E r o s

Emile was staring down at Jamie, a blank look on his face but the tense air was clear. And it seems Emile noticed it quickly as he let out a sigh.

"Relax, I'm not trying to start anything. Just wondering why you're here, we didn't exactly treat you nicely the last time you came" Emile said and Jamie's shoulders relaxed from their guarded position.

"I didn't come because of that. I had no intentions of arguing with walls" Jamie said and Emile let out a dry laugh.

"That tiff was years ago. Rest assured, I have no plans of interfering with whatever weird relationship you two have" he said and Jamie just kept his face of steel.

"Good"

"Our parents however...I'm not sure" Emile said and Harvey looked around before pointing over across the room.

"Well, they're right there, let's find out" he said before dragging a startled Jamie over to his parents.

"I'm gonna sit this one out" I said as I stayed put in my seat, wine glass raised to my lips.

"Oh? Don't want all the juicy deets?" Minerva said, putting on the act of a school girl and I shook my head.

"No, I'm not really interested in hearing about old people's views on things that have nothing to do with them" I said and Minerva smiled.

"You should come around more often, we seem to share some commonalities" she said and I gave a smile of my own.

"Hm...I'll think about it" I mused which made the woman chuckle. Feeling my phone suddenly go off in my pocket, I grab it and stood up.

"I'm getting a call, excuse me" I said before walking to a more secluded area.

Taking a glance at the caller ID, I noticed it was Cole so I made haste to pick it up, a smile gracing my lips as I began to speak.

"Love! How is your night going? Missing me terribly I presume?" I said in a teasing manner but when I got no reaction from the other side, I knew something was up immediately.

"I'd love to joke around but what I have to say doesn't fit the bill" Cole said.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"There were...people lurking about our house" Cole said and my body tensed with every word that came from his lips.

"People?" I said.

"Yeah, it's safe to assume it's about what I mentioned to you last time but I'm not sure since not even Noel can identify them" He explained.

Releasing an internal sigh, I checked my watch. We'd been here long enough that no one would mind my sudden absence, so with that in mind, I gave my response.

"Well if that's the case, I don't want you staying there. Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm with Noel and uh, his friend"

Silver, just great.

"You know what to do. I'll be there shortly" I said and Cole just gave an 'okay' before hanging up.

I decided to just text Jamie since technically I was his ride but I'm sure Harvey wouldn't mind taking him home.

In the back of my mind, I had always known there was the slightest chance that someone would be bold enough to target our home so I had set aside a backup homes with a few of my members holding down the fort until I needed to use it.

The drive was a little out there but I never really drove the speed limit anyways so I got there relatively quick. Pulling up to the decently sized home, I parked my car in one of the driveway spots before heading inside.

When I walked in, the six or seven guys I had stationed here were all present which wasn't surprising since there wasn't much to do at this time but they were all doing their own things.

"Boss, long time no see" one of the men, Raul, said as he was the first to greet me upon my entrance.

"I hoped you guys wouldn't have to see my face aside from meetings but unfortunately, here we are. How is everything?" I asked.

"The same. Business as usual and the nonstop whines of how much they miss Mr. Cole" He said and I gave a disgruntled look.

"They need to get their own lovers" I grumbled and Raul laughed at my words but I was incredibly serious.

You could say Cole was a bit of a celebrity amongst the group. With how much everyone has warmed up to him, they've gotten to see his many kinder sides and have instantly fell for his personality...and his face.

"It's Cole!"

Speak of the angel.

Turning, I saw that Cole had barely even stepped two feet into the door when he was surrounded by the others who had moved in the blink of an eye.

"How have you been!"

"Yeah, it's been forever man!"

"You should really come more often, it's totally not the same without you here"

Cole seemed to have a hard time responding to the sudden flurry of questions and I noticed the look on his face that screamed 'help'. Silver and Noel just stood awkwardly behind him as they weren't even given a chance to step through the threshold.

"Wanna practice targets? Or sparring?"

"Yeah!! We can't have ya getting stiff"

Hearing that last comment was when I decided to cut in, no longer wanting to entertain their shenanigans as I cleared my throat loudly.

"And just what are you imbeciles implying? Get back to work" I said sternly but one of the men looked at me with a confused expression.

"But there is no work...?" He said and I glared.

"Who cares? Just go back to what you were doing" my words didn't seem to be getting through to my men as they continued to protest.

"But we haven't seen him in so long!"

"Yeah, it's not fair dude. He's our friend too"

"The next time I tell you pests to leave, it won't be my lips doing the talking" I said as I gave one final glare to them and that part seemed to finally break into their stubborn skulls.

They all grumbled like children as they dispersed and I let out a sigh when the coast was finally clear.

"Stupid fans..." I uttered.

"You're quite popular around here" Silver said with a whistle and Cole shrugged.

"...I guess you could say that" he said.

Making eye contact with Silver, I gave a short nod of acknowledgment to him.

"Thank you for bringing him here" I said and Silver waved it off, as a way of saying 'no biggie'.

"No problem. We were in the neighborhood anyways" he said.

"I'll have some others swing by the house later to check it over but for the time being, it's best for you to stay here" I said to Cole as I made my way over to him.

Cole didn't seem to like that idea though as he shook his head.

"I can't stay inside constantly, I have a play in three days and a project due the day after" he said.

"You can still do those things, they won't be able to single you out in public. Just make sure Harvey is with you at all times" I said and Cole's previous protest died down quickly with my reasoning.

"Wait, you're in a play? You're bad at acting" Noel said and Cole rolled his eyes.

"I've had practice" he said, his tone sour from his brother's blunt words.

In all honesty, I had completely forgotten all about that play and I was never given tickets either.

Hm...we will talk about this later.

There was one more thing I needed to handle before deciding to call it quits for the day.

"You" I said as I pointed to Noel and he jumped a bit at my tone.

"Come with me" I said and Noel frowned.

"I don't like the sound of that.." he said, almost backing behind Silver for some sort of protection but not even that guy could save him.

"I don't like you but that doesn't mean I'm going to kill you so please for the love of my sanity, follow me" I gritted out before walking away, expecting to be followed and when I heard footsteps behind me, I calmed myself down a bit.

Leading him to a room, I opened the door and once we both were in, I closed it behind us.

"Are you still in touch with your family?" Was my first question and while Noel surely wasn't prepared for it, he didn't hesitate to answer.

"No, not really. Only a cousin or two, and Cole" he said.

Taking mental notes, I threw out another question.

"Can you think of anyone that was close to your father? If we can get a name, I can have Mikhail start looking for faces" I asked and this time, Noel's answer was a bit more prolonged.

"I don't know...I've probably only met some members like two or three times" he said.

"Well, take a moment and think about it" I said. It was a few minutes before Noel spoke again but when he did a look of remembrance crossed his features.

"We used to have this one cousin, Sid, he'd come over sometimes with his parents. Cole only met him once by accident but I was usually forced to play with him whenever he came over. My parents always doted on him, they showed more affection to that kid than their own children" he explained.

"Last name?" I quizzed.

"Gregory" Noel answered.

Seeing that I got sufficient information, there was no longer a need for us to be next to one another for a minute longer so I opened the door.

"Okay, you can leave" I said but to my surprise, Noel didn't move. I thought he'd be reaching for the skies by now to be out of my presence.

The look on his face told me that he was searching for words to say and all I could think of was why he was trying to keep up a conversation.

"Listen, I know we don't exactly have the best relationship but—"

Oh hell no.

"I'm going to stop you there before you waste my time" I said as I put a hand up and Noel immediately gained an offended look.

"You don't even know what I was going to say" he argued.

"I can already tell what it is with how you started that sentence" I said, not in the mood to hear some 'let's be friends' bullshit.

"So you won't even hear me out?" He asked.

"No. I won't now and never will" I said firmly and Noel just sighed.

"Well that's just..." he trailed off and I raised a brow.

"Just what?" I asked.

"Unreasonable..." He finished, eyes averting mine in fear of what he'd see if we were to make contact.

Good, because he'd find nothing but annoyance.

"I hardly think I'm being unreasonable. The fact you're still breathing is proof of that" I said and Noel's face paled at my sentence.

"I could never forgive, let alone be 'friends' with someone who let the person I love suffer for more than half their life. Be it so that you're a changed person or not, I'll hate you until the day you die and then some" I said, feeling absolutely nothing towards the man in front of me as he stared back at me with widened eyes.

I could be called many things right now. Childish, ignorant, stubborn, petty, unreasonable, etc. but I truly did not give a shit. I honestly had no qualms with Cole and Noel's relationship, they're working things out and that's good for them. But I personally wanted nothing to do with Noel if I could help it.

There's nothing this man could say or do that will ever change the way I feel towards him, not in a million years or even in the next lifetime.

"So please, do me a favor and never try to have this talk with me again" I said, letting my infamous faux smile come out to play.

Nodding his head, Noel walked past me and seeing as that was the end of that, I closed to door and headed back to the main area.

When I got there, it was only Cole there, just staring at the small potted plants on the window that the guys have been taking care of.

"Where is Silver?" I asked and Cole turned to me.

"He left. Said something about needing to handle some urgent business" he said and I nodded.

"Let's not worry about it, I trust he'll tell me later" I said.

"Now, about this play. There's no...kissing, hugging, or touching of any sort that I should be worried about, right?" I asked and Cole gave me a confused look.

"I might as well not even get on the stage if that's the case" he said and I let out a 'tsk'.

"Okay fine...no kissing or hugging?" I asked and Cole still gave me a look which means 'you're thinking way too much into it'.

"Kissing?" was my final question and Cole shook his head.

"No"

"Okay, I can live with that. Where's my ticket?" I said and Cole shrugged.

"Sold out" he simply replied and my jaw dropped.

"Really? You didn't even get one for me?" I asked in disbelief and even though Cole kept his back turned to me, with the way his shoulders were shaking a bit, I could tell he was laughing.

"You think you're so funny, don't you?" I asked and Cole turned back to me, an amused smile on his face.

"A little bit" he said and I just narrowed my eyes at him.

"Don't worry, Jean is holding on to your ticket" Cole said.

Although I didn't like the idea of that guy's grubby paws holding my ticket, I held my complaints in.

I'll forget about that for now and focus on the more important matter at hand, finding the weirdo who is trying to avenge a sick man.