7 - friends

"And so the wolf lay with the lamb."

― Nenia Campbell, Terrorscape

. . .

I was sitting in the cafeteria of Creed Enterprise, slurping on my milkshake, watching as people talked amongst themselves.

It was the tour day. We were given a tour by some nice lady who worked here, she showed us all of the main places of the building but not the top

floor, where the Creeds had their offices, and some other floors.

There must be bodies there.

They could not be stupid enough to have bodies in their office.

And even if they were, it was not like the cops could ever arrest them.

I was sitting alone at a table for four. Other people were sitting together but there wasn't space for me so I sat here. I didn't mind, but it stung a little. I knew they didn't like me, only some people did and it was not like I had made efforts to make friends, either.

My phone buzzed.

George Washington - When will you be back?

I don't know. I don't have any classes after this so I'm going to go home directly.

Are you not going to fly to your mom for Christmas? You know the answer to that, G.

I put my phone back in my pocket. I was invited by my mother to join her and her new glamorous family for Christmas, something I turned down as soon as I was asked, much to my mother's annoyance.

I'm your mother, she had screamed at me.

Then act like it, I had said. She didn't bother me after that. She had to know how bad of a mother she really was. If she thought I was going to join her and her beautiful family for Christmas and let her, once again, tell me how much my father and I messed her life up, she was sadly mistaken.

A woman walked inside the cafeteria, the only reason I noticed her was because she was looking right at me.

She stopped right in front of me, wearing a maroon a-line skirt with a black blouse, looking utterly professional.

I slurped on my oreo milkshake. "Are you Olivia Woods?"

I frowned. "Yes?'

She nodded, tucking a strand of her blond hair behind her ear, her eyes moving over the light brown coat I was wearing with a white shirt and black jeans, and dislike spread on her slim tanned face. "Mr. Creed has asked for your presence. Follow me."

She walked away.

I stood up. Which Creed wanted to meet me? Could I say no? Did I even want to say no? Would they shoot me if I said no?

Yes, this was the outcome of searching more about them on my laptop.

I followed the gorgeous blond, nibbling at my bottom lip with my milkshake in one hand.

We got into an elevator and she pressed the button for the top floor. I blinked twice at that. How tall was this building?

I leaned against the metal wall, feeling the gorgeous blonde's eyes on me. "You are a little girl," she said, her voice dripping venom. I looked at her, confused. She gave me a disgusted look. "Fucking men who are twice your age. You should be ashamed."

My hands clenched but I didn't say anything. Speak, Olivia. I couldn't.

She rolled her eyes, muttering 'whore' under her breath, and just then the elevator door opened into a vast space with glass windows and dark furniture.

She walked out and pointed to the only corridor on the floor which I could see. "Go to Ashton Creed's office. Don't forget to knock before you enter unless you fancy dying."

She walked to a small grey door and got inside, slamming it shut. I flinched.

Alright.

Maybe she was just having a bad day.

But I was never bad to people if I was having a bad day.

I walked to the office she had ordered me to go to, passing by two offices that had X.M.C and Z.M.C written on them. The last door had A.M.C written on it. Even online, I had not been able to find their middle name. Their names were always Zavier M. Creed, Ashton M. Creed, and Xerxes

M. Creed.

I paused in front of the large black door which had a sparkling white knob. I raised my fist to knock but then hesitated.

Why was I here? I should have said no to her. The Creeds scared the crap out of me but they...intrigued me.

Damn me and my curiosity.

"How long do you plan on lingering in the hallway, Olivia?" Zavier. Were they all there?

I took a deep breath of bravery and pushed the door open.

Ashton Creed was sitting behind a clean large sleek black desk. Xerxes Creed was sitting by a large window with Zavier Creed across from him. The office was big, really freaking big, with a large bookshelf on the left, a world map on the wall adjacent to it which looked vintage. The floor was sleek black marble. On Ashton's desk was a sleek black globe with white lines marking the world, his laptop which, too, was black and a few files which looked important as heck.

They looked at me and then kept looking, not saying anything. I felt the urge to run.

"You look beautiful." Xerxes stood up, walking closer to me. I took a step back without planning to. A predatory smirk came on his lips. He walked towards me till my back hit the door I had just closed. He didn't do anything, he just looked down at me while invading my personal bubble.

"Where are your manners, little love?" He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Th-thank you, Xerxes," I mumbled, my one hand grabbing the edge of my shirt. His eyes went down, doing a quick scan of my body, and then landed on the milkshake I had in my hand.

He took it from me. "Oreo?" He took a sip. My eyes widened. That was an indirect kiss!

He smirked at me. "Let's have lunch, yes?" "I-"

"We ordered Italian," Zavier said, standing up and walking towards us, and stood beside me. "Stay for a while."

I bit my lip. "I don't know..."

"We can be friends," Ashton said, standing up and walking towards me. Now they had caged me against the wall door. "Can't we, little one?"

I looked at them, my eyes wide. Friends with them?

They just looked at me.

"I-" I cut myself off. What was I supposed to say?

"We can be friends..." Zavier muttered, picking a strand of my hair up and rolling it around his finger.

"We'll be good to you, little love," Xerxes said as he cupped my cheek with his large hands, his thumb brushing over my cheekbone.

"What do you say, little one?" Ashton picked my hand up, gently rubbing the underside of my wrist. I shivered. His eyes darkened.

"Okay," I whispered because I saw no way out of this and because...they intrigued me.

I was curious, very freaking curious about them. They smiled genuine wide smiles.

My heart gave a silly little jump at that.

. . .