Chapter 40 #2
Before, when his uncle showed these unreasonable acts of possessiveness over Honey, he just brushed it off, wanting to avoid problems. But now, he felt ready to beat his chest and show who Honey really belonged to.
He had never felt like this before, not even with Raelyn when she had been with Leonidas.
They stared at each other for a beat, their eyes clashing. Theo looked back and forth between them warily before Nikos chuckled, slicing down the thick tension, and Georgios’s tense shoulders dropped.
“My bad, uncle. It was a mistake on my part.”
Antonis continued to stare at him. It looked like he wasn’t quite ready to let the conversation end.
It was the way he had been looking at him ever since he returned like he was looking at a feral animal that he was afraid to turn his back on, afraid that if he did, he would be bitten.
Funny enough, Nikos felt like a feral animal right now.
“Dismissed.”
“Man, it was too tense back there,” Theo said as they walked down the hall.
They had parted ways with Georgios, who had gone in the opposite direction, heading for his office downstairs.
Theo loosened his tie, and the feelings he couldn’t show in front of their uncle formed on his face—irritation, annoyance, and disbelief.
It all formed on his face at once, leaving wrinkles of confusion on his forehead, and frown lines on his nose and the corners of his mouth.
“I feel like we should be getting praised for everything we’ve done while he was resting,” Theo grumbled.
“Especially you. This place and all the other clubs would have been in the dumps if you hadn’t stepped up.
You killed his enemy, for God’s sake, kept the clubs running, and even brought in more money. It feels… it feels like…”
“We’re being punished?”
“Yes!” Theo exclaimed as they went out the double doors and were greeted by the sight of naked women and horny men.
“It’s strange, man. I thought when Antonis returned, he would be happy with what we accomplished.
The wolves were preying on us when he went out of commission.
Most of his top men were dead, but we stepped up. What’s his problem?”
Nikos shrugged, even though he already knew what the problem was.
They did do everything right, more than people had expected, and that was the problem.
Antonis came back from the dead to see that his right and left-hand men were gone and that his club had been given to someone, who wasn’t his right or left-hand man.
Right now, Antonis didn’t see him as his nephew or someone who helped him out while he was out of commission.
He only saw him as his enemy, and any good deeds Nikos had done to save his club and position in the tri-state area meant nothing to Antonis.
There would be no rewards, there would be no praise, and Nikos didn’t need those things either. Right now, he only needed one thing, and he doubted his uncle would willingly give that to him either. Not that it was his, to begin with.
“Why does it feel like Roberto is watching us?” Theo asked, and Nikos didn’t even have to bother to look because he felt an intense gaze following them as they walked across the floor, heading for the exit that led to the parking lot.
The intense gaze never left his back, and it had been like that ever since his uncle returned.
“He doesn’t trust me.”
“Who?” Theo exclaimed. “Roberto?”
“Our uncle,” Nikos said as they stepped outside. He knew it wouldn’t be long before Roberto’s intense gaze was replaced with another. A couple of Antonis’s men had been tailing him for the past few days, watching his actions closely.
“Shit,” Theo muttered as he paused in his steps, looking back at the club with a look of worry before his face became resolved. “What are we going to do?”
“Nothing for now,” Nikos said, and Theo looked surprised, and he could not blame him.
Antonis not trusting him wasn’t something to take lightly.
He had seen what had happened to the men his uncle did not trust, and at this point, he knew being Giannis Drakos’s son wouldn’t be an impenetrable shield for long.
“I’ve got to go,” Nikos told Theo as he headed to his car. “Don’t worry about it for now.”
Theo nodded, and even though his worry was clear, they parted ways.
Nikos got in his car, and instead of driving straight to his intended destination, he took a detour and went to Allison’s place, parking his Camaro in the front before getting into his truck in the back parking lot.
Once he saw that his uncle’s men had taken the bait and remained parked across the street from Allison’s place, he drove off, and twenty minutes later, he arrived at Honey’s place.
He knocked on the door, and he heard Honey’s footsteps patter over to the door before they paused. A second later, the door ripped open, and Honey all but yanked him inside, tugging him by his arm.
“What’s going on?” Honey asked, anxiously, and Nikos could not blame her. She had all but seen the Grim Reaper three nights ago in her home. It was like a villain returning from the dead.
“Antonis doesn’t trust me,” Nikos said as he pulled his jacket off, and Honey grabbed it, placing it on her coat rack. Nikos dropped down on the couch, and a second later, Honey followed suit.
“Does he suspect there’s something between us?
” Honey asked, fear clear in her brown eyes.
He wished he could erase that fear from her eyes, but he knew words would not do it.
That fear had been imprinted there for a reason from the many years of his uncle getting rid of every male in Honey’s life who so much as looked in her direction.
He knew it was the same reason why she had been hesitant to start something with him in the first place.
“He might,” Nikos admitted. The night Antonis returned, he had checked to see if Nikos had really been at Allison’s place. It meant that he suspected he had been somewhere else. On top of that, his comment tonight on Honey’s help made Nikos even more certain.
“What are we going to do, Nikos?” Honey asked, her shoulders slumped with defeat and distress.
“We could end this,” Nikos said, and Honey’s eyes widened. “We could go our separate ways as if nothing ever happened between us. My uncle only suspects, Honey. He has no proof.”
“Are you sure he doesn’t know?” Honey asked.
“I’m positive. I’m still right here in front of you, aren’t I?
” Nikos said with a smirk, and Honey sighed, turning her eyes away from him.
It was clear that she was in no mood for jokes, especially since, technically, it wasn’t one.
His being alive was proof that Antonis didn’t know, because if he did, Nikos was certain he would be lying in a body bag somewhere.
“It would be the easy thing to do, just letting it end here. But…” Honey’s eyes found his again, her brown eyes looking like her real name at that moment. “If you want to be with me as much as I want to be with you, then I’m willing to do anything for you.”
Her eyes watered, and Nikos pulled her hand into his, squeezing it.
He knew that Honey didn’t like to involve herself with problems and that she actively stayed away from them.
It was why she had adamantly avoided him in the beginning.
She had closed herself off to romantic relationships because of his uncle’s obsession with her.
Nikos knew that she wanted to go with the first option, not only because she wanted to protect herself and her son, but because she wanted to protect him too.
He was happy with that, happy with everything that Honey was.
Happy with her stubbornness, her determination, and the walls he had been slowly breaking down over their shared time together.
He enjoyed everything about her, and he didn’t want to lose any of that, but if Honey didn’t want to take the risk, he wouldn’t force her.
He knew how dangerous this would be if they took that road. It was not an easy road to walk down, and Nikos would not drag her down a path she was unwilling to take, even if everything in him wanted to be with her.
“This is ridiculous,” Honey said, wiping her tears. “We’re not even in a relationship.”
Nikos knew they hadn’t placed any titles on their relationship yet, in part because of Antonis. But, for some reason, the title of their relationship didn’t matter to him at all. The only thing that mattered to him was Honey.
“It doesn’t matter what we are,” Nikos told her as he took her hand in his before pressing it against his heart. “Only what we feel.”
Honey looked at her hand against his heart and pressed it down firmer, feeling his heartbeat that he was certain matched her own— thumping and racing and alive.
“Okay,” Honey said as she looked up into his eyes. “I want to be with—”
Nikos didn’t let her get the rest of her words out before he leaned forward and kissed her deeply, glad that Honey felt the same way he did because he didn’t want to lose her.
Though he had given her the option, the idea of losing Honey crushed him in a way he had not felt before.
He wanted Honey more than anything in this world.
This life he had built with her, he didn’t want to lose.
He kissed her and kissed her again and kissed her some more, and just when he thought he was done, he found himself chasing her lips for more, pressing shallow kisses against her lips down to her chin and then to her neck.
Honey’s fingers scraped the nape of his neck before tightening through his locks of hair.
He found his way back to her lips again and only then did he pull back.
He didn’t want to. Right now, he wanted to be buried between her legs, but he had work to do. He pecked her lips once more before he stood.
“Where are you going?” Honey asked, her lips plump and bruised.
“I’ve got work to do,” Nikos said. “But I’ll be back again. Not as often as before, but I will be.”
Honey nodded, and Nikos went to the coat rack and slipped his jacket on before heading to the door. Before he could open it, Honey stopped him.
“Wait a minute,” Honey said as she padded over to him. She reached behind her neck and fiddled about before taking her necklace off. It was her Jesus piece necklace. She wore it whenever she went to the club, but whenever she got on stage, she would take it off and leave it on her desk.
She stood on the tip of her toes, reaching her arms up, and Nikos leaned down, letting her fasten the necklace around his neck. Nikos looked at the gold piece of jewelry in question.
“Call me superstitious, but I feel it always protects me,” she said, and Nikos took her necklace, kissing the back of it, the same way he had seen her do countless times before she hung it up on her vanity.
“I’ll be safe,” Nikos told her, kissing her forehead.
“Promise?” Honey said as she wrapped her arms around his waist, nestling her chin into his chest as she looked into his eyes.
“Promise.”