Where We Left Off - Romeo Alexander Page 0,35

bitter.

“Because they can’t prove anything,” Tyler rebutted.

Shaking his head, Nathaniel did as he was bid, though he thought it was a futile effort. They had managed to find him despite the fact that he had genuinely believed no one had followed him to meet Tyler. They’d even put the room under Tyler’s name. Everything they could have done, save for fleeing the city, had been done to give them some privacy.

Sitting on the bed, away from the door, he sank down and waited for the inevitable.

Tyler

Doing his best not to let his frustration show, Tyler yanked his shirt from the ground, then decided at the last minute to leave it off. Who cared if he was seen without a shirt? He was in the room he had rented, he could have answered the door with his dick hanging out and the intruders would have just had to suck it up and deal with what they saw.

“There’s no one here but me,” Tyler growled at the door as he stomped toward it.

“We know Nathaniel is there. We’re just here to take him home. We don’t need any further trouble,” the gruff sounding man told him.

Tyler leaned forward, looking through the peephole. Two men, both in suits, stood on the other side of the door, looking impatient. He couldn’t see any identifying characteristics about them, but he supposed that didn’t matter. Private security wasn’t exactly going to announce themselves as such. The upside was, they didn’t have any jurisdiction in the hotel room either. Which meant they could say what they wanted but they couldn’t come in without his permission.

“Man,” Tyler huffed. “Just go away and let me rest. It’s been a long day.”

It was hard to tell, but he was pretty sure the gruff man rolled his eyes. “Just open the door and let us take Nathaniel home. Then we’ll be out of your hair.”

“Go away,” Tyler told them.

The other man straightened. “Look, we just want Nathaniel. After that, you’re free to go, my friend.”

“I’m not your friend, and you need to leave me alone,” Tyler shot back.

“We’re not going away until we have Nathaniel. His father’s orders were clear,” the gruff man snarled.

Annoyance won out over the little voice in his head, one that sounded much like Clay, warning him against opening the door to strangers. He shoved the bolt on the door to the side and gripped the handle. As he pulled on the door, it blew back toward him.

Taken off-guard, he felt his shoulder light with a sudden flare of pain and stumbled back. Catching himself on the wall, he almost tipped backward into the bathroom as he flailed for balance. It was all the time the two men needed to push their way into the room, and with a bright flash of fear, Tyler realized they were armed.

“What the hell is this?” Nate’s voice barked out, and stupidly, Tyler realized it was the first time he’d ever heard the man swear.

“You’re coming with us,” the gruff man told him as the other watched Tyler try to get to his feet.

“Stay down,” the other man told him, his mustache quivering from his sneer.

“You aren’t my father’s men,” Nate said. “Let go of me!”

“You’re coming with us, rich boy,” Gruff Man insisted.

Tyler was already taking to his feet, having finally found purchase on the carpet just outside of the bathroom. Mustache jerked when he saw Tyler coming, his hand going into his jacket.

Elliot’s words echoed in his head. “If your opponent has a gun, and you don’t. Make sure they never get the chance to use it. Break their wrist, smash their nose, anything to keep them from pulling it on you.”

Clay’s words came next. “And never let them get the chance to recover. Everything we’ve taught you and will teach you won’t matter for shit if you don’t do it right. Never let the enemy get the upper hand. Stay on top of them like your life depends on it, because it probably will.”

Tyler slammed into the man, hand wrapping around the wrist reaching into the coat. Mustache grunted as he hit the wall, head thumping hard off the solid plaster. Without thinking, Tyler shoved his forehead into the bridge of the man’s nose, his stomach churning at the crack and the sudden spray of blood against his face.

“What the fuck?” Gruff Man barked, and Tyler saw him whirling toward him.

Tyler twisted Mustache’s wrist, earning another cry from him, and spun him around. Still dazed and in pain,