Tyler's POV:
I kept wondering how Angel is alive. Didn't Nino bury him or something like that? Although I didn't exactly kill him with my own hands, Nino is the type of person who isn't afraid of getting his hands dirty.
And not only that. Nino isn't answering his phone. Did something happen to him? But what could happen to him? Angel was far smaller than Nino, while Nino was a boxer and a fighter.
I kept pacing in the living room, making noises that would make anyone crazy just from listening to them.
I went to call Nino again but his phone was silent.
I decided to go to his place and maybe find a clue about what happened. I went to put on my jacket and went outside. I walked to my motorcycle that vibrated underneath me.
I drove for nearly forty minutes. Nino's neighborhood was nearly empty and I went to open his door. Nobody would question since I came here all the time and everyone knows I'm his best friend.
The house was silent and empty. The house usually gives off a homey feeling, but since there was no one there, it only revealed an empty, dark vibe like an absentee house.
I walked around the house and lifted my fingers, touching the tables, walls, and papers, anything that would tell me what's going on.
When I walked further down the house, a bright light flickered across the dark ground like a lamp lighting up a dark road.
My heart started to pound. Don't tell me he's here?
I pushed the chairs and tables blocking me aside and pushed the half-open doors leading to the hall open, and headed down the basement where Nino would stay sometimes.
Nino lives in a big house where he has a basement where he can practice boxing sometimes. He taught himself how to box so nobody would bully him or mess with him in any way.
When I pushed the last door leading to the basement room, a man was lying on a large black bed. The bed was nearly messy with a blanket spread out.
Nino was lying on the bed sleeping with no shirt on and a blanket covering his legs and his private parts.
My chest felt relieved knowing he's safe, then a deep, slow anger burned within me. Before I knew it, I stormed across the room and pulled the blanket from the corner.
"Hey, lazy ass. I've been calling you over and over, you don't have the decency to check your phone?!"
My booming angry voice woke the man up straight from his dreamland, and he jumped up from the bed with his fist curled out like he was about to throw a punch. I dodge the throw heading in my head when I feel a breeze against my cheeks.
"Tyler, that's you? The hell. Why are you yelling like you?!"
I glared at the asshole who had the nerve to get angry at me. "Sorry asshole. I was worried sick about you thinking something had happened to you. I thought Angel killed you and buried you somewhere."
Nino sighed with a tired face, and he pushed back his messy hair. "No, don't worry. I'm still alive, fucker. And Angel is still alive. Wait?—"
Nino arched his brow. "How did you know Angel was still alive? Did he approach you or something?
I forced a smile on my face and nodded. "Yeah, somehow he got into my house and wrote some bullshit in my bathroom mirror saying about being pissed and stuff. Just typical stuff dating with a psycho."
Nino curled his lips into a faint smile and laughed when he heard that. "Man, sounds like a real psycho case."
I narrowed my eyes at him, "How did you let him escape?"
Nino had an embarrassed expression on his face. "Okay, okay. You see I thought he was passed out in the trunk. I mean, I tied his hands and legs up and everything, but somehow he was able to free his hands when I was driving. He ripped a torn metal from the car and used it to stab me in the stomach."
My eyes nearly dilated in shock. The horror of his face made me feel horrified and sick. I looked down at his stomach but his black shirt was covering his upper body.
"Let me see."
Nino sighed like he didn't have a choice and removed his shirt. I released a sharp gasp when I saw a bloody red bruise spread from his lower stomach to his chest.
I asked, "Damn, that must hurt like a son of a bitch."
Nino grimaced when he touched his wounds. "Yeah, right now, I can't do anything. That son of a bitch hit me real hard when I wasn't paying attention."
Nino turned around and walked toward the bed at a slow pace. His back was stiff and straight as he lay down in bed to lie against the pillow behind him.
"Is there anything you want me to do?"
Nino turned to me with a faint smirk, "Yeah, buy a big jar of Hershey bars."
I chuckled and promised to do that. Now knowing he's alive, I'm relieved. I told him to go to the hospital later to get it checked out to make sure he doesn't have any broken ribs or anything like that.
I turned around, planning to leave, but Nino tugged my wrist, surprising me with his strength. I looked at him with an arched brow. "What? Don't tell me you want me to buy you a chocolate with that? You know you will get fat with that."
Nino held a somber look of seriousness on his face with no hint of joking aside. "If you meet him again, keep your guard on. He's not someone with an ordinary mind. He's someone with a dark mind and a thirst for cruelty and savagery. I don't care how pretty he is or how young he looks, but if he puts you in harm in any sort of way, you will need to kill him. Someone who can bite someone's ears off or do this—"
Pointing at his red and purplish bruises beneath his blanket. He continued with his serious voice.
"Is a real psycho. That young boy isn't someone who hesitates to show weakness and neither should you, or it will be your head on the block."
I flicked the man's head like he was an idiot. Well, sorta he was. "I know. Do you think I don't know that? Just because I never killed someone doesn't mean I can't. I know he's not a normal person so I will be careful."
Nino nodded as he pushed me away. "Alright, get out of here, ugly brat. I can't stand your ugly face, you're making me miss my beauty sleep."
I chuckled and walked away.