Page 1 of Destroyer

Chapter one

Caeo

Keepyourfriendscloseand your enemies closer. And don’t burn the garlic bread.

Damn it.

I move the slightly over-crispy baguette down to the warming oven, returning to check on the chicken.

Breaded chicken, sliced in a salad with garlic bread on the side was supposed to be an easy dinner to manage around eavesdropping on my guests.

Keeping my friends and enemies close is not easy while multitasking in the kitchen.

In this line of work, it's not always easy to see who your enemies are. That's why I am entertaining Nico and Gregory for dinner. And they are having an education in anime. Apparently, it's taking cartoons to the next level. I think he should quit watching cartoons altogether. Porter only started him on them as they were brightly coloured and easy to follow when Nico was too sick to do anything else. I guess any form of progress should be encouraged.

Nico has been staying with Knox and Porter to recover since he was kidnapped and his guardian, Gavriil, was killed. He's getting better and I can see he is itching to get back to his old life. The trouble is, his old life was torture and murder, and living in a tree. No one wants him to go back to that.

Gregory is the mysterious half-brother who showed up when Nico's DNA test came back. Trust is earned and Gregory is struggling in that department. I could be wrong about him; I can’t deny the element of jealousy between us. I was Knox’s go-to guy, but I quit that job because I needed something less stressful so I could focus on Nico. I’ve always had feelings for the kid, more of pity and admiration as he survived in a harsh reality, but recently, those feelings are changing. My feelings are more… more something. I want him. I want to protect him; I’ve always wanted that. No, I want to protect him, care for him, control him, love him. That last one is taking a lot to get used to. I’ve convinced myself he is too young for that word to come between us.

Gregory being here is bringing out my protective side.

From being an orphan, Nico has more relatives than he can shake a stick at.

On a different note, I must remember not to say that phrase to Nico again, he looked far too interested in giving it a try.

It's not just his half-brothers, Porter and Gregory. It's the dad, and grandfather who now know he exists. It’s other brothers and uncles and all the rest. Now they know what an asset this boy is from an information point of view, they're all getting curious.

Knox and Porter have gone away for the weekend, so I suggested Porter's two half-brothers come for dinner with me. It was that or leaving Nico unsupervised with his brother all weekend. I don’t trust Gregory that much. If Nico wants to escape from the Thayer house, I want him to choose me over his brother.

I can cook well enough for myself, but these men are used to Gladys' cooking, and I can't compare to that. Knox has employed Gladys as his personal chef and housekeeper for about a decade now, maybe more, but he is in a very different position to the rest of us. He runs the drug cartel in this town, the rest of us just work for him.

But my cooking skills are fair.

I'm sure they won't complain. Gregory has his own place, but it's being renovated so cooking isn't easy for him.

And Nico, well, he is completely feral so as long as someone feeds him, he's happy.

Gregory, Porter and Nico may all have the same father, but these guys are like chalk and cheese, and something else that makes the saying fit three people.

Chalk, cheese and grease, from the look of Gregory as he enters the kitchen.

"Can I help with anything?" Gregory questions kindly, standing in the doorway from the hallway in his light grey suit.

"There is a white wine in the fridge, and some glasses in the cupboard there," I reply. The back half of my house is the kitchen and dining room, separated by two bifold doors that are never closed. The living room comes off the dining room, and I can hear Nico shouting at the TV from there.

"Sure." He first grabs three wine glasses and then heads to the fridge. “Kid doesn't know the off switch on the telly.”

“He never watches it,” I reply curtly. I know why Gregory is so keen to have Nico move in with him. He wants a servant around the house. Nico is better than that. And it sounds like he has turned off the TV, or broken it, but the sound has gone off and he comes galumphing into the kitchen.

"I is helping too," Nico declares in his thick Romanian accent. His words alone are as sexy as sin, but the way he bounces in and plonks his butt on my workspace gets my heart racing.

"Can you grab the salad dressing from the fridge?"

"Uh?" He looks around the kitchen and then shrugs. "I shall wait at the table."

"Uh, not so fast." He doesn’t get to pull a stunt like that. Gregory and I are house training him, despite his resistance. "Gregory, please open the fridge and show him a salad dressing."

Gregory laughs in response. "This, little bro, is a fridge."

---