E r o s

Why does it seem that no matter what I do, people always try to piss me off? I guess this was karma for how I used to be but at the same time, I think I've learned my lesson by now.

I was a nice guy, when I was in a good mood that is. Other times, eh, not so much but can you blame me? People can be annoying.

Not my Cole though, he's perfect.

Sighing, I rested my head on the back of the wall.

I was waiting outside of the room Alistair was staying in, ready to very much so snap Renard's little neck. I was being compliant when it came to tolerating his presence out of respect for Alistair and his wishes, but I've had enough of Renard at this point.

Once I squeeze his grievances out of him, I'll put him in the ground where dirt belongs.

I could imagine that Alistair was already upset with me due to my absence, I just hoped Rocco didn't throw the whole deal because of me not showing up. It really looked bad on me and I was only getting more and more irritated when thinking that Renard is the one to cause all of this.

While waiting, I also decided that it would at least be good for me to try and remember what exactly was causing Renard to try and get revenge on me.

High school...not a pleasant time for me really. That was around the time my life just began turning to shit because of my parents.

I had no idea when it started but once it did, it never stopped.

They argued every single day, most of the arguments starting from my mother always yelling at my father about his problems. Problems that only started after Kaya passed and even though we were all hurting, my father took it the worst.

Kaya was everything to him.

His little girl, his first born, and he was extremely proud to call her his daughter. He often paraded around, gushing about her, enough so that even I got jealous every once in a while but my mother and Kaya always consoled me after I complained to them.

When Kaya died, it was like a rift formed between all of us, she really was the glue that held us all together and without her here, we had no reason to stay as one.

Mother was depressed and had practically prepared her burial to take place in her work office while my father took to alcohol. I could barely sleep or even eat at times, thoughts of my sister who was always by my side plaguing my mind constantly. I missed her so much that I found myself at a loss of what to do with myself.

I can barely even remember what she looked like now, as well as my parents. When I think of my family, it's just blurs of people who were once alive. I don't have pictures, I had made the rash decision to leave them behind when I moved in with Auntie Leila but I didn't regret my choice.

Had I kept any photos, I likely would have hung onto them, leaving myself with a false sense of comfort as if they were still with me when in reality they were gone.

It was a few years after Kaya's death when it worsened, the tension in the house becoming suffocating and eventually my mother stopped holding her tongue. Whenever my father did something she didn't like, she picked at him. Picked and picked like a vulture at its food until he snapped at her one day and since then they had continued to argue.

The worst part of it all was that I did nothing to stop them. Not that I could do anything anyways, they stopped caring about what I thought a long time ago.

I hated going home so naturally, whenever I was invited places, I went. Stayed out as long as I wanted, hung out with all kinds of people, and just spent all my time away from that house. I would do just about anything to take my mind off of the fact that my parents' lives were deteriorating right in front of me.

Renard, or Chris since that was his name back then, was probably one of the many people I'd used to take my mind off of things. The only thing is, whenever I chose to sleep with someone, I only slept with that person. So maybe he thought we were an item or something because of that but I knew for a fact that we never dated because I didn't date.

I wasn't going to date someone I couldn't see myself with in the future, so I always kept the people I got involved with at a distance. I'll sleep with you but don't expect anything more than that, is basically how I treated it.

Well, now that I'm actually thinking about it, I'm pretty sure Renard and I left off on bad terms. We had an argument but he stormed off before I could even get the full story...

My eyes widened as a memory suddenly hit me.

~ Flashback, 10 years ago ~

"Eros? Why'd you skip class again?" Harvey asked as he found me resting on the bleachers. I wasn't exactly thrilled about history at eight in the morning so I took my chances and ditched.

"I didn't skip" I said, not even bothering to open my eyes.

"But you weren't in class...?" Harvey's voice was confused as he said those words and I shrugged.

"I was there in spirit" I said and Harvey sighed.

"Spirit doesn't count" he grumbled and I just chuckled.

"I'm serious, bro. If you keep skipping like this you're gonna get held back" he said.

"It's fine. It's not as if I'm going anywhere anyways" I said and I could feel Harvey's stare.

"I wish you wouldn't say stuff like that" He said and before I could respond, the sound of footsteps rushing up to us grabbed my attention.

"You bastard!" The angry yelling made me open my eyes and when opening them, I saw angry eyes staring back at me.

Uh...I believe his name is Chris? I wasn't really sure, but we've fooled around a few times, enough so that he seemed to think I liked him or something.

I had told him that I didn't want to keep having sex anymore, is that why he's upset? I did do it over text though...yeah an asshole move but I didn't consider it to be that serious anyways.

"Excuse me?" I drawled as he continued to grip at my shirt.

"You fucking low life dirty bastard, how dare you?!" Chris yelled and I could only stare in confusion as he continued to curse me out for reasons unknown to me.

"Hey! What the fuck is your problem?" Harvey said as he grabbed Chris off of me by the back of his shirt.

"Mind your business, this is between me and him" Chris growled and Harvey raised a brow.

"You're the one who's screaming their head off, people across the field can probably hear you so if you ask me it's between you and the public" Harvey retorted.

Chris just glared at him before turning back to me.

"What?" I asked.

"Was this whole thing some stupid prank? Some fun at the expense of an unsuspecting victim?" He asked and now I was starting to get irritated because not only was I confused but I was being accused of something that I knew I didn't do.

"I don't know what crawled up your ass and died but whatever you're accusing me of, likely has nothing to do with me. I don't waste my time making fun of others" I said but it's as if my words went through one ear and out the other.

"Do you know that there's pictures? A video too! It's fucking everywhere!" Chris hissed.

A video? Pictures? Now I was really confused.

"Pictures and videos of what?" I asked but Chris didn't even give me the chance to express my confusion as he continued his rant.

"If you think playing dumb is going to save your sorry ass it's not. I know it was you and maybe even your sidekick was in on it too. I hope you fucking rot in hell, Eros"

~ Present ~

A video...I groaned when the realization hit me.

I do know what happened, it just didn't affect me as much as it did Renard. Some guys had stayed after school and caught us fucking in a classroom, they also decided it would be funny to record it and spread it around the entire school.

That's why Renard was so upset, he still thinks that I'm the one who orchestrated that. From what I remember, we were both tormented about it, sneers and insults coming from our fellow classmates but I would just beat the shit out of anyone who said things like that.

Renard however probably wasn't able to defend himself as well and knowing those kids, they made his life a living hell. Seeing that he went so far as to change his appearance and name, I knew it was true.

I wanted to be the bigger person and alleviate my anger and frustration with Renard, but it still doesn't justify his actions from today. I have no idea what his plan was but he potentially just threw a big deal that wasn't even necessarily for me, but for Alistair.

His 'friend'.

I was still suspicious about that whole bit but I decided to think of the bigger things.

I won't kill him, for now that is.

I'm still gonna punch the shit out of him though, that's coming for him no matter what happens today.

"Eros? What happened to you? Why weren't you at the meeting?" My ears twitched at Alistair's voice and I saw him approaching me with a grim look on his face.

"Your little buddy here dished out the wrong information so I ended up on the other side of town" I said as I locked eyes with Renard who just looked back at me with an unidentifiable look in his eyes.

"What?" Alistair said and that's when I knew why Renard befriended Alistair.

Alistair was just a piece in Renard's little game, it's no wonder why he's out of the loop half the time.

"Oh, did I? I'm so sorry, I could have sworn that it was the right one" Renard said, a faux look of apology crossing his features.

Shaking his head, Alistair turned back to me.

"Rocco wants you off the deal. He'll only agree if you have no part in it. He thinks you're a liability to his business" Alistair said and honestly, it didn't surprise me one bit. Whatever Renard said in there about my absence was probably enough to convince Rocco to leave me out of this entire thing.

I wasn't bothered by it, I didn't even want to come out here in the first place so this was just water under the bridge to me. I didn't need this deal to continue being successful, it just would have been a nice bonus.

"Renard is the one who will take your place. Eros, I'm sorry" Alistair finished, and I knew he genuinely was sorry but I just dismissed it.

"Alistair, I'm going to be very honest with you. I couldn't give a shit about this deal, I came here as a friend to support you. Nothing else" I started and I could tell Alistair and Renard were both stunned by my words by the looks on their faces.

"But what I do need is to have a word with your little companion here, it's very urgent and I fear if I don't speak to him in the next five minutes, we're all going to be some very unhappy campers" I said before grabbing Renard by the arm and dragging him away.

Bringing him to my room, Cole's eyes landed on us as we entered, pudding cup in one hand and spoon in the other. As if sensing the situation, Cole just got up with his pudding and headed to the door.

"Guess I'll just enjoy this in Harvey's room" he said as he walked by and I would laugh at his sarcasm, but I didn't want to in front of Renard.

After the door closed, I let go of Renard and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Taking the deal from me was cute but not enough to get under my skin as you can see" I said, giving a cold smile.

"That's fine. I'll just come up with some-" before he could finish, I cut him off.

"Those thieves from when we first got here, I know they were sent by you. Paying a couple of random guys who aren't even aware of how to handle a gun is pretty dangerous" I said and I could see the cracks in Renard's confident facade. He definitely wasn't expecting for me to see through his plan that easily.

I had slowly began to put the pieces together after the whole thing. I knew there was something weird about the incidents we kept running into here, they were all put together not so very well by this idiot.

"You targeted Harvey and you were probably going to single out Cole next, weren't you?" I asked.

"I was but you stick to him like gum under a shoe. He's never by himself so I just figured I'd leave it for later but it seems like the cat is out of the bag now" Renard said, an annoyed look crossing his features.

Honestly, he's very lucky that he didn't get the chance to do anything to Cole. I have no tolerance at all for anyone who tries to hurt him so if I had found out that Renard had managed to do that, Alistair would be out of a business partner.

"So, even after all these years you still think that I was the one who spread that stuff?" I asked, getting to the point since I was done beating around the bush.

"I'm glad you finally seem to remember after playing dumb for so long" a bitter smile crossed Renard's face as he spoke.

"I don't think, I know. You say you wanna break up and then after, that stuff gets posted around? It's so obvious a blind person could see it!" Renard exclaimed.

"Obvious?" I said as I looked at him in disbelief. Nothing was fucking obvious to him if he spent all these years thinking that I was the one who released those pictures.

"Why else would you break up with me after that?" He asked and I laughed.

"Break up? Clearly things aren't as obvious as you make them out to be. We were never dating. Did I ever ask you to be my boyfriend?" I asked and Renard went silent, as if trying to think up of a scenario where it happened but soon realized that it actually didn't.

"I was an asshole, you knew that. I did what I wanted and if I didn't feel like doing something anymore, I wouldn't. Your feelings were never something I had considered in our time together, so when I got bored, I called it quits. That's why we 'broke up'" I said, putting air quotes on the breaking up part.

I knew that my words were brutal but some people just needed to hear the cold truth, and I really couldn't care if I hurt his feelings in the process considering the shit he's put me through.

"We were doing something we weren't supposed to and unfortunately got caught. I don't know what happened to you since then, but blaming me for it is totally uncalled for, especially because you had no solid proof" I said but now instead of the silence Renard had, his face turned red.

From embarrassment, anger, I wasn't sure which one or maybe it's both but I soon found out with his next words.

"So you want me to say that I'm sorry? After everything I went through? I'm the one who went through the worst of it while you just seemed to breeze right on by through all of it!" Renard yelled and with those words, any sliver of pity I held for him had flew out the window.

"Are you being unreasonable on purpose? You were in the wrong, you owe me an apology for that. Hate me all you want after, I don't give a shit but just know that you're not leaving here without a black eye if you don't suck up your pride" I said, giving a menacing glare of my own.

"Even if I said it, I wouldn't mean it" He said as if expecting me to sit here and beg for an apology.

I'm gonna give him something alright, it may not be an apology, but it's something even better.

"That's fine" I said before punching him in the eye and it sent him flying to the ground.

"What the fuck?!" Renard yelled, holding his face in pain.

"Have fun with that black eye, bitch. Now get the fuck out of my room" I said and watched as Renard scrambled to get to his feet before rushing out of the room.

Good fucking riddance.

Letting out a sigh of relief when that urchin was finally out of my sight, I decided to head over to Harvey's room to let Cole know he's in the clear to come back.

I'll explain everything to Alistair after this trip, or maybe I shouldn't? I wasn't sure yet, I had time to think about it anyways.

When I reached the door, I was about to knock when a sudden crash from inside sounded.

"Cole!" Harvey whined.

"Sorry, it was too hard wasn't it?" Cole asked and my brow furrowed immediately.

"No, it's okay. Just do it slowly next time"

What the fuck are they doing in there?

Banging on the door, I waited impatiently for the door to be opened but when it was, I couldn't help but just be surprised.

Cole had opened the door and behind him was Harvey sitting at the table with jenga blocks surrounding him on the ground. They were playing a game, oh god, I feel so stupid.

"Hey, everything okay?" Cole asked and I nodded, choosing to leave my little misunderstanding to myself.

"Yes. You can come back to the room now" I said as I grabbed his hand but like lightning, Harvey was at Cole's side grabbing the other.

"Waitttt, you can't just take Cole from me like that!! You guys spent the whole trip together and the one time we're hanging out, you try and take him again? It's unfair!!" Harvey exclaimed and I smiled at him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you the boyfriend?" I asked and Harvey's jaw dropped at the card I dealt.

"I didn't think so" I said before tugging Cole away who just waved goodbye to Harvey.

"I'll come over later" Cole said and Harvey just glared at us.

"This is injustice, injustice I say!" He cried before closing his door.

What a baby.

After finally getting Cole back to the room, I turned to him with a serious expression as I put my hands on his shoulders.

"Cole, after this, it's just gonna be me and you. We're going on a real vacation" I said and Cole gave a small smile.

"That sounds fun and all but I'm more concerned about what happened between you and Renard...did you get to sort things out?" Cole asked and I nodded.

"Something like that. I also gave him a black eye" I said.

"I...see" Cole said but I could tell he was still a bit confused.

"I'll explain everything if you want me to. Actually, I will. I want to shit talk" I said and Cole nodded.

"Alright, I'm listening" Cole said as he sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him.

Taking the seat next to him, I began to recount my history with Renard all the while taking every chance I could to insult him.

It feels good.