Chapter 406: Ash Like Trouble
Flash had stood up without anyone noticing. The guy was massive, but he moved so fast it was almost unsettling. Right now, though, he didn’t care. He had something else in his head.
His hand was locked on the cracked edge of the table, staring at the space between Nash and Victoria like he was trying to blow it apart with his eyes.
"What the hell is this, exactly?" Flash asked, waving a vague hand toward them. "I’ve been watching you all night, and something’s off. A bodyguard doesn’t hold a hand like that. And the boss doesn’t say her word is his."
He shot a look at a random employee, hunting for backup.
"And this boss... she doesn’t let anyone call her by her first name. Not the VIPs. Not the nobodies. And sure as hell not some Sunday-shift bodyguard."
"You check the Monday ones too?" Nash said, without even bothering to turn all the way around.
Flash was wound tight as a piano wire, but the line came so far out of nowhere he almost laughed. It didn’t last. His face went cold again instantly.
"Maybe you get to be a clown on top of everything else, but just so you know, everybody calls her Ma’am. Guards. Assistants. Everybody. Except you. Curious for a regular employee."
Victoria let out a small laugh. She half-turned and set her hand on Nash’s arm on purpose.
"Your obsession is making you blind, Flash. We should classify it as doping with how much it sharpens your senses. But you’re not wrong. Nash isn’t my employee," she said, simply.
It might have been one sentence too many. Or not enough. Flash had just gotten it, and he still refused to admit it. The idea that Nash might have what he had never managed to get from Victoria — the thing that had turned him into some bitter traitor — sat there between them.
His eyes went back and forth between Victoria and Nash, like reality might change if he stared hard enough.
"No..." he murmured, more to himself than to them. "No. You’re fucking with me."
Then the mask cracked. All the arrogance he’d worn since the start of the night collapsed, and what was underneath was uglier. Raw jealousy.
"Do you even realize the mess you’re making?"
His voice actually started to shake. He looked at Victoria like he couldn’t believe she was real, hands moving, visibly pissed.
"All those fucking years you were a wall. A fortress. You didn’t clock anybody. Not even me. Every guy who tried to get within an inch of you, you put him back in his place with that attitude. That was your thing. We all knew it."
He stepped closer, frowning.
"And now, all of a sudden... you’re sleeping with this nobody from the Underground? Like that’s normal? What’s going on. Don’t jerk me around. Say it."
The air in the room went heavy. The kind of quiet where it could snap any second.
Nash didn’t move. He stayed planted, eyes on Flash.
Victoria said nothing. She just shifted her weight from one leg to the other. Small. Ready.
Beside them, Dahlia was holding her breath, eyes wide. She was already counting how many seconds she’d need if this turned into a fight.
Monique had gone completely still. She didn’t want to miss a second of the drama.
Even Lorenzo, who’d been playing dead until now, lifted his head. He felt the room change. He felt it get serious.
"Watch it," Nash said. His voice was low. Calm. Almost soft. That was what made it dangerous.
"Or what?" Flash spat, taking another step, unable to stop now that the anger was out. "You gonna pull an Hector on me? You think because this bitch is playing with you—"
"Language, Blondie," Nash cut in, still easy. "I already said that in my presence, you lower your eyes when you talk to her. So you’re going to lose the balls, gently, and we’re going to leave. Okay?"
They were face to face. Same height. Same build. Two huge egos that didn’t know what backing down meant.
Flash laughed.
"Serious?" he said, shaking his head. "You’re hitting me with a bad movie line? Who the hell are you to give me orders? I’m Flash Goldust. Nobody talks to me like that. Nobody."
"Nobody wiped your ass either, I’m guessing," Nash said, with a small smile. "That can be arranged."
"Go on," Flash said, fists clenched, his whole body leaning forward. "Try it."
"That’s enough."
The whole room held its breath at once.
Dahlia didn’t move. Her eyes went back and forth between Nash and Flash, waiting for one of them to twitch so the whole thing could explode.
Monique, on the other hand, was enjoying herself. She almost looked disappointed it might stop.
Nash and Flash kept staring, still. Two statues waiting for a spark.
Victoria walked forward slowly. The sound of her heels on the floor was brutal in the silence. She kept going until she was right between them. Close enough to Nash that her back almost brushed his chest. She became the only thing standing between the two men.
She looked up at Flash.
"Listen to me carefully," she said. "If you touch a single hair on his head, tonight or later, the deal with your boss is dead. Immediately. I don’t care what Lorenzo promised, or what you think you own. One wrong move, and I burn Apex down with you inside it."
Flash froze, still breathing hard, the rage hunting for a way out. It found an angle.
"That’s it," he said, with a twisted smile. "Protect him. Go ahead. Keep playing nanny for your little Underground dog." He pointed at Nash without even looking at him. "You know damn well he needs a woman to cover his ass. Look at him. He’s only standing because you’re there to pick up his crumbs."
Victoria looked confused for a second. She’d almost expected Nash to snap this time. Then Flash’s line made her realize how absurd the whole thing was.
Her? Protecting Nash? From what, exactly?
She had to fight not to laugh for real, because the joke was that she wasn’t protecting Nash. She was protecting Flash from the chaos Nash would have put in him.
Flash raised an eyebrow, thrown off by the look that had started as anger and now read like mockery. He crossed his arms and waited, a smug smile stuck to his mouth, like Victoria’s smile was just the predictable step before she admitted he was right.
"You know that’s not true," she said, straightening. "You saw it tonight. Same as everybody else."
"I saw a built guy who knows how to shove old weakened men," Flash shot back. "That doesn’t make him a genius, Victoria. That makes him a well-paid bouncer."
"What I saw," Nash cut in, "is that your bosses were only in this room tonight because of us. Them and you. So before you talk about who’s paid for what, maybe think about who actually has the power here."
Flash winked at him, almost amused by the nerve.
"Cute," he said. "You recite your lines well."
Victoria took one step forward. A smile stretched slowly across her face, already tasting what she was about to say.
With a guy like Flash, most words wouldn’t be enough. He was at the top of his world. Insults wouldn’t crack him.
That was why you always aimed at the weak point.
"You can believe whatever you want. You can even convince yourself I stepped in to protect him. The important part is that Nash has what you and Hector will never have, Flash."
"What?" Flash said, the smile still there, something tighter now behind the eyes. "What, exactly?"
"Guess," Victoria said, obvious pleasure in letting him stew.
"No," Flash spat, his voice jumping, all the fake calm gone. "Say it. Say it clearly, damn it."
His mouth said he didn’t know. His temper was already drowning in it. Victoria loved that.
"Then stop wasting time comparing," she said simply, never answering the question, her smile widening at the frustration on his face. "It’s over before it even started."
That was enough.
Victoria smiled and let Nash guide her toward the exit. As they passed, Nash put his hand on her hip, easy, like it belonged there.
Flash watched them leave, his mouth trembling a little. Then something else moved across his face.
He wasn’t the type to let anyone walk away with the last word. Least of all him.
"Hey," he called, almost casual. "You’re starting to really get on my nerves."
Nash kept walking.
"I’m going to remind you of your place, you little rat," Flash went on. "We both play Breakball, don’t we? Since everybody’s too scared to mess up their pretty faces, let’s settle it the old way. Blood Star invitation."
That made Nash slow down. He didn’t turn all the way. Just enough to show he’d heard.
Flash smiled wider, feeling the nerve.
"Try not to be garbage and actually get selected this year," he said. "Then we settle it for real." His eyes slid to Victoria. "I’m going to shut him down so hard no Upperworld team will ever want him again. He’ll rot down there, in the mud, exactly where he belongs."
Nash still didn’t turn.
Instead, his hand moved. He slid it slowly along Victoria’s hip, following the curve of her ass, then up again in a long, deliberately obscene caress. On purpose. To fuck with Flash.
"You’re finally starting to be honest," Nash said, far too calm. "Yeah. I’m good enough to get selected. Now let us enjoy our night. We’ve got things to celebrate."
He put his other hand on Dahlia’s shoulder, she’d stayed there, stressed by the air in the room, and the three of them walked through the door.
Flash stayed planted where he was, the smile vanishing from his mouth, bloodshot eyes locked entirely on Victoria’s ass getting invaded by a rat’s dirty hand.
She didn’t care, she didn’t even look back. Nash’s hand stayed exactly where it was, on her ass, until the door closed behind them.