[A/N]: THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR 1K!!!! In honor of such a joyous occasion I am here to present you guys a little something! Please, graphic design is not my passion, don't flame my horrible editing skills tyvm <3

Ship Chart (I have no idea what their ship name would be lmao):

And here's a visual of their height difference:

I'd also love to give thanks to the book reaching over 500K views, you guys are seriously amazing! Thanks for sticking around through my erratic update schedule and various grammar errors 🗿 y'all are the real MVP's 😤😤

Now, on to the chapter! (I think I'm going to write the Italy arc in Eros POV 🤔)

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E r o s

"Harvey, I said pack for a month not the whole year. We're not moving for Christ sake" I said as I looked at the two very huge suitcases he was lugging around as if they were nothing.

"Don't blame me, blame him" Harvey said, nudging his head to Jamie who was also carrying a few bags for him.

I just shook my head at the two and threw my bags in the trunk. We were due at the hangar soon and I couldn't be bothered to stick around and argue about a few bags.

Alistair had offered for us to take his private jet but I politely declined. I'll be damned if I have to spend a more than ten hour flight with that shitbag he calls his friend.

So I got my own private jet.

"Just get in the car" I said before taking my own advice and getting in the back with Cole. Mikhail was already waiting for us in the driver's seat, tapping away on his phone as he waited.

"Okay Cole, it's time for a quick Italian session" Harvey said once we were all settled in.

"Okay" Cole said, looking at Harvey expectantly.

"Let's start with the basics. Hello is 'Ciao' and 'piacere di conoscerti' means 'nice to meet you'. Pretty easy, right?" Harvey instructed.

"Ciao, piacere di conoscerti...like that?" Cole repeated and I realized very quickly that Cole learning Italian is going to be a very dangerous thing for me.

As the two conversed and Harvey taught Cole phrases, I could only think about how sexy his voice sounded. Cole was right next to me so my ears were under a verbal assault as he spoke Italian phrases back to Harvey.

I closed my eyes as I listened, trying to will myself to not get hard but enjoy listening to Cole's voice all at the same time.

"Oh, here's another one. Ti amo"

My head snapped over to Harvey when I heard those words.

"What are you teaching him that for?" I asked and Harvey snickered.

"Just in case he has to say it you know?" Harvey said, a grin practically splitting his face in half.

"I'm supposed to teach him that" I said and Harvey rolled his eyes.

"You snooze you lose" he said.

"Jamie" I said, looking to him to talk some sense in to his idiot of a best friend.

Jamie sighed.

"Harvey" he said and Harvey frowned before looking to Cole.

"Cole" he said and Cole furrowed his brow.

"Uh..."

"You lot are a bunch of fucking children" Mikhail grumbled.

The rest of the car ride went pretty smooth without any bickering and I knew Mikhail was crying metaphoric tears of joy when we finally arrived at the hangar.

"So, a month, huh?" Jamie said as he looked to Harvey once we were out of the car.

"Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it" Harvey, ever the optimist, said as he roughly patted Jamie's shoulder.

I guess even if the two had solved their problem, Jamie was still kind of locked in the limbo between best friend and lover.

"Be good to the clients while we're gone okay?" I said to Mikhail and the man smirked.

"Of course" he said.

After our bags were loaded up, we bid farewell to Jamie and Mikhail before boarding the plane. The interior was neat with sleek black seats, not a spec of dirt or dust in sight.

"Still can't believe we're going to Italy and it isn't for a vacation" Harvey said as he took his seat.

"Well we can sort of treat it like one. It's not like we'll have to do something every single day, maybe on one of the off days we can sight see" I said and Harvey grinned.

"Yeah! I wonder how much we'll actually be able to see" Harvey said.

Next to me, Cole remained silent as his eyes were trained on what was in front of him.

His eyes were roaming the pages of the small book in his hand, apparently Harvey had given it to him and I knew this was true because the title was 'Italian for Dummies: the Dumber Edition'.

Part of me was hoping that wasn't how Harvey actually learned Italian but I would never put it past him either.

I could tell he was focusing hard to retain the information and while some wouldn't think this, I couldn't help but to find it just a little cute. The way his eyes would narrow every now and then, his lips moving to silently try out the words as he read them, sometimes even pouting a bit when he's confused.

Yes, very cute indeed, and I now have saved the mental image of it.

The pilot's voice coming over the speaker broke me out of my admiring, letting us know that we were about to take off.

Here goes 10+ hours of nothing but clouds.

~ flight is over by the power of time travel ~

"God my legs and ass are killing me" Harvey whined as we finally made it off the plane.

"And not your mouth? You talked the whole time" I said, rubbing at my ear to get the ringing of his voice out of it.

"I didn't talk the whole time, just majority" Harvey said and I just shook my head.

The three of us headed to the car that was waiting for us. We were supposed to meet up with Alistair at the hotel we'd be staying in and while I would usually opt for driving, my legs were also pretty stiff so I wasn't really feeling it.

Good thing for personal drivers, I suppose.

It was probably around the wee hours of the morning now and I dreaded having to turn around my sleep schedule but it had to be done. Alistair had been kind enough to set the meeting date til next week so that we could all get adjusted.

The ride to the hotel was surprisingly short, and we arrived in no time.

"Grazie" I said to the man after he handed me my bags and he tipped his hat before going back into his vehicle.

After making sure Cole and Harvey had their things, the three of us headed into the hotel. In the waiting area, Alistair and Renard were waiting for us. Distaste filled me quickly at the sight of that bastard and I tried to compose myself as I walked over to the pair.

"Eros, you're finally here" Alistair said, standing up as we approached.

"I hope we haven't kept you waiting long" I said and Alistair shook his head.

"Nonsense, a few minutes is nothing. I've already checked us in, you can just grab your keys at the desk" he said and I nodded.

I went to look to my travel companions when I saw Harvey staring wide eyed at Renard.

Deciding to address that later, I moved to introduce Harvey to the duo.

"This is Alistair and his friend Renard" I stated and Harvey just gave a slight smile in greeting.

"This is Harvey and as you know from the other night, Cole" I finished. I didn't really see the need to introduce Cole again but that nagging voice of Auntie Leila's just rings through my head at times.

She would say that it's only polite to introduce your friend again, just in case the other party forgot their name.

"I hope you three can enjoy your time here. I'm sure everyone is tired so how about we all get some rest" Alistair said and I nodded. The two of them had walked off, presumably to their room so I decided now would be a good time to head to the front desk.

"I'll go get the keys" I said to the two before heading over to the desk.

There was a woman at the desk and when I reached her, I asked her for our keys and once showing ID, she handed the cards over to me. Thanking her, I walked back to Harvey and Cole.

As we went to our room, I could see that Harvey wanted to talk about something, likely having to do with the reason why he was shocked when seeing Renard.

Harvey had a separate room from Cole and I but he followed us into our room anyways.

Once the door was closed, Harvey's mouth opened.

"Okay, I know I'm not the only one that recognized that dude. What's he doing here?" Harvey asked as he looked at me which also made Cole turn to me.

"No, it's just you. Now spill, who is he?" I said.

"His name wasn't Renard back then so I guess he changed it. His name was Chris Walker, we all went to high school together, how can you not remember?" He asked and hearing him say that was like being slapped in the face.

No wonder he seemed to remember me but I didn't remember him. Anyone other than Jamie and Harvey had been basically pushed to the farthest depths of my memory.

"High school wasn't all daisies and sunshine for me, in case you didn't remember. I try not to remember stuff from that time" I said with a sigh at the end.

I dated lots of people in high school, went to all kinds of parties, and even had sex with whoever wanted it. I would have done anything back then to take my mind off of my deteriorating home life. Did he really expect me to reach into the depths of that sealed away part of me and remember one person?

What was weird about it though was how he knew what profession I went into...and how he managed to be friends with someone like Alistair. Questions that needed answers indeed...

"He looks totally different though, I guess that's also why you weren't aware. Even so, I still can't believe you don't remember him considering you guys used to date" Harvey added as if it was the necessary cherry on top.

Oh great, so it's possible Renard is a crazy ex. Just what I need at the moment...

"Did we?" I asked monotonously, no longer having the energy to be surprised.

Harvey nodded and that's when I crossed my arms across my chest.

"Why do you remember more about my own love life than I do?" I asked and Harvey chuckled.

"Oh come on Eros, you know your love life was better than the movies!" He said.

"I'm so glad you find my love life cinema worthy" I said sarcastically before pushing him out of our room.

"Get to your own room, I'm tired of your presence" I said before closing the door.

"My bags!" Harvey whined and I sucked my teeth before opening the door for him.

Harvey grabbed his bags and threw a glare at me before leaving.

About time.

Turning back to Cole, I was surprised to see he was already staring at me. It'd be wishful thinking to hope that he wasn't really listening to the conversation but I knew better than to think that.

"Hey, darling. How are you feeling?" I asked as I took a seat next to him.

"Better than the movies?" Cole asked and I sighed.

"I can explain" I said and Cole shook his head.

"You don't have to. High school was a long time ago for you anyways" he said and I frowned.

"Why are you making it sound like I'm some shriveled up geezer?" I asked and Cole let out a low chuckle.

"You know I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just saying that you don't need to feel obligated to explain yourself for something in the past. But I will say this," Cole started and looked up at me.

Cole's hand reached up to grab my tie and bring me down to his level, leaving very little space between our faces. His eyes locked onto mine with a never seen before look in them, something akin to playfulness and when I say my heart lurched in my chest, I mean it in the most dramatic way possible.

"You're mine now so for his sake I'd hope he wouldn't be thinking of getting a second chance with you" Cole's voice was low and grabbing me by the dick because god damnit I was solid right now.

Holy...fuck.

"How's that for a movie scene?" Cole asked, pulling away and laughing at his own act.

I couldn't answer, only thinking about how my dick was hard as a rock and I wanted nothing more than to pounce on and fuck the living daylights out of him for playing with me like that.

It didnt take Cole long to get why I was unresponsive either.

"Why did you get hard from that?" He asked and I responded by pushing him down on the bed and crawling on top of him.

"Eros? Come on, we literally just got here.What about unpacking our bags?" Cole said and I let him talk as I started unbuttoning his shirt.

"For fuck's sake, forget the bags. You started this" I said, marveling at the toned body that laid beneath the annoying layers of clothes.

Pressing a kiss to his chest, I looked up at Cole with a teasing smile.

"I'm just gonna finish it~"