(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 330

Chapter 330: This feels like the calm before the storm

Kellen’s body strained against the weight he moved, his body covered in sweat as he continued to push the weight up and down over and over. The burn, the feel of his muscles moving, the soft exhale from his lips, all of it calmed his mind.

Kellen finished his set before he rested the weights, and sat back, exhaling quickly as his heart beat steadily in his chest. He had missed this. The simple act of moving his body, getting results that he expected. He hadn’t realised that it had caused him anxiety to not be able to work out, but now that he was back here, it really felt true.

Brent’s form crossed the glass front of the gym, before he headed for the door. Brent didn’t have his arm on, and he waved once inside, a grin on his face.

"Good to see you here again. Did you come yesterday too?" He asked and Kellen nodded, wiping his face with a towel.

"You weren’t here though." Kellen gave him a pointed look and Brent shrugged his shoulders, a playful grin on his face.

"I had a visitor. Couldn’t leave them in my bed cold, now could I?" Kellen, for once, understood his ramblings. It had been...difficult to get up and leave Rhys alone in the bed. Brent, picking up on Kellen’s silence, and the fact that he didn’t reprimand Brent for not showing up yesterday snorted. He gave Kellen a look, his green eyes dancing as he looked over him.

Kellen wasn’t hiding anything, especially since he wasn’t wearing a shirt. His abs weren’t as defined as they used to be, but that was only a matter of time. What was striking were the small marks all over his body, clearly made by a human. They weren’t related to the scars that also peppered his body, and Brent let out a harsh laugh.

"Can’t say anything because you look like that, or can’t say anything to my words because you agree?" Brent teased, grabbing a water bottle from the minifridge before coming to sit near Kellen on a bench. He clearly wasn’t going to be doing any exercises with the bar today, and instead was going to focus on his lower body.

"It’s more...I’m just realising a lot of things at once. I’ve said some rather harsh things to you over the time that I’ve known you, simply because I couldn’t understand where you were coming from. I’m sorry for that." Brent’s eyes went wide at Kellen’s rather sincere apology, the water bottle half raised to his lips.

’Holy hell. Getting a boyfriend really did a number on you huh? Is his dick that good?" Kellen, not really knowing what that meant, gave Brent a strange look and Brent snorted. "Never mind. Don’t answer that. I think that’s the one thing I would not like to know, because if it is, I’ll never be able to get it. Plus, if I ever looked at him that way, you would make me a training dummy." Brent said and Kellen felt his lips twitch.

"You’ve never looked at him like you look at everyone else?" Kellen couldn’t believe him, and watching Brent hesitate, he knew that was the case. Brent put down the bottle, running his hand through his hair before he glanced over at Kellen, his gaze narrowed.

"I did, before I really knew you. The man is everywhere, you understand that, right? He’s not just big in this small town. You’re going to have to fight-" Brent cut off, looking over Kellen, who sat with his back straight, his abs on display, looking like a damn work of art in a pair of sweatpants and snorted. "Well, you might have to fight in the first place, until others realise they just can’t compete with you." Brent laughed, shaking his head as he looked over at Kellen and his scrunched up expression.

"I really don’t like hearing that. I’m having enough trouble as it is with the silly games Guiding Center A is playing. I swear, if I see that damn Guide again..." Kellen trailed off, his jaw tensing and Brent snorted. _{freewebnσvel.cøm}

"If you could see yourself right now, you’d tell yourself to calm down. Me? Eat those dumbasses for lunch. Anyone who messes with your pair deserves what they get. No one who saw you two dancing around each other on the front lines and saw the signs would get in your way." Kellen frowned at Brent’s words.

"It wasn’t that obvious, was it?" Brent shook his head.

"No. You two are both stubborn, so only a few noticed. But those that did? We made sure to warn the others that you two were -essentially- taken. Neither one of you noticed either, which I think is funny knowing what powers the Captain has. That, or he didn’t care about what we were doing." Brent shifted, turning towards Kellen. "Didn’t you notice a decrease in Espers trying to hit on you?" Kellen stared at Brent for a long moment.

"Brent, I didn’t think anyone was hitting on me." Kellen reminded him and Brent chuckled, nodding.

"Right. Obvious Kellen. There was another reason why you were celibate." Kellen didn’t like hearing that old nickname from Brent, but he grinned, reaching out and giving Kellen’s shoulder a squeeze. "Hey, don’t make that face! It’s not true anymore, right? So I’m sure it’ll fade over time. Now, let’s get to work, get a sweat on, and then crush today. You got any weird stuff I should know about today?" Brent asked and Kellen was glad that things felt...normal. He would have to tell Brent about the Charlie situation, mainly because he knew Brent would never tell anyone else, and he needed someone else to keep an eye on him.

He knew he shouldn’t tell his parents, and the fewer people who knew, the better, but Brent was different.

Brent was his Gunther, his Hill. He couldn’t leave him out of the loop, and Rhys wouldn’t hold that against him. Plus, Brent was probably going to be one of the people who had the most contact with Charlie outside of the main core. The reason why Kellen wasn’t telling his parents was because they hadn’t signed a contract with the Guild.