10. Santiago
SANTIAGO
“Watch your breath!”
“I am!” Nacio yelled back, hands in front of him.
“Bullshit.” I dodged his punch, then hit him in the kidney.
Not too hard, of course.
“F-fuck,” he gasped, taking a few steps backward.
“When you don’t breathe right, you lose your stamina.
” I moved around him while he was still trying to catch his breath.
He was a strong fighter, yet too impulsive, not calculating his moves at all and too often forgetting to protect his vitals.
It was dangerous, not just for his opponents, but for himself.
Walking over to the ropes, he leaned against them before using his teeth to open the closure strap on his gloves.
“Done already? I thought you’d kick my ass or something,” I teased, a half grin on my face.
“Fuck off, Santi.” He moved on to the other glove. “We’ve been here for hours.”
I checked the clock on the wall. “Still got a few more.”
“I gotta pick up Tess.”
Of course he did.
“Still seeing her?”
“Seeing her?” He stretched his arms. “I’m gonna marry her.”
“Don’t even joke about it,” I warned while he rubbed the side of his stomach, where I’d hit him earlier.
“Why d’you hate her so much?”
Now, taking my own gloves off, I turned my back to him. “’Cause she’s no good for you.”
He laughed. “Trust me, she’s good to me, if you know what I mean.”
The mere thought of my baby brother having sex made me grimace, and I shook my head to get the image out of my mind.
“I’ll remind you of that the next time she cheats on you.”
“Hey!” He frowned. “We were on a break, so it didn’t count.”
I side-eyed him, remembering how I also used that same excuse whenever I fucked someone behind Gabriel’s back.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
He flipped me off, and in return, I grabbed him in a chokehold.
“Fuck, you’re all sweaty!” he whined while trying to get free.
“Yeah?” I shoved his face in my armpit, only releasing him after he tapped out.
“You’re disgusting.”
True.
He shook his head like a dog before turning to me. “Don’t you have work or somethin’?”
“Got the day off.”
“Any plans, then?”
“Just chill, I guess.”
“Sure you don’t wanna join Tess and me?”
I shook my head. “Nah.”
Scratching his chin, Nacio looked around the empty gym. “Remember when Dad used to run this place?”
If I remembered? There wasn’t a day I didn’t think about it.
About how Nacio took his first steps right next to that punching bag in the corner.
The look in Dad’s eyes the first time I threw a proper uppercut in this ring and how Mom brought us all snacks after a long day of working out.
I also remembered the belt that used to hang above that mirror.
Now, there was a stupid banner there with Carlos’s name on it.
The asshole who’d bought this gym while Dad was so deep in his grief that he basically stole it.
“We should visit his grave, y’know?” Nacio said.
Bitterness filled my mouth, and I bit the inside of my cheek.
“Vamos.” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
His eyes met mine for a second before he nodded. “So… you’re super sure about not joining Tess and me?”
“Yeah.” I slipped under the ring’s ropes to get out.
“Why not?”
“Like I said—” I picked my bag up off the floor and hung it over my shoulder. “—I plan on doing nothing.”
“You’re just gonna jerk off, aren’t you?” he asked, pressing closer.
He was pretty much spot-on, but not willing to admit it, I shoved him away from me. Nacio laughed before pulling out his phone and texting someone. I’d put my money on it being Tess.
So far, today had been a nice distraction, but now, with my brother’s attention span focused solely on his phone, I went back to thinking the same shit I had for the last three days.
Ever since the attempted carjacking, Ariyan had hardly acknowledged me.
Honestly, I didn’t even see him that much at work, and when I did, he bluntly ignored me.
It sucked, to say the least, and I worried I’d scared the shit out of him by beating those guys up.
“Did you like it?”
“Boxing?”
“Yes.”
“Like it? I’d die for it.”
Fuck. Couldn’t I have worded it better? Instead, I made myself sound like some psychopath. No wonder he hadn’t spoken to me since. He probably thought I was out of my mind. Which I was, to a degree, but he didn’t need to know it, at least, not until after I fucked him.
* * *
After Nacio left to meet with Tess, I was still pumped, so I went for a ten-mile jog along the shore to clear my mind.
It helped, and now, done with my shower, I was ready to spend Saturday night in front of the TV.
Grabbing the water bottle I’d left on the counter, I finished it in three long gulps, then crashed down on the couch, which had seen better days.
I grabbed the remote and turned the TV on, and after picking some random action movie, I tucked one arm behind my head and got comfortable.
Thirty minutes into the movie, the thought of ordering pizza crossed my mind, but quickly passed as I began dozing off.
I guess I really wanted that pizza because I swore I heard the sound of a bike driving down the street, and all I could think of was the delivery guy driving around with a trunk full of pizza.
I can even smell it. Or maybe it was just a dream?
Everything felt foggy, like a different universe, and I blinked my eyes open to a dark room.
In front of me was a figure, dressed all in black except for the burst of his silver-white hair.
Ariyan?
The room filled with his intoxicating scent, and like some drunk, I wanted to get up and touch him, to pull him close so he’d be right next to me, but my body felt heavy, as if it had been turned to concrete.
My chest tightened with disappointment, but just when I felt like shouting, he came toward me and touched my jaw, softly caressing my skin until his fingers slipped to my neck, and the touch turned aggressive.
My dick hardened in my sweats, and I shifted, feeling blood rushing down my body.
The pressure on my neck tightened until I was almost out of breath, but right before it happened, it was all gone, and the room turned still again.
My eyes snapped open, and I sat up on the couch, body covered with sweat.
“What the hell?” I muttered, one hand running through my damp hair.
My mouth felt dry and my throat sore, and so I rubbed it while slowly getting up. Realizing it was all a dream, I searched for my phone to find it tucked between the couch pillows. Grabbing it, I slid it open, the bright light hurting my eyes.
“Shit.” I squinted, then, with one eye half-closed, turned down the brightness so I’d be able to look at the screen.
It was past 11:00 p.m., and seeing that I had a few new messages, I checked them out.
The first was from Imani, a picture of her holding a bottle of tequila while asking if I was coming.
Texting her a lame no with a snoring emoji, I then read the texts Nacio had sent me.
That kid loved bombing me with crap and shit he found funny, like weird cat videos, so that was pretty much what I’d expected.
What I didn’t expect was a blurry picture of Ariyan standing in a nightclub, some jerk pressed to his back.
Nacio
Isn’t that your boss?
My eyes widened, and I went back to the photo, zooming in on Ariyan’s face—yeah, that was one hundred percent him.
The photo also confirmed something else, and that was that, at the very least, he liked men, too.
Only it didn’t bring me any relief, and if anything, seeing some asshole grinding against what I’d decided was mine filled me with jealousy.
Feeling like I’d been right-hooked, I checked when my brother had sent me that photo. Fuck. It had been over an hour ago.
Getting up, I pressed Call, already running to my room. The phone rang, my patience growing thinner with each second passing.
“Look who’s calling—”
“Where are you?” I cut him off.
“Nice talking to you, too, asshole.” He tsked. “I take it that you saw my text?”
“Yeah.” Grabbing a pair of jeans from my bed, I put them on. “Where are you?”
“Why?” Laughter followed his words. “I thought you didn’t want to hang out with us.”
Clenching the phone tighter, I gritted my teeth. “Nacio—”
“We’ve already left the club, but I’ll text you the address, okay? So don’t say I’m not a good brother.”
I closed my eyes, letting out a short breath.
“Thanks.”
A moment after we ended the call, he sent me the club’s name.
It was one of those fancy places on the other side of town, but determined to take my chance, I wasn’t about to waste one more minute.
Done getting dressed, I turned off the lights and ran out of my room and then the house to catch the fucking bus.
It was at moments like this that I wished I had a damn car.
Although currently, none of it mattered, as my mind was focused solely on finding Ariyan before some random dude got to him first.
This need to find him… It was more than that.
After the dream I’d just had, it was a borderline obsession.
What was going on with me? I had no clue.
My body was basically throbbing to have something that wasn’t even mine, enough to get me out of the house in the middle of the night and go to a club across town, not knowing if Ariyan was still there.
He better be.
He better be, because I swore to God, I’d lose my fucking mind if he wasn’t.