One Night Assassin

|CHAPTER 17| |Nobody's Perfect|

|CHAPTER 17|

|Nobody's Perfect|

Confused why Adriano hadn't came back from leaving last night, I started to get worried as I checked my phone every minute to see if I'd gotten any notification from him. But sighed and ended up just throwing my phone back on the couch in frustration. 

Almost dropping my phone due to the speed of picking it up when I heard the familiar ring tone. But furrow my eyebrows in confusion when I see Blake's name flash on the screen.

"Hey, Blake. What's up?" The tone in my voice sounding way too casual for what was to come out of his mouth next.

"You need to bail Adriano out of jail." 

A D R I A N O

10 Hours Ago...

Meet me at Ridge Bar ASAP. We need to talk.

I send the text with boiling blood pumping through my veins, slamming the phone down on the counter with the same fervor. Taking a swig of my one beer, I savor the bitter taste since it was the only one I'd be having since I'd be driving home. 

I've absolutely had enough of his immature games. I knew exactly what his plans were, and I wasn't about to s**t around one more second as he tried to feed this bullshit to Luna. She hasn't known him as long as I have, she doesn't know what he's done. 

So she doesn't know what Blake's really capable of...

"Glass of wine," I hear a woman say from beside me as she sat down, making me look over next to me and see the girl with long dirty blonde hair in a ponytail looking a bit distressed.

"You having as rough a night as me?" I hear her say again, but noticing there was a southern twang to it this time, making me look back over and see she was talking to me. Her lips stained red and the smell of lavender perfume coming off as she sat only inches away from me.

"No, not really. Just came here to meet up with a friend," I responded vaguely before taking a sip of my drink, not wanting to get too deep into a conversation with this woman. She just gives a laugh in response, throwing me off a bit at the random act.

"Don't tell me you're one of those people who are hard to have a conversation with," she says before taking the sip of her wine. 

"Sorry to disappoint you," I give her a small smile in acknowledgment, making her swirl her glass of wine before taking a sip and getting up from the stool.

"A cute guy at a bar? I'm guessing it's a girl," she says as she picks up her purse she sat down earlier. 

"And I hope in the end, you get what you're looking for, cute dude." She gives me a wide toothed smile before walking off to the other side of the bar. Shrugging off the incident due to the anger I still felt towards Blake, I go back to sitting and waiting.

• . • . • . •

Eventually, I finally spot the bastard in the corner of my eye trotting through the door, smacking his gum. Once he saw me, he smiled before giving me a small nod and heading in my direction. 

"Beer, put it on my tab" was all he said once he sat down next to me. Telling the bartender what his choice of poison was. As expected, his grin was never wiped off as he looked at me, still nonchalantly smacking his gum.

"So, mind telling me why I was forced to meet you at a bar at ten o'clock at night for no apparent reason?"

"I think you and I both know why we're here." His smile was wiped clean off as soon as I spoke those words. Rolling his eyes, he just turns forward before taking a swig of the beer they just placed in front of him.

"Look, if this is about who used the last of the toilet paper at the head corders. I swear, I'm inno-"

"I'm not talking about that, moron. And you know damn well I'm not." My expression never faltered. My tone was stern but I stayed incognito. Getting no response as he just looks forward again and takes a larger swig of his beer.

Blake was always the type of person to never lose his cool. Even when someone was being hard on him. And I can't tell you how many times I've saved him from being beaten to death back when he lived on the streets, and he'd just always end up laughing while blood was splattered all over his face.

"Look, you have plenty of people to play your little games with, but not Luna, okay? It was a mistake to bring her in on all of this in the first place, so just back the f**k away." I gave him a cold stare the entire time. But when I said that sentence, he immediately snapped his head in my direction with an incredulous look plastered on his face.

"Games? I'm not playing any games with your precious little Luna. I just tell her what you don't, and treat her like a f*****g partner. Something you should be doing too," he says raising his eyebrow mischievously at the last part while smirking. I groan in annoyance before taking another large swig of my beer, gritting my teeth at the bitter bite.

"Look, if I was messing with her, I would've went for it already. I like Luna, but not in the way you would think. It's... Complicated," he says looking down at the table, playing with the tab on the beer bottle as he try's to avoid eye contact with me.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion until it finally hit me. He didn't see Luna as a conquest, he saw her as someone who needed protection. And I knew exactly why.

"Does this have anything to do with Kelsey?" My voice softens a bit. And I get my answer when he tenses in his seat before closing his eyes tightly.

Kelsey was everything to him. His only reason for living according to him. She was his little sister who was killed back in the days he lived on the streets. She was only twelve when she was shot and killed. And even to this day, he blames himself because of she didn't follow him back from his visit back home, she would've never been led into the ally way where he was doing a d*******l. And you could bet your ass Blake has blamed himself everyday since.

"I'm not trying to make you out as the bad guy, Capo. I'm really not. It's just Luna is already fragile to this industry due to her father being killed in the same line of work. And I'll be damned if she gets it the same way." Every word he spoke was serious and spoken with such emotion, I felt his emotions for him.

"I understand, Blake. I'm just trying to get the poor girl least involved as possible. I get you feel the need to protect her, but I'm doing that part just fine. Trust me, if anything would happen to her, I'd..." I pause, taking the last swig of my beer, not even knowing myself what I would do. And Blake knew exactly what was going on when I saw a small smile form at the crease of his lips in the corner of my eye.

"You really are falling for this girl, aren't you?" Amusement was obvious in his tone, making me turn my head to glare daggers at him.

"Absolutely f*****g not. The only woman I had ever, and could ever love was taken away from me. And I'll be damned if anyone would take her place." Blake gave me a look of disbelief before scoffing and taking the last sip of his beer as well. Shaking his head, he just laughed.

"Share the joke? Because I don't remember telling one."

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" He says abruptly before turning his attention back to me, a smirk now prominent on his face.

"And how is that?" I retort a bit defensively.

"You have this amazing girl that is not only unselfish, forgiving, but she cares so much about you it actually pisses me off. But yet, you still hold onto the past like it's your life line. You tell everyone it's the fact she's your old partners daughter and your wife's death that's stopping you. But I know the real reason is because she knows what makes you tick, and that scares the living s**t out of you." I was stunned at Blake's words. So much that I couldn't do anything but just stare at him.

I knew he was right, but the truth was, I didn't want him to be. I wouldn't let him be. If he was right, that would give Luna an excuse to stay with me. And I won't let that be, because she not only deserves better, but I'm not risking her life just so us both could play house.

"Let's say you were right, it doesn't narrow out the fact her life's in danger with me. It could never work, Blake. We're just not meant to be," Shaking my head to rid all the bad things that could happen to her staying with me, Blake just stares at me before throwing a firm hand on my shoulder. 

He scoots a bit closer to me so I could here him more clearly, before finally saying it.

"Wanna know a secret?" I look back at him and give a small nod in answer, making him get even closer before smirking widely.

"No one is ever meant to be," he finally says before smiling widely and hoping off the stool that was set next to me. Giving a long stretch and letting out a overdramatized grunt as he gets up off the chair to stand up once again.

"Now if you'll excuse me, a man needs his beauty sleep so he could get up early in the morning and go to the stupid headquarters that is boring as s**t," Blake says as soon as he was done stretching out, making me let out a small snort.

"Oh, and just to give you some peace at mind about the whole me liking Luna thing. You know how there's this thing about me being a player and all?"

"It's not true?" I question with a raised eyebrow, making him let out a loud chuckle at my comment.

"Oh, it's true. It's just that it doesn't really involve women..." 

My eyes went wide at his confession. But before I could retort, he was walking out the door, giving me a small salute in fair well before disappearing out of the bar completely.

I couldn't help but shake my head and hold back the laugh that was threatening to burst out. Not expecting for someone like Blake to confess such a thing as being gay.

"Just let me leave Jake!" Snapping my head towards the sound of a woman yelling in a scared voice, I see it's the same woman I was conversing with earlier. But she was being held by the waist of a man with longish brown hair, obviously restraining her from leaving.

"I'm sorry, babe. I'm not dealing anymore. And I'll get a job to take care of the both of us. We could start over and have a family of our own," the guy says, but the girl still is trying to push him away. But when he finishes that sentence, she immediately stomps on his foot, in which made him let go of her.

"You're sick. You know that? It's your fault we don't already have a family. And you know exactly what I'm talking ab-"

I hear a harsh slap noise reverberates over the loud bar noises. Me being the only one to witness it due to the fact they were in the corner. Immediately as his palm made contact with her cheek, I stood up from my seat and began to stride my way over there. My blood was boiling after seeing the man hit the girl for no good reason.

"You know I wanted that baby just as much as you di-"

"Hey, maybe you should go, man." I say quietly but sternly as I step between them a bit, making him just give me a deadly look. Looking at the woman, I see she has tear stains on her bruised cheek and is looking down at the ground, avoiding all eyes around her.

"And who the f**k are you? Her bodyguard?" 

"No, but I don't appreciate you needing to put your hands on her in such a way. So if you were smart, you'd leave, now." Holding back my anger, I loosen my tight fist and wipe them on my jeans. He only gets closer, having to look up to look into my eyes. 

"And if you were smart, pretty boy, you'd leave and let me take the worthless b***h home." 

That was the last words I heard when I blacked out into a fit of rage. My fist immediately came flying at his face. The first hit and he was down on the floor. Hearing the satisfying crunch noise as my fist made contact with his nose. I wanted more than anything to keep stop, but it was as if something was forbidding me to. Luckily the girl had ran off to the other side of the bar so she wasn't witnessing any of it.

It was only seconds before I felt multiple hands grab me from my shoulders. Two men barely even able to claw me off of him. And luckily just in enough time for me to not put him in a comma.

"Sir, I'll need you to put your hands behind your back please." Not even needing to turn around to see. I mouth a 'f**k', before slowly turning and seeing the police officer that witnessed the whole ordeal.

Guess I'll be getting home a little later than intended.