Chapter 17

6:47 AM

Los Angeles

3 days before Valentines Day...

(Warning: slight mentions of gore)

"Baby, wake up...", Parker shook his friend gently, Leon moved slightly before suddenly waking up startled, he was breathing heavily and was sweating uncontrollably.

"Shit...", Leon muttered as his eyes were wide open, looking terrified.

"What happened?", Parker asked him, concerned by how horrified his friend looked, he suddenly teared up as he started to sob, covering his face with his arms.

"What happened, Leon? Tell me", Parker asked him, he tried to console him, maybe he had one of those realistic nightmares again.

"I'm not telling you...", Leon's voice sounded a little raspy, he felt hungover from last night where he was drinking the entire night.

"You have to tell me, was it a nightmare?", Parker asked him, usually Leon has had nightmares in the past which would happen frequently but it wasn't as bad, but there were instances Leon has had panic attacks from having nightmares that to him, 'didn't look like a dream, more like his reality'.

"No it wasn't...", Leon replied to him, his hands were trembling as he tried to wipe his tears away.

  "Leon, tell me what it is. I'm not going to let you go until you tell me what's wrong", Parker told him firmly as he grabbed Leon's arm tightly.

"Leave me the fuck alone, I'm just tired", Leon calmed himself down a bit before grabbing his anti-depressants he usually forgets to take every single morning.

"Leon, I'm also tired. I'm hungover as fuck. I had to give myself some bible verses of encouragement to get out of the fucking bed", Parker stated, sighing in defeat. He'll leave him alone in the end, which kind of hurts to watch his friend bottle all of his emotions inside his heart, he'll spill out his guts to someone eventually, he hopes he does.

"You alright now?", Parker asked him, Leon decided to drink a bottle of water as he took his medication before throwing the water bottle away.

"I saw her die again", Leon finally opened up, Parker understood immediately what he was talking about.

"She screamed, calling my name, telling me to watch her out. But she wasn't talking about her, but someone else", Leon explained to him, he was hearing her beg, scream from the worst agony he has ever heard, she was locked up in a room with a door blocking her way. He knew it was her voice, shouting and crying so loudly, later he could hear her scream horribly as someone was beating her down, he could hear chains and knives.

They were tearing her apart, he could hear it from the other side, and later his hands opened the door slowly, as it creaked open, he saw her body lifelessly, she had been torn up completely like a broken doll, her face was disfigured, it didn't look like herself anymore. Blood splattered everywhere, her arms were unattached to her body, an entire massacre.

"Talk to me when you feel like it, alright?", Parker swung his arms around Leon's neck from behind, he hugged him tightly.

"Never", Leon replied, sternly. Parker kissed his neck softly, resting his head on his shoulder as his hand ruffled through Leon's black, silky hair.

"I'm tired...", Parker yawned, Leon rubbed his eyes as he felt tired and drained.

Leon got his phone from his pocket, he looked through his missing messages, he  saw a recent message from Anya, they had delayed the entire campaign since the location they decided to host it has been closed from a power outage.

"They canceled the thing...", Parker sighed from relief, he usually took care of his work in the afternoon so he had some free time to do whatever he pleased.

"So what about Noel?", Parker peeked over to see his friend had a missing text from his bodyguard.

"Good Morning, Sir Cashmere. How has your morning been doing lately?", Leon looked at the text blankly before responding.

"Good morning, it has been fine. Thank you for asking", Leon replied, he turned off his cellphone before getting a loud knocking on his door.

"Man, who the fuck is it?", Parker mumbled as he got off the bed before slowly walking over towards the door, opening it to find Nico frowning from surprise.

"Uhhh, what are you doing here?", Nico questioned him, confused.

"Uhhh, well I'm sleeping in your cousin's room, why?", Parker matched his energy, Nico rolled his eyes before exhaling his breath.

"Is he there?", he asked Parker, the blonde guy turned around to his friend who was still trying to process everything in his life.

"Leon, did you fuck him or what?", Nico asked him, being suspicious about them both.

"Do you give a fuck?", Leon questioned him back, tiredly.

"Uhh- so you did?", Nico looked astonished. "No, we didn't", Leon told him, Parker furrowed his brows slightly.

"We did", Parker switched it up, Leon sighed in frustration.

"Wait- WHAT?!", Nico screamed on top of his lungs, Parker turned himself around before shutting the door behind his face before he locked it without another word.

"Why'd you tell him that?", Leon asked, firmly. "Just to piss him off", Parker replied as he sat down, they actually didn't do anything last night other than sleeping beside each other in the same bed.

"He'll tell everyone...", Leon muttered, Nico usually never keeps his mouth shut to anything he finds out.

"Don't worry about it...", Parker replied as he plopped himself to the bed and yawning once more.

"I'm going back to sleep...", Parker took the cozy white warm blanket to himself as he settled back to go back to slumber.

"I guess so...", Leon didn't have any other plans in mind, Noel usually arrived at his home and stayed around the entire time. He rested his back on the bed and decided to sleep again while hoping not to get a nightmare again.

°~11:07 AM~°

"Sir Cashmere?", a voice called out from behind the bedroom door, Leon was still sleeping soundly without a nightmare this time.

"Sir Cashmere- oh, he's sleeping...", the person opened the door a little to find his boss into a dorminant state, he had forgotten to lock the door so she could open the door with ease.

It was Leon's servant, she decided to close the door silently before walking away.

"What is he doing?", another servant asked her, she laughed softly.

"He's sleeping, looks like he's enjoying his sleep", she replied, giggling.

"Should we get the things ready then?", she asked the other servant, the other servant nodded his head, they both walked out into the hallway and went inside the main kitchen.

"Oh~ Noel is here", the servant pointed out as Leon's bodyguard was sitting down, drinking a glass of cold water.

"Good morning", Noel greeted them with a bright smile, she smiled back as she waved towards him.

"Hey, I know you're a good man, mind if you help us around?", Noel looked up towards them as he got up from his seat, placing his cup in the sink.

"Of course", Noel replied, he didn't mind lending a hand towards someone.

"Okay, now if you can help us with this. Place them in the drawer on top bottom left", the servant told him, pointing towards a huge drawer before giving him a bunch of wine red- colored cloths to him.

Noel opened the drawer with one hand before placing the cloths neatly inside, closing it afterwards.

"I think he should be awake by now...", the servant said, he was holding a dish full of food, placing it on top of a tray, covering it with a food cover.

"Here's the food...", they said before telling a housekeeper to open the door for them. "Thank you", the servant told them, the housekeeper nodded her head.

Noel went back to the seat, he sat down once more before yet another servant comes up towards him, why does his boss really have an huge amount of servants to begin with?

"Como has estado, señor?", (how have you been, sir) the servant spoke to him in Spanish.

"Aquí, lo más sentado haciendo nada", (Just here sitting down doing nothing) Noel replied, he felt tired and kind of irritated from how hungover he is, though it's tolerable enough to continue with his day.

"Good morning...", a voice greeted them all from the kitchen door, it was Leon wearing the same hoodie he was wearing when he collapsed to the floor, it was a terrific experience for his entire family, except for him who thinks it was embarrassing until this day, which means he's not in a good state of mind, he never is.

"Good morning, Sir Cashmere!", everyone greeted him, Noel waved at him.

"How's your morning been?", Leon asked him as his bodyguard stood up before walking out the door, closing it behind him.

"It's been great, Sir Cashmere", Leon rubbed his eye, he still felt like a log.

"I see you have new jewerly", Leon touched Noel's silver earrings, Noel laughed softly.

"I see you notice everything, Sir Cashmere", Noel decided to tease him, Leon felt as if his heart skipped a beat, why did he feel this way, why did he started to feel this way more often?

He has taken notice that he had a certain emotion he can't figure out on his own, it usually comes and goes so fluenty, he's been ignoring the emotion as emotions take away so much energy out of him, he doesn't have time to explore around the principles of the such thing, he'd rather dodge it and move on.

"I have?", Leon asked Noel, his bodyguard smiled at him brightly. "You took notice of my piercing and tattoos, of the pictures of my family. I didn't think you were so attentive of people and your surroundings as much", Noel complimented him, Leon averted his gaze.

"It's just a tactic someone living in the dangerous side of the world has to do", he replied, Noel nodded in agreement. "Correct, Sir Cashmere", Noel replied happily, he's so polite it has caused some people to think he doesn't deserve to work in the mafia in the first place.

"Bro, what took you so long?", Nico asked him as he appeared in front of them, Leon glared at him sternly.

"None of your fucking business", Leon replied to him coldly as he walked past him, Nico frowned at him as he turned himself back to walk beside him.

"Let me guess-" Leon cut him off, "Don't say anything, you piece of shit".

"Who the fuck are you to tell me to shut the fuck up?", Nico scowled angrily.

"I'm your cousin who gives you a place to stay when you get kicked out of the house and an give an allowance unlike your mother...", Leon replied to him seriously, Nico actually fell silent since he couldn't fight back to his doings.

"Well I want that one shirt you were wearing the other day?", Leon slightly raised his brow.

"Slipknot?", Leon asked, Nico snapped his fingers in affirmation. "That one! I want to wear it to a punk show", Leon scoffed at him in response.

"Why would you wear a nu-metal shirt to a punk show anyways?", Nico gave him a side eye before rolling his eyes.

"I mean, you have done it before, right? I remember when you used to dress yourself with fucking rock band shirts and cargo pants back then...", Nico told him, and he wasn't wrong.

"Well it's not like you're going to get my shit anyways...", Leon muttered, Nico tried to push him with arm.

"Come on! I'll tell them about you sleeping with your best friend", Leon stared over at him coldly. "Even if I give you my stuff, you'll tell them anyways. Why would they care who I sleep with to begin with?", Leon told him.

"You know what, go suck a dick for all I care...", Nico slapped his shoulder aggressively. "I hope that boyfriend of yours cheats on you", Leon replied to him, Nico looked over at him with a shocked face.

"What?!"Leon walked up at a faster pace trying to get away from him, ignoring him completely as he went towards the dining room, opening the door.

"Leon!", Parker out of nowhere ran up to him before hugging him, Leon picked up in his arms out of nowhere as Parker buried his face on his shoulder.

"That's gay!", Nico exclaimed as he got inside the room and sat down in one of the chairs, Noel closed the door behind him before greeting Parker.

"Good morning", Noel said, Parker got off of his friend before walking towards his friend's bodyguard and wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

"This is the guy I was talking about, you definitely are a heavy drinker, aren't you?", Noel laughed softly.

"Only when I want to, sir", Noel replied politely.

"Your food was already ready...", Parker took off the food cover from his plate, it was still warm enough to eat.

"Right...", Leon replied to him, he sat down and once he was eating, he had some plans to do.

°~1:43 PM~°

"I have tupils, as well. Though some have wilted from the cold", Leon told his bodyguard, Noel, who asked him what type of plants he had in his garden.

"Orchids...", Noel let out a small gasp as he saw the beautiful orchids in the rich, fertile soil.

"And you also have dandolifs", Noel crouched down, reaching out to touch its vibrant petals so delicately with his fingertips, Leon looked over at him so attentively, looking at him as his bodyguard smiled so joyfully as the wind danced through the plants causing them to its petals and leaves to move, he laughed gently as he looked over to see he had more flowers in his garden.

"You have sunflowers!", Noel exclaimed in disbelief, he lifted his head to gaze over at the sunflowers taller than him, he let out a gasp, his green, lush eyes looked over at Leon.

"I do...", Noel looked at the tallest sunflower in the middle of the entire garden, he looked quite fascinated at the gorgeous flowers he's looking at the moment.

"That one is so beautiful, Sir Cashmere. It would look nice to walk around when you're in a bad mood, don't you think?", he asked, Leon placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Correct", Leon replied, he couldn't really disagree to his statement, he has walked around his garden when he felt enraged before.

"I love sunflowers and blue flowers. They always get my eye", Noel said, politely. "I didn't know that, Noel", Leon replied, as he wrapped his arm around him.

"How long have you been taking care of this garden for, Sir Cashmere? If you don't mind me asking", Leon gazed over at Noel as he looked over at the different variety of flowers in front of his eyes.

"A few years, it's still quite a small garden but it'll eventually grow if I had the time to focus on it", Leon replied to him as he let of him and started to walk back, he walked up to the staircase before sitting down at the edge of the deck.

Noel followed him and sat down next to him, he pulled out his cellphone before he started to text somebody casually.

"What else is on your mind, Sir Cashmere?",Noel asked, looking at his phone screen.

"I have nothing in my mind, what about you?", Leon replied as he gazed over at Noel, he decided to move closer towards him, only being a couple of inches away from eachother.

"Sir Cashmere, do you like any sweets in particular?", Noel asked him, looking up, realizing he's really close to him.

"I don't know", Leon told him, looking towards the sunflowers that were following the movement of the bright, beaming sum.

"I see. What about interests, any activities that you do while you have time to spare?", Noel asked him, nicely.

"I rather not talk about it", Leon responded, averting his gaze.

"You can tell me, Sir Cashmere. It won't hurt anybody", Noel assured him. "I don't think you'll be interested. It's quite boring...", Leon was hesitant, but Noel kept persuading him to respond to him.

"In every activity there's a spark that makes the certain aspect of the entire activity interesting, correct, Sir Cashmere?", Noel said, Leon sighed as he didn't want to push him away, this man was full of politeness and respect.

"I do mosaics. Every now and then", Leon finally confessed. "I haven't heard of anybody doing mosaics until now. I actually like mosaics, Sir Cashmere", Noel replied, mosaics are actually beautiful, he couldn't deny that.

"Right...", Leon leaned towards his bodyguard's face, Noel realized his boss might want something else.

"Anything bothering you, Sir Cashmere?", Noel is a little startled by how close Leon is, his nose almost touching his.

"This might sound strange but... I think I might be attracted to you", Leon muttered quietly, he had admitted to him what was bothering him, he had never found Noel attractive, but he felt somehow different about him as time went on.

"Umm- thank you for the compliment, Sir Cashmere...", Noel stuttered, he's a little worried what's going to happen, but of all people.... him?!

"I know this is so fucking wrong of me to ask, but...can I kiss you?", Leon asked. He knows he can't do this, but the emotion is quite bothering him to a point like this.

"Sir Cashmere, I- I can't do that", Noel sighed, he doesn't want to get fired, so he'd rather play it cool.

"Just once", Leon insisted, he looked at his lush, green eyes.

"That would be wrong of me to do that...", Noel replied, trying to be respectful, Leon's fingers reached out to touch Noel's hand.

"Don't worry about it, Noel...It's just us.  It's alright if you don't want to do it, I understan-", Leon's eyes suddenly flew open in surprise, Noel's lips suddenly met his, he was holding his hand before placing it on his face, rubbing his cheek.

Leon leaned towards him and before they knew it, he was on top of him, he kissed him back.

They gave each other a few more kisses before Noel finally pulled away immediately.

"Okay, you can stop it...", Noel replied, he looked a little red from embarrassment.

"Didn't expect that from you...", Leon replied to him, giving him a faint smile towards him, he's bold, he'll say that.

"You'll kill me if I don't do it", Noel replied to him as he lifted himself back to a sitting position.

"I won't, what are you talking about? If someone forces you, they have no sense of mind", Leon told him, his fingers were playing with Noel's curly hair like always.

"Sir Cashmere...just fire me", Noel said, Leon shook his head hesitantly. "I can't do that either, you know? ", Noel sighed before looking away.

"I find you attractive, Noel...", Leon decided to tease him a bit, Noel moved his gaze to him looking directly at him.

"I rather not say anything on that matter, Sir Cashmere", Leon scoffed in disbelief, he holds his hand gently before pretending nothing has happened between he didn't have anything else in his mind, he decided to have fun with only close bodyguard whom he has to have behind his back everyday for the next 4 months.

"You don't have to", Leon assured him, Noel stayed silent as he was feeling worried, guilty, and shocked at the same time.