Tw: blood

C o l e

"Jesus, Harvey, what did you do?" Jamie asked as he looked at the severed ear of some random guy Harvey was interrogating.

"Well, he was pretending like he couldn't hear me so I made it so he actually can't. At least in one side, if he behaves he gets to keep the other one" Harvey said as he wiped the blood off his hands.

The man he was interrogating was one of the guys from the restaurant that was still alive. Eros wanted information on who sent those guys even though he was very well aware of who did but chose to play dumb for the sake of having "innocence" as he puts it.

If they think we don't know, then they're more inclined to give us the information if we beat it out of them.

"So what did he say? Anything about Francis' plan?" I asked. Francis was the man we were supposed to meet at the restaurant and do business with, until those men, his men, attacked us.

"After cutting his ear off, I couldn't really make out much of what he was saying. He just kept crying about Francis this and Francis that. Can't get a reason out of him though since the sucker passed out from the pain" Harvey explained.

Shaking my head, I stood up. I was tired of sitting in this dingy basement that smelled like blood and some other nasty stuff, I needed some fresh air.

Walking up from the basement, I debated on whether or not I wanted to go outside or just go back to my room.

That is until my decision was stripped from me as I received a text from Eros, telling me to come see him. Sighing, I made my way to his office and when I got there, it was just him staring at some papers.

I knocked on the door to get his attention and then closed it behind me.

"How is the information extraction going?" He asked, eyes still glued to the paper in front of him.

"It's going as well as you can expect. He wasn't budging much but after Harvey...impaired him, he passed out" I said, trailing off as I remembered the man's ear just sitting in front of us.

"Ah, so nothing. Well, how do you fancy a date with me to a bar in midtown?"

It's annoying how I've gotten used to Eros' playful way of acting as if we're lovers. It was a pain in the ass but I've learned to just let it go, he wasn't serious anyways.

"I'd rather not..." I muttered and Eros finally looked up from his papers to give me a smile.

"You're my bodyguard, you never had a choice. I was just being polite" He said and I groaned internally. I just can't win with this guy...

"No need to dress any particular way, things might get messy if Francis is there...well, they may get that way regardless" Eros said, murmuring the last part and began to put his papers in a stack.

"Great..." I muttered.

"Are Harvey and Jamie coming?" I said, the thought suddenly hitting me as he mentioned we were going to a bar.

"You want them to third wheel on our date?" Eros asked, a frown on his face that I just looked at. Seeing that I wasn't finding it funny, or ever would, Eros let up.

"Harvey has gotten little to no information and Jamie has his own things to handle such as figuring out who the owner of that restaurant is. The faster we can figure out Francis' contacts, the easier it will be to pin him down" Eros explained and I just nodded.

"Meet me in the garage in 15" Eros said before I left.

After getting ready and putting on what I thought to be a decent outfit for this venture,
I slipped my knife in my boot and my gun in the waistband of my jeans before covering it with my shirt. Once I was ready, I headed to the garage.

Hopping in the black Toyota Camry, I buckled up as Eros turned the engine on. I eyed him as he zoomed out of the garage, silently hoping that he wasn't the type of driver that ran lights.

Oh who am I kidding, this is Eros we're talking about.

We had barely been on the road for 10 minutes when Eros popped a question.

"So, why don't you like cars? You said they weren't your thing but you seem to be fine" he asked, giving me a side glance.

"I'm not scared of 'em or anything, it's just that I was never allowed to learn how to drive them and honestly I'd rather just walk" I admitted. Eros let out a short hum in understanding.

"Well, if you want, I'll teach you. I wasn't fond of cars either but I didn't exactly have the patience for public transportation" Eros said and I refrained myself from snorting.

Did he even have the time to teach me? I'm pretty sure being a mafia boss didn't leave you with much free time.

"Nah, I'll pass. Why didn't you like cars?" I said casually, deciding to actually try and keep up the conversation since it seemed to be going pretty smoothly.

"My sister died in a car crash" Eros said and I tensed.

Oh my god...I'm so stupid, why didn't I consider that he actually had some kind of reason unlike me??

"I'm sorry for asking" I said after a moment and Eros just shook his head.

"Its alright. It's not as if it's hard for me to talk about it or anything, I just don't really speak of it much. Before my family went to shit, I had my older sister, Kaya. She was my best friend and someone I looked up to very much when I was a kid, the reason why I act the way I do now is partially cause of her" Eros explained.

"She pretended to have a boyfriend too?" I said and Eros let out a chuckle.

"Haha! No, no, nothing like that" he said, waving my comment off.

"When we were younger, we got in a car crash. We were being driven home from school and our car was rammed in to from the side by someone, later found out to be a rival group. Our car flipped and Kaya, she...protected me. She took me in to her arms and she shouldered all of the crash. The back of her head smashed into the window behind her and I also got cut by some of the glass which is where this bad boy is from" We stopped at a stop light and the answer to my earlier question was finally given to me as Eros pulled his collar down just enough for me to see the scar that laid there.

"It took some time before someone came to get us, and Kaya bled out. She died trying to save my life and I won't lie and say I haven't blamed myself a few times...many times actually. But I've learned to move past it, just like she would want me to. Kaya never did like to be caught up on the past, she was someone who made jokes and lived her life as it came her way"

As I listened, the way he described his sister sounded as if he were describing himself. Hearing his story definitely explains why he's always cracking jokes or acting as if things aren't extremely serious when in all actuality, they are. He's just living his life the best way he knows how.

"Life's too short to be a stick in the mud, Cole. Smile for once" Eros said, pushing up the corners of my lips. This time, I didn't move to smack his hands away, not feeling the need to as I let his words sink in a bit.

The red light finally went back to green and we were flying down the streets again. Eventually we came upon the bar Eros spoke of and at the door, a bouncer stood guard though when seeing Eros, he stepped to the side and let us in.

Well that was easy...

"I thought you said the owner was a friend of Francis'?" I said and Eros shrugged.

"Not everyone's friends are really their friends" he said simply.

"I trust you know not to drink anything" Eros said as we took a seat at the bar.

"Wasn't planning to anyways" I said and took a look around. It wasn't one of those loud bars where there was a bunch of people standing around, chattering, drunk, and doing hell knows what. This bar was more chill though it was still packed. The music was at a decent tempo and the chatter wasn't deafening.

"Francis is supposed to be here?" I questioned.

"No, but I know this is a place he likes to frequent. His cousin is the owner so if he's not here, I guess his cousin is going to be our next target" Eros said and he checked his watch.

As I looked around, I noticed there was two guards posted on every exit, and honestly if I didn't know any better I'd think it was for the protection of the club but considering our recent ambush, that clearly wasn't the case.

They were protecting Francis.

"Have you ever started a bar fight?" Eros asked randomly and I sighed. I guess having a relaxing evening was off the menu.

"There's a first time for everything I guess" I said and Eros grinned.

"I love the way you think" He said.

"Excuse me, can I buy you a drink?" A light tap on my shoulder almost made me break my neck at the foreign touch. A well dressed woman was standing behind me, a smile on her red lips as she looked at me.

"No" I said, hoping she'd just take my answer and go but that was never the case.

I wouldn't say I got hit on frequently but it's happened enough for me to know to be firm when delivering my rejections.

"Aw come on, just one?" She asked, a pout forming as she placed her hand back on my shoulder.

Taking it off, I turned to her and leaned in to look her in the eyes.

"I said no" I stated and she huffed.

"Alright you don't have to be so rude about it" she whined before going off back to whoever she came from.

"You're cold" Eros said with a chuckle as I turned back to him. I raised an eyebrow at his statement.

"Would you rather I accepted? Ruin our "date"?" I said, making air quotes with my fingers.

"You're actually considering this as a date? Goodness, I'd have gotten a bit more dressed up for the occasion" Eros put a hand to his heart, feigning surprise.

"Idiot" I said and I could feel the corners of my lips twitch but willed myself to stay neutral.

Eros and I had waited for who knows how long for Francis to show up, and have kept up light conversation but that was starting to get dull as the night dragged on.

"I don't think he's going to show" I grumbled.

"Yeah, me either. I was really hoping it wouldn't have to come to this but I guess we better start that fight" Eros said, standing up but just then a few men came in, huddled around one guy.

"Wait, look" I said grabbing his sleeve and Eros turned to where I nudged my head. I didn't recognize him but surely Eros would if he took one look at him.

"Well son of a bitch, I guess no one will be losing any teeth tonight. Other than him, of course" He said, an almost evil grin gracing his lips.

"About time" I said, standing up and stretching a bit.

"You know...now is the perfect time to start that bar fight" Eros said.

So we started the bar fight.