The next morning found four boys hiding out in the bushes near the Palm Woods pool. Two of which were wearing matching blue headbands, and black tanks, not exactly the attire for playing stake out in bushes. The plan had been formulated that morning as the four boys sat around the kitchen table, two of which listening intently to a third, while one just seemed to be going with the flow, not exactly comfortable with the idea.
"Ok guys, so we all remember the plan? Logan and I will be all cutesy by the pool, you two stay here and watch to see if you can find anyone acting suspiciously," Kendall said looking through a pair of binoculars, even after Logan had explained that the pool was nowhere near big enough for binoculars. James and Carlos nodded, both tightening their headbands across their foreheads, as if readying themselves for battle.
"What are you guys doing?" The face popped into Kendall's vision before he had even heard the voice, causing him to jump back, falling over backwards in surprise. The brunette girl merely smiled as she waited for Kendall to right himself again, not taking it to heart the way his eyebrows drew together in annoyance.
"We're on a stake out, we're gonna find out who was taking those pictures," Carlos said, grabbing the binoculars from Kendall, looking around the pool area. Not even minding when James rolled his eyes at him, flipping the binoculars around. Carlos was wondering why the pool had suddenly seemed a lot farther away.
"Mind if we help?" The boys looked behind Camille, watching as Jo came up, almost hesitantly looking from one boy to the other. Three sets of eyes looked straight at Kendall, who looked between his three friends than back at Jo, giving her a smile and nodding. The tension seemed to dissipate as the two bushy eye browed blondes smiled to each other, before the two girls listened in as Kendall repeated the plan one more time. Then the plan was set in motion, Carlos and James staying on one side of the pool behind the bushes, while Camille and Jo sat down in some pool chairs on the opposite side of the pool, inconspicuously wearing sunglasses and reading a magazine.
"Ready Logie," Kendall asked as he led Logan by the hand towards the lounging chairs the foursome usually inhabited near the pool. Logan nodded nervously, not sure he was really comfortable with the amount of PDA Kendall's plan held, but he trusted Kendall for now. So he let himself be led by the hand toward a lounge chair, practically falling into Kendall's lap once they had arrived. Kendall pulled Logan between his legs, Logan's back resting against Kendall's chest as Kendall's arms wrapped around the smaller boy's waist gently. Logan attempted to relax, leaning back against Kendall but was finding it increasingly hard knowing that this wasn't just a cuddle session, but was a mission. Kendall apparently was forgetting that fact.
Kendall was enjoying himself quite a bit when he slid one hand up Logan's chest and up to his chin, tilting the brown eyed boy's head towards him, leaning his own head over Logan's shoulder to connect their lips. He knew that Logan wasn't always the fondest of public displays of affection, but he also knew that if they wanted to catch this person, they needed to make sure to give him something worthy of tabloid pictures. Now the only thing he needed to do was to get Logan to forget about where they were, and just focus on kissing him like he meant it, instead of acting like Kendall was hiding a bomb behind his teeth. So Kendall did the only thing he knew to get Logan to completely forget everything but him, turn him on.
"I want to fuck you so hard right now," Kendall whispered against Logan's lips, noticing the way the boy's muscles instantly tensed, and the large chocolate colored eyes stared back into his own green in surprise. Kendall took the moment of surprise to catch the boys lower lip between his teeth, giving a small growl, feeling the shiver that ran up Logan's spine at the sound. When Logan's body began to turn towards him, he knew he was winning against the smaller boys shyness. So he stepped it up, sliding his tongue along the boys lips, fully intending to give whoever it was quite a good show. That is until he heard Carlos and James yelling.
"It was you!" Kendall tried not to groan in annoyance when Logan leaped from the chair to look over towards where Carlos and James stood. As Kendall turned, he can honestly say he wasn't really that surprised to see who Carlos and James were glaring at, camera in hand.
"It's not what it looks like," the larger man said as he took a few steps away from the two angered, and muscular boys who only kept advancing on him. They were joined by the others shortly after, Kendall stepping towards him in front of the others.
"Well then Bitters, please explain why you have a camera in your hand." Kendall stood before him, his friends behind him, making sure there wasn't anyway he was going to get away. Bitters stood there, camera in hand looking at the line of teens before him, then past them towards his office door. He wondered if he'd get fired for trampling them on his way towards his office.
"I was," he paused looking around the pool area, then back to his camera, before finally straightening his back and glaring over at Kendall. "I was taking pictures of the palm woods amenities to update the website." He went to move past them, when suddenly his camera was pulled from his hands by the Latino who had managed to sneak up on him. "Hey!"
Carlos played keep away with the camera, as he went behind James, knowing that Bitters wasn't going to risk touching him when he stood behind the more muscular of the four. Most knew that James wasn't one to fight unless he absolutely had to, but Bitters didn't know that. All he knew was that James was pretty ripped, tall, and none to happy with him right now.
"He's lying, he's got tons of pictures of you guys in here." Carlos handed the camera off to Kendall, who only took a second to glance through some of the pictures that were taken, before deleting every last one of them. Literally throwing the camera back at Bitters, who only barely caught it to Kendall's dismay. Kendall went to speak, but was angered to find Bitters cut him off before he could even start.
"You can't do anything. Unless you little hooligans want to try and beat me up," Bitters looked at James especially. "But that would only get you in trouble and I'd still be free to do whatever I want." Kendall took a step toward him, hand outstretched ready to get into the older man's face, only to find Logan's hand slide into his. When he peeked over his shoulder to the smaller boy, Logan merely shook his head looking at him somewhat pleadingly pulling him backwards. Kendall glared back at Bitters before shaking his head, and letting Logan lead him this time, the others falling in behind as they headed back towards apartment 2J.
"What are we gonna do?" Kendall merely shook his head at Carlos' inquiry. He hated to admit it, but Bitters was right. There really wasn't much they could do, unless he wanted to stay away from Logan in public, hoping that eventually Bitters would get tired of waiting for them to be together that he would give up his creepy little photo obsession all together.
Jo and Camille said their goodbyes and good lucks as the boys headed inside their apartment, finding themselves all sitting heavily on the couch, not quite sure what their next move was going to be.
"Is something wrong boys," Ms. Knight asked, coming out from the small bathroom in the kitchen, looking over to the four boys practically melting on the couch in disappointment.
"We found out who was taking the pictures," Logan said, and while Ms. Knight expected them to be a little happier saying it out loud only seemed to make the boys look even more upset. Kendall folding his arms angrily across his chest as his brows furrowed in both anger and thought. Ms. Knight waited quietly for someone to finish the story that Logan had started.
"Bitters was taking the pictures, and he said there isn't anything we can do about it." Kendall kicked at the coffee table before him angrily, before setting his feet up on it, staring down at his shoes as if he were trying to create a hole within them. Ms. Knight frowned, looking over to her boys in sympathy. Though she didn't like it, she knew that what Bitters said had been true. He was allowed to take pictures in the public areas of the Palm Woods hotel, and the picture he had seen on the paper had been the boys at the pool, which was public territory.
"Have you tried talking to Gustavo," Ms. Knight asked as she took a seat next to her son, brushing some of his hair away from his face in an overly motherly gesture. She smiled at it was almost instant as all boys suddenly looked between one another before back to Kendall, and finally to Mama Knight. Kendall smiled, jumping from his seat and kissing his mothers cheek.
"Mom, you're a genius!" Kendall grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket hastily as he frantically searched through his phone for Gustavo's office number. The other boys watched earnestly as Kendall paced around the small living room coffee table as he waited for someone to pick up on the other end. He nearly jumped when Kelly answered the phone. "Kelly, we need to talk to Gustavo like right now!" Kendall paused looking over to Logan as he waited, or listened, the boys weren't sure which. "Thanks Kelly, we'll be right there." Kendall hung up the phone, and the rest of the boys were already on their feet. "Logan do you feel good enough to drive," Kendall asked looking over to Logan, who merely smiled and nodded, already heading over to grab the keys to the Big Time Rush Mobile. Ms. Knight just watched happily as the boys filed quickly out of the apartment.
"Ok dogs, this better be important," Gustavo groused sitting behind his office desk, apparently trying to look important, or busy, the boys weren't sure, and at the moment, didn't really care.
"Gustavo, we found out who was taking the pictures." Gustavo's one eyebrow shot up, and nodded, waiting for more.
"Our hotel manager at the Palm Woods were taking the pictures. We laid out a trap for him today and caught him in the act. He had a bunch more photos too, but Kendall deleted them." Gustavo looked from Carlos, then back to Kendall, making sure there was no more to this story before he spoke.
"So what do you want me to do about it?" Even Kelly looked a little upset at him as he spoke.
"Make him stop," Logan said exasperatedly. Logan knew that they were getting a lot of exposure because of this, but this couldn't be the best sort of exposure. It had almost cost them their job just yesterday, surely Gustavo hadn't forgotten that already.
"Look boys," Gustavo began, rubbing his temples at the headache that was already starting to form. "There isn't much I can do, I can talk to him, but," He never got to finish as the boys all ran behind his chair and began wheeling him down the hall and towards the door to the building.
Gustavo refused to ride with the boys, saying he'd prefer to get there in one piece. He knew Logan was a good driver, and was pretty sure that once the other boys got even their permits he was going to put a rule on that car that only Logan was allowed to drive. They all may break everything they touch, but at least Logan seemed to be the least likely to run the car into a tree, fire hydrant, or building. Kelly had of course ridden with him in the limo.
"What are you going to do," she asked, looking over to the large man sitting across from her. Gustavo merely shook his head, his eyebrows drawn together. They both knew the law, and just as Ms. Knight had said, it wasn't exactly an invasion of privacy since the boys had been in a public area, so suing him, or telling the cops was out of the question. Gustavo had made sure to tell Kelly to bring the checkbook, having dealt with Bitters before he knew the man was always a sucker for some amount of dollars they could throw at him. He was just hoping this wasn't going to put too much of a dent into the company funds, if it did he'd have to make sure to tell the boys they weren't allowed to break anything for at least a year.
As Gustavo and Kelly emerged from the limo they noticed the boys already standing near the entrance, Carlos peeking in through the glass doors continuously looking between Bitters at the front desk and Gustavo. Kelly followed behind Gustavo as he tried to look menacing by throwing open the doors to the Palm Woods catching almost everyone's attention, including Bitters.
"We need to talk," Gustavo said lowly as he stood before the front desk, Kelly on his side. Kendall couldn't help but grin as Bitter glared over Gustavo's shoulder at them, before putting on his best fake smile, and asking Gustavo to please step into his office. Kelly gave the boys a small thumbs up and a smile as she followed the two larger men into the office behind the front desk, the boys taking a seat amongst the chairs in the lobby.
"Now what," Carlos asked, sitting next to James, pressed up against the taller boys side even though there was plenty of room on the couch the two sat on. Logan smiled to himself, curling up against Kendall's side as he was glad to see his two friends just as happy as he was, and apparently just as in love. The two's personalities slightly contrasted, in that Carlos enjoyed things that would bruise him, scratch him, and generally leave him a mess. While James, besides hockey, enjoyed things like Cuda man spray, combs, and being the handsomest thing that walked the Palm Woods halls. Yet it seemed to compliment them in their relationship. James was always there to help Carlos cover his more serious injuries with his makeup tips, so they looked great at every photo shoot, and in turn Carlos did things for James that the boy wouldn't or couldn't do for himself in worry of messing up his hair or face.
Logan nestled into Kendall's side as the blonde pulled him closer, one arm around his shoulders. They all waited like that for what seemed like hours trying to get a listen into what was going on in the other area. Unfortunately with all the sounds of the pool, not much could be heard, and Gustavo wasn't even yelling. That was something out of the ordinary, and they boys weren't sure if it was a good thing or not.
"What do you think they're saying," Logan asked quietly, looking up to Kendall as the boy watched the door as if he could see through it and into the room. He remained quiet for a moment before shaking his head, his arm tightening around Logan as he looked over to him, placing a small kiss on his forehead.
"He's not yelling, that's a good thing right?" The boys looked over to James, shrugging, to be honest, it almost seemed like a bad thing if Gustavo wasn't yelling. The man really only had one level of volume and it seemed to be yelling. So if he normally yelled, and suddenly wasn't, it probably wasn't good. But in the same respect, they didn't hear Kelly yelling, which she only tended to do when she was really upset, so maybe things were going well. It really could have been going either way right now, which was really taking it's toll on the boys nerves.
"Hi old boyfriends, what are you guys doing sitting out here?" All four boys shared a confused look at each other before turning to see Mercedes dragging Guitar Dude behind her by the sleeve of his shirt.
"Hi Mercedes, we're just waiting for Gustavo to finish talking with Bitters." Mercedes stared at Logan seemingly a little confused, before things seemed to click together, at least partially. She had met Livin' Large on her first trip to Rocque Records, but she wasn't quite sure she knew a Bitters.
"Who's Bitters and why," she asked, before looking to Guitar dude and telling him to go get her a drink as she took a seat on the arm of the couch Logan and Kendall occupied. She wasn't about to sit close enough to James to let people see that he was prettier than her, it was bad enough being in the same room as him.
"Bitters is our hotel manager, and those pictures of Logan and I in the papers," Kendall paused waiting for Mercedes nod, making sure he didn't have to explain that as well. He figured it was hard for anyone not to know with it being all over the papers and according to Gustavo and Kelly, it was everywhere else you looked to. "Well turns out it was our hotel manager taking the pictures, and he says there isn't anything we can do. We thought maybe Gustavo could get him to stop." Mercedes looked between all of the boys her eyebrows knit together in thought, before Guitar Dude came back with her drink. She gave them a quick 'good luck' before grabbing Guitar Dude once more and dragging him off in the direction of the pool.
The time dragged on as they continued to sit there, five minutes passing, then ten, and after twenty long minutes, Logan was about to pull his hair out in frustration. He had passed the calmly sitting time about fifteen minutes ago and was now standing pacing around the lobby near where the others were sitting.
"What could be taking them so long." Logan asked, running his fingers through his hair for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past minute. Kendall shook his head, his own knee bouncing anxiously as they waited. Suddenly the door handle jiggled and the other three boys who weren't standing stood at attention heading towards the doorway where a red faced Gustavo was emerging.
"This guy is an idiot!" Gustavo was back to yelling, which was normal, but it was pretty apparent he wasn't happy. Kelly looked upset, but more saddened than angry, as they stood near the boys, looking at Bitters who just glared at all of them. Kendall reached for Logan's hand gripping it tightly in his as the shorter boy gripped back nervously.
"I told you there is nothing any of you can do," Bitters smirked, his camera easily visible from being slung around his arm.
"But there is something I can do."
Woah short chapter, I suck I know. GRAWR October is actually busier than I expected it to be. It's short, but I had to get SOMETHING out. I feel like a slacker if I don't, sooo it's short but it's a major plot development. Who could the mysterious person be that can help the boys? Ya ok.. I'm pretty sure you can guess…
BUT Hey, anyone going to the Schaumburg, IL BTR signing? Cuz I totally am… Sooo if you live in the area.. You should totally go too.
As always.. My reviewers.. I love you all, and I will forever be most grateful because without you guys, this story would never get updated. SO until next time my loverlies.
