Free IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN by LaConnie Taylor-Jones

his chair and stretched his long legs in front of him. “Red, I never thought I’d need to have a RPLND.”
    “I know you didn’t, darling.”
    “It’ll be another two, maybe three months after the chemo is over before I land back on my feet.”
    “Let’s worry about that bridge when we cross it.”
    Ray stood and began pacing. Before his diagnosis, he and the other members of Les Croisés had planned to iron out the details for the presentation to the sponsors they’d lined up for their music academy, which was scheduled for the first day of May. With the news he’d just received, he’d be flat on his back recuperating from the RPLND. “What about the presentation?”
    “The only thing you need to concentrate on is getting well”
    “If the roles were reversed, would you consider the RPLND?”
    Laney stood and walked up to Ray. “Raphael, ultimately the decision is yours. However, if I were in your shoes, I’d consider the situation to be no different than playing a one-in-five game of Russian Roulette. In the worst-case scenario, there’s a twenty percent chance the cancer will return without the RPLND. The question boils down to whether you’re comfortable with those odds.”
    That was the problem. He wasn’t. He wanted absolute certainty. Ray chuckled sadly because he knew there were no guarantees in the game called life. He plopped back in his chair, releasing a long, hard breath. Before his diagnosis, life was what he made it. He did what he wanted, when he wanted. Now cancer dictated every decision he made. With his fingers steepled to his lips, the words Mama Z told him raced through his head.
    The will of God will never take ya where the Grace of God will not   protect ya.
    At this point, he could only pray to God his grandmother was right. 
    ~ ~ ~
    After Ray left his appointment with Jason Reynolds, he and Laney drove over to her office. Since she’d been adamant about taking a leave of absence from her job while he underwent chemo, the least he could do was help pack her belongings.
    “Dr. Houston,” Ashton Bryant shouted as he flung the door open. “You rejected my proposal, again. Do you realize what you’ve done?”
    “It’s not what I did, Dr. Bryant. It’s what you didn’t do that’s the problem. Now if you will excuse—”
    “We need to discuss this right now.”
    Laney placed a stack of file folders into a box, but didn’t look up. “That’s not possible, Dr. Bryant.”
    “What did you say?” Ashton roared.
    Laney stopped and pushed the box to the side. “I said no. It’s a two letter word denoting refusal.”
    “I demand—”
    “Dr. Bryant,” Laney interjected. “I’m about to leave. Please close my door on your way out.”
    A red mist swam before Ray’s eyes, and he shot to his feet. He’d never spoken to any woman in this arrogant, almost brutal tone. And he certainly wasn’t going to allow what’s-his-name to talk to Laney that way, not on his watch. He opened his mouth, but snapped it shut the moment his gaze settled on her. He stared into her eyes and saw the silent request that said, ‘Don’t front me, not here, not now.’ He certainly didn’t want to embarrass her or put her gig in jeopardy. Solace came from the angelic expression, which slowly crept over her face. He got it. She had this. With a slight tip of the head, he took a step back and walked out.
    “Hold on, player. We need to talk.” Ray pushed away from the wall outside of Laney’s office the second Ashton exited. “You disrespected the lady back there.”
    “Well, if the lady can dish it out, she should be able to take whatever comes here way.”
    “Don’t go there with me,” Ray warned. “Just because she put your punk ass in check doesn’t give you the right to talk to her the way you did. I’m going to say this only once. Don’t ever talk to her that way, again.”
    Ashton let his gaze roam over Ray’s tall frame from head to toe. “Are you threatening