Snafu

Harmony - Part 2

Cole stared at him. "What?"

"Well," Gideon's smile turned a little ashamed, but he held Cole's eyes. "I was pretty fucking sure James was messing around with you, but I wanted to see if you would come to me about it like you did last time or if...well, I was just testing to see if I could trust you, I guess."

Maybe Cole should be a little upset about that, but if he imagined Gideon sitting him down and demanding to know what he and James were up to, he could not imagine having a very positive reaction. With the family that Gideon had, as well as a noticeable lack of friends around him, Cole figured it made sense for him to keep people at arm's length and test them a bit before trusting them. Another nauseating wave of shame rolled over him when he thought about spewing all that nonsense about Gideon trusting him while the man was, in fact, silently waiting for Cole to betray him.

"I'm so sorry," Cole whispered, dismayed that he had failed the test. "I thought...I thought you might try to confront James about it like you did the debt, and James would kill my dad because I told you."

"I wouldn't put your dad in danger," Gideon frowned. "I'm sorry that I've given you that impression."

"No, no!" Cole flipped his hand to curl his fingers between Gideon's instead of clutching at his shirt. "I should be apologizing for thinking you would do that. I know you wouldn't. I know you. I just..." He trailed off with a harsh sigh. He just had his own issues, which meant his grip kept slipping no matter how easy Gideon made it to trust him.

Gideon squeezed his hand.

"So, it was..." Cole swallowed and cast his gaze to the side, not sure if he really wanted to bring things up since it was such a small thing in the grand scheme of this whole mess. But if they were really getting into the nitty gritty of it, he might as well. "The other night when you let me order you around, was that just...you playing along. To see what I was up to? Not because you actually trusted me?"

"Baby," Gideon cupped his face and turned it toward him to force eye contact again. "Do you think I get down on my knees for just anyone - someone at work, for example - to figure out if they are bullshitting me? No. I don't. Was I playing along? Yes. But you are the only person I would ever let order me around like that. Kinda like how you just play along whenever I order you around."

Cole believed him. If anything, this meant that perhaps he trusted Cole more deeply than Cole thought. He was willing to kneel and submit even when he had suspicions about Cole's motivations. He even told him where he was going, although perhaps it had not been the truth.

"Did you lie to me about where you were going then?" Cole asked.

Gideon grinned. "No, I was really at the port last night."

Cole's mouth dropped open. Gideon used the thumb of the hand that was still cupping his face to stroke away some of the tears clinging to his cheeks. The guy was as nuts as the rest of his family.

"But-"

"Receiving shipments like that involves a bunch of people, both on our end and the shipper's end," Gideon explained. "Not exactly the easiest time to kidnap me, and it would have been bad for business. It's not a good look if the Bartas cannot even control their territory well enough to receive drop-offs. The most James did last night was send a guy to confirm you were telling the truth."

Cole gawped at him.

"How about you answer a question for me?" Gideon dropped his fingers from Cole's face so he could gather his fingers up completely and pull them away from his shirt. "All that stuff about us being able to show the bad parts of ourselves to each other. Wanting to open up and trust one another. Was that all just talk to get information out of me, or did you mean it?"