《Keeping The Balance》Chapter Twelve – The CEO Reborn Step Brother – Task World One (12)
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It has been a couple of weeks since Terrance's big meeting and it was rather calm. Hol was only done with half of the mission, seeing as he exposed Caleb's ill intention to Terrance but not their family. That may be a bit tricky, seeing as even though Caleb has such a selfish personality his family still cares very much about him. So Hol had to get hard proof for this and make Caleb's family open their eyes to how bad he was.
But Hol was dealing with another problem as well… Terrance can’t seem to keep his hands off of him. He is always cuddling up close to him and kissing him in different places that he can reach. Hol is especially dealing with how much Terrance wants to sleep with him. It shouldn’t be happening. Every. Day. Doesn’t Terrance's hips hurt?!
It was one of those days where Terrance slept over at Hol house. They were just resting in Hol bed together, Terrance hands lightly tracing on Hol body. Hol's body felt so sticky and sweaty but he felt too lazy to get up to clean himself. Hol let out an irritating noise when he felt Terrance kissing at his neck again.
“No… Stop… I am too tired for this… Give me a break already.” Hol half-heartedly pushed away Terrance, who just kept coming back towards him. Hol decided to just give up and let Terrance just continue to kiss him all over.
The kissing stopped when they both heard a phone ringing. Terrance let out a disappointed groan and went to see if it was his phone. Hol went to check if it was his phone as well but there was nothing on his screen. Turning to look back at Terrance, he noticed that they had an annoyed expression on their face.
When Terrance ended the phone call he turned to look at Hol with a frown on his face. “I have to go and have dinner with my family today. But I don’t want to leave your side~” Terrance jumped onto Hol, causing him to let out a pained grunt at the unexpected weight on his body.
“I can join you. It wouldn’t be too weird if I just showed up. We are best friends after all.” Hol didn’t want to leave Terrance's side, still feeling too worried about what Caleb would do to him if they were alone together.
Hol let out a sound of surprise when Terrance got on top of him and pin his wrists above his head. “We aren’t just best friends anymore… We are lovers… So we are best friends AND lovers. Don’t forget that or else I will get upset and bite you in places for everyone to see.” Hol had to bite his lower lip as Terrance started to bite at him again. He couldn’t understand why Terrance enjoyed biting him so much and he really couldn’t understand why he liked it when it happened.
After Terrance bit at Hol for a few more minutes, Hol pushed him off and went to find something to wear for dinner with Terrance's family. Even though Hol invited himself to the dinner he felt nervous that he will either mess up or that they won’t approve of them dating.
Hol decided he wanted to look nice but not too fancy so he wore a simple brown suit with no vest under it, just a simple white dress shirt. He also decided not to wear a tie as well, wanting to look more easy-going instead of his usual serious expression.
When Hol was done getting dressed and went to check on Terrance, who was just wearing a shirt with a leather jacket and jean shorts. Hol got nervous when Terrance was just looking at him and not saying anything for a long time. He moved nervously when Terrance got closer to him and continued to stare at him.
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“I don’t want to go anymore. I want to stay here and have you make me go weak in the hips. It's just family dinner, I can have that whenever I want.” Terrance was looking at Hol with intense eyes that made Hol face grow embarrassed. Hol had to cover Terrance's eyes so he could gain control over the feelings he was experiencing at the moment.
“Calm yourself down. You can survive one night of us not fooling around, okay? Now let go and have dinner with your family.” Hol put both of his hands on Terrance's shoulder and turned him around so he could push them out of the room. Terrance was complaining as Hol did this but allowed it to keep happening.
When they got outside, Terrance went to his car right away and opened the door to the car for Hol to get in. After Hol got into the car Terrance went to the driver's side and started the engine. As Terrance was driving them to the place where the dinner was happening, Hol decided to check in with Starie to see how things were going for the mission.
Hol raised an eyebrow when Starie appeared with a serious look on their face. “Host, I have some bad news. Caleb has fully blackened and will try to kill Terrance. I do not know when it will happen but just know that Caleb has the intent to kill Terrance. Make sure to protect Terrance.”
Hol felt himself grow cold at what he just heard. He tried not to show anything on his face so that Terrance wouldn’t notice his sudden mood change. Hol couldn’t just tell Terrance to go back home, he would ask why and would want to know why he knew Caleb wanted to kill them.
Hol was tense to the dinner as he tried to think of ways to keep Caleb and Terrance away from each other. Hol must have been doing a bad job at hiding his worry because he could feel Terrance put their hand on his shoulder and rub it in a comforting motion.
“Are you that nervous about eating with my family? This isn’t the first time we did this, I mean before we were dating. Should we just leave…?” Terrance was looking at Hol with cautious eyes and Hol could only force down the feelings he was currently feeling and give Terrance what he hoped was a natural smile.
“I’m just thinking about what I should order… Don’t want to waste too much time ordering… Haha…” Hol tried not to cringe at how bad that excuse was but it did get Terrance to stop looking at him with concerned eyes.
As Terrance got out of the car, that Hol just noticed was turned off, Hol quickly followed after him. They walked to the entrance of a fancy restaurant that Hol wouldn’t dream of going to in his past life. As they got inside of the restaurant, Terrance just nodded towards the staff waiting at the entrance before walking off.
Hol was impressed at how having a lot of money help you get into anywhere with little trouble. Hol followed after Terrance who seemed to know where he had to go. When he finally stops, Hol looks to see Caleb and two other rather rich-looking people waiting at the table for them.
“Father, Mother, Caleb.” Giving a brief greeting Terrance went to one of the empty seats left and Hol gave a quick and brief greeting as well as he sat next Terrance. As soon as he sat down he felt his hand get grabbed by Terrance, who rub circles on his hand.
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“I am surprised you are here on time and not a few hours late. I told the waiter to give us awhile but I guess I have to call them back.” A tall light-skinned man with stern blue eyes looked at Terrance. At first, he gave off an intimating feeling but it disappeared as soon as he made eye contact with Terrance. He had curly light brown hair in a buzzcut. He was wearing perfectly pressed, fine clothing that fitted well on his body. This man was Terrance's father, Reta Cox.
“It must have been because Karson was with him. Karson makes sure that Terrance gets everywhere on time. Without Karson helping him out I am worried that he would be struggling with basic things.” The woman next to Reta covers her mouth as she laughs lightly at what she said. The woman was short with tan skin and friendly brown eyes. She had a carefree feeling to her as she sat at the table. She had wavy, shoulder-length ginger hair that was in a loose hair bun. She had on a rather plain-looking dress that still managed to make her look really beautiful. This woman was Terrance's step-mother and Caleb mother, Jacquline Norris.
Hol was looking at them and sneaking looks at Caleb, wondering how someone can turn out so selfish with parents like these? They just seem so nice and caring. They would have probably taken care of Caleb with no problem but Hol assumed he wanted more in their life.
Reta motion for a waiter to come to their table and give them menus. Hol took it and looked at it with not that much interest, keeping an eye on Caleb in the corner of his eyes. Caleb looked… normal? He was smiling a lot but it felt rather forced to Hol. Hol continued to watch Caleb even after the menu was taken away and they got served food.
Hol didn’t want to take his eyes off of him for one second. Caleb was someone dangerous at the moment that could kill Terrance. He couldn’t let that happen. It can’t happen again. Wait, again?
Hol felt a headache appear for a second before it disappeared. He could feel a hand on his thigh and he looked to see that Terrance was giving him a concerned look. Hol just gave him a small smile, hoping to get rid of his worries.
The dinner went by smoothly with no problems but Hol still didn’t let down his guard. As Terrance was saying good-bye to his parents, Hol noticed from the corner of his eye that Caleb put something in his pocket but when Hol went to look at him directly, Caleb just gave him a smile that caused a shiver to go down his back.
As Terrance and Hol went to leave the restaurant they heard footsteps following after them. Looking behind them they saw that Caleb was walking behind them. He continued to follow them and call out to Terrance when they got to a rather empty hallway in the restaurant.
“Terrance… There is something I have to say to you.” Caleb's voice didn’t do anything to calm down Hol as he turned away with Terrance to look at Caleb. Caleb no longer had a smile on his face, just giving off a rather dead looking expression on his face.
“I hate you. Everything about you brings me so much hate. Why does everything go so well for you? You are just a fucking useless piece of shit! I should be the golden child! Not just the fucking step-brother! Everyone should be focused on me! Not you.” Caleb was glaring at Terrance with so much hatred in his eyes but Terrance just gave him a blank look, not bothering to give him a reaction.
“Is that all? Are you done ranting? I really can’t believe that you are trying to destroy my reputation because you are jealous of me. How old are you? Grow up. There will always be someone better than you. You are wasting my time. Good-bye.” Terrance turned away from Caleb and Hol went to copy him but stopped when he saw something shining getting taken out of Caleb's pocket.
“How about you just fucking die.” Caleb then rushed toward Terrance who had his back to him with a knife in his hand. Hol reacted quickly and pushed Terrance out of the way. Hol felt a sharp pain go through his body and he went to his knees quickly. He could feel a sharp pain in the lower area of his body.
When Hol reached down to feel the area he felt a sharp pain go through his body when he hit the knife still in his body. Hol heart was beating so fast and hard that he could hear it in his ears. His body felt so cold but sweaty at the same time. Everything felt like it was spinning and he couldn’t focus on anything.
“Karson!” Terrance quickly got to his knees and held the dazed Hol whose eyes were getting unfocused. Terrance was shaking as he felt blood get on his hand. He looked at a pale and shaking Caleb who quickly ran away. Terrance wanted to chase him and beat the shit out of him but he had to focus on the deadly pale Hol.
“Karson, please focus on me. It's going to be okay. I-It fine. Y-You will be okay. I will get help. S-So don’t close your eyes, p-please…” Terrance put a shaky hand on the confused looking Hol. Terrance quickly took his phone out of his pocket but it fell to the ground from how nervous he was.
He quickly picked it up again and called the emergency line. Hol couldn’t tell what was happening. He felt so much pain but at the same time, he felt numb. He could feel that Terrance was shaking as they held him. Hol wanted to tell him it was okay but he could only groan.
Hol couldn’t believe he was stabbed again… He has horrible luck, doesn’t he… He is always doing reckless things… He made them upset again… He promised that he wouldn’t do that anymore… Who did he promise? Doesn’t matter he is too tired right now. He just wants to sleep.
Terrance felt his heartbeat increase more when he felt Hol go limp in his hand. He was told that people would be there soon but how soon? What if they are too late? He wanted to take the knife out of Hol but he knows that will just make him bleed out quicker. Terrance didn’t want to risk moving him either. He was forced to just sit on the floor as he tried not to cry as he holds the bleeding Hol in his arms.
“It will be okay. Help is coming soon. You will be okay. Everything will be okay. Please be okay. Don’t leave me here alone. Please don’t do this to me.” Terrance could only put his face into the cold neck of Hol as he let out a shaky breath, waiting for help to arrive.
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