A/N: Hello again everyone! As promised, I'm back with another update! I'm pretty sure this is the fastest I've updated in a while :P
As always, a huge thank you to everyone that read last chapter, and a special shout-out to winterschild11 for reviewing!
I hope you all enjoy the new chapter!
If anything happens to my baby, I'm going to lose it.
Aaron was at his side a second later. "What do you figure?"
Without releasing the door, Kendall inched his fingers slowly along the underside of the handle. "Big. Not too sophisticated." That actually made him feel a little better. Sort of. Someone was still trying to blow up him up, but if that someone had actually known what they were doing, he'd likely be dead.
Aaron knelt down beside him to look at the small space between the door and the body of the car. "Steady, Kendall. The bomb's a piece of shit, but if the door opens any more, it'll blow."
"I'm going to hurt someone." Kendall promised. He could feel sweat gathering on his forehead. His elbow was already starting to shake with tremors. Thank God I didn't try to open it with my bad arm.
"James, come here."
Kendall wanted to shout at him. Why the hell was he bringing James closer? He should be getting away. Far away. The fear building in his chest escalated as James approached. He moved like he was walking on glass.
"Do you see it?"
James bent down. "Yeah. But I don't know if I can do it."
"Of course you can. Just like we practiced."
What the hell were they talking about?
James took a deep breath before nodding. The door shifted under Kendall's arm and he tightened his grip until the latch dug into his fingers.
"It's alright, Kendall." Aaron said. "You can let go."
"No, I can't."
"Yes, you can. Trust me. Let go. Now."
Closing his eyes, Kendall released the latch. He half expected to feel burning followed by impressive air-speed velocity. Instead, Aaron gently tugged him backward.
James' gaze clouded over with deep concentration as a small ball of churning flame slowly rose up from the interior of the car.
"What the-"
"It's the explosion." Aaron explained.
The raging orange globe rose into the air, moving higher, up and away. James had mentioned that his father had trained him for this sort of stuff, but Kendall had assumed... well...he'd assumed James had been kidding.
Kendall and Aaron followed James as he slowly crossed the lawn and rounded to the side gate. Dodging past him, Aaron threw it open to let him in the back. Kendall stuck close to James-because if he goes, I go-and watched his boyfriend lower the glowing ball of flame into the pool.
A geyser of water burst upwards, and the pool buckled, the sides collapsing under the force of it. Water smacked into him at high speeds, drenching him with the force of a small hurricane and knocking him off his feet.
Scrambling up, he looked around the yard to make sure that James and Aaron were both all right. James stared woefully at his boots, which hadn't fared well against the water, while Aaron beamed at James with pride.
"What the hell happened to my pool?!" Joanna yelled from the kitchen window.
James hauled himself up to get to Kendall. "You okay?"
Kendall nodded shakily. "Yeah. I..." He risked his life to save me... He threw himself into James' arms, bearing the jolt to his shoulder happily as he folded James into a loose embrace. James returned the gesture, albeit a little shakily, all while looking at his father.
Aaron didn't look pleased anymore. "I take it this is connected to a pending case?"
"I think so."
"Well, no one tries this shit in my front yard and gets away with it."
Kendall would need to do another thorough check-over to make sure his car was otherwise untouched. Whoever was responsible was making it personal. Like they had with Kelly and her husband, murdered in their own beds. He steadied his hold on James. No one, no one is going to hurt him.
He knew James had overheard his thoughts when he tightened his embrace.
XxX
They were home less than five minutes before Kendall was on the phone with Lucy. At first, it surprised James that he'd lasted the entire car trip. Then he realized Kendall had left his cell phone at his apartment.
"...it was an internet special. Anarchists' Cookbook kid's stuff. My biggest surprise was that they were able to get it into my car without blowing themselves up." Kendall's eyes roamed the room, finally settling on James' computer. He held the phone away from his head. "May I?"
Lips pursed tight, James nodded. Kendall didn't waste any time booting it up and logging into some sort of Society portal page. His fingers flew across the keyboard, phone cradled against his cheek.
"Okay. Okay. Yes. Gotcha."
James didn't have to be a psychic to pick up on Kendall's thoughts. Kendall was planning on going into the office. At eight o'clock on a Sunday night. After some psycho had almost blown them both up. That. Wasn't. Happening.
"I don't want you to go in, Ken."
Kendall turned in his chair, blinking with owlish surprise.
"Luce? I'll call you back." He hung up. "What?"
"I don't want you to go into the office. I want you to stay here. I'm feeling a little fucking traumatized that I just used my mom's pool to diffuse a bomb, and I don't want you to be anywhere I can't keep an eye on you."
"This isn't just a normal case. Someone tried to kill me. And you. And your family. I'm sorry if you think that this is me letting my work get in the way, but I have to go in and figure out what the hell's going on."
"No."
"Jay-"
"No!" James moved to Kendall, kneeling down in front of him. "Just...stay. Tonight. If you need to go into the office tomorrow, then fine. I'll even go with you. I don't like the idea of you going in when your arm is still in a sling, but I get that this is important. I just... I just don't want it to be more important than me..."
There was a moment, a single moment, when James thought he was getting through. And then Kendall's resolve seemed to stiffen and his face pulled into a frown. "I'm sorry for wanting to find out who almost killed us, James. I didn't mean to ruin the evening by suddenly getting serious about the safety of myself and those around me."
Oh, hell to the no. "You know very damn well that's not the point. You're still recovering, and I don't want you ignoring the fact that you still look like you were the loser in an underground MMA fight just so you can be the fucking hero."
"So I should just wait until another bomb shows up in my car?"
"No. You should let someone else handle the case for now. Someone who isn't a target for some pseudo-anonymous psycho and let them take it from here. At least until you're back at a hundred percent"
"I'm not going to do that, James. I started this case and I'm going to finish it."
"I don't want you to."
"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm going to."
"Goddammit, will you please listen to me for five seconds. If you do this, then you're always going to be Agent Kendall Knight. And I don't want him. I want the closet geek who puts up with my terrible experiments in the kitchen. Who chased me down and found me despite it not being part of his job because it was the right thing to do. I want you Ken."
Damming silence settled in the air between them. Kendall's entire face slipped into statuesque coldness. "I'm sorry. But Agent Kendall Knight is all I know how to be."
So this is what heartbreak feels like... "No. You know how to be alone. And until you figure out how to separate the agent from the man, you're always going to be."
Kendall stared at him. Then, slowly, he stood. He held out his hand. "My keys, please."
James swallowed past the lump that had settled in his throat and handed them over. His jaw tensed as he watched Kendall adjust the sling on his arm and head for the door. Words settled on the tip of James' tongue. Words like 'don't leave' and 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you'-perhaps the last ones fought the hardest-but they wouldn't come. He stared helplessly as Kendall collected his coat and dialed his phone once again.
"Lucy, I'm heading into the office."
Done! So, yeah... that just happened. Don't kill me!
So there's a little room for discussion this chapter. Whose side are you on in regards to Kames' fight? I personally can see both sides of the argument because at the core of it all, they're both just trying to protect each other in their own way :(
But I'd love to hear your thoughts on the fight as well as the chapter in general! I'd also love to hear if you happened to have a favorite part! Personally, the 'So this is what heartbreak feels like' kind of got to me a bit. That and the 'If he goes, I go', mostly because it shows how much they really care about each other.
Is this the end of Kames? Who planted the bomb? And the biggest question still plaguing the story, who killed Kelly?
All of these questions will be answered in the coming chapters as we sadly reach the close of the story!
I'm not a hundred percent sure when I'll update next, mostly because I have like a thousand things going on right now, but I will update by next weekend at the latest, if not earlier.
Until then, I'd love to read your thoughts!
-Epically Obsessed