»opulence{miles kane x alex turner}

w e a s e l

i decided to go for more frequent updates since the idea of leaving you all is making me feel bad, but i did have to get rid of a few plot devices (nothing noticeable) to save a bit of time since the plot is, i have now realised, hideously complicated

thank you for reading, love you :)

-georgia

(i wrote this thinking 'ay short chapter' and it ended up being just as long as the others why am i like this)

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Despite the fact that he was usually a very quiet and very easy-going kind of man, Alex's heart was pounding against his ribs and before getting into the car, he'd made a promise to himself that he would at least ask Miles what was going on, and why that equated to Will assaulting him. He would also quite like to know why that meant there was a butcher's knife in the grid and where the hell Robert had been, but they were slightly lower down on his list of priorities.

They'd not yet started off, and were sitting in the front seats of Miles' rather ugly red Alfa Romeo with the quietest strains of what sounded like Kaiser Chiefs whispering out of the speakers. Miles was tapping at his phone and had been doing incessantly for about fifteen minutes, the screen angled so Alex didn't have a hope of seeing what he was doing. While he didn't want to snoop around and give Miles any reason to hate him (he felt bad enough about listening in to the conversation he'd had with Jamie), if he wasn't getting any answers from the mouths of the people he was asking the questions, then he was going to have to resort to getting them some other way.

Without properly engaging his mouth with his brain, Alex broke the quiet. "Miles?"

As soon as he'd said it, he started to desperately feel around his thoughts for something else to say, something to disguise the fact that he knew far more about this undoubtedly sinister operation than he was ever supposed to. Miles however, looked up with a perfectly polite expression on his face- one that even reached his eyes. "Yeah?"

Alex swallowed, allowing curiosity to take over but stopping it short of sounding accusing. He had to be very careful about this- he wasn't likely to get anywhere if he crashed his way in. Alex, with his expression very carefully interested and his tone light enough to pull off the idea that he was just attempting to make conversation, asked; "What is it that Robert does?"

For the tiniest glimmer of a second, the smaller man fancied he could see the tiniest flicker of concern pass over Miles' hawklike features. It was exactly the same kind of expression that had given Robert himself away earlier- like no matter how hard they tried to conceal things, they were always just underneath the surface, well within touching distance so long as you knew where to hit for. He cleared his throat and slid his phone back into his pocket, his actions as strikingly graceful as ever.

"What, you mean like what's his job?" Miles asked, knowing full well that that wasn't what Alex had meant in the slightest. "He's a secretary, you know he's a secretary."

Alex raised one eyebrow. "You've got four secretaries." His tone was dangerous and loaded; still perfectly polite and nothing but interested, and potentially all the more venomous for it. Their eyes didn't meet once during the terse exchange.

Without saying a word, the taller man slid the key into the ignition and grazed his hands onto the steering wheel. "I have a lot of paperwork," he offered. The reply was surprising in that it was weak, like Miles had decided to give up lying to Alex. He turned the key, the engine roaring into life underneath them and thrumming through the entire car. Before Alex had a chance to reply, he'd spoken again.

"And I've only got three secretaries, actually."

Bewilderment was evident on the smaller man's face, and familiar in that it had seemed to have made a home there. "Jamie, Will, Robert, and Damon," he offered, not entirely sure why he was arguing the toss with Miles but aware he was close enough to answers that he shouldn't consider stopping. "That's four."