Heartbreak hotel

Chapter 22

For the first time in a long time, Isaiah found himself sober. Maybe it was because, through the grapevine, he had heard that yesterday Jamie’s plane had landed, and since then, he had been in an anxious state about when his best friend would come to see him, and no matter how much he claimed he didn't want to see him, deep down he knew. He wanted their first meeting after four years to be engraved into his memory, and for that, he needed to be sober.

He had walked into the Tomas household, as he often did. He wasn’t sure where Midnight was, but when he woke up, it was the earliest he had been in a while; the man had been nowhere in sight. Royal had been fast asleep beside him, and he didn’t want to wake the man up, so after freshening up and getting dressed, he made his way over.

The sun was shining bright outside, so he went to the sunroom where Soren, Ravi and Silas were already seated in one of the seating areas. Ravi and Silas glared at one another while Soren had his headphones on, hunched over a notebook on the ground with a bunch of textbooks on what appeared to be fauna and flora scattered around him. Damn, so what Thea had said had been the truth. He ended up getting a job with Olivia and Scar.

Damn, he shouldn’t have called bullshit. He just never thought that Soren, terrified of Scar, would end up working for the man.

Isaiah, unsure of what to do, shrugged as he went over, ignoring the glare from Soren’s two bodyguards, and sat next to the man on the ground. He could hear the man’s music playing through his headphones, though when he finally noticed someone had taken a seat beside him, he ripped out his headphones and smiled politely.

“Hi, Isaiah.”

“Hi, Soren. What are you doing?”

“Studying, I don’t want to be a burden at their store.”

“And the other two.”

“Silas is keeping me company, and Ravi is just there. Where are Midnight and Royal?”

“Don't know where Midnight is, and Royal is asleep, I didn’t want to wake him up.”

“Because of Jamie?”

Isaiah raised an eyebrow. ”Oh, so you know of him too?”

“I only know the rumours.”

Isaiah rolled his eyes. “There are no rumours; he’s my best friend.”

Soren stared at him drolly. “So, you killed your best friend’s father?”

Isaiah sighed. “He deserved it.”

Soren shrugged before he went back to his work; slipping his headphones on, Isaiah sighed as he closed his eyes, leaning his head back on the couch and closing his eyes. Of course, everyone would see him as Jamie’s father. Still, no one cared when that man had abused him until he was black and blue when he had let his so-called friends use his son for their greed, doing all sorts of unspeakable things to him, using him as a human ashtray and somewhat of a guinea pig, and no matter how much Jamie hated him for it, Isaiah would kill the man every single time. Jamie’s feelings be damned.

Isaiah opened his eyes to stare at Soren’s bodyguards; Silas was fiddling with his phone, scowling at whatever was on the screen, and whatever had come up had left his eyes wide. He had muttered something about finding his mother, and then he left. On the other hand, Ravi had silently been staring at Soren, something similar to affection in his eyes. He said nothing, did nothing, just continued watching the man with a soft smile, though when Isaiah caught him, he shrugged before continuing to look at him.

Oh, god. Was this about to be a weird love triangle thing? They didn’t have enough drama in their lives that warranted another one. That was not his problem. Isaiah closed his eyes once more but opened them a few minutes later when he heard the gentle pitter-patter of feet hitting the wooden flooring, and he saw Gabriel walk in, squinting his eyes at the bright sun shining in.

“Oh, wow. Never did I think I would see you three interacting.”

“Hi, Gabriel,” Isaiah said.

“Hi, Isaiah, where’s Midnight?” Gabriel asked, looking around. Clearly, the only ones in here were him, Ravi, and Soren.

“Don’t know, haven’t seen him.”

“I see. Well, anyway, you have a guest.”

Isaiah froze. “No.” It was out of his mouth before he had time to register what he had said. Maybe he couldn’t see him. He didn’t want to. What if they ignored the elephant in the room? And believe it or not, the elephant in the room wasn’t Isaiah having murdered Jamie’s father.

“Isaiah,” Gabriel said softly. “He’s already here.”

“Who?” Soren asked, frowning a little.

“Jamie.” Soren snorted but nodded.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Soren pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted someone.

A few minutes later, Midnight walked into the room, slightly dishevelled. He was frowning, rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at them all. “Why did Soren text me?” he looked down at his phone, the scowl deepening. “Yip ti kai yay, motherfucker. Sunroom now.”

“Jamie’s here. Isaiah won’t go.”

“Well, since you seem to have this handled, I am going to go. I don’t want to be late. Oh, and I have texted them, but if any of you see Ace or Isaac, could you tell them I’m going to be a little late to meeting them? I have a date with Silver.”

Midnight scowled, but when Gabriel looked at him, he forced a smile. “Of course, don’t worry, have fun on your date.”

They watched as Gabriel walked out of the sunroom. They heard his voice saying something to someone, possibly Jamie, and all eyes landed on Isaiah.

“What?” he groaned.

“Why won’t you go see him?”

“Turns out, when he ran away four years ago, it really did piss me off. So, now I’m doing the same thing. If he asks, you haven’t seen me.”

Isaiah stood up, getting ready to leave through the back door into the back garden, where he would hop the fence and go to Luca’s place. He could crash there, but Midnight grabbed his arm, forcing him to sit back on the ground.

“You’re not going anywhere. Go talk to him. He came all the way here for you.”

“But what if,” Isaiah began, though he didn’t want to finish that sentence, he didn’t want to say it out loud. But what if Jamie hated him?

“You won’t know anything until you go speak to him,” Midnight deadpanned. “And if I have to be woken up for this, you have to go otherwise, I kill you and all that you love.”

Isaiah cleared his throat as he stood up. Four years. They had seen one another four years ago in Jamie’s apartment, unaware that it would be their last meeting. He could do this; after all, Jamie was the one who had run away, and now he was back. And Isaiah had questions which only Jamie could answer.

~*~