Not exactly as Nick wanted

(A week later after white dress code party at Bugle summer getaway)

Nick sat back his brow furrowed in deep thought. It had been almost a week since he had met with the masked Kingpin. It had been hard not to find out the man’s true identity, though they both kept their masks on for plausible deniability. The deal they hammered out, the deal still being hammered out, was a bit over Nick’s ideal, but only by a bit. He would find the results of the final point soon, the point he hadn’t been willing to accept but was scared not to accept. He hated to admit it but he missed his bitch.

Nick could still recall the conversation he and MJ had had that night, the deal Kingpin had made, the threat and the promise. Nick had been told by Black Cat the Kingpin was always fair but ruthless as well. Good he was being a pussy.

MJ had grabbed his arm as he began to open his mouth to speak, to negotiate, he had been so good at reading people recently and thought he had read a tinge of space for negotiation with the big man in front of him, “Shut up Nick, we don’t have a choice. You know as well as I do he will destroy us, perhaps kill us if I don’t do this. Just stop any thought. I know you think you see an opening but trust me when I say he is letting you see that. Judging both of us right now.”

At that moment, Nick saw a single eyebrow of the Kingpin raise behind the needless but necessary masquerade mask. He knew at that moment, even before the man began to chuckle in deep full-bodied amusement, MJ was right. Sweat broke out on his back, his head went blank with fear as his potential **** flashed before his eyes. ‘Shit.’ Nick had never been so terrified before in his life.

With a single word Nick submitted to the counter offer, “Go!” It had been an order he had been loathe to give, but the big man had given his terms after hearing MJ and Nick’s offer. It wasn’t a negotiation; it was an inquiry. One the man had found acceptable with the addition of MJ sacrificing her mouth to him for a week.