47. Santiago #2
This man, whoever he was, gave off bad fucking vibes and had the same passive-aggressive attitude some of those thugs in prison used to give me for being fresh meat. And just as I did back then—I didn’t give a single fuck.
“Hey.” He stepped in front of me after I refused to look at him. “What did you say your name was again?”
I continued looking ahead as if he didn’t just stand in my face.
“I didn’t.”
He clicked his tongue. “Tienes pelotas, chico.”
“I’m no kid.”
His brows rose before he snorted a laugh. But it was fake, and he quickly fisted the hem of my shirt. “Look at me when I speak, chico, or I’ll fuck up your pretty face, yeah?”
“Aww, you called me pretty.”
Fury crossed his face. No. Not fury, disgust.
“I see. So you’re one of those,” he snarled, his hand fisting my shirt harder.
“One of those?”
“One of the putos that homo keeps around him.” He tilted his head in the direction of Ariyan’s office, and I just about punched that motherfucker in the face. “That maricón always needs someone sniffing his ass. The puto… after all this time, he can’t go a day without having that ass fucked, huh?”
Fury burned through my veins at the filth coming out of this fucker’s mouth, and I stared at him, death in my eyes. If I ever met a motherfucker who deserved to be punched, it was this one, and I grabbed his arm as he still held on to my shirt.
“The fuck you think you are?” I hissed in Spanish when his stare darkened.
“Yeah, you’re fucking him alright—”
The door to the office opened, and there stood Ariyan.
And while his expression said nothing, there was a split second where I spotted panic in his eyes, and so I dropped my hands just as this asshole did the same.
Our timing was good because then Gabe and his partner also popped up in the doorway, and suddenly, the hall became way too fucking crowded.
It didn’t escape me how this man just turned his back to the door, as if not to cross eyes with the cops when they stepped out.
“Please don’t hesitate to call me in case you have further questions,” Ariyan said.
“Will do.”
It was Gabriel who spoke, his eyes on me, before he thanked Ariyan and walked away with his partner. I had about a million questions to ask when they were finally out of our way, but then Ariyan spoke.
“Why are you here, Alejandro?”
Alejandro. So that was the son of a bitch’s name.
“Since when do I owe you any explanations, huh?”
Now, when the cops are gone, he has his courage back?
Asshole.
“What was that all about?” Alejandro asked, jerking his head in the direction of the cops.
Ariyan sighed, smoothing a hand over his blazer. “Nothing you should worry about.”
“My uncle really has too much faith in you,” he snarled before walking into the office, not waiting for an invitation.
Unable to control my rage, I stared ahead, ready to follow this dickhead, when Ariyan placed his hand on my chest.
“Ari—”
“It’s okay, Santiago.” He gave me a barely there smile.
“But this guy—”
“Don’t worry about it.”
My blood boiled, but holding Ari’s stare, I tried silencing the voices telling me to break that motherfucker’s head.
“What are you doing over there? Get your gay ass in here. I got some shit to talk to you about,” Alejandro called from inside the office.
I glanced up, my pulse pounding in my ears with rage as anger pressed against my ribs, threatening to break free like a starved beast. But then, Ariyan moved his hand to my cheek, forcing me to look at him again.
“It’s okay,” he said, voice gentle. I’d never heard him use that tone before, and fuck, it calmed me down like benzos. “I’ll be done with him shortly, and then we’ll talk, alright?”
Still under his spell, I pressed my lips together and nodded.
As if to reward me, Ariyan smiled at me one last time, then went into the office and closed the door behind him.
Only the second he was out of my sight, all that rage came back, and I turned around and pressed my head against the wall, eyes closed.
Trying to calm myself down with breathing, I inhaled slowly before exhaling the air.
I felt so powerless, being out here while Ari was inside a room with such a man.
Who was that Alejandro anyway? I’d never seen him before, but Ari sure had.
My heart stopped, and I paused, hands pressed against the wall—was he the man Ari was in debt to?
I turned to look at the closed door, the voice in my head telling me to break it down.
It’s okay, Santiago.
As if hit by a breeze of fresh air, I closed my eyes and reminded myself that Ari was beyond capable of taking care of himself.
He wasn’t some weak lamb in need of my protection, but a force to be reckoned with.
A clever fox who’d survived in this world without any help thus far, and so, I ground my jaw and forced myself to stay put.
It was hard, but after about twenty minutes, the door to his office finally opened.
The first to walk out was Alejandro, looking as full of himself as he did when he first came here.
Thankfully, he didn’t spare me a word and instead walked away.
In any case, I couldn’t care less about him or about what he had to say, and I walked right into Ari’s office.
“Is that the guy you’re in debt to?”
Ari sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose while waving his other hand at me.
“At the very least, first close the door, then ask such a question.”