Reid nodded as he began browsing the room, looking at all the pictures and trinkets Nikolai had collected over the years.
Nikolai returned with two beers a few minutes later. He handed one to Reid, then plopped his ass down on his sofa.
“So? Where’ve you been?” Nikolai asked, wanting to get right to the point. He was both pissed and relieved to see his former best friend standing alive in his living room.
Reid took a sip of his beer. His eyes moved from Nikolai to the window, then back to Nikolai.
Clearly, something was wrong, and he didn’t feel comfortable talking about it.
“It’s a long story,” Reid said, glancing down at his beer.
“I’ve got time.”
Reid began pacing the room. His short brown hair never moved as he walked from one side to the other.
After all these years, he wasn’t going to give him an explanation for just suddenly disappearing on him?
Fuck that shit. He deserved better.
“You just disappeared!” Niko snapped, finally losing his composure. His hands started to shake as the anger took hold.
They had been so close, like brothers—just the two of them against the dark underside of the world. And for Reid to just disappear like that and then refuse to give him an explanation was not going to fly.
“What the fuck, man? You just left me!” Nikolai barked again.
“I was fucking sold!” Reid snapped, spinning around, his eyes blazing with fury.
Niko’s breath caught in his chest with the sudden revelation. “Wh-what?”
“Yeah, Mikhail snatched me in the middle of the fucking night and sold me to some perverted freak who kept me locked in his mansion for months. It was only after I escaped that I was able to hitch a ride back to New York, but by the time I got there, you were already gone.”
“What do you mean, sold?” Nikolai asked, jumping up from his seat and moving quickly to where Reid was standing.
He already knew the horrifying answer, but needed to hear it anyway.
“Sold, as in, the asshole gave Mikhail eight hundred G’s to buy my ass so he could have access to it twenty-four seven. Mikhail came into my room while I was sleeping that night, knocked me out, then I woke up in DC the next morning.”
Nikolai wrapped his arms around his former best friend and pulled his head into his chest. His heart was beating so fast. How could this be? How could this have happened?
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Had I known, I would have killed Mikhail and come to your rescue.” Nikolai’s heart sank. He could only imagine the nightmare Reid must have suffered.
Reid shrugged his shoulders as he talked into Nikolai’s chest.
“Honestly, the man was connected and powerful. I doubt you would’ve been able to figure out who it was. It took me about seven months before I was able to escape.”
Nikolai released him and took a step back. A flurry of emotions flowed through his body—anger, rage, heartache, even sorrow. All of them mixed together, battling it out for dominance and control. But one emotion seemed to win out.
Anger.
“Who was it? I’m going to murder him. Where is he? How did you escape?” A barrage of questions spilled from his mouth.
“Niko, can we not tonight? Tonight, I just want to reconnect with my old buddy and see how the sexy stud is doing.” Reid squeezed Niko’s biceps, clearly trying to distract him with flattery.
Niko let out a growl. “Fine. For tonight. But I eventually want answers, and I want the name of the son of a bitch so I can go and feed him his balls.”
Reid chuckled. “Always the protector.”
Staring into those sassy baby blues, Niko wondered how much of what Reid was telling him was true, and how much of the horrifying details he was keeping to himself.
