My wisecrack and ass crack were met with silence and not the sexy comeback I’d expected. A feeling of unease came over me, followed by my hair standing up all over my body. I quickly yanked up my shorts and turned around. The last person I expected to see again in Macio’s house was standing in his - our - kitchen with a gun pointed at me.
“You think you’re fucking cute, don’t you?” Rupert snarled. “You have ruined Macio’s life.” He was so angry, his hands shook.
That whole saying about your life flashing before your eyes was totally true and my movie reel was way too damn short for my liking. My brain went into survival mode because I had just recently found the guy I wanted to spend my life with and I wasn’t about to give that future up easily.
“Rupert, let’s talk about this.” I raised my hands up in front of me in a surrender gesture. “You don’t want to do anything drastic here.”
“Don’t tell me what I want to do, you little fucker.”
Rupert took two steps toward me so that there was probably ten feet or less between us. I saw in his eyes that he wasn’t playing around and had come with one purpose in mind - to kill me. With my back against the kitchen counter, my only escape was around Rupert or through him. If he hadn’t held a gun on me, I would’ve tried either option. The gun changed things, though. I tried to discreetly look for something within my grasp to throw at the arm holding the gun like I’d seen in the movies, but there was nothing.
I could only pray that something would distract him long enough for me to charge him and hope for the best. In the meantime, the best course of action was to buy time by keeping my mouth shut and letting him talk. If Rupert was like most TV and movie villains, then he would have plenty of things to say.
“Macio was destined for great things, but you destroyed it, Aiden. It’s only a matter of time before he’s a sad little asterisk in MMA history,” Rupert said.
“How do you figure?” I asked.So much for keeping my mouth shut.
Rupert shook his head slowly, as if I was lacking a brain. “Before, when people looked at Macio, they saw a champion they could believe in. Now, all they do is wonder what he likes to do with his dick.”
“You sure as fuck didn’t help him out there, did you, Rupert?” I figured if I was going to die that day in Macio’s kitchen, then I’d at least go out the way I wanted to. “The only one obsessed about what Macio’s doing with his dick is you, and it’s only because he’s not giving it to you. That’s what you can’t stand. You figured someday you’d be the one crying out Champ while he pounded away.” I took a step forward, uncertain when I’d grown such big balls, and said, “It’s never going to happen, Rupert. Do you hear me? You can kill me now, but the only thing you’ll get out of it is a prison sentence.”
“See, that mouth of yours is the reason you’re going to bleed out in Macio’s kitchen. Imagine how broken he’ll be when he discovers your brains all over his floor.”
The fact that I worried more about Macio finding my dead body than dying was proof of how much I loved him. I didn’t dare close my eyes and imagine how broken he’d be because I wouldn’t give Rupert the satisfaction of knowing that his poisoned arrow struck its target.
“My mouth is what captured Macio’s attention and set me apart from the others, including you.” I stood up taller. “I might die today, but I won’t die unloved. I will go to my grave knowing Macio placed his love for me above his career and money.”
Rupert laughed hysterically. “I give it a month at the most before he moves on from you. There are so many asses to fuck in the world. You’ll be nothing more than a distant memory - a regretted one at that for ruining his career.”
As much as it hurt me to think of Macio with someone else, I’d never want him to live without love in his life and revert to emotionless sex. He deserved so much more than that. “Maybe so, but it won’t be your ass he chooses.”
“Don’t be so sure, you arrogant bastard. I was so close once before. I felt his lips against mine and felt him start to harden beneath my hand. Only some misplaced loyalty to you stopped him. If you’re dead…”
Caesar must have heard the raised voices, because he began barking viciously and scratching at the back door. It startled Rupert so much, he pulled the trigger and fired a shot. Luckily for me, his arm had jerked slightly in the same direction that his head turned and the bullet hit the cabinet behind me and not me. My eardrums felt like they were going to bust from the noise of the gun blast, the splintered wood from the cabinet, and the shattered glasses from the dishes inside them.
It also spurred me into action. I charged at Rupert, who looked shocked that he’d fired the gun, which was odd because why else had he come? I lowered my shoulder and rammed him in the chest hard enough to knock him on his ass. I heard the sound of the gun hitting the floor but didn’t stop running or even looking over my shoulder to see where it landed. I had only one chance to escape him. I sprinted for the front door, hoping I could reach it before Rupert recovered his gun because he would have a clean shot at me.
“Stop, Aiden!” Rupert screamed, as if I was stupid enough to fall for that. “I’m going to fucking kill you. Macio won’t even recognize you when I’m through with you.”
Macio’s house had always seemed large to me, but never more so than in that moment when it felt like I ran and ran, but never got closer to the door. Finally, as if someone turned off the slow-motion feature, I was within a few feet of the door and had hope that I would make it.I’m going to make it, Macio.As if I had conjured him up, the door opened and Macio stepped through it. The smile fell off his face when he saw the fear etched on mine.
“Gooooo!” I waved my arm and repeated for him to go.
Macio looked around me to see what the fuck was going on and his eyes widened in fear. I knew then that Rupert had found the gun and was aiming at me. I wanted to be brave so Macio would remember me that way and not as a terrified man who was ready to cry because he wasn’t ready to leave him. At least I’d leave this world with Macio being the last person I saw, not that bastard Rupert.I love you.I couldn’t be sure if I just thought the words to myself or said them out loud.
Macio lunged at me, grabbed both of my biceps in his strong hands, then turned his body to try and knock me out of the way. I heard the loud bang of the gun go off, followed by Macio grunting in pain in my ear. We crashed into the wall hard enough to knock the paintings off it, then fell on top of the decorative table by the door. It wasn’t strong enough to support our combined weight, so the table, all the decorations on it, and both of us went crashing to the floor.
I felt shards of ceramic and glass piercing my shirt and stabbing into my skin seconds before my head hit the marble tiled floor hard enough to knock me unconscious. I wasn’t sure how long I was out, but it couldn’t have been too long because I heard sirens in the distance. I looked into Macio’s concerned eyes and was so grateful to be alive.
“Not a dream,” I said, trying to convince myself. “You’re real.”
“As a heart attack, baby.” It reminded me of the conversation we had when we first got back together.
I wanted to laugh, but my head hurt too badly. I became aware of excruciating pain in my side and upper thigh, then forgot about it when I noticed Macio’s injury. He had removed his shirt and wrapped it around his upper arm to staunch the blood flow, but it wasn’t working.
“You came back,” I said.
“I forgot my phone in the bedroom. It’s a good thing I came back when I did or I would’ve lost you.” The tenderness in Macio’s voice was almost enough to make me forget the situation we were in.
