Spaces Between Notes

by Kristina M Sanchez

  Niko wound his finger around his ear to suggest his friend was crazy, but he was teasing. Jamie had always been a better man than he was. He had a knack for trying to figure out why people reacted the way they did rather than sticking them with a one-size-fits-all label. He snorted to himself, figuring that was probably why Jamie had stuck by him all these years.

  It wasn’t like it was a simple thing to try to get along with Bennett. Neither one of them could communicate like human beings. What the hell was he supposed to do? If Bennett wasn’t going to try, why should he?

  The sound of a car pulling into the driveway drew Niko’s attention, and a smile tugged at his mouth. He dropped what he was doing and went to help Carys unload the car. They had some privacy on the passenger side, so Niko dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. She grinned at him.

  Why try to get along with her brother? Well, it was an interesting argument, anyway. He didn’t want to go the way of Craig the Doctor. That was why he wasn’t supposed to date an employer, if dating was what they were doing. If this thing went south, and it was bound to with or without Bennett’s help, Niko would lose the only income he had besides his disability check.

  Niko raised his hand to smooth a lock of hair back behind Carys’s ear. Right. The income was all he’d miss.

  Niko drove home with Carys on the brain. He couldn’t figure out why she wanted to touch him and kiss him, but he supposed that was her own business. The fact of the matter was that she did. Hopefully, she wanted to do more than kiss him. Before the accident, there would be no question. Surely, not all of Niko’s charm came from his mouth. Well, he had some oral skills that were unaffected, but that was getting ahead of himself.

  A date, then. He had to figure out how to have a date without talking. Jamie could help him make a reservation and maybe explain the situation, as much as that idea irked him, or maybe they could do something that wouldn’t take planning. Dave & Buster’s was always a good choice. Arcades were good date material, or there was always pool if they wanted to get classy about it.

  Karaoke had been his secret weapon. Music was powerful. The right words and the right tune, and he could make a woman glow. He liked that, seeing a moment of perfect happiness in a woman’s eyes and knowing he was the one who gave that to her. It was a natural high.

  Niko heard Carys’s voice in his head. You think you’ve lost it, but you haven’t.

  Well, whatever. There’d be no karaoke for them. He’d just have to be cleverer than that.

  Home by then, Niko got out of his car and headed for his apartment. He was so distracted that he almost tripped over the person sprawled in his doorway. Niko tensed, balling his fists at his sides, until he saw who it was. He balked.

  His little brother, Micah, scrambled to his feet. “Niko. Hey.”

  “Hey,” he’d said as though he wasn’t supposed to be half the country away with Nia. As though he wasn’t standing in front of Niko with a busted-up face, swaying in place like he was barely conscious. Niko lunged forward, catching Micah before he fell.

  The younger man looked at him and took a deep breath, trying to steady himself, but it didn’t work. His lower lip crumpled as it had when he was a child, and he fell into Niko’s arms.

  “I need… Can I stay here? Please?” His voice shook. “It’s just that I don’t know where to go. I can’t stay with Del. She’s with Dad too often, and I can’t… I can’t… He wouldn’t understand. He…” Micah’s voice cracked and broke. He ducked his head, and Niko could feel hot tears at his neck.

  He could guess why Micah didn’t want to stay with Del and have to deal with their father. There was no way Vincente would’ve handled a scene like this.

  “You can’t say no, Nic. Please. You can’t say no.”

  Niko very literally couldn’t, and right now, that was a good thing. When his little brother started to cry in his arms, Niko might’ve told him to man up. That was what their father would’ve said, but since he couldn’t, he held him closer and hid his grimace. This wasn’t something he understood.

  The kid had obviously been through some kind of hell. Did he have a concussion? He seemed out of it, and concussions made people act weird and emotional. If that was the case, Micah would be fine with a little rest.

  Niko gave his back a few awkward pats and waited.

  Niko was pissed.

  To be fair, at that particular moment, Niko was more pissy than pissed. He wanted to know what the hell was going on, but Micah was just short of delirious. He’d managed to get his not-so-little brother inside, and now he was pacing. He was babbling about a mile a minute, and only a word or two made sense. They weren’t enough to answer the million questions Niko had racing through his head.

  “This is… Oh, god. Oh, man. I don’t know what happened. No, I do know. I’m stupid, Nik. You don’t have to tell me I’m stupid. I know. I—”

  Niko held his hand out to stem the flow of nonsensical words. Micah flinched backward so hard that he knocked over an end table. He almost fell over himself, but Niko rushed forward and grabbed his hand. Almost instantly, Micah yanked out of his grip. “Get off,” he muttered.

  The two men stared at each other. Niko could see the residual fear in Micah’s eyes, and it made him angrier. The twins were so much younger, so Niko hadn’t really had a chance to roughhouse with his brother. Growing up, he’d hit Del more often than he’d ever hit Micah. Even when he was in charge of the twins, he’d never once spanked either of them. Micah had no reason to think Niko would hit him.

  Niko huffed and stepped forward slowly. He put a hand on Micah’s arm, and when his little brother didn’t overreact, he led him to sit down on the couch. Micah leaned over and hung his head in his hands. Niko patted him awkwardly before going into the kitchen.

  The Amorosa family knew one surefire cure for everything: alcohol. They had an alcoholic prescription for any situation. Niko stared at his collection and considered the situation.

  Someone had beat his little brother to high hell. Whiskey, maybe? Whiskey was good for forgetting about things quickly. Whiskey would be good if the prick who’d done this to Micah were here in town. It would’ve fueled the righteous beating the asshole had coming.

  But Micah went to school hundreds of miles away, and now he was in California, barely standing, like he was on the run. That was crazy. Vodka was good for dealing with crazy shit. Or tequila.

  Bourbon. Bourbon would be best. Too bad he didn’t have bourbon.

  Niko dragged his phone out of his pocket and fired off a quick text.

  Niko: S.O.S. Get here. Bring bourbon.

  He took two tumblers, picked up the whiskey bottle, and headed back to the living room to take care of his brother.

  Jamie could always be counted on. He didn’t text back and didn’t demand to know what was going on, but he was at Niko’s door less than twenty minutes later, bourbon in hand.

  Since Niko couldn’t exactly warn Jamie verbally, the other man jumped when he saw Micah. “What the hell are you doing here, kid?”

  He moved to pulled Micah into what promised to be a back-slapping hug. Again, Niko wanted to call out. Micah was so damn jumpy, who knew if Jamie’s exuberance would bother him? It wasn’t necessary, though. Jamie stopped short when he got a good look at Micah’s face.

  Luckily, Niko had good reflexes or the precious bourbon would’ve shattered when Jamie dropped it. His friend went to Micah and took his face carefully between his hands. “Christ, what the hell happened to you?” He tilted his head back and forth, looking for wounds.

  “I’m okay. I’m fine,” Micah said. He didn’t pull away the way Niko would’ve if Jamie had done that to him. In fact, he closed his eyes as though there was something about Jamie’s soft touch that soothed him. In an instant, he looked calmer than he had all evening.

  “This isn’t fine.” Jamie parted Micah’s hair and looked at Niko, aghast. “Someone kicked him in the head, and you’ve got him drinking? You can see from across the room how woozy h
e is.”

  “I’m not concussed; I’m tired,” Micah said, finally batting Jamie away. “I haven’t slept in forever.”

  Ignoring Jamie’s disparaging glare, Niko refilled Micah’s tumbler with bourbon. He also set the sandwich he’d made while he was waiting for Jamie to get there in front of his little brother.

  “Not hungry.” Micah shoved the plate toward him.

  Niko pushed it right back and stared until his brother gave in. He filled his own tumbler and one for Jamie but not before he took a look at Micah’s head injuries for himself.

  Jamie was right; Micah had obviously been kicked. The skin was broken in places, but he was mostly bruised.

  “It’s so weird that you’re not yelling at me,” Micah said, speaking around a mouthful of sandwich. Once he’d taken a bite of the thing, he started eating like he’d been starving for days, wincing because it couldn’t have been easy to eat with his face busted up as it was.

  Niko sat down and tried not to glare. Micah could be so damn tactless. He wanted to yell. He wanted to say a lot of things. Instead, he had to sit back as Jamie took the role that should’ve been his.

  “What the hell happened, Mike?”

  Micah started to wring his hands and kept his eyes on the table, not looking at either of them. “I guess it was like a couple of weeks ago… I started talking to Holden again.”

  Niko shoved his glass away from him, and the sound made Micah look up. His eyes were wide and pleading. “I know. I know. It’s just… We were only talking on the computer at first. He was so sorry, and then he said he just wanted to be my friend. He really needed a friend. He does. He has this whole fucked up…”

  No doubt seeing Niko’s disparaging look, Micah focused his attention on the table again. “Yeah. Whatever. So I started talking to him again just on the computer, and then I agreed to meet up.” He took a deep breath. His hands clenched into fists and then unclenched. “It was like it flipped a switch somewhere. He tried to kiss me and tried to, you know, go further, but I knew he was full of shit, man. I knew I shouldn’t… So I told him no, and he flipped out.

  “He started following me around. Like, I thought it was an accident at first. We’re on the same campus, so I know I’m going to run into him sometimes, right?” He gulped. “But he started harassing my friends, especially my guy friends. Any guy I talked to at all, really.” Again, he swallowed hard, and Niko noticed he was clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. It didn’t hide the way he was shaking or that he’d gone bone pale.

  What the hell?

  “I was with Nia for a while, as you know, but he started showing up there, so I stayed with another one of my friends, and he found me there. He was knocking down the door at 3:00 in the morning. He, um… He did this.” He gestured to his battered face and shivered. “He said if he couldn’t have me, he was going to make sure no one would want me.”

  Niko could’ve put his fist through the table.

  “The fuck?” Jamie said. His face was flushed. “That’s messed up, man. Did you call the cops? You called them on him before, right? He has to have a record.”

  Micah squirmed in his seat and jumped when Niko brought his fist down on the table. “Look, it didn’t work out so well the first time, did it? He’s good at talking himself out of these things. He’s…” Micah rubbed the back of his neck. “The thing is that I’ve gotten into some trouble, okay?”

  Niko waved his hand, indicating Micah should elaborate quickly.

  “It’s… Fuck, it’s a long story. I got in my car and left. That’s all. That’s the best thing. It’s not a good idea for me to be there.”

  “Damn it, Mike. Is Nia okay out there? Does she know about all this?”

  “Yeah, she knows everything. Of course she knows everything. She’s fine. You think I would’ve left her alone if there was going to be trouble? That’s why I moved out. Holden isn’t going to bother her. I’m not in that kind of crap. The bottom line is that I’m not the kind of guy the people on the right side of the law are going to believe. Holden is. I need a new start is all. I just…” He looked up at Niko. “Can I stay here? I promise I’m not gonna be a bum. I can work. I’ll figure something out. Please?”

  “You’ve got school,” Jamie said, taking the words right out of Niko’s mouth.

  Micah huffed and looked miserable. “No. No, I don’t have school. I was an inch away from failing out. I need to stop wasting Mom’s money now. It ain’t going to happen. It’s not for me.”

  Niko looked at Jamie and shook his head vehemently, making sure his friend knew in no uncertain terms what he would have to say about that idea. Then he banged his fist on the table and waved his hand in front of Micah’s face.

  “Jesus, Nic. Calm down,” Micah said, suddenly looking like the obstinate teenager he’d been just a couple of years before. “You look like a fucking ape or something.”

  “Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Jamie said, his tone turning harsh. “You come up here to ask for his help and then you insult him? Your momma and Del raised you better than that.”

  Micah ducked his head. “Yeah, man. Sorry. Just don’t try to pull that shit on me. I don’t need a lecture about school. When Del and Mom find out, I’m going to get enough shit. I don’t need it from either of you. You can help me or not, but I’m done with school.”

  “Micah, school is—”

  “Save it,” Micah said, looking up again with narrowed eyes. “I only need an answer.” He looked to Niko again. “I can make you proud. I know I can do it.”

  In the end, what could Niko do? He couldn’t talk sense into the asshole, and Jamie wasn’t helping, either. He was looking at Niko expectantly. If Niko was to throw Micah out on his ass, he knew damn well Jamie was just going to take him home with him.

  He rolled his eyes. Micah was right about one thing; Del was going to flip her shit. Let her deal with that part. She’d get Micah back in school. The kid still looked tired enough to fall over, anyway. Maybe with a little sleep, he’d come to his senses.

  When he waved a hand in acquiescence, both Jamie and Micah grinned. Jamie clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on. I know where Niko’s clean sheets are. We’ll make up the couch for you.”

  Niko: You treat him like he’s a baby. He needs a good ass-kicking.

  Jamie: I think his ex did enough ass-kicking for all of us.

  Niko: You know that’s not what I meant. You could’ve yelled at him, knocked some damn sense into him VERBALLY. Kid doesn’t need to be coddled.

  Jamie: That’s your old man talking.

  Niko glared at his phone. He didn’t like to think he was like his father. Vicente would’ve kicked Micah’s ass to the curb and called him an ignorant, worthless son of a bitch for dropping out of school.

  Jamie: He needs a place where he can regroup and get back on his feet. Give him a chance.

  Niko left Micah alone for a day. After he’d had time to sleep and eat most of what was in the fridge, Niko decided there was a happy medium between babying the kid and being too hard on him by Jamie’s standards.

  He shook Micah awake early Saturday morning. When his brother batted his hands away, he tipped the couch over, sending him tumbling to the floor.

  “What the hell?” Micah said, looking more annoyed than angry.

  Niko took his brother by the arm—gently, so as not to be compared to his asshole ex—and propelled him to the bathroom over his protests. He pointed at the shower several times and blocked Micah’s way when he tried to brush past him.

  Micah gave in, at least as far as following instructions. He grumbled but agreed to take a shower, and Niko made breakfast burritos while he waited. Jamie couldn’t tell him he was being a prick if he made breakfast, right?

  When Micah appeared, dressed and still grumbling, Niko shoved a burrito and a covered cup of coffee into his hands. He beckoned and headed for the door.

  “Are you going to tell me what the hell’s going on?” Micah asked,
following him.

  Niko didn’t turn and didn’t stop walking as he clenched his jaw in irritation.

  Micah realized his mistake quickly. “I mean…” He huffed. “Whatever, man.”

  Niko pressed the remote to open the door to his truck. He gestured for Micah to get in, but his brother froze. “No. No way. Not until you promise me we’re not going to Del or Dad.”

  Rolling his eyes, Niko opened the passenger side door and gestured again. Maybe he wished their elder sister was here—if there was anyone Micah would listen to, it’d be Del—but he’d never been a tattler.

  “This is damn cryptic. I don’t understand why you can’t get one of those voice boxes.”

  Niko gripped the steering wheel tighter and didn’t acknowledge his brother.

  “You gotta be able to talk to other people. That’s crazy. How do you—”

  Niko turned the radio up pointedly and tried to remind himself that Micah was used to the old him. They were Italians, for fuck’s sake. No one in their family knew how to shut up. Del, like Jamie, was adapting to reading Niko’s body language and gestures, but Micah hadn’t been around him since before the accident.

  Then again, he probably shouldn’t expect his little brother to be like Del. Micah had always been a spaced-out kid. It was their father’s biggest pet peeve about him, save for his irritation that his youngest son turned out to be a fudge packer. Micah had the hardest time looking people in the eyes when they spoke. He was usually glancing all over the place, if he was paying attention at all. Asking him to read Niko’s weird pantomime was probably expecting too much.

  Luckily, when they got to Carys’s house, Jamie was already there. Niko got out of the truck, handed Jamie his breakfast wrapped in foil, which he considered a damn thoughtful gesture, and swept his hand out wide in Micah’s direction. He didn’t wait around. As soon as he handed over responsibility to Jamie, Niko went to arrange their supplies for the day.

  “He’s all mine, huh? Well, lucky me.” Jamie winked at Micah and ruffled his hair. “Your brother says you have to start pulling your weight, piaso. You’re not going to get lazy on our watch.”