Raw (23 page)

Lack of air makes the pressure build in his now-maroon-colored face. He chokes out, fear in his eyes, “What are you going to do?”

Looking into his left eye, then his right, I state robotically, “An eye for an eye.”

Happy’s hold on his throat tightens, he shoves a balled handkerchief into his mouth, and covers it with his free hand. Hamid struggles against his hold, his loud cries muffled. The man is petrified. I could let him go right now. It would be a lesson taught to him, but that lesson would be soon forgotten. I want this fucker to wake up every morning with me on his mind.

I want him to remember me for the rest of his miserable life.

Clinically, I tell Happy, “Hold him still. I don’t want to take them both out.”

Hamid’s eyes widen a moment before he struggles harder and closes his eyes, tears rolling out of the corners. When I hear trickling, I look down to see the man has pissed himself. The smell of ammonia strong in the air, I glare at him. “Motherfucker. Let’s do this.”

A cut here.
 

Hamid screams until he’s hoarse, muffled by Happy’s makeshift gag.

A slice here.

He whimpers. His body shakes uncontrollably, going into a state of shock. His hands claw at air.

A gouge there.

His breathing heavies and his body stills, alerting me to the fact that he’s passed out.

Damn. Lucky son of a bitch.

What should probably be sad is that I feel little to nothing about doing this. There is no twinge in the back of my head telling me to stop. No emotion. There is just…
nothing
. My mind and I are completely at ease doing this to someone we believe is at fault. Someone who needs to be taught a lesson.

When I’m satisfied with my handiwork, I walk over to the door at the side of the office and open it. The bathroom is small, but it’ll do. I don’t like his blood on me.

Washing and washing and washing until I’m sure my hands are clean, I walk back out to the office to see Michael leaning over Hamid’s ashen face and twitching body, taking in his now-gaping eye socket with wide eyes. Happy stands to the side, also watching carefully to see what Michael will do.

Michael asks an empty, “Will he die?”

I answer softly, “No. But he’ll wish he did.”

The boy looks up at me, “Did you do this for—” He looks embarrassed. “For me?”

“Partly,” I tell him. And it’s the truth. No one fucks with my employees. But Hamid had it coming. If it wasn’t me, it would’ve been someone else. He’s lucky it
was
me, because he will live another day to be the rat he is.

Michael nods. I look over to Happy, his eyes still trained on the boy, an impressed look on his face.

Yes. He’ll do nicely.

Pulling out my wallet, I remove my business card from it and walk over to the desk to write a note for Hamid when he comes to.

Declaring war was a mistake. For the record…I won.

I always win.

Walking over his limp body, I let the card flutter down onto his chest and walk towards the exit, men in tow. As we approach the SUV, I hail one of Hamid’s goons and state, “You want your boss to live, you’ll call an ambulance. Right now.”

His eyes widen before he runs towards the office. My men packed up and ready to leave, we roll out to the sounds of hell breaking loose.

Turning to Michael, who sits next to me, he watches me through wide eyes.

I smirk and tousle his hair.

Yes.
 

The boy will do fine.

Turning the key to unlock my unit, I wonder why Twitch never responded to my message asking if Michael is okay.

Face bunched in confusion, I hang up my coat, set down my bag on the breakfast bar, and walk towards my room. Stopping mid-step halfway down the hall, I listen closely.

The shower runs.

“Twitch?” I call out.

A familiar voice calls out, “No, baby. It’s me.” Dave. My smile dies as soon as he adds, “And we’re going to talk about why you think that strange man is in your shower as soon as I get out.”

Shit.

My phone pings.

Nikki: Girls night! Whoo! Be there soon x

Girls night? Tonight? There’s no way I would’ve forgotten something like that.

Having had a shower this morning, I dress in sweats and a tank, then spray the crap out of myself with deodorant.
 

You know…just in case.

As I walk into the kitchen, the bathroom door opens and I hear thumping footsteps coming towards me. Dressed in only a towel and still wet from his shower, Dave engulfs me in a bear hug that I’m not ready for. Faceplanting into his wet chest, the ass hugs me tighter when I say a panicked and muffled, “Can’t. Breathe!”

Pinching his side, he chuckles and hugs me harder. Literally having my air supply cut off by a hard chest, I act on instinct. Given no other choice, I bite his nipple. Hard.

Dave yelps and jumps away from me, looking miffed but still grinning, “That hurt, bitchflaps!”

Placing a hand on my hip and breathing heavily, I screech, “I was almost suffocated by man-boob!”

Dave gasps, “Those
boobs
are muscular, fabulous pecs, ho!”

Unable to stop myself from laughing at his offended expression, I ask warily, while running a hand down my face, “Why’d you call a girls night? What’s up?”

He smiles like a goddamn loon. “All in good time. Nikki needs to be here for this.”

Rolling my eyes, I turn and walk into the kitchen, making sure to have
Cocoa à la Lexi
ready for whatever news my friend is going to tell us.

Placing the cocoa on a tray, I walk it over to my coffee table just as the front door to my unit opens. Looking up, I find a much too happy Nikki strolling in with a container.
 

A container full of...

“Double choc, peanut butter niknaks?” I almost screech. “You made
double choc, peanut butter niknaks
?”
 

Taking in her grin, I bounce on the spot in excitement. Those niknaks are the shit.

“What’s the occasion?” I ask from her side, reaching into the container. Slapping my hand away, she chuckles at my forlorn expression and utters, “All in good time, honey.”

When Dave strolls into the living area dressed in light grey sweat sans tee, towel drying his hair, he takes one look at Nikki and grins cockily, “I’m so glad you’re here!”

She sends him an equally winning smile and lays on the sweetness a little too thick. “Oh, sweetie, I missed you too! Come have a niknak.”

Dave spies the niknaks. His face pulls into a frown. Almost asking himself, he mutters, “Why do we have niknaks today?”

Nikki motions for us both to sit and says, “No. You go first! Tell us your big news!”

Dave, looking like a child being told he is allowed to jump on the bouncy castle, sits and starts, “Whelp. I know we had a little competition going on the other night with who would nail Happy…” Holy shit, this is news to me! My eyes widen in shock as he continues, “…so I hope there’s no hard feelings, sweet cheeks.”

Nikki’s eyes narrow dangerously. “What do you mean?”

Reaching for his cocoa, he sips then smirks into his mug. “I won.”

Nikki pulls the cocoa out of his hands and Dave glares at her, “Hey, it’s no big deal. He’s just into guy—”

But she cuts him off with an abrupt, “When? When did you fuck him?”

Dave clears his throat, “Well, technically,
he
fucked
me
. And the event occurred last night.”

Well. This is awkward. I wish the ground would swallow me up.

A small smile breaks out on Nikki’s face and I’m not sure what to make of it. It’s almost like the Mona Lisa smile. I narrow my eyes while searching her face. She’s hiding something.

Dave blinks a moment before he blurts out, “Well, this sucks. I thought I’d feel all triumphant, but now I just feel like poo on a shoe! Thanks, Nikki. Thanks a lot,” then shoves not one, but two niknaks into his mouth in an attempt to show his current state of depression.

My wide eyes drift from Nikki to Dave, while trying to blend into the background like a chameleon.

I read somewhere that they can smell fear. Be still and impersonate a leaf.

That’s when Nikki picks up a niknak and nibbles on it. With a sigh, she looks upset as she tells Dave, “Don’t sweat it, babe. But you’re wrong.”

Still nibbling her treat, Dave looks confused as he asks her, “What do you mean I’m wrong?”

Shoving the niknak into her mouth, she replies a garbled, “Oo didit in. I id.”

Dave and I look at each other, unable to decipher her food-talk. Dave shrugs. “Yeah, I didn’t quite catch that.”

Taking her time chewing, she finally swallows, stands, and points at Dave, shouting, “You didn’t win!
I
did!”

Poor Dave. His level of confusion just went from
I don’t get it
to
I’m special
.

He mutters, “What? Whe—?” Gasping, he stands, points right back at Nikki, and yells, “Extra-long bathroom break at the masque!” Narrowing his eyes accusingly, he shakes his finger in her face. “There was no line, was there? You were getting porked! By the hottie!”

I can only watch in surprise as Nikki curtsies and announces, “Best fifteen minutes I ever spent in a bathroom.”

Unable to stand being a mere spectator any longer, I also stand and holler, “Who are you people and what have you done with my best friends?”

Nikki and Dave look shocked at my outburst before they look at each other and burst into laughter.

Dave moves to stand by Nikki, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Honey, this isn’t news. We do stuff like this all the time. You know? Playing
who can get the guy
.”

Nikki leans into Dave and nods, “Yeah. He’s right. Not the first time. Won’t be the last, either.”

I’m dumbstruck. Mouth gaping, I clarify, “So neither of you are pissed at each other? You don’t care that you’ve slept with the same guy?”

Nikki scoffs, “No way. It’s all just for fun. We haven’t done it in a long time. Not since Dave and Phil were together, so it was overdue.”

Dave chuckles, “Yeah, we’ve even done three in a bed—” Nikki’s eyes widen as she elbows Dave in the ribs. He scowls at her, “Ow! What the hell was that for?”

My jaw hits the floor.
 

No. Effing. Way.

Leaning forward, I whisper-hiss, “You guys have done threesomes together?”

Dave’s eyes narrow at my outburst. He quickly realizes why Nikki elbowed him to keep his mouth shut. Slowly walking towards me, his eyes watch me carefully as he says, “Yes, baby, we have.”
 

I’m a little miffed that I didn’t know this. Best friends tell each other things like this. When he spots my obvious hurt, he wraps me up in a hug. “It’s got nothing to do with how we feel about you, babe. We were both just in places where we didn’t want you to judge us for what we like. I’m not saying you would’ve done that, but the possibility was enough to make us keep it to ourselves. We love you.”

Taking a moment to ponder what he just said, I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze him tightly. Arms come around me from the back and Nikki kisses my hair. “We do love you, Lex. Thinking you wouldn’t get it or think we were weird was scary as fuck. Do you think we’re weird?”