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)
“I’ll need money when I decide what to do about my tattoos,” Nero said out of nowhere.
Miguel rubbed the banister and glanced his way. “What do you want to do?”
Nero looked back, but the top deck was empty, and he pressed his hip to Miguel’s. “I love my ink. I love looking like someone people should fear. But the designs I have mark me for life.”
Miguel nodded and ran one finger over Nero’s covered forearm. “Don’t wanna be a Caiman anymore?”
The touch felt like one of those electric wands sending delicious jolts over his skin. “No. That bridge had spectacularly exploded. It would have only been funnier if you had shot my father’s head off instead of getting him in the heart.”
“Why?”
“Because that would have been the exploding bridge,” Nero said and waved his hand. “Didn’t land. Or, you just don’t have a sense of humor.”
Miguel seemed genuinely offended, and that alone was hilarious. “I do have a sense of humor. I… find you funny. Sometimes.” Getting a compliment out of him was like mining for diamonds, so Nero would take that scrap.
“Aw, thank you. I can always count on you,” he said, shrugging. “What about you? Will you want to cover some of your own tattoos?”
Miguel hummed and stroked his neck, drawing Nero’s attention to the date inked there. “I kinda regret getting the ones on my face, but whatever I cover them with there would still be tattoos on the face, so I don’t know if it’s worth it. Do you regret any of yours?”
Nero licked his lips. “You know I regret filing my teeth, since you discovered my secret tooth gel. As for the tattoos… I like the designs. What does piss me off is that I have covered myself with symbols of something I’m no longer part of. And now whenever a Caiman, or a cop, see me, they’ll wonder: Is that the lost Nero Moreno?” he grumbled, lowering his face into his sweaty palms.
He didn’t expect Miguel to stroke his back, but he arched to it like a needy cat.
“You’ll have a lot of time to work out some changes. Life will never be smooth sailing for either of us,” Miguel said.
But at least now Nero had a friend to brave the stormy seas with. A friend who might also fuck him if he played his cards right. He nodded at Miguel’s neck, where the stark gothic numbers pronounced the date of Miguel’s first kill - 17.04.2002. “What about this one? Won’t it identify you too much?”
Miguel went silent, but Nero gave him time, watching a fish escape the current created by the vessel.
“It’s the day I died. You can’t just cover it and pretend it never happened.”
Oh.
Gravity tugged at Nero’s mouth as he studied Miguel’s slouched shoulders. Was it the day Father had destroyed Miguel’s family? If so, there was no point in dwelling on it, because that chapter of Miguel’s existence was done. Unlike another sphere, which Nero intended to explore thoroughly.
“Yeah, some things are worth commemorating. Got this one to mark my first fuck,” he said and lowered the waistband of his pants to reveal a small target, barely noticeable among the variety of tatts covering his whole body. One had to look close to notice the hole in the bullseye and the cum drizzling out of it in a fat streak.
Miguel frowned and Nero buzzed with excitement when his fingers drifted to the tat. “Is it because you killed him?”
Nero shrugged. “He shot the bullseye first. And I did the same a bit later,” Nero said and slapped his buttock to make sure Miguel got it this time.
He was so innocent.
“Oh, my God!” Miguel’s face relaxed, and he laughed, making pride swell in Nero’s chest, because making this grump smile was no easy feat. “Was the sex really that good?”
It really wasn’t. Nero’s first didn’t care for him and fucked him only because he could. Because it would give him a story to tell.
“Nah, it was shit. He deserved that hole in his forehead.”
“You’re one crazy, horny motherfucker.” The sound of Miguel’s continued laughter was like a prize, dozens of medals being pinned to Nero’s chest for achieving the unachievable.
“Oh, you love it,” Nero said and gave Miguel a little nudge. “Better tell me about yours!” Bingo. The perfect, casual segway into finding out how untouched Miguel was.
There was a twinkle in Miguel’s eyes when he glanced back at Nero and bumped him with his hip. “Wouldn’t you like to know…” He looked at the river with a mysterious smirk.
So there had been someone.
Or had there?
“Oh come on, don’t tease me. I’ll make it worth your while,” Nero said, leaning against him as the outskirts of a town passed them by. With no one to see the gesture, he moved his hand to Miguel’s lower stomach and let it rest just above his crotch.