Thank you, as always, to my lovely reviewers of last chapter: itrymybest, btrlover21, sylarbadass, MythoBoy, Hikari no Kasai, shogoki17, and my PM reviewers nigel small and poeticjustice13. Also, a giant thank you to my story alerters and favoriters as well. I seriously love you guys so much that I wish I could give you all cookies or something :)
So, I apologize for the delay in updating, but I'm sooo busy, and I still will be so updates probably won't be as consistent as they used to be, but I'm going to try my hardest. You may need to look over the last chapter again for a refresher because it's been so long :/ But I hope you all enjoy this update. It's INTENSE. :D
I was BEYOND the point of remaining calm, and FAR beyond the point of anger.
I could not BELIEVE that Gustavo hired STORM, of ALL people, to be the fifth member of Big Time Rush!
I clung to my Kendall for dear life, slightly nudging him behind me, as if I could shield him from that unnerving, icy, possessive gaze.
James and Carlos shot me matching, worried glances, but I shot them a look letting them know that I'd explain later. Right now, that demon needed to stop looking at my angel like that.
"Good to see you again, Mitchell," Storm spat as his eyes narrowed into an evil death glare and locked with mine, emphasizing my last name with pure venom.
I really wanted to punch him right there, so hard that he'd be unconscious forever, but I knew Griffin, Gustavo, and Kelly were still there, so I refrained and instead let out a growl that surprisingly had taken the form of his loathsome name.
"Storm."
"Well, it looks like Kendall and Logan have already met Storm. That's great! Now I've got to go…my pants are cold. But good luck making friends with the newest member of BTR!" Griffin exclaimed with a clap of his hands and a cheery tone that seemed highly inappropriate to background the horrific staring contest between Storm and I. But he flounced away, bodyguards in tow, seemingly unaware of the fact that Storm and I had mentally murdered each other, brutally and agonizingly, about twenty times already.
Or he just didn't care, which seemed more accurate where Griffin was concerned. As long as we made him money…
"Yeah, we'll just leave you dogs to bond with the new dog for a few minutes while I go set up the sound booth so we can figure out whose voices blend best with Storm's. Come on, Kelly," Gustavo said before walking out toward the rehearsal room where he wrote some of our songs.
Kelly was hesitant, no doubt sensing the hostility and tension that shrouded the office, but eventually waved a shaky goodbye and followed Gustavo out the door, closing it behind her.
Which left me, my angel, and my two best friends stuck in a room with Storm.
And I was expected to be civil with such a being.
No way in Hell was that going to happen.
My angel was terrified of him. And that was completely unacceptable.
"Um, h-h-hi Storm," James started, his voice reaching an octave higher than it's usual tone with each stutter, proving to me that he was just as unnerved around Storm as I was. However, he stuck out a shaking hand, in attempt to make a friendly introduction to our newest member…something that I didn't think he was worth the time it took.
"You're James, right?" he asked, his tone rather flat and uninterested as he accepted the tall, pretty brunette's handshake.
"And you're Carlos," he continued, his tone never relaying any inflection of interest or care as he quickly nodded his greeting at our confused, and equally scared, Latino friend.
"And Mitchell – you and I have already…crossed paths, for lack of a more pleasant term," he growled in his low, chilling voice as he got closer to my face, which in turn brought him closer to a trembling, deathly terrified Kendall.
But it wasn't until that moment that something hit me.
How did he know my last name?
I mean, sure…He's in Big Time Rush now, and maybe he just knows all of our names – first and last, and who was to say he didn't know our middle names too? They were all over the internet…
But I was still unnerved.
I had never actually spoken to Storm until now. I mean, yeah…Kendall had told me Storm's name, but I was willing to bet that Kendall had never told Storm my first name, let alone my last.
And in all honesty? Storm didn't strike me as a closet Rusher...
"Um, Logan? James and I are going to go see if Gustavo and Kelly are ready with the sound booth. Do you want to come? I'm sure Kendall can keep Storm company for a minute or so," Carlos offered. And I knew he was just trying to get me away from Storm so I could explain to him and James what the hell was going on, why Kendall looked like he was going to have a heart attack, and why I looked so murderous toward Storm. But there was no way in Hell – over my cold, dead, lifeless body – that I would EVER leave my angel alone with this demon.
"You and James go ahead. And take Kendall with you," I began, briefly turning my attention to James and Carlos and softening my gaze at the look of complete and pure confusion on both of their faces.
"I'll stay here with Storm," I finished before lightly kissing my terrified angel's precious lips, escorting him to where James and Carlos stood.
Kendall needed to know that I could handle Storm. The last few days had proved that for me.
James, Carlos, and especially my Kendall, looked to me one last time, eyes full of concern, though most evident in emerald, tear-shimmering ones, before James, Carlos, and a stubborn, struggling Kendall who refused to leave me, slowly and quietly exited the room, shutting the door behind them just as Kelly had done earlier.
As soon as I heard the door click, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to have a word with this Storm fellow.
"Look here, Storm," I began with low, threatening, kryptonic words, proceeding to get in his face with my fists tightly clenched at my sides.
"Kendall Knight is the love of my life. He is MINE and NO ONE else's. I love him more than should be humanly possible. And don't think I can't see the way you look at him, like you own him or something. You need to back off before I MAKE you back off. Can't you see that Kendall is terrified of you? I don't want you anywhere NEAR him unless you absolutely have to be, do you hear me? And you will NEVER, EVER be left alone with him, so you can get that thought out of that sick head of yours."
There was so much hatred, so much venom, so much poison in my words. But where shy, logical Logan would have completely denied ever saying all that and apologized profusely for being so harsh, I didn't care. I had no regrets and no remorse.
Especially when Storm's eyes sparkled with even more malicious intent than ever before. He didn't say anything – he just smirked that disgusting smirk and looked at me with those chilling eyes.
And if he was even going to respond at all, he didn't have the chance because at that moment, Kelly peeked her head in.
"Storm? Logan? Gustavo's ready for you guys now," she said, but there was a very evident distraught look in her usually warm brown eyes. She obviously felt the crushing tension in the room because she left almost as quickly as she'd come to her half-in-the-door, half-out-the-door position.
I shoved past Storm to follow Kelly to the sound booth, trying my best to regain my composure before facing James, Carlos, and Gustavo. And especially Kendall.
No doubt my angel was already terrified that I'd been in a room with Storm. Alone. So I needed to put on my best "everything's okay" face for Kendall.
As soon as fearful emeralds fell on me entering the room, I saw relief wash over every inch of Kendall's angelic face. He ran to me, pulling me into a bone-crushing hug and kissing me lightly on the lips.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered as his lips grazed my ear when he pulled me into yet another hug.
"Okay, okay, I don't know what's going on right now, but I really DON'T want to know. As touching as whatever THIS is, get your butts in that booth! The quicker we do this, the sooner you dogs are out of here!" Gustavo yelled as soon as Kendall and I pulled out of our hug and Storm rounded the corner.
Gustavo wanted us to sing "You're Not Alone" as a sample song, giving Storm the opportunity to sing with us so that after he heard Storm's voice with ours, he would be able to write parts for him into our songs.
Kendall started off after a short, soft, melodic introduction, as flawlessly as always. His beautiful, melodic voice filled my left ear and I felt him pressed impossibly close to me. For a moment, I got so caught up in the heat of Kendall next to me and the sound of his voice flawlessly singing words that he had penned that I almost forgot Storm was in the sound booth with us, let alone remember that he even existed. And when I looked to my angel, he had those entrancing jades closed, losing himself in the music and lyrics like he tended to do every time we sang.
I could have sworn that Kendall had almost forgotten about Storm too – he was so lost in the music, so concentrated on putting every ounce of appropriate emotion into each word he sang. It was such an adorable thing to see, and it made my heart swell with even more love for him, knowing that the words escaping his silk lips in this moment had not long ago caught my attention from a napkin with my name in a heart in the corner of it.
But then Storm started singing the chorus with us.
And that's when my heart stopped.
And by the way Kendall's beautiful jades snapped open and a look of complete fear drained his face of every ounce of already minimal color it contained, I could tell his heart must have failed him as well.
I would know that voice anywhere.
Kendall would know that voice anywhere.
That voice beat even Kendall out for the part of Link Larkin in Hairspray our eighth grade year.
That voice had once belonged to a dirty blond haired, small, scrawny kid with two cronies and icy blue eyes.
And now it was pouring effortlessly from a raven haired, tall, muscular guy with those exact icy blue eyes.
And when I saw Kendall's eyes lock on Storm's icy, expectant ones that had no doubt been studying MY angel the entire time, I can't say I was surprised when Kendall literally froze mid-sentence and bolted out of the sound booth at the speed of light.
Because Storm wasn't Storm anymore.
He had suddenly transformed into that evil tormenter from Kendall's buried past.
I call myself a genius and yet I couldn't even see it.
Storm was Stark.
Stark frickin' Lockwood.
Oh no! Kendall and Logan know that Stark is back! What's going to happen now? You'll see eventually :)