Golden Nightingale (KinnPorsche/MileApo)

Chapter 7: Hushed Hurricane

How incredibly gross and cute. His inner demon just shuddered at the sap he'd become with his thinking and the rest of him just beat it to death with a bat. Kinn appreciated the back-up power of himself to shut down any negativity that wanted to attach itself. It sounded too much like his father for his comfort.

"We were thinking that we can expand into this route seeing as a lot of truck lines come directly from the shipping yards and..." the voice of a monotone man making his presentation lulled into Kinn's senses for all of two seconds and drifted back out.

His mind wanted to remain in the pleasant warmth that was Apo. Everything else was trash.

The other hadn't been adamant in fighting back against the living arrangements and Kinn presumed the silence meant the other was fine with it. He was relieved. As much as he had pulled the other into his midst via the original agreement and his own normal pillage and plunder mentality, this was different. This was them moving forward in a direction that both elated and terrified him.

This was Kinn opening his heart again.

Tentatively, hesitantly, and he was afraid that a misstep or miscalculation on his part would result in devastation for both of them. Tankhun had told him that he should show Apo the other side of himself. Full disclosure.

No sugar-coating a reality that violence and Kinn went hand in hand. His hand pressed harder against the soft coat of the cat that continued to purr, nuzzle against his stomach with his nose and brought a tiny hum from Kinn as well. Like owner, like pet. They seemed to just know when tension trickled into his body, pressed into the blood of his veins to bulge them out with displeasure, and refocused momentarily when all eyes in the room were on him.

His thoughts interrupted. Tautness all over his facial bones as he straightened his shoulders, "What?"

"Khun Kinn, we were asking if the updates were sufficient and if we can go ahead with the plans?"

"The shipping yards route? I need to confirm it doesn't fall into minor family territory first."

"I think we should've invited Khun Vegas then if we needed to confirm with him—" the sentence cut off abruptly by Kinn's gun hand reaching right to the butt of his pistol, pulled out with a quick swing and pop in the direction of the man who dared to speak, shot the mug of coffee directly in front of him. The liquid ran hot as it dripped into the papers, the man's lap, and the startled eyes flashed in his direction, "K-Khun K-Kinn?!"

Kinn just kept the gun trained to the spot. Noticing that his lap was empty as SourCream Lobster had hopped out of it, scurried away to hide after hearing the sound, and everyone's shouting, "You've upset my cat with what you just said. Want to run that idea by me again?"

"N-No K-Khun K-Kinn...you're right...y-you confirm on your time and convenience..." The man was shivering like a leaf in his seat, hands disappeared as if to be placed in the lap and Kinn's brow raised lightly, "My apologies s-sir..."

The mafia head just tilted his head to the side, "Clean the mess you made," he snapped his hand and one of the guards moved to grab a nearby bin and offered gloves before Kinn shook his head, "Just as is. You get cut, remember to never disrespect me again. Be glad I'm in a good mood that I used the mug and not your hands for target practice." He slapped the weapon down onto the table, gathered to his feet and placed his hands in his pockets. Kinn's gaze traced around the room to see the attentive eyes of a variety of individuals that respected him (for the most part) and feared him for the rest. Perfect. Though a part of him hesitated. If Apo were to be in the folds of his arms and grasp, he would be exposed to this.

The innocence that danced against the actor's features while they stood out on the balcony and overlooked the sunset colors of the cityscape below, the smile on Apo's face when he won a game of foosball with Tankhun or told him about the latest event sponsor who reached out to him to film an advertisement or commercial.