NERO: Chapter 62

“What do you mean?” Payton asks, trying to keep up with my long strides.

I don’t answer, keeping my attention on our surroundings.

I shouldn’t’ve fucked her. I should’ve dragged her all the way out of bed, thrown her over my shoulder, and carried her to my car. But no. Her thick, pale thighs just had to be on display. Her messy hair and tear-stained face forcing my dick from hard to steel.

“Nero?” She’s jogging now, but I pull her to a stop at the top of the stairwell.

Letting go of her arm, I press my hand to her chest, pushing her back to the wall. “Don’t move.”

She nods, and I keep my eyes up as I crouch. In a matter of seconds, I tug up my pant leg, exposing my ankle holster, and pull my backup gun free.

Payton lets out a small gasp behind me, and I expect to find her eyes wide on my weapon; but when I stand, I find her gaze darting around, like she’s helping me look for threats.

I have a moment of surprised pride before I remember her life has been haunted by demons too.

Thank you for killing him.

More pride swells my chest, but I push it down because now is not the time. I’ll tell her how fucking amazing she is later.

“Grab the back of my shirt and stay close,” I command, and she does.

With one hand holding the bag, and the other holding my gun, I can’t hold her hand like I want to. But I need her touching me, so this will have to do.

There are no sounds below us, but I keep my gun up as we move down the flight of stairs.

When we hit the bottom, it’s one turn and a handful of strides to get out of the building.

“I parked right outside the door,” I turn my head enough to say over my shoulder. Payton’s knuckles push into my back as she shuffles closer to me. “You’ll get in first and shut the door.”

“Okay.”

I turn out of the stairwell, and with no one in sight, we move together.

We’re nearly to the exit when a door in the hallway behind us opens.

I spin while dropping the bag, using that hand to hook Payton’s side and keep her behind me.

A middle-aged man steps out into the hallway, and I bark, “Back in your apartment!”

My voice startles him, and he staggers back a step before he even lays eyes on me. When he does, his eyes widen even more.

It’s obvious this man just lives here, but I’m not having him at my back as I walk out of here.

Payton tugs at my shirt. “That’s just Fletcher.”

I raise my gun from center mass to the man’s forehead. I don’t like that she knows his name.

“Now,” I grit out.

The man, Fletcher, practically falls into his apartment, slamming the door as he does.

Scooping up the bag, I get us out of the building and to the car without seeing another person.

Pulling open the passenger door, I hustle Payton into the seat then slam it closed.

The entire car is bulletproof. If someone drops me right now, all she has to do is lock the doors and wait out the attack.

Probably should’ve told her that.

Striding to the driver’s side, I slide into the seat, and toss the duffel over my shoulder into the small back seat.

“Seat belt.”

As Payton buckles in, I start the car and tap the screen in my dashboard, initiating a call to Rocco.

The ringtone sounds through the car speakers, and I’m pulling away from the curb when he picks up.

“Boss?”

“I want you to bring in a full perimeter on the house tonight.” Seeing no other traffic, I blow through the stop sign at the end of her street. “Or no. Plan on it for the foreseeable future.”

“You got it.” Rocco doesn’t panic, or ask me why, which is the reason he’s my Second.

“And I need a separate crew to pull everything out of an apartment.” I recite Payton’s address from memory.

“Clean up crew?”

“No.” I slow the car just enough to make a sharp right turn onto one of the main streets that runs through downtown. “I need the personal items collected.” My fingers tighten around the wheel. I want to tell him to send some women, the ones we employ for undercover work, but that would take more coordination than I have time for. “Make sure they’re careful. Anything broken will be paid back tenfold.”

I can feel Payton’s eyes on me. But she doesn’t get a say in this.

And she’s really gonna hate this next part.

“I also need you to track down the owner of Twin’s Café.” Payton makes a squeak of protest, so I place my palm on her thigh, forestalling her. “Give her a roll and tell her Payton won’t be working for her anymore.”

“N––” Payton starts.

I flex my fingers on her leg and she falls silent.

“Got all that?” I ask.

“Got it,” Rocco confirms.

“Good. You at the house?”

“Yeah.”

“Stay there.” I accelerate through a yellow light. “I’m headed back now.”

I hang up, and Payton wastes no time speaking up. “You can’t just quit for me. Or…” She waves her hands around. “Or, threaten Jean and Tamara, or whatever that was.” She huffs. “I need that job.”

“No you don’t.”

“Nero––”

I tap the screen, causing the car to fill with a ringtone again. “A roll is money, Baby.”

That effectively stops her tirade. I’m not threatening her old bosses, I’m paying them off.

The ringing stops as the call clicks through.

“Fuck, man, you might not like sex anymore, but some of us do,” is King’s greeting.

I feel Payton’s body stiffen, and I don’t know if it’s from what King said, or if she recognizes his voice. But to prove I still like sex, I slide my hand up her thigh, until the side of my palm is pressed against the seam between her legs. Her pussy heating the leggings so they’re nearly hot to the touch.

My cock twitches and I have to force myself to remember why I called. “I need a favor.”

“Of-fucking-course you do,” King groans. “But if you ask me to try and detain your girlfriend again, I’m going to have to respectfully decline. Chasing her around made me feel like a fucking monster.”

Payton’s leg shifts under my hand, as she turns toward me in her seat.

“No need. She’s in the car with me.”

There’s a beat of silence before Payton breaks it. “Uh, hi.” She lifts her hand in a little wave before catching herself and clutching it to her chest, probably embarrassed that she waved for a phone call. It was cute as fuck.

“Hey.” King waits a beat. “You know Nero’s a prick, right?”

Payton snorts out a laugh, and my head whips to the side to look at her.

Her hands slap over her mouth, her eyes wide.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” The bite of King’s words are dulled by a yawn. “What did you need? Some of us are trying to sleep.”

“I thought you were having sex?”

“Yeah, in my dreams, and I was fucking an iridescent mermaid.”

“How would you even––” I shake my head, this isn’t the time to get distracted. “I need you to pull the footage from outside Payton’s door.”

“Timeframe?” King’s tone is all business now.

I glance over at Payton. “When did you find the invite?”

“Oh, um, it was this morning after I made coffee.” She bites her lip, looking unsure.

“Close counts,” I reassure her, stroking my thumb over her thigh.

“Maybe around ten? It was laying on the floor. I thought you maybe left it on the counter and it blew off when you shut the door. Or something like that.” I hate how I can hear her confidence slip as she goes. Like she did something wrong.

I flex my hand on her thigh. I’m not well versed in comforting someone, but I feel her relax every time we’re touching. “It wasn’t there when I left around five. And the doors were locked; no sign of any tampering, so they must’ve shoved it under the door.”

“Got it.” I can hear King tapping on his laptop, meaning he was probably working in bed before he nodded off into his underwater fantasy.

“Send me what you find.”

“You bringing her to your place?” he asks.

“We’re on the way.”

The car falls silent when the call ends, but it’s not long before Payton turns her attention back to me.

“You said you did that crap to make me leave the party.” She says crap like seeing me with that hooker didn’t break her heart. “But then why would you want him to, um, detain me?” She uses King’s word.

“Because I didn’t want you near me, but I also couldn’t have you wandering around that crowd alone. King wasn’t going to hurt you, he was going to tuck you into a room until I could talk to you.”

Remembering the shock I felt at seeing her there, my grip on the steering wheel tightens to the point of pain.

Payton blows out a breath. “So, if I’d’ve just gone with him…” She trails off, the rest unspoken.

We could have talked sooner. She wouldn’t have had to cry herself to sleep. I wouldn’t have had to break into her apartment.

The light ahead of me turns red. Slowing to a stop, I turn my head to face her. “It’s good your reaction isn’t to just go with a stranger. King is one of the few people I trust, but you didn’t know that.”

“But if I had…”

“No point in thinking on the buts. In hindsight, I’d probably have gotten extra pissed at one of you if my idea had worked.” I can feel her look at me, so I lift a shoulder. “He was doing what I asked, but if he’d have touched you, I’d have to break his hand. And if you’d gone with him willingly… I’d’ve tanned your ass for putting yourself in danger.” I flex my fingers. “Which would be on top of you putting yourself in danger by showing up.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“I know, Baby. I’m not mad at you anymore. Whoever slipped you that invitation is at fault. And I won’t let it go unanswered.”

Glancing over, I see her biting her lip, sure she has more questions about how that happened. I just don’t have the answers yet.

My lungs expand on a deep inhale.

I’ve already admitted I fucking love her, what’s a little more honesty.

“I’m not sorry about dragging you into this life with me. I should be. It’s hard and cruel and unforgiving, but you’re just as much mine as the dark is. And that means you belong here. With me.” My gaze slides away from the road, to meet hers. And the understanding shining back at me buries itself in my chest. “It’s not going to be a quiet white picket life, but it’ll be ours. And no matter what I do to other people, I’ll never hurt you. Not ever, Payton.”

“I know.”

Warmth fills me. “And I’ll give you anything you want. Anything at all. But it’ll still be nothing compared to what you’ll give me.”

“What will I give you?” she whispers.

“Peace.”

Payton’s small palm lands on the back of my hand, and I let her pull it away from her leg so she can intertwine our fingers. “You’ve already given me that.”

Her words are so quiet, I squeeze her hand to let her know I understand, assuming she’s talking about Arthur.

Her reaction to that ring was not what I expected. I hadn’t really planned to whip it out while I was in the middle of fucking her. But I was too far gone to do anything else. Though a sobbing thank you would not have been on my list of possible reactions.

I’m sure she’ll have more questions about him. Now’s just not the time.

A low grumble fills the car and she lifts her free hand to press against her stomach.

I narrow my eyes on her. “Are you hungry?”

“A little,” she admits. “I left the party before I got a chance to eat anything.”

I’ve never been concerned with someone else’s hunger before, until now. And now I know I need to feed my girl.

“Burgers or tacos?”

“What?”

“Do you want a burger or some tacos?” I repeat. “I could eat too, and there’s not much at the house.”

“I like any––” She starts but I flex my fingers around hers, making her sigh. “Tacos.”

Confident that no one has been following us, I take the next turn and we make a short detour.

When I turn into the parking lot, aiming for the drive-thru, Payton snickers.

“What?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I don’t know why it’s funny. I just wouldn’t’ve pictured you eating here.”

I hit the button to roll down my window. “If I decide I’m too good for Taco Bell, put a bullet in my brain and end my misery.”

A twinge of pain on my wrist has me jerking my arm away from Payton. “What the––”

She’s glaring at me.

“Did you just pull out one of my arm hairs?” I ask in disbelief.

“Don’t joke about dying.” She sounds so serious; I know I shouldn’t smile.

But I can’t help it.

When she reaches for my wrist again, I lean away. “Alright, alright!” I put my hands up then gesture to the menu board ahead of us. “You know what you want?”