Pain // Colby Brock

[Five] - Heal

CARSON RILEY

I thought of myself as very adaptable. Adjusting to the emotions of those around me was a regular thing, but being around the same people for a length of time was new. Most of the vampires I shared a home with were fairly easy to handle; they didn't have many disputes between them aside from their irrationally unstable leader, they enjoyed each others' company and I couldn't help but notice there was an air of love that never seemed to fade when they saw each other. It was these emotions I found the hardest to get used to, because everywhere I'd ever been was filled with fakes. I expected at any moment that one of them would reveal a part of themselves I'd never seen before, something that had yet to come here.

Colby was undoubtedly the biggest anomaly within the group. Between his regular outbursts and inability to act like a friend, he didn't fit in even with the people who seemed to love him anyway. Sam's unconditional loyalty to the man was a mystery to me I didn't think I'd ever be able to decipher. Katrina found herself partial to Colby due to her boyfriend's affections, so that made sense, but Sam feeling that way to begin with? It was baffling.

And yet, no matter how many times Colby blew up at him for the slightest inconvenience, I could still feel it beneath his returned anger. On the same page, I sensed Colby's regret whenever he raised his voice at his best friend, his silent pleas that he didn't hate him afterward for how he acted. His consistent confusion over himself only pushed him further away from his people.

Despite all of that, I seemed to be making some form of progress with him. After a couple of weeks of repeatedly pulling him back from fights and calming him down in times of stress, he stopped needing me to remind him this wasn't the right response. He could handle things more calmly. Granted, he still experienced the same burst of anger, but he reined it in far more easily than he had my first few days living in his house.

Sitting on the island countertop, I listened to him desperately try to maintain his sanity while dealing with Jake, who'd pushed Mike a little too far and almost started a fight. As the leader, it was Colby's job to reprimand him, something I'd seen a couple of times by now.

"You don't have to be a little shit every second of every day, Jake," Colby snapped, sounding angrier than his emotions portrayed to me. I noticed Jake — and everyone else when I was present during these situations — had a tendency to glance at me for confirmation they weren't about to get murdered, or plead with me silently to hold him back if he lost it. The peculiar agreement Colby and I had was, by now, well-known and only spoken about when he was not in the room.

Jake shifted uncomfortably. "I do that stuff all the time and it doesn't bother anyone else. I wasn't trying to be a little shit, man. Just having fun."

"There's a difference between having fun and being a nuisance."

"Not to everyone else." Jake sounded a little bit like a child, and the way he felt simultaneously guilty and annoyed only furthered that in my mind. He was looking at the floor, his arms crossed just above his stomach, while standing tall and speaking firmly. He didn't know the right course of action, but I was here to help Colby, not anyone else.

Colby deliberated his response for a few seconds, his hand, which was on my thigh, tensing with every passing thought. When he opened his mouth to speak, he stopped, frowned, and his entire mood switched. The silver of his eyes expanded rapidly as he took a step closer to Jake, abandoning my leg as a fidget toy. My own body became more tense at his aggressive posture.

"There are people in this group you do not fucking mess with and you know that, Jake. Mike and I are two of them. Try any of that shit again with one of us and I won't even try to avoid snapping your neck for it." Colby bore his fangs for a split second before his face returned to normal and he turned away. "Leave Mike alone, I won't stop him if you provoke him next time."