Carlos
I stared back at the two men who had become my amigos over the years. They were the only men I ever trusted. “You guys were the first real friends I had since…” I paused. “Alex. And yeah at first, I believed it was just because you both thought you owed me. Then when I got hurt and you came on your own, I told you both to go away. I didn’t want my father to find you with me. It was too dangerous. You both told me to accept your visit and to shut the hell up.”
Rain snickered. “We are always telling you to shut up, Carlos.”
Selena laughed now.
Henry nodded. “You went on and on about how we didn’t owe you. And maybe we could agree. But man…After the near death that you saved me from, a person looks at stuff differently.”
I smiled and glanced at Selena. “That’s what I tried to tell Selena. I have a second chance now and I do not intend to squander it.”
“So what are you going to do?” Henry asked me. “Grow your hair out, buy a guitar and become a free spirited beach bum?”
I paused and smirked at him. “I never thought of that.”
“No, no,” Rain spoke up. “Do not consider that as a realistic ideal. Being a bum is not all it is cracked up to be. Da, it sounds good on the surface, I admit. You got freedom, no bills and the IRS cannot find you. So it’s fine for like one day until you need a good shower or a real bed to sleep in.”
Henry nodded. “Yeah, there is that. But you do not report to the IRS, Rain.”
Rain looked over at him. “But I do. I report my income as a fight trainer, an IT and a security advisor.”
“Oh, my bad, mate. I never realized you had so many PHDs.” Henry scoffed as he shook his head.
“I only have two of those. But da, I am legal. I became an American citizen five years ago and I intend to remain here.”
Henry raised his hands up at him. “Wait, wait. You have two doctorates?”
“Net.” Rain scoffed. “A PhD and a doctorate are two different things, Tin Man. The PhD is a Doctor of Philosophy, it is a research degree. Is a PhD higher than a doctorate? The answer is simple… no.”
Henry smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest and retorted, “But knowing you Rain the Brain, you will not stick to thesimpleanswer.”
Rain scoffed. “When speaking to a simpleton like you? Perhaps, I should do that,” he told him.
I glanced over at Selena. “See? What did I tell you?” I was reminding her of Rain, the pain in the ass and Henry the smartass.
She laughed.
Rain ignored me as he went on, “Net, it is simple. In Latin it iscalled a doctor in philosophiaA PhD lies within the doctorate category, so one is not better than the other. But I digress as I was saying before… I only know about the streetlife because my brother did that. He lost his zhenu i rebenka…um, his wife and kid, so he quit society. Took me months to find him and I am the best tracker anyone will ever hire. He went off the grid, so I had very little of a trail to follow him with. Then there he was in Hawaii and he seemed healthy… the churchmissions there are super generous. He was tan, in great shape and had grown out his hair to his shoulders. If he did not have our family’s raging blue eyes? I would not have known him. So he lives with no worries and no bills. I admit they had showers on the beach so he had no problems with that. The sand get into everything but he said it was soft to sleep on.”
“Whatever happened to him?” Selena asked as she looked curious.
“He’s still there as far as I know. He refuses to have a cell phone so I fly there to check on him. He surfs and he actually has a following. Some tourist bought him a board and he has been riding the waves ever since. Often, he wins in surfing competitions and has some income. I admit it though, when he called me brah? I almost decked him.”
Henry laughed. “Brah… They say it like this…Howzit, brah?”
Rain ignored his comment completely as he added, “I suppose my brother’s story is how do they say? Against the odds.”
Henry cut in again, “The fact that the Blade, the Castillian and you, the Russian Rainmaker, are here in a motel room together is against the bloody odds.”
“And you?” Selena asked. “What is your code name?”
Rain laughed.
Henry snapped his gaze over at him. “What is so funny?”
Rain shook his head.
“No, mate,” Henry urged with a glare in his eyes. “What is the joke?”
