Devil's Gambit

Chapter 14

An easy smile stretched across Harley's face as he settled down with Daniel and José in the living room, preparing to practice their languages under Daniel's mentorship. Harley was shocked at how easy teaching came to Daniel, especially while instructing on two different languages at the same time, and his natural charismatic and boisterous personality made the process significantly more enjoyable than being in a typical classroom. He was pleasantly surprised that most of the Spanish he had learned in high school, that he presumed he had simply lost due to lack of use, quickly began to come back with practice and repetition.

Harley was even overcome with the ambitious idea to add becoming fluent to his growing list of life goals.

They were just getting started as the front door suddenly banged open, Lucas shouldering his way into the house with large bags of groceries perched on his forearms. While Daniel's attention was currently focused on José, Harley peered subtly over his shoulder to watch the man move around in the kitchen.

Everything about Lucas was accompanied with mildly aggressive undertones, from the way he shoved cabinets closed with a bang before traversing the entire kitchen in two long strides, to the harsh crinkling of the plastic bags as he yanked the food out to put it away. The way he moved didn't scare Harley like it used to, for he realized a lot of Lucas' behavior exuded flustered undertones, as though he was merely high strung and nervous instead of angry. The corner of his mouth ticked up slightly as the fridge slammed closed, Lucas balling up the plastic bags to all fit tightly into his fist.

It was all so endearing now.

"Papa has provided his children with food," he announced in a snarky tone, and Harley made certain to quickly avert his gaze as Lucas approached the trio from behind the sofa. The tall man stared down at the back of Harley's head, the answer now clear as to who he had felt watching him from the moment he came in. Of course it was the younger O'Reilly- it always was.

Resisting the pull was becoming exponentially more difficult with time, that even evading the presence of the other man was becoming ineffective.

Harley was beginning to haunt his dreams, and sleep was no longer a safe refuge from the feelings that caused him panic.

Lucas couldn't do it again. Not after Axel.

He thought no one could ever come after Axel, and yet here was his kid brother. First causing him strife in the house's finances, and now in his heart.

Lucas crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes as he gazed down at the three men. "And what are you nerds doing?"

"Language exchange. Would you like to join us and become reacquainted with your mother tongue, Lucas Dé Leon?" Daniel bit back, squinting his eyes mockingly at the tall man.

A tense silence stretched through the air, Lucas firmly rooted in place with a slight snarl on his face, before he made a beeline for the stairs and disappeared within seconds. His departure was so quick, that Harley's hair was rustled by a slight breeze kicked up by Lucas' movement as he passed.

"That was a bit of a low blow from me, but sometimes Lucas needs to be taken down a few notches," Daniel muttered, hastily shuffling a deck of homemade flash cards with tiny, poorly scrawled handwriting of English words with the Spanish equivalent on the back. Daniel had informed them that he created the cards at three in the morning a couple days back while highly intoxicated, thrilled at the prospect that they could work for either Harley or José.

"What was that about?" Harley asked, eyes flicking worriedly upstairs before settling back on Daniel.

"I've been trying to get him to learn Spanish again for a while now. He's just so weirdly resistant," Daniel sighed, glancing at José, who was leaned over and writing some sentences down on a tattered notebook in deep concentration.