© Jojo B 2016

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*N.E.V* The Seven Deadly Simpson Brothers

17

(Picture is Landon)

Walking up and down my apartment, I tried to decide what to do. In the end I couldn't wait any longer and I put on my shoes and grabbed my coat. I walked briskly to Walter's house, no longer feeling lethargic or weak. It was probably all the adrenaline in me and the faint burn of Ario's kiss still on my lips. I reached the Simpson household in double time and knocked on the door loudly.

It was just my luck that Walter himself opened it.

He stood there and looked down at me with grazed and bruised face, seeming to grow angrier by the second. I opened my mouth to say something but he turned and walked back into the house, leaving me outside. I followed Walter in and found him taking his shoes off and dumping them in a pile under the stairs by the basement door. He was wearing his leather jacket too and looked like he had just been out.

    "Can I speak to you please?" I asked, my voice terribly quiet and catching in my throat.

    Walter continued to ignore me and I was starting to think that Landon had been lying when he said Walter didn't hate me.

"Was someone at the..." Gomez's voice dried out when he saw me standing by the stairs.

"Hi," I tried to smile.

"Hey," he replied, glancing between Walter who was still bent over kicking his shoes off and me who was feeling nervous as hell. "I think I'll leave you two to it."

Gomez disappeared upstairs and I turned to look at Walter who was standing up straight now.

"Walter," I said, trying to breathe properly as I looked right into his hazel eyes. "Please can we talk?"

He opened the basement door, "Down here."

I looked at him. He wouldn't hurt me, would he?

"My room's a mess and no one will hear us down here," Walter read my expression and explained in a deadpan voice.

"Okay," I said and headed down the stairs.

The basement was actually a lot bigger than it looked and it was stacked with a TV, bean bags, weights and a treadmill. Walter closed the door, drenching us in darkness before he turned on the light. I watched him descend the stairs, trying to figure out how I could put my feelings into words, but it seemed Walter had that already sorted though.

"Why were you with blue eyes?" he demanded immediately.

I was taken aback by his ferocity and looked at him wide-eyed, "W-who's blue eyes?"

Walter cursed under his breath, tugging hard at his hair.

"Ario Santiago," he spat with venom.

That's what they called him?

"When did you..." I was speechless.

"Just now!" Walter shouted, then lowered his tone when I flinched. "I was going to your house to see you when I saw him leaving the building. I chased him with my knife out of our turf. I didn't have a gun on me or I would have killed him, I swear."

"I'm sorry Walter," I apologised. "He was outside and I invited him in to hel – "

"I don't want to know," Walter interrupted. "I don't want to blow up."

I thought that was him blowing up, I winced. Glancing at him, I determined whether or not I should tell him that Ario and I in fact shared a kiss. It was likely to be a very bad idea, but I wanted to put all the cards on the table, else I'd never stop feeling guilty.

"What?" Walter's voice softened, he must have been reading my face.

"Walter...I..." my eyes swam with tears.

"What did he do?" Walter stepped towards me and held my arms.

The touch made my tummy feel light and fluttery and I did all I could not to throw myself at him and bury my face in his warm chest.

"He kissed me, but I couldn't do it," I said quickly. "I like you."

Walter stared at me so long and so hard I wanted to run away and hide.

"Blue eyes kissed you?" he repeated, almost whispering.

I nodded, tears falling now and my throat burning.

"How long have you two been...?" Walter didn't let go of me. It was like all the energy had been sucked out of him, which was the opposite of what I'd been expecting. He was so unpredictable.

"We haven't been seeing each other," I told him. "He spoke to me a couple times before, at work – "

"He goes to the Dartfish?" Walter frowned, cutting me off.

"Yeah well a few of the Santiagos have been coming recently," I answered quietly.

Walter shook his head and I took the pause as an opportunity to continue.

"He followed me home and knows where I live," I managed to explain between heaving breaths. "And today he came round to apologise for – for testing me."

I broke off crying, unable to go on and Walter pulled me into a hug. He probably didn't understand what I was talking about but he seemed not to care about Ario, or blue eyes anymore.

"I'm sorry Walter," I sobbed. "I don't want him, you're the one that I..."

"Stop crying," he rubbed my back. "It's okay."

He held me until I was able to contain myself and then he pulled me back so that he could look at me.

"Coral I like you too," he spoke gently. "But this isn't going to work with the both of us. You have to decide between him and me, even if it's just friendship, because this runs deeper than territory. He's one of my mortal enemies. If you want us to be friends again, you have to cut him and all the other Santiagos out of your life and I'd expect it to be the same the other way around."

"No, I want to be your friend again," I said, rubbing my eyes. "Not his, that was a mistake and I was confused....and missing you."

Walter finally smiled, "I missed you too."

I smiled back, my lips still trembling.

"I'm willing to..to try and forget what you told me about Ario," Walter said, briefly clenching his jaw. "And we can go back to how we were before."

"Actually," I said shyly, rubbing away the last of my tears. "I kind of want to be more than friends."

I peeked up at him through my wet lashes and saw Walter raising his eyebrows before his eyes clouded over with something that looked like passion.

"You know," he caressed my face, making butterflies erupt in my stomach. "I've been thinking the same thing."

Walter kissed me and I parted my lips almost straight away to let him in. The kiss was slow and deep at first and I could feel Walter's lips trembling as much as mine were. I inhaled when Walter knotted his hand in the hair at the back of my head and kissed me harder. A small sound of pleasure arose from the back of my throat and I felt Walter smile against my lips for a second. I pulled back first, still breathless from all the sensations I was getting in the palms of my hands and the bottom of my stomach.

I looked into Walter's eyes and held his face in my hands, gently rubbing the fresh graze under his eye with my thumb. I cared so much for him, as I'm sure he did for me. Walter pecked me on the lips before taking hold of my hand and heading for the door.

"I think it's food time," Walter said to me. "If anyone's gotten any, that is. You'll stay to eat, right?"

"Yeah," I smiled, feeling so much relief and happiness flowing through me that everything was behind us now.

We stepped out of the basement, hand in hand still and the triplets, who were eating in the kitchen, turned and looked at us.

Severn's face broke into a grin first, "Finally. Now you can smile again Walter."

Walter intentionally stopped smiling and I laughed, pulling my hand out of his shyly. Landon swooped down out of nowhere and clapped his brother Walter on the back whilst grinning and wiggling his brows at me.

"I thought you had a date," Walter shoved him away.

"I do," Landon replied, unable to stop smiling. "I'm late."

"He's doing that thing when he starts showing less interest in the girl so that she starts to get the message," Giovanni explained with a mouth full of noodles. "That way when he breaks it off, it hurts her less...or something like that."

I was surprised. It didn't occur to me how harsh Landon could be towards other girls when he was so kind to me.

"I'm not a prick, I swear," Landon thrust his face down to meet mine, causing Walter to push him away again. "The girls I 'date' treat themselves like trash, so if I do the same, it shouldn't matter, should it?"

Well when he said it like that....but still. It made me wonder why he didn't just settle for a real relationship when he clearly knew so much about how they worked.

"I think it does matter," Gomez considered. "But then again, to not see your face again would be a blessing."

"Hey," Landon said to Gomez and pointed at his face. "This face is getting some tonight, and yours isn't."

"Can we not?" Walter frowned at them.

"Oh yeah," Gomez smirked at me. "Excuse my behaviour my lady, but since you and Walter are clearly a thing now, I suppose you'll be round here more often and, well I'm not always a polite gentleman so you'll get used to it."

"Same," Severn said, giving me a thumbs up and Giovanni seconded it.

"Okay," I smiled. "It's your house, your way."

"So," Landon squeezed himself between me and Walter then put his arms around our shoulders. "Did I do my job right?"

"You did nothing," Walter scowled at him. "Shut up, Landon."

"But by the looks of things," Landon smiled down at me. "After all the waiting, it's a happy ending."

I blushed and smiled at the floor.

"Piss off," Walter growled, elbowing him off us.

I heard someone coming down the stairs behind us and Eli showed up at the end of them. I gave him a smile, expecting him to return it but Eli frowned at me and then headed into the kitchen without a word. I looked up at Walter questioningly and he only scowled at the back of Eli's head.

"Don't mind him," Walter muttered.

"He's a weird one," Landon nudged my side playfully.

Weird was one way to say it. Eli was very bipolar and it sure was confusing.

"Let's eat something," Walter said, leading us to the kitchen.

The boys had ordered big pots of noodles each and the triplets had just finished theirs. I sat down at the dining table and was handed my own pot of noodles with vegetables and pieces of chicken in it.

"Walter no," I looked up at him sharply. "I can't have that. What will you eat?"

"There are lots of things in the fridge," he replied with a lazy shrug. "Don't stress, just enjoy it."

He wasn't going to take no for an answer, so I thanked him with a guilty look and started to eat.

"If you can't finish it," Giovanni was grinning at me. "You know where I am."

"Shut up Gio," Walter scowled at him as he opened the fridge to find some food. "Coral, eat as much as you want. Don't listen to him."

I smiled back at Giovanni as I ate another bite and when Walter had his back turned, I sent him a nod, agreeing to his proposal.

"Did you know blue eyes was in our territory just after the fight today?" Walter murmured to his brothers, getting out some leftover pizza.

"Serious?" Landon raised his eyebrows at him.

"Yeah," Walter nodded, turning to face us all. "He had some nerve. I chased him all the way out."

"That little bitch," Landon shook his head at himself.

"I swear you cut him?" Eli asked in a low voice.

Getting a proper look at him, I saw that he too had a couple grazes on his face and what also seemed like a forming black eye.

"I did," Walter growled. "But clearly not deep enough."

I winced, dropping my gaze. Walter must have noticed and he sighed, eating his pizza cold.

"You're probably wondering who blue eyes is," Severn sent me a smile.

"Walter already told me," I replied. "I didn't know you guys had nicknames for the Santiagos."

"Of course we do. Did you really think we'd bless them with the courtesy of using their actual names? And besides, it just habit now," Gomez grinned, coming to sit down on the seat next to me. "Do you wanna know the rest of them?"

I copied his expression, "Sure."

"Okay," Landon took it from there. "So there's Carlos, you probably know him, everyone knows him. He's their leader and we call him skull face."

"Skull face?" I repeated, raising my eyebrows.

"Yeah," Landon nodded and Severn sucked in his cheeks then made cutting actions along his cheekbones as a demonstration. "Because his cheekbones are so sharp, his head just looks like a skull."

I laughed out loud, "Isn't that a compliment though?"

"Shut up," Gomez covered my mouth, laughing all the same. "It's just what we say."

    "Okay," I said in a muffled voice, smiling hard. "Got it."

Gomez removed his hand and then he continued from Landon, "Diego is mop head. His hair is just so...."

"Moppy," Severn said and the triplets all shrugged at the same time. "No other word to describe it."

The mention of Diego was enough to make me uncomfortable and slightly afraid, but hearing him being referred to as a 'mop head' made him seem absolutely harmless and made me laugh again.

"Ario is blue eyes," Landon said, nodding at Walter. "Walter's already told you that one."

I made sure not to say anything about Ario so as not to upset Walter and the boys thankfully didn't notice.

"You may see that one as a compliment too," Landon went on. "But it's not. We call him blue eyes because he's the only Hispanic person we've ever seen with blue eyes and not brown - and I've personally seen a lot of Latinas."

"More than seen a lot of Latinas," Gomez said in a low voice, wiggling his eyebrows, earning a snigger from Severn and Gio.

"Who's next?" Severn scratched the back of his head.

"The twins Miguel and Manuel," Gomez made a face of disgust. "We call them blockheads."

"Yeah," Giovanni added. "Their jaws are so square, their heads might as well be cubes."

I'd been eating some of my noodles when I started to laugh at the same time, resulting in me inhaling food and coughing hard in order to breathe again. Gomez slapped my back and tears sprang to my eyes, mainly from the burning sensation in my chest. The Simpsons made the Santiagos seem a lot less threatening.

"Not so hard," Walter gave Gomez a look as he finished off his slice.

"Last but not least," Landon smiled cheekily. "Batty boy."

"Batty as in crazy?" I questioned.

"No," Landon corrected me. "Batty as in gay."

"Paulo?" I arched my brows. "I didn't know he was gay."

"He's not. Well we don't think he is," Landon confused me. "He just looks gay."

    "I didn't know gay had a look," I commented.

"Yes, okay camp then," Gomez elaborated. "Like the stereotype gay guy. There are people like that who exist, or there wouldn't be a stereotype."

"Okay, fair enough," I shrugged. "Anyway I guess you know him more than I do. Which isn't at all."

There was noise at the front door and I glanced around, seeing all of the Simpson brothers, except Phoenix, which meant he was the one entering the house at that very moment. I stood up, scared and ready to run or hide if I needed to and Walter walked up to me, frowning in concern.

"What is it?" he asked me lowly.

"If Phoenix sees me back in his house..." I whispered, unable to finish my sentence.

Walter's face hardened, "I won't ever let him hurt you."

Phoenix walked into view and stopped when he saw me in the kitchen. The boys were all silent and Walter stood and faced Phoenix, partly shielding me. Phoenix's deep stare made my stomach knot in discomfort and Landon hopped off the counter and walked up to Phoenix without a word.

"You okay?" Landon asked his brother.

"Fine," Phoenix grunted, his eyes still on me and then he turned away and went up the stairs.

"I've lost my appetite," Walter grumbled, putting the rest of his third slice in the bin, despite Gio trying to reach for it.

"Here Gio," I gave him my noodles which I hadn't gotten very far with. "I'm full."

"Thanks," Gio grinned at me, eagerly taking the food. "Don't let Phoenix get to you. He doesn't like new people."

"Gio," Walter sent him an annoyed look.

"Sorry," he ducked his head. "I was just trying to be helpful."

Walter ignored him and he headed out the kitchen, me following him. I was very aware of Eli's sour look and it really made me wonder what was with him.

Landon checked the time on his phone. "I didn't mean to be this late, damn. I have to go. See you sooner rather than later Coral."

He gave me a wink and a cheeky smile before leaving the house.

"Wanna go upstairs?" Walter asked me, looking at the floor. "Get away from the noise."

"Okay," I agreed, looking back at the kitchen where the triplets were laughing about something and thinking about whether we would kiss again or not.

We went up together and I looked at the various doors, wondering which one Phoenix was behind and why he was always so cold.

As soon as Walter and I entered his room, he blew up.

There was no other way to describe it, he went ballistic. He grabbed the handle of a wooden bat that had already been broken in two and started smashing it against a wall. Shouting angrily, Walter formed multiple dents in the plaster and when the bat splintered into tiny pieces, he started using his fists instead.

"Walter please, stop," I tried to get close to him without getting punched. "You're hurting yourself."

"I'm gonna kill him," Walter said, breathing deeply as he whirled around to face me. "I'm gonna kill that – "

"Please Walter," I cried. "Calm down."

His knuckles were dripping blood onto his dark carpet but Walter didn't even seem to notice. Of course he'd be mad, I thought. It didn't seem real enough for him to have taken the news so calmly the first time.

"I've always hated blue eyes, but now," Walter shook his head. "Now, I'm going to kill him for sure."

"Walter," I rushed to him and held his arms. "You can't kill him."

"I can do anything I want," Walter looked at me, fury still blazing in his eyes.

I had to calm him down.

"If you kill Ario, I'm sure Carlos and his gang won't take it so lightly," I said patiently, trying not to show how worried I really was. "The last thing either of us wants is one of your brothers dead."

Walter sighed deeply, "But he – "

"I know," I said, cupping his face. "And I'm sorry, but please don't let your anger make you do something you'll regret."

Walter scowled, "At least let me shoot him. I'll make sure he survives that."

I stared at him in horror, knowing full well that Walter was serious. I didn't want Ario hurt, let alone shot at, because I let him kiss me. I just needed to make Walter know that Ario was no longer a threat. I wanted to be with him and no one else.

"Don't shoot him," I said softly. "You said you'd put that behind you."

Walter's face fell, "It's not easy Coral."

"I know it's not easy," I said, searching his eyes. "But please don't do anything stupid."

Walter breathed slowly for a few moments and I said nothing, allowing him to hopefully relax a little.

"At least explain to me how you felt about it," Walter said eventually. "Because I can't forget about it when I don't fully understand."

I took a breath, "I was confused most of all. Part of me wanted comfort and he was offering it to me, but part of me knew that it wasn't the right thing to do. He was in a gang and the whole reason I'd stopped seeing you was because you were in a gang too, so I was just contradicting myself. He...he called me b-beautiful and well...no one had called me that before and I guess I just let myself fall for it. I didn't know if he really meant it or not and I stopped the kiss before it....got heated or anything. You were all I could think about and I told him that I still liked you. I mean, I didn't say your name but he didn't ask anyway. After that, he left and said he wouldn't bother me again."

Walter had been watching me quietly and listening hard, and when I stopped talking he took my hands in his battered and bleeding ones.

"You're more than beautiful to me," Walter said, looking at every single inch of my face. "I'll write for you, because at the moment my mind is...just...jumbled and I can't get the words out right."

"Thank you," I said, trying not to smile so hard because I knew Walter meant it, I trusted him.

We gazed at each other for a couple of seconds until I noticed the warm wet feeling of blood on my hands.

"Walter, we need to fix that," I said, lifting his busted knuckles.

"Oh," he looked down. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing," I said sternly. "Where's the bathroom?"

After I'd cleaned and patched up Walter's hands we went back to his room and this time I noticed how much of a mess it really was. His desk was smashed almost to pieces and the chair that went with it had been thrown to the other side of the room. Walter had stabbed his sofa multiple times so that it was covered in lots of slashes where the white stuffing within was showing. I tried not to think about it being a human body, or Ario Santiago in particular.

"You cold?" Walter asked me when I shuddered.

"A little bit," I rubbed the goosebumps on my arm.

"Hey," Walter turned so that he was standing in front of me, facing me. "I'm sorry if I scared you. My room I mean. I didn't want you to see it but..." he sighed. "What I'm saying is that I just get angry a lot, but I would never lay a finger on you. Believe me."

"I do believe you," I said to him.

"I'll protect you," Walter rubbed my arms. "I'll look after you. And when the time is right, I'll be there for you to talk to me. About all the things that trouble you, the things that keep you up at night. I want to be there for you Coral."

I gave Walter a wobbling smile before throwing myself at him, squeezing my eyes shut as he held me tight. I felt safe and loved, and happier than I'd been in a while.

"You wanna get in the bed?" Walter asked me, kissing the top of my head. "Just to lie down for a bit?"

"Yeah, okay," I agreed.

Walter kicked pieces of splintered wood out of the way as he walked to the bed and I followed his footsteps, still holding onto his hand. Walter and I lay on his bed, leaning against the backboard with pillows propped up behind our backs. Walter turned to look at me, brushing my hair over my shoulder and cupping my face in his hand. He leaned in and kissed me and I closed my eyes and let his lips, his tongue take me out of the room and to a place of euphoria.

"He knows where you live," Walter said after he'd pulled back. "And it won't be long until he finds out that you're with me. You're not safe Coral, and I can't have that."

"I'm safe with you right now," I replied, not wanting him to worry or get angered anymore by Ario and his gang.

I ran my fingertips along Walter's arm, which even though was relaxed, was big and powerful. In fact, Walter's navy blue t-shirt looked nice and snug on him and my eyes trailed down to his chest that was all to visible through the fabric. I couldn't believe we were together, he was mine to kiss and touch and feel and the same was true with me and him. It was something new and exhilarating.

"Fine," Walter sighed, rubbing his face. "But later we have to sort something out, maybe I could come stay round yours some nights or – "

"Walter relax," I shushed him, putting a finger to his lips.

Walter looked at my finger and looked back at me, holding his breath it seemed.

"Right now - I'm safe - with you," I said, kissing him softly on the lips between each phrase.

Walter inhaled deeply before his hands grasped my waist and he held me closer to him, kissing me hard. He rolled us over so that he was on top and his lips devoured mine and I was soon breathless but enjoying how he felt. The kiss was rough and I could tell how much Walter was putting his feelings behind it. We broke away and I suddenly yawned.

"You're tired," Walter was immediately concerned. "Sleep in my bed, I'll sleep over there."

Walter pointed at the torn up sofa and I looked at him, trying to think. I didn't want him to have to sleep on the cramped and damaged thing, but I also didn't know if I was ready to share a bed with him yet. He had made the decision for me of course, but I still felt a little bad.

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"I'll be fine," Walter sent me a reassuring smile. "Rest Coral."

He kissed my forehead and I smiled at him.

"Thank you Walter," I said.

"Don't worry about it," he replied.

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