by Bethany-Kris
No, thanks.
He wasn’t up for doing that again. At least, not anytime soon. The only thing he intended to do during his stay in Vegas was figure out what exactly he wanted when he went back home. Whether it was chasing a dream he wasn’t sure was possible … or something else entirely. If anyone could help him make sense of the mess in his head, it was Renzo.
Diego considered putting his phone back on flight mode just to keep the damn thing from dinging again with another missed text or call, but he didn’t. Instead of focusing on the many notifications lighting up the banner on the screen, he shut the device off and shoved it back in the pocket of his hoodie.
Later, he thought.
He’d deal with all that later. Rose would be pissed that he didn’t reply to her many calls and messages as soon as his flight landed just to say that he was okay, but he figured she should probably expect that by now. He loved his sister—just like he loved his brother—but sometimes, he only wanted to be left alone.
Now was one of those times.
With his attention off the phone, Diego scanned the large crowd gathered at the luggage carousels. He hadn’t brought anything but a couple of outfits and whatever else he needed for the week that he could fit into his backpack, and he was allowed to carry his skateboard on the plane to put in an overhead bin. He didn’t see his brother waiting in the crowd, and for a brief second, considered pulling his phone back out to shoot Ren a text and ask where in the hell he was.
They were supposed to meet up—
Diego’s thoughts stopped all at once as his gaze landed on a blonde who was looking right at him from where she had perched herself on a partition wall separating the baggage claim from a small eatery. With her legs folded up on the ledge under herself as though she’d been just sitting there meditating, the blonde with blue eyes so wide that she looked like a doll, gave him a smile when their gazes connected.
As though she knew who he was.
She pushed off the ledge all at once, her black Vans sneakers hitting the tiled floor gracefully before she headed his way with a wave of her hand. Her dark-wash skinny jeans were blown out and frayed at the knees, and the leather bomber jacket matched the black of her shoes. Other than the faded red stain on her smiling, full lips, she didn’t wear any makeup.
She couldn’t be much older than him.
“Diego Zulla, right?” the chick asked.
Diego blinked. “Uh … yeah.”
She stuck out a hand for him to shake once she was close enough. He hesitated for only a second before he took her hand with his and then dropped it just as fast.
“And you are?” he asked.
She beamed. “Luv. Luv Moore. I … kind of work with your brother.”
Kind of?
What did that mean?
Diego wasn’t sure he should ask—considering his usual policy where his brother’s work was concerned—but Luv didn’t look like the assassin type. More … Well, he gave her another one over, but she didn’t seem to mind. Pretty and delicate came to mind when he thought about words to describe Luv. Certainly not killer.
“Luv.”
She winked. “That’s me.”
He tried the name out again, but this time, silently. He wasn’t sure if that was her real name, or just something she went by. He hadn’t met the chick before in his life, but she didn’t seem like she really minded that at all. In fact, she kind of bounced a little on the spot. Like she was excited or some shit that he was finally there.
Diego gave her a second look, asking, “Where’s my brother?”
She smiled, showing off perfect wide teeth. With skin the color of smooth cream, and long lashes that framed those round eyes of hers, she really did look strikingly like a doll almost.
“Ren got called out last minute—I offered to keep an eye on you this week. Dare let me know your arrival time and who to look for. He’s hoping it’ll only be a week.”
Diego’s shoulders dropped.
Really?
That meant his brother would be MIA for his entire stay. Why didn’t Renzo call to let him know? His change in disposition wasn’t missed by Luv if her fading smile was any indication.
“Sorry,” Luv said quickly, “stuff changes fast around here, you know?”
“Not really,” Diego muttered.
But he was fine with that.
“Do you have any plans while you’re here?” Her stare dropped to the skateboard in his grip.
Diego shrugged. “I was supposed to. Not that I wanted to.”
Like that college tour. That he wasn’t at all fucking interested in if he were being honest.
Luv laughed, and for a second, Diego didn’t think about his brother being gone, or anything else that had been weighing down his mind and heart lately. It was hard to worry about shit like that when a pretty girl laughed in front of him. He stood tall at exactly six feet, but next to him, the girl was basically a fairy. The top of her head only reached his chin, she stared up at him, and even her features were small and dainty.
Yeah, he didn’t mind a pretty girl laughing at all. Especially not when she looked like Luv.
“Have you ever really seen Vegas at night?”
“In passing. I just come here to visit Ren sometimes, but I don’t do much while I’m here.”
He didn’t come to enjoy the place.
Luv grinned as though she could read his mind and already had a plan forming. Even the blues of her eyes gleamed with something he couldn’t quite place but still felt playful. “Could I show you sometime?”
Well … what would it hurt?
If his brother wasn’t here to help him deal with the mess he left back in New York, he might as well make the best of his trip. At least, for some of it.
“Why not?” Diego asked, dragging a hand through his dark, shaggy hair that had fallen over his brown eyes. “I don’t have anything better to do.”
Story of his life lately.
SIX
Diego
Diego wasn’t sure what he expected Luv to drive but the fire-engine red Ferrari certainly wasn’t it. Not because he thought she couldn’t drive a car like that. It just wasn’t the first thing to come to his mind when they headed to the parking of the airport because she said she was driving. She didn’t look old enough to have a license let alone that type of vehicle.
He still didn’t even have his license because it was just easier to jump on the bus, take the subway or call an Uber when he navigated New York City. And that was a city he knew well and felt comfortable in. He’d never spent a lot of time touring and learning Las Vegas let alone anywhere else in Nevada.
In the corner of his eye, the young blonde handling the Ferrari’s wheel with a sure grip looked entirely comfortable in the driver’s seat. He wasn’t quite sure what to say, so he just let the first thing that came to mind run right out of his mouth without stopping it.
“I feel like I should ask if I can drive this car,” he admitted.
A grin stretched Luv’s full lips wider as she glanced to the side. “Do you have a license?”
“No, but I can drive.” And just because he could and felt like it, Diego added, “And what do you mean—do I have a license?”
Her big blue eyes rolled upward. “Come on, you’re a bit of a babyface. Don’t blame me for thinking you’re too young to even turn the key over. I bet you’re going to get ID’d until you’re forty.”
That had his eyebrows lifting high as he laughed. “I’m almost eighteen. You can’t be much older, if that.”
Luv shrugged, only replying, “But I can, actually. In my world, I can be anything.”
What did that mean?
She didn’t give him the chance to ask before she beamed his way and said, “This car isn’t even mine—borrowed for the day. Mine is black … or it will be when they drop it off with a new paint job. The new look wasn’t by choice and all. Gotta do what I gotta do when the boss says to do it. Makes life easier that way. You know what I mean?”<
br />
Diego blinked.
“Not really,” he said.
For the first time since the mysterious chick had approached him in the airport with her sly smile, he saw her first show of nerves. Or maybe that wasn’t the right word. Her fingers tapped a quick beat to the leather-wrapped steering wheel of the Ferrari. Her gaze quickly jumped between him and the cars ahead of them on the road. And she even chewed the side of her cheek like she didn’t know what to say.
“Sorry,” she muttered, “sometimes I forget.”
“Forget what?”
“That not everybody’s like me.”
He still didn’t get it.
“Like you?”
Luv sighed. “Or like your brother. Like us. You don’t know things we know. I don’t spend much time with people … outside the business.”
Oh.
Just like that, all at once, it made sense.
“Don’t be offended,” Diego said as he stared out at the passing, very dry-looking scenery, “but I’ve learned with my brother that it’s better if I don’t ask questions about that kind of stuff. About what you do and your life. I never really feel comfortable with the answers.”
In the driver’s seat, she made a little noise.
Soft, he thought.
Curious.
Maybe like him.
“But does a part of you still want to know it—about … all of it?” she asked quietly. Then, she was quick to add, “I only ask because sometimes I wonder what it’s like to be … well, you. Normal.”
Diego took a moment to think about his answer. Was he, as she said, normal? Maybe compared to her. He continued staring out the window because this conversation had turned deeper than he expected, quicker than it should have. Truth be told, that didn’t really bother him.
He knew it should, though.
“Sometimes I want to look inside your world and see what it’s like,” Diego muttered, “but I don’t think I want to live there like you and Ren do.”
Luv didn’t reply.
Diego was fine with that.
• • •
Luv stayed a few steps behind Diego as he used the spare key card to open the hotel room Renzo kept booked throughout the year. He used to have an apartment on the strip, but Diego never got to see it before his brother decided it wasn’t needed when his home was in New York with his wife and kid.
Ren had given him the key to the hotel room the last time he visited his brother in Vegas. It allowed Diego to come and go when his brother had business—or was it work?—to do and he got bored or needed something to do. Ren never asked for it back and in fact, told him to keep it in his wallet to use the next time he was back.
Trailing behind him, Luv peered over the different items his brother had left behind in the multi-room suite. Everything from the picture frame on the decorative table beside the leather loveseat to the pile of forgotten junk—like from his brother’s pockets, considering it was nothing more than crumpled receipts and some loose change—on the dinette table in the small kitchenette. Her lack of familiarity as she surveyed the space wasn’t lost on him.
“Never been here before?” Diego asked as he dropped his bag to the couch. He didn’t wait for a reply from Luv before he ripped open the zipper and started digging for the black hoodie with the logo of his favorite rapper. “I thought you worked with my brother?”
Her soft footsteps had him glancing up in just enough time to watch her exit the far bedroom—the one he typically used when he stayed here—and come to stand directly in front of the couch.
“We’re not really friends like that,” Luv admitted. “That wasn’t part of the deal and Renzo is … You know, he keeps his outside life private. Some of us do. I don’t take it personally.”
Diego knew better than to ask. How many times had he said that since arriving? Too many. Ren told him a long time ago to stop asking questions when it clearly bothered him. His stupid mouth still worked before his brain.
“What deal?” he asked.
She eyed him for a second, deciding on simply, “He’s my mentor. One of them.”
A part of him wanted to ask more. The smart part of him stopped before he could. This time.
“Huh,” he muttered, finally finding the sweatshirt he wanted. Yanking the item down over his head, he punched his arms through the sleeve holes, knowing damn well Nevada was probably too hot this time of year for the heavy clothing. Oh, well. He liked what he liked. Once the hood was pulled over his head, he could see Luv again. She hadn’t stopped staring. It managed to make him nervous and curious at the same time, and that wasn’t something he was used to. “So, you’re gonna be my babysitter, then?”
Luv’s gaze darted up to his, holding strong. “Yeah, why not? Not like I have anything else to do this week now.”
“Were you supposed to be doing something else?”
“I usually make stuff go boom. It’s kind of what I do. Not this time—instead, I’m looking after you.”
He didn’t even know where to begin with that.
Diego just opted for, “I think I want a nap.”
“Anything else?”
“Maybe I’ll find a park later.”
Luv smiled. “Whatever you want, Diego.”
Right.
That was the problem, though. The entire damn point, actually. He was here because he didn’t know what he wanted.
SEVEN
Diego
Diego didn’t get to have a nap.
And so far, he hadn’t found a park, either.
Instead, he trailed behind Luv as he walked through the halls of a building that she’d only called, “The complex.”
If he were being honest, yes, the name did fit the large and ominous building entirely too fucking well. Made up of winding hallways with black doors and overhead lighting that could blind a person, he wasn’t entirely sure what anyone would do in a place like this considering the desolate location.
After Luv’s phone rang with a call that she spent mostly rolling her eyes and sighing loudly at whoever talked on the other end, all she told Diego was that they had to go. Nothing more, and nothing less. They drove for two hours.
Beyond recognizable landmarks. Where there were no buildings. Only miles and miles and miles of desert land greeted them until finally … something began to grow on the horizon. The big and confusing building she called the complex, that was.
Diego finally figured out—whatever the place was—had something to do with The League, the organization his brother worked with, because of the black matte card Luv had flashed at the cameras overhead the doors where they entered. He couldn’t say it was a proper entrance because nothing, not even a parking lot, suggested where they entered the building was the front, side, or back for that matter.
“What is this place?” Diego asked again. “What do you even do here?”
Luv shot a glance over her shoulder, grinning as though she got way too much enjoyment out of Diego’s ignorance. “A bit of everything.”
“Like—”
“Some people live here. Offices are kept here. Training. Work. Whatever, you know?”
No, he certainly did not.
He wondered if that was such a bad thing.
Rounding another long hallway, Diego was surprised to find the few doors they passed in this one were actually open. Black doors. Like every other door in the place. He didn’t spend too much time peering into the rooms they passed, but he saw enough to make his eyes widen a bit.
Like the room with bars of gold.
The one full of weapons.
None had people.
As they reached the far end, clicks started to echo behind Diego. Luv kept walking ahead of him even though he stopped to look back. Behind him, the black doors for each of the rooms started to close one after another.
Fast, but quiet.
Electronic, maybe?
He wasn’t sure why or how they closed the way they did. It just did it. One door after another.
<
br /> Click, click, click, click.
“Come on,” Luv called, her voice echoing around the next corner she had taken.
The entire place felt cold.
And dangerous.
Definitely not like home. Certainly not like he belonged there. And that was the thing he recognized first and foremost inside the building.
He did not belong.
Diego hurried to catch up.
• • •
“Now, I know you know that when I called and said you needed to come in, Luv, that I didn’t mean you were to bring him.”
Sitting behind a desk made of metal and glass that dominated an already large room, the man who clearly didn’t want Diego to be where he was continued to stare at him like he might be able to make the young man disappear. Even if it was with his thoughts alone and nothing else.
Awkward?
Not even close.
Luv laughed lightly. “Well, you seemed very concerned when you called that he might not be okay, Dare. So, here he is. Perfectly fine. A-okay, even.”
Dare.
Why did that name sound familiar?
Where had he heard it before?
Diego didn’t get the chance to figure it out before Dare’s gaze cut back to him, and all at once, it became a lot harder to breathe comfortably. Just the man’s stare was unsettling. He wasn’t the first person Diego met in his life who could silence someone with just his gaze alone, but it was strange all the same.
“Actually,” the man muttered behind his desk as he reclined in the chair, “Renzo hounded Cree until the man made a call. I was only trying to get the information needed that would let Renzo feel comfortable about continuing his current …” Dare’s stare drifted to Diego, and he considered his words before finally settling on, “… job. You understand?”
Luv didn’t seem to care. “Like I said, I brought him here, and now you’ve got eyes on him. Tell Ren he’s fine.”
