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NICK
After delivering two vegan ratatouille pizzas to an intoxicated twink wearing a Hello Kitty sweatshirt and fuchsia tights, I head back to Dede’s. When I realize that I’m just a few blocks north of Adam’s house, I turn onto Seventh Avenue and walk slowly toward his street.
“This is a bad idea,” I mutter under my breath. “If Dede knew what I was doing, she’d probably launch into one of her lectures.”
Honor your value, she whispers in my head. When we surrender to temptation, the battle is lost.
I stop and pull out my phone when it vibrates. It’s a text from Oliver: Can I borrow $100? Found a Groupon for facial, microdermabrasion & peel!!!
The message makes me smile. But when I look up from the phone again there’s a heavyset guy right beside me. He’s inhaling McDonald’s fries painted with a gallon of ketchup as he tries to read Oliver’s text over my shoulder.
“You laughing at me?” he mutters.
I shake my head. “No, man. It was a text from—”
“Because I got a situation and everything,” he interrupts. “There’s nothing funny about when people get addicted to things like French fries.”
“Can’t argue with you there,” I tell him, getting back on the move.
I inch my way down the sidewalk, trying to decide if passing by Adam’s house for a glimpse in the front window would be surrendering to temptation. I don’t have to talk to him. Just a peek at his face and those fucking hot sleeve tattoos and his gorgeous ass and that—
The phone vibrates again. It’s Oliver, but this time he’s actually calling. I let my finger hover over the red Decline icon for a few seconds, but then change my mind and swipe Accept.
“Hey, babe!” His voice is bouncy and loud. “Did you get my text?”
“About the facial?” I ask.
“No, I’m already over that,” he says. “I decided it would be too indulgent. I sent another one about borrowing fifty bucks to get my eyebrows threaded.”
“I’m sorry. Did you say eyebrows threaded?”
“I did,” he answers. “And so did you. So is that a yes?”
“No, sorry. Tips tonight have been really spotty. My MasterCard payment is due next week, so—”
“This is an emergency, Nick!” He sounds tipsy. “I have a date tomorrow. It’s a hot fifty-year-old investment banker, and I need to be the best version of me that I can possibly be.”
I take a moment to think. I have four hundred dollars hidden in my backpack. It’s my ultra urgent rainy day fund, so I shouldn’t touch it. But Oliver sounds more adrift than usual. He’s also my best friend. And despite the fact that we’re both going through a rough patch in the Love & Romance Department, I’m feeling incredibly buoyant at the moment. There’s also the possibility that doing a kind thing for Oliver could add a much-needed credit to my karma account.
“Just this once,” I tell him. “I can give you the cash when I get home later.”
“What time will that be?” he asks. “We’re also almost out of vermouth, so would it be possible to swing by the store on the way?”
I smile at the request. Oliver can be a bit much sometimes. As well as a fussy, judgmental princess. But he’s also been by my side through every difficult moment that I’ve endured since we met in high school.
“You got it,” I tell him. “Fifty dollars and a bottle of vermouth.”
He snickers. “See, babe?” he mumbles. “I’m a cheap date, so maybe somebody will love me one day.”
The remark slices through my cheerful mood, but I keep the tone light and bright while we work out the details. I have another three hours on the clock at the pizzeria, so I estimate that I’ll be at the apartment around eleven. Oliver says that’s perfect because he needs to soak for an hour, pluck for an hour and then decide between his Reiss Sutton blazer or Coach leather jacket to wear for his date.
“Sounds good,” I say. “See you later, mister.”
When I slide the phone back into my pocket, I look up and discover that I’m at the corner of Hudson and Barrow.
Fuck! Turn right and walk by Adam’s house? I swivel my gaze and peer into the distance. Or turn left and go back to work?
I decide to flip a coin, so I reach back into the pocket, come up with a quarter and send it revolving overhead. When it tumbles back into my hand, the edge hits my signet ring and the coin goes rogue. It falls to the sidewalk, pings against my foot and vanishes into the gutter.
Double fuck! In that case, I’m doing it. If Dede had another delivery, she would’ve already sent me a text.
I quickly round the corner, cross to the south side of the street when traffic clears and fix my eyes on Adam’s townhouse. The lights are on in the living room and a couple of rooms on the third floor. I imagine that he’s upstairs, getting ready to go out and prowl for a hot guy to bring home and fuck.
Like he fucked me.
Like I’d hoped he would fuck me again.
And again.
I shake off the somber thoughts. Then I take a deep breath as my mind fills with ghostlike images of Adam’s glistening cock and his tight abs and the sweet smile on his face when we were cuddled in the bed at Dirty Secrets.
As I get closer to his house, I notice that the drapes are closed in the living room. I move along until I’m at the bottom of the front steps. Then I look up just as a shadow appears against the fabric.
“Well, there you are,” I whisper as the silhouette moves back and forth from one side of the room to the other. “Hiding behind the curtain.”
When a second shadow comes into view, I feel a wave of nausea, imagining that Adam has already found his prize for the night and they’re in the early stages of the flirtation tango. Before I can force my feet to start moving, the front door opens and someone comes out onto the top of the stoop. I’m so startled that I spin around, scramble into the street and crouch between a pickup that’s parked at the curb.
The man is wearing a black leather jacket, ripped jeans and a ball cap. The hat is pulled so low that his face is entirely in shadow. I hold my breath and wait, hoping that he’ll turn to one side or look up just enough so I can get a glimpse.
But as I keep my eyes fixed on his head, the light above the front door suddenly switches off and he’s plunged into total darkness.
“Good to go?” someone calls from inside the house.
“For the first load, yeah,” replies the man on the stoop. “I had to park down the block, so we’ll need to hustle it and come back for the rest.”
The other man says something that I can’t make out before he emerges from the foyer. There’s enough light from the nearest streetlamp so I can make out his silhouette against the brick façade. He’s carrying two suitcases and what looks like a small framed painting under one arm. For a split second, I consider getting up from my hiding place to ask if Adam’s inside, but then a chill claws up my back.
Definitely sketchy, I think. Just keep down.
I wait until they return, heart pounding and my throat going dry. I lift up slightly when they’re climbing the steps again, watching as they collect two more pieces of art, another suitcase and a large duffel bag. I dip lower behind the truck, trying to decide whether or not I should just get up and dash to the far side of the street. I’m still debating the options a few seconds later when I hear shoes scuffing on the pavement and a voice from over my shoulder.
“Who the fuck are you?”
I’m so startled that I nearly fall on my ass when I turn to look up.
“I, uh…dropped something,” I say, offering the first thing that comes to mind. “I was looking for—”
“Shut the fuck up!” the guy says. “You weren’t looking for shit.”
When he suddenly takes a swing at me, I stumble backward, fall against the bumper of the car parked in front of the truck and slam down to the street.
“Little fucker,” he hisses. “You’re the punk that—” He stops short. “You shouldn’t be here, asshole.”
I scramble back toward the curb, frantic to get to my feet, desperate to get enough leverage to escape. But he’s on top of me before I can get up. He grabs the collar of my shirt, tugging it with such force that it rips and the side of my face smashes into the bumper.
“What the fuck are you doing?” calls the other guy. “Let’s get out of here.”
White hot pain explodes beneath my right eye. I try to get up again, but the guy charges forward, pivots toward the sidewalk and slides one of his legs behind my knees.
“I mean now!” the second man shouts as I hit the ground. “Let’s go!”
The man towering over me turns just enough so I catch a glimpse of his face, but he’s a wearing a surgical mask over his nose and mouth. For a split second, my frantic brain tries to comprehend why a doctor would attack me for no reason. But then I find enough clarity to realize that he’s wearing the mask as a disguise and whatever is happening at Adam’s house definitely involves something nefarious.
“Keep your mouth shut, Nicky,” he hisses.
He knows my name? How the fuck does he know my name?
As I try to process the startling revelation, the man standing over me pulls back his right hand, cocks it beside his shoulder and sends it toward me in a blur of pink and black and silver. I hadn’t notice the ring before, but I definitely feel it bite into my cheek as the punch skims along just beneath my left eye.
“You’ll get more like that if we find out you talked,” he rasps before stepping over me and turning toward the right.
What the fuck just happened?
Although I’m dazed and trembling, I find enough strength to pull myself onto the sidewalk so I can get a look at the guy. As he moves between the splintered pools of light from the other houses, I squint at the back of his jacket, trying to make out the crimson shape. It’s either a skull or a flower. Or maybe both.
For a second, while my mind staggers from the chaos and terror, it fills with haphazard thoughts: call Dede, just breathe, phone in pocket, who was that, need help, breathe, get the police, keep breathing, stay calm, just breathe.
And then two more words arrive as a pair after I finally get a good look at the back of the man’s coat.
Red roses.
Three.
Red.
Roses.
I keep my gaze locked on the trio of flowers as the guy strides away. When it suddenly seems like he’s moving in slow motion, I try to get up. But the sidewalk spins toward me and a horn sounds nearby and something cold is on my face and the concrete shimmers like glass and the roses are red and everything goes black.