Chapter 2 #2
Anchoring myself to the fact that I’m not at that party anymore, I push forward.
“At first, it all looked normal, just like somebody’s fancy basement.
But then there was a blue door and this…
smell coming from it. A really really bad smell, like something rotting.
When I peeked inside, I couldn’t see the source, so I went further.
There were stairs and these weird chandeliers and candles, and at the end of the hall, this room…
It was full of display cases with gems and jewelry and it was sort of cold like I’d walked into a fridge… ”
“What did you see?” Nikolas brings the car to a stop, his attention fully on me.
Oh, he catches on fast. Also, I like having his full attention on me. I suck in a breath as a pang of fear spears through me. I hate this next part. It’s the one I’ve been trying the hardest to forget, but it keeps coming back to haunt me at night when I ought to be sleeping.
“Zac was lying on a table, surrounded by gold ornaments. There were these five men in cloaks around it, smoking and talking. They all had the same tattoo on their forearms—a heart with a snake coming out of it. I didn’t think much of it back then, but I probably shouldn’t have just dismissed it either.
Anyway, they didn’t see me enter, and then I hid behind an old couch.
I don’t even know why, there was just something very off about them, you know?
They gave me the creeps, so I decided to wait until they left and get my friend. But, uh…”
How do I explain the next part? Fuck, I don’t even want to remember it.
“But?” Nikolas presses, his voice betraying the little patience he has left.
“This sixth man came and… he stabbed Zac with this ornate dagger thing, hoisted him over one shoulder and went somewhere.” A bout of nausea turns my stomach upside down as I imagine myself lying on that table and getting stabbed, but I push it down so I can finish. “The rest of the men followed him out.”
Watching Zac die was horrible. At least he was out cold, I’m pretty sure. Drugged or drunk. He wasn’t really a friend friend, but he’d been nice enough to invite me along to such a fancy party, even though it seems it was more than a bunch of rich people having rich people fun.
I swallow hard. “I hid. I don’t know for how long. But when they didn’t return after a while, I went over to the table and… stole it.” I hesitate, but I’m not sure I have much choice. If I want to gain this man’s trust, I need to take a leap of faith.
“You stole it?” Nikolas echoes back.
Only now that the destruction and the gunshots are gone do I notice it. There’s something in his voice. It’s subtle, but it catches on the edges of the words, rounding them, softening what should’ve sounded sharper.
It doesn’t match the look on his face.
Hoping I won’t regret it five seconds from now, I take out the rough blood-red stone from my pocket.
It still makes that hissy sound from that night.
“This was slotted into a hidden compartment in the middle of the table where they killed Zac. It didn’t come out easily, but I’m very resourceful when I need to be.
” I wink at Nikolas, but the dude’s grim expression quickly washes away my sense of pride.
“I think these people want their trinket back.” I wave the stone around, balancing it between two fingers.
Nikolas holds out his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, I give him the stone. “Do you know what this is?”
Somber silence settles between us as I shake my head and try to fight off a nervous smile. Only the SUV’s purr and the slight vibrations disrupt the stillness.
“Fuck. Of all the things…”
Hope blooms in my chest as his slight accent slips past again. “Wait… Do you know what it is then?”
“A pretty stone worth a lot of money? If it is real. No, not really.” Nikolas massages his forehead, sighing as if the end of the world is coming. He’s very expressive like that. “But I know whom you stole it from.”
Ooh, that’s progress! Although… Would it be better not to know? Safer? Then again, I am probably way past that now.
Excitement thrumming in my veins, I aim my gaze at Nikolas and pull the best puppy eyes I can muster. He stifles down a snort and passes me back the red gem. I tuck it away.
“The tattoo you mentioned?” he says, his voice serious. “That’s the Crimson Crew… You really shouldn’t have dragged me into this. I barely survived them once.”
Oh shit, so the people after me really are mafia. I’d hoped my findings were wrong…
I jump off my seat, clasping Nikolas’ wrist. “But you did! It’s why I’ve been looking for you! I really need your help, man, or I’m dead meat.”
Nikolas glares at my hand. I recoil immediately, letting go.
Then I realize something as the displeasure on his face deepens.
This mess isn’t exactly Nikolas’ problem.
He doesn’t have to help me, not now and not earlier either.
But he did. Despite me single-handedly ruining his perfectly peaceful life spent pretending to be a priest.
It’s unfair to Nikolas. But he is my only chance.
He’s the only man ever to land a blow to the Crimson Crew.
Because of it, he became something of a legend in the underground world, albeit one who everyone seems to think is now dead.
I don’t know how he pulled it off exactly—no matter how much I dug and researched, there was very little information about it—but my hunch told me something was off.
So I followed it. Found a thread, dug even deeper, spent so many all-nighters combing through that shitpile the internet is.
I spoke to a bunch of very shady people, blew through all the money I had saved and ended up at a dead end.
Good thing I don’t take no for an answer though, or I’d have given up on my search for this elusive ex-mercenary top dog right there and then.
And thank god I listened in class and have a natural inclination toward pulling off shady and questionably legal things on a computer.
“I don’t know what you expect me to do.” Nikolas frowns, pinning his brown eyes on the steering wheel.
“Don’t you, like, have friends who can help or something?
You’ll gather them and you guys deal with the Crew.
Alternatively… Well, you disappeared once, you can do it twice.
I’ll be your plus-one this time.” My suggestions only deepen the lines across Nikolas’ forehead.
“C’mon man, I’m at the end of my rope. And I’ll pay you, obviously.
I bet this stone can fetch a good price. ”
And not just because of how shiny the gem is. It seemed important, the centerpiece among all the other fancy knickknacks in that museum-like room. Besides, I really have an eye for these things. Then again, maybe if I had taken anything else but the stone, I wouldn’t be in such deep shit now.
“No one is stupid enough to mess with the Crimson Crew.” Nikolas pauses, his gaze growing distant, like he is reliving some old memory. “Something is very…” He shivers, tapping his fingers along the leather-clad steering wheel as he evens out his breathing and doesn’t meet my eyes.
I wait for him to continue, because evidently there is more to this than he is letting on. I am an extremely patient man, I got this.
After two minutes of awkward silence, I can’t take it anymore.
“Please. You are my only chance. I’m way too young and pretty to die.” I squeeze Nikolas’ thigh and channel my ultimate form of puppy eyes, widening them an extra notch and adding a hint of a flirtatious smile.
He cuts off a snort. “How did you even find me?”
I trace the edge of the central console with my finger. “I told you. I’m pretty decent with computers. Have always been. Plus, once I have something on my mind, like finding you, I don’t give up until I succeed.”
Nikolas’ eyebrows bunch together, twitch, his gaze suddenly sharp and dangerous.
He grabs my wrist, twists it, and then pins me against the cold window, squeezing my neck.
“You do realize nothing is stopping me from just taking this gem and leaving you dead for the Crew to find, right? You barged into my church, destroyed it and dragged me into this shitshow when all I wanted was some sleep so I could be rested for tomorrow’s service. ”
I bite the inside of my cheek. Okay, that does make me sound like an asshole.
Maybe I didn’t think this through before I got Nikolas involved in my mess.
But he really is the only one who can save me.
He’s the only one who ever survived an encounter with the Crew.
I found no other such cases. They are a vicious and deadly organization that leaves zero loose ends.
I’ve been on the run for the past month and I’m so fucking exhausted, so tired.
For a moment, I let my thoughts take over.
If I had family or someone I could count on, maybe I could go to them.
But that freak plane accident three years ago took everyone who mattered away from me.
It was on the news, too. The only reason I am even alive today is that I was the only one to take the bus.
So, I’ve got no one, no place to go, no close relatives, nobody who gives a shit if I live or die.
The hope that this man could miraculously be alive was the only thing that kept me going, the only light left in the world of darkness I dove into headfirst.
I clasp Nikolas’ wrist again, this time with more determination. “Please, Nikolas. Help me.”
Something crosses his handsome face. I can’t read it exactly, he masterfully masks it for some reason, but his eyes lose some of their edge and his hold around my neck loosens. Slowly, he lets go, retreating back over the console to his part of the car.
“I’m going to regret this.” He sighs, throwing his arms on the steering wheel and resting his head on them. “Fine. I’ll help you.”
“Shit.” I jump up from my seat to hug him, but he halts me with a raised finger.
“I will help you, but I have some conditions.”
Nodding, I get comfortable in my leather seat despite the buzzing excitement under my ass.
Nikolas Stavros is, or was, an infamous mercenary.
A loner. He’s scary and he could kill me so easily.
But evidently, he’s also a kind man who’d help a complete stranger even if that stranger barged into his life and ruined it. “Yes, of course, anything.”
Another deep sigh. “You will do as I say at all times. You will not challenge me, you will not argue with me. You will keep your mouth shut and leave all the talking to me. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
Nikolas’ eyes snap to my face, intense and thoughtful. “No need for sir. And that stone… I have someone who might be able to tell us what it is and how much it’s worth. We’ll split the profits. Seventy to thirty.”
Hold on a minute, this isn’t exactly fair.
I open my mouth to point that out, but one glare from Nikolas is enough to shut me up.
Ah, right, no arguing allowed. I make a zipping motion across my mouth.
This man is going out of his way to help me, so the least I can do is pay him, even if his rates are extortionate.
But, well, if it means I might come out of this alive, it’s one-hundred percent worth it.
“Okay. Agreed.”
Nikolas’ shoulders relax. He pushes back from the steering wheel, bobs his head, mumbles something in some foreign language and holds his hand out. I stare at it, then at his face. Did he want the stone?
Tilting his chin toward his hand expectantly, Nikolas says, “We have a deal then.”
Ooh, he wants to shake on it. How cute.
I slide my hand into his. Nikolas’ fingers are rough and his grip is strong and confident. A shiver runs down my back, all the way to my balls. I bet it would feel amazing if he was to curl his hand around my dick and give it a nice, slow and deliberate stroke.
Tommy, not now. Head in the game! You can’t seriously be fantasizing about fucking him already! He barely agreed to help you!
I mean… I did offer him a blowjob when he got me settled in the hotel in town. And I didn’t even know he was Nikolas yet, so this has nothing to do with that.
Don’t blow this!
Inappropriate thoughts quarantined, at least for now, I nod enthusiastically. “We have a deal.”
Fighting a lopsided smile as he shakes his head, Nikolas puts the car back in gear and floors it.