(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Brotherly warning

It was shortly after that that Gunther finished up his lesson for the day and the two of them came over to join the group. Gunther had a harsh tone to his face, but Kellen ignored him in favour of his younger sister. Gwen, of course, ignored him completely and went in for a bear hug from her Mother and another hug from her Dad. Kellen rolled his eyes, but stayed where he was in the Captain’s arms, a smile on his face.

"Ah, Captain, if I may..." Casper started, and the Captain frowned. He’d been having a good time observing the Woods family, and even Casper seemed upset interrupting the wholesome scene. Kellen released the Captain, which only made him more upset until Kellen patted his shoulder.

"Go talk to Casper. We missed a lot today." He ordered, and it looked as if he had kicked him when he was already down. Kellen, who wasn’t used to the Captain behaving this way, blinked, shocked, before he smiled. "Go on, Captain. We aren’t moving from here." The Captain nodded, before taking Kellen’s hand in his and planting a kiss on the top of his hand. Kellen was stunned at his simple action, along with his parents.

"Alright, if you promise to stay here. We shouldn’t be too long." Casper nodded, agreeing eagerly. The Captain reached out and grabbed Gunther, dragging him along as Casper and the Captain began speaking quickly and quietly to each other.

"My my, Kellen. You really have the Captain wrapped around your finger." Gwen’s teasing tone filled the air as Kellen couldn’t tear his eyes away from the Esper. He flushed.

"That’s not true. The Captain is his own person." Gwen’s eyes sparkled as she looked over at her older brother. A man so completely unaware of the power he held, and who also didn’t care about it either.

"Of course. Who would dare to say otherwise? I’m just saying, if you batted those baby blues you have, you could get anything you wanted." Gwen said, and Kellen rolled his eyes. Yeah right.

"You have too high of expectations for me." Kellen told her, quite serious, and she frowned. Normally, he would have teased her back, but instead he was shutting her down. She narrowed her eyes, and Kellen looked away from her.

"Kellen sweetheart, is it alright if we go out into the hallway and have a chat with your sister? We’ll be right back." His Mom asked, and Kellen easily let them. The trio headed for the door, all of them smiling with their mouths, but keeping an eye on the remaining member of the family as they left the gym.

Kellen, for his part, noticed none of the behaviours of his family, or his friends. He had no idea that everyone was quite concerned about him, especially since he had come back. He’d had this forced, tense smiling expression that he thought was soothing, but was really making everyone worried about him. Brent was the exception, but that was only because he knew better. If Kellen had an issue, he wasn’t going to talk about it until he was damn good and ready. Then it was his duty to help clean up the damage and pieces he’d plucked off himself and glue them back on. Given his train of thought, Brent was unaware of the personal attack Kellen laid in wait until his family was out of earshot. Kellen placed his hand on Brent’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze.