Cleo Hart: Intelligence by Default

Anger

"Nothing? Absolutely nothing?" Jason asked, easing back into the sofa with a disappointed frown.

"No just bills and stuff, nothing at all."

I had been having the same conversation with both Jason and Luke for the last ten minutes, neither could believe there was no evidence in Mick's office, despite me telling them numerous times.

"Maybe he stores everything digitally." Luke suggested, chewing on an olive.

"I doubt it, there should have been something. Emails are dodgy anyway, it's unlikely he'd risk that kind of stuff over the internet." Jason countered.

I sighed, bored of the conversation. Training had tired me out and I wanted to go back to bed for a bit. I poured myself some water and watched the two boys with their pensive faces on, getting nowhere.

"Oh well," Jason sighed, finally, going back to his magazine. "I'm sure we'll find something at a later date. Meanwhile, maybe we should see Alice today." 
He looked up with a cheeky grin, I snorted.

"We saw her last night buddy, we need to at least pretend to have lives, why, you got a crush?"

He dramatically pulled me onto his lap. "I'm yours, remember babe?"

"Most definitely, scrumptious." I giggled, fluttering my eyelashes.

Luke walked over, lifting me off Jason and plonking me on the floor.

"Let's keep the romance for when we actually have to act, eh?" he said, half joking.

"Oop, someone's jeeeaaaloouuus." Jason giggled, pulling me onto his lap once more and messily planting kisses all over my face.

"It's okay sugarplum," I sighed romantically, "I only have eyes for you."

Jason went on to make fawning noises and stand, twirling me into a ballroom dance with him. I threw back my head, laughing.

"You kids are hilarious," Luke rolled his eyes, not quite meeting my gaze.

I pulled a face at Jason and went into my room to change out of my training gear. Thankfully we had mainly just gone through some techniques, so I wasn't too sweaty. I checked my phone for texts from Alice, pausing when I heard heated sounding murmurs from outside. I frowned, but decided not to get involved, and went back to changing. Training was draining my energy, but I could definitely get used to the new toned shades on my torso, and definition on my arms. I pulled on my top and tied my hair up, sighing and checking my phone again. Out of the blue, the voices raised to a shout, or at least, one of them did.

I emerged, pulling my top on, to find Luke glaring down at Jason angrily. They were stood within close proximity, both seemingly frustrated, but Jason looking more cautious than Luke, who was stood threateningly, chin raised slightly in anger.

"What's going on?" I asked, walking towards them hastily.

"Dude, you're crazy sometimes," Jason laughed, ignoring my question. Suddenly Luke's fist was balled around Jason's shirt, and he swiftly pushed him against the wall, raising a fist to his height.

"You think I'm kidding J?" 

Jason had considerable muscle, but Luke was much stronger, and had a huge height advantage. Jason twisted in Luke's grip, but didn't make any moves, clearly not wanting a fight. Luke kept him pinned to the wall, without any visible effort. This didn't look good.

"Luke come on man, I'm your best mate, lets not do this alright? Please." Jason sounded disarming and kind, but I could imagine it entering Luke's ears as condescending and patronising.

I stood, not sure what to do.

Luke growled and pushed Jason into the wall harder, earning a slight grunt from Jason, who looked a little strained.

"Luke..." I murmured cautiously, taking a step towards him.

"She's not yours Jason." He spat.

"Wait, me? This is about me?" 

Luke growled again, clearly not listening to me. I shook off my confusion, moving slowly towards the kitchen area and picking up a frying pan. I walked slowly up to Luke, who was so focused on Jason's face that I could have been invisible. He stood silently for a second, his lip crooked so he was almost baring his teeth.

"Fuck you Jason, we've had this conversation." He pulled back his fist to gain momentum, before launching it towards Jason. I ran to him, swinging the frying pan at his head. He fell almost instantly, narrowly missing Jason as he collapsed on the floor. 

"Shit." I gasped, looking up at Jason, "He's going to kill me."

Jason laughed, lifting and lowering him onto the sofa. "Nah don't worry yourself, the amount of times he's drugged you, he has no right to be angry."

Jason's sudden calm was soothing, but I still felt apprehensive. The wrath of Luke was not something I had trained for. I went into my bedroom and locked the door, pacing around, before finally deciding to plug in my earphones in order to calm down.

-

Bang. I heard it even through my earphones. I took them out and held my breath.

"Cleo you open this fucking door or I will break it down." It was a terrible lock, but I wasn't going to let him in of my own accord.
"Three." My heart pounded louder than the sound of him banging on the door.
"Two." I bit back a yelp.
"One." I clutched the covers.

The door swung open as the hinges of the lock flew to the ground. He stormed in, tensed and furious, fists clenched.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You knocked me out? What are you crazy?"

I stared at him the way you stare at a bear or a lion when it's hungry and you're bleeding.

"You don't get to be angry with me Luke," I stammered, "You were about to hurt your best friend. And why?"

He glared at me. "He was all over you."

I rolled my eyes and stood from the bed. "So? I'm not yours, Luke."

He looked down at me, his breath shallow. "I know that."

"So you don't get a claim on me."

"I know that." He repeated, still staring down at me.

"So you don't get to get angry at your friend about me"

He nodded, "I know that." 

His eyes studied me for a second, before looking down slightly, to my lips. "I just..."

And that's when he kissed me.