by Kiki Leach
After slamming his back against the edge, cracking his spine, he leaned into Taz's ear and lowered his voice. "This shit," he started, "is what your mother did to Cheyenne, all because you couldn't stand to see me doing to her what the fuck you never will." He jerked his hand, pushing his fingers into his pulse, forcing Taz's feet to slide against the floor while gasping for air. "You will never know what the fuck she taste's like, motherfucker. You will never know what the fuck belongs to me."
Taz blinked until tears rolled from his eyes and wrapped his hands around Nikko's wrist. Nikko squeezed his throat until the veins in his arm and back of his hand nearly burst beneath his skin, then released his grip and dropped back.
Taz slumped to the floor and reached for his throat, coughing and gagging as he tried his best to find air.
"Christ." Nix stepped out from the hallway with Snake on his heels, and walked around the bar, eyeing every man in the room as he moved. "What the fuck happened with this shit out here?"
"Too muthafuckin' much," said Loco. He dropped a rag from his nose that was used to stop the bleeding, and tossed it into the trash behind the bar; he stepped forward and fixed his cut. "VP down here lost his shit on Nikko. Something about him calling Lena a bitch seemed to set him off."
"Why the fuck is that?" asked Snake.
He shrugged. "No idea when it's the goddamn truth for the shit she's done in helping to get us fucked along with Rox. But you might wanna keep your puppy in check 'cause I gotta feeling that Chey ain't gonna be too fuckin' happy in learning that we can't even keep her man from being knocked around by one of us over some shit when we were supposed to keep it cool tonight."
Joker chuckled. "You of all people saying this shit is ironic as fuck."
Loco peeked over at him and nodded. "Don't I fuckin' know it."
Snake shook his head and wrapped his hands around Taz's cut, lifting him from the floor. He winced as the bones in his back snapped and eyed Nikko with fury.
"Get your ass to the back," said Snake. Taz looked between the four of them before taking off to Snake's office and slamming the door. "Shit." He dragged the base of his palms across his forehead and grunted. "What the fuck happened out here and why?"
"I just told you, Prez," said Loco. "Your boy lost his shit."
"It's more than fuckin' Lena being called a 'bitch'," he replied. He looked to Nikko and grimaced. "What the fuck did your ass say to him about Cheyenne?"
"The goddamn truth."
"Which is what?" he returned.
"That she doesn't want him anymore in the way he hopes to happen, and never fuckin' will again. Whatever lies he keeps telling himself and anybody else won't change the motherfuckin' facts on it."
"You still think you and Chey have a chance of making this shit work once everybody's gotten paid?"
"I still don't have a reason to think otherwise."
"I've got plenty."
"Yeah?" Nikko opened his hands and looked to the remaining brothers. "Why not name 'em for all to hear? 'Cause we're listening."
Joker and Eyes looked at each other with confusion as Loco held back a smirk.
"Alright." Nix stepped between Nikko and Snake. "Shit is running hot tonight with all that's gone down -- why don't we back the fuck off each other for the time being." He pointed at Loco. "Fix this asshole a drink while I settle these two back here."
Loco nodded. "We need to talk about some shit once you're done; about Chey and which one of us she wants walking with her down that aisle."
Nix squint. "We already discussed that I'd be the one taking care of that."
Loco poured himself a shot of tequila and threw it back, then slammed the glass on top of the bar and jerked his shoulders. "We can discuss that shit again; we should."
Nix frowned before looking to Nikko, who rolled his eyes and bobbed his head in agreement. "Yeah, alright. Keep the bottles cold."
As they watched him disappear into the back with a mumbling Snake, Eyes stepped to the bar with Joker falling behind him. "What... the fuck was that shit?" he questioned. "VP blowing up like that is gonna get him more fucked than his mother."
"Nobody can be fucked around here more than Deborah," said Joker. "I can attest. But you're right to say they've both been acting outta fuckin' pocket since she's been back to the city this time around. Must be too much of that fuckin' booze and the laced weed." He arched his brow and looked to Nikko. "The shit you said while his eyes were nearly busting outta his sockets, you fuckin' meant it?"
"Every goddamn word," he replied, "and maybe more of it."
"Well, shit." He bellowed. "Looks like we've got another asshole on our hands -- pour him a goddamn drink like SGT said!" He slapped a hand against his shoulder before returning to the couch.
Eyes stepped alongside him and nodded. "You're alright, asshole," he said. "That's not a compliment. But if you stay married to Cheyenne once this shit is done, it is what it is, I guess. If you fuck her up, we'll all be on your ass, understand? VP included." He glanced at Loco and jerked his chin before trailing back to the other side of the club.
As the women returned to their chairs and laps of the brothers, Loco poured himself another shot. "What do you plan on telling Chey about your eye and how the fuck it got like this again?" he asked.
"I'm telling her the fuckin' truth."
"You think it'll do any good?"
"Might do something better than that shit." He swiped Loco's shot before he could take it for himself, and drank it back.
Loco glowered and slid the bottle into Nikko's other hand. "Pour my ass another one before I wind myself the fuck up and black that other eye."
Nikko laughed before pouring another pair of shots for each of them, then threw it back with the intention of having no more until he saw Cheyenne's face again that night.
Chapter Fifty
Hard Lessons in Bitchonomics
After locking myself in a private bathroom for nearly an hour to regain my sanity, I returned to the VIP section of Rudy's and took a seat between a snoring Marleena and an overly drunk, highly emotional Deborah.
As soon as I became comfortable enough to sit back and sink into the cushions, she dropped her head on my shoulder and sniffled while throwing back her twelfth shot of tequila for the night.
I looked over at her and frowned. "Are you okay?"
"No."
"Mm. Where are Brandi and the other girls?"
"Down there somewhere." She lifted her hand and motioned to the dancefloor. "You didn't see them on the way back up here?"
"I wasn't paying much attention," I said. "Getting back to the room without being groped was my first thought."
She sat up straight and poured herself another shot. "I'm glad Brandi thought it was best for you to have a room like this to yourself," she slurred. "Or just for us, because we can hear the music, but the shit ain't too loud that we can't hear each other talk."
"It would be a real shame if we couldn't."
"It would! And with the lush, red couches and silk white walls..."
"Those are called curtains last time I checked."
"Whatever." She leaned forward and smiled. "This is the best thing we could've ever asked for."
"Sure." I watched as she downed the shot, then snatched the glass from her hand and placed it on top of the table. I nodded toward Marleena and made a face. "How passed out is she?"
Deborah looked around me and shrugged. "She's been that way since before you left; had too much margarita through that straw with the help of her pain pills. Where did you go?"
"I needed to be with my own thoughts for a little bit; there's a bathroom in the owner's office that he would let me use when I came here with Brandi in high school."
"MMMMM!" She leaned into me as her eyes twitched and tapped the center of my nose as if I were a puppy. "That was illegal because you weren't twenty-one."
"We never drank; showing up was only for the dancing."
"You've done none of that tonight."
I jumped up from the couch and traipsed to the window facing the dancefloor; as crowds of people from all over the city gathered at the center between songs, I shook my head and bit back a smile, remembering. "I haven't been in the mood for it."
"Why not? You're getting married to someone you care about, you'll be paid soon--"
"The club is getting that money... or so we hope." I looked at her over my shoulder and scowled. "What's left goes to Nikko and the Gambiano's -- I get nothing."
"What do you mean you 'hope' the club gets their money, Cheyenne?"
"Just what I said." I spun back around to her and folded my arms.
She stared. "The money is there, is it not?"
"Sure. I never said it wasn't."
"Then what the hell did you mean?"
"That it's possible for Chino to snatch every dime for himself and run," I replied. "I can't trust that he won't pull something to screw us over."
"Does Nikko feel this way too?"
"What does it matter to you one way or another?"
She swallowed hard and blinked. "What makes you think that Chino would steal from his son, Cheyenne?" Her speech continued to slur as her eyes flashed red. "He wouldn't do something like that to his own son."
"Did you sneak in a few blunts on top of the alcohol while I was gone? What the hell makes you think that he wouldn't? His money hungry ways, along with Snake, are what led me here in the first place. Though I must remind myself and anyone else willing to listen that Lena is still a big factor in all of this too. Had it not been for her mouth and the brazen bullshit that led to Rox being locked up again, well..."
Deborah got up from the couch and stepped around the table, wobbling in her heels as she moved, then stopped directly in front of me and folded her hands. "You will never know Chino in the same way that I always have, Cheyenne."
"I pray to God not," I retorted. "He's mean and flashy -- he's an arrogant bully with a snake-oil smile, slick words and a nasty history with women. I pray to never know that man beyond what I've heard and seen for myself."
"He wasn't always this way--"
"Please with this continued bird behavior." I lifted my hand to stop her and returned to the couch. "I've heard enough of how much you think the men you've let run through you like a bounced check are not as terrible as they truly are. Save it for someone who doesn't know the truth and actually cares enough to hear your lies about it."
"I'm not drunk enough to not be offended by that," she snapped.
"I don't care. I didn't say anything that wasn't honest."
"You speak about me as if I'm nothing more than a walking pussy, Cheyenne!"
"Where the hell is the lie in that statement, Deborah? You're a full-grown bird! I don't begrudge you hopping from one man to the next over the years like Goldi-Dicks in search of the perfect fit. But the ones you hop to have a clear goal of ruining any and everything within proximity of it. Snake being the first, now Chino."
"And Rox?" she said. I leaned into the couch and clinched my teeth. "What happened to him shouldn't have happened at all."
"No, it probably shouldn't have, but there isn't much that be done about it until the club gets paid or Lena can be found."
"I don't think she's ever coming back here," she mumbled.
"Really. You now have inside information?" A sudden tear rolled from the corner of her eye as she sniffed. I squirmed against the couch, becoming uncomfortable, and leaned forward. "Deborah."
She wiped the tear from her face and looked directly into mine. "I care about Rox, and I've been in love with Snake for as long as I can remember, but neither was ever the love of my life," she said. "That spot had only ever been reserved for one man who never felt the same."
"Who the hell was that?"
"Chino."
I rolled my eyes into my head and groaned. "You're kidding. Love means never having to say that I threatened to shoot you in the head?"
"Our relationship has always been complicated, Cheyenne -- the very definition of complex."
"Why the hell didn't you ever fess up to being with him before Loco outted you in the office?"
"Because I got pregnant when we were together all those years ago, and he didn't want anything to do with the baby until it was born. I'm...." She trailed off and darted her eyes from mine, scanning them across the room. "I don't regret my son, I would never regret having my son--"
"Oh my God." I returned to my feet as more tears spilled from her eyes. "You're saying that Taz isn't Snake's son -- that he's Chino's? He's Nikko's brother?!"
"Cheyenne--"
"Is this the shit Snake has over your head? Is this why you fucked around and did his bidding?!"
"I'm--"
"Surprise!" I looked to the door as Brandi rushed inside while holding a three-layer, red velvet cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries and red syrup. As three girls from the club, whose names had escaped me by that point, stood behind her blowing horns, I tucked my hair behind my ears and feigned a smile. Brandi placed the cake on top of the table, then dragged her eyes between the two of us and frowned. "What's going on? Are you okay in here?"
"Not exactly." I dropped back down to the couch and reached for a plastic knife. Marleena flinched against the cushions but remained asleep. "But we've yet to try killing each other for once, which is a plus." After slicing a piece of cake and dropping it onto a small saucer, I lifted it to Deborah and sneered. "This piece is for you," I said. "Savor something sweet while you can still use both sets of teeth."
She leaned across the table and snatched the saucer from my hand. After staring at the icing for nearly a minute in silence, she dropped the plate to the floor, forcing it to shatter as the cake broke in two and splattered against the furniture.
Brandi jumped back as pieces of glass landed near the tips of her freshly painted toes. "What the hell is your problem?!"
As the other girls hurried to clean up the glass and cake from the floor, Deborah stepped over each one and bolted from the room without a word.
I moved to the window, watching her hobble down the spiral staircase before getting lost in the crowd of dancers, then turned to Brandi as she glowered and wagged her head.
"Was that loony bitch high on top of being drunk again?" she asked.
"I don't know," I told her. "But whatever the hell she's on either has her spilling the truth in spades or lying her ass off to save it from going down for what she's done."
"What the hell did she tell you before we came back in here, Cheyenne?"
"Too much of what I wish I didn't know; something liable to strike her where she stands if she's full of shit."
"Are you planning on telling me what the hell it is?"
"Sure," I said. "But first, I need another drink and a phone number."
"Whose?"
"Ronaldo Gambiano."
Chapter Fifty-One
Punch, Drunk In Love
Nikko's POV
Some hours later, as the front door creaked open and closed, Nikko looked to the door of his bedroom and held his breath, hoping like hell for the best while expecting nothing more than worst for the rest of the night.
"Nikko?" Cheyenne called to him in the voice of a goddamn angel. His eyes closed as the sound rattled through him like a drum; he threw his hands behind his head, flattening his fingers against his hair and remembering how it felt to hear her words brush across his skin before falling asleep against her since being home. Jesus, he missed that shit like no other; a feeling he never knew he could have until it was gone. "Nikko?" she called again.
"Yeah." His eyes reopened; his voice remaining low, solemn as he spoke. "I'm upstairs, in bed."
"Were you asleep?"
He paused before responding for a second time and shook his head despite knowing she had no chance of seeing the motion for herself. "Nah, baby, wide awake as always."
After finally making her way upstairs, she stopped at his bedroom door to remove her shoes and placed them against the wall, th
en looked into his face and gasped at the bruise forming around his eye. "Oh my God!" She rushed to his side and lightly brushed her thumb across his skin. "What the hell happened to you?" His jaw tightened at her touch; he deeply inhaled the faint smell of tequila rolling across her tongue, desperate as a motherfucker to know the taste of it mingled with his own once again. "Nikko." Her eyes narrowed as her brows pinched.
He pressed his fingers against the back of her hand and exhaled. "Taz met it with his goddamn fist."
"What the hell for?"
"Lost his shit when I mentioned 'Lena'; I called her a bitch and he flipped." She sighed heavily and lowered her hand, relaxing her fingers atop his pulse as it pounded against her. He grimaced as her eyes closed. "That's not all, baby."
"What?"
"I said some shit to him about us that might've added to him being set off." She reopened one eye before the other as he continued. "He didn't have a chance to come after me again for it, but--"
"What did you do to him as a result of his actions against you, Nikko?" she questioned.
"Damn near snapped his neck in the middle of his own goddamn club."
"Oh my God." She looked aside as her shoulders dropped in fear of what could have happened, remembering all too easily what she had managed to witness from him before. "What stopped you from killing him?"
"You." She turned back to him and rolled her bottom lip into her mouth, sinking her teeth into her skin. He reached for her face and brushed his thumb along her jaw; her head fell back as his touch sent a ball fire soaring through every inch of her system like a heatwave. "I know that you care about him despite him being full of shit; I know that if I were to do what I did -- what I fuckin' could've..." He paused and lowered his hand to her throat. "You'd never forgive me for that shit." Her eyes returned to his as she removed his hand and held it between her own. "I don't want him at the wedding, Cheyenne."
She pressed her mouth against the back of his hand and nodded. "He won't be there, and neither will his mother."
"You got some shit from Deborah?"