Chapter 9
NICO
The feeling of someone staring at me snaps me out of my fitful slumber.
I blink my eyes open slowly, looking at the exposed beams of Declan’s condo.
I slept like shit last night, waking up a few times to make sure the fucker was still breathing.
If he choked on his own vomit in the night, Carter would have sworn I had something to do with it and try to take my head off.
A family of fucking psychopaths.
Letting out a sigh, I turn to face Declan, who is sitting in an armchair, staring intently at me. His face is a mix of curious and annoyed, like he wants to know why I’m here, but is upset that I’m here at the same time.
As I suspect, he asks, “Why are you here?”
I answer his question with one of my own. “How do you feel?”
“Fine.” I raise an eyebrow as my gaze roams his face, taking in his clenched jaw and narrowed eyes. “Why are you here?”
“Hungover?”
He grunts. “No.”
Yawning, I sit up and stretch, trying to work the kinks out of my spine. “Your couch is fucking uncomfortable. Have you thought about getting a new one? One that isn’t made of fucking concrete?”
Declan huffs. “Why are you here, Nico?”
I stand, stretching once more. Fuck, I’m gonna need a foam roller to work the soreness out of my muscles.
“Where’s your bathroom?” I ask.
His eyes turn stormy as he stands up, his hands fisted at his sides. “Answer me, dammit.”
“Through here, I think,” I say, pointing down the hallway.
I walk in the direction of his room, but instead of entering his personal space, I turn and open the first door on the left.
“Ah,” I say, grateful that I picked the correct room on the first go.
Declan is ordinarily prickly, but he seems to be really irritated this morning.
Entering where I don’t belong would probably have him pointing a gun at me.
Declan follows closely behind, and his angry gaze searing the back of my head. He’s so predictable.
I knew ignoring him would rile him up and he’s doing exactly what I thought he would.
I turn around to ask him a question and he’s standing so close that I can count the freckles on his nose.
“Nico, what are you doing in my house?”
“Do you have an extra toothbrush?” He opens his mouth and I slap my hand over it, not wanting to hear the same question for the fiftieth time.
Declan pushes me off, his face red with irritation.
“Look, if we’re going to talk, I’d rather it not be while I have fucking morning breath. Unless you’re into that.”
He storms away and I shut the door to take a piss. While I’m washing my hands, he pushes the door open and slams an unopened toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter. “Don’t steal my toothpaste.”
“Who the fuck steals toothpaste?” I ask, incredulous.
He huffs and leaves while I clean my teeth.
Once done, I toss the toothbrush in the garbage and take the toothpaste back to its owner. “Here you are, your majesty.” I bow with a flourish, the tube poised at the tips of my fingers
“You’re fucking annoying,” he says, snatching the tube from my hands.
“I’m here because I didn’t want you to choke on your vomit in your sleep. You were pretty fucked up last night.”
“I know. That was the point.”
“Why?” I want more information than he gave me last night.
He waves me off. “I’m home safe. You can leave now.”
“I don’t think I will. What kind of breakfast foods do you have?”
I start to walk to the kitchen, but Declan grabs my arm and pushes me against the wall.
He gets in my space until we’re almost nose to nose.
If I lean forward a few more inches, I could capture his mouth in a hard kiss.
“Don’t fucking turn your back on me. Why the fuck are you still here? I can take care of myself. You can go.”
Smirking at him, I push against his chest hard, making him stumble backward. “Yeah, I’m sure you can take care of yourself. That why someone is blackmailing you?”
His eyes grow wide and his mouth drops open. Declan is silent for a few beats, then he asks, “How do you know about that?”
“Do you have anything to cook or do you want to order breakfast?”
Declan runs his hands through his blond hair, cursing as he pulls at the strands. When his eyes meet mine, I see that indecision is warring hard with distrust. To him, I’m still the enemy, even though the St. Clairs and Whitlocks are one and the same.
I’m not here to get Declan to trust me; I could give a fuck if he does or doesn’t.
But someone blackmailing him could lead to him getting killed for not paying up, which will lead to Carter wanting to fucking scorch the city to find his killer or killers, which will put us in another war, one that we might not survive.
We’re slowly rebuilding our ranks, but shit is fragile as fuck right now.
We can’t afford for his bad decisions to wipe us off the map, not after all we did those many months ago.
If I have to find who is behind the bullshit threats so we don’t head down that fucking road again, I’m willing to work with Declan to do it.
He crosses his arms over his chest and says, “I have eggs, turkey sausage, and pancake mix.”
I grin and head to the kitchen, Declan’s heavy steps following behind me. While I’m grabbing the items from the fridge and pantry, Declan gets me enough pans and utensils to cook.
He sits on a stool at the bar and watches as I move around his kitchen.
Most of the food is cooked before he asks, “How did you find out?”
“Letter fell out of your pocket last night,” I say, not turning from the stove to look at him. “Wanna tell me why you haven’t told your brother?”
“You know why,” he practically seethes. I do. Carter is…cool, I guess, but he gives Declan so much shit, it’s hard to believe he cares about him. “What do you think he’d say?”
I shrug. “Probably that you fucked up because you were being careless.”
“Exactly. So, I’m going to figure it out myself, then I’ll tell him, and then he can see that I didn’t try to solve all my problems with my gun.”
I grunt. “What do you have so far?”
“Fuck all.”
I grab one of the plates he left out for me and add food to it. When I slide it in front of him, he digs in as if he hasn’t eaten in years. “Slow down before you choke.”
“Fuck you, Nico.”
After I make my own plate, I sit beside him and eat. “You have any ideas?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Like Carter says, I use my gun more often than not, so who knows? There are still people out there missing limbs because of me. That letter was sent via courier. I visited the location, but their cameras were bogus and someone that registered his name as Jon Doe sent the letter.”
I push my food around my plate, thinking. While Declan may just like to kill people instead of talking shit out, he doesn’t just shoot them without reason. It may seem that way, but that’s because Declan works shit out in his head before telling the rest of the class how he got to that conclusion.
Whoever is behind the letters has to have a strong reason to come after him, even with knowing that the St. Clairs and Whitlocks are now a combined might. They are either sure that he’ll pay them, or they have a strong team behind them to go up against our families.
“What are you gonna do?” I ask.
Declan shrugs, looking unsure. “What can I do?”
“You can pay them?”
He gives me a look that asks Are you dumb? “And where does it end? Today it’s five mil, tomorrow it’s ten, until it’s more than I can afford. I may be rich, but I don’t have unlimited funds. I can afford to send the money now but how long will that last?”
He’s right. My first thought would have been to pay the money so whoever it is can leave me the fuck alone, but Declan is right.
“You don’t get enough credit for that big brain,” I say.
He snorts. “Fuck off, Nico. Christ, you’re annoying in the morning.”
“As opposed to any other time of day?”
Declan sighs, but there’s a small smile playing on his lips.
It drops when he looks up at me. “Don’t tell Kai about this.
I don’t…” He blows out a long breath and shoves a hand through his hair.
“He’ll tell Carter and I don’t want him to take over and smother me more than he already is.
I’m so fucking tired of his lectures. Like he’s never done anything wrong. ”
I feel for Declan, I really do. It’s not the best idea for him to work alone when someone is blackmailing him, but I see why he won’t tell Carter.
“Told you last night, I’ll keep your secrets,” I say as I stuff some pancakes in my mouth. “What’s the plan?”
“I wish I knew,” he answers with a weary sigh. He’s probably been carrying this load by himself for a while. “I reviewed the security footage after I got the letter but the guy was wearing a hat and a face mask.”
“Any luck at the courier service?”
“No. Girl that was working there said she was out of town on vacation, so she doesn’t know who the person was that ordered the delivery.”
I nod. “I’ll circle back and see who was there. You probably pulled out your gun and scared the shit out of her.” He grunts, so I know I’m right. “What courier?” He tells me the name, and I put it in my notes app. “I’ll check in a day or two.”
He mumbles, “Thanks.”
We finish our food in silence. When we’re finished, Declan collects our plates and rinses them before putting them in the dishwasher.
“Wanna tell me what fucked you up last night?” Declan freezes, his back and shoulders stiff. “I won’t tell anyone, I swear.”
Lowering his head, he sighs and rests his hands on the counter.
“Last night I had a moment of weakness. Hendrix’s death really didn’t hit me until yesterday.
It’s been months, but…” He turns around to face me, his arms crossed over his chest. His face drawn, eyes sparkling with what looks like tears and his mouth turned down. “I just had a bad day, that’s all.”
I slowly walk over to him, giving him time to stop me. When he doesn’t, I unhook his arms from his chest and slot our hips together. Declan gasps but doesn’t move.
“If you ever need to talk,” I say, resting my hands on his hips, “you have my number.”
“That’s what you wanna do right now? Talk?”
I shake my head. “No. But you said one time.” I roll my hips, feeling his hard dick twitch against mine. “Or are you changing your mind?”
Instead of answering, Declan grabs me by the back of my neck and slams our mouths together.