Page 27 of Kill Shot

Vengeance Delayed

Nico

Nico slammed the front door of his safehouse and stomped his way over to the freezer, from which he retrieved several bags of frozen vegetables. He was going to need all of them this time.

He then went to sit in his chair and set about icing each and every part of his body that was aching.

The knuckles were obvious. After all, he’d given far better than he’d got.

However, he had taken a few hits to the ribs, plus some nasty blows to the elbows and one particularly wicked punch to the face.

All told, it hurt like hell, but it was definitely preferable to having to think about his real problems. Beating the shit out of street thugs that had crossed Bolero was hardly how he wanted to be spending his evenings, but at the very least, it might get the bastard off his back.

Nico’s only regret was that he’d lied to Seb about it. Sure, it wasn’t the furthest thing in the world from boxing, but it sure as hell hadn’t been the plain, honest truth.

Besides, Seb would probably be satisfied in knowing that it was at least better than the alternative: going out to fuck whoever he could find to take his mind off things.

Nico laughed at that, which just made his ribs ache all the more fiercely.

Seb probably wouldn’t actually feel that way, would he? He would probably rather that Nico went out and fucked some other guy, not because he was into that, but because Seb didn’t want Nico to get hurt.

Nico sighed, basking in the cold bite of his improvised ice packs. He could already feel his anxiety and frustration creeping back in, but for now, he had the pain and discomfort to keep it at bay.

But then he heard a door open, and his refuge shattered into nothingness.

He’d assumed that Lucas wasn’t here after arriving so loudly and not hearing any stir in the apartment, but it appeared that had been an erroneous assumption.

“You look like shit,” Lucas remarked as he walked past him to the fridge. After a brief consideration, he got a beer and cracked it open.

Nico said nothing. If there was one person that he absolutely did not want to speak to at the moment, it was Lucas.

Why did he keep dropping by the safehouse unannounced lately?

Granted, this place was part of Black Cobra’s property, so Nico couldn’t outright ban him from using the place without raising suspicion.

But Lucas wasn’t willing to accept tense silence. “I’m gonna assume that you didn’t get those injuries because you decided to finally go out and snatch the Altamirano brat?”

“Nope,” Nico growled.

Lucas took a long drink, his narrowed eyes never leaving Nico’s.

“You know, I’m of half a mind to just go out and get it done myself,” he said quietly, but not at all softly. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that you have no interest in getting revenge for your uncle or the man who raised you.”

“You dare—”

“Yes, I dare,” Lucas cut him off. “And spare me from another speech about how nobody wants vengeance more than you do. You can only use that card so many times before it stops covering up your clear unwillingness to actually follow through.”

Ah, so Lucas had come prepared today. How many weeks had he spent thinking of the exact words he wanted to say to Nico? How many hours had he spent seething and suspecting?

But Lucas was prepared, and Nico was not. Even if he could have thought of the right thing to say, he was in too much pain and too frustrated to care about anything beyond hurting the man in front of him.

“Come now, Lucas,” Nico practically sneered. “What sort of jealous fantasies are you entertaining now?”

Lucas froze, the bottle halfway to his lips. Slowly, he set it down, and even from across the room, Nico could see that he was slightly trembling in barely restrained fury.

“Jealousy? What does jealousy have to do with anything, Nico?”

Nico knew that he had gravely misstepped, but he wasn’t ready to back down yet, and so he plunged straight toward certain disaster.

“Because it’s always jealousy with you. You are the most jealous person that I’ve ever met, and you still haven’t come to terms with the fact that I am done with you.

You accuse me of being compromised and unable to fulfill the most important task in my life, but have you considered just how compromised you are?

You’re incapable of even getting a day’s work done without vainly wishing that I’ll suddenly come crawling back to you.

But no, it’s even more pathetic than that, isn’t it?

You’re waiting for me to let you be the one to come crawling back to me.

You’ve been down on your hands and knees for years now, waiting like a fucking dog!

?Has estado anos a gatas, esperando como un pinche perro! ”

Even as the words left his lips, Nico regretted them. Lucas may have deserved to finally be put in his place, but this had been too cruel by half.

“I see,” Lucas said, his voice brittle. “Then I’ll just tell you this: I have spoken to Bolero and he has given me permission to take over if you haven’t managed to finish things by Sunday.

When that day comes, I’ll be taking all of our men and seizing him by force.

If you don’t want that to happen, then you had better move first.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Nico spat out, rising from the chair and stalking toward Lucas.

“Exactly what I said,” Lucas said through clenched jaws.

“I see the way you’re stalling on the Altamirano boy, giving him your attention when…

” He trailed off, his words faltering, but only for a beat.

When he continued, there was a soft edge to his voice, one that Nico hadn’t heard in years.

“If it’s just a warm body you want, I’ll give it to you.

Gladly. I’d do anything to go back, Nico.

We could go back to how it was… I won’t ask for more.

I’ll be content with just… whatever you want. ”

Nico’s stomach twisted. He’d heard this before, when everything between them had felt easier. Before Lucas’s jealousy poisoned everything. He didn’t have the energy for that shit anymore, and whatever spark had burned between them was long dead. Cold ashes now.

He met Lucas’s eyes. “We could’ve had something—maybe.

If you hadn’t ruined it by going after every person you felt threatened by, and leaving me to clean up your mess every damn time.

That’s why we’re here, Lucas. Don’t pretend we could’ve fixed this.

We can’t even be in the same room without it feeling like I’m walking on eggshells, wondering when you’ll pop off again.

That’s why there’s this… distance between us.

I don’t hate you, but we can’t be more than what we are now. ”

The words were harsh, but they were truth. Lucas knew it too.

Lucas took a deep breath, staring off to the side before finally looking back at Nico. “Do you like him? The Altamirano boy?”

Nico should’ve given a quick reply, and Lucas was quicker to catch his brief hesitation.

The cold hard flicker that flashed through Lucas’s eyes was a warning that couldn’t be ignored.

Nico took a step directly in front of him, their foreheads nearly touching as he met Lucas’s fury with a glare just as cold.

“Don’t you fucking do anything stupid, Lucas,” he warned. “You do not touch Sebby. You hear me?”

Lucas clenched his jaw. “ Sebby? Is that what you call him now?”

The two men stared at one another, tension rippling between them. Lucas was the first to break eye contact, turning and heading towards the front door.

But before he left, he paused, hand on the doorknob. He looked as though he was going to say something, but he ultimately decided against it and left without a word, slamming the door shut with a loud thud that vibrated the walls.

And then Nico was alone, furious at a great many people. The sole silver lining was that Seb’s graduation dinner was on Saturday.

This was it then. He had to figure out a solution to all his problems and put it into action this coming Saturday. He was going to have to break Seb’s heart.

Hopefully, it would hurt Sebby less than it would hurt Nico.

Shit, what the hell happened? What the hell happened to him? Of all the goddamn people to get tangled with, it had to be Sebastian Altamirano.

Nico hurled the bag of frozen vegetables he’d been pressing against his aching ribs at the wall. It exploded on impact, its contents scattering across the floor.

What the hell had he been thinking, thinking playing boyfriend was going to… what? That he’d be able to carry out his revenge against Pablo Altamirano and his son? That he wouldn’t give a damn when he started fucking caring about Sebastian?

Dios mío, he was fucked. Completely fucked.