Chapter 3

He was on the ground before he could take another breath, but he was up just as quickly—rattled but clearly still willing to take a beating. If this is what he called putting up a fight, then he had no place in this business.

We circled each other, bouncing on our feet almost like an ancient dance, moving closer then further away until he finally lashed out, throwing a punch which I dodged easily. He was almost unsteady on his feet, his mind clearly muddled from the alcohol I was pretty sure he’d consumed before coming here. I gritted my teeth. Sometimes he really knew how to piss me off.

I grabbed his arm when he threw another weak punch and twisted until he cried out, but just as I made to loosen my hold, he elbowed me in the ribs and I stumbled back. He grinned, a wide satisfied spread of the lips and my anger grew.

“You think that’s anything to be proud of? You coming in here late and drunk off your ass?” I shot

His smile fell. “I told you, I had something to take care of.”

“Yeah…and hitting up a bar was obviously more important than our sparring session.”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t like that.”

I swept a foot under his and he went down like a log and when he was on his feet again, I was in his face just as quickly. A jab to his right side, a punch to his uncovered face and finally a roundhouse kick to the chest that sent him sprawling. I was gracious enough to let him pull himself up from the floor.

“Just give me a second to catch my b—”

Another swift punch and he stumbled—then another and another, each time willing him to put up a fight, willing him to defend himself the way he knew how, but he was useless and the more I had to deal with this shit, the angrier I became.

He pushed up from the ground, clutching his side and when I moved, he put up a hand to ward me off. “Just wait I—”

“You think some asshole out on the street is gonna wait till you’re ready before they take you down?”

Another jab to the chest, then another. The third time he managed to block me and I tackled him to the ground, my legs wrapped tightly around his, one arm twisted behind his back and his face pressed to the floor.

He struggled, fighting desperately to throw me off and I wrapped an arm around his neck, forcing him to find a way to free himself. When he tried to elbow me, I rolled until I was on my back, arm still wrapped around his neck holding him prisoner. He was facing the ceiling and I could already see the veins standing up in his forehead as he tried desperately to free himself, but my hold didn’t budge, and too soon, he stopped fighting all together.

“Don’t you fucking tap out, find a way out.” I cursed in his ear and he tried, then tried again and failed miserably.

“Jesus Christ Sy, free yourself.” I urged him and a second later, he tapped out. I released him, shoving him from me none too gently.

I got to my feet, standing over him as he lay there out of breath and clutching his side.

“I don’t think I’m willing to wait for you to take this shit seriously.”

He sat up and ran his free hand through his mussed hair.

“Gimmie a break Ed. When’ve I ever not taken this seriously? So I had a drink before I came, what the fuck is the big deal? I’m here almost every night bustin’ my ass on this floor with you.”

“And you feel proud of what you just did? You’re so shit-faced you can’t even stand up straight!”

His eyes narrowed and I shook my head.

“I need a partner who I can trust to have my back no matter what goes down.” I began. “I need to know that if I have to take a bullet for someone, he’s fucking worth it and these days you’re better off behind a desk…because the only thing you’re good for out there is getting me killed.”

I turned away from the sight of him and made my way across the room where I scooped up my discarded towel, my duffle bag and left.

Outside I slammed the car door shut behind me and ran the towel over my face and neck, wiping away the film of sweat that had gathered over my skin.  When I was done, I rested my head against the steering wheel, feeling worn. It was strange how completely a person could change in a short year.

I found it hard to believe that I’d once been the guy who never let anything bother him. Always smiling, always thinking of the positive—the life of the party. Now I just felt angry…an empty, angry shell of the man I once was and I had no idea how to get myself back.

I blamed it on a lot of things…being shot and close to dying on my last undercover OP, battling with the need to tell the world what I was and needing to keep that side of myself buried, harboring feelings for a man who could only ever see me as a way to let off steam and finally and probably most importantly, my obsession with finding Emmanuel.

For months I’d let the thought of catching him consume me...months until I’d finally  decided to let it go, and now I was being thrust right back into that world. It was messing with my head.

I glanced at the entrance of the gym and sighed. Simon had changed too. From a man who had made computers his life to someone who’d made the leap and fought to become my partner. From the desk to the field just so he could be there the next time I did something stupid like get myself shot.

I frowned.  He was a damn good partner and I was taking my frustration out on him.

 Then my frown deepened. Sy never went so far as to open a beer in the work week, yet he’d come in with a buzz. Something was wrong.

I cursed under my breath, flung the towel into the back seat and stepped out of the vehicle and into the cool night’s air.

“Alright Sy, what’s going on?” I questioned as soon as I reentered the room and he looked up from the floor where he sat with his back against the locker.

He took a breath and for the first time that night I noticed just how worn he looked. Dark circles under his eyes, brows furrowed and mouth turned down in a frown.

“What? Not done chewing me out yet?”

“What happened tonight?”

“You mean other than you beating my ass and telling me I’m a shitty partner?” he said drily and I moved to sit on the bench before him.

“What’s going on?”

For a minute he only stared at me, empty eyes piercing mine until he ran a hand over his face and closed them.

“My dad called.”

I frowned. “Last time you heard from him was—”

“Over four years ago…when I told him I wanted nothing to do with him.”

He opened his eyes and set his gaze on the bare wall above my head. I could practically feel the tension radiating from his body. “What did he want?”

He shrugged. “He’s in the hospital…he’s dying.” he said the words quietly.

“Didn’t think you cared whether he lived or died.”

He shook his head. “I don’t…I didn’t…I just…” he paused for a long time and I remained silent, allowing him the silence to gather his thoughts and work through whatever it was that he was feeling.

“I guess I thought I wouldn’t give a shit what happened to him but…”

“He’s still your dad.”

He nodded. “He wants me to convince Nate to go see him.”

I shook my head. “You know Nate, he won—”

“I know. he already can’t stand the sight of me…showing up on his doorstep to tell him our piece a shit father is dying and wants to see him won’t do anything but drive him in further away.”

I sighed, “I don’t know what to tell you Sy. Either you care more about fulfilling a dying man’s wish or you care more about making it work with your brother…I can’t help you with this one.”

He nodded.

“How long does he have?”

“He says it’s cancer. The doctors told him he has a month, maybe two.”

“What’re you gonna do?”

He met my eyes then. “Am I still invited over tonight?”

I’d forgotten about our half plan to ‘spend some quality time together’ tonight. Something I shouldn’t have agreed to in the first place. I didn’t need that particular complication on top of everything else. What I needed was a clear head and a calm disposition. Simon would prevent that, but here sat my undoing, broken and clearly hurting, so I said the only thing I could.

“Yes.”

…………………………………………………….

He was quiet as usual on the entire ride over, his attention held by the tablet he held in his hands. It was only when I opened the door that he seemed to realize we’d reached my place. I retrieved my things from the backseat while he did the same and we walked up to my front door in complete silence, my mind on the events of the day and his mind on whatever it was that Simon thought about when he wasn’t fidgeting with his gadgetry.

“You finally cut that damn lawn.”  He commented as I searched my pockets for my keys and I let my eyes roam over the yard.

“I had some free time.”

I’d already forgotten how long it had been since he’d been over here. Back in the day this had been his crash pad almost every night…at least until things got complicated and I had to put an end to it.

It was crazy how strange it felt having him here again. When I pushed the front door open he automatically reached over to turn on the lights, then dropped his bag onto the floor by the couch, just like old times. I watched him glance around the room and I looked away when I spotted that small half smile on his face.

“I can’t believe how much I missed this place.” He said softly

‘You wouldn’t believe how much I missed having you here’ I thought to myself but what I said to him was; “Yeah it’s been awhile.”

A brief silence passed between us, before I cleared my throat and turned to him, my thumbs hooked inside the belt hoops of my jeans. “Anyway, you know where everything is. You’re staying in the guest room.” I emphasized, “I’m gonna go grab a shower.”

I turned to exit the room but his next words gave me pause.

“I remember a time when you’d invite me to come along.”

I glanced back at him over my shoulder. “Things change.”

“I don’t see why they have to.” He continued, his softly spoken words reverberating through the quiet room.

I faced him, my ridiculous heart beating wildly. “We want different things.”

“That never stopped us before…”

“Yeah well, like I said—”

“Things change, yeah… I get it.” His eyes held mine for a moment, before he lowered himself onto the couch and crossed his legs at his ankles. “Don’t finish the hot water.”

I watched long enough for him to unzip his bag and pull out his laptop, then I disappeared from the room, feeling all kinds of stupid for wishing he’d had a different response.

Upstairs I wrote a quick text to Kyle who’d been badgering me about my progress with convincing Sy to go on his little trip. Then I stripped and entered the shower. The moment the heat soaked into my skin I relaxed, thinking of nothing but the feel of the hot water against my flesh.

I found Sy standing in front of the open door of my freezer when I returned downstairs half an hour later. He had a bag of frozen peas pressed to his bruised side and on the kitchen counter across from him he’d spread all manner of screws and electronic parts I couldn’t identify.

“What’s all this?”

“My laptop. I’m switching out the hard drive.”

I raised a brow, taking in the messy counter. “You had to pull apart the entire thing just to switch the hard drive?”

“No, I just like putting it back together.

I shook my head. “Then maybe you can fix my TV while you’re here…it’s been acting up lately.”

He crossed the room and went to stand before the counter, where he dropped the peas and starting messing with random computer parts.

“I’ll buy you a new one for Christmas.”

 I moved past him and pulled a beer from the door of the fridge before grabbing a stool in front of the counter.

“I don’t need a new one, it’s just a little glitch.”

He glanced up at me, his brows raised in disbelief. “It’s a piece a junk. You should have thrown it out back when I told you to.”

I shook my head. “That thing took me through college.”

“Exactly.”

I took a swig of the cold liquid and he glanced up at me. “Here, I’ll teach you how to assemble this” He said, handing me a screwdriver and taking the bottle from my hand.

I looked at the thing, then back at him skeptically. “Last time you tried to teach me something you ended up biting my head off.”

“Insert this piece into that slot and screw both sides together.” He pointed to the mystery metal before me and I did as he instructed.

“I doubt I’ll be able to put a laptop back together after this.” I warned as I worked and he snorted.

“Trust me it’s like riding a bike, once you learn you’ll be able to do it with your eyes closed.”

I looked skeptically down at the pieces scattered across my counter. “Uhuh.”

“Think of them as puzzle pieces. Every single part has a place, you just have to find where it fits.”

I replaced he piece I held once I finished screwing it together and watched carefully as he picked up piece after piece and screwed them to their respective parts. Then I picked up another piece and searched for the part it matched up to, but nothing matched…in fact it was nothing like a puzzle piece, they were just little pieces of hard plastic and metal I couldn’t hope to identify.

“I think I might go down to see him”

“Yeah? what about Nate?” I dropped the screwdriver and picked up my beer.

He shook his head. “I’m leaving him out of it. If the old man wants to see him then he’ll have to find some other way.”

I nodded before taking a sip of my drink. “Probably for the best.”

He didn’t reply, instead he focused on the task before him, screwing parts together and fitting pieces where they matched in his mind, until soon enough the only thing that could be heard in the room was the sound of scraping tools and his even breathing. This brought back memories…of nights just like this where he worked through the night on his various projects, completely consumed by what only he could describe as entertaining.

His company was like a soothing balm over my aching muscles and I smiled as I gradually relaxed in the quiet room. I watched him work, studied his capable hands and his focused expression. Then continued to stare when he trapped his bottom lip between his teeth, his brows furrowed.

He was perfect, this stupid little nerd and I reached over to brush the hair from his face before I’d even registered the intention.

He glanced up at me, green, piercing eyes meeting mine and with a swallow and a glance at the bottle in my hand, I decided it was time to get my own work done.

“I gotta go finish up those reports.” I said pushing up from my seat and he straightened, watching me as I turned to go.

“One night won’t change anything.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what the softly spoken words meant and I left the room to avoid the tempting offer.

………………………………………….

Emmanuel… the faceless demon who tormented me while I slept.  The master evader, the resourceful drug lord and my greatest adversary. I wanted him to go down, needed to see his downfall like I needed the air I breathed…but I didn’t really believe I was the one for the job.

Maybe I didn’t want him badly enough.now, or maybe I simply didn’t want to waste another moment of my life thinking about the chaos he always managed to leave in his wake. Whatever the reason and whatever my wants, I had no say. I was doomed to this task like Emmanuel was doomed to go down...all that mattered now was time. I could only hope it was on our side.

I flipped the page and squinted down at the sketch, then I flipped another and took in the details…both pages held completely different faces, yet they were said to be the same guy. Every witness and every informant produced a different face for the same man and all were confident in their belief. Emmanuel was careful...certainly not a man to underestimate, but then neither was I.

I picked up the file which contained my new identity and glanced briefly at my new name. Marcus Byfeild.  Soon this would be the only name I answered to, and FBI agent Eddy Reynolds would be nothing but a whisper in the wind. 

I pulled the new ID card from the envelope and studied it, before storing it safely in the pouch that held everything else regarding the mission. Afterwards I leaned back into the chair and closed my eyes, before running a hand over my face in frustration.

I didn’t hear when he entered the room. Didn’t feel his presence, or spot his soft shadow on the wall. What I felt were calloused hands dancing along my shoulders and slipping beneath the collar of my shirt. I opened my eyes and made to pull away, when I felt the softness of his damp lips against the heated flesh of my neck…after that I was lost.

                                         AUTHOR'S NOTES

SORRY FOR THE WAIT GUYS..STILL WORKING ON BALANCING THE TIME I SPEND WRITING CHAPTERS AND SCHOOL COURSE WORK.

THANKS FOR STICKING AROUND AND KEEP SWEET!

-DoUbLe.A

-unedited.