Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Still, it was time to take the plunge.
Nero cleared his throat and met the black gaze, knowing his decision might make or break things between them. And possibly reveal things about Miguel that Nero hadn’t wanted to see.
“They're hunting me because my father told me information no one else knows.”
Miguel frowned and had a sip of rum, but while his gaze focused, he didn’t seem surprised. “Like what?”
Nero ripped some of the meat off the bone. “Like codes to a computer that self-destructs if you use the incorrect password twice. There’s a lot of sensitive information there. Blackmail material, and so on.”
Miguel sat straighter but his gaze drifted off, and he squinted, as if his mind had become a computer calculating the implications of what he’d just heard. “Fuck. We’re off the radar though, and it’s been almost two weeks. No one’s followed us.”
Nero’s mouth dried as words pushed at the back of his throat, but when he met Miguel’s gaze, his natural urge to keep his cards close seemed silly. This man had sacrificed so much for him already. How could he not trust him at this point?
“I have money in some secret accounts. Right now, I’m wary of touching them, but in the future, we could use that cash to settle down.”
Miguel’s eyebrows rose. “So you didn’t spend it all on Versace underwear?”
Nero grinned. “No, but I can buy you some.”
The opportunity for talking freely ended when several young women made their way up to the terrace with drinks in hand. They chatted loudly, and their high heels clicked on the concrete floor as if they were a human typewriter, but Nero wouldn’t take the risk of anyone overhearing their conversation.
So he shrugged and shifted closer to Miguel, looking out at the sea of low buildings stretching all the way to the absolute darkness of the mountains hidden beyond the dark veil of the night. “We’ll be safe as long as we lay low.”
“What are you drinking there?” One of the women asked as their group of four settled at a table nearby.
Miguel shrugged. “Rum. Want some?”
Nero frowned, because since when did they need company? But he said nothing as the ladies, who were already primed with booze, giggled like a group of parrots, flashing their colorful feathers. And to add insult to injury, his teeth were starting to ache.
“Of course,” said the brave one and approached with an empty cup. The bright yellow tube dress she wore was in stark contrast to beautiful dark skin, but Nero didn’t get to focus on her exterior, because as Miguel was pouring her a drink, she leaned her hip against him and placed her hand on his shoulder! Miguel did nothing.
Fire buzzed deep in Nero’s belly when instead of trying to excuse himself with lies about having a girlfriend, or rejecting her in some other fashion, Miguel poured the woman a drink, only encouraging her.
“Are you guys from around here? I would remember someone this handsome…” She rubbed Miguel’s shoulder and laughed.
“Get your drunk ass back here!” one of her friends yelled, giggling in an obvious show of support for what she was doing.
Miguel gave her a curt nod but didn’t peel her hand off himself, even though Nero was sitting right there. “We’re just passing through.”
And when he smiled up at her, a cloud of messy, broken thoughts descended on Nero and poisoned his blood. It was clear to him that Miguel was gay. Not bisexual. Not questioning. Gay. Yet despite being so strangely gentle at times, he still struggled with the simplest things. Like cocksucking.
So he was still a baby gay and might worry about his gag reflex, or fear being bad at it, but if that was the case then Miguel should really fucking communicate it instead of making Nero wonder whether Miguel felt there was something wrong with him, or his cock.
Or maybe things were way worse than that?
Was he flirting with this woman because he felt there was still a way back for him to a normal life, since he hadn’t yet in any way taken a dick inside him and saw her flirting as his chance for experimentation?
“Yeah, and she wants you to pass through her!” yelled another woman, and all three cackled, fueled by whatever they’d already drank at another bar. Nero was starting to hate the shrill sound of their combined voices.
The woman resting her hand on Miguel showed the other the middle finger. “Don’t listen to her. It is my birthday though…” She giggled, covering her mouth.
“It’s not!” the friend hollered with tears in her eyes.
Miguel took another sip of rum. “I’m flattered—”
“Would you take your hand off my boyfriend?” Nero asked as his patience ran out. The woman blinked, staring at them as if she wondered whether she hadn’t misheard him, but despite Miguel’s eyes growing wide, Nero spoke even louder. “I said what I said. If anyone’s riding his dick tonight, it’s gonna be me.”