E r o s

After Alistair and I finished our conversation, I headed back into the main room to find Cole. It wasn't hard, just look for the only guy standing by himself with a drink in his hand.

"I'm back darling" I said, resting an arm on his shoulder as I reached him.

Cole made no comment about my term of endearment and simply pushed the glass in his hand into mine.

"That Renard dude talks a lot" Cole stated and I furrowed my brow.

"Really? He didn't seem to be that way earlier..." I said and Cole shrugged.

"Yeah, kinda nosy but I guess he's okay. He even offered to exchange numbers but I didn't feel like it" Cole said and while my lover seemed all cool about it, I felt a part of me get ticked off.

There goes the jealousy alarm.

"He asked for your number?" I muttered and Cole nodded.

"Mhm. I guess he wants to be friends" Cole said.

Unease was tickling my gut so I downed the glass of wine to rid myself of the weird feeling. It's not as if I was bothered by the fact that Renard was being buddy buddy with Cole (okay maybe just a little), it was mainly the part where he knew me and refused to tell me when we had met.

I don't think I could leave here tonight without figuring out where we knew each other from.

Curse my curiosity.

Spotting the average height man from across the room, I told Cole that I'd be right back before approaching Renard. After passing off my empty glass to one of the servers, I reached my hand out to tap Renard on his shoulder.

He turned and I gave a smile that didn't reach my eyes.

"So, you mentioned that you knew me. Care to elaborate?" I said, getting straight to the point. I didn't need to pretend to have a decent conversation before dropping the question, the pointless chatter would not only waste my time but it would also irritate the shit out of me.

"No, not at the moment" He said and I was taken aback by the answer. What the fuck did he mean by 'not at the moment'?

"And why is that?" I said, trying to keep my cool but the urge to choke the answer out of him was clawing at me so I shoved my hands in my pockets.

"I don't want to ruin anything" Renard said, giving a cold smile in return.

"Well, side note, you've already ruined my first impression" I said and Renard chuckled, my irritation rising the longer that annoying smile stayed on his face.

To the outside, it would look as if the two of us were having a normal conversation but little did these people know, I was about two seconds from shoving my first in his face.

"That's quite alright with me" He said.

How exactly did Alistair meet this man? And they were good friends? I didn't want to believe it but Alistair seemed to be happy to introduce us.

Too bad I'm not liking his friend all that much.

I was contemplating on leaving but at the same time, my need to know things was grounding me.

Did he have some kind of grudge against me? I don't exactly remember every single person that comes in and out of my life but I did my best to know the names of those that work under me.

"Alistair told you of his plans, yes?" Renard said and I nodded.

Renard smirked.

"Then that means you'll have plenty of time to try and remember who I am. If you get it before the month is up, I'll even throw in a reward" His tone was condescending, as if he were talking to his pet and I was a few seconds from showing this fucker who the real bitch is.

"If it weren't for the fact that this is Alistair's banquet, the barrel of my gun would be down your throat already" I gritted out.

"So violent. Is that how you got Cole to stay with you? I wouldn't be surprised" Renard said.

My hand had reached out before I knew it, grabbing his face and slamming his head into the wall behind him. I could hear collective gasps from people around the room but at this point, I couldn't give a shit as I leaned down to his ear.

"If you want to keep your sorry excuse of a life, then I suggest you remember who the fuck you're talking to. I don't give a shit if you're Alistair's friend, to me, you're just some bitch that doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut" I made sure to put every ounce of annoyance and disgust he had made me feel in the last five minutes, into those words.

"Eros" a hand on my shoulder made me loosen my grip on Renard and I noticed that it was Cole.

He just shook his head at me, as if telling me whatever was going on between us wasn't worth it. I huffed and dropped the bastard, backing away from his pathetic form.

"What the hell is going on here?" Alistair's voice got closer as he rushed over to the two of us, opting for helping Renard up off the ground first.

"Sorry, it seems I'm a bit drunk. I never know when to stop talking and I guess I said some things that were out of line" Renard said, laughing a bit as if I didn't just slam his skull into the wall.

Alistair turned to me with a confused look on his face and I could hear the scolding coming before he even started it.

"Eros, what were you-"

"Save me the lecture. I'm not a child" I cut him off, giving a short glare to Renard before walking away.

"Come on, Cole" I said and Cole followed after me.

"What about Kenneth and Eloise?" He asked.

"I'll apologize to them later" I muttered.

When we were finally met with the cool night breeze, I took a deep breathe in an attempt to calm myself down. I didn't give a shit about how he knew me, the next time that fucker tries to talk to me I'm putting a bullet in his mouth.

Calling for Johnny to come pick us up, I sat on the bench with my legs spread, leaning over and resting my arms on them.

"What happened back there?" Cole's voice was clear as he spoke, coming out louder than normal thanks to there being no other disturbances around us.

"He pissed me off" was all I cared to reply for, not really wanting to relive our conversation that ended up in me bashing his head in the wall.

After a moment, I heard Cole's footsteps become distant, he had walked off somewhere but I couldn't bring it in me to follow after him. After being hit with Alistair's offer my mind was already muddled, I didn't need some pompous bitch in my face treating our conversation like it was some game.

If Renard really did have a grudge of some kind of hate towards me, he was being a pussy about it.

A cold feeling being pressed against my cheek startled me and I looked to see Cole handing me something.

"Cole...it's ten at night" I said as I looked at the pudding cup.

"So what" he said as he shoved a spoon in my hand before seating himself next to me, already opening his and beginning to devour it.

This was his way of trying to calm me down and although I appreciated it, I didn't want pudding.

"What are you doing?" Cole questioned as I reached over and buried my head into his shoulder.

"Hugging the only piece left of my sanity" I said and Cole just shook his head.

"You can't just beat people up because they make you angry" Cole said, referring to the incident inside.

"I sure as hell can" I said and Cole sighed.

The two of us remained quiet for a bit and eventually I decided to eat some of the pudding Cole so generously brought for me. After the first two spoonfuls though, I didn't want anymore, pudding wasn't really helping me right now.

I looked at Cole and he looked back at me with a 'what?' expression.

"Can we have sex later? I need some form of stress relief and this pudding isn't cutting it" I said, holding the barely touched pudding up to his face.

"Am I a stress relief outlet now?" Cole asked and I shook my head.

"Don't take it like that. I'd totally let you do me if you were feeling stressed. It's called equal exchange darling" I said, resuming my position of resting my head on his shoulder. It was a bit weird since I was taller than him but I just needed the comfort at the moment.

"One round" Cole said after a moment of silence.

"Two" I said and I could feel Cole's glare.

"Are we really doing this again?" He asked and I chuckled.

"Oh come on, you threatened to make me jack off by myself earlier. I've been a good boy just let me have you" I said.

"Fine but I'm on top" he said and I smirked.

"If you think you can beat me, sure" I said, now in a better mood than a few minutes ago.

I was now very eager to get home but Johnny was taking forever to get here.

I'm totally firing him again if he isn't here within the next ten minutes.

~ A Week Later ~

"So let me get this straight. Alistair wants you to come with him to Italy to close a big deal but you're hesitant?" Mikhail asked.

The two of us were sitting in my office, I had wanted to discuss this whole ordeal with Mikhail earlier but he was busy these past few days.

"For good reasons" I said and Mikhail raised a brow.

"Good reasons like what?" He asked.

"We don't know how these guys operate, how can we fully put our trust in them? Secondly, we're not even sure if the deal will be successful, who knows what their terms may include or if we'll be able to negotiate them. And lastly, Alistair's little friend is going and I'd rather not have to see his stupid face ever again" I said, a sour feeling welling within me at the reminder of last week's incident.

Mikhail just shook his head at me.

"Eros, put on your big boy pants and go. Didn't you say you wanted to branch out someday?" He asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, to different parts of the country not a whole other continent. Besides, my Italian isn't as good as it used to be" I said.

"Excuses. You better start brushing up on it" Mikhail's laughter rung out in the office and I sighed.

"Now what's this about Alistair's friend?" Mikhail asked.

"He said we'd met briefly before but honestly, I've never seen that man before last week. He said some shit that irked me so I bashed his head into the wall" I explain and Mikhail deadpanned.

"You can't just bash people's skulls into the wall because you're angry" he said and I groaned.

"Cole already gave me that lecture. The bastard tried to play it off as him being drunk but it was just a load of bullshit. Only thing he could have been drunk off of was his stupidity" I said.

"Are you sure you've never seen him before? What if he had a different appearance? Maybe even a different name?" Mikhail suggested.

"I don't know, I don't even care at this point. If I accept Alistair's proposal, regardless of whatever connections he has to Alistair, I will be ending his life promptly if he tries something like that again" I said.

"You need a time out away from your gun" Mikhail said and I chuckled.

"So, I never did get to ask you. How was your time with my angel of a cousin?" I said and Mikhail's face turned blank.

"Angel isn't the way I would describe him" he said and I couldn't help the laughter that tumbled from my lips.

"Yeah, you get used to it, really" I said.

"I wasn't bothered by Carter's constant insults, it was mainly just the way he pushed away all of my attempts to befriend him" He said and I nodded.

"It's pretty complicated. He's never had anyone that understood him growing up and I guess that because of it, he just thinks no one ever will. He doesn't seem like he wants to give anyone a chance either" I explained and Mikhail nodded.

"If it weren't for the fact that he called my girlfriend a malnourished goldfish, I'd have liked for him to stay a bit longer" Mikhail said and I sighed.

God damnit Carter...

"I guess I should get back to Alistair soon" I mused and Mikhail nodded.

"Will you be bringing anyone other than Cole?" Mikhail asked and I nodded.

"I plan to bring Harvey, as much as he's an idiot, he's fluent in Italian. He can teach Cole some along the way. You and Jamie are obviously in charge while I'm gone" I said and Mikhail nodded.

"Alright then, I'll let Harvey know to get himself ready for a possible trip" He said before standing up and leaving the room.

Once he was gone, I grabbed my phone and began to type out a message to Alistair.

'I've thought about it and I'd like to take you up on your offer. Send me the details and I'll handle everything on my side'

Looking down to my phone, I couldn't help but hope that I wouldn't regret making this decision before pressing send.