Lesson 131- If someone doesn’t want a hug, don’t keep trying.
I let Damien in and Eli immediately thrusts a paper bag in his hands.
“Here. Breakfast.” He says with a cheerful grin. Damien seems confused, clearly not used to Eli’s over the top actions just yet. He places the paper bag on a table and opens his arms to me for a hug. Eli lasts about half a second before deciding that he needs to get in on this. He throws his arms around both of us. I laugh, used to his antics, but Damien yelps in surprise and yanks back. Eli freezes up and laughs awkwardly, keeping his arm around my shoulder. He seems uncomfortable. I guess he isn’t used to people running away from him like that. Torin wanders in and his eyes immediately zone in on Eli’s arm around my shoulder. He clears his throat loudly and Eli rolls his eyes, then removes his arm.
“You would think spending the night with you would have put him in a better mood.” He complains. Torin blinks in surprise and Damien does a double take.
“Excuse me?” He looks at me suspiciously. I can practically hear him reminding me that I told him Torin and I are just friends right now.
“I spent the night hanging out watching musicals in Tori’s office while he did paperwork. It’s not as scandalous as Eli makes it sound. Most things aren’t as scandalous as Eli makes them sound.” I clarify. Eli smirks.
“Just… Everyone sit down.” Torin orders. He seems kind of tired. I’m not surprised, I’m tired too. No one argues, they all just take a seat.
“So, I looked into your dad like you asked.” Eli starts, finally being serious again. I nod, pulling a pastry out of the bag he gave me. Okay, so Eli might be exhausting sometimes, but he has good taste in food at least.
“What did you learn?” Damien asks, his expression is calm, but I don’t believe he’s actually as calm as he is acting, not for one second.
“Well… I learned more about that man than I ever wanted to know. He hasn’t always been like this… Has he?” Eli asks, concern in his voice.
“That depends on what you mean by like this? What did you find out?” I ask, repeating my brother’s question. Eli sighs.
“Well, from what I can tell he’s an alcoholic and a gambling addict. He owes a lot of money to some very bad people. I have no idea how the hell he’s even lived this long. It seems like he’s screwed over a lot of people.” He pauses and looks at me for confirmation. I sigh.
“Yeah, he’s always been like that.” I confirm. Elli frowns and reaches out to take my hand and comfort me. He goes to do the same thing for Damien with his free hand, but Dami has his hands tucked under the table, clearly avoiding him. Eli might be a very physical person, but I know he doesn’t mean any harm. I squeeze his hand back.
“It’s alright Eli. We’re fine. You didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. What else did you learn about our father?” I say softly.
“I told you he owes a lot of money? Well, it seems like all his debts recently got bought up by the same guy.” He says with a frown.
“Solem? Torin asks and Eli nods.
“That’s the one. The guy owns a lot of barely legal businesses, and he’s pretty well known for making deals, bargains. And for loaning money to people. He buys out people’s debts and has them work it off, but usually they can’t. He lets them keep borrowing until they’re in so deep there is no escaping out from under it.” Eli explains. Damien sighs.
“You’re saying our father got involved with some sketchy underworld loan shark? Why am I not surprised?” He grumbles. I nod my agreement. It really isn’t all that much of a surprise to me either.
“He probably made some bargain with him.” Torin points out. Eli nods.
“Yeah, and like you, Solem is a…. Well, someone who takes his bargains very seriously.” He says awkwardly. He clearly nearly pointed out that Torin is a demon and had to stop himself at the last second. He glances sideways at Damien, but he doesn’t appear to have noticed anything strange in what Eli said. So, my dad made a deal with a demon, he probably has no idea who he’s really dealing with either. I don’t know what he promised him, but the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me that it probably has something to do with me.
We now know who is after me, and vaguely why. But that doesn’t change the fact that we have no idea what to do about it. We chat a bit further and try to strategise, but having Damien around really limits the conversation. I quickly start yawning and Damien makes an excuse to leave. He has work, so it’s a legitimate excuse at least… He gives me a tight hug goodbye, and Eli stays out of this one at least. Although I see the look on his face and know he’s tempted to crash our hug. Damien and Torin exchange manly nods and then Damien leaves without another word. I expect Eli to hang around for ages and be difficult to kick out, but he just… reads the time, then nods and heads out. That was weird. Maybe the heavy atmosphere from us talking about my father got to him a bit, because he seems uncomfortable. Still, I’m not going to call him out on that. Finally, Torin and I are alone again. Eli was right earlier. He seems a little grumpy.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. He shrugs.
“The incubus needs to learn to keep his hands to himself.” He complains and I laugh.
“He isn’t doing any harm.” I point out. Torin shrugs and busies himself playing with Crash. Finally, he speaks up again.
“I think Eli likes you. As more than a friend I mean.” Torin blurts out. I raise an eyebrow. Eli” Have a crush on me? Yeah I don’t think so. We’re friends, that’s all. He’s just a physically affectionate person.
“I doubt it.” I answer simply. Torin shrugs, clearly unconvinced. I don’t bother fighting. The point is moot entirely. If Eli really wanted me, he’s an incubus. He could make it happen. But he doesn’t. So until he screws me over somehow. We’re friends. And I’ll trust him.
Torin and I tidy up the mess from breakfast, feeding the paper items to Jane when we’re done with them. She purrs happily and I relax, listening to the soothing sound. I start to yawn again nand Torin sends me off to bed. Insisting that I need to be well rested. I insist the same point to him. But he seems to have a lot of energy for a guy who has been up all night. I shower and scoop Crash into my arms, determined to take him to bed with me. I want cuddles today, I don’t feel like being alone. I sleep for the entire day and well into the evening and when I wake up, I feel great. I really needed that sleep apparently. Now that I’m more rested, I realise that Eli actually was acting kind of strange. Awkward actually. It’s so strange to see him being the socially awkward one in the group. He’s usually so confident. It’s very strange. I don’t quite know what to think.
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