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5
Nico
Four weeks later
Nico walked up to the large house with the manicured lawn, admiring the landscaping design. Looking around the suburban neighborhood as he navigated the long walkway, he was still somewhat shocked that they’d come from where they did, only to have the lives they lead now. This shit was wild.
The homes that lined the street were those of the wealthy. Two and three car garages filled with expensive vehicles. Large pools were in each backyard. Kids played on the front lawns or rode their bikes within the cul-de-sac. Considering what he’d made of himself after growing up the way he did, if he’d been raised in a neighborhood like this, he could only imagine what his life would be like now.
Then again, if this had been his childhood, would Max be his best friend? Would Vini be his wife? No. He didn’t think they would. His youth may not have been all daisies and rainbows in the fucking sky, but it made him into the man he was today. Even with all the shit he’d gone through, he wouldn’t change one fucking thing.
Max was about to marry a fucking lawyer. Laughing to himself, he still couldn’t believe that shit. He’d fallen head over heels for Kiana, and he was determined to lock that woman down. His friend had changed into a totally different man once she came into his life. Even Nico could admit he was happy for him though. Kiana was good people.
Life was changing too fucking fast, but some things remained the same. Twenty years after meeting, he and Max were still best friends, brothers, and business owners—or at least that’s what the world saw.
Five years ago, he’d purchased this home for him and Vini. A place to settle down. Maybe raise a few kids. His steps paused. “Fuck,” he whispered.
He’d wanted this home to be a place of peace. Somewhere they could hold the darkness at bay. Just live and enjoy. People did this shit every day. As long as the bullshit never touched their doorstep, they could leave it all behind when they came home at night.
It worked for a while. For three years they’d found what they were looking for inside the walls of this almost perfect home. Until the day their world came crashing down on them. They’d lost something they’d only just realized was a possibility.
That day, Vini had been caught in the crossfire between a crazed lunatic and his battered wife.
Working at one of the hospitals she supported, the man had come inside screaming for his wife. No one expected him to have a gun. Within minutes of arriving to the hospital, and not getting the answers he wanted, the man pulled his weapon and began shooting wildly. Two people were killed. Vini was shot and injured.
She wasn’t even on a job for him and Max, which was the most fucked up part of the entire situation. She’d been pulling out of the business, working more in her own field. Getting comfortable living in a different world, away from the dark world they’d all grown up in.
It was the day that changed them forever, and he’d never seen it coming.
Never in a million years did he think they’d be at this point. Him running the streets every day, living out of a suitcase in a hotel. Living away from his woman. Not sleeping in his own bed, in his own home.
With rumors swirling that he and Vini were split up, he was now pushing off women who thought he was free. He’d never fucking be free of Vini. Damned woman was in his soul. She was his addiction. His obsession. Being away from her was bullshit. It had gone on too long. He’d allowed this shit to happen because of his own pride. He’d admit it to himself, but no one else.
Max had been giving him shit too, especially now that he had Kiana. Every day, he had to hear his mouth about how Nico needed to fix shit with Vini. He knew that. He didn’t need Max in his ear every damn day about it. If Max didn’t know this shit was eating Nico up inside, then he didn’t know him very well.
Arriving at the front door, he used his key to enter. Fuck knocking. This was still his home, whether she liked it or not. ‘Til death do they part, and all that shit. Since he’s not planning to die anytime soon, she was still his wife. Anything else was unacceptable.
Stepping inside, he closed and locked the door behind him. Vini had belonged to him since they’d first made love when she was eighteen. That experience had been mind-blowing. He’d asked her to marry him that very night. She’d turned his ass down flat but that didn’t stop him from claiming her. He’d never stopped pursuing her. Whenever she tried to date someone else, he’d stop that shit in its tracks. Usually by threatening the guy and doing something to make him walk away. He wasn’t above showing up at the guy’s job to make it clear Vini belonged to him.
When she tried to walk away, start a different life—which she’d tried a couple of times—he’d seduced her into changing her mind. Made her remember just how good they were together. Had her screaming his name all night as he fucked her raw and hard. Even back then, he knew he’d never let her go.
He looked around the home she’d created without him, his head shaking in disappointment. At himself, mainly. Pride and ego made him put up walls, blocking her out. He’d waited six months to come home, and when he did, it was because he needed her to save him.
Max called him a selfish bastard. Nico didn’t give a shit. That woman was the other half of his goddamned soul. He would always return to her.
Placing his keys on the hallway table, he thought back to that rainy night not so long ago, when he’d shown up at the door. Bloody, beaten, and on the verge of dying. This was the only place he would have gone. Could have gone.
He’d joked with Vini that he wasn’t sure if she’d open the door for him. “Fuck that,” he whispered into the silence of the room. If she hadn’t opened the door, he would have broken that bitch down.
What God has joined together, let no man tear asunder.
While he and the man upstairs weren’t on the best of terms, that was one thing they both agreed on. He’d tear up this entire city and state to be with Vini. Hell, if push came to shove, he’d fuck up the entire eastern seaboard if it meant that woman would remain his. She might try to put up barriers meant to keep him away, but he’d walk right through anything—or anyone—standing between them.
He heard noise coming from the kitchen and decided to confront her there. Max and Kiana’s wedding was less than a month away. As the best man, he couldn’t get out of his duties to his best friend. He wanted Vini there by his side. It was time for them to stop hiding who they were to each other. Keeping their shit hidden had given people ideas they shouldn’t. It was time for that to stop.
Too much time had passed. He was done being the bad guy with her. He’d tried to get her to listen to him. To hear him out. Max told him he was a fool. That if he wasn’t careful, Lavinia would get fed up with his bullshit. That he needed to stop fighting what he tried to force her to accept. That it wasn’t her job to let him explain, it was his job to make her listen.
He hated it when Max was right. That smug bastard was never going to let him forget it.
