“Oh, fuck you. I’ll be twenty soon.” He throws the butt of his cigarette on the ground and steps on it, then he hauls up his bike that he practically threw down and let slide into a tree earlier.
After straightening it up, he leans an elbow against it and pats his pocket for another cigarette. “What are we going to do with these cockroaches?”
“Let them fester.” I hop on my bike. Riding, preferably alone, is the only thing that I like doing for myself. No duties or expectations—just me and the wind.
“Won’t they become harder to deal with when they multiply?”
“On the contrary. We can take them out when they’re gathered in one place.”
A slow grin stretches his lips. “I knew you were my favorite. When do we start?”
“Patience, Niko.”
“That word doesn’t belong in my limited vocabulary.”
Don’t I know it.
It’s why I’ve been deliberately keeping Nikolai as far away from strategic planning as possible. At least until the actual action starts.
We both belong to the Russian Bratva in New York. Our parents are the current leaders and we’re expected to take their positions one day.
When that day comes, Nikolai and I will support each other, as we’re currently doing.
I don’t want to make an enemy out of him or else he’d get one of us killed in the blink of an eye. And if he festers in his bloodlust, no one will be able to pull him out of it.
“Should we report this to headquarters?” he asks.
Headquarters, as in, his parents or my father. If they find out the Serpents, whose leaders are the offspring of men who sit with them at the inner circle table, are after us, they won’t let this slide.
It might even develop into an inner war. And there’s no more efficient way to break a strong organization than inner conflict.
The Serpents know this as well as we do, but they apparently don’t give a fuck as long as they get what they want.
And what they want is to eliminate me and Nikolai before we inherit our birthright positions.
What’s better than offing another leader? Doing it before he fully comes into power.
“Why get our folks involved when we can take care of them ourselves?” I throw the helmet that has fallen beside me at Niko and he catches it with a wide grin before he straps it on.
“Wise words. Wise words.”
“Just tone it down a notch.”
“Fuck no. I need my dose of adrenaline.”
“The initiation was a week ago. That amount of adrenaline should’ve lasted you at least two weeks.”
“Didn’t even get me through the night.”
“Despite all the hunting?”
“And punching and kicking and even headbutting.” He lifts his hands and stares at them under the dusk’s light. “None of it is enough. That energy is pulsing in my veins like a ghost. Or a demon. And it needs to be let out. Don’t you have moments like that?”
“No,” I say assertively as I shove my helmet in place.
“Ehh. Is that why you didn’t sleep that night? Or the night of the party?”
“I don’t sleep.”Much.