“Turn that shit off, idiot.”
“What the fuck are you doing naked, lying on top of me, you animal?” he complains, lowering his tone when he realizes it’s just me.
I cover my face with my hands because the idiot doesn’t turn off the flashlight. He gets up and switches on a floor lamp I don’t remember seeing.
“What are you doing here this late, Nero?” Drako turns the dimmer, gradually raising the light until the whole room is lit. His eyes sweep over my body suspiciously and then fix on my face until one question pops out. “Do we need to go kill someone right now, or can it wait until morning?”
“Your ability to talk bullshit even when you’re barely awake is impressive.”
“You show up here in the middle of the night with that shitty face—what was I supposed to think?”
He sits back down on the king-size bed and throws two pillows at my face with force. They hit and fall; I don’t bother picking them up.
“Are you high? Get kicked out of your house?” he asks, turning his head toward me. I roll my eyes and wave off his speculation. “Because if you were kicked out, I’ll happily go out right now to celebrate. Nero, you know—the wicked witch eats children. She’s just fattening you up so she can roast you later.”
“Shut up, man. Let’s sleep,” I ask, desperate for the bed.
“Hell no! Go find some shorts, or do I look like your girlfriend to sleep with a naked guy with a hard-on rubbing against my back?”
This time I hit him in the face with a pillow—hard. Not just thrown; slammed with everything my muscles can muster. The dull thud of a perfect hit is followed by his curse.
“Son of a bitch!”
“Possibly,” I say.
He tosses a pair of shorts at me from the nightstand.
“These clean, Drako?” I ask.
He looks offended before answering.
“And do I look like a pig?” I just roll my eyes and flop onto the bed, lying on the side closer to the corridor, forcing Drako to jump over my body to get back to his spot by the wall.
“You’re pissed because Nina decided to really fuck with you?” I nail him with the pillow again, square in the face, and he groans.
“Okay, okay,” he gives up trying to pry anything out of me and settles under the sheets. Not even a full minute passes in silence before his voice echoes in the dark. “But is Nina okay?”
“Yes,” I answer sharply, just to shut him up—though the word tastes like a lie in my mouth.
CHAPTER 30
NERO ZANTHOS
Sleep won’t come. Nina’s face — and her lies — haunt me. Every time I close my eyes, I feel my anger grow even stronger. Drako doesn’t have even remotely the same problem. His soft snores fill the room.
After a while, I give up trying and carefully get up so I don’t disturb the passed-out brute beside me. I pull on a T-shirt and leave the room, heading for the kitchen. The house is silent and dark, and I move cautiously so I don’t wake anyone.
I go downstairs, open the fridge, and grab a bottle of water, taking a long drink to ease the dryness in my throat. The faint fridge light illuminates the kitchen, and my eyes slowly adjust to the dark.
Lost in thought, I don’t notice Drako appearing at the top of the stairs, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“What’s wrong, man?” he asks, concerned, and I take a second to decide that getting this out of my head now is better than stewing alone.
“I can’t stop thinking about everything that happened. Me and Nina… we aren’t in a good place.”
Drako seems to think for a moment, his hands resting on the railing, saying nothing until Atlas appears in the hallway—clearly woken by us, even though we were speaking quietly.
“Perfect timing, Atlas,” Drako comments, and Atlas alternates his intrigued gaze between the two of us.
