Lick Me Up If You Can Novel (Completed) - Chapter 178

“Really?”

“Wow, that’s super hot.”

Someone mumbled blankly, imagining Koi soaked in their mind. Nelson’s face twisted in anger at her ecstatic expression. It was absurd that a girl he secretly liked would fall for such a pathetic loser.

“Let’s see if you still say that when I beat the crap out of him.”

Then another guy laughed obsequiously, trying to appease him.

“Of course, who could beat Nelson?”

“Right, Nelson is the best. Cheers!”

Nelson felt a little better watching the guys shout and drink. He pulled out drugs from his pocket and poured them onto the table, and everyone cheered. As he watched them snort powder here and there with satisfaction, a staff member from the club approached him.

“Um, just a moment…”

Kii-ii, the rusty back door groaned as it opened. Stepping outside, a cool breeze, different from the stale air inside the club, brushed against his cheeks. Nelson walked out into the club’s dimly lit back alley, which smelled faintly of urine, and looked around. Soon, a man of immense height, wearing a coat over his suit, came into his view.

A Bentley stood a few steps behind the man.

Nelson blinked several times in disbelief, startled by the incredible situation, but nothing changed. Identifying the man’s identity by the dim light illuminating the club’s back door, Nelson found his entire body frozen without realizing it.

“Ash, Ashley?”

He mumbled in an unsure voice, but the other person did not answer. Was there even a need to confirm? Nelson certainly wasn’t hallucinating.

“You’re the one who wanted to meet me? Why, why?”

His trembling voice reached his ears, but it was already too late. At the frightened sound that flowed from his vocal cords, Ashley finally spoke.

“You wouldn’t know the reason.”

“What?”

Nelson, who had been frowning, suddenly realized.

“No way, you… are you doing this because of that pathetic loser?”

It was difficult to discern Ashley’s expression, which was shrouded in darkness. But his silence was ominous. Nelson, though wary, found it absurd.

“Hey, is this for real? Someone as busy as you came all the way here because of that guy? What the hell are you two? It was already ridiculous that you hung out with that loser in high school, but it turns out you actually have something in common with a loser like that? You’re a loser and a pathetic guy too.”

As he spoke, the words flowed out freely. Ashley said nothing to Nelson, who even clutched his stomach and laughed. Only after Nelson finally stopped laughing did he speak.

“You’re still trash.”

“What did you say?”

His voice, laced with sarcasm, was full of contempt and ridicule. It was just one word, but it was enough to ignite a fire within Nelson. Moreover, the drugs were still coursing through his body. That instilled an absurd courage in Nelson. Nelson lunged at Ashley with an expletive. And he threw a punch at the man, who was much larger than himself.

Thud, a dull sound echoed. Ashley’s body swayed, and a look of pleasure spread across Nelson’s face. The satisfaction of landing a punch squarely on the man’s jaw filled his entire body with confidence. No matter how big someone was, it had nothing to do with a real fight. A mere lawyer, who clearly only built muscles at the gym, couldn’t possibly fight.

His thoughts were accurate. Ashley, after taking just one hit, stepped back, then turned and began to walk away. See, I told you, guys like that are all talk. Once he was convinced of that, he had nothing more to fear.

“You motherfucker, see? How dare you defy me? Guys like you are finished with one punch from me. Don’t go home and cry, you coward. Tell that idiot Connor Niles to come here tomorrow and beg me. Otherwise, you and that bastard will both get beaten to a pulp by me, you losers!”

Ashley, ignoring Nelson who was still yelling and cursing, walked and took out a smart key from his coat pocket and pressed it. Simultaneously, with a monotonous beep, the Bentley’s trunk opened. Nelson’s curses, which had been loud until then, subsided as he watched Ashley take something out of the trunk. What Ashley took out was an ice hockey stick.

“Wh-what, you?”

He stammered in surprise. Ignoring his reaction, Ashley, holding the ice hockey stick in one hand, resumed walking. Watching his massive shadow approach step by step, Nelson froze, unable to run away. Ashley stopped just a couple of steps away and spoke.

“From now on, it’s self-defense.”

It was then that Nelson realized why such a successful, high-class man drove a van instead of a sedan.

Thwack, a chilling sound echoed in the alley, and Nelson screamed.

As soon as he heard the elevator stop, Koi eagerly moved towards the sound. He had been cooped up in the house all day. He didn’t want to cause any more worry, so Koi decided to do that, but even if he had wanted to disobey Ashley, it wouldn’t have been easy.

Since he had unexpectedly ended up here, Koi only had the clothes he was wearing at the time, and even those were torn and unwearable from fighting with Nelson. His plan to go out and buy clothes the next day was also impossible because when he woke up, Ashley had already thrown them away. He had no choice but to borrow a white shirt until Ashley returned from work, but his exposed lower body was quite uncomfortable. Koi, grateful to Ashley who had promised to buy him clothes and happily went to meet him, opened his eyes wide in surprise when the elevator doors opened and he saw Ashley’s face.

“Koi.”

Ashley smiled at him, but the bright smile vanished from Koi’s face, replaced by a look of clear bewilderment.

“What happened?”

Seeing the red mark on Ashley’s jaw, who had arrived later than the previous day, he quickly turned pale and asked. He thought Ashley was late because he was buying clothes for Koi, but there must have been another reason. With a deathly pale face, Ashley lowered the arm he had intended to embrace Koi with, walked forward, and changed the subject first.

“How was your day? Nothing happened, right?”

“Uh… yeah.”

Koi nodded, but deep down, he was far more eager to know what had happened to Ashley than to recount his own boring day. A smile naturally came to Ashley’s face, finding Koi cute as he followed behind with a serious expression, but Ashley feigned ignorance and asked,

“The potted plant?”

“Oh, yeah. I put it by the window.”

The day before, Ashley had given him a small potted plant as a gift. It seemed he remembered Koi mentioning that he had given his plants to Ariel because of unintentional accidents that kept happening when he tried to grow them. Koi was happy but also felt uneasy, hesitating to accept it.

This one will be fine, it doesn’t flower.

Only then did Koi feel relieved and accept the potted plant, which had nothing growing in it yet. He didn’t forget to thank Ashley.

Thanks to that, he spent the entire day tending to the plant and cleaning the house. Ashley told him to leave it alone as the house manager would come, but he couldn’t. He felt he had to do something since he was being taken care of.

However, Ashley, upon seeing the clean house, frowned rather than showing pleasure and said,

“Didn’t I tell you not to do things like this?”

“Uh, yeah. But… I wasn’t doing anything anyway…”

Koi thought Ashley would be happy, but when his reaction was different, he quickly became disheartened. Of course, it was enough for Ashley that Koi had done something for him. But if he praised him now, Koi would be so excited that he would work himself to the bone, polishing the entire house. Ashley was happier if Koi did nothing and just lay still, resting.

I need to find him something to do.

That was the only way both would be satisfied. Ashley walked towards the dressing room and held out the shopping bags he had brought to Koi.

“Clothes. Try them on.”

“Oh, thanks.”

His expression immediately brightened at the thought of putting something on his bare lower body. Ashley smiled, patted Koi’s head, and then went inside. Koi quickly went into a nearby empty room and took out the clothes from the shopping bag.

“…Huh?”

His smiling face changed to one of bewilderment as he saw the clothes.