Chapter 60: Picking up the pieces, with the Captain
Captain Thatcher had a bad feeling fill his body as he turned to answer the phone call from Hill. He normally wouldn’t have felt this way with Kellen, but something warned him away from those two girls. The first warning was that they worked at Guiding Center A, a place notorious for their snake-like Guides and their poisonous workplace. The second warning was the way that one Guide, Savvy, looked at Kellen. He didn’t like the way she looked at him. Like Kellen was beneath her. Kellen wasn’t beneath anyone. He was a good man, and he didn’t like that Kellen’s ’friends’ looked at him that way. He also didn’t like how he hadn’t heard that they were Kellen’s friends. With Guide Jameson, Green and Hill, he’d heard their names from Kellen’s lips before. Those two girls? He’d never heard the names Savvy or Terry come from those plump lips.
"Hill, what’s up?" He asked, turning to give the Guides some privacy. He even kicked some safe rocks just to make more sound. He would hate it if Kellen hated him for overhearing a private conversation, even if he wasn’t fully able to control it. He was also nervous leaving Kellen alone for a longer period of time. Yes, the time between when Kellen came to ask for physical touch was increasing, but that didn’t mean it had stopped all together. He hoped he was okay.
"Green tried to contact you about your guiding session, but couldn’t reach you. Are you still in your meeting?" She asked and he sighed.
"No. Mr. Woods and I went to the scene of the attack and have been helping with clean up. It was his idea of a date, and who am I to turn him down?" He stated. Hill chuckled on the other side.
"Of course Kellen thought cleaning up a disaster site was a romantic date. You must be tickled that he thought to bring you there." Hill was right, even if she was teasing him. He was touched. Any time Kellen thought of the Captain alone, he could feel his heart expand. He kept falling deeper and deeper in love with the man, and he was fully aware that Kellen had no idea at all how bad the Captain had it for him. Kellen thought the words and actions he took in public were an act. He wondered what Kellen would think if he knew that none of it was an act. He also wondered what it would take to prove it to him once and for all?
"Of course. Mr. Woods is a thoughtful and kind man, and it is a pleasure to be around him." Hill’s snort could be heard over the phone, along with the rustling of papers.
"Yes yes, and it has nothing to do with him experiencing side effects and needing to cling to you." She teased and the Captain stiffened.
"Hill, have you gone through helping a Guide who has overexerted themselves?" He asked, and he could hear Hill hum over the line.
"Well, I don’t think so? I know Casper and Brent spoke about it quite seriously, so I think I would have remembered something like that. Why?" She kept her tone light, and the Captain kicked a larger piece of crumbled street.
"He wasn’t...it wasn’t normal." He muttered. "I hated seeing him like that. I want to possess him but...I realised not like that. It was painful to watch. Mr. Woods, Kellen, is never that scared. I haven’t seen him like that before, and to know it was in the context of missing my touch..." He sighed, and Hill made a thoughtful sound on the other end.
"Wow. Okay. That sounds awful, especially for you. Did you have to...?" She asked and the Captain’s lips thinned into a straight line.