

" I'm happy for you. Glad you finally left Katie." Ray joked.

" Yeah she was the worst." Lorenzo said.

He glanced at Damon, finally understanding the anger.

" I Hope you guys have a good life together. I'll make sure not to be anymore of a bother." He said before walking off.

He went inside his car and stayed there for a minute. Things didn't go as planned and that pissed him off.

He finally arrived home, it took longer for him to get back since the traffic was starting to build up.

As he opened the door he saw a small light illuminating the living room.

Ava is in the living room sitting crossed legged with her blanket covering her.

" Ava why are you up?" Ray asked, her getting close to her.

She had woken up minutes after Ray left. She thought that he might have gone back to his room or that he went to the restroom but after 15 minutes she soon realized that he was gone.

She tried convincing herself that there was no reason for her to be worried but for some reason her heart would stop beating excruciatingly fast.

Her hands shook due to anxiety. There were people tracking her every move and they also tracked the people she was around. So of course her first thought would be that he was caught or hurt.

But of course the logical side of her brain kicked in and she decided to wait for him to come back.

" We're the fuck have you been." She asked. Looking at Ray.

" Out." Ray says, walking towards the kitchen.

He could tell that Ava was in a foul mood but he couldn't maintain his attitude.

" Don't give a one word fucking answer. I've been worried sick and here you are going out in the middle of the night." She says losing patience.

" I never asked you to stay up and worry about me." He dismisses her getting a cup of water.

" Are you being for real right now. I have a fucking murderer after me and they are willing to kill anyone I care about what don't you get that? Whether you like it or not I'm going to worry because I care about you."

She says walking closer to him.

" Are you really that entitled to not think about the risks?" Ava says she partly knew what she was saying was out of line but she wanted a reaction out of him. And she got it.

His eyes bored into hers as he stepped closer to her.

" I'm fucking selfish?" His voice was gruff and low.

" Yes you are because you know I care about you and you go out at this ungodly hour. And come back with this fucking attitude." She says.

" I'm not the one with the fucking attitude Ava." He whispered to her.

" I don't care for all I know you might be the one working with Ivan. I mean it would make sense going out in the middle of the night to meet with him." She said in a taunting voice.

Deep down Ava knew what she said was wrong but at that moment she didn't care.

Ray stopped walking towards her and looked down at her shocked.

" You think I would hurt you?" He asks, searching her eyes.

" I don't even know you enough to say that you wouldn't." Ava said in her breathy voice as she looked up at him.

He scoffs at her but doesn't move.

" You really are a fucking brat. You can't even pick if you hate me or like me." He says as he stalks up to her.

" I don't hate you." She whisper's.

"Really? Because one second you're worried about me and the next you act like I don't mean shit to you." He now has her cornered and both of their breathing are heaving.

Ray closes his eyes for a moment before opening them back up.

" So which one is it?" He says,not breaking eye contact with her.

" Do you hate me?" He says leaning closer to her face.

" Or like me." His lips are only a mere inch apart from hers.

Ava's breaths are heavy and she seems to have a growing ache in between her legs.

She tightly closes them trying to build up the friction.

" Fucking answer me Ava." He says in a strict tone.

Just as she was about to say something the lights turned on and someone cleared their voice.

" Some of us are actually trying to sleep, you know."

It was Chris.

Ray lay his forehead on Ava's and let out a loud groan.

" Let's go upstairs and talk." He whispered to her.

She slowly nods her head and Ray holds her hand and they both head up stairs.

Chris winking at Ava and mouthing something that Ava couldn't understand.