6. Nico #2
I head to the restroom to clear my head. My heart beats against my ribs, and the overhead lights make it difficult to keep my eyes open as I walk into the brightly lit bathroom. Rushing to the sink, I turn on the faucet to splash cool water on my face and run my wrists under the stream.
The icy water has the desired effect, and I catch my breath as the dull ache in my head recedes.
As I turn off the water, Lance walks into the men’s room. “You okay, Romero?”
“Fine,” I grunt. The weird unease from my interaction with Damien returns.
“Fine never means fine.” Lance crosses his arms and leans against the tiled wall.
I glare at him. “I’m not a chick. Fine is fine.”
He scoffs a laugh. “You don’t look fine, tough guy. Just know I’m here if you need something.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I exhale sharply, pushing my anger and frustration down.
If I let my anger win, my head might explode. Besides, I’ve had way too much mushy talk to be going on about my feelings with my teammate in the bathroom.
I leave Lance behind and make my way over to Damien, who is at the bar, drink in hand, talking to his new business partner. Kyle being a partner was never part of the deal.
“Can you believe this shit?” Kyle slugs back a shot and slams it on the bar.
I pull up short when I hear my sister’s name.
“That Talia is marrying that meathead?” Damien’s shoulders shake with laughter.
What the fuck?
Kyle chuckles, and the nasal sound is nails on a chalkboard. “Exactly. I took her on all those expensive dates, but she spread her legs for that guy. Figures she’s a fucking cleat chaser.”
“She’s a stick-up-her-ass goody-two-shoes,” Damien retorts as he sips his drink.
Curious to hear what else they have to say about my sister, I clench my fists at my side and stay back.
“She’s a cock-tease, is what she is.”
Red-hot rage tints my vision at Kyle’s remark.
I step in and shove Kyle, spilling his drink. “What the fuck did you just say?”
The skinny douche turns around with a smug smile, and I want to rip the prick’s head off his shoulders. How dare he talk about my sister that way? She’s a goddamn angel. To think I encouraged her to go on those dates with this fuckhead. I should have known better.
Kyle’s a fucking snake.
“I said your sister is a cock-tease. Got a problem?”
I look at my friend, who does nothing but lean back against the bar and smirk.
Is Damien for real right now?
I’ve had this fucker’s back since day one. Who do you think invested in his piece-of-shit company? Me.
He’d be nothing without me, and that’s not being cocky. We’ve been inseparable since Little League. I thought he had my back.
But now I finally see it. See him. The only back Damien has is his own.
I lean forward, fists clenched, as a hand grips my shoulder. “Don’t.”
I glance over to find Lance pulling me back.
Cam’s voice cuts through the fog. “If anyone is punching that dick-waffle, it’s going to be me.” He stands to his full height, cracks his knuckles, and with a menacing tone says, “Care to repeat that, Kyle?”
“You heard me.” Kyle has a fucking death wish.
With one hand, Cam grabs him by the collar, lifting him onto his toes. Cam raises his fist into the air, ready to throw down.
Reed catches the crook of his elbow. “Don’t you fucking dare. We need that hand, Miller.”
“Nico, call off your dogs. We were just joking around,” Damien says coolly.
Joking around? The guy I trusted for years, a man I once called my best friend, whom I let around my family, just called my sister a cock-tease.
“That’s not a fucking joke, D. I treated you like family, and this is how you repay me?”
“I don’t owe you anything. Now back off.” Damien lays a hand on Cam and tries to push him back.
Rage fills me, and like a feral fucking animal, I growl, “Fuck no.”
My fist flies out in a flash, colliding with Damien’s face. His head whips back from the blow, and blood spurts from his nose.
Kyle tries to throw a punch at Cam, but he’s too slow and pathetic. Cam easily lays his ass out with a fist to the stomach.
“It’s time for you to go.” Heath, who is the tallest of us all, looms over our unwelcome guests. The rest of our teammates stand at our backs.
Blood trickles from Damien’s nose as he wipes it on the back of his hand. “What the fuck, Nico? You fucking psycho.”
I charge forward, ready to strike again, as multiple hands yank me back. “Fuck you, Damien. We’re done. You’re fucking fired.”
“You can’t fire me.” He grins at me like a madman. Like he’s got me by the balls or something. Little does he know, he’s got nothing on me.
I match his maniacal grin. “You should really read your contracts, you stupid fuck.”
“What?”
“You think I wouldn’t put stipulations in before I signed?”
His eyes widen in shock, then fear. The gears spin in his head, wondering why I’m not shaken by his hollow threat.
Fucking prick doesn’t even realize our contract is riddled with contingency clauses that I added myself. I’m not as stupid as I look. But he sure as fuck is.
“You’ll regret this,” he seethes.
“The only thing I regret is carrying your ass for this long. Now… Fuck. Off.” Security surrounds Damien and Kyle, ushering them out of the VIP room.
“Hey, D?” I call out.
He turns around, and his eyes burn with hate. It’s both laughable and painful to see his true feelings appear. How did I not see it before?
“Tell your mom I said hi.” I flip him the bird as security grips his elbows and tugs him out of the club.
It’s the final nail in the coffin of our friendship. Damien’s mother loves me like a second son, and she’s going to be pissed when my mom calls and informs her about what he did.
Cam wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me back to the present. “I love when I’m not the one on the other end of that fist.”
A bark of laughter erupts from my chest. I shove him off me. “I bet you are, asshole.”
Blake flicks his chin towards the two scumbags being escorted out of the club. “I know he was your friend, but that guy is a gigantic bag of dicks.”
The group of guys behind me all laugh at his honest assessment.
“You’re better off without him.” Heath says what I already know to be true. Still sucks.
“I know.” I rub at the hollow ache in my chest.
Fuck. Two decades of friendship down the drain. It’s ironic now, but Talia has never liked the guy. Now I know why.
The guys and I fall back into the booth, our mood sunk by what just went down.
“What the fuck, guys? This is a bachelor party. Fuck those guys. I’m not letting them get us down.
” Reed grabs a bottle of bourbon from the table and fills our glasses.
“Here’s to Cam finding his girl. Bro, I’ve known you since we started.
You’re my boy till the end, and I couldn’t be happier for you.
Just don’t fuck it up. We can’t win if Nico kills you and ends up in jail. ”
With a serious look on his face, Cam looks my way. “Never. There’s nothing above her.”
I fight the swell of emotion expanding in my chest at his statement. It’s a weird, slightly uncomfortable feeling, but I know he loves my sister more than life itself.
I raise my glass higher. “To Cam and Talia.”
“To Cam and Talia!”
Cam grins back at me. “And to tossing out the trash.”
“Hell yeah.” Blake pulls out his wad of ones and throws it in the air. “Let’s fucking go.”
Just like that, the dark clouds disappear, chased away by whoops and hollers, and way too many rounds of alcohol.
For the first time, I truly feel like these guys are my friends, not just teammates.