Wines And Guns

62.

"Hey Pete"

"Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

Vegas and him were barely speaking to eachother after their argument. There was no more voice raising or argument but just silence. It was only him and Macau in the hall after Vegas had gone to rest for sometime due to a headache.

"I am. Why do you ask?"

"Common! I live in the same house as the two of you. I hear things you know".

Well that could be a bit concerning considering how much he could actually hear.

"I'm fine. And so is Vegas I believe... I'm sure he'll eventually come around".

"Yeah. He overreacts in certain situations. Kinda a learnt habit".

Even though he directly didn't say it, it was obvious that he was referring to his dead father. Pete was a bit taken aback. He had discussed and processed that with Vegas a few times but never talked with Macau about it.

"Sorry man. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable".

"No no. It's fine."

"Growing up Vegas mostly had to take all the beatings from our father. He did his best to shield me from it."

"He loves you a lot."

"I knew my father was crazy even though everybody tried to overlook it. I know he despised me so I kind of just stayed out of his sight most of the time. I didn't really care about him. His anger, his disappointment or anything. Vegas cared a lot. And he suffered a lot because of it."

Pete didn't know what to say. A sense of sorrow filled his heart whenever he thought about it.

"I know Vegas is very expressive about his emotions at time... You on the other hand...

"Yeah I don't speak a lot about it. Vegas already has enough trouble I believe. Plus I don't really care about all this. I'm happy as long as I'm here with both of you".

One thing Pete had observed working with the Main Family and staying with both Vegas and Macau was that everyone from the family could easily say the most brutal things with a plain or smiling face. Tankhun was the most expressive one perhaps.

He went out for Main Family compund again in the evening. He just casually mentioned it to Vegas before leaving.

Everything was still very quiet. Very few guards were on view although he was sure the surveillance was stronger than ever. What shocked him the most however was when he saw a thin boy standing in one of the corridors looking through his phone. He knew who the guy was. One of the escorts Kinn used to sleep with in the past. He had worked there for years and almost recognised every new guest Kinn had before getting together with Porsche. This guy used to be a regular until one day he stopped coming. It was strange seeing him after all these years. He wondered if Kinn had called the guy.

*

Kinn couldn't believe what he had done himself. He stared on the tiny empty bottle and the used syringe on the floor. An envelope was scattered carelessly on the bed which contained more such syringes and tiny bottles. After all these years he had betrayed himself. He had relapsed.

He had been inside his room since last night with a strict order to not disturb him. His head felt heavy and eyes burnt. He had spent hours just sleeping. He had ignored the shocked look by the staff when he had opened the door a few hours ago to hand them a packet of money to pay the escort who had supplied him with the drugs and immediately locked the door again. The drug wasn't anything too strong yet it was crushing him. But despite the horrible after effects
he couldn't get the scenes out of his mind right after he had injected the drug. The lights seemed to be brighter. He didn't lose his balance even though he was too tipsy. He didn't feel any sudden happiness but perhaps he hallucinated Porsche's voice. That was enough for him. It had felt too real.