E r o s

"Please, stop! Have mercy!"

One of the two men cried but honestly, I'm not sure which one it was. They were both screaming and crying like little girls with just a few slaps on the wrist.

"Mercy...?" I muttered, glaring down at the two men that were cowering beneath my cold stare.

"Okay" was all I said before taking the gun from my waist band and holding it out to one of them, Henry was his name if I cared to remember correctly.

"Either shoot him or yourself, only one of you gets to stay alive" I said, my tone bored and uncaring as I waited for him to take the gun from my hand.

"W-What...?" Henry's eyes were wide in disbelief as he stared at me.

"You asked for mercy so I'm giving it. Are you being ungrateful?" My tone only grew colder as I asked my question, making sure that it was enough to instill an immeasurable amount of fear into these two scaredy cats.

They had the audacity to withhold my products from me and now they're acting as if they're the victims.

Pathetic.

Mikhail and Jamie didn't dare interrupt us, though I don't think I'd mind if they did. These two were hardly worth the effort but I had to get my message across or else they'd continue to think that they can get away with such petty thievery.

The man looked at his friend, both of them visibly trembling but a decision seemed to already be decided as he grabbed the gun from my hand. Henry shakily turned the gun to himself and it was obvious that he was extremely hesitant to pull the trigger, anyone would but luckily for him, I'm feeling nice today.

I plucked the gun out of his hand before he could pull the trigger and I'm given confused looks by everyone in the room. I paid it no mind as I crouched down to Henry's level, looking right into the tearful eyes of the man who stole from me.

"Do you see how easy it was for me to take your choices from you? No one wants to bend to the will of others, so how do you think I felt having to send my men to search across town for you two bastards that decided to keep more for themselves despite our contract in place?" I asked, not exactly expecting a response with my rhetorically phrased question.

"It's annoying and you're only lucky that I'm not in a particularly bad mood today. Though I will let you know, had you turned the gun on your friend here, I wouldn't have stopped you. There's your mercy" I said, standing up and putting my gun back in my waistband.

Suddenly, my phone started ringing and once I saw the caller ID, my mood lifted considerably and I quickly answered the call.

"Hi darling" I greeted and I'd give anything to see Cole's face at this moment.

"Are you busy right now? Sorry if I interrupted anything" he said and I shook my head even though he couldn't see me.

"That's okay, I'm actually free as a bird right now" I said but that didn't seem to fly with Mikhail as he shot a glare.

"You are not!" He exclaimed but I just turned my back to him.

"I was just wondering if you were coming home tonight, I was in the mood to make something" Cole asked.

"Of course, we're pretty much finished with all the backlog so I'll definitely be there" I said and I heard a short hum come from Cole.

"Okay, thanks" he responded.

"No problem. I love you" I said, not even caring about the disgusted look Mikhail gave me.

"Mhm, love you too" Cole said and the follow of a click sounded, signaling the end of our phone call.

"He said he loves me" I said as I beamed a smile at my companions who were less than amused with me.

"Un-fucking-believable" Jamie said and Mikhail shook his head.

Ignoring Mikhail and Jamie, I turned back to the men on the floor with my sharp glare back in place for them.

"Now, I want everything that was withheld plus a fifty percent compensation fee of the original deal for you two's misdeed. I want it by the end of the week and trust me, if I don't have it by then, both of you will die this time" I said, giving a smile at the end before clapping my hands together as a signal of finish.

"Okay, seems like we're done here. You guys can dump them back to wherever you found them" I said, heading towards the door but before I could make it, a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"Where are you going? You still have some things to take care of and I'd hate to be the one picking up the slack" Mikhail said, his smile less than pleasant as his eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"I'm going home" I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and Mikhail only challenged my words with a raise of his brow.

"Nice try" he said and my expression reflected his own in that moment.

"If I remember correctly, I'm the boss. Y'know, Azure and everything" I said, crossing my arms as I stared my friend down.

"If you walk out the door, I won't touch a single paper for a month. Have fun with Harvey and Jamie as your back ups" Mikhail said, jabbing his thumb to Jamie who gave an offended look when his name was mentioned.

"Fine...screw you" I grumbled as I pushed my hair back in a now annoyance influenced manner.

"I'm glad we're all on the same page here" Mikhail cheered and Jamie just shook his head.

Mikhail really was the devil's better brother around here and he knew it.

~*~

By the time I got home, it was way past the agreed upon time that I was supposed to arrive. Even though I let Cole know I would be a bit late, midnight is far past 'a bit'.

It's a shame since I was also looking forward to eating some of his cooking...

Walking in, I noticed that the lights were still on in the living room and on the table was a few books, no doubt Cole's textbooks. And on the couch was the very man himself, fast asleep and a pen laid in his open hand.

As I walked closer to the couch, I crouched down next to the table and looked to Cole's sleeping face.

"Sorry I'm late" was all I could whisper as I took the pen from his hand and put it on the table.

I began to put his books and papers in a neat pile since they were practically scattered everywhere. Wherever Cole chose to do his studying, that entire area became his space, no place left untouched from the numerous things he had in it.

But somehow he always knew when things were amiss...

"Mm..."

I heard Cole stirring on the couch so I turned and saw his eyes beginning to open and from there, his eyes were fully open, the green irises staring tiredly at me.

"You're home" he said, sleep thick in his voice and I nodded.

"I'm home" I said, reaching over and moving some of his hair that was beginning to fall in his eyes.

"I was waiting for you but I guess I fell asleep. Sorry" Cole said as he sat up and I shook my head.

"Don't apologize, I was the late one. No thanks to Mikhail as usual" I said and Cole gave a sleepy smile.

"You know you don't have to wait for me all the time. I'd rather you sleep in the bed than on the couch" I said and Cole nodded.

"It wasn't my plan either but oh well" he said, a small shrug coming from him.

The fact that he waited was such a small thing but to me, it meant more than anyone would ever know. I could never have imagined how good it felt to have someone at home, someone that was actually waiting for you instead of coming back to an empty house.

Before living with Auntie Leila, that was just a normal thing for me. Walking into silence and leaving out of it, that's just how things were after a while between my parents and I.

I'd gotten so accustomed to it that it never really occurred to me that this was something I longed for.

"What's got you so spaced out?" Cole asked and I gave a smile to my boyfriend.

"Thinking about you" I said and Cole's brow furrowed.

"I'm right here" he said.

"So what? I like thinking about you, it's better than having to think about the crap load of stuff I have to deal with" I said, resting my head on his lap and it was like heaven when Cole ran his hand gently through my hair.

"Well that's what you're supposed to think of" he said and I chuckled.

"Of course you'd say that. It's a little arrogant of me but I was hoping you'd say you felt the same" I said, really only half jokingly.

"Who says I don't? It may not be 24/7 but for a good portion of my day I find myself thinking of you. Wondering if you're eating properly or even staying safe" Cole said and the butterflies in my stomach were fluttering about in happiness.

God I'm fucking whipped.

"I'm glad to hear that you care so much about me" I said and Cole peered down into my face that laid in his lap.

"Do you think I would have stayed with you for this long if I didn't care about you?" He asked.

"No. It's just nice to hear you say it. You're not always so open with your feelings you know?" I murmured, reaching my hand up to intertwine mine with Cole's.

Suddenly, Cole had stood up, my head falling onto the couch in response and I looked up at him in confusion. When he grabbed my hand and pulled me up, that's when question marks started floating in my head.

Did I piss him off? I didn't mean for my words to be taken in any kind of way, it was just the truth really. I knew Cole better than that though, he wasn't the type to get angry at small things...angry in general actually.

We don't really fight about anything now that I think about it. Unless it's me trying to crush that horrible pudding eating habit of his, we normally get along just fine.

I'm so fucked up for this but I was kind of excited...this would be our first argument after all. I wasn't too excited about the argument part but more so Cole's angry side. I always wanted to know how angry he could get but I just didn't want to be the one to push him.

Ah, what is wrong with me...?

Without even realizing it, Cole had already pulled me into the bedroom and I found myself being seated on our bed with Cole following, taking a place on top of me.

Since when do angry people straddle the one they're mad at...

"I miss you when you're not home" Cole's voice was barely a whisper, almost as if being too shy to admit it but his eyes met my own, which was all I needed to snap me back to the situation at hand.

He wasn't upset...damn.

But this is also nice so I have no protests. Cole never complained about anything and it was just the smallest bit upsetting. Every once in a while I wanted him to fuss and complain about the things that bothered him, even if it was just something like me not being able to come home on time.

"I miss you when you have to stay overnight just to get your work done" Cole said, his hands finding their way to the buttons on my shirt and I watched with half lidded eyes as he unbuttoned each one.

"This is unexpected coming from you" I commented, reaching up to caress the warm cheek of my lover who kept silent as he stared down at me with an unusually lustful gaze.

It's not often that he's coming on to me like this, not that I mind anyways. Cole's usually more of a go with the flow kind of guy so for him to initiate sex has me also feeling more excited that usual.

"Its been a while" Cole muttered and I nodded, reaching around to rest my hands on his waist and bring our lower halves together, enjoying the light moan that slipped past Cole's lips at the sudden touch.

"Have I been neglecting you for that long?" I asked, a smirk falling to my face but Cole's expression didn't budge as he looked at me.

"Yes" he said.

"I'm so very sorry, allow me to make it up to you?" I said as I tried to sit up but Cole kept me down with his hands on my shoulders.

"I want to do it today" he stated and I relaxed under his touch, already preparing to surrender my body to him.

"Alright, go on. Let's make up for all the time we've missed out on and then some" I said and Cole smiled, his head giving a soft nod to my words.

And for the rest of the night, we made sure to reaffirm our love for as long as our bodies could.