by Ana Night
“We sure do,” Nicole said with a smile.
“Great. I’ll have two of those as well.”
“Of course, sir. I’ll have it brought out to you once it’s ready.”
“Thanks.”
He sat down on the bench meant for people waiting for a table but usually, there weren’t anyone there. The tables were all booked a few months in advance, so it was rare they had walk-ins.
When Nicole came with his order, he thanked her and walked outside. He headed for the car he was still borrowing from Juno, or the Kings, really. Juno had told him he could keep it for the next few days unless the club had something come up. He was grateful because as it was, his SUV was still parked in front of Marco’s house, and going back there was suicide. Alvaro no doubt had men stationed there, waiting for him or Marco to return so they could kill them.
When he reached the car, he opened the passenger side door and put the food on the seat, then walked around the car. He reached for the door handle but froze. For a moment, he thought someone was watching him but when he looked around, he didn’t see anyone. He knew he was being more paranoid than usual, so he let it go.
He got behind the wheel and pulled out onto the street. Juno didn’t live far from the restaurant, so the drive only took about ten minutes. He pulled up in front of Juno’s apartment building and found a parking spot. He was getting out when he heard the telltale sound of a motorcycle. He glanced over his shoulder and, sure enough, there was Juno on his monster of a bike. It was a deep red and Juno clearly took good care of it because he hadn’t seen a single scratch on it.
Rome grabbed the takeaway bags and started toward Juno who was pulling off his helmet. When Juno met Rome’s eyes, a smile widened his lips and he walked up to Rome. Before Rome could even say hello, Juno had cupped his face in his hands and taken his mouth in a searing kiss. Rome groaned and put the hand not holding the food on the small of Juno’s back, pushing the man closer.
When Juno pulled back, a sound of protest left Rome. Juno was grinning at him when he opened his eyes.
“Hi,” Juno said, then took a breath and glanced down at the bags in Rome’s hand. “Is that from Serrano’s?”
“Yeah,” Rome said, his voice sounding rough, so he cleared his throat. “I got you tiramisu.”
Juno’s gaze snapped back up to Rome’s.
“You did?”
Rome hummed and took Juno’s hand, tugging him toward the door. A little thrill went through him because he knew he wasn’t supposed to hold Juno’s hand, but to hell with that. He squeezed Juno’s hand and received a warm smile in return.
So worth it.
Chapter Fourteen
Juno
HE STEPPED through the door to the tattoo shop. Scar was talking to a woman who had her back turned to Juno. As he walked closer, he had to press his lips together to keep from smiling.
“Again, I strongly advise you find something else to get,” Scar said.
The woman let out a huff. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
Scar’s sigh resonated deeply with Juno. When they had clients come in for a ridiculous tattoo they would ultimately regret, they always tried to talk them out of it, but the woman was right, to a point. They couldn’t exactly tell someone what to do.
Scar looked up, her gaze landing on Juno. A devious smile found her lips for a second before she hid it and turned back to the client.
“No. I can’t. But trust me, getting Juno’s name tattooed on your body will not help you get the guy,” Scar said, a twinkle in her eyes. “Especially seeing as he’s into dick right now.”
“What?” the woman spluttered.
“Actually, I never said I wasn’t,” Juno said.
The woman whirled around, surprise clear on her face. He knew he’d seen her before—obviously—but to no one’s surprise, he didn’t remember her name. Or anything about her, really.
“Sweetheart,” he said and took a step closer. “While I don’t mind you getting my name tattooed on you—your body, your choice—I suggest you don’t. Really, you’d be the third and it hasn’t done the others any good.”
“I…” she opened and closed her mouth, staring at Juno.
“It’s all right,” Juno said.
He put a hand on her shoulder and led her toward the door. He told her to come back if she decided to get something else and that he’d give her fifty percent off. She left still looking confused but at least there was one less woman—whom he couldn’t even remember—with his name on their body.
He walked back to Scar and caught her watching him with a wry smile.
“What?”
She shrugged. “Usually, you wouldn’t encourage nor discourage anyone from getting your named tattooed on them.”
“So?”
Scar grinned and patted him on the shoulder. “So. I think Romeo’s good for you.”
Juno groaned and rolled his eyes. He pushed her away, much to her amusement. He flipped her off and went to sit down at one of the desks.
Scar continued to tease him as the day went on and he continued to ignore her. Or at least he tried to. It only got harder when Bones decided to join in.
When he’d cleaned up after his latest client, he walked out into the front of the shop just as three men entered. They were all dressed in what looked like expensive suits. He walked up to them with a friendly smile on his face.
“Hi. How can I help you?”
The smallest of the men turned to Juno, his eyes assessing as he ran his gaze over Juno.
“I’m looking to get a tattoo,” he said, his voice hoarse and his accent thick.
“Do you have an idea of what you’d like?”
“Maybe a little Italian man with the word ‘revenge’ across it.”
Juno was taken aback. He hadn’t expected something like that. One of the other men made a movement that caught Juno’s eye and made him freeze. Two of the men had guns out the next second.
Juno slowly raised his hands as he realized who was standing in front of him. Jose Alvaro. Lieutenant of the Nuevo León cartel. The asshole who was after Serrano.
“This is between you and Serrano,” Juno said.
Alvaro shook his head. “Serrano is a coward. He’s hiding. But I bet your boyfriend knows where he is. In fact, I’m counting on it.”
“You want to trade me?”
The menacing smile on Alvaro’s lips confirmed it.
Juno clenched his teeth and glanced at the door to the backrooms. Stiletto and Scar were back there but one look at Alvaro and his men and he knew they wouldn’t get out of there alive if he tried to alert the girls. With a pained breath, he let Alvaro’s men take him.
The worst part wasn’t being held at gunpoint, being taken, or knowing the second Alvaro had Serrano’s location he would no longer need Juno alive. It was that Rome would never choose him over Serrano. That hurt like hell.
Rome
He let himself into Marco’s apartment, stopping for a second to listen for angry voices, but didn’t hear anything. He found Marco in the kitchen, sans shirt. He was pouring himself a glass of water, his back turned to Rome. His back which had red marks that looked rather new.
“I take it it’s good I didn’t come earlier,” Rome said.
Marco jumped, then whirled around.
“Merda! Che cazzo, Romeo?” Marco snapped.
“Sorry,” Rome said with his hands up. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Marco crossed his arms over his chest. “You did not scare me.”
“Startled, then,” Neil said from behind Rome.
Rome glanced over his shoulder, a smile spreading on his lips when he saw the cheeky one Neil was wearing. Seeing as the guy was still there and Marco looked like he’d had a wild night, he’d say the spook must’ve prevailed.
“I hate you,” Marco grumbled and pushed past them both.
“That’s not what you said twenty minutes ago,” Neil said.
Marco stopped walking and turned
around, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Neil.
“Twenty minutes ago, I was coming.”
Rome shook his head as the two of them walked down the hall, cursing at each other. He walked up to the fridge and grabbed himself a bottle of water. He could hear laughter which he discerned came from Neil. Then he didn’t hear anything from them for a while and figured they were making up. Or out, probably.
He felt his phone buzz against his thigh and pulled it out of his front pocket. When he saw Juno’s name on the screen, a smile spread on his lips.
“Miss me already, il mio re?”
“Hello, Romeo,” was said in a heavily accented voice that definitely didn’t belong to Juno.
The hairs at the back of his neck stood up and his whole body froze.
“Unfortunately, Juno can’t come to the phone right now. He’s a little tied up.”
“The fuck have you done with him? I swear if you’ve hurt him, I’ll fucking kill—”
“He’s just fine. For now.”
Rome clenched his teeth hard, fighting the impulse to punch through a wall.
“What do you want?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“You know what I want. Serrano. Tell me where he’s hiding, and I’ll deliver your Juno back to you in one piece. If you don’t tell me, I’ll have him delivered in several pieces for years to come so you’ll never forget him.”
Rome squeezed his eyes closed. The thought of anything happening to Juno had him close to throwing up. He couldn’t let anything happen to him. He also couldn’t give Alvaro Marco. The fuck was he supposed to do?
“I don’t trust you to deliver on your end,” Rome said. “But I’ll trade you. Serrano for Juno. I’ll send the address. Three hours.”
With that, he hung up, not wanting Alvaro to renegotiate anything.
He was staring down at his phone as he said, “I would never do that to you.”
A harrumph sounded from behind him and when he turned around to meet Marco’s gaze, he found the man watching him with curious eyes.
“I know,” Marco said with a shake of his head. “I’ll do it.”
Rome’s eyes were close to falling out. He cleared his throat, but his voice still sounded croaky. “What?”
Marco shrugged and said, “I won’t have to go to the trouble of finding him. I can just kill him there.”
“It’s a suicide mission,” Rome snapped.
“He won’t be there alone,” Neil said as he stepped into the room. “And I’m sure if you call the Kings, they’ll be more than happy to help. It’s one of their own on the line, after all.”
“Fuck,” Rome said on a sigh. He found the right number in his phone and pressed the call button. His eyes were on Marco and Neil as he said, “I need to speak with King.”
Juno
The hit to the side of his face hurt like a mother. The ringing in his ears also wasn’t too fucking pleasant. He didn’t know where he was. He did, however, know that Alvaro had too many men around for him to fight his way out. He hadn’t been there for long. Maybe half an hour. He didn’t know what was gonna happen when Rome told Alvaro he wouldn’t be giving up Serrano for him. All he did know was that it wouldn’t be good for him. Really, it was only a question of how painful his death was going to be. Not that he was just going to sit back and let them do whatever they wanted. He was going to fight them the whole fucking way.
He spat blood on the floor and scowled up at the guy who’d hit him.
“That all you got?”
The man raised his fist to hit him again but Alvaro saying, “Enough,” had him lowering his hand.
Juno jerked his head toward Alvaro who was walking through the door. The move had him dizzy for a few seconds. Alvaro walked up in front of him. He crouched down in front of Juno with that evil-ass smile on his face.
“What?” Juno asked and licked the bloody side of his mouth. “You too much of a pussy to hit me yourself? Need someone to do the dirty work for you?”
“Oh, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty, but Romeo agreed to the trade, so it seems you’ll get to live. At least for a little while longer,” Alvaro said.
Juno couldn’t stop the surprise from spreading on his face though he hid it quickly and from the lack of change in Alvaro’s expression, he’d been fast enough. Whatever Rome was doing, the last thing he needed was Alvaro getting suspicious. He didn’t believe for a second Rome would actually trade him for Serrano. He couldn’t fault the man for being loyal. That didn’t mean he didn’t want to. Knowing he meant less to Rome than Serrano did, hurt more than the beating he’d taken. It hurt so much fucking more.
“Get him up,” Alvaro ordered.
Two of Alvaro’s men grabbed Juno and pulled him to his feet. Juno struggled against their hold, twisting his body and kicking out with his feet. If he was going to die, he’d die fighting. Even if the thought of never again feeling Rome’s touch, of never having Rome’s lips on his, left him feeling hollow inside.
Rome
He was surrounded by Kings. It wasn’t as unpleasant as he’d imagined. They were in what looked like a meeting room at their clubhouse. There was a long table with chairs all around it and most of the Kings were sitting down along with Marco. The spook was leaned against the wall in the far corner while Rome was standing behind Marco’s chair, clenching and unclenching his fists. He was fighting to stay calm. For Juno’s sake.
“Why would Alvaro take Juno?” King asked and ran his gaze over Marco and Rome.
“He wanted to trade him for me,” Marco said.
King frowned at him. “Why? How?”
Marco glanced up at Rome and he knew the man was leaving it up to him to decide what he wanted to share, but there was no sense in lying. Not now.
Rome cleared his throat. “He wanted to make a deal with me. Juno for Marco’s location.”
“Why would—” King cut himself off, seeming to come to the right realization. He shook his head. “Of all the people Juno could fuck…”
Rome gave King a nod, then swallowed hard against the knot in his throat. “I would never make that trade.”
“What the fuck, man?” Bones growled and pushed out of his chair. “Juno deserves better than that. Does he know?”
Rome opened his mouth to answer yes, then realized what that meant. Fuck. Juno did know that and he probably thought he was going to die because of it.
“I…” Rome trailed off, not knowing what to say.
“Rome already agreed to make the trade,” Marco said.
Bones blinked at him, then jerked his gaze back to Rome. “What? I thought you just said—”
“I did,” Rome interrupted him. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do everything to get him back. I just can’t trade Marco for him. But that’s why we’re here. We know where they’re gonna be and when they’ll be there. Alvaro will be there, too. No way he’d miss out on rubbing this in Marco’s face.”
King pushed his chair back and stood. “We get Juno back and kill that fucker.”
Rome gave him a nod and took a step back to let Marco get up.
“This is getting a bit old,” Auggie, the club’s treasurer, said with a quiver in his voice. “Can people stop getting kidnapped already?”
The big guy Rome believed was called Skinner, wrapped his arms around Auggie, and said, “It’s gonna be okay, baby.”
Rome hoped he was right. Because if he wasn’t, Rome didn’t know what he’d do, except that it wouldn’t be pretty.
Chapter Fifteen
Rome
THEY WERE gonna let Alvaro arrive at the meeting spot first to make him think he had the upper hand. In reality, the whole place would be surrounded by Kings. They vastly outnumbered Alvaro and his men, and he doubted Alvaro would be expecting Rome to have gotten the Kings involved. For all he knew, Alvaro hadn’t made the connection between Juno and the Kings. They’d taken Juno from the tattoo shop where Juno usually didn’t wear his cut and the night Rome was now certain he’d been watched,
had been cold enough for Juno to wear a jacket over his cut. He was hoping Alvaro didn’t know but had planned for if he did.
“Bones. Hawk. You two just focus on getting Juno out of here alive,” King said, bringing Rome out of his head.
They were standing outside in the courtyard in front of the clubhouse. He’d let King and Marco do most of the planning, too worried about Juno to focus for long. He knew he had to save his concentration for the meeting. Juno’s life depended on it. As much as he wanted to be the one to save Juno, he knew he had to leave it to the others. He couldn’t be dealing with Alvaro and rescue Juno at the same time.
Once King gave the go-ahead, Rome walked to his car and got behind the wheel. The door to the backseat opened and Marco slid in. Normally, he’d have opened that door for Marco, but seeing as everything was already upside down, one more thing wouldn’t make much of a difference. Marco didn’t comment on it. In fact, he didn’t say a word as Rome drove them to the junkyard. He’d chosen the place because it had multiple vantagepoints and only one way in and out. The owner was already on Marco’s payroll and would be busy crushing cars to cover any noise they might make.
He turned down the road to the junkyard, slowing down as he neared the spot he’d told Alvaro to be. He wasn’t surprised to see two cars parked there. He took a deep breath and got as close as he dared before putting the car in park. Every door of the other cars opened and men got out. The way they interacted made it glaringly clear which one of them was Alvaro.
Rome tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“You good?” Marco asked from the backseat.
“Not even close,” Rome said through clenched teeth before opening his door and getting out.
He took a few steps toward them and only stopped when Alvaro’s men tensed. Alvaro was leaned against the front of a car, his head cocked to the side as he ran his eyes over Rome.
“Where’s Juno?” Rome growled.
Alvaro's lips quirked at the corners. “Serrano first.”