Chapter 17

"Wait! I'm sorry for whatever I said to piss you off!" Noel's voice trembled slightly as his eyes never left the sight of Jade standing above him in front of the only exit to his current situation. The man's eyes were completely unreadable for him.

"I'm home." Jade's two simple words broke his silence as he glanced around the apartment.

His actions and words were confusing to Noel and he was not sure who was talking to. Noel's mind was shaken slightly at the sound of a quiet meowing noise as he could hear the patter of small paws dashing across the floor. A small calico cat had ran straight for Jade. It's small body was nestling and rubbing up against the legs of Jade as he gazed down calmly at the cat as if it was nothing unusual for him catching Noel completely off guard at the sudden sight.

This is.. Wait.. What? What is this that I'm seeing exactly? Noel's face darkened as his mind completely zoned out to try and contemplate what was going on in front of him. The man had clearly thrown him into his apartment but instead of killing him he was simply watching a small cat cuddle up to his legs for returning home and it was not something he could fathom.

"Er.. What exactly-" Noel started to force the question out.

"She's mine." Jade said as he slowly removed himself from the doorway and started to walk over to his sofa to collapse onto it. A slight grunt escaped his mouth as he landed on it in a sitting position.

The small cat began to scamper across the floor until it was at the sofa. It's small body pounced off the floor and right onto Jade's lap as it released a loud purring sound the echoed throughout the apartment in the awkward silence. The sound of the cat purring away happily was almost hypnotizing to listen to. Both the sight and sound helped Noel's pounding heart slowly calm down a bit as he climbed himself back up to his feet and stood there in a daze for a minute.

"That doesn't exactly explain why you tossed me into your place.." Noel grit his teeth slightly as he tried to contemplate a way to leave without getting himself killed in the process. He could not tell whether he was playing guest or playing prisoner in this specific situation.

"Ah.. Spur of the moment." Jade slightly waved his hand in the air as if he was waving off the whole situation without a second thought to it at all. His nonchalant attitude at what he did caused Noel to slightly feel angered because he felt like he was being toyed with and it was not something he was enjoying.

"Spur of the moment? Hah." He glared over at Jade as he could feel himself about to burst at him for saying such a response.

"When do I ever do anything I don't feel like doing in that moment?" Jade yawned slightly as he spoke to the bartender. "You on the other hand have no awareness to your surroundings. It's almost comical someone hasn't mugged you to death on the street. It astounds me to be honest.."

"No awareness?! I'm comical?!" Noel took a few steps towards Jade as he repeated the words the man had just spoken about him as if he was double checking Jade's evaluation of him.

"Correct.. Unless of course.. You just like putting yourself in dangerous situation?" His brow slightly raised as he awaited the response to his question.

"What the hell are you talking about?! I do nothing of the sort!" Noel's voice burst out with a furious tone as if he was trying to scold Jade for his personal opinion about him.

"Please.. Your self awareness is like a fish in a lake. You wanna bite at what you think looks interesting and good, but you don't even realize what you've taken interest in is something that could get you killed the second you do." Jade scoffed as he slowly rose to his feet.

"You-" Noel wanted to retort back to his comment but his mind was drawing a blank in a way to come back to what he had just said. He knew he got interested in dangerous things sometimes like talking to Jade but he had never thought of himself as diving in too deep into anything. The only thing he ever did was ask questions or interact with him when he ran into him so he was not sure how he was getting too involved in something he shouldn't.

THUD!

Jade grasped hold of Noel's coat tightly and flung him towards the sofa. Noel's body slammed down against Jade's living room sofa roughly as his eyes squinted slightly at the landing again. It was the second time in the past thirty minutes that the man had hurled his body around as if he was a toy to do as he pleased. The impact onto the sofa did not hurt him at all but it had still taken him by surprise.

"What are you?!" Noel shouted his question as his eyes locked on Jade who was pacing himself over to Noel. Jade quickly leaned down above Noel. His hands were on the back of the sofa as his face came inches from Noel's own. Their eyes were locked onto each other as Noel grit his teeth in frustration. Jade's face wore a slight smirk as if he was finding everything full of his own amusement to enjoy.

"Where is that awareness of yours right now? I'd suggest you go home and stop trying to bite at things you shouldn't.." Jade slightly chuckled under his breath at his own question. Slowly his body leaned in forward until his lips were an inch from Noel's ear. His warm breath just barely grazing against the skin of his neck as he exhaled casually. His next words were like a calm, warm, whisper in Noel's ear that caused him to shiver. "otherwise something else might bite you."

As He pulled away from his ear after speaking Noel's blue eyes gazed into the man's jaded green ones as they were locked in return on his own. There was a flicker of something in them for a split second that almost seemed like warmth in his opinion before it slowly faded away back into a cold emotionless glare, but he could never truly understand the man so he could not be certain.