Chapter 56: Brent in the big city

You know what? Brent was feeling pretty good. He was actually feeling better than pretty good, he was feeling great.

It had been a while since he’d had alcohol this good. No fault of Karen and the others, but he’d been on the front lines. There was only so much that you could get out there on the city’s dime. Brent had drank pretty good when he was in the city but this moment was even sweeter because it was his brother’s fucking money.

Brent chuckled as he held the stem of the champagne flute in his hand, his real one, and glanced out the window of the armored car. His brother never traveled in anything less.

“To your liking, Brenton?” His brother asked, and Brent slid his gaze away from the city whizzing by the man sitting next to him. Brent did hate that he was made in his image, both in appearance and in genes, but there was only so much that he could do about that. Brent gave him a lazy, drunk smile, playing it up for everyone’s sake.

“Honestly? Yeah. The liquor on the front lines sucks.” Brent told him and watched as his brother scanned him and then gave Brent a rather pleased, plotting smile.

“I can imagine.” He said and Brent laughed at that. He turned towards his brother, putting his back against the door as he faced him.

“No, I don’t think you can.” Brent said with a knowing smile. “Did you know? That every time I see a Guide who comes from a pampered, luxurious life, I think of who I could have been?” Brent asked and his brother actually seemed pretty interested in Brent’s train of thought.

He had his own champagne flute in his hand, spinning it in between his thumb and forefinger. He leaned in closer when Brent began to talk, glancing at the driver and Colby before he slid his gaze back to Brent. There were three empty bottles of champagne at Colby’s feet in the front passenger seat.

His brother had drank a glass and that was all.

“I had no idea. Do you often think about who you could have been?” His brother asked and Brent sat back, his smile still on his lips as his gaze grew thoughtful.

“Not as much anymore, but when I first arrived and I was more panic and fear than skill? Oh yeah. I was lucky. I had a friend who…who literally beat me into shape.” Brent said with a chuckle. That seemed to interest his brother greatly.

“You? Had a friend? I’m shocked.” He genuinely did sound shocked and Brent was upset. More for Kellen then for himself.

“That’s rude to him, okay? Just because he’s a little rough around the edges doesn’t mean he’s not a good guy. He’s the best at the job, as far as I’m concerned. Taught me everything I know.” Brent knew he was bragging, but screw it. It wouldn’t hurt him to do so. It wasn’t like he was planning to keep contact with his brother, and maybe he was interested in what his brother had gotten up to while he’d been away from the family?

Maybe just a little bit?

“I didn’t realise they taught Guides how to be loose.” Colby muttered but because his brother could react, negatively or positively, Brent let out a loud, boisterous laugh.

“Colby, they just don’t call it that. You know I didn’t get proper Guide education, but he did, and yeah, they do.” That surprised both men. Colby, because he was an Esper, and his brother, because he was a civilian. He had no powers.

Probably one of the reasons he had so much anger directed towards Brent. The other had to be his looks. Brent wasn’t too cocky, but why else would you scar someone else’s face? Bor-ing.

“They do that?” His brother sounded shocked. “Even the famous ones?” Brent gave his brother a look, a knowing one as he raised the flute to his lips.

“Especially the famous ones. You’d freak out if I told you who my friend was. Technically, my partner in the field.” Brent clarified. His brother narrowed his gaze.

“You aren’t romantically attached?” He asked and Brent rolled his eyes.

“Unlike me, he had a strict code he followed. He only ever had eyes for one person, and they are now practically imprinted.” Brent said. His brother seemed to like it when Brent put himself down while talking about Kellen. There was a sick sense of satisfaction coming from the other man as the car came to a halt.

Brent thought it was just a basic traffic light, but he was wrong. It appeared they were at the venue.

Brent downed the rest of the flute, getting a distasteful look from his brother, but Brent didn’t give a fuck. He was going to a party against his will. The very least he could do was supply the liquor that was going to get Brent through this.

He wouldn’t allowed to kiss anyone, touch anyone, or fuck anyone here. If he did, that would be a major scandal for him, and probably would help his brother in some sick way. He didn’t feel up to it anyways.

There felt like there was a noose around his neck and his balls shriveled up at the thought of touching someone else right now. Brent ignored that feeling and chalked it up to him being emotional because he was drunk, kidnapped, and dressed up like a damn rich kid.

Gwen, Karen and even that Taylor would laugh at him if they saw him like this. Kellen would be pissed.

That thought made him smile.

His brother got out of the car first, lights flashing as he smiled that sweet, serene smile he turned on when he was trying to impress others. Colby held the door open for his brother, closed it, and then came around to Brent’s side. He wasn’t expecting it, half thinking that Colby was going to push him out of the car and claim it was an accident.

Instead, it was something more along Colby’s speed. As Brent was getting out, Colby leaned in close to whisper into Brent’s ear.

“Do anything to embarrass the Master and I will hang you by your intestines from the roof.” Colby warned and Brent didn’t even blink.

He reached up, cupping Colby’s face with one gloved hand and smiled at him lovingly. Colby looked absolutely horrified at the action while Brent blew him a kiss.

“Colby, if you think I want to be anywhere near him right now, you are sorely mistaken. How does dear older brother look right now?” Brent whispered back. When Brent slid his gaze over to his brother, a purely evil pleasure filled him.

Colby was an Esper, Brent was a Guide. His brother was clearly worried about what that would mean if they were behind closed doors even though they fucking hated each other. He couldn’t understand, since he was a civilian. While he trusted Colby, he didn’t trust his instincts, and it was clear that Colby hadn’t yet realised that.

Brent pulled away, knowing he’d just stirred a pot as he smiled brightly and went to his brother’s side. There was no way anyone would be able to mistake Brent as anything else.

He was, after all, the brighter, more handsome version of his brother.

The lights flashed, the cameras went off, and Brent wondered if they had good enough security for an event like this? He doubted it, and Brent didn’t have a gun right now. He had no weapons on him, not even rings like his brother would have had if he wasn’t back in his boring ass personality right now.

His brother at least had Colby, but Brent shouldn’t really get his hopes up. Nothing fun was going to happen while his brother was around. At least, not Brent’s brand of fun. He shivered. God, he really didn’t want any of his brother’s band of fun to happen.

He liked still being able to sleep at night.

Brent was a good boy, laughing with reporters, hamming it up as the ’long lost James brother’ persona that his brother had briefed him on. Well, he hadn’t exactly briefed Brent on anything. Brent just ran with it.

Did it mean he got to hang all over his brother? Yes. Did it also mean that Colby was ready to fucking strangle him, but couldn’t? Also yes, and that second one was very satisfying since his brother seemed pleased with his act.

He even told Brent as much once they had a moment of quiet as they were entering the party proper. Brent was a little surprised to hear that his brother was pleased with him. Thought he would have been pissed at his touchy-feely act, but he actually seemed…impressed. Brent tried not to worry about what the hell that meant for him and instead focused on the venue itself.

It was an old historical location, something that people had managed to save after the gates started showing up in the world. A special venue that held historical significance. Brent didn’t fucking know what it was.

He barely paid attention in school, and he would be the first to admit his education was already severely lacking. His grandfather had taken over once he realised what was happening to Brent, and then really took a serious interest in him when he realised how good Brent was at numbers. Back end things.

It was clear where his grandfather’s mind was going before Brent declared he was going to run away. After that, his grandfather didn’t care as much about Brent’s education, which meant he wasn’t educated by the Guiding coalition once it was clear that Brent was a Guide.

They had already known from a young age. Brent didn’t know how, and he didn’t want to know. If he had known too much, things could have been even more dangerous for Brent. The dumber he was in his family’s mind, the safer Brent was.

The ’party’ wasn’t small by any metric. People flooded the floor, tall pillars supporting the structure and breaking up the groups. Large couches tucked in corners showed off the bodies that sat in them, or laid in them. Buffet style food pockets popped up all over the space, along with several bars. On top of that, servers moved through the crowd with trays laden with food and drink.

A soft, beautiful sounding band played at the back of the hall, the sound echoing off the walls and filling the space.

Brent heard his brother let out a sigh and glanced towards him, noticing how his body relaxed just slightly. Did he…find this relaxing? How strange.

Brent didn’t expect to share anything in common with him besides looks. This was an odd thing to realise that they shared. His brother reached out, patting Brent’s shoulder with his hand without looking.

“Don’t embarrass me.” He warned, before he left. Like that.

Brent knew it was a test, but he didn’t exactly care. The small illusion of freedom was…thrilling. Now he could focus on getting some answers.

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