Whispers

“Can I offer you anything?” Leon asked, opening the fridge. Harry was sat at a stool in Leon’s kitchen. It was very modern looking. Tan, marble countertops made up the surfaces of the counter and the island in the middle of the wooden floor. The cabinets were all white, large windows over the sink letting light pour in. It was very big, clean, and open. Not like Leon at all, in fact. “A drink? Something to eat? A restraining order, because that was the next step, right? Oh wait, there’s already one in the process.”

“You make that sound as if I’ve done something particularly nasty to you,” Harry said. He folded his hands on the table. His back was stiff and mouth tight. He was attempting to relax, but he couldn’t. Not with Leon staring at him like there was something particularly amusing about everything. “I suppose you’re under the impression that some how I’ve offended you?”

“You put me in jail.” He looked at Harry like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Throwing up his hands in exasperation, Leon leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “Brother’s don’t throw one another in jail. Ever since that day I made that little comment to your little girlfriend at breakfast, you’ve been particularly unwelcoming.”

“You threatened her.”

“Because you and I are family.” He pushed away from the counter and he began pacing, looking up at Harry every now and then. His green eyes danced. “You came to me for work, and I opened my arms to you. You went right up the ranks of my business, my right hand man. I trusted you with things I didn’t even trust Sean with.”

Harry made a sound. “You’re brother is a proper psychopath.”

Leon pointed to Harry. “Careful how you speak about my brother, Harry. He was your brother once too. We lived together, we protected one another. I thought we even parted amicably when you wanted to leave. And then when those charges came in and you were called as a witness? You weren’t even sure you wanted to protest for me.”

Leon was absolutely right. Harry had spent a lot of his life with Leon. He had lived with him, done all sorts of drugs with him, and they had been wingmen with one another more than once. Sean had been left to do the dirty work for Leon while Harry gave Leon a panoply of connections and offers- he was like a drug publicist.

For a long time, Harry and Leon were inseparable. Harry had taken blame for things, had lied to countless people, and had even risked his life more than once for Leon. And Leon had done the same. He had even leant Harry money when Harry’s father refused to fund him. Harry, of course, had paid it back in full.

After a very long time, though, Harry parted ways from him. The drugs stop giving him what he wanted, so he tried to figure out what it was he wanted. While trying to figure out who he was and between partying and working at the bakery, Leon had been charged with a warehouse bust. The only proof they had for him, though, was questionable camera footage and possible witnesses. Being Harry.

At first, Harry had the intention of making sure Leon went free. But then he thought about the lower points of his relationship with Leon, the things that he had seen the two brothers do. And it only got worse when people who were going to talk had family friends that went missing, or had a finger or two shortened. Harry realized then what exactly he had been messing with. He had made his bed with two psychos, called a sociopath a brother, and made a pact with the devil.

Now he was starting at the devil in the face, sitting in His kitchen.

“Nothing to say to that?” Leon asked, raising his brows. Harry shrugged his shoulders. It didn’t matter which way it was spun. The fact remained that they were both sitting there because Leon felt spited and when Leon felt spited, he liked to stalk his prey. “What really made you change your mind, about speaking on the stand?”

“If you’re talking about Rae-"

“Of course I’m talking about Rae. Would you have spoken against me if you had never met her? Because she strikes me as the type of person to tell you to do the right thing for the law instead of the right thing for your friends.”

“Rae had and has nothing to do with it and yet you pursue her because of something I’ve done.” Harry felt rage welling inside of him. He tried to swallow it down. He had promised himself that he wouldn’t explode when on the topic of Rae, but he felt like he couldn’t do that. “From the very beginning you saw her as a scapegoat to torture me, and for what? As a big fuck you because I did what I wanted?”

“She ruined you!” Leon screamed suddenly. Harry went completely still. He did not fear Leon. He had never feared Leon. But he knew that Leon was dangerous. Fear and danger did not walk hand in hand, but they were certainly cousins. “You were good at what you did and it would have been a matter of time before you became the person you were meant to be. This-“ he gestured rudely to Harry, “-isn’t you. This is someone else.”

Harry tightened his fists slightly. “I’m closer to who I am now than I was when we were friends. This is all about your pride and your ego. You realize how insane this is, right?”

Leon laughed. Something about it made Harry uncomfortable. Leon was very theatric, but something was quick and short about the laugh. Like he was over theatricality. “You have not seen me when I am insane, Harry.”

*

Standing on the porch, Niall kicked at the door mat. It was green against the white porch of Rae’s. He looked up, waiting for her to answer the door. When he had waited several minute, he knocked again, wondering if she was in the art studio. When she didn’t answer a second time, he let himself in.

Everything was normal inside of the house. The TV was on, telling him that she had just been there. He walked into the kitchen, opening her fridge and grabbing a vitamin water. He knew they were her favorite but he was thirsty. He would buy her another one later.

“Rae!” he called, leaning against the counter. He took a swig of the water. She never answered. Frowning, he pushed himself off of the counter and walked upstairs, finding it empty. He remembered then that Harry had said she was stopping by Finn’s. “Of course, probably still over there talking about fuckin’ clothes.”

Knowing she would be back soon, he plopped down on the couch and turned on the football game. He made himself comfortable, watching the first half, completely enamored by it. When they took a break, he looked at his watch and realized Rae still wasn’t home. Grabbing his phone, he decided to walk to Finn’s.

Niall had been in Finn’s house once with Liam. It was nice and smelled a lot different than Rae’s. He walked up her drive and to the door, knocking easily on it. He heard footsteps before Finn answered, smiling in surprise. “Hey?”

“Is Rae here? She said she was coming by here earlier and she still isn’t home.”

Finn frowned. “No, she left over and hour ago. Dropped off a drawing and went back home to wait for you, actually.”

“An hour ago? She isn’t home.” Niall got a sickening feeling then. He realized he had been sitting on the couch all that time and Rae wasn’t even home. She had left the TV on with intentions of coming back, but she hadn’t. And her car was home, so where the hell was she? “Where the bloody hell is she?”

Finn shook her head, “I have no idea. Did you check everywhere in the house? Or maybe she went running? Let me grab my keys, I’ll help you look.”

Running a hand over his face, Niall ran down the steps. A million different things were running through his mind. Rationally he knew that he didn’t need to panic. There were a million things that Rae could be doing. She was the kind of girl who liked to go for a run announced, or liked to go sit somewhere strange and draw. She could vanish for hours at a time and she always turned up fine. But the damn tele being left on and the fact that the house had been unlocked bothered Niall to no end.

Finn met Niall outside, her red hair pulled out of her face. They walked down the street, neither one of them talking as Niall pulled out his phone, dialing her number. It rang and went to voicemail. He frowned and hit the redial button while Finn called Trystan.

“Trystan is at work,” Finn supplied, hanging up and looking at her screen. “She just text me saying she can’t talk until her break in an hour. Should I tell her it’s an emergency?”

“No,” Niall said. The last thing he needed to do was make everyone panic. It wasn’t a big deal, at least not yet. Harry was with Leon talking, he was no where near Rae. “It’s not a big deal, I just don’t like when she vanishes.”

“You sound like her big brother,” Finn smiled.

Niall nodded. “I feel like one.”

“It’s good that she has people like us looking out for her, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Niall murmured. He was still feeling like something was wrong. They had been looking for a few minutes, but he felt like they should have run into her already. “Let’s just figure out where the hell she is.”

“Agreed.”