Dangerous Game

Helpless and Hopeless

The teapot squeals and Harry turns his back to Louis, pouring the boiling water into two teacups. He sets two tea bags onto each of the little saucers and walks around the island, causing Louis to push his chair back to get a little more distance between them.

Harry sits down, leaving the middle chair between them and hoping that Louis didn't notice his slightly hurt ego. Harry didn't want Louis to want to get away from him, this is what he was trying to avoid. "A little more specific, please?" Harry asks, pushing a teacup in front of Louis and set one down for himself. It's such an open ended question. What do I want to know?

"Wh...what is this place? Why am I here?...Who are you? Tell me...everything." Louis says, keeping his arms tight around his torso, trying to find some security in it.

Harry is reluctant, mentally filing through what he can and shouldn't say. He slowly dunks the tea bag into his cup, "My family... built a business from the ground up. We handle transactions of..." Harry waves his hand in the air, "various.. highly sought-after goods.

Louis squints at Harry, hyper-aware of the stupidly-careful way of wording. So drugs, Louis thinks to himself.

Harry sees Louis is not amused by his attempt at humor, so he clears his throat, lightly chuckling to himself-- amused by how uncomfortable he feels. Men have threatened, spit at, cut and scarred Harry for information, but somehow, this is 100 times worse.

"A family business?" Louis asks doubtfully.

"Everyone here is my family. We look out for each other. They trust me to make sure everything goes smoothly-- a roof over their head, something to eat and money in their pockets-- In turn, they're loyal to me."

"So you live here?"

Harry nods, "When I'm not traveling for business, this is where I stay. A lot of my men live in this building."

Louis looks away, eyes scanning the simple lightwood of the dining table and chairs surrounding it. He wonders how many people have been up here before. Do they come up here and make a home-cooked meal to celebrate a drug deal that cost no lives? Do they celebrate when it does cost a life?

Harry watches Louis slip into a slight reverie, "I'm their leader. They look to me for everything."

Louis is quiet for a second, feeling very displeased with that answer. He feels like he's getting nowhere with the bits of information that Harry is giving him.

"How long have you been doing this?"

"I've been involved for a while." Harry says, trying to be as vague as possible, "It's not like it's the only thing I've ever known.. but it changes you..consumes your life. My family needs a lot of my attention, so I don't have time for much else."

The ominous answer sends an involuntary shiver down Louis' spine. I bet killing people would change you.

"So if this," Louis gestures to the room, "dictates what you do with your life, what were you doing at the diner? I can't imagine a timeline where you were casually there for a burger and light chit-chat with the help."

Harry frowns slightly at Louis' wording, knowing that Louis is so much more than "the help" to him-- but also knowing that Louis isn't allowed to know the real reason he was there that first day.

"I was there on business." Harry says and Louis looks down, feeling a blow to the chest. He's so stupid for ever believing that Harry was there for him. Harry was there to be a sleazy drug-dealing gang leader, not to fall in love. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Harry picks up on Louis' hurt reaction and is quick to respond, "The first time, I was there on business. The rest was me... The rest was real." Harry says leaning toward Louis and Louis looks up, getting caught in Harry's gaze. Harry's green eyes captivate Louis' blue ones.