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“It’s okay if it is,” Colt said stoically.
“No, I mean, Ash was just someone who shared my cell… we’re not like, together or anything, fuck that-” Nix carried on.
Ash tutted, pulled himself up from the wall he’d been leaning against, turned his back and strode off. Nix knew Ash wasn’t heartbroken, Nix had broken his heart earlier, on the bike, on the way here. Ash was already broken inside from Nix’s words. Nix followed him with his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbed in his tattooed throat. Well that was for the best, right? Now Ash could be safe. Nix would leave tomorrow probably, draw Ramon’s group away from here if they were following him…
A cute little mixed race woman spoke up now, flicking her pink hair over her shoulder as she interrupted. “Well whatever, we don’t really care who you’re fucking or not fucking. Come on, I’ll show you around-”
“And I’ll come, too.” A guy who had the exact same face, but was just practically twice her height and weight stepped up, throwing what could only be his sister a warning glare. “I’m Rafe, this is Rita. You got Lyle, Jared, Colt, of course…”
Rafe threw an arm over Nix’s shoulder, the two of them being similarly matched in height and build. Rita grabbed Nix’s hand, much shorter than them both. “Do you have any stuff?” she asked him, looking at his two empty hands.
“No,” Nix replied, feeling his cheeks flame suddenly.
Rafe shrugged. “It’s cool. I’ll get you some jeans, T-shirt, and stuff for the morning,” Rafe said.
“I’m… probably not staying…” Nix tried to say.
Rafe patted him on the back like a long lost friend. “Hey, just take tonight, come have some food, have a drink. You’ll be alright-”
“See how you feel.” Rita shrugged, smiling at him.
Right now Nix felt sick. Ah fuck, this would have been a real nice place to live, Nix thought, as they led him into a beautiful lobby area, up a grand staircase to the first floor. It was a five star hotel, no mistaking it. And everyone seemed nice. Not just nice, Rafe felt like the brother Nix had never had. Colt was this god, April was clearly some sort of mother angel figure, Sophie was this little fairy cherub… Jared and Lyle were faithful disciples, Phantom was like the holy spirit, it was so well-balanced, so right feeling. Everything Ash had promised. A real life Shangri-La. But not for Nix. This little slice of heaven was not for him.
Nix swallowed a lump in his throat.
“Here’s your room.” Rafe signaled a hotel room door on the left, and gave him a key card. “You just tap this against that to open it, like this.” He demonstrated, the door bleeped and a green light appeared.
“It’s locked?” Nix said urgently.
Rafe flashed a quick glance to Rita and they both looked back at him.
“Nix, it’s just for your privacy-” Rita said with her soft, husky voice.
Rafe shrugged. “It’s a former hotel, we kept the key cards ‘cause it’s a good system.”
“I’m used to being locked in at night-”
“The difference here is you have the key. You can wander out anytime you like. Wanna go down to the kitchen? Sure. The bar? Knock yourself out, hell, the fucking pool? Want a midnight swim? Water sure is inviting.” Rafe gesticulated as he spoke.
“It’s not that, it's… are we safe? I mean, do we need to be locked in at night? I’m guessing the gates are locked-”
Rafe laughed. Opened his mouth and gave a hearty laugh. Man, his teeth were straight and perfect. Rita smiled, too, a little lip ring twinkled.
“Yeah honey, we are totally safe in here. We’ve got guards on the doors, we’ve got cameras, we’ve got ex-military downstairs who wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, hell, none of us would-”
Nix felt the panic welling up in him now. “But if someone wanted to come in, get to you-” He’d tried to hold it at bay but now he’d reached his limits. The dam was about to break.
“Who are you thinking might come in? You make some enemies in prison?” Rafe frowned.
Nix hung his head. This is where they kicked him out. This is where the dream of the MC life was physically snatched away from him. But he couldn’t do it any longer. The panic was threatening to engulf him. He was struggling to breathe. He was trembling, could they see? Could they tell? Fuck, oh fuck.
“Yeah,” Nix croaked.
Rafe didn’t look at all bothered. “Tell us who. Tell Phantom who. You won’t need to worry about them again.”
Nix hissed through his lips. “It’s not just one person, it’s… “ He sighed. “You’ve heard of the Demonios?”
Rita burst out laughing, Rafe smirked. “Yeah.”
