ADRIAN When the taxi finally pulled to a stop in a touristy street that I had never been to before in my life, we stepped out of the car and stared at the shop in front of us.I let out a deep breath, glaring at the shop that was lit up in neon. Noah must have noticed the way I stared at the tattoo shop.That definitely was the tattoo shop. This was something I decided on doing but didn't know why I was feeling this nervous."Are you having a second thought? We could go back if you're not sure about this." He said, touching my shoulder.I shrugged, I had come a long way from Nexus Point to just turn back now. "Not gonna happen. I'm not going back home until I get my body inked.""You sounds so confident for a guy who is visibly shaking." Noah teased, but I didn't have the luxury to argue back.My first thought was Dad and Mom would fucking kill me if I got ink on my skin, but fuck that. I couldn't care less about what they say anymore.They never for once saw the light in me anyways,
ADRIAN Fire burned my lungs as I took one step forward and another step and then another.Each steps I took towards Marcelo Marino felt like I was walking towards my death, but I couldn't stop walking towards him. I had to. I needed to know what he was doing in front of my apartment this late at night.It would have been better if Giovanni was still in New York, but so bad he wasn't here. Maybe Marcelo wanted to use the opportunity of the absence of his brother to get rid of me?No one would save me from him now. I would be as good as dead before Giovanni gets back to the city. In this moment, I wanted to do a lot of things. To appreciate the good people who had always been there for me.I wanted to call Carlos and tell him how grateful I was for having him in my life. Without his help, life would have been much more harder for me. It was all because of him I had a roof over my head, and a job that keeps me from going to bed hungry.I wanted to call both Tobi and Grace, to appreciate
ADRIAN "Oh!" The sales lady said suddenly, turning around to face us. "I have something for you gentlemen."I stood still, staring between the cart full of sex toys, and the sales lady who seemed to be overly too happy to introduce us to another sex toy.I didn't understand, just how many more toys did she intended to make Marcelo buy?"Does it work okay?" Marcelo asked, his grip tightening around the cart. For some reason he seemed nervous about this.Maybe because this was his first time in a sex shop, or because he was shopping for toys he was going to use on another man.Whichever was the reason for his awkwardness, he has to deal with it on his own. He wanted this."Honey, it does so much more than okay." The lady beamed, walking over to us with a shiny purple box and handed it to Marcelo with a wink. "Be sure to be gentle on him." She added, glancing my way."I will be." Marcelo grinned, dropping the box in the cart."You don't look like it, but okay." The lady smiled, stealing
GIOVANNI"Do you think you will be able to get inside the main building just by killing me?" The bastard coughed out blood, looking up at me with his messed up face.I shrugged, pulling out my gloves and put them on. "That's my problem to worry about."I hadn't really expected it to be this easy to sneaked into Volkov Bratva's mansion, but his guys were unexpectedly sloppy.I would have easily made my way into the main building where the blueprint was kept, if it didn't require I used a fucking thumbprint to enter.Only three people has access to the main building. Volkov Bratva, his right hand man and his dear cousin.I wouldn't have resorted to killing Volkov Bratva's right hand man if the bastard had just given me his fucking thumb without putting up a fight."Fuck!" The bastard coughed again, spitting out blood on the marble floor. "You are so going to regret this. Volkov won't let it slide if you kill me.""You think I give a shit about that?" I scoffed, crouching to his level an
ADRIANI glared at my reflection in the mirror, fury and hurt etched on my face. My hands clenched into tight fists as I gazed down at the damage the wine had done to my shirt. The crimson stains spread across the fabric like a map of chaos, a constant reminder of my life at Great Fisher.A wave of loathing washed over me. I hated this city, its suffocating grip choking the life out of me. My own life was a sham, a never-ending cycle of disappointment. My family, a constant source of frustration. And this job... I hated every minute spent at the Great Fisher, the pretentious boss, the backstabbing colleagues, the suffocating routine and the damned horny bastards that patronise this place.I hated how every client in this bar only see me as a means of entertainment. To them, I was nothing more than a distraction, a plaything to be used for their amusement. My role as a server was constantly diminished, reduced to mere eye candy.It wasn't their fault, it was my damn family's fault for
ADRIAN It took me a minute to remember breathing was a thing people were supposed to be doing. I stood still, mouth parted open in shock as I stared into his eyes. Piercing silver eyes, ones I vowed never to gaze upon again, locked onto mine with piercing intensity. Their burning stare sent a shiver down my spine, and my throat constricted, making swallowing an impossible task. Giovanni Marino, the boss and the leader of the Marino's family was right here in the bathroom stall with me, gazing at me with a dangerous grin on his face. My heart skipped a beat and my mind went blank, unable to think of why Giovanni Marino would be in Great Fisher. My workplace. As the police chief's son, what would people think if they saw me in the same room with the leader of New York City's most notorious Italian Mafia family, the same organisation my father was working to take down? I had tried it once, hooking up with this same man just to get back at my father for disowning me because I was gay
ADRIAN When I suggested the idea, I half-expected Giovanni to dismiss it. To call me out on my shit. Instead, he shocked me by forcefully hauling the bastard to the bar, beating him while vociferously declaring that I belonged to him and threatening severe consequences to anyone who dared to bother me again. I watched as Giovanni grabbed the back of the man’s neck and slammed his face into the bar. Everyone cleared out, moving away as quickly as possible as he babbled and tried to speak. I should be happy that someone was finally putting a stop to this, but instead, guilt washed over me like a blanket as I watched from the corner of the now-empty bar, which had once been full of customers. My chest tightened until I could barely draw in a breath. What was I supposed to do now? Every time I raised my head to look in the direction of my boss, he would plead with me with his eyes that I should put a stop to this. I straightened up before I walked down the bar, to the man who was caus
GIOVANNI The sound of my baseball bat cracking against the skull was loud. Bones broke, and bits of brain and blood stuck to my weapon, my favorite one. I turned it around towards me and wrinkled my nose at the sight of the mess of hair and skull fragments clumped onto the metal. My phone's ringtone pierced the air, drowning out the groans and grunts of the man at my feet. I paused to take a look at the mess of bodies that littered the floor, and I couldn't be more proud of myself for knowing it was all my doing. I was fucking proud of myself. “You stay right here,” I said to the man at my feet with a groan. Walking over him to pick up the call. There was no point telling the man to wait, he couldn't get up even if he wanted to. I had already separated both his legs from his body and his body was already a mess. Walking over to the window on the third floor of the uncompleted building, I propped my elbow on the windowsill, staring down at my bloodied hand as I fetched my phone
GIOVANNI"Do you think you will be able to get inside the main building just by killing me?" The bastard coughed out blood, looking up at me with his messed up face.I shrugged, pulling out my gloves and put them on. "That's my problem to worry about."I hadn't really expected it to be this easy to sneaked into Volkov Bratva's mansion, but his guys were unexpectedly sloppy.I would have easily made my way into the main building where the blueprint was kept, if it didn't require I used a fucking thumbprint to enter.Only three people has access to the main building. Volkov Bratva, his right hand man and his dear cousin.I wouldn't have resorted to killing Volkov Bratva's right hand man if the bastard had just given me his fucking thumb without putting up a fight."Fuck!" The bastard coughed again, spitting out blood on the marble floor. "You are so going to regret this. Volkov won't let it slide if you kill me.""You think I give a shit about that?" I scoffed, crouching to his level an
ADRIAN "Oh!" The sales lady said suddenly, turning around to face us. "I have something for you gentlemen."I stood still, staring between the cart full of sex toys, and the sales lady who seemed to be overly too happy to introduce us to another sex toy.I didn't understand, just how many more toys did she intended to make Marcelo buy?"Does it work okay?" Marcelo asked, his grip tightening around the cart. For some reason he seemed nervous about this.Maybe because this was his first time in a sex shop, or because he was shopping for toys he was going to use on another man.Whichever was the reason for his awkwardness, he has to deal with it on his own. He wanted this."Honey, it does so much more than okay." The lady beamed, walking over to us with a shiny purple box and handed it to Marcelo with a wink. "Be sure to be gentle on him." She added, glancing my way."I will be." Marcelo grinned, dropping the box in the cart."You don't look like it, but okay." The lady smiled, stealing
ADRIAN Fire burned my lungs as I took one step forward and another step and then another.Each steps I took towards Marcelo Marino felt like I was walking towards my death, but I couldn't stop walking towards him. I had to. I needed to know what he was doing in front of my apartment this late at night.It would have been better if Giovanni was still in New York, but so bad he wasn't here. Maybe Marcelo wanted to use the opportunity of the absence of his brother to get rid of me?No one would save me from him now. I would be as good as dead before Giovanni gets back to the city. In this moment, I wanted to do a lot of things. To appreciate the good people who had always been there for me.I wanted to call Carlos and tell him how grateful I was for having him in my life. Without his help, life would have been much more harder for me. It was all because of him I had a roof over my head, and a job that keeps me from going to bed hungry.I wanted to call both Tobi and Grace, to appreciate
ADRIAN When the taxi finally pulled to a stop in a touristy street that I had never been to before in my life, we stepped out of the car and stared at the shop in front of us.I let out a deep breath, glaring at the shop that was lit up in neon. Noah must have noticed the way I stared at the tattoo shop.That definitely was the tattoo shop. This was something I decided on doing but didn't know why I was feeling this nervous."Are you having a second thought? We could go back if you're not sure about this." He said, touching my shoulder.I shrugged, I had come a long way from Nexus Point to just turn back now. "Not gonna happen. I'm not going back home until I get my body inked.""You sounds so confident for a guy who is visibly shaking." Noah teased, but I didn't have the luxury to argue back.My first thought was Dad and Mom would fucking kill me if I got ink on my skin, but fuck that. I couldn't care less about what they say anymore.They never for once saw the light in me anyways,
GIOVANNI "Everything is ready, Dad. I'll report back to you tomorrow at nineteen hundred hours." I grumbled, grounding my teeth as I watched Volkov Bratva guys trooping into the mansion through the binocular. "I know you can do this, kid. Make me proud." Dad said, I could picture the sly grin on his wrinkled face before the call went dead. "Fucking asshole." I hissed, moved the binocular down from my face and threw it on the table next to the window. "This is not going to be easy but I'm definitely going to see it through." I groaned, pushing my fingers through my hair. Volkov had his guys stationed everywhere in his mansion, they were all heavily armed. Breaking into the mansion was already out of the options. I had moved into the hotel that was much more closer to Volkov Bratva's mansion earlier today, and I had thought this would make my mission a lot more easier. But I was wrong. The more I thought this was getting easier, the harder it gets. "Fucking shit!" I growled
ADRIAN "How is this donut going to get you a boyfriend?" I asked, frowning. I looked down at the donut box and moved my gaze back up to stare at Gabe. Blinking nervously.Didn't want to believe he was actually talking about me or if I was being paranoid. Just like Giovanni said, was I that too easy that people would think they could win me over with a piece of donut.I would hate to have to tell him he was right.Gabe searched my face, and I saw the way his eyebrows drew together. The concern on his face made me shift in my seat. I really hoped I was wrong because I was starting to like this guy.Gabe chuckled softly, running his finger over his nose."Am I making you feel uncomfortable?" He asked with a raised eyebrow."Of course not. You're not making me feel uncomfortable in any way." I lied through my teeth, letting out a shaky laugh."Good." He said, pressing his lips together. "Well, to answer your question I would say..." He trailed off, searching my eyes as if to give him per
ADRIAN "I never knew you saw me that day." I said, truthfully. Following after Gabe as he walked me to a table. "Well," he chuckled, plunging into a seat. "I did saw you and to be fair, I couldn't stop looking at your beautiful face." "That's not fair." I groaned out, dropping the box of donut the woman had given to me on the table before taking the seat right across from Gabe. "You shouldn't have seen that." Sitting across from Gabe, I felt an overwhelming urge to bury my face in my hands. Knowing he had seen me took a cock in my mouth not too long ago made my cheeks burn with embarrassment. "Trust me, you don't have to be embarrassed about it. I mean, I've been there before. So it's all cool." He grinned, rubbing the short hair at the back of his head. "You mean, you've been caught while going at it before? In public?" I asked, a small smile crept up my face as I tried to imagine Gabe, this super sexy firefighter being caught having intimate moment in public. "Whatever
ADRIAN "So, you asked her to marry you?" I asked, warmth spread across my neck as I stared at Dave who was busy grinning from ear to ear.He rubbed his hands together and nodded his head, smiling warmly at me. "Yeah. Well, my parents have been bugging me to get married for a while now. I'm just happy Jessica also wanted the same thing. It makes me feel whole knowing the woman I love also loves me back and is willing to spend the rest of her life with me."That was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard a straight man said before. Dave's face lit up with a bright smile each time he talked about his soon-to-be wife and I had never been this happy for two strangers like this before."I'm so happy for you, Dave. I truly am." I said, staring down at the invitation card he had came over to drop for me.I still couldn't believe Dave would come back to Queen's to look for me after Giovanni had beaten him up the other day. He didn't really seemed bothered about it, but I was. It still haun
ADRIAN I paced back and forth in my living room, with my phone pressed gently against my ear. I bit down hard on my lower lip, my fingers trembling as I dialed Carlos for the hundredth time, but the call just wouldn't connect.My heart fluttered, and I absentmindedly rubbed at my chest. "For the love of God, Carlos, where the fuck are you?"I groaned out, pulled my phone down from my ear and clenched it tightly in my hand. Frustration wouldn't be enough to describe how I was feeling right now.I had thought my biggest worry was Carlos not talking to me, nothing would have prepared me for the fact that Carlos would disappear on me after our shift ended at Great Fisher last night. I had thought I would meet him home but he was nowhere to be found.His stuff were still here, so that meant he didn't come home at all. I had been calling him since last night to no avail. Waking up this morning, after getting ready for work I had been trying to reach him again but it was the same story."J