The Submissive Assassin (BxB)

Chapter 99 - "I'm not your boyfriend?"

"Of course I haven't, I'm not a monster. This is what I mean." He stormed to his feet, his palm on his forehead as he paced for a second before standing in front of Nate. "Being in this life changes you and it's not good. You start thinking these things are normal—murder is not normal. It's inhumane and vindictive; you're taking someone's son, father, husband, a life. If Dante hadn't taken you in, you would've never done anything like that." He paused for a second, his hands on his waist before he confidently confirmed, "I need to get out of here before I turn into that."

"I'm having fun," Nate rejected, waving his hand dismissively before taking the last shot from the liquor bottle. He needed to stop drinking for a little bit, hence he shuffled on the couch, laying on his side and let the alcohol sink into his body and feel every ounce of it. "I'm having more fun than I ever had in my life. Besides, being good doesn't bring you anything but misfortune."

"You keep believing that and it'll get you killed."

"I've already died once, Jules," Nate spat harshly. He stared at him coldly before he scoffed, "I can die again when the time comes."

Jules scoffed, sitting back down on the couch, using the tiny space in front of Nate. "That's depressing. Any more alcohol in there?"

"Grab whatever you'd like." At the same time, Jules reached in the backpack and grabbed another bottle of liquor, twisting the cap and taking a long sip that made him grimace. "You haven't left yet, I'm guessing you're not scared of Dante?"

"Dante's not coming." Nate raised his eyebrows, staring at Jules shrug his shoulders. "Why isn't he here by now?"

"He's caught up with something."

Jules rolled his eyes. "Dante's never caught up with anything. All he prioritizes is himself. All the Hercules are like that," Jules rambled on, memories of all of them replaying in his mind. "I don't know what their father has done to them but they're all vicious, self-centred monsters. Point is, if he wanted to be here, he would be here."

"How do you know them that much?"

"Know them?" Jules snorted, as if it was a stupid question that the answer was already in Nate's face. However, when only bemusement contorted Nate's visage, Jules also returned the confused look. "You don't know anything about Wolf's side and the Hercules?" When Nate slowly shook his head, Jules exhaled a long sigh.

That offended Nate who sat upwards, shoving Jules away from the couch. "I've only recently been included, by the way. Let's not act like I grew up in this the way that you did. And go sit over there, you're too close."

"Draco and Wolf teamed up for a mission once. They became very close friends, so our troops started hanging out a lot." That was when they had found peace between both sides, that there were no more boundary lines and they could be seen associated with one another anywhere on the grid. He genuinely enjoyed hanging around them; they had started to feel like brothers to him. "We sparred together, a lot. I used to beat up Reno and Bronsted all the time and Molly was still a kind of small back then. I got really close to Reno, very close that we basically lived together. We would hang around each other every single minute of everyday at one point."

He remembered how Reno would throw himself onto his back since Jules was a bit bigger than him, wrap his legs around Jules waist and grip around his neck into a headlock, acting as an assailant. Jules would start chuckling, stumbling towards the bed before letting himself fall on his back, ultimately landing on Reno. The giggling Reno would eventually released his grip, staring at Jules who twisted around, Reno's legs still wrapped around his waist. They'd both be laughing, their faces inches apart from one another, but it was only when their laughter diminished and their gazes met that Reno's body would completely stiffen and he'd released his grip. "You can't look at me that way."

"I soon got really attached to Tessa and my friendship with Reno fell apart." Jules took another sip of the liquor, which he convinced himself would be his last one. He seemed a bit uncomfortable, as if he had lost himself within his own world again while reiterating a story he hadn't mentioned in years. "Anyway, the Hercules and Wolf's side got into altercations and our connections fell apart. I wasn't allowed over there anymore and the Hercules were pulled out of school so I didn't see them at all. I only got close again with Tessa when high school started and she told me she left them."

Nate scoffed, not buying every factor of that story. "If you're that close to them, why did they torture you as if you didn't mean anything?"

"Because I didn't, not anymore at least. Besides, we were close a long time ago. Since then, we've had countless fights and killed each other's members various times." Jules shrugged his shoulders. "I even fought Reno and almost killed him. The only reason he didn't die was because I carried him to the hospital so he wouldn't bleed to death. So now, it's as if we were never close to each other and we've only ever been enemies."

"That's a pretty boring story, if you ask me." Jules' face quickly turned to eye Nate, curling his lip when he saw the lengthy smile on Nate's face, as if he was being mocked. "I don't care about them, especially Reno. I wanted to hear about Dante, not his brother nor his sister. It'd be nice if you had any stories about my boyfriend."

That made Jules cackle, to which Nate narrowed his eyes and spat, "What's so funny?"

"Dante doesn't have boyfriends. He has puppets or doormats, not boyfriends."

"So I'm a puppet?"

Jules shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, do you have sex with him?"

Nate swallowed hard, still keeping his gaze locked on Jules, even if his cheeks had started to warm up. "Y-Yes."

"Yes-man."

"I'm not a..." he was flustered, his breathing growing heavy. He tightened his lips into a line, glancing away for a second to maintain his composure. There was no reason to let Jules' opinion bother him, and Dante was going to show up, there was no way he would forget about him this quickly. "I'm not a fucking yes-man."

"What's the story behind how you met again?"

That made Nate's heart skip a beat and he snatched the bottle of liquor from Jules grip, taking a sip himself before glaring at him. "Fuck you." The longer they looked at each other, the more contagious Jules' smirk became, and Nate couldn't stop himself from turning with a smile before he began to chuckle. "You're right, what was I thinking; Dante doesn't know the meaning of love. I'm not his boyfriend and we're not dating—"

"While we're figuring out how to save our lives without having to go through a torture wheel, you're here getting drunk and laughing with someone who's supposed to be dead? And you boast that I'm not your boyfriend?"

They knew exactly whose voice it was that growled throughout the apartment and neither of them were prepared for the next series of event they were going to face.