Spring Break Fling

Chapter 29

29

NIKKO

I stared out over the water and tried to nail down what I was feeling. My thoughts were all over the place. Three days. That was all we had left. I had never been one to fall in love or do any of that shit. I didn’t think this was love, but I could admit it was the closest thing to the L word as I was ever going to get.

Hannah shifted beside me, her hand brushing against mine in the sand. I didn’t take it. Didn’t want to make this harder than it already was. But God, I wanted to.

“What are you thinking?” she asked softly.

I turned to look at her. In the moonlight, she looked ethereal. Soft. Nothing like the fierce woman who’d walked into my tattoo shop just weeks ago. Nothing like the woman who’d challenged me, matched me step for step.

“That I’m going to miss you,” I said honestly.

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m going to miss you too.”

“We should go,” I said. “It’s late.”

I could tell she wanted to protest but didn’t. We walked back to the car. Once again, there was an awkward silence. Part of me felt like I should be saying something more. Another part of me didn’t want to put myself out there. What was the point? It would change nothing.

The drive to her hotel felt like a funeral procession. It was the death of this thing we had, and we both knew it.

I parked the car on a dark side road just off the strip. The neon lights were muted by the tall buildings. Miami pulsed with life as usual, but it might as well have been silent for all I could hear over the pounding in my chest. I killed the engine and sat for a moment, gripping the wheel so hard my knuckles popped. This was it—the last ride.

Hannah shifted in her seat beside me. “You okay?” she asked softly.

“Peachy,” I muttered.

I got out, went around to her side, and opened the door. Together, we walked toward the lights of the main thoroughfare. In front of her hotel, she looked up at the tall, glitzy building with its revolving doors spinning people in and out like it was no big deal. It felt symbolic—life moving on while I stood stuck on the curb.

The hotel was luxury. I didn’t know her financial situation, but I gathered she was at least on track to be wealthy. I was not. I really didn’t care about that, but I had a feeling she did. She wasn’t busting her ass and climbing the corporate ladder for fun.

She paused outside the hotel. I stood back. “Are you coming up?”

“I’d walk you up, but then I’d want to come inside. And if I come inside, I’m not stopping at your door.”

She laughed softly, her lips curving in that way that always managed to punch me in the gut. “I get it,” she said.

“Good. It’s for the best. I’m not a guy to drag shit out.”

We stood there awkwardly for a beat, the air around us charged. Finally, she leaned in. I didn’t hesitate. I kissed her slow and deep, like I could imprint myself on her lips, like I could anchor her here just a little longer.

When we broke apart, she pressed her forehead to mine. “Goodbye, Nikko,” she whispered.

“Take care of yourself, Hannah,” I said quietly .

She nodded, her hand briefly touching my cheek. Then she turned and walked into the hotel, her gorgeous silhouette disappearing through the revolving doors.

I stood there for a moment, watching the empty space where she had been, secretly hoping she would come spinning back out those doors again. When she didn’t, I walked around the block to my car, feeling like I was leaving a piece of myself behind.

“Fuck,” I growled, the word cutting through the night air. My chest tightened with a genuine sense of loss. I couldn’t believe I had finally found someone I actually liked, and I couldn’t hold on to her.

She was gone. The one thing that had made me feel like maybe I wasn’t as messed up as I thought I was—gone. All because I couldn’t compete with a job.

As I approached the spot where I was parked, I stopped cold.

The side street was deserted except for me and the two guys leaning on the hood of my car. One was dressed head to toe in black, half a dozen rings glinting under the faint glow of a streetlight. Another man slouched beside him, casually watching me approach.

Danger radiated off them like heat waves. These weren’t lost tourists. I’d grown up around guys like this. Hell, I’d fought them before. They had picked the wrong guy to rob, though.

“You’re barking up the wrong tree,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “Fuck off.”

The guy on my car pushed off with a grin. “Oh, we’ve got the right guy. Name’s Rich,” he said, spreading his arms wide like I should start applauding. “Maybe you’ve heard of me?”

“Nope,” I said flatly, fishing my keys out of my pocket.

Rich chuckled as he flexed his fingers, showing off those chunky rings. If things got rough, they would be like brass knuckles. “Your old man owes my boss some cash. Ten grand, to be exact. We’ve been real patient, but Zip’s still jerking us around.” He stepped closer, his grin widening. “When we pressed him, guess what he said? ‘I’m broke, but my boy Nikko—he’s got the money.’”

The words knocked the air from my lungs. My loser old man had sent these assholes after me. Anger flared inside my veins, hot and instant. What kind of a father did this bullshit to his own kid? He never fucking failed to surprise me. When I thought our relationship had hit rock bottom, he found the stairs to the basement.

Rich stepped close enough for me to smell his nasty breath, reeking of cheap whiskey. “So here we are. Pay up, or we take it out of your ass. Your call.”

The guy beside him shifted so I could see the knife hanging off his belt. My adrenaline spiked. I was no stranger to scraps in the street, but two against one wasn’t great odds. And they looked like they stomped ass for a living. These days, I did my best to avoid fighting. If my hands were fucked up, I couldn’t hold my tattoo gun.

I took a step back, my hand tightening around the keys. “You think I’ve got ten grand in my pocket? Are you as dumb as you look?”

It wasn’t smart to poke the bear but I fucking hated bullies and I was beyond pissed my dad had set these guys on my path. They didn’t seem bothered, though.

“We’ll follow you to get it,” Rich said. “Your dad mentioned something about a tattoo shop with a heavy till.”

I snorted. “I don’t work there anymore.”

He chuckled. “I see you’re taking after your old man. Can’t keep a job.”

“It’s that old bastard’s fault I got shitcanned.” I flexed my hands, weighing my options. These guys weren’t here to negotiate. They wanted money, and if they didn’t get it, things were going to get ugly fast. “Look, whatever beef you’ve got with my old man, that’s between you and him. You’re the dumb shit who lent him money. That’s on you. I’m not involved in this transaction.”

Rich took another step forward. Up close, I could see the tattoos crawling up his neck, intricate gang markings that told a story of violence. They weren’t good tats. It was all cheap ink you got done by an amateur or in prison.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong,” Rich said. “You’re involved now.”

The only thing to do was stand firm and show no fear. Men like this preyed on weakness.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, I guess you’re shit out of luck because I’m broker than my deadbeat dad. So I don’t know. See if you can find another relative.”

Rich’s grin vanished. “Fuck that.”

It wasn’t much warning but it was just enough. Rich charged me but I was expecting it. I grabbed the front of his coat and stepped aside, using his own momentum to send him sprawling on the asphalt. The other guy had the knife out and he thrust it at my belly. I danced back, keeping distance between us.

“Two against one and you still need a knife to even the odds?” I growled, shaking my head at him. “Can’t fight me like a man?”

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Knife guy slashed at me with a speed that forced me to backpedal. My heel caught on Rich, where he was dragging himself up. I stumbled and almost went down, which would have been bad news for me. Somehow I managed to stay on my feet.

Then Rich was up and they came at me together, coordinated, moving like they’d done this a hundred times.

“I don’t have any fucking money,” I spat. “Stabbing me won’t change that.”

“We’re just trying to give you some incentive to pay us,” Rich said, circling around me.

“I didn’t even know you existed until five minutes ago.” I backed away from the guy with the knife but Rich was moving behind me. I couldn’t keep watching them both at the same time.

Rich shoved me toward his friend. He cracked me in the head with the butt of the knife. My legs betrayed me and I fell to my knees on the pavement, dazed. My new friends showed no hesitation. Fists and kicks rained down on me. I had enough sense to cover my head and face but my back and ribs took it instead.

The guy with the knife had jammed it back into its sheath, and I knew they weren’t going to kill me. Unless I did something to piss them off. I wasn’t about to cower there and take an ass-whooping without a fight, though.

I kicked out as hard as I could and got knife guy on the side of the knee. It bent in the wrong direction and the guy went down beside me, clutching his leg and letting out a bark of pain. There was no time to celebrate.

I sprang to my feet and headbutted Rich right in the nose. Stars exploded in my vision but I knew he was feeling it worse. I followed it up with a few quick jabs but there wasn’t a lot of power behind them. I was in rough shape. My vision kept darkening at the edges.

I pushed off of Rich, throwing him off balance, and I took the opportunity to unlock my car and jump in. The engine turned over on the first try and I peeled out of there, narrowly avoiding running over knife guy. I left them behind in the shadows like the cockroaches they were and fought to keep my vision from tunneling.

On the busy, well-lit street, the violence seemed like it had happened in another world. My heart raced and my fists were still clenched, aching. My entire body hurt and my lip was split but I was alive.

“Fuck,” I muttered, tasting blood.

This night just kept getting better.