Tanned Leather & White Lace [+18]

12

So, Vegas fucked up again. Choking.

He realized it while puffing on his third cigarette in the mansion's garden, his bike parked in the alley, helmet thrown carelessly beside him.

He just dropped off Pete in front of the first family building and after he made sure Pete was inside, he left, but decided to take a couple of detours on his way home to enjoy the fresh night air and the empty streets. That was the official reason.

The real reason? Giving himself the perfect amount of time to dodge any idea he would have to contemplate about the colossal screw-up he just pulled off and avoid thinking about what the hell he'd done tonight. Again.

He decided he would wait until he got home to face his completely dumb, reckless, and just plain stupid decision—the one made by his stupid brain and his stupid mouth acting faster than he could think—to work with the first family. And by extension, with their main bodyguard—yes, Pete.

His name was Pete Phongsakorn Saengtham, Vegas knew it now. The guy who had Vegas questioning every life choice he'd ever made since they started mingling limbs. And tongues. And body fluids.

The man, he's also, by the way, stupidly in love with. But that's just a detail.

Vegas, in all his infinite wisdom or lack thereof, figured he'd save the existential crisis for when he'll be sitting alone outside, in the dark, contemplating either or not he needed a brain transplant soon.

He wasn't in a hurry anyway; he had the whole weekend to ponder why on earth he'd willingly sabotage his own existence and perhaps contemplate upping the dosage on those stress-relieving meds.

Funny how just a few days ago, he wouldn't have even spared a second thought and would've happily lit that building, Daw, and everyone inside, on fire. Well, maybe not everyone—definitely not Pete, you know, because of that whole love thing.

But not tonight. Tonight, Vegas more or less managed to act like a responsible adult. Well, if he conveniently forgets about the threatening, the stripping, and, oh yeah, the whole groping of the main bodyguard of the first family underbelly part.

Was Vegas actually maturing? He wasn't entirely sure. But tonight, he didn't scream nearly as much as he would have just a little while ago. Bonus points: he refrained from killing anyone—which, honestly, he seriously considered when he faced Daw in that hallway, right after Pete had left.

Daw tried to justify himself, but Vegas just shoved that bottle of wine into his best friend's hands and made sure Daw understood that he didn't give a damn about this whole situation.

Obviously, that was a lie, but Vegas had bigger fish to fry—chasing after Pete being one of those fish.

Progress? Maybe. Love turning him into a wimp? Most probably.

Or maybe, just maybe, those meds were actually working, and Vegas will soon be able to be in the same room as Kinn without wanting to whack him with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire and dipped in the bubonic plague. Or perhaps, this was it—Vegas had finally lost it completely.

One thing was for sure: he should quit smoking. The only thing this addiction would bring him was lung cancer, throat cancer, or maybe even ball cancer, and Vegas wasn't ready to say goodbye to his family jewels just yet—even if tonight he clearly risked them.

What Vegas thought was him growing up, being the bigger man, all mature and shit, might've just been him turning into a wobbly and useless sea creature. Vegas in all likehood turned into a jellyfish.

But Vegas isn't a jellyfish. Vegas is a shark. No, actually, Vegas is more than a simple shark; he is a freaking tiger shark with killer teeth. Normally. But tonight? Tonight, Vegas lost his balls and his shark teeth; he totally chickened out in front of Daw and that pretty guy. Both of them—seriously making him doubt his own backbone as a mafia head.

For the first time in, like, forever, Vegas managed not to turn the situation into a scene from that movie where the guy decides to clean up the streets, delivering headshots like he's working for UPS because some idiots messed with his dog. Vegas actually enjoyed that movie Macau made him sit through, because "That dude's your spirit animal, bro!". Vegas always loved the idea of vengeance.