Survival (#Wattys2015)

8

Cole’s POV

I groan when the alarm rings, blindly lifting my arm from the cover to shut up the source of this irritating noise. I find it and send it sprawling against the nearest wall.

“Third alarm this week my dear brother, you’re not going well” I groan again when I hear George’s laughter from the other side of the bedside table. 

“Shouldn’t you be siding with me against this hellish device?” I inquire, lifting my face away from the pillow to stare at my brother who’s currently putting his socks on.

“I would if I had not spent the best night of my life” he smiles and scratches the light stubble that’s forming on his cheeks.

“You say that every time you get laid. Considering it’s nearly every day, you’re saying every night is the best of your life?” I sarcastically ask whilst I sit up and rake my head through my messy hair before looking at the Rolex on my wrist.  “Fuck it, half past nine is way too early to be up, did you set the alarm?”

“Yeah, Ceitho wanted to see us, remember? In half an hour in the restaurant downstairs”

“Yeah fuck. I’ll have a shower now and then maybe I’ll be able to think straight” I answer, nearly falling on my knees when I get up, “whoa everything’s fucking turning around me.”

“Maybe next time you’ll drink less, here have these and get in the fucking shower, you fucking smell like a dog” he laugh whilst giving me some pills and I manage a teeth-baring grin.

Exactly thirty-seven minutes later we’re both walking down the five star hotel’s stairs. Anyone who would look at us would see a pair of professional looking twins, not two killers who caught their prey two days ago and then celebrated it last night. Clean-shaved and dressed in a button-up shirt we make our way around the tables piled with breakfast until reaching a particularly full one, five men are already sitting around it with two empty chairs.  

“Sorry for the lateness, the alarm didn’t ring” I lie whilst grabbing a chair to sit on next to Ceitho; he looks at me for a moment before grinning and shaking his head. He knows me too well. Good naturedly I bark a laugh at how I got caught red-handed in my lie.

“So boys, as you all know we’ve got nothing left to do here, Cole and George took care of our threat and no complications have emerged.” Ceitho stands up to speak and we all stay silent, not even picking at the food in front of us. “Jeff, did you have a talk with the threat’s girlfriend?” he further inquiries, turning his steady gaze on the blonde man that sits next to George.

“Yes, I chatted with her yesterday afternoon and offered her ten thousand dollars to take her stuff and leave before last night” Jeff answers in his usual soothing manner, this is why Ceitho always sends him on diplomatic missions. I would never be able to go up to a stranger and deliver a warning in this composed and serene voice, if a warning was to be delivered then I did it so the receptor knew exactly what to expect in case he chose not to obey.  My mind functioned this way and so did every man sitting at this table.

“Did she accept?” Ceitho asks in a strained voice. Giving us the order to kill an innocent woman doesn’t appeal to him, but if she’s too dumb to accept the money we’re offering and leaving whilst she can then he’ll have no other choice.

“Course she did, just like they all do; I was basically offering her a shit load of money to forget a bastard she probably didn’t know anything about” Jeff shrugs off and I don’t even bother to stifle a laugh at the way he’s talking around our alpha.

“Come on Ceitho, we’re not beginners here we know our job” I gently punch him in his arm, even in a playful way I have to be absolutely sure no one would interpret  this small punch as an act of defiance against his authority.