Without You: Chapter Three

Quick Guide: if this is your first time finding my work, welcome! I'm glad you're here. This is apart of a mini series, I would recommend going to my page and reading Without You: Chapter One and Two first. Thank you for choosing to support me.

Spring break was finally here and I decided to spend my first day of freedom finishing up my homework so I wouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the week. Bless Nikki for putting up with that. He was not happy when I stopped by his place carrying my load of school books.

In fact, he had almost shut the door in my face but luckily, Ewan - who I found out was also his twin - was in the mood to torture his brother, because he held the door open glaring at Nikki with a frightening smirk.

"Fine," Nikki sighed. "I'll suffer I guess."

"Good, because you've gotten your grades up. I really think you could graduate this year if you keep working at it. The thought of not having to deal with another year of school should be motivation enough."

"I prefer the thought of having the nice company over so much to get me through this hell of studying." He said with playful wink.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever floats your goat, Nikki." I followed him to his room and tossed all the books on the bed. "It's only the homework from the last day but, I wanted to get it out of the way so I wouldn't have to worry about cramming it in on the last day of break."

"You do always have a smart process when it comes it homework." He said, flopping onto the bed. "I can tell it's definitely made a difference."

I kicked my shoes off and sat at the foot of the bed across from him, opening up the first text book. "Can I ask a question?" I flipped to the page we needed.

"Anything." He said, opening up the notebook that corresponded to the textbook.

"Why did you fail last year?"

"To put it simply, my older brother died. And I didn't feel like puttng in the work. He actually died at the end of my junior year, but the work I had done until then was enough to just barely pass. After that I just didn't really put much effort into it."

"I'm sorry, that was a tougher question than I meant it be. That had to have been rough." I probably should have left it at that but I was curious. And I wanted to know more about Nikki. "Were you and your brother close?" I asked.

"Yeah. Ewan and I both looked up to him. He was detective in Tokyo."

"That's kind of a funny parallel if you don't mind me saying."

He let out a chuckle. "You're not wrong. Ewan and I have always been a little...chaotic. But I didn't start the gang until after he died. In fact, he's the reason I started the gang." He fell silent for a second, fiddling with a pencil.

He looked almost like he needed to talk about it but he didn't know how. "Screw this," I said, closing the text book and shoving everything off to the side. "We've got all day to work on it. I'm curious about this, if you're up to sharing?"

He smiled. It was only a half smile but it was honestly the most genuine smile I had seen him make up to this point. Don't get me wrong, Nikki was always a happy person, he laughed and smiled a lot when we hung out. But something about this topic, and the relief on his face when he smiled, it wasn't hard to tell that talking about it was something he needed.

"He was a great detective. And a really cool guy. He had a bike that he had custom detailed and painted. It was a jade dragon. He pimped that bike out with everything. He dyed the leather a dark green, put jade details on the leather, chrome dragon scales. It was a beautiful bike. I named the gang Jade Riders because of his love for that bike. And I wanted to honor him by making one specific rule for the members; you had to finish high school."

He scoffed at himself. "I really wanted to drop out after I failed my senior year, but I knew it wouldn't look good if the commander didn't follow his own rule, so I continued."

"That's smart. Tell me more about your brother?" I asked. "How did he die?"

Nikki bit his lip before sighing, running a hand through his hair. He looked up at me, and I saw a darkness in his eyes that I hadn't seen before. "Do you care if the version of me that you see when I tell you about it is going to be completely different to the version you're used to seeing?"

"Its still you. Its still Nikki Cordano and no matter the version of him, I respect him."

He looked relieved. "Thank you." His shoulders relaxed. "My brother was working a case and he got caught up in some bad underground, elitist shit. He came home a lot completely beat up. Sometimes he would be bleeding really bad or have broken ribs, fingers. Ewan and I caught on pretty quick but when we asked him about it, he wouldn't say anything. Just asked us not to tell mom and dad. I don't know how he hid it from them so well." He shook his head.

"Anyway, Ewan and I are too stubborn to let it go at that. So we followed him one day. He was participating in an underground fight club. The people who were watching wore black tie clothes and masks, and they were bidding on my brother. I overheard one of them say he was the prize fighter, that normally they dump the others but they asked him to stay. It was sickening."

"Was he in need of money?" I asked.

"No. Apparently he was undercover."

"Did he die because he lost a fight?"

He hung his head. "It was my fault. I didn't understand the gravity of the situation. I blabbed to his superiors at the station. I guess there was a mole in that same district working for these elites. Word got out and my brother was questioned. Ewan and I followed him again that night, hoping something was going to change. Instead of fighting, he was taken to the ring in cuffs and questioned in front of all the spectators. Somehow he knew it was us...he confessed to being the leak without hesitation. We watched silently as he was shot in the head."

My skin shivered. Nikki still did not look up at me. That's a heavy burden to carry, I wanted to say. You didn't know. You couldn't have known. It's not your fault. I wanted to scream for him.

Instead, I reached out and took his hand. Knowing none of those things would help, I simply held his hand.

When he finally looked up at me, he looked more scared at seeing my reaction than anything. I offered him a smile. "I'm sorry, Nikki. I shouldn't have pried."

"You didn't pry. I've actually been wanting to tell you that for a while, I just didn't know how to casually bring up my dead brother into a conversation." He joked.

We both shared a laugh. It was relieving to hear his laugh after sharing such a heavy experience.

"I admire your reason for starting the gang. That's very sweet to want to honor him in such a way." I still held his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. I hoped it was giving him comfort. I desperately wanted him to be happy, and part of me wondered if I thought him as more than a friend.

"Actually," He said, "there's a little more I'd like to tell you."

"I'm all ears." I moved my hand, grabbing a pillow from his bed instead and hugging it like I normally did.

"The Jade Riders isn't just a gang of delinquents. My current team of district leaders, Ewan and I both hand picked. For the real reason behind starting the Jade Riders." He paused. "Ewan and I plan to take down the group that killed our brother. Finish what he started and fix what we messed up."

He was silent for a minute, giving me time to process what he just announced.

I gulped. "Why did you feel like you could tell me this?"

"Because you're someone I trust and I feel like you're someone who can be incredibly valuable to my goal. Though, I'm sorry, I know I look like a selfish asshole; kissing you and then asking you to put your life on the line."

"Kiss me? What, you haven't kissed me-" I was cut off when he shifted forward, placing his lips to mine. It was a short kiss, as he pulled back to look at me; probably hoping he didn't overstep.

I leaned into him, boldly going in for another kiss. His hand cupped my jaw as we sat in that moment. I savored the taste of his lips when, eventually, he pulled away.

"So, I have an opening for 1st District Captain. I really want you to take that position, Amaterasu." He said confidently.

"Honestly, Nikki, you could've gotten the same response without the kiss, but I definitely won't complain." He chuckled at my lighthearted response. "I'll gladly take that spot."

"There's a meeting tomorrow night, a few other captains will present their candidates and a vote will held with the whole gang present. I have your permission then, to be my candidate for 1st District Captain?" He asked.

I'm not sure why it was so easy to trust him. I'm not even sure why it was so easy to be friends with him. My heart was racing, sitting so close to him. Why did I want to say yes so badly? An undercover mission without training - any sane person would've turned tail and run.

Any yet, as I studied the gaze from his caramel brown eyes, it became clear to me that I was not a sane person. In that moment I wanted nothing more than to feel that rush from fighting. Maybe that's why I didn't mind when people picked a fight with me. Maybe that why I enjoyed the adrenaline from throwing a punch.

"Yes," I said. "I'd be honored."