A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back with chapter two! :D
Before we get started, I would like thank everyone that read the first chapter! I would also like to give a huge thank you to winterschild11, Side1ways, Guest, LoganLover96, RainbowDiamonds, and XxxAnimaniacxxX for reviewing!
I hope you all enjoy!
James' POV
I had a knight in shining armor.
Okay, maybe that was pushing it a little, although his last name was Knight. Which, of course it was.
I didn't want anyone to take care of me, but Kendall had come to my rescue twice last night.
Twice.
And that wasn't even counting the fact that I'd almost fainted. Fainted. I would never let myself live that down. When the fuck had I ever needed anyone to save me?
Never.
I didn't like it, didn't fucking like it at all. Who did he think he was, stumbling down the alley like that? He could have gotten himself killed.
He also saved my ass with his crazy ninja skills.
And I really needed to stop thinking about this guy. I hadn't been able to sleep last night, partly because I was rattled I'd had a gun pointed to my head. And he'd seen me. Saved me. I really needed to stop finding my way back to the saving part.
It was exactly what I'd done all night and now all morning. I was obsessing over his little display with Levi before he'd gone all '80s Van Damme on the alley punk. Now, I was...I don't know, really obsessing over him, which was a new one for me. I didn't obsess about anyone.
"Fuck." I groaned, rubbing a hand over my face.
The officer had asked me to give Kendall his driver's license back, and then with my head being such a mess, I'd forgotten, which meant I sort of needed to see him because that was pretty important. I owed it to him for coming to my rescue, after all.
And there I was back to the rescuing part. Kendall was fucking with my head.
Making an attempt to ignore the ID that kept taunting me, I went into my bedroom and ran on my treadmill. As sweat trailed down my forehead and I looked out over the Hollywood Hills, I wondered if I should take a karate class...maybe tae kwon do? Then I wanted slam my head against the treadmill for even letting myself think that.
Stop thinking about this...I would have gotten myself out of the situation without Kendall's help. I could have handled both situations where he'd swooped in with his savior badge.
Half an hour later, I stepped off the treadmill and went straight for a shower before getting dressed, grabbing his stupid fucking driver's license, and making my way to Skyhouse.
There was no reason to keep putting it off. The little ninja intrigued me and once something caught my eye, there was no turning back until I figured it out.
I was determined to figure my ninja out.
He lived on the eighth floor, and as I rode the elevator, I realized I was smiling. Would he had already noticed he'd lost his license? There was a good possibility I could have some fun with that.
I fingered it in my jeans pocket and made my way down the hallway. It was only a few moments after I knocked that he opened the door, wearing jeans and shoes but no shirt. He had a lean body and defined abs, and there was zero reason I should be noticing this shit about the ninja.
"How do you know where I live?" He asked with a frown.
"I'm psychic." I grinned. Let him sweat this out a little.
"I don't believe in psychics."
"I'm right here, aren't I?"
"That you are." He gave me a mischievous grin, and I immediately knew he was up to something. "I guess that would have to be the only option. I briefly considered stalker, but you clearly know what I'm capable of since I came to your rescue last night."
It was my turn to frown.
"I could have handled it." And I could have. I'd dealt with much worse shit than a snot-nosed kid having a temper tantrum before.
"Didn't look like it from my end." He said, cocking a brow.
Little fucker.
"I was biding my time, thank you very much. He was a kid. I didn't want to hurt him."
"Okay." He shrugged.
Okay? Okay? That was all he had to say about it?
"I'm serious."
"I said okay."
"Yes, but you said it as if you're trying to pacify me. You don't really believe it. I can handle myself. I would have dealt with it."
My pulse was speeding up and if I wasn't so annoyed, I'd have respect for the guy. He played the game well. I just didn't want him to try and play it with me.
"Okay." He said again, and I wanted to ban the word from his vocabulary.
"Where's your shirt?" Where's your shirt? What the fuck was wrong with me?
"Why? Does my chest upset you?"
Okay, he'd caught my interest, and I didn't like it. People didn't speak to me the way Kendall did. It just didn't happen.
"You should be thanking me, you know?" I leaned against his doorjamb.
"What should I be thanking you for? I saved your ass twice last night and all I've gotten out of it is a stalker who thinks he's psychic."
I couldn't help it; a laugh tumbled out of my mouth. Kendall grinned and I smiled back...and who the fuck was this guy?
I stuck my hand into my pocket and pulled his license out, holding it up for him with two fingers.
"Did you lose something?"
"Oh, that one's expired. No biggie."
Motherfucker.
I turned the license around to check the date just as Kendall started laughing like crazy and goddamn him for getting the best of me again.
"I hate you."
"You don't know me."
"Let's go out for coffee." What the giant fuck did I just say? I hadn't thought about it...The words just jumped out of my mouth. Take it back. I just need to take it back and forget what I just asked, and-
"No."
Wait. What?
"Why not? It's just coffee." I obviously hadn't thought it was just coffee 3.5 seconds earlier.
"Because I don't see the point in going out for coffee with you." He said, crossing his arms.
"How about to drink coffee?"
Kendall rolled his eyes. "Look, Straighty. I get it. You're a little thrown off your game because you were saved by the gay guy."
My forehead wrinkled. "No, no. This has nothing to do with you being gay. I assure you, I don't like anyone saving my ass-gay, straight, or bi. In fact, it's never happened until last night."
"Actually, I'm bi. And twice. I saved your ass twice."
"I hate you." I said again, and he chuckled. I had to admit, it was slightly refreshing that he kept up with me like he did. "I owe you coffee. Let's go get a drink."
I didn't know why I was pushing this so much. There really wasn't a reason. I should have given him his ID back and been on my way. I didn't need a new friend. I could forget he'd saved my ass and it would be like it never happened-but I couldn't. It would drive me fucking crazy and I knew it. He was too damn interesting.
"No." He said again before plucking the license from my hand and turning to go back into his apartment. I caught the door and stepped inside.
"I don't like being dismissed."
"You don't like being saved or dismissed? Someone has issues…"
Damn him for making me want to laugh.
"I don't have issues. And I'm also determined as fuck when I want something. Have some goddamned coffee with me, so I can see you're really not as intriguing as you seem. Then I'll be on my way."
"No." He said again. He picked up a T-shirt from his couch and pulling it on and...I watched. Watched the way his muscles moved as he did so.
I opened my mouth to argue with him but he spoke first.
"I have plans."
"With someone else?"
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not your type, Straighty. There's no reason to be jealous because I might prefer to hang out with someone other than you."
"I'm not jealous." I crossed my arms. There was no reason to be jealous, and I didn't like him saying it. "I like getting my way. I'll just go with you."
"You'll go with me, huh?" He asked.
"Yes." Which was insane. I was aware my behavior was absolutely ridiculous, but I couldn't seem to stop it.
"Fine. Let's go, then."
"Where are we going?"
"I'm not telling."
"Oh, a surprise. How very sweet of you." I joked.
He nodded to the front door, so I stepped out. He closed and locked it behind him.
"So...are you really meeting someone else? I'm down to try a threesome if you're meeting up with a woman. You said you're bi, right?"
"Who said I'd want to have sex with you involved?" He pushed the button on the elevator.
"Because everyone wants to have sex if I'm involved." I teased. I could tell my confidence annoyed him slightly, and I wanted him as rattled as I felt.
"Not me." He said as we stepped into the elevator.
"Whatever you say."
"Are you sure you're straight?" He asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"You're a handful."
"I'll take that as a compliment." And I would. How did he like feeling flustered like I'd been feeling?
"Do you want to take my car?" I asked, and he shook his head.
"You really aren't going to want to go with me, but you're annoying enough that I'm not going to tell you why."
I shook my head. "Please. I can handle whatever you throw at me."
We went to Kendall's car in the garage. He made his way through the dark rows before pulling out and turning down Sunset.
We were quiet most of the way and I continued to look at him, continued to try and figure him out.
When he pulled off onto another road, I looked around and my heart dropped into my stomach.
What. The. Fuck.
This was definitely not what I expected.
"Why are we at the cemetery?" I gripped the center console.
I didn't do cemeteries. There was nothing I wanted more than to turn around and get the hell out of there, but I also didn't want him to know how uncomfortable I felt. He already had the upper hand.
"You're the one who wanted to come, Straighty."
He'd gotten the best of me. Again.
Kendall's POV
There was something about James I couldn't wrap my thoughts around.
Who the fuck showed up at a guy's place to return his driver's license? It was nice of him, and I appreciated it. And it kind of made sense, considering he felt like I'd helped him out the night before, but that certainly wasn't what I was expecting when I was about to head out to visit my brother.
I'd almost told James the truth about my intended destination when he pressed, but since he kept trying to get at me like we were in competition with one another, I couldn't resist the idea of seeing him lose his shit when he realized where I was taking him.
"You don't do cemeteries?" I asked.
"Honestly, if you had asked me where you were heading, this was the last place in the world I would have guessed."
"I guess I just keep surprising you then, don't I?"
He stared at me blankly.
"What?"
"People rarely surprise me."
"That's funny, because you keep surprising me." I noted.
"What do you mean by that? Last night? That I didn't go all Jackie Chan on that guy's ass?"
"No. Oh my god. You're thinking way too much about that stupid kid. I did what anyone would have done."
"You know that's not true, and you also know most people don't fucking whip out crazy martial arts-"
"Karate. Black belt, thank you very much."
"Whatever the fuck it was, you didn't have to do anything."
"No, I didn't have to. There are very rare instances where people have to do anything. I made a choice."
"And why did you make that choice?"
I rolled my eyes. "I can't believe we're even having this conversation. So I'm just going to say you're welcome and let that be the end of it. Now you can come with me or stay in the car...or take an Uber back to my place, but I'm not gonna sit here and spar over you thinking I threatened your masculinity by doing what any decent person would have done in that situation."
That quieted him.
I got out of the driver's side, and James got out on his side.
I was thinking he might head off, be done with me. Maybe that was for the best because I wasn't interested in talking about what had happened the night before.
Rescuing him didn't feel all that miraculous, but it'd clearly gotten to him, enough that he didn't mind having a three-way with me. I didn't know what the fuck he was thinking there. That we'd tag-team some girl so he could prove to me just how manly he was?
Whatever the reason, I was out. One thing I never did was chase after straight guys. What was the point of barking up the wrong tree? I'd seen some of my gay and bi friends get hung up on straight dudes, and it never led to anything.
That wasn't going to happen to me, even if the guy happened to be James-level hot, which was about as fucking hot as a guy could be. The only shame was he knew it, but I couldn't even fault him for it because how could a guy like that not look in the mirror and know what he had? Hell, I was no James, but I knew what I had, and I always thought there was nothing wrong with using your assets to your advantage.
As we made our way along a concrete path, me guiding us to my brother's grave, James glanced around uneasily.
"They're all dead." I assured him. "They're not gonna unearth themselves and start dragging their bodies toward us groaning, 'Brains, brains.'"
"I get that." James said, sounding annoyed with me.
"Okay, that was a joke to lighten up the mood. Sorry if you're a little tense about dead folks. If I had realized you'd be this uptight about it, I would have said something. I don't know a lot of people who are exactly excited about coming to a cemetery, but I guess I come here often enough that it didn't seem as weird to me as it clearly is."
His expression twisted up. "Why do you come here a lot?"
"This is where my brother is buried. He passed away when I was in high school."
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine. You aren't the asshole who was responsible."
"What happened?"
It wasn't something I wanted to share...but considering I'd hauled him all the way out here, I realized it'd be a dick move to make him visit my brother's grave without being honest with him.
"He was at a bar and this guy was on this hallucinogenic drug and started freaking out. And my brother, being a decent human being, went over to help him when the guy pulled out a knife and stabbed my brother."
"What the fuck?"
"Right? Yeah. Kind of a freak accident. Just some dumb kid who wanted to get high off something he'd never tried before and he fucking freaked on the guy who was offering him some help."
"Jesus…" James said as I led us off the pavement onto a gravel path. "I would think a story like that would make you less likely to help people, not more."
"Well, I guess that shows how little you know me."
As we reached my brother's plot, I waved at his tombstone, which read, Here Lies Ethan Knight.
At one time, the sight had been unbearable, but over the years, my perception of that rock had shifted...it was the closest I could get to my brother, and for that reason alone, I appreciated it.
"It's smaller than he deserved." I said. "He was this outgoing, fun guy. We just couldn't stop laughing whenever he was around the house. He'd have some story from school or work, and me, Mom, and Dad would just kind of all watch him as he acted it out...He'd even make little voices for everyone.
He was going to go to college to be an actor, and I bet he would have done well. He just had that bigger-than-life personality, and I remember always thinking he was gonna be a big star one day, and everyone would just be in awe. Then life happens, you know? And they give you a shit piece of rock as a plaque. He fucking deserved a mausoleum, at least."
James just listened, really listened, and I felt bad for having gone off like that.
It was kind of selfish of me to monopolize the conversation with my rant about my brother, but it wasn't something I got to talk to many people about.
"Sorry about that. I know you didn't come here to listen to some stranger's life story. I honestly don't know why this even turned into that. I just meant to say he was really outgoing."
He glanced around, obviously uncomfortable.
"So what do you do now that you're here?"
Since I told him about Ethan, his judgement about being in a cemetery seemed to have passed and was replaced with a sort of curiosity.
"Depends on the day. Sometimes I just sit on this rock right over here and talk to him. Sometimes I tell him about issues I'm having at work, frustrations, funny stories I've heard, movies I've seen."
"You think he can hear you?"
"I like to think so. I mean, I certainly don't know any more than anybody else. But you're the psychic, so you tell me."
I could tell he was fighting back a smile. Like he didn't want to give into it...to me.
Something about his stubbornness, his resistance, made my dick shift in my pants...and my thoughts kept returning to that suggestion he made about a three-way.
So not the place for this.
James' gaze drifted. He looked like he was thinking about something really serious.
"Everything okay, James?"
"I'm fine." He said, shaking his head as though he was trying to jar himself back into the moment. "I just…" He paused, running a hand through his hair as though he was nervous. "I had my own experience with death. My parents when I was thirteen. Car accident. The other driver was drunk."
He looked away as though there was more to the story, and it struck me that we both had people we loved taken away from us by someone who decided it was more important to numb themselves than to be responsible.
"I don't typically go see them at the cemetery, that's for sure, or think about talking to them. Between their deaths and being raised by my cold-hearted grandmother, I had a rough time there for a bit."
James didn't seem like the kind of person to open up. He seemed like he lived his life keeping his guard up, keeping people at arm's length, so I was shocked that he was willing to be so open with me.
And I felt bad for bringing him to a fucking cemetery since I knew what it must've been stirring up within him right now, but also a little relieved knowing that, in some way, he shared something with me-the pain of losing people close to him.
"Not trying to get all gloom and doom about it or anything. I'm fine." He blurted out as though he needed to throw the walls back up again. "I've made a good life for myself, despite my circumstances. They actually made me who I am today. I don't know if I would be as driven as I am or as sure of what I want out of life if things had gone differently."
"And what is it...that you want out of life?"
"I want to work my ass off, doing what I love, and I want to be able to have fun while I'm busting my butt."
"This busting butt thing I can get behind." I said with a wink.
He rolled his eyes, but despite his tense expression, I could tell that once again he was trying to hold back a smile.
All I wanted to do was help him cut loose. Let his guard down. Especially now that this information about his parents had me even more curious about him.
It wasn't every day I met someone who could actually relate to my own situation with my brother, and that was...in a sort of fucked-up way...kind of nice.
James gazed at me for an unusually long amount of time, strangely...like he was trying to figure out what I was thinking about, or perhaps why he felt the need to share so much with some stranger who he'd only met the night before-something I was wondering myself when I told him about my brother.
"Wow. This is probably why I don't do cemeteries." James said. "They start conversations like that. I'm sure you didn't need to hear that much about me."
"It was nice to hear. It can be nice to talk to someone about stuff like this. I've learned over the years it's not something most people are really willing to discuss."
James nodded. "Yeah, I've noticed that, too. Although sometimes I wonder if it's other people who don't want to talk about it or if it's just me trying to avoid the issue."
"Fair point."
I figured it was time for us to head out. I just wanted to swing by and see Ethan, and since I had, I thought I should make it up to James for coming, and for being surprisingly great company during the trip.
"Considering I just ruined your weekend, what do you say we get out of here and maybe grab the drink you mentioned earlier? There's a bar not too far from here I usually go to."
"I think it might be bst if I just get back home." James said.
Shit if that didn't make me feel disappointed. I was kind of enjoying chatting with him-something that really surprised me.
"Yeah, no, that's fair. I can just drive us back to my place. We can schedule that three-way some other time." I winked.
He chuckled. Like an actual chuckle that he didn't stifle. Wow... Something about that excited the hell out of me.
"You know," He said, "on second thought, I think I owe you a drink for last night."
Done! So, Kames have met up again, and it looks like they've found some common ground!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, as well as if you happened to have a favorite part/moment!
Again, I hope you all enjoyed! You won't have to wait as long for the next chapter. It'll be up within the next few days, this weekend at the latest.
Until next time! :D
-Epically Obsessed
