Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 636(@200wpm)___ 509(@250wpm)___ 424(@300wpm)
It was strange to see him like this after getting to know the real Nero Moreno, because while he’d always been seductive and entertaining, Miguel had no doubt about Nero’s actual mood. He’d been pissed off and sour throughout the past few hours, and had only turned on the dazzle machine to endear himself to a bunch of people who might otherwise shoot them dead and leave their carrions to the animals.
The warm glow of the fire gave life to the skeletons of the fair’s former glory. In daylight, the colors would look faded, and the peeling paint—appalling, but the buzzing flames added movement to each surface around the square in the center of the amusement park. The faces of bootleg Disney characters, cowboys, and animal hybrids gained a new life for as long as booze flowed through everyone’s veins to the rhythm of a guitar in desperate need of restringing.
He was happy to get some water and a bowl of stew with beans, rice, and an anonymous kind of meat, but every time he glanced at Nero laughing with these vagrants, he lost his appetite. After this day from hell, and the long silence, there was nothing he wanted more than to have all of Nero's attention directed at him. But the moment other people were around, Miguel had become a damaged chew toy thrown into the corner. Maybe he deserved that after saying such horrible things in the truck, but that didn’t make being ignored any less frustrating.
So maybe he was alive and about to sleep someplace safe, but all he could think of was that he’d fucked up, and the ugly words he’d spat into Nero’s face kept jingling in his head and hurting him with their sharp edges. It wasn’t Nero he felt disgust for but himself. Because he shouldn’t want a man, especially not Raul Moreno’s son, yet now, after unexpectedly surviving his long-awaited revenge, a part of him wondered if he could taste the forbidden fruit at least once before resting in his grave.
He wasn’t going to Heaven anyway.
Too bad Nero’s offer of sex would now be revoked.
Miguel didn’t attempt to correct Nero’s lies about them planning Raul Moreno’s death together. It was a way of ensuring Nero’s safety in this nest of predators that somehow fared better away from their own kind, but as Nero danced with one of the women, Miguel felt himself scowl into his stew, forgotten and alone in the shadows.
He was dirt under Nero Moreno’s boot.
“No need to be jealous. She's taken. It’s just a dance,” a voice said, and Miguel flinched, turning to look at Dante the Caiman, who’d snuck up on him too quietly for Miguel’s comfort.
Miguel took a swig of the hideous moonshine that only made him feel more bitter about the world. “Why would I be jealous? He can do what he wants as long as it doesn’t get us in trouble.” Especially since nothing would happen between Nero and a woman.
Dante sucked the smoke from a small pipe and crossed his long legs as he settled on a wooden bench alongside Miguel. “Oh. So you’re not one of his—”
Shivers pinched Miguel’s flesh, all the way to his burning ears. He’d never admitted to anyone but Nero that he might in fact be interested in men, and he wasn’t about to. He wasn’t one of many either.
“No. We’re just two men who happened to have the same goal.”
He was lying through his teeth. Miguel had no logical reason to waste so much time and effort on taking Nero to safety. He hadn’t asked to be rescued and therefore didn’t owe Nero a thing, but he decided to stay with him because of the honest smiles Nero had for him, and the way he’d let Miguel lead him in a tango. Those were trivial things that shouldn’t matter to a man as hard as Miguel, but for better or worse, this man was his weakness, and there was no point in denying that reality.
When the guitar melody turned faster and one of the women started singing, Nero’s dance partner drifted off to her man’s lap, but a new threat entered the picture, making Miguel sit up and pay attention.
The guy who had briefly introduced himself as Osvaldo, but whom everyone called Ossie, approached Nero in a swaying motion with the kind of genuine smile Miguel wasn’t capable of. He was shirtless, and showed off his wide shoulders and tattooed body without shame.
Cramps twisted Miguel’s guts when Ossie leaned toward Nero’s ear, whispering something that made the green-haired menace who occupied Miguel’s secret dreams laugh. He pulled his top off as well, revealing the giant caiman on his chest. Scarifications added texture to the tattoo, and Ossie’s greedy fingers drifted to the bumps as he swayed to the music.