Chapter 18

1:37 PM

Downtown LA

February

Two days before Valentines Day...

"Dad! What are you doing?", Zoey asked as she was being held by his father, Leon walked over to the warehouse before opening the door, he looked over at Noel.

"Alright, Sir Cashmere-", the door burst open, Noel jumped back before putting any further.

"Oh it's the boss!", a man said as he turned his head, it was one of Leon's men from his mafia group.

"Boss, the Italians, Mr.Klein, and Mr. Cashmere are here, he wants an explanation", Leon sighed in defeat, he has found out about their new alliance.

"Just let us in and keep an eye out for any altercations", Leon commanded, the man nodded his head.

"Everyone, the boss is here!", the man yelled out as they went inside, he first saw his grandfather, Parker, and Marcello with a girl by his side, who is his wife along with his men surrounding him.

"LEON! You tell me what the fuck is this?!", Adrik yelled out at top of his lungs, furiously.

"Well I'm taking my niece, Zoey, let's go!", Parker offered as he ran over his way to get Leon's daughter out of his hands before carrying her, walking out to what it felt like a serious situation.

"This is my new ally, you might as well stop raising your voice at me and watch your fucking tone", Leon warned his grandfather, Adrik scoffed in disbelief before staring at him deeply.

"You should have fucking told me about you making an alliance with the Italians! It's so fucking selfish to do such a risky thing without telling the ones you can trust", Leon glared at him, he didn't have to worry whom he got along with, he's a grown adult with a child, so he should be able to make his decisions.

"I can't trust you", Leon replied to him coldly. "You have to trust me, we're all family! Now tell me you're going to either stop this fucking joke or kill all of them now", Adrik told him, sternly. The Italian men all started to point their guns towards Leon and Adrik.

"I could kill them, but I won't. He's going to help us around defeating W.I.N, if you don't like it, then fuck you", Leon replied to him, mercilessly.

"Hey! Put it down!", Marcello turned to shout at his men, they all lowered their guns, Marcello stared over at Adrik with a mischievous grin on his face.

"How surprising, right, Mr. Cashmere? Leon helps us and we help him, a win is a win, no?", Adrik clenched his jaw in pure anger.

"Leon, you betrayed us! Don't call me for help when you getting buried to the ground", Adrik threaten him, Leon sighed in frustration.

"I did what would help us, now that I finally accomplished something, you're being a bitch about it because it wasn't you who did it",Leon replied coldly,  Marcello maliciously laughed, his wife looked over at him with a smirk.

"Mr. Cashmere, we are helping the family now, why are you so mad about it?", he asked, Adrik kicked the table in front of him violently before finally walking away. "I won't forgive you for that shit!".

He suddenly turned back to punch him violently on the face, Leon felt a sting of pain before he punched him reflexively. Noel separated the both of them, Adrik tripped and fell down.

"What the hell?", Adrik exclaimed furiously. Some of Leon's men decided to drag him away, but he stood up in his feet before stumbling a few steps back as he furrowed his brow from anger. "Don't come to me when you need me, Leon Cashmere", Adrik warned him as he was being escorted out of the door.

°~2:56 PM~°

"Oh my, this is really good training they have!", Marcello's wife said. " I know, and they'll use it against the other bad people in the world", Parker chuckled, Zoey looked quite impressed as he saw the men from the glass window wall up high, they were at the other building next to the huge warehouse whom people from Leon's mafia group trained as to give them experience of fighting for their sake.

"I want to be strong like them!", Zoey yelled out, Leon looked over before laughing softly.

"You will...", Leon replied to her, she hugged his neck as she was being carried on his shoulders.

"Man, It's been like an hour just watching these motherfuckers punch the fuck out of the other bitches, can we eat or something?", Parker decided to complain, though Zoey did eat before arriving over where they were, the rest of them haven't eaten lunch at all.

"Let's go then", Leon decided to walk over the glass bridge, and go all the way to the main cafeteria, on which a huge crowd were already eating their lunches.

"Que onda, carnal?", a voice called out from the distance, it was Julian. "How's your day been going lately?", Leon asked him, Parker decided to walk past them to order his meal, Julian noticed him on the corner of his eye.

"Oye! What about you? You're not going to greet me?", Julian grabbed him by his shoulder, Parker rolled his eye.

"Wait- you're not wearing your pirate looking eye patch...", Julian noticed, Parker smiled at him frankly.

"I know, but I couldn't find it", Parker told him, he only has an eye due to losing it in a mafia altercation a long time ago, so he usually wears his pirate  eye patch, but now he's wearing another one.

"Well, you look good without it", Julian complimented him, Parker decided to shrug it off and continue walk away to the counter to finally get his food.

"Alright, we'll sit down over here if that's alright with you", Marcello suggested as he went over at a clean, white large table.

They all followed towards the table and  took their seats, a server eventually arrived over at their place, everyone took their turns ordering their food before they waited patiently.

"This is interesting, a lot of people from different places are here. That's so strange, considering that Russians would go with the Russians and Italians with Italians, not with black or Chinese people", Marcello rolled his eyes before sighing audibly.

"Sweetie, please compose yourself, we are trying to make an alliance over here with the Russians. We can't have you screw up", Marcello decided to be more firm towards his wife who decided to poke another remark in front of their faces. Leon glared at her, she turned to look as she noticed him staring at him with discomfort.

"Hey, I'm just saying. It's not like he's Russian anyways", Leon stared his dark, angered gaze towards Marcello, he noticed he was at the point of bursting out in front of her eyes.

"I'm half- Russian, Mrs. Mancini", she decided to let out a small giggle before smiling at him. "Right, so you're not really Russian", Leon sighed before looking over at Zoey who was playing on her tablet as she was eating her small bag of chips.

"She's your kid, right?", she decided to questioned him, he nodded his head before looking as she was playing a nail art game on her screen, she loves painting nails.

"What are you doing, sweetheart?", Zoey gazed over at him happily before showing him a nail design of blue nails with dolphins and pearls.

"That looks amazing, love", Leon complimented her work, she laughed softly. "Thank you, Dad!", Zoey replied before going back to her hobby.

"But she looks so different, it's quite amazing. Her hair looks really difficult to handle, have you tried to just cut it short?", she bombarded him with question after questions like an unsolved puzzle.

"I think it's too many questions", Leon decided to make her stop, but she just couldn't keep her mouth shut for her own sake.

"I'm just saying, like his hair is also difficult to take care of, they end up looking really nappy or dry. You would just shave it off, you know. I could never have long hair", she decided to drag Noel as he got his plate laid out in front of him.

"But I haven't, Mrs. Mancini. It can be difficult to take care of it, but if you have the dedication, your hair will be fine", Parker gazed over as he overheard the conversation they were having from across the table.

"I'm sorry but can you stop being racist?", Parker decided to step forward, Mrs. Mancini looked over at Parker in disbelief.

"I'm what now?", she raised an eyebrow, Marcello just ate his food in silence as he knows he really doesn't know how to shut her wife up for good.

"Racist. You're literally around Hispanics, Asians, and Black people. Don't say all of that right now, I can't have someone talk in a horrible way to my friends like that. How would you feel if I said the only thing Italians eat is pizza? Fucking offensive, right?", Parker decided to actually refrain her from saying anymore of her ridiculous rambling of stereotypes and judgement of other people of color.

Suddenly, everyone fell silent and continued with finishing their plates. Parker decided to sit next to Leon and hold his hand while he rambled as usual, when he had an interest in his mind, he would never shut up about it.

"That's you", Leon simply responded as he took a sip of his cold glass of water.

"Stop it! You're always saying I'm on my own when I want to do something with your dumbass, it's just so goddamn ignorant!", Parker scolded him angrily.

  "Talking about it, what about...koi fish?", Parker decided to switch the topic.

"I have a pond full of them", Julian said as he gazed towards him. Parker's eye suddenly glistened with joy. "Holy shit!", Parker decided to walk over next to Julian before sitting on top of the table.

"Tell me about it", he wanted to listen on what he had to say about the type of fish he desired.

"This is tiring, you said you were going to have some fun over here?", Marcello's wife questioned, he looked over at her. "Well I was until you decided to ruin the fun", he replied, in a more serious tone.

"Well thank you for your time, Mr. Cashmere. Apologies on my part for my wife's actions", her eye was suddenly twitching with ire.

"I haven't done anything wrong! You know what, this people are nothing but little pieces of shit with no self respect!", She snapped at them all, Noel looked at her while eating his food, they both were unbothered by her racist remarks.

"Delya!", he decided to slap her in the face out of anger, she placed her hand on her bruised red cheek, smudging her lipstick.

She decided to storm out without another word out of rage, Leon had let her slip away, but next time he won't be too merciful on her actions.

"Again, I apologize", Marcello said before walking away, leaving the rest of them in confusion and offended.

"I should've just screamed at her", Leon finally said, Noel nodded in agreement.

"Next time she'll run away before even getting a chance to step a foot into a place where we stand. Pinche loca", Julian joined in, Parker snickered in response.

"They are not certainly good together either. Did you see the fucking slap that man gave to her bitch ass? She definitely deserved that. I wouldn't have to do have the guts to hit a lady like that, but I would have to do it when I need to", Parker told them, Zoey looked over at him as she let out an exaggerated gasp.

"Do not say bad words! It's not okay!", Zoey exclaimed in a demanding voice, but everyone looked over at her in silence before they burst out laughing.

"Well I don't care, Zoey! I am an adult so I can say whatever I want", Parker responded to her, while laughing. Leon tried not to lose his composure in front of them so he covered his mouth with his hand, lowering his head trying to hide his face.

"Now look who the fuck is laughing!", Parker pointed at him, Julian looked over and chuckled joyfully.

"I said no bad words, Uncle!", Zoey said again, furiously.

"Everyone says it, mija. Don't worry about it and just don't end up like us", Julian advised her, she sighed in frustration.

"It's bad words, you cannot say them. Dad, you can't say bad words", Zoey told her, Leon lifted his head before gazing over at her delightfully

"And I will still slay bad words", Leon decided to tease her, everybody was.

"Stop it!", Zoey cried out, she put her tablet down before placing it back to her small pink, glittery backpack.

"Alright, we're just joking. I'm sorry, love", Leon apologized to her as she looked really mad, she's demanding...just like his father.

"I want to go home...", Zoey said as she decided to get off the table.

They all went their separate ways throughout the day, they ended up at his home. Zoey went to sleep early and Nico was locked up in his room. It was just the both of them. Just the both of them.

°~8:32 PM~°

"Bueno pues, I think it will be better if I just put this back, Sir Cashmere", Leon suggested to play some board games to pass the time since he recently was done with taking a shower after hitting the gym.

"Alright...",Leon laid himself back at the couch, looking towards the beautiful black piano in front of his eyes.

"Everything alright, Sir Cashmere?", Noel asked as he saw him, Leon lifted his head as he saw Noel sat down on the floor next to his position.

"Just thinking", Leon replied to him. "What's on your mind, Sir Cashmere?", Noel questioned him again, Leon looked over at his lush, green eyes.

"About yesterday. I'll like to apologize if I was forcing you in any type of way", Noel felt a stagnant feeling of embarrassment, he kissed him the day before...but he didn't mean it in a romantic way.

"It's fine, Sir Cashmere. We'll forget about it",  Noel replied to him, he felt something touch his hand, it was the hand of Leon.

"You're cute. Just wanted to let you know that. But I'm trying not to do anything else to you", Leon confessed to him, he'll admit he has found Noel physically attractive, yet it doesn't mean he wants to date him or anything.

"Thank you, Sir Cashmere. I respect your decision", Leon lifted himself up into a sitting position before his hand reached Noel's curly hair and ran his fingertips through his curls gently.

"It's like you have a specialty on having everyone think you're attractive, what's that about?", he asked.

"I don't even know, Sir Cashmere. What do you think? What makes me attractive?", Noel asked him with a smile on his lips.

"I think you're charming...", Leon replied to him while resting his face on his hand, he stared directly at him.

"You're being too kind on me, Sir Cashmere", Leon scoffed at him in response.

"You should take it for granted, if I wasn't like this, I would've murdered you on the spot", Leon replied to him, Noel felt a chill going down his spine, that statement felt a little too threatening.

"Oh...", Noel simply replied to him. "Sir Cashmere, I have a parrot living with me. And I don't know whether to give him away or keep him", Leon listened to him carefully.

"How long have you had the parrot?", Leon asked him, Noel smiled at him.

"For only a year. It's just I usually don't spend as much time home. So I don't want to leave him unattended",he explained, he sighed before turning his head to look the other way.

"If you really love the pet, I guess you could...I don't know. Have someone take care of him?" Leon suggested before pulling out a black lighter, a small flame lit up and gazed at it.

"That's...that's actually smart", Noel replied to him, Leon decided to stand up before turning around to stare at his bodyguard as he was giving him a bright smile.

"Let's go", Leon commanded, Noel got up on his feet before following him out the door of the ballroom.

°~8:49 PM~°

"Two more days until Valentines...it's going to be crazy, isn't it?", Noel questioned his boss while stretching his arms, ready to go home.

"A lot of romance is going to go, might as just isolate myself and try to not get caught in the mist of the chaos", Leon replied to him while averting his gaze, Noel laughed at his response.

"It's okay to have fun with your loved ones though, it makes you forget why you felt so enpty in the first place, Sir Cashmere", Noel told him playfully while looking at his smart watch.

"You have a point", Leon agreed, he continued stepping forward all the way to the inside of the garage.

"It's only a few minutes until Alvarez arrives...", Noel stared at him softly.

"I guess you're ready to go home", Leon replied as he saw him going down the steps until reaching the garage floor. Leon followed him and stepped closer until his arms slowly crept as he wrapped them around Noel's waist from behind.

"Ay dios...", Noel let out a gasp as he jolted from surprise, but instead of pushing him back...he touched Leon's cold hand.

"I hope you don't mind-", Leon tried to say something, but Noel cut him off. "It's alright, there's nothing wrong with this", Noel felt as he should put boundaries between them from being too touchy with each other as to not cause trouble...yet he doesn't feel the need to do such a thing.

He should be angry or uncomfortable, but he doesn't feel any of those emotions at all, instead he feels warmth...why is that?

He doesn't mind casual physical touch from someone, as long someone doesn't do anything invasive, he's fine with it.

Leon stayed there quietly as he rested his head on his shoulder, his bodyguard could feel the calm and warm breath from him touching his neck...his fingers traced up to Leon's arm.

"Hey...he's here now", Noel whispered as he heard the engine from outside and car lights from the garage window.

Leon raised his head and saw the car lights shining through the glass window, he finally let go of him before slowly walking towards the switch and flipping it on to open the garage door slowly.

"Have a good night, Sir Cashmere!", Noel finally gave him a farewell as he started to walk away. "You too!", Leon replied to him.

  He'll get the rest he needs for the next day.