Thick As Blood - Nestor Oceteva

2. Horizons

I quickly showered and packed a small suitcase of clothes while the unwanted guests snooped around my living room. I grabbed a plain black dress and laid it on top of everything to avoid crinkling it. I rang the gym manager and told him he would be in charge until I was back which he was happy to do. Wallet, keys, ID. Check. I rattled my keys nervously and made my way to my garage. Nestor silently picked up my suitcase and followed behind me with Miguel and Marcus trailing behind him.

"What's the address?" I asked Miguel as I had Apple Maps ready to enter it.

"Nestor will accompany you." He nodded at his man who nodded back.

"Ah, how about you just give me the address and I will accompany myself." I tried to be polite, really I did.

"Lily, I don't trust that you won't try to run."

I crossed my arms because he was right, that was exactly what I was planning. I huffed in annoyance and threw the keys at Nestor, not to him, at him. I scrunched my nose at him when he caught them easily with a cheeky smile. Wow, asshole. I slid into the passenger seat, slammed the door shut and flicked Miguel the bird through the open window.

"Nice ride."

Well this wasn't awkward at all. I looked at the man who had slid gracefully into my baby's driver seat. He had put on a pair of yellow aviators and had his black hair on two Dutch braids just past his shoulders.

"Thanks. Don't fuck her up or you are a dead man."

He just looked at me from the corner of his eyes. I don't think he took my threat seriously but I loved my 2020 V8 GT Fastback. Very few things brought me joy anymore but this was one.

"Why haven't I heard of you?"

"Wow. Really just going to dive right in there? Rip the bandaid off. At least buy me dinner first Nessy-boo."

"Don't call me that. Ever."

This was going to be a long drive if he didn't have any sense of humour. We drove through the streets in an awkward silence before he pulled into a roadside diner.

"Come on then." He said as he got out.

I followed him from the car and he got us a table. There wasn't even a menu in this place, the only option was burger and fries. I guess I'll have a burger and fries.

"What are we doing here Nestor?"

"I'm buying you dinner. Then you can tell me why I haven't heard of you."

"Fucking hell. Are you like on the spectrum?"

"What? No, what are you on about?"

"Sorry, you just took things very literally. I thought, good for Miguel, employing people with disabilities is commendable."

The man looked at me with disbelief as the waitress put our plates down on the table. I couldn't help but laugh at his face and he finally realised I was just kidding. Laughing along he threw a fry at me and I caught it with my mouth and smirked at him.

"You know throwing me food is like a reward. It's not going to encourage me to stop."

"You know, Mikey used to be like you are now. He was funny too, always joking around."

I took a bite out of the burger and pondered that statement. I never knew a joking or funny Miguel. Guess it was only with people he liked. He was gone most of my childhood then I was sent to London.

"Yeah, I guess his line of work sucks the fun out of everything. How long have you known him?"

"He was friends with my older brother in high school and when he died we just ended up hanging out. Known him almost 20 years now. Which is why I can't work you out."

"I must have been about 5 when you two met. I was raised down in Hermosillo away from everyone. Jose would visit every now and again, sometimes Dita and Miguel would come too. Then they shipped me off to the UK at ten. I just came back stateside a year ago and set up the gym."

"That still doesn't answer why I never heard of you."

"Well, shit Nestor." I tossed the fry I was about to eat back on the plate. "When you find out be sure to let me know." I stood up and threw more than enough bills on the table before hopping in my car. The passenger door opened and Nestor jumped in quickly.

"Scared I was going to take off without you?"

"Yes."

I just shrugged, I wasn't going to ditch the man on the side of the road. I might change my mind if he pisses me off but not right now. I chucked the car in reverse and spun out of the empty lot and flew onto the highway heading south.

The man beside me was silent as we drove and it annoyed me. I tossed my phone to his lap and told him to choose some music. I did not do well with silence, I needed external noise to drown out the internal one. He scrolled through the extensive list of albums and finally settled on a song.

"If it takes you that long to choose the next song, I'll toss you out while I'm going 70 miles an hour. I swear to god. I might even speed up to 100."

"You know, you can tell a lot from people's music. You are kind of a psycho."

"Says the man that chose 'Walk with me in Hell'?" I retorted.

"I never said I wasn't a psycho."

I laughed at him them and turned the metal music up louder. If he worked as my brother head of security he had to be a touch crazy as a minimum job requirement. At least the man made a good music choice, maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad after all.