C o l e

I was feeling many things right now. Confusion, embarrassment, nervousness, etc but most importantly, pain.

Sure I've been shot before but those bullets grazed me rather than actually hitting me. When that bullet hit my back, it felt like my soul left my body and I collapsed to the ground in pain.

It hurt like a bitch.

But now, the pain from the shot isn't the only thing that's been occupying my mind.

Eros telling me that he...liked me was something I never would have thought would come from him. He was unpredictable on a regular basis but right there and then, I felt like I truly didn't know who I was talking to.

Thinking about all those things he said about me made me get that foreign but now familiar ticklish feeling inside my stomach again and I wanted to punch my gut to make it stop but that would just add more pain that I didn't need.

I still couldn't understand it, or wrap my head around the fact that someone could actually have feelings for me. I have the personality of a rock, boring and uninteresting. My entire life I've lived as someone I'm not and while I didn't adapt Noel's personality, I never had time to gain one of my own.

Even now I still find it hard to express myself in ways that would help others define me as me.

Sighing, I decided to get out of my room and into the kitchen for something sweet to calm my nerves. I was by myself today since Eros and Mikhail had gone out to check out the new base house location.

Grabbing my something sweet, a cup of banana pudding, I sat on the couch and enjoyed it in silence. Nothing like a sweet treat to take my mind off of the pain that was throbbing in my back.

Though my silence was short lived when three raps on the door made me pause.

Harvey and Jamie did tend to come over but it was currently only nine in the morning and that's far too early for either of them. Getting up, I put my pudding on the table and headed over to the small intercom. Pressing the button, I saw a man that I'd never seen before waiting outside the door.

Who is that?

I was someone who believed heavily in stranger danger so I debated on whether or not I should say something. I watched as the man knocked again, waiting for an answer but when it didn't come, I noticed he started putting the pin in to the door.

What the fuck?

I ran and jumped behind the couch just as the door opened.

How the hell does this guy know the password to our door? Who the hell is he?

I heard the door closing and then footsteps walking towards my direction. They stopped when they were just in front of the couch.

"Pudding?" I heard the man mutter.

Deciding that now was the time to act, I jumped up from my spot and tackled the man, pinning him down in a matter of seconds. He looked at me in surprise but I just kept my glare on him.

"Who are you?" I questioned and the man's face went from shock to anger.

"Who am I? Who the fuck are you, you son of a bitch!" He said and struggled to get out of my grip. I tried to hold on as best as I could but the pain in my back was starting to bother me the more I strained.

"Wait a minute..." the man stopped and he took a good look at my face, which made me furrow my brow.

"You...!" His eyes widened and before I knew it, the guy managed to knock me off and I wheezed when I landed on my back.

I didn't have time to worry about the pain in my back when the man's boot was coming down on me so I rolled out of the way before scrambling to get up and backing away.

"You're that bastard's kid! How the fuck did you get in here you piece of shit?!" The man yelled at me as he threw punches and I found myself struggling to keep up with the nagging pain in my back.

Why is it that even when we're miles apart from each other, Noel always seems to cause me some kind of trouble?

"You've got the wrong guy" I started and the man scoffed.

"Like hell I do! You and that man...you killed my brother!" He screamed before charging at me and I just barely managed to dodge him. Thinking quickly, I stepped back and managed to get my foot in the small empty metal garbage pail that was in the kitchen.

I lifted my leg and kicked the man across the face, the sound of his face colliding with the metal pail ringing throughout the room. He staggered and I kicked the pail off of me before lifting my leg and dealing another blow to the guy's side. He went flying on to the kitchen table but still managed to bounce back like it was nothing.

Suddenly, he charged at me and this time, managed to make both of us fall to the floor, my back crying out as the wound was directly pressed on.

"Fuck..." I coughed. Suddenly, my air was being cut off as the man topped me and started to strangle me. The constricting feeling of my airway being cut off was horrible and I used my hand to feel around for something, anything that would possibly get this guy off of me.

My hand came in contact with one of the curtains from the window and I pulled on it, the cloth draping us and surprising the man enough that I could push him off.

I managed to get out from under the curtain and quickly grabbed it and wrapped the man's head around it before smashing his head into the wall. I repeated it two more times until he finally went unconscious and I fell to the ground in relief.

I need a fucking vacation.

After catching my own breath, I unwrapped the curtain off the man's head and checked his pulse.

Luckily, he was still alive.

I got up shakily and made my way to my room where my phone remained on the charger. Sending a text to Eros to get his ass over here, I dropped the phone on the floor and went back in to the living room.

I walked back over to my pudding that was still waiting for me to finish it and grabbed it before sitting on the couch.

I'd wait for Eros to come home and deal with whoever that is.

It didn't take him long, probably a few minutes and I had already finished my pudding by the time he got here.

"God, Cole, what the fuck happened?!" Eros said as he rushed to me and looking over me. I jabbed my thumb to the unconscious man on the floor who Mikhail was walking towards.

"Holy shit, it's Caleb" Mikhail said and Eros turned.

"He knew the passcode and I thought he was some intruder. I didn't kill him" I said and Eros sighed.

"Your neck is red...fuck, is your back alright?" Eros questioned and I shrugged.

"It's fine. It's just the usual, he thought I was Noel and tried to kill me" I said.

"That's not something to just shrug off Cole" Eros chided.

I didn't say anything.

Eros probably could understand a little about having people come after you but when it happened so often that I could predict it, it just didn't bother me anymore.

"Jesus, Cole, you really don't hold your punches" Mikhail said and I knew he was probably talking about Caleb's head.

"Sorry..." I grumbled, swatting away Eros' hands as he kept trying to check me for any more injuries.

Eros finally stopped and stood up before walking over to Caleb.

"Once he saw the manor gone, he knew to come here. Which means he found something on Preston's death and came to tell me about it" Eros said, a look of thought crossing his face.

Hearing about the man my father killed made me look at Eros. Was the information he mentioned that he wanted from me, about that friend?

"Well, let's get him on the couch and patch him up for now. Who knows when he'll wake up" Mikhail said. They helped Caleb up onto the couch and after tending to his wounds, we waited for a short while. When Caleb finally woke up, he looked around at us before his eyes locked in on me.

"I don't understand...why?" He rasped out and Eros stood in between us.

"Well for starters, this is not Noel Limosa. This is Cole, the two are brothers and unfortunately could pass for twins" Eros explained.

Caleb's face screamed confusion but at least the anger and hatred didn't seem to be there as much. After taking a good look at my face, he seemed to believe what Eros had said.

"Yeah, you look exactly like him..." Caleb finally said and he sighed.

"I'm sorry about your brother...and for that" I said, pointing at his head. Caleb shook his head.

"Nah, it's okay. Sorry about your neck" He said and I nodded. I'm glad he wasn't holding a grudge against me because I don't know if I could handle another fight anytime soon.

"How did he die?" My question brought an uncomfortable air in to the room but I wasn't sorry about it. I wanted to know how and possibly even why my dad killed their friend, maybe I could help them figure it out if they already hadn't.

"We were stopping at a bar to talk about something and your father's men stormed the place. They only wanted Preston and I knew that because they hardly even gave me the time of day other than a punch to the face. They tried to offer him some kind of deal, but he wouldn't take it. Your father said, 'if I can't buy your silence, then I'll just take it' and shot him" Caleb's face while explaining just screamed hurt and anger.

My father was trying to silence Preston but from my knowledge, typically he'd just send someone to kill him...what did Preston know that would possibly make him come out of his cave and deal with him personally?

"You said you wouldn't come back until you found out why Preston was murdered. So is that why you're here?" Mikhail asked.

Caleb nodded.

"Yeah...I think I know what Preston was trying to tell me that night" he said. Caleb paused before continuing.

"But first, can you explain to me why we no longer have the manor?" Caleb asked.

Eros and Mikhail looked to each other before looking back to Caleb.

"It's a long story..."