Vegas and Pete: the series

In the Shadows we Hide

POV Porsche

I stare down at the photo of my family in my hand. The beat of distant music hums through the floor, but tonight I'm not here to party.

I'd had no other choice, no one else I thought I could trust. My lips curl ruefully at the notion. The person who had once betrayed me the most was now my only option. I couldn't go to Kinn, or anyone else around him. They were all loyal to the main family.

Vegas was all I had.

I'd managed to contact him and convince him of my sincerity at wanting to meet and it not being a trap. It hadn't been easy, but I had something, someone, that he wanted.

Pete, that was all he had asked for, just the chance to meet him. At first I said no. I wasn't an idiot. I knew it was Vegas who had hurt him and held him captive. But I also knew that Pete had lied to me, to Kinn even. He'd begged me not to question him anymore, and I hadn't, but that doesn't mean I wasn't watching him.

He hadn't been the same since he'd come back. At first you could write it off as having gone through trauma, staring into space or jolting when someone touched him. But I had seen him that night after he'd gotten back. I had meant to go up to Kinn's room to tell him what I thought really happened to Pete. Then I heard the door to our room open and Pete stepped out into the hallway. He headed toward the cafeteria and I followed him.

He had seemed alright until he'd sat down to his meal. My heart hurt just watching him. I knew that feeling. I'd stared into that mirror in the bathroom with emotions much like it. I couldn't begin to fathom what had gone on between Pete and Veagas for him to be so wrecked by it, not in that way.

He was able to fake it, most of the time, while he was around Tankhun, Arm, and Pol. But the moment he entered our room his face always fell. He was smoking more and refusing to drink. Even now, here at the welcome back party that Tankhun was throwing for him, I'd only seen him lift his glass when forced and he only drank a sip.

I needed Vegas's help, and some part of me knew that Pete needed to see Vegas. Whatever had happened it was tearing him apart and the longer he went on faking it the more it hurt to watch.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I know that Vegas has arrived. I give one last look to Pete as he stands next to Tankhun staring into this glass. Although he's surrounded by people, he looks lonely and lost. I check to make sure no one's paying too much attention to me and I slip into the back area. I see Vegas, lurking like a shadow in an open doorway. He steps out of it when he sees me and I punch him in the face, twice.

POV Vegas

"I brought him here. The rest is on you." Porsche tells me. "But if you ever do anything to him. You and me, we'll meet again." Porsche stares me down with a deadly warning that I know isn't an idle threat. Then he turns to leave. I watch him go. Then I move to lean my back against the wall. Damn. I flex my jaw that's throbbing from Porsche's punches. In truth the bastard had gone easy on me. I'd expected far worse.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, leaning my head back against the wall. In my mind's eye I recall the photo of the woman, Porsche's mom, as it rests on a shelf in my fathers office. I could see why he'd come to me.

I shelve the thought for now and rub my sore jaw one more time before pushing off the wall and following him down the darkened hallway. I watch the party from afar and see Pete leaning up against the bar. He barely moves except to pull up his smile mask for Tankhun when he looks at him. I want to take him out of there, but there wasn't anything I could do.

So I stand in the shadows waiting. It takes about another twenty minutes before Pete finally moves. He turns slightly to say something to Porsche, who nods, and then Pete heads for the door that leads out to the covered alley behind the shop.