Capítulo 30: Chapter 30: Flaky By Nature
1 week later,
*Beep*
*Beep*
*Beep*
*Beep*
A mechanical beeping echoed throughout the room, notifying Ricky of Edward's heartbeat.
He gazed at Edward with hollow eyes, seeing his body hooked up to countless machines currently keeping him alive.
"Dammit Eddy." Ricky dropped his head into his hands before leaning back in his chair.
"Aye Slick, I got it from here." Frank suddenly said from the side, rubbing his eyes after finally getting at least two hours of sleep.
Both Frank and Ricky had been taking turns watching over Edward, hoping he would awaken from his comatose slumber, only to be let down night after sleepless night.
"But I-"
"Today's Rocco funeral service and I think as his close friend, you need to be there." Frank interrupted Ricky's words as he shut his mouth tightly, nodding his head in understanding while walking out of the room.
"Here." Frank suddenly put out a dry cleaned suit, smiling as Ricky raised a brow.
"Italian?"
"Is there any other option?" Frank laughed out loud, a foreign sound in this building filled only with sorrow.
Ricky walked out of the hospital minutes later, wearing the black suit Frank had picked out for him.
Ricky saw a familiar car waiting out front, as if it were a part of the formality that came with this occasion.
"Get in." Lucky rolled down the window briefly to say those words, then soundlessly rolled it back up.
Getting in, Ricky found Lucky in mourning attire and instead of receiving a reprimand for his sloppy appearance, Ricky was handed a pair of sunglasses.
"You look like sh*t." Lucky grunted as Ricky let out another heavy sigh, fully aware of the reasoning.
For the entire week, Ricky had been in the hospital, alternating shifts with Frank.
It was the first time something like this had ever happened to him, and he didn't quite know how to handle it.
In his previous life, his hospital visits were limited to near-overdoses or getting his stomach pumped.
He didn't have anyone close enough to call a friend, as he usually kept his distance from everyone, or ruined any friendship he had by using them as part-time lenders when his loan shark was busy.
Funerals had always been for people unrelated to Ricky, events he used to sneak into just to pick up girls.
Ricky also never had any close friends that lasted more than a year, so Rocco and Edward were sort of singularities or new experiences in this second life of his.
"Is it noticeable?" Ricky asked, but got his answer when he saw Lucky's expression.
"So how is he?" Lucky asked and Ricky leaned back in grief.
"The doc says he can wake up any day now, though he's been as still as a rock." Ricky informed Lucky who tightly gripped his cane, his expression unreasonable.
"I see." Lucky muttered as a dead silence permeated in the car as time slowly passed under this awkward atmosphere.
"What about the people who did this?" Ricky asked with clear anger flashing through his pupils however Lucky bit his lip.
"Pops?" Ricky asked with clear unease, watching Lucky visibly turn to the side to avoid his gaze.
"We haven't been able to find the bastard who did it." Lucky informed Ricky who started to laugh as if it was the funniest thing he'd heard in a while.
"Wait, you're serious." Ricky then realized that Lucky wasn't joking as he became gobsmacked.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW, IT WAS THE JEWISH MAFIA-" Ricky yelled, Lucky holding up his hand then rubbing his forehead.
"Yeah, but we're being attacked on all ends the second we step into Manhattan to sniff out the trail." Lucky sighed, informing Ricky of the situation that had been plaguing him for the last week.
"I can't send anymore guys blind in there, anytime I do they never report back." Lucky revealed, Ricky having an ugly frown.
"What about the cops, you have so many pigs on your payroll-" Ricky asked Lucky who aggrievedly rubbed his forehead.
"On top of those f*cking jews, there's a new suit in the picture who's picked up where the buried Albert left off." Lucky clicked his tongue at the confrontations he's already had with that suit, his face livid in anger by even mentioning his name.
"Who is he to get you so rattled up like this." Ricky asked, seeing the visibly distraught Lucky who gripped his cane tighter.
"Guy goes by Thomas E. Dewey."
*FLASHBACK*
6 days ago,
"The usual Tony." Lucky asked, walking into the bar as his men started sitting at the nearby tables.
However instead of following their lead, Lucky walked and started to sit at the bar before realizing there was already someone sitting there.
The man simply drank his beverage without making eye contact with Lucky, while Tony set a glass in front of him.
"Tough day?"The man next to Lucky suddenly asked, just as Lucky was about to reach for his glass.
"Something like that." Lucky sighed, downing the glass in one fell swoop before handing the glass back to Tony.
"I'm drowning myself due to a friend's passing, what about you?" The man uplifted himself before walking over to the seat next to Lucky.
His men immediately started standing up but Lucky held up his hand singaling them to slowly start sitting back down.
"Something like that." Lucky raised an eyebrow as the man sat next to him without any fear and tipped his hat up to look right into his eyes.
"Thomas." Thomas held out his hand and Lucky looked at him, but eventually shook the outstretched greeting.
"Lucky." Lucky showed an amused smile as another glass was placed in front of him.
"So what's got you so down Lucky?" Thomas asked though Lucky let out a small chuckle.
"Isn't it customary for the person asking to bear themselves first." Lucky joked but surprisingly, Thomas showed an agreeing nod.
"Well, if you don't mind lending me an ear then that'd be great." Thomas asked Lucky as he gave him the go ahead.
"My childhood friend recently died, suicide." Thomas gripped his glass as he almost choked on his own words as Lucky nodded along.
"Couldn't win the fight with his own demons, that's tough." Lucky patted Thomas back before taking another sip of his drink.
"That's what I keep hearing from everyone, their apologies. But do you want to know what Albert told me before he died?" Thomas immediately dropped the pleasantries as he gazed with a cold expression at Lucky who slowly stopped drinking.
"He told me, whatever I do, to believe him when he says he'd never kill himself." Thomas' eyes started to strain as he gazed at Lucky who slowly placed his glass back on the bar.
"It seems to me he was a very troubled person." Lucky slowly started to squint his own eyes as Thomas laughed while turning his head to look forward.
"Yeah, he always had the habit of getting in trouble with the big fishes." Thomas laughs then contorted in a mournful way.
"Y'know when we were kids, there was this bully who always got away with beating the crap out of us." Thomas showed a reminiscent face as Lucky stare was dead set on this mystery man named Thomas.
"I mean, everyday he'd just beat us black and blue, and the adults-...…..well they just ignored our troubles." Thomas shook his head as he slowly let go of his glass.
"Do you want to know what we did in the end?" Thomas slowly turned to Lucky and asked as he had all of his men now surrounding him.
"Did you bite your tongue and fall in line like a good dog?" Lucky asked with a smile, making Thomas laugh out loud.
"That bully wished we did, no, in the end we hired a thug to beat him up for three whole dollars." Thomas held up three fingers as Lucky raised an eyebrow.
"Can you believe it? It took only three measly dollars in order to stop our constant suffering." Thomas showed an ecstatic smile while shaking his head.
"Originally, Albert didn't want to have someone else fight our battles but I was different." Thomas reached into his coat pocket as he started shuffling something around.
"Cause unlike Albert, I realized that only a giant could fight another giant." Thomas then set his badge on the counter along with three dollars.
"Is this a warning-"
"A warning stipulates that I'd give you the option to surrender." Thomas looked Lucky right in the eyes as the latter didn't shy away from his glare.
"I came here to look you in the eyes and tell you that now matter what you do, where you run, that I'm going to take you down." Thomas then stood up but before someone could put their hands on him, Lucky stopped them.
In the reflection, Lucky turned around to see men watching them outside the door as he started laughing.
"Do you really think that you take me on?" Lucky asked with an amused smile though Thomas shook his head.
"No, no I do not." Thomas laughed while walking right through the gangsters without a shred of fear towards the door.
"But that's what the government is for." Thomas walked towards the door as Lucky rolled his eyes.
"You think I ain't above your government? You're just another corny suit issuing dry words" Lucky joked as his men started laughing but Thomas simply smirked before turning back.
"Maybe, but haven't you heard the saying 'The bigger they are the harder they fall'." Thomas walked out of the door as his men started walking with him.
"See you when you fall, Lucky."
*FLASHBACK END*
"That punk has been jamming up a quarter of our operations ever since he's come here." Lucky sneered as Ricky remained unfazed, showing no sign of worry or fear.
Ricky wholly believed in Lucky's ability to stop this threat since he'd never known anyone to outsmart his pops.
"Then how do we go about dealing with the Jewish mob?" Ricky asked Lucky, the latter bursting out into laughter.
"WE aren't going to do anything, I will handle it-" Lucky shook his head at Ricky's bold words, shaking his head only to receive a livid expression.
"Are you f*cking kidding me?" Ricky asked out, spreading his arms as if Lucky had offended him on a deeper level.
"Do I look like some comedian to you-" Lucky sought to ease this situation with a joke, but Ricky wasn't in the mood to laugh.
"Dammit pops!" Ricky yelled, clearly angry at Lucky's treatment of him.
"You were the one that said it was time to bring me into the fold, I'm here and I'm hungry, and you're distancing me again!" Ricky complained, Lucky scoffing at his words.
"Oh I'm sorry Slick, I'm sorry that you can't do whatever you want when you want this time." Lucky rolled his eyes, knowing that his son only was a member of the family when he wanted something out of it or it was convenient for him.
"Whatever I want? WHATEVER I WANT!" Ricky yelled in disbelief, unable to take Lucky's words seriously.
"You told me, looked me in the eyes and said you'd handle it, right?" Ricky asked, Lucky nodding at his words since he was currently 'handling' it.
"So I did as you asked, I waited in the wings like YOU said and what have you done in this past week, huh?" Ricky asked Lucky, the latter frowning at his disrespectful tone but decided against any measures since his kid was grieving.
"It ain't that cut and dry-"
"NOTHING, YOU'VE FOUND NOTHING-"
*SLAP*
Ricky's rageful outburst was met with a slap from Lucky, his head jerking to the side before he slowly turned back to face him.
"Don't you dare downplay my efforts to help you, don't you f*cking dare!" Lucky yelled as it was his turn to reveal the truth to him.
"You wanna know the truth, well, the truth is I've sent thirteen guys down to Manhattan and had all of them shipped back in coffins with their necks ripped out!" Lucky yelled, revealing the absolute truth to Ricky.
"I've had to go to their families, I've had to tell their mother, their fathers, and their extended family that they ain't ever coming back, BUT YOU WANT TO BE THE ONLY PERSON WHO LOSES SOMEONE!" Lucky's words made Ricky retract his anger and look away.
"You think I ain't ever lost someone, had to go to my friends funeral?" Lucky asked, poking Ricky with his cane.
"I watched my family in Sicily BURN and you want to tell me how unfair the world is, well you're right, it's not fair." Lucky then pointed at Ricky with welling emotions in his eyes but forced himself to calm down.
"There's some sick f*ck out there in Manhattan, ripping people's necks, and I'm not gonna send you in there-"
"Pops, I can literally make force fields with my mind-"
"And what if they can rip out people's necks with their mind, huh?!" Lucky gestured to Ricky, knowing that it was fully possible.
"You prance around like you're indestructible, but news flash Slick, you're only human." Lucky revealed the shocking truth to Ricky.
"Listen when I say that you ain't going near Manhattan." Lucky pointed at Ricky who was baffled at his words.
"What-"
"This ain't me asking you as your father, but an order from your boss." Lucky boldly flaunted his seniority as Ricky was in disbelief.
"Boss, we're here." The driver interrupted Ricky's baffled expression, bringing their conversation to a halt as they both prepared to face the somber occasion.
"Pops-"
"This conversation is over, don't make this about you since this entire funeral is for Rocco." Lucky didn't care to hear Ricky, stepping out of the car as Ricky quickly followed.
Ricky was caught off guard by the scene before him: a sea of black-clad mourners.
Grief-stricken expressions marked the faces of everyone attending the ceremony and amid the crowd, a familiar figure caught Ricky's eye's, Maria.
"Ricky?" Maria asked hopefully only to confirm her suspicions before rushing over to him.
Leaping into his embrace, Ricky grabbed hold of this lifeline and unconsciously didn't let go for dear life as he held her tightly in his arms.
"I'm so sorry for your loss Ricky." Maria grabbed his cheeks and turned his face towards hers, ensuring he could see her expression behind the sunglasses.
Noticing the sunglasses, Maria reached up as Ricky let her pull off the sunglasses as her heart only weeped further.
"Oh Ricky." Maria's heart broke when she saw the bags under his eyes as she caressed his cheek.
"How is he-"
"Can we not talk about it right now?" Ricky asked, desperately wanting to avoid the subject of Edward, and Maria understood.
Maria didn't let go but instead wrapped her arm around Ricky's as they made their way to their seats.
Ricky's gaze shifted to Rocco's mother, who sat with tear-streaked cheeks as Rocco's two younger siblings tried to comfort her, but her grief was overwhelming since no parent deserves to see their child die in their lifetime.
Everyone found their seats, and Ricky took one in the front row, staring at the coffin with a portrait of his friend, who had been smiling only a week ago.
"We greet the living to celebrate the dead- '' The priest's words faded into a distant ringing that swirled around his eyes as a wave of guilt washed over Ricky, numbing his senses.
Time seemed to blur as the ceremony progressed, with notable individuals offering their thoughts and memories.
His gaze remained fixed on the closed casket before him, his mind filled with regret and sorrow until he received a nudge from the side.
"Ricky." Maria suddenly jarred him to his senses, and he realized everyone was looking at him as he wore a confused expression.
*Ahem*
"Young child, being a close friend of the departed, would you care to say something about the young Rocco?" The priest gestured to Ricky, who nodded and stood up, slipping out of Maria's grasp.
Ricky approached the podium without a prepared speech, and truthfully, he wouldn't have written one even if he had remembered in advance.
*Ahem*
"Uh hello-...…....to many I'm known as Slick or Ricky but to Rocco, I was known only as a friend." Ricky hesitated for a long time before he found the right words.
"To be honest, when we first met I nor Rocco cared in the least for each other." Ricky let out a sad laugh as some snickers joined in.
However, as he gazed at the funeral, another scene flickered before his eyes, layering over the current events like a haunting mirage.
"At first I didn't think much of him, he'd also give me slack for literally everything and I'd pretend he didn't exist in return but in time-.....in time he started to warm up to me." Ricky rubbed his eyes, choking on his words while running his hands through his hair due to the sudden stress.
"At first it was laughing at his jokes until eventually I actively sought him out so that we could hang out." Ricky leaned on the podium as the guilt started eating up at him.
Ricky's breath quickened, an awful feeling he'd buried deep within his subconscious starting to bubble up as he loosened his tie.
"Then he became like a brother to me-I can't do this." Ricky shook his head, the guilt had finally eaten the last bit of courage he had when he made eye contact with Rocco's mother.
"I-I'm sorry." Ricky apologized to Rocco's mother, leaving the podium as a mass storm of whispers started to erupt.
"Slick!" Lucky immediately stood up but Ricky already started jogging towards the car before breaking out into a full sprint towards it.
"DAMMIT RICKY, YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK UP TO THAT PODIUM AND TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH ROCCO MEANT TO YOU-"
"My Rocco!" Rocco's mother threw caution to the wind as she rushed towards Rocco's coffin before hugging it tightly.
"MY BABY IS DEAD~" Rocco's mother screeched in a sobbing tone as Rocco's little siblings tried to comfort her.
The funeral erupted into grief-riddled chaos as Ricky ran away from his problems, leaving it all behind.
Ricky shook his head as he got into the car and started it, while Lucky hurriedly limped after him.
"RICKY LUCIANO, DON'T YOU DARE-F*CK!" Lucky cursed as the car started to drive off, frustrated that instead of facing his problems, Ricky chose to run away from them.
Gripping the wheel tightly, Ricky gritted his teeth as old habits die hard and for Ricky, he'd come to know they're alive.
Ricky had believed he'd outgrown his flaky nature with this new life of his, but it seemed he'd overestimated himself as his breaths quickened, escalating into a full-blown panic attack.
Frantically, he opened the glove compartment, rummaging around until he found one of his hidden flasks.
Immediately, he began to drown his feelings, finding it easier to avoid them instead of confronting them.
'Pops says I ain't strong enough, fine, I'll get stronger!' Ricky roared as actual determination started to blossom in his heart for once, needing to psychtrack himself.
'I'll get so f*cking strong that I'll never have to feel this sh*tty and helpless again.'
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