บททั้งหมดของ Pucking Around with Fate: บทที่ 71 - บทที่ 80

POV: KhyleKhyle fiddled with his drink as he considered the question.Now that Kensei was gone, the bluenet had regressed, his attitude turning like a switch, the lazy cockiness resettling over him the way it always did when the social lubricant of a third person was removed from the equation. Khyle felt a little less comfortable himself, but he wondered if Gunner was just hiding behind it the way he hid behind most things.As for the question about his love life, he was reluctant to go there with Gunner. It seemed like information the man would find a way to use against him. And even though he wanted to find a way to smooth things over between them, somehow his current lack of a sexual life didn't feel like something he wanted to share with the blue-eyed womanizer sitting next to him. But seeing as he was the one who had called this little party to order, Khyle finally decided he might as well lay his cards on the table. They were supposed to be getting to know each other. And Khyle

POV: KhyleBy now, the two men were sitting in what was more or less a comfortable silence.Kensei had drifted toward the bar to settle the tab and have one last conversation with his favorite member of the staff, leaving the two of them with the quiet and the fading noise of a bar that was winding down for the night. Gunner's lazy gaze had slid away from the waitress's overexposed backside and drifted toward the flat screens, the flickering images of a sports highlight reel moving through without demanding anything from either of them.Khyle took a pull from the bottom of his third and final beer of the night. Lite beer. He had no use for hangovers, and he had a game tomorrow. Though he usually preferred coolers to beer, he hadn't been in the mood to take the inevitable commentary from present company tonight. In present company, his tastes would absolutely have been scrutinized.He was thinking about the evening, taking a quiet inventory of where they had started and where they were

POV: GunnerHe turned left, making no effort to turn on the hall light. He knew his way around this place fine in the dark. The floors were clean. He wasn't going to stub his toes on anything.And he sure as hell didn't believe in monsters and things that went bump in the night. The world was a scary enough place with the people that inhabited it. Him included. Why make things up?A few steps further down the hall, Gunner reached the open doorway of his bedroom and stopped dead.His lungs stilled. He swayed against his own heartbeat, and all his concentration turned inward. Ghostly voices from the past moved over his shoulder through the darkness. He couldn't stop them. He never could, in the dark, in the quiet, when there was nothing left to redirect him."I'm telling you, you are getting too rough.""Paaaa." A growled warning. "I said don't start on me again. I'm doing my job.""You were not this rough before you became a big shot star.""Hn." A side glare. No argument."This coach

POV: KhyleAs he rounded the front exterior of the upscale building, Khyle took a deep breath of winter air and a giant swallow of reality. As much as his hormones wanted to fraternize with the enemy in some semi-definable physical way, they had other things to sort out first.They'd managed to sit in a bar together and share a beer without any real hostility. It was a start, but the real work was just beginning. They had proven that they were capable of behaving in a civilized manner, but that didn't mean they actually liked each other on a level where they wouldn't find themselves tangled up in another fist fight over some stupid disagreement.Khyle craned his neck like he was scanning the rooftops for snipers as he rounded the building. Instead, he inhaled more of the fresh winter air and took in the details of Gunner's territory. Treaty or no, it felt like wandering onto enemy land, hoping to hash out the details of a cease fire.Perhaps viewing their bonding time as work was not

POV: Dual, Khyle and GunnerThere was the shortest of pauses before blue eyes slid back up to him from the bottom step, confused and narrowed in suspicion."What?"Khyle jogged down the steps to the walkway, quick and light on his feet. He skirted past the bluenet, the enforcer's head swiveling like a hungry falcon to keep a displeased eye on him."Nothing," Khyle said quickly, his eyes already closed in a blunt dismissal that he knew would irk Gunner to no end. His brows were knit in concentration as he stopped and stretched an amply toned arm behind himself then swung both out to the side to get his blood flowing. Khyle bounced on his toes a few times, rolling his neck for good measure. All to the sound of pre-eruptive volcanic silence."Are you warmed up?" Khyle asked, listening intently for any hint of movement should he need to defend himself. One eye slid open, just in case."I was warmed up hours ago," came the curt reply. "Now, what the hell did." Gunner cut himself off and sq