the devil you know.

when → night time, four years ago

who  → casey wells, etienne sloan, npc

what  → An alternate universe meeting. 

The restaurant is bustling with lively conversation at the tables, people eating and talking, laughing and drinking and generally just enjoying themselves. Etienne is happy to see it, but not surprised. They’re usually packed, with reservations going out for weeks in advance, and when he dreamed of owning his own restaurant one day, this is what he dreamed of.  He remembers nights in his college dorm, making up recipes for his roommates to try, and traveling back to Europe, then Asia, Africa and so many other places,  just to learn cuisines from different cultures, all to come back and set down roots of his own back in his favorite city.  He didn’t expect to be this huge success, but when word got around, and then a review got posted in the Times, it brought customers in droves, and it never really dived down.

Tonight, he’s standing at a table talking to a frequent customer, someone high up in society that likes to have a chat with the chef every once in a while, and Eti obliges because the man likes to spend a good amount on food and wine.  There’s laughter across the room that catches his attention,  and so he turns for a brief moment, and it’s a beautiful brunette that then catches his eyes, laughing at her table with her friend. He smiles softly, a little wolfishly because she’s pretty drop dead gorgeous, and when he heads back to the kitchen, he stops their waiter and has him send out one of his best vintage reds, compliments of the chef, to her table. 

Its when the red comes back, moments later, the waiter looking sheepish that he is confused, when he hears that the brunette in question has mentioned she doesn’t like that particular wine, he laughs and grabs the bottle, heading into the cellar for a different wine, his favorite white, and well, he should’ve sent this one out sooner. He goes out himself to the table and smiles in greeting “Ladies, hello. My apologiers for interuppting your meal but I heard there was a problem with the wine we sent over, so i thought I’d stop by myself and offer something else. I’m Etienne, the chef, and owner.”

@lawlikecaseywells​

​

Summer had flown by and all Breanne did was work. Normally that would be a waste of a summer, but half of her work hours went to college stuff. The other were ‘backup’ for her savings. She had managed to get a new phone and out of necessity, a new laptop… She felt like she could breathe. She had rent money now. Saying goodbye to her science friends was hard. Difficult. She hadn’t cried that much since leaving Cebu (and Las Vegas)… But here she was, back at the diner that had barely kept her afloat… With a rootbeer float during the end of her lunch break, on one of her normal hour shifts. It was dead for a summer weekday. “I’m not sure how fun my overnight shifts are going to be… I just learned how to have a normal sleep schedule.”

 Etienne loves food, loves cooking it, discovering new flavors, and eating it. He spends a lot of his time at fancy restaurants, and even recently, helped open one. But there’s something about diner food, too, that does it for him. He loves a greasy cheeseburger after a long night, or even, during the afternoon after a particularly frustrating meeting.  Breanne is someone he’s met once or twice while there, and has enjoyed their company. 

He’s eating a plate of fries when she talks, and he smiles softly “I don’t remember the last time I had a normal sleep schedule, but kudos for getting yours on track.  How is school going, by the way?”

Making sure to be as careful as she could, Fallon pulled her small, compact mirror onto the floor, pulling out a twenty dollar bill and rolling it up. With her hand shaking, the model bent over the mirror, watching as a tear dripped down onto the mirror. And another. And another. Hastily wiping at her cheeks, she swiftly bent over one of the lines and held the bill to the end, holding it to her nose and inhaling deeply, moving the straw along the line as she did. And as soon as it hit her system and she realized what she had just done, Fallon flipped the mirror, sending the remaining powder everywhere, the reflective glass shattering as it hit the ceramic flooring.

Fallon tossed the rolled bill across the small space, watching it roll and come to a stop as it bumped up against the bathroom door. Shaking slightly, she dropped her forehead to her knees, allowing heavy sobs to rattle through her body. “Fucking hell… It wasn’t supposed to happen again.” She muttered to herself between sobs, shaking her head against her knees. Fumbling along the floor, she felt around for her phone, hissing in pain when her hand pressed down on a shard of the mirror that had scattered about the floor. Once she found what she was looking for, she quickly scrolled through her favorites tab, tapping the number she was searching for. As it rang, Fallon tried to control her crying, to no avail. And as if it couldn’t get worse, she could feel a nosebleed coming on, a side effect that had always seemed to accompany the drug almost instantaneously after doing a line. Upon hearing the click of the line connecting, Fallon took a deep breath. “I did something bad…” She sobbed into the phone, letting her head fall back against the wall. After a pause to let the man speak, Fallon spoke again. “I’m in the bathroom connected to your office.”

@kngofhll​

 Etienne is back in full swing. There is a bachelorette party happening on one side of the bar, a bride dressed in white, drunk and happy, but eyeing him, as they all tend to do. There’s the normal crowd, twentysomethings dancing, over forty year olds watching as they do, Etienne keeping an eye on those ones in particular, just in case he needs to throw anyone out.  He had come down straight from the penthouse, making Casey, and the twins, a quick dinner and enjoying some family time before he had to spend his night down at the club. He has a drink in hand, and is standing near the bar, watching the action.

Zola is talking to him about a new drink list, something about specialty cocktails, when his phone goes off in his breast pocket.  He’s confused at first, when he sees who’s calling, Fallon should be with Birdie right now, not calling him and bothering him at this time. And then he realizes, something must be wrong, if she is calling him right now, so he picks up, and that’s when he hears her crying on the other end. “Fallon?” he asks, trying to break through her crying to hear her words, “what’s wrong?” he asks, and when she says she’s in his bathroom, he simply says “I’m coming,” before hanging up and running over, telling Zola that he has an emergency, once he finds her, he sighs, leaning down to wrap his arms around her “Fal, what happened?

”

INSTAGRAM: ESLOAN POSTED A PHOTO →

3 months married to you, and to many more years of grabbing your ass in front of our family and friends. 

tagged: @lawlikecaseywells

❤️ 4145 likes,1525 comments

“E!” Fallon chirped, dropping her bags in front of her door and dashing across the hall towards the elevator. She’d been back in the city for less than twenty-four hours, and as much as she needed to get some sleep, she’d missed her family more. Bradley had taken Birdie to his sister’s house for the afternoon, and even though she wanted to go with them, she figured her time would be better spent catching up with her brother, whom she hadn’t seen since his wedding. The model had managed to fit the nuptial events within her busy schedule, as it was something she wouldn’t have missed for the world.

She had caught her brother boarding the elevator, no doubt heading down towards his club. She stuck her arm out to stop the doors from closing, slipping inside with a bright grin. As soon as the door closed, the model greeted Etienne by throwing her arms around the man. It hadn’t hit her how much she’d missed her brother while being in California. “I missed you, big brother. How’s the married life? You know, I never woulda thought you’d end up married before me. Crazy how that works, huh.” She rambled, releasing her brother from the embrace.  “I’m glad to see my key still works to my apartment.”

@kngofhll​

 He loves his sister. That’s what he tells himself when he hears her call out to him on his way down to LUX. He does indeed love her, but he isn’t quite sure he wants to be bombarded right now when he’s got so much work to do. He eyes the buttons to either close, or open the doors. He isn’t an asshole, not so much anymore, so he presses it to open them, letting her slide inside the lift next to him. He hasn’t seen her in almost two months at this point, and he guesses he can put work aside for a bit to catch up with her. “Fallon,” he greets with a smile on his face, pushing aside his worries about the club, the twins, the business for a moment so he can be present for his sister. 

He’s startled, but not surprised, by the way she throws her arms around him to hug him. Fallon has always been a hugger. Still, he wraps his arms around her and lets her throw questions at him before she pulls back, and he straightens his jacket. “Married life is, honestly? Wonderful. I like being a husband,” he admits before shaking his head and laughing “Yeah, I never thought I’d be married with two kids at all, and yet here we are,” and then he rolls his eyes “Did you think I’d change the locks? I don’t have the energy to continue to try to keep you out of my life anymore, you’re exhausting,” he teases, looking up when they finally reach LUXs floor. He allows her to step off first and then follows “how was your trip? Do you want a drink? I think I need a drink.”

Letting her eyes flutter closed as she kissed her husband the brunette was transported back to the beaches of Italy where the two of them had spent a month lounging in each others company. It was relaxation in a way she’d never experienced before. Yes she’d checked her phone for work e-mails, she’d taken the work calls, and she’d made sure they facetimed with the twins everyday, but in between they had been perfectly content with each others company and she loved it. Letting out a small laugh as he deepened the kiss she didn’t resist for a couple of moments before pulling away, hand resting on his cheek. If he was given an inch Etienne Sloan would take a mile, and the girls had been waiting a long time for their parents to get back.

“Don’t you think we should give your mom a break though, I mean she’s had them a whole month, I bet she’s even more grey than when we left.” She grinned, heart fluttering as he kissed her palm, still not used to these sweet gestures of love that he rained down on her at all times. She didn’t think he’d ever get used to it actually. “Never ever? Wow, I guess it’s lucky we’re married now then, otherwise you might go through a drought of getting me all to yourself.” She teased, unable to resist the new indulgent kiss from him even as he told the driver to get their bags, wrapped her arms around him tightly so she could pull herself against his chest. Then he was getting out the car, offering his hand to her of course, and she took it without any hesitation before sweeping her up in his arms and eliciting a screech of joy from his wife. “Ahh! Don’t drop me!” The brunette clung hold of him tightly before she was let down again, unable to stop herself from kissing him immediately. “Thank you Mr. Sloan, it’s good to be home.” She replied in a mumbled against his lips even as a familiar sound reached her ears.

The two little voices, animated and talking a mile a minute signalling her daughter’s were nearby and she could wait no longer to wrap them up in her arms and cover their little chubby cheeks with kisses. “Girls?” She called, giving her husband’s hand a quick squeeze before her heels were clicking through the house to try and find them. A barbie explosion was in the living room an he knew she’d hit on the right spot as the toddlers screamed ‘mommy!” And ran towards her with delight. “Have you missed me? I missed you!” Casey laughed as they both jumped on her at once, making her fall backwards onto the floor in a laughing heap. “Look how big you are, you’re nearly taller than me!” She joked, pressing kisses to each of their cheeks in turn. “Daddy is here too, look!” She chuckled as she looked up from the floor to see Etienne come in after her.

He knew that eventually they would have to stop and head inside, that they couldn’t make out in the backseat of the car forever, and even more, that their kids were waiting inside.  But, if Casey was willing to indulge him for a moment longer, he was going to make the best of that moment.  It wasn’t long though until she was pulling back from their embrace, indicating that it was finally time for them to head inside. “The twins are the only grandkids she’s got, she’s probably loving it, we could leave for another month and she’d be perfectly fine,” he waved it off, but he knew there was some truth in her statement, his mom did deserve a break and well, he missed his kids a lot more than he was letting on at the moment. “It’s very lucky we’re married now, and I get you all to myself,” he says, though there was never a moment when he didn’t before. Once they were committed, they were fully committed. Once she was in his arms, he laughed, carrying her over the threshold to their home, only placing her down when the familiar pitter patter of tiny feet resounded towards them, letting her kiss him one last time before she was off in search of their girls, and he was right behind her.

He watches, first, as the girls scream for their mom and attack her with hugs, Casey delighting in it. It has been three years of him watching them all together, and he still can’t get enough of it, he still loves them more each time. He watches as they tackle her to the ground, and she covers them in kisses, and then finally, points him out, only for him to move forward, picking Phi up from the top of the pile on their mom “Hello, my little darlings,” he says as he presses kisses to Phis cheeks and then moves to do the same to Lizzie, dropping himself to the floor to join in. “I’ve missed you both so much, you little monsters. Were you good to your gran?” he asks, letting the twins cover him in kisses now, too. He grabs both of them in his arms, reveling in the excited chatter as they tell their parents about their month with his mother. 

The secretaries there know him, as does the security, so on arrival he just waltzes in, greets them and maybe lays on the charm because it’s always good to keep these kinds of relationships in good standing, and then he’s heading up on the lift for Casey’s office. What he sees when he steps off the lift, however, has him standing up a little bit straighter, walking into the room in that way he does that commands attention.  He waits, and watches as the man, and Casey talk in too close proximity if you ask him, before he steps forward to let his presence be know, clearing his throat. “Etienne Sloan,” he finally introduces when the man stops, offering a hand to shake. Once the man steps away to go about his business, Etienne moves to take his spot, facing Casey, and he raises an eyebrow, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “He was flirting with you,” he says, teasingly but it’s true, he’s a little perturbed to be honest. “Does he know you’re married?”