Page 12 of Tore Up

With my family gone, the only other person who would have talked to Ares and might know what was going on was Nicco. Going anywhere near him and the people those two had started hanging out with made me cringe, but I had no other choice. Nicco had never held a knife to my throat, so there was that. He was definitely the lesser of the two evils. There was a very good chance that Nicco would know why this man was hell-bent on finding and killing Ares.

If it came down to it, he might even let me sleep on his sofa for a few nights. I immediately shut that thought down, thinking about his apartment. I knew the kind of parties they had there. I’d seen pictures on Ares’s phone. There was a chance I could get an STD from that sofa.

The sun was brutal, and I was coated in a thin layer of sweat when I parked outside Nicco’s apartment building. I glanced up at it and wished there were anywhere else I could go. There wereprobably drugs in that apartment. I wrapped my arms around my waist and contemplated this before I gave in and headed for the stairs. I had no choice. With no family, no job, and soon-to-be nowhere to live while being ghosted by the father of the baby I was carrying, being picky about where I got answers from wasn’t an option.

Rapping on his door twice, I stood back and waited.

God, please let Nicco be who answers and not some druggie gang person or something.

Not that God was listening to me. I was pretty sure he hated me the way my father did.

I waited two minutes before knocking again. There was a shout inside that sounded like someone called Nicco’s name. At least I knew he was in there. I was about to knock again when the door opened slowly, and a shirtless Nicco answered. His black hair was sticking up everywhere as he squinted against the sunlight. When he finally blinked and focused enough to see who it was, he stilled for a moment.

“Halo,” he said in a raspy voice.

“Good morning, Nicco. Sorry to bother you, but I have a bit of a problem, and I need your help.”

He frowned as he scanned the area behind me before stepping back. “Uh, okay,” he said, moving so I could come inside. He looked around again before closing the door and locking it.

The main area—or living room, or kitchen, or whatever it was—smelled like weed, dirty feet, and moldy food. There were empty liquor bottles, ashtrays, a couple of used needles, clothing, boxes of pizza, and some fast-food bags littering the space. A guy sat up on the sofa, and I realized he wasn’t just shirtless, but naked too.

I snapped my gaze off him and turned to Nicco. Yep, not about to stay here. It would be healthier and safer to sleep on the street. I’d find a large box.

“Halo, Ronnie. Ronnie, this is Ares’s sister,” Nicco said, thenwalked toward the kitchen. “What’s up, Halo?” he asked as he jerked open the fridge. “Seems like it must be bad if you came here.”

No kidding. It was life or death. That was the only reason I would have come here. I wasn’t sure if the pungent smell I was breathing in was toxic or not.

Had he ever cleaned this place? I knew he’d moved in here a little over a year ago. Ares had been pumped about it.

“Has Ares called you since he left?” I asked him.

He shook his head and took a drink from a carton of orange juice. “No. Why?”

I could feel the other guy in the room looking at me, and it made me even more uncomfortable. I moved closer to the kitchen.

“I, uh …” I didn’t want to chance glancing at this Ronnie guy and seeing his junk again. One time was enough. “Can I talk to you in private?” I asked.

He leaned against the counter and cut his eyes back over my shoulder. “Give us a minute,” he told Ronnie. “And put on some fucking pants.”

I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest, staring at the floor since it was a safe location for my eyes, while the guy muttered a curse. His footsteps went down the hallway, and then a door slammed. I lifted my gaze back to Nicco, who was studying me.

“What’s up?”

“Iris left with the kids four days ago. Nick came home, took his things, and then left last night,” I told him.

His eyes widened. “Shit,” he said, setting the orange juice down.

“Yeah, that’s not why I’m here. It gets worse. Do you by any chance know why a man would want Ares dead?”

Nicco’s olive complexion paled. “Dead?” he asked as if hehadn’t heard me correctly, but his reaction said he had. In fact, there was something in his dark eyes that said he knew why.

“Yes. Dead. A man was in my bedroom last night and”—I pointed to the bandage on my neck—“held a blade to my throat and demanded I tell him where Ares is.”

“Fuck,” he hissed, straightening from his stance. “How did he get in? Did you hear him? What else did he say?”

“I think I left the door unlocked. I woke up terrified. I could feel someone in the room with me. He said I had twenty-four hours to tell him where Ares was or he would kill me and the rest of my family. I’m gonna tell him. Ares is safe, but me and the others? Not so much. But I need to know why and what he did. I’m trying to decide if this guy is going to kill me anyway. Should I be alone in that house tonight?”

Nicco ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he chanted as he walked over to the sofa and gripped the back of it. “Dammit!”

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