Snafu

Appraisal - Part 3

"There you are."

Cole spun around and saw Gideon standing in the doorway. He was still wearing the same black shirt and jeans he had on last night and looked no worse for wear, aside from dark shadows under his eyes.

Cole gasped and sprinted toward him, glad that his coffee cup was drained so he could throw his arms around Gideon's neck in an enthusiastic hug. Gideon laughed and murmured 'Good Morning, I guess," into his ear. Cole pulled back and smacked his chest.

"Why didn't you text me back?"

Gideon shrugged. "Ran out of here without my phone yesterday."

Cole smacked him again, which only got him a smirk of impending doom, the one that meant Gideon was perceiving his petulance as adorable and was about to seize the opportunity to see how much he could rile him up.

"Were you worried about me?"

"Fuck you," Cole grumbled. At least the asshole was in a good mood and not dead.

"I'm sorry I wasn't home this morning." Gideon checked his watch, "Oh man, and I've got to get to the office, but I just wanted to drop by and let you know that everything is taken care of."

Cole frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I gave James the money so he can't hold it over you anymore."

"You..." Cole gaped, trying and failing to keep the pitch of his voice from rising, "You gave him the money?"

"Yes." Gideon looked sinfully pleased with himself.

"But now I owe you the money!" Cole wailed.

"Oh my fucking –" The smirk fell from Gideon's face and he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't fucking do that. That is not what this is. You know I don't want to hold anything over you, Cole. I mean, come on, you know that."

Gideon's voice dropped lower as he spoke, and he lowered his hand from his eyes so he could meet Cole's and express his sincerity. Cole did know that. He knew it very well from the way Gideon got so tangled up believing that they could not just have sex given their circumstances. In light of not wanting to reopen that can of worms, Cole kept his lips shut and nodded.

"If you need to, think of it as me making up for the fact that you got dragged into my bullshit life where you have to endure psychological terror at the hands of my brother." Gideon held his eyes with laser focus, "Plus honestly, a couple hundred grand isn't that much to me, okay? I barely had to move stuff around or liquidize anything to get it sorted out."

Cole clenched his jaw and looked to the side. His entire life had revolved around that debt for over a decade, long before his dad went to prison and he got mixed up with Logan, but especially after then. It had been an untouchable thing that he was certain would still be crushing the life out of him until the day he died. And to Gideon it was merely moving some stuff around and barely liquidizing any assets. Fuck him, honestly.

But at the same time, "You would do that for me? Just pay that much money?"

Gideon nodded. "Yes, baby. That and more."

Cole was still the same boy who's been drawn in by Logan's promise of taking care of everything for him, just a little older and more paranoid perhaps. He knew sometimes it was prudent to look a gift horse in the mouth. But Gideon was not Logan. Still, Cole felt disappointed in himself for feeling so flattered and flustered. He scowled at the floor.

"Am I forgiven?"

"I don't know." He hugged himself. "That's a lot of money."

"I know it is, baby. And I'm sorry, but I really have to get to work." Gideon glanced at his watch again. "We can talk about it when I get home later, if you want."