My Million Dollar Boyfriend

Chapter 51

The drive back home was silent. Every time Claude tried to make small talk with Florence, he got either silence or a short answer as a response, which he didn't like at all. And with no music playing in the background, they were left in uncomfortable silence.

James parked his car across from Florence's apartment and slightly turned his head to meet his eyes. "Let's go. Your brother's waiting upstairs for you," he spoke and got out of the car.

Claude and Florence glanced at each other and followed James in silence. When they reached Florence's floor, he opened the front door and went in.

"Finally, you made it. Sorry for being here on late notice, but mother was talking about a new collaboration with a famous brand-" Adrian stopped when he saw Florence's uncomfortable expression. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Claude and James. "Did anything happen to him?"

Before Claude opened his mouth, James answered him. "They came across sir Sullivan he replied. "The one you told me to be on the lookout for."

Adrian's eyes widened as he slowly turned his head to Florence. "Florence?" he called as Florence flinched at his cold voice. "Is this true?"

"Yeah," Florence mumbled.

Adrian looked at Claude and James and they both nodded. "Very well," he said as he opened his phone to check Florence's schedule. "I'm taking you home for the time being."

"Home?! For what?" Florence asked, getting defensive. "There's no need for me to go back home. Raymond didn't do anything and New York is big enough for us not to run into each other again."

"That doesn't mean that you won't run into him again!" Adrian said, raising his voice. "Knowing him, he might already know where you live and which university you're going to! At the very least you won't be able to "run into him" at home. There we have enough security to keep you safe since someone is unwilling to do so for me instead.."

James let out a sigh. "Don't you think that you're going a little overboard?" he asked as Adrian glared at him.

"How exactly? I've told you how that man is," Adrian hissed as his attention went back to where Florence stood. He raised his brow when he didn't see him there and turned to Claude. "Where did he run off to?"

Claude shrugged. "His room, I guess," he replied as Adrian clicked his tongue with an irritated expression. "...Is it really that bad for Raymond to know about Florence's well-being? He didn't look that bad of a guy when I ran into him at work."

"You know where he works at?" Adrian whispered and started thinking of something when Claude nodded. "So James... you still take people out for a living, right?"

"Depends on the pay," he replied immediately as Claude's eyes widened when he understood what they were talking about.

"Uh, guys? I don't think that Florence wouldn't appreciate it if you do something like that," Claude said, scratching his head. "Raymond couldn't be that much of a threat right?"

Adrian glanced in Florence's room direction to see if the coast was clear. "I won't go into much detail, but Raymond was an old high school classmate of Florence. They liked each other for some bizarre reason and our parents liked him as well. But that was before I discovered about him being so obsessed with Florence that he would blackmail and gaslight others to keep Florence all to himself. It even got to the point that he had people follow Florence around to make sure he wasn't seeing anyone else. He even had them take pictures of him for his collection," he explained, getting pissed again at the thought of it.

"Sounds like someone I know," Claude thought as he narrowed his eyes on Adrian.

"But simply put, he's a creep who did not care about Florence's well-being. He thought of him more like a doll than a human being. Though Florence only knows about the stalking en blackmailing, he knows enough to keep his distance from him," Adrian said.

"Damn," Claude whispered as Florence's behavior made more sense. "Florence must be confused with how I already know about him. I should probably explain it to him once he's calmed down a bit." Claude looked at James. "Thanks for helping us back there, after hearing all this, I'm glad you interrupted us before he could ask to join us or something like that. But how did you know where we were?"

"I'm related to the owner of the bar you two went to. I asked him to keep an eye out for someone matching the description Adrian gave me and notify me if he did see him. Though I didn't expect him to actually run into you two. It did make my job a lot easier," James explained. "That, as well as the tracker Adrian had installed on his phone."

"A tracker..." Claude whispered as he had a judging look on his face while Adrian smiled innocently at them. "He truly is insane...."

James's phone went off as he showed Adrian the caller's ID. "We got to go if we still want to make it on time," he whispered and Adrian nodded.

Adrian's gaze went back to Claude who was still wrapping his head with what he told him. "Tell Florence that I'll be back tomorrow about the brand deal. Update me if anything happens to him," he said and left Florence's apartment with James.

Claude stood in the living room in silence and went to check up on Florence. He knocked on his door but didn't open it. "Flory? Are you in there?" he asked but didn't get a response back. "I won't come in if you don't want to talk. Text me if you need anything, I'll be in the living room."

After a few minutes, Florence quietly opened his door and tiptoed to the living room. He peeked his head a little and saw Claude tapping away on his phone as a reality show was playing on the TV.

"I know that you're staring, Flory," Claude said, not taking his focus from his phone. "Come join me. I don't bite~"

Florence shuffled to the couch and looked at Claude lying down with an embarrassed face. Claude spread his arms to invite Florence to lie on him and he hesitantly lowered himself onto him.

"Feeling a little better?" Claude whispered as he brushed Florence's hair out of his face.

"Mhm," Florence hummed, getting calmer by the sound of Claude's heartbeat. "...Adrian told you about him, didn't he?" he whispered.

"Yeah," he replied. "I didn't expect him to be like that though. He seemed like a totally different person when I ran into him those few times, but those might not be as much of a run-in as I had thought."

"He's good at pretending," he muttered as he looked up at him. "If you ever see him again, act like you don't know about all this. I'm afraid that he might do the same to you as he did with all those other people."

"I will," Claude smiled and brushed his hair up to kiss his forehead. "Let's forget about all our worries for tonight, alright?"

Florence lay his head down on Claude's chest as he felt warm and fuzzy inside. "That'd be nice."

A/N sorry that the chapter's late. This week has been stressful because I was packing for my vacation and my mom was forcing me to buy some dumb ass shit. The suitcase was already over the limit without my clothes being in it...  But the next chapter will be on time, I swear. I'll try to sleep a little before I have to fly for 10+ hours and don't kill mice

-Rey