"That's for taking yesterday off" Dan says as he delivers a punch to Louis side. Louis falls back unsteady and Jax pushes him to the ground.

"And this is for putting us out all day, we had no one to do our coffee runs" Dan tells Louis as he then delivers a swift kick to Louis ribs.

"Ahhh" Louis hisses, that definitely hurt badly and Louis has to catch his breath back.

"Get up" Jax tells him,

Louis tries but he's quite winded

"He said get up" Dan hisses angrily and kicks Louis once again in the same rib. Louis sees white, the pain is so bad.

He doesn't want another kick though, so he manages to scramble to his feet, he holds his rib tightly and backs against the wall trying to breathe.

"Get the fuck out of my sight, we have a big tender being decided today and if we lose it. It's going to be your head" Dan says.

Louis scrambles from the office, he's in so much pain, he managed to wake up in a good mood this morning, after Harry and Scott left last night, but that's completely out the window now and he just wants to keep his head down and get through the day.

Louis is happy Dan didn't touch his face today, he doesn't want to have to explain another bruise to Harry and Scott.

Louis sits back in his chair, and tries to relax, he has to admit he doesn't quite care if Harry and Scott hired him because they slept with him at this point. Anything is better than having the shit kicked out of him every morning.

By the time the day is over, Louis is extremely sore, he feels like his rib is broken. He had a few broken ribs after the accident and he remembers the pain clearly.

By the time he reaches home he's sweating from the pain. He pushes it aside though, he can't cancel on Harry and Scott. They will be suspicious if he does and to tell the truth, he is really looking forward to seeing them.

He showers and ignores the massive purple bruise on his torso. He takes some pain relief and then dresses in his jeans and white cable sweater. He styles his hair and manages to put his vans on, just in time to hear a knock at his door.

When he answers the door, Harry and Scott are standing there looking as beautiful as ever  In jeans and sweaters. They smell amazing and look so expensive, it turns Louis on a little.

"Hello darling" Harry smirks.

"Hi" Louis smiles shyly.

"Ready to go?" Scott asks smiling brightly.

Louis nods and grabs his phone and shuts and locks his door.

Harry and Scott lead him back to their rover and he hops in the back, he tries so hard to not flinch with every movement and act like nothing is wrong.

Harry and Scott as soon as they saw Louis, new something was wrong. As stunning as he looks, he's slightly pale and seems just a little off.

The drive to the restaurant isn't far and when they pull up Louis is excited. It's a lovely Italian restaurant, one of Louis favourite foods.

They are seated in the back and when they are all settled and ordered and Harry and Scott have ordered their drinks, they both turn their attention to Louis and smile.

The way Harry and Scott are so sure of themselves, the way they dominate the room, and everything they do just screams safe. Louis would be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to it, their dominance does something to him and the way they exude power and take over everything for him, protect him, just makes him like them even more.

"So how was your day Lou" Scott asks.
They are in a secluded booth at the back of the restaurant and Louis is thankful for the quiet.

"Um it was fine, how was yours" Louis says, trying to change the subject.

"Much better now that we are here with you" Harry smiles.

Louis blushes.

"I hope you don't mind that we ordered for you, we love this place and, the boys said you loved Italian food" Harry says.

"Oh, no, I don't mind, it doesn't bother me at all. I love pasta, it's one of my favourite things to eat" Louis says.

"We will have to get you around for dinner to our place, Harry makes the best vodka pasta you will ever taste in your life" Scott tells him smiling proudly of Harry as he takes a sip of his wine.

"Really? Vodka pasta is one of my favourite meals ever. I tried to make it once but I nearly burnt the kitchen down. Drew also tried for me but he is just as awful in the kitchen as I am and Andy banned us after the second time" Louis admits.

Harry and Scott laugh,

"You and Drew sound like trouble together" Harry says in jest.

Louis chuckles, as he does he holds his side trying to not be noticeable, but still ease the burn.

"Drew and I are really close, I love all my brothers but Drew and I have always just been inseparable" Louis says. He takes a sip of his lemonade and Scott and Harry admire him, Louis is breathtaking, just so beautiful. 

"So you went to school with the boys?" Louis then asks.

"We did, we were in Andy's grade but wherever Andy went, Edward and Drew were there too, so we just all became really close, high school and collage were pretty fun" Scott says.

"We got into some mischief that's for sure" Harry chuckles.

"Like what?" Louis asks.

Harry and Scott think back.

"Well, there was this one time, when we were finishing our final year. Drew had the grand idea to put food colouring in the sprinkler system and set it off, right at the end of the graduation ceremony" Harry laughs.

"Bright green food colouring went everywhere, all over everyone, it was amazing" Scott laughs.

Louis laughs hard and the boys stop in their tracks, his laugh is beautiful and the way his eyes crinkle in real happiness makes something inside them swirl with joy.

They do notice Louis wince and hold his side tightly when he laughs, they make a mental note to keep an eye on that.

"When they found out it was us, they nearly didn't let us graduate" Harry says.

"Drew owned up and took the blame for it though, as he was two years younger, he was known as the hero around school from then on" Scott says chuckling.

"Of course he was, when I made it to high school in Drew's last year, I was known as the prodigy's little brother" Louis smiles at the memory.

"Thing is though, I was the mastermind behind that prank, and Drew thanks me all the time for coming up with it. In fact, I came up with most of his stunts" Louis chuckles.

Harry and Scott are completely gobsmacked

"Are you kidding us" Harry asks with a chuckle.

"Nope, ask him" Louis says coolly.

"But you would have been like 10" Scott says In disbelief.

"I'm the baby of the family, I get away with everything, I was the king of ideas back then. I would lay the foundations and the boys would bring it to life and who would get the blame?" Louis says his eyes gleaming with happiness and mischief.

"You little menace" Harry laughs.

Louis smiles triumphantly and Harry and Scott fall for him just a little bit more.

Their meals arrive and they talk over dinner, laughing and telling stories. They have a wonderful night and Louis actually laughs and feels safe and like it's okay to let his guard down with Harry and Scott.

On the drive home Scott takes a business call  and when he gets off the phone he's a little disappointed.

"That was Charlie, Smith and Leon just won the Inline tender" Scott tells Harry.

"You're joking?" Harry asks dumbfounded.

"No, it went out a half hour ago" Scott says.

"That's disappointing, it must have been one hell of a design for them to win that" Harry says.

It's not like Harry an Scott needed the job, but it is disappointing. There usually isn't much competition when it comes to other companies when it comes time to securing their clients.

"Is that the Inline wharf that was being designed?" Louis asks from the back seat.

"Yeah, we were finding out who was awarded it today, you guys must have submitted a great tender" Scott says.

"I wouldn't know" Louis says.

Harry and Scott sigh, it's just not fair how Louis is being treated.

"Lou, the offer still stands, we would love you to move over" Harry says.

Louis sighs and in that moment his ribs begin to ache. He holds his side and leans his head back on the car seat.

"Well, I'll think about it, but your starting salary is crazy and I'm not accepting that,150k is ridiculous for me to start at, I'm on 20k right now, your offer is one hundred percent because you slept with me and not because of my designs" Louis says with no malice in his voice, just humour.

Harry and Scott smile, thankful that Louis is even open to the conversation.

"We can discuss your salary for sure but 20k I'm pretty sure is actually illegal" Harry says with slight anger in his tone at the dismal amount Louis is on. 

"What else" Scott asks.

"Well.....what if more does happen between us, I don't want to move and then get treated the same as I am right now and then be seen to be getting favoured" Louis says.

Harry and Scott's hopes rise at the fact Louis even suggested there might be a possibility of more with them.

"Louis, the way you're treated at that company Is disgusting and we don't even know the half of it, clearly, but that's not how things work with us. And if anyone gave you a hard time, which they won't, we would address it" Harry says.

Louis just sighs and looks out the window.

"Noah and Lisa will be really upset if you say no" Scott says with a slight pout and Louis chuckles.

"I did like Noah, he seems great and Lisa seemed really nice" Louis says.

"They were really upset when you turned down the package. Noah told us he even offered you more money, which we didn't even approve, that's how much he wanted you to accept" Harry tells him smiling.

"Really?" Louis asks, he's taken aback and feels so honoured that Noah would do that for him"

"Really" both Harry and Scott confirm.

Louis mulls over their words for the rest of the drive home, he contemplates his options and is a little bit closer to saying yes.