Tw: violence

C o l e

The feeling of a warm hand stroking my hair made me want to snuggle into it further. It was so warm and comforting...I'd never experienced anything like it.

It felt so nice.

I couldn't believe I was actually enjoying another's touch, a concept so foreign that I'd thought I would never see the day I would long for it.

Wait...who is it though?

Looking up, the face in front of me was blurry, I couldn't see the person at all.

Why...? I want to know who it is.

Suddenly the face became really bright...

The rays of sunlight flowing in my room woke me out of my dream and I sat up. There was no one in the room aside from me and the door was shut as usual.

That was a strange dream...

Getting up, I almost flinched when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I had completely forgotten about all the changes that had been made to my appearance the past two weeks.

Walking over to the mirror, my eyes roamed around my figure.

As I looked in to the mirror, I found a different man standing in front of it. No more was the longish raven hair that got in the way at times, what replaced it was a modest blonde. My hair had been cut to just below my ear and through everything, the one thing that was adamant about staying were my unruly curls. My neck felt cold without the hair but I guess I'd get used to it.

Getting ready to go out for my daily walk, I stretched a bit. There was no longer any pain from where I got shot but there surely was a bruise and I wasn't sure when that would (if it ever does) go away.

I had a fair idea of what was on the agenda today, finding out the location of the locker Caleb told us about and it's contents. For whatever reason, Caleb had specifically asked Eros for me to go with him and he was surprisingly willing to wait for me to recover. But that's only because Eros would not accept his request any other way...

The only assumption I could make based off of that was that Caleb likely had some questions he wanted to ask me, and they were probably less than appropriate to ask around others.

After taking my walk and even doing a bit of a jog to fully wake myself up, I came back to the condo where Caleb and Eros were sitting on the couch and talking.

"So have you figured out where we're going?" I asked and Caleb nodded.

"Our vacation home, we used to come here during the summer and spend our time there until we officially moved here. Preston loved that place and still liked to visit it from time to time as an adult so it's our best bet for now" Caleb explained and I nodded.

In the corner, I could see Eros being strangely quiet as he watched the two of us.

"What's up with you?" I asked and Caleb scoffed.

"He's sulking" he said and Eros frowned.

"I'm not sulking, only children sulk. I'm being upset in a totally adult way" He said while crossing his arms. Caleb just rolled his eyes and stood up.

"I'll go get the car" he said before leaving the two of us.

I knew Eros didn't want me to go, he thought I should rest just a bit longer, but I had told him that I was fine already.

On multiple occasions.

The pain in my back has long faded but as you can see, he's still being stubborn.

Taking a cautious step forward, I looked to Eros who didn't seem to want to look at me. An uncomfortable feeling swelled in my chest and I spoke up, hoping it would make him look at me.

"I don't know what you're upset about but if it's got something to do with me going..." I said slowly and my hope was answered as Eros turned his head to look at me.

"Well, I'm not upset at you..." he started and I raised a brow.

He didn't deny that me being involved played a role in his sour mood.

"It still has to do with me though" I said and Eros sighed.

"I just..." Eros didn't finish his sentence and I could see the worried look that crossed his face. Over time, I've gotten much better at being able to read Eros though I haven't put my senses to the test yet.

Leaning down a bit, I looked Eros in the eyes.

"You worry too much, we'll be back soon" I said, a small smile crossing my face in hopes of relieving Eros' tension.

His eyes widened a bit, seemingly stunned at my words. He likely thought he was hiding it well but although I couldn't see right through him, I was scratching the surface.

"I think I'm getting better at reading you" I said, a short chuckle following after.

"Hm, I don't quite think so but please do keep trying" Eros' smile was daring as he said that and I found myself beginning to think that a smile suited him better than any other expression.

Jeez, when did I start to care about things like that?

"Later" I said and mock saluted before heading towards the door.

"Cole" I stopped and turned when Eros called my name out.

"Please stay safe, I know you have a hard time doing that" he said teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah" I waved him off before walking out of the door.

Shaking my head, I headed down to the garage where Caleb was waiting for me in his black car.

"Jesus, you guys make out or something? What took you so long?" Caleb asked and a shocked expression made it's way to my face at his words.

"What? Why would we be doing that?" I asked and Caleb sighed.

"Welp, seems like my first assumption was wrong..." he muttered.

Assumption? What the hell kind of assumptions did he have about Eros and I?

"Don't make that face. I see the way he acts around you, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Besides, Eros isn't the type to hold back what he's feeling so I figured he would have said something to you already" Caleb explained.

Realizing that Caleb was talking about...that, I found myself growing a bit embarrassed. Why did he have to make me remember? Eros' confession often played in my head at random times, and especially when I least wanted it to.

Even now, I could only think back to it because of how worried Eros seemed to be back there. He truly wasn't lying when he said those words and knowing that gave me goosebumps.

"He...did" I said slowly.

"Well, whatever you guys got going on, you should work it out. I don't want to see Eros end up like Jamie, chasing after a guy for half his life" Caleb grumbled.

"What do you mean?" I asked and Caleb waved my question off.

"If you don't know, the better. It's sad to see really" he said and with that, our conversation came to an end.

"Okay, I do have something I need to ask" Caleb said suddenly a few minutes later and I looked at him.

"Why...or should I say, how, is it that you deviated from your family? Given your father's nature, I know he wouldn't have let you go free of your own will" Caleb asked and I licked my lips a bit before answering.

"He didn't. If anything, it's thanks to him that I managed to get away" I said and Caleb nodded.

"I...see. I'm guessing you guys don't have the closest bond" he said.

I wasn't sure why I was answering Caleb, I hardly ever talked about anything that had to do with my family but seeing as I didn't view them as such anymore, I guess I've stopped caring about it.

"No, we don't and if I spent my time moping about it, I would have died a long time ago" I stated.

"How bad would you say it is on a scale?" He said and I snapped my head at him with a bewildered look. He was asking that as if I was testing out some kind of new food.

"Sorry sorry" Caleb said but I just scratched my head a bit as I shook it.

"I don't know...but I can tell you this. The next time my father and I are in the same room, one of us is going to die" I said. I could feel Caleb's eyes on me so I met them with a sharp look before finishing my sentence.

"And it won't be me" I said.

It was silent between us as we sat at the red light. I admit that might have been a bit much but it was the only kind of answer I could give to his scaling question. And it was very much so true.

I wasn't going to go back willingly, not unless I was dead.

"Get the idea now?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't ask anymore questions.

"Yeah, a scale of pretty fucking bad" he said.

"What about you and Preston?" I asked in an attempt to shift the focus.

"We were as close as could be. We always had each others backs and even now, here I am still trying to have his. I just want justice for him and his wife" Caleb explained.

"Well then we better hope what he locked away is in this house" I said and Caleb nodded.

The rest of the drive was thankfully silent and I even closed my eyes to give Caleb the impression that I was asleep in order to avoid his questions.

After a while I felt the vehicle come to a stop and heard Caleb shut the engine off. Opening my eyes, I saw a blue house that was all by itself. We were on a hill so the breeze that was being provided felt very nice.

The two of us got out of the car, and walked up to the front door.

When we came up to the door, my eyes immediately locked in on the door's knob area. It was chipped and didn't seem to actually be intact so I knew my father's men had already been here.

And it seemed like Caleb knew too as he cursed.

"God damnit, Gabriel's men have been through here" he gritted out as he opened the door that swung open by itself with the lightest touch.

The place was ransacked, broken vases on the floor, tables turned, couch pillows and books strewn about carelessly. And this was just the first floor, I could only imagine what the upstairs looked like.

"Looks like they picked all the meat off this bone" I muttered and Caleb shook his head.

"Not quite. I know my brother, he wouldn't leave something so important out where anyone who walks in could find it just by throwing some stuff around" He said.

I followed him up the stairs and into one of the rooms.

"Help me move this" Caleb said, pointing to the bed and I moved to the foot of it.

"On three" he said before counting and on three we lifted the bed and I followed his lead.

"Okay" Caleb huffed out after we put the bed down.

Underneath it was just a regular carpet but obviously something had to be under it if moving the bed was so important.

"Jackasses probably didn't think to look under the carpet" Caleb muttered as he pulled off the dark green carpet. Though it was just floor board, Caleb used his knife to slip it between the cracks and lifted one of them up.

"Yup, just where I thought it was" he said and instead of the item being in a locker, it was in a small bag with a silver combo lock hanging off of it.

"That's pretty convenient" I muttered.

"Yeah" Caleb nodded.

"Okay we got it so let's-" Caleb froze and put a finger to his lips. Pointing his other finger to his ear, I knew he was asking me if I heard what he was hearing.

Listening closely, the sound of a car door being shut filled my ears and I slowly nodded.

"C'mon, we can go up to the attic" he whispered before guiding me to the hall.

Quickly pulling it down, Caleb ushered me up the steps before going up himself and pulling the stairs back up.

Though it was faint, we could still hear the men's voices as they entered the house, chattering loudly.

"Where did they go?" One of them asked, his voice deep and scratchy. He probably smoked cigarettes.

"Their car is here, so they've got to be in here somewhere" Another voice, this one higher but steady.

"Can't believe we were followed. Annoying fuckers" Caleb muttered.

"They've already been here so they must have been waiting for one of us to show up here. Actually, how did they even know about this place? Isn't it just a vacation home?" I asked and Caleb furrowed his brows.

"If they were keeping an eye on Preston and he came here while they were, that's likely how" he explained.

Suddenly, Caleb stretched his head to look out the tiny window next to us.

"Only one car, and it's a 5 seater. So not that many guys...unless they stuffed someone in the trunk" He whispered.

"Gonna have to fight our way out as usual" he said. Caleb's knife was already in his hand and I moved to take my own out of my boot.

"You good with that knife? Left my gun in the car cause I didn't expect these fuckers to show" he asked and I nodded.

"Yeah"

Footsteps echoed throughout the empty house and Caleb motioned me to stay still as their footsteps started trailing up the stairs.

"Don't move yet, the floorboards creek" he whispered lowly and I nodded.

"Where the hell did they go?" the voice was directly under the attic entrance and Caleb looked to me with a nod and I returned it.

Kicking down the staircase, Caleb jumped down and I followed. As expected, the man got hit by the stair case and fell so Caleb quickly silenced him.

My ear twitched at rushed footsteps and I opened a door before slightly backing into it and then slamming it open on a man running this way. When he fell back, I brought my knife down into his chest, twisting it before pulling it out.

Caleb was fighting off some guy and when I saw one try to come up on his six, I threw my knife right into his head. It wasn't center on though, I was getting rusty.

Caleb managed to get the guy on the ground in a chokehold and ended up doing so until he was unconscious.

Breathing heavily, Caleb sat on the ground for a bit trying to catch his breath so I walked over to him and extended my hand. Taking my hand, Caleb nodded in thanks.

"Thanks for that" he said pointing to the man with the knife in his head and I nodded back.

"Let's circle the house and see if there's one more" Caleb said and I nodded.

After getting my knife back, I took the upstairs while Caleb went down and once making sure the rooms were clear, I headed down to Caleb.

"Clear" I said.

"Yeah, down here is too. Now that we got the bag, we can get out of here" he said.

The two of us headed out of the house and back to our car.

"Wait, what do we do with their car?" I asked.

"Leave it. If Gabriel's men come looking, they'll know what happened here" He said before getting in to his seat and I followed suit.

The drive back to the condo was quick and once we got there, we hurried up to the room.

Approaching the door, the sound of faint arguing was present and we looked to each other in confusion. I put the pin in and opened the door, lo and behold Jamie and Harvey next to each other causing a ruckus as Mikhail and Eros just watched.

"What are they arguing about?" Caleb asked as we walked in and Mikhail shrugged.

"No idea. They came in like that" he said.

"Well there was too many damn people in there!" Harvey exclaimed which only made Jamie give an irritated sigh.

"That doesn't mean cause a scene" he said.

"Hey, dee and dum, can you two stop arguing for five seconds?" Caleb asked and the two turned to him.

"Did you guys get the appointment or did you get kicked out with all that arguing?" He asked.

"Yeah...we got it" Harvey trailed.

~ Flashback ~

"There's so many people here what the hell..." Harvey muttered as he looked around the overpacked waiting room.

"Who knows how long it's gonna take to even get to the receptionist?" Jamie said.

"No way...I'm not doing this" Harvey said and Jamie looked at him in alarm.

"Harvey...what are you doing?" He asked but the taller male ignored him.

"Move out the way, I'm about to win an Emmy" he said as he walked past Jamie who could do nothing to stop him.

Harvey walked over to the middle of the room and looked around before dramatically clutching his heart and collapsing to the ground.

"Aw shit...! I'm having...a fuckin'....heart attack!" Harvey's fake cries for help easily worked on everyone as they all looked at him with worry.

"Oh my god, sir are you alright?" A woman asked as she rushed to his aid.

"Get a gurney and a doctor over here now!" A nurse yelled.

"Of course he has no problem causing a scene..." Jamie muttered before running over to him.

~ Present ~

"They said he could come in next Monday for some tests and a check up" Jamie said.

"Caleb, I trust you two managed to get the package?" Eros asked and Caleb nodded as he showed the bag in his hand.

"Haven't opened it yet though" he said and sat down. He fumbled with the lock for a moment and after a few moments, the lock popped open.

"Thank god we don't have to make a trip to the big Apple" Mikhail said.

"That would have been fun though" Harvey whined.

Caleb took out a small clear vial and partnered with it was a folded paper.

"There's an address and a name, Elzheim. Maybe this is who he was going to take it to, to report it?" Caleb said.

"What's the label say?" Eros asked.

"Carfentanil?" Caleb read and everyone's eyes widened at that.

"Carfentanil? What the fuck? You can't give that to people, that shit is even more dangerous than fentanyl" Jamie said.

"It's no wonder Ali died so quickly" Mikhail muttered.

"They're getting their money so of course they don't care what happens to the client after" I said.

"It's like getting one last high before quitting life for good" Harvey said with a shake of his head.

"I don't even want to know where they got it from" Mikhail said with a frown.

"Okay so new plan. Grabbing a vial isn't necessary since we have this, now we need pictures and names. Anyone that comes in contact with you three, make sure to ask for their names. And Cole, take lots of pictures" Eros said as he looked amongst Harvey, Jamie, and I.

We all nodded.

After concluding our meeting, I decided to go to my room to shower but Eros managed to stop me as he followed me in to my room before I could.

"Your back okay?" He asked and I nodded.

"I've been telling you for days that it's fine. The next time you ask me I'm going to punch you" I stated and Eros nodded with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry but I already told you, I worry because I care. That's not going to change no matter what" Eros said and I found myself going silent, unable to argue with that.

What wasn't silent, however, was my heart as it sped up at the reminder of Eros' confession. I wanted nothing more than to forget it for five minutes but it seemed like every time Eros and I talked, it was all I could think about.

"Well, I just came to check on you so I'll leave you alone now. Good work today and please eat something or else I'll worry some more" Eros said, giving me another smile before leaving as promised.

I did nothing but stand and stare at the closed door, just remembering the words that came out of the man that was in front of me not even a few minutes ago.

He worried because he cared...

Shit, this is bad.

Bad for my heart that is.