(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 208

Chapter 208: Friends are meant to comfort each other

Rhys did his miracle work, and as soon as the man was done kissing Kellen, and had removed his fingers from him, the two of them were cleaned up. Fresh and smelled good too. Kellen should have been angry, but he wasn’t.

The one thing Rhys didn’t allow was Kellen moving out of his arms. Now that Kellen was pressed against him, Rhys wasn’t letting him go.

"Uh, people are-"

"It’s just Green, and you got shot today." Rhys said it without any room for negotiation. Kellen swallowed any complaint he had, since he had a feeling that if the situation was reversed, Kellen would not be as calm as Rhys was right now.

Nodding, but embarrassed, Kellen watched as Rhys unlocked the door. He tucked his head into the crook of the Captain’s neck, the Captain’s hands firmly on his ass under the thin hospital sheet.

"You can come in." Rhys called, and Green pushed the door open. Kellen wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but a part of him had expected the red ring around her eyes, and the anger in her expression.

"You’re a fucking idiot." She started, angrily whipping out the clipboard she was using to monitor him. "How the fuck does someone not realise they’ve been shot?" She growled, her words catching in her throat before she shook her head. Kellen sighed.

"I...I wasn’t focused on myself." Kellen muttered, and she glared at him.

"You couldn’t tell that you’d been shot? What? You can’t feel pain when you’re in that kind of situation?" She demanded, and Kellen winced in the face of her anger.

"Um, no?" He responded, and that didn’t seem to be the right answer.

"No? No?! Kellen Woods, do you even understand how close I came to losing both of-" She cut off, shaking her head as her eyes watered. She finished looking over what she needed to and shoved the clipboard back into the end of the bed. Standing there, she put her hands on her hips and stared at Kellen, ignoring the Captain entirely. "You are so, so fucking lucky I was around the Captain at the time." She whispered, her throat moving and Kellen knew what she wasn’t saying.

Kellen couldn’t keep his composure either. His eyes began to water and he took a shaky breath. His grip tightened on the Captain, his fingers trembling, his lips shaking, and when he bit them, the Captain didn’t chastise him.

"H-He’s going to be okay, right?" Kellen whispered and Taylor nodded. Her head jerked up and down, before she looked away from him, wiping her eyes.

"Fuck. I lost 30 years off of my life when I got that call from Esper Blake. I almost didn’t pick up the call." Kellen couldn’t offer her words of comfort. There was nothing he could say to alleviate her sense of guilt. It probably wouldn’t go away until his Dad spoke to her about it, but who knew when Taylor would bring it up to him.

"He’s fine now, Taylor. You...You saved him." Kellen said on a shaky breath, and her shoulders shook.

"I didn’t want to say it, but it was so fucking close Kellen. So. Fucking. Close. If the Captain hadn’t been there, I-" She covered her mouth, unable to continue as tears streamed down her face. Kellen wasn’t any better. His reprieve from crying having ended, Kellen worried how long he was going to cry.

How long everyone was going to cry.

"You got there. I knew you would get there." Kellen told her, trying to sound confident through the tears. The Captain’s hands gave Kellen’s ass a squeeze, before moving up his back to slowly pat his back and shoulders comfortingly.

"You both did your best, and he’s still with us. I know this is hard for both of you, since you are so close to him, but he’s made it. We all did our best, and he’s still with us." The Captain’s voice washed over them, the authority in it providing both of them with some comfort. Kellen nodded, and so did Taylor.

"You’re right. He’s still here, but I just...I think I’m going to need to talk to the therapists that we hire. I feel like I’m going to have PTSD from it." She muttered, trying to joke, but there was too much truth in her gaze. Kellen nodded, before weakly reaching out his hand. Taylor was there in a second, holding his hand like a lifeline.

"Thank you for answering the phone." Kellen’s voice shook, tears streaming down his face, and Taylor folded. She gripped onto his hand tightly, her face full of sorrow and distress.

"Thank you for knowing what to do. I can’t-I can’t imagine a world without either of them in it." Kellen couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat, so he just nodded.

They remained like that, the two of them crying silently, but holding onto each other for an unknown amount of time. Eventually, something vibrated on Taylor and she sighed.

"Fuck. Miro’s session is right now. I have to...I have to go. Stay here until you feel better, and no guiding until I say so." Taylor’s voice, weak from crying, still held a threatening note, especially when her eyes glowed green, punctuating her words. Her emotions were high, and Kellen wasn’t going to argue with her.

He wanted to be here, because he knew that his Dad was closer.

"Is it...can we visit him?" He asked softly, and Taylor shook her head.

"No, not yet. I did my best, but we needed to get surgeons in to fix him. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve kicked myself for not finishing my degree. He’s stable, but needs to heal, which means he’s unconscious. Probably will be for a few days. Your Mom is the only one allowed into his room." Kellen nodded. It was fair. He wasn’t going to get mad at that.