Maybe it was about that time in his life where he could quit ‘experimenting’ and get fully into dick. He had lived enough in life that it wouldn’t even be weird for his sexuality to become a convoluted thing. And with the sound of two very frustrated women in his ear, he was tempted to hussle them both out of his apartment and turn his back on womankind forever.<br/><br/><br/>Well, maybe for a week or two.<br/><br/><br/>Instead, his attention shot down to the fingertip that dug into his solar plexus hard enough to make him grunt, then right back up into the pissed off face that accompanied the finger. He glowered still, his lips pulled tight and his jaw tight, the angry gleam sparkling in his dark green gaze. Then he took a step back so that Nora was no longer touching him.<br/><br/><br/>“You have a good friend, Lane,” he said quietly, calmly. The calm before the storm. Something wicked crackled just underneath the surface, making the hairs on his arms stand right up. Cranking his chin back toward the blonde, something flickered in his stare, some kind of raw emotion.<br/><br/><br/>“But I said sit down,” he bit out for the second time, only now his voice was different. It clapped with authority, and even though he wasn’t about to lay a hand on the two women in his living room, he still stalked and corralled them toward his couch. “Now.”<br/><br/><br/>Whether they listened to him or not wasn’t going to stop him from the next words that flew out of his mouth. While he had demanded they both sit, James was busy pacing his living room floor while tossing glances at the closed door to his apartment.<br/><br/><br/>“And as repugnant as both of you ladies are intent to make me, I say fuck me. They have my fucking daughter. The Syndicate, somehow, has Mia, unless they’re just saying that to fuck with me,” he rattled on, venting to the air in front of him, really, instead of the two ladies. He sucked in a breath and let it escape between his teeth and into a whistle. Shaking his head, he stopped his pacing and turned to face them as he struggled with keeping his composure.<br/><br/><br/>“Lane, wherever you got the misconceived notion that I don’t care about you -- keep it. It’s honestly safer that you think I don’t give a fuck than--” He bared his teeth in a pained grin and shook his head, then his eyes narrowed in on Nora. “And you’re good to keep her out of it, but you ought to know how difficult it is to keep them at bay once you’ve struck a deal. Who did they send? Because the she bitch of a fucking fairy queen doesn’t show her face amongst the peasants, that’s for sure. They’re self-serving fucks… and no wonder I fit right into the schematic. But they can’t have Mia, oh no. She’ll use my little girl’s power without caring that she’ll.. That--”<br/><br/><br/>Growling in frustration, James knifed his fingers through his hair again, stumbled backward, and sunk down into the armchair across from them and sucked in a shuddering breath. He spoke into his palm when he spoke again, not looking at them. “Mia’s sick. She won’t survive whatever errands those asshats will train her into. She just won’t. She’ll die. They’ll kill her before they know what they did -- or they will know, use her to get what they want, without a care. That’s real asshattery right there. ...And, Lane…”<br/><br/><br/>He looked up then, looked her dead in the eye. “I can’t let you give that book to them. They’ll use it for their own deeds. Whatever story that they’ve twisted to have you give it to them, for everything that is holy, don’t let them. For all I know, they’ll trap your soul into that grimoire pages just like they have before-- Jesus. You two were definitely followed here, by the way. There’s no way that the Syndicate is just going to let the two of you, who aren’t a part of them, fool around with something they want without that happening.”