19. Oliver

W hy were all my childhood friends so hot? Neco and Lance were the only ones from our original group that I hadn't experimented with sexually. Lance was complicated. He rocked that girl's entire world when we lost our virginity, but if he was dating a woman, he was doing it in secret. I heard all. I'd know about it. If he was dating a man, I'd know about it, too. Sometimes, he felt like Caitrin was encouraging him to be with me, but Lance always shut that down before it got interesting.

And then there was Neco. When he talked about swooping into the Trulos District and killing that menace it was totally swoon worthy. That should have scared me, but sometimes, I didn't have any sense.

"What nickname did they give me?"

He seemed really curious about his serial-killer name, but he also took offense at being lumped in with the other serial killer. I guess there was a difference? He called himself an assassin but didn't those people usually kill for money? Neco was doing it for free. Didn't that make him a serial killer? This was complicated.

"The Blight, but I don't know if they were talking about you or the other guy. Trevils asked about the Blight and mentioned your kills. I found out about the other guy after getting Lance's new spirit into Aimes."

Neco slammed his glass on the bar and I immediately poured him another whiskey. I figured if he got a little homicidal about his nickname, I could fight him off easier if he was a little lubricated.

"I can't decide if I like it or not. A blight would fuck up an entire realm, but it kills indiscriminately. I've got a fucking code. Should I try to correct this?"

Yeah, between Lance and Caitrin, the whiskey in the Whispering Raven would fuck you up fast. I didn't need Neco getting drunk and running his mouth about his serial killer nickname because I lied for him to Inspector Trevils.

"Maybe not, big guy. You're much scarier when you're an unknown menace creeping into merchant's houses and slitting their throats."

"Does everyone know?"

By everyone, I knew he meant Lance. Neco and Ronan had made their peace and Neco knew Ronan would keep his secret. Lance, even I wasn't sure about Lance. Lance and Neco used to be the closest out of all of us, but the hatred they held for each other now wasn't healthy.

"You could have asked directly, but no, he doesn't. He's not asking around, either. Lance was here when Aimes was talking about it. I don't know much about what you get up to when you leave Guttertown, but Beck said those girls are getting money and the men are ending up dead. That was enough for Beck and me and it's apparently enough for Lance. Lance agreed to protect you and doesn't want to know who is doing it. Ronan asked, but you know Ronan."

Ronan never repeated gossip, but he wanted all the tea. Since we couldn't afford books in Guttertown, we traded in tall tales, fables, and usually a lot of gossip. I heard a lot of it at the bar. I usually told it to my friends because Ronan wanted to hear it, but I also knew it would never leave the room.

"Hey, you really lied for me when you knew what I was doing?" Neco asked.

"Fuck, yes. You might have pulled away, but you'll always be one of us. I agree with what you're doing. Lance and Ronan do, too. The rest of Guttertown would as well. I'm working on something to get them to back up my lie so they don't come sniffing back here. That just leaves you being careful when you leave Guttertown."

"I always am."

"Yeah, but you've got competition now, and he's breaking your code. Don't do anything stupid."

"You know I'm above that."

I just grunted. Neco had always been a very serious, careful kid. He'd been intense even when we were six. Now that I knew more, I was pretty sure when he pulled away and said he needed to protect his family, he was learning to sneak around and kill people. Still, Neco could be unreasonable when he wanted to be.

"You aren't any time Lance walks into a room. You're basically messy as fuck around Lance."

"That's Lance's fault."

How to say this without getting punched in the face? Ronan was the least violent of us. He got you back in different, sneaky ways. Lance and Neco went straight for the face punch. It hurt when Lance did it, but Neco was a fucking giant. He'd lay me out and it would be embarrassing because half of Guttertown was here. And I was too pretty for him to maim my face.

I stepped back and put the bar between us. Fucker had a giant arm span, but hopefully he couldn't reach me back here. And Neco loved whiskey. Maybe he wouldn't risk spilling it to hit me.

"Lance makes you messy and you make Lance messy. You should just settle it with fists or hate fucking each other so we can all move on."

Neco looked horrified and was he blushing? I mean, I was pretty sure everyone wanted to fuck Lance. He was pretty androgynous and had both men and women flirting with him. Everyone in the tavern had asked me how to get in his pants more than once.

Problem was, if I knew that answer, I would have already gotten there myself.

"Lance is an Argent."

"Yeah."

"I'm an Argent. We could be half-brothers. A lot of shit flies in Guttertown, but not that."

"Ah, fuck. That was gross. I hadn't even thought about that. Lance looks like Caitrin and you look like a giant, masculine version of Theda. I don't even think about your fathers."

"I try not to think about him, either. He never laid a hand to Momma or Rowena, but he still hurt them. He broke my code and I can't kill him. It pisses me off and I'm not nice to be around when I'm mad."

"Maybe be mad at your father and find your way towards forgiving Lance? You could be half-brothers."

Neco completely shut down. He did that sometimes. He was done. Neco drained his whiskey and stormed out of the tavern.

He wasn't any closer to forgiving Lance, but he didn't hit me and no one died, so I considered the conversation a success.