Work Text:
“I’m going to kill you,” Jensen growls into the phone.
“Hello to you too, Jensen,” Christian responds, his voice irritatingly cheerful. “So, I’m guessing things are going well with our new client.”
Jensen leans against the wall opposite the theatre stage door, watching as the most annoying man-child ever to exist signs playbill after playbill. At least he’s so damn tall that he’s easy to keep eyes on, his too-long hair falling over his who-knows-what-hell-color-they-are-today eyes as he hands yet another over-eager fan a signed playbill.
Two years ago, no one but his family and his equally as rich friends knew who Jared was. Then Jared was cast in a reality show looking to cast a three-run guest spot on a musical-comedy TV show. Now Jared’s a household name and is regularly featured in gossip blogs. He's young, pretty, and his star is rising. And he's the most difficult client Jensen has ever worked with.
“When he isn’t inappropriately flirting with me, he’s totally ignoring my orders. He’s impossible. Give him to Steve, I’ll take on anyone else.”
Jared catches Jensen’s eye and winks at him. Several heads turn toward Jensen’s direction, because yeah, that’s what Jensen needs—people to pay attention to him.
“Who is he?” a woman old enough to know better asks. Jensen gets enough of a look at her to see she’s wearing about ten times the amount of makeup she should be, her dress is a size too small, and she’s not wearing a bra. She’s pushed past several of Jared’s younger admirers to plant herself right in front of Jared.
“We’ve been through this, Jensen. Jared’s father is paying us a small fortune and in return, he demands the best, and the best is you.”
“He’s my boyfriend. Hey, Jen, smile at my friends,” Jared says cheerfully.
Now everyone is looking at Jensen. Some look visibly disappointed as they give him the once over.
“Boyfriend?” one of the men gathered around Jared asks. “But I heard you were dating Kenneth. Plus, he doesn’t look too happy about being your boyfriend.”
“I’m seriously going to kill him,” Jensen says into the phone before hanging up to the sound of Chris’ laughter.
“We’re not exclusive,” Jared explains, as he signs yet another playbill. “Plus, he’s thrilled about being my boyfriend, he just hides it well.”
After his run on the TV show, Jared was cast in guest spots on other series before landing one of the leading roles in a rom-com featuring two guys. Once that finished filming, he landed a six-month gig starring in an off-Broadway musical. His stint on How To Succeed in Business is almost over and it can't end soon enough for Jensen.
“Jared, we have to get going,” Jensen grinds out, not for the first time or even the second time. First, Jared had to hug everyone involved in the play before he could leave the theatre—and that meant everyone, from his co-stars to the forty-two people who work behind the scenes in some capacity or another.
Then, just as Jensen was about to usher Jared out of the door and into the waiting car, Jared had insisted on greeting each and every fan gathered around the theatre exit door. Which means they’ve been standing in an alley for the last half hour, which is of course just the place you should be spending time in if you’ve received anonymous letters from someone threatening to kidnap you.
Jensen’s been guarding the kid for just five days and already he’s more than half convinced that if the potential kidnapper succeeds and takes Jared, he’ll give him back within a day. Jared is always ‘on,’ even at ass-o’clock in the morning, eternally upbeat, extremely talkative, flirts as easy as he breathes, and refuses to do anything remotely rational when it comes to his safety.
The group surrounding Jared shows no sign of dispersing.
Fuck this. Jensen has a job to do and he damn well is going to do it. Jensen pushes his way through the crowd and grabs Jared’s arm. “We’re leaving.”
He’s expecting an argument but Jared hands his pen to the closest groupie and waves at his adoring fans. “Gotta go, Jen wants to fuck.”
Jensen yanks Jared down the alley toward the waiting car. “You can’t say shit like that.”
“Why not? It's fun.”
“For many reasons, including the fact that I’m supposed to be inconspicuous.”
“Honey, you’re too fucking pretty to be inconspicuous.” Jared stretches his ridiculously long body and looks down the street. “I could use a drink. I know a bar—”
The kid is going to kill him or he’s going to kill the kid.
“The only place you are going tonight is back to your apartment,” Jensen says firmly.
Jared’s eyes narrow. Heat flares between them, as intense as it is inconvenient. Jensen has felt the attraction from the moment they met, knows Jared feels it too by the outrageous way the boy flirts.
No way is Jensen going to act on this attraction. He doesn't sleep with his clients. And Jared is way too young for him.
If only Jared wasn't so fucking pretty…
“But I need a drink,” Jared replies. He’s got his hands on his narrow hips and he’s pouting—actually freaking pouting.
“You have alcohol in your apartment,” Jensen points out in a perfectly reasonable tone. Or as reasonable as he can manage, considering they are standing out in the open and Jensen can't see everywhere at once and the car is right freaking there if Jared would just walk to it.
“I need a drink and I need to get laid,” Jared replies. “And there is no way to get laid at my apartment unless you are offering.”
Jensen chokes on air. “You plan to go fuck in a bar?”
Jared shrugs. “Well, I was thinking about finding a guy and taking him back to the apartment, but I’m not opposed to getting fucked in the men’s bathroom, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
An image, unbidden, forms in Jensen’s mind. Jared with his hands pressed against a bathroom stall, his jeans pulled down to his thighs, his perfect ass—
Jensen forcibly pushes the image out of his head. “There will be no fucking in bars.”
“I’m not sure when the last time it was you got laid, but I’m guessing it was quite a while ago judging by that gigantic stick up your ass,” Jared responds. “Maybe you could find someone at the bar too, someone just as uptight as you are. Or you can accept my offer and fuck me. It’s up to you, but either way, I’m getting fucked tonight. Your choice.”
“We are not going to a bar and I’m not—” Jensen clenches his teeth so tightly he swears he can feel his molars grinding into nubs. “Get in the car.”
Jared folds his arms over his chest, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Make me. I’d like that actually. I might have a bit of a manhandling kink.”
Jensen counts to three. And then to twenty, as Jared continues to grin at him. “Get. In. The. Car.”
Jared sighs. “All right. But if my vibrator needs batteries, you’re going out and buying them for me.”
Nope. Not thinking about Jared fucking himself with a vibrator. Not going to think about Jared’s ass at all.
Jared opens the door, bending his body practically in half which gives Jensen a frankly unfair view of Jared’s ass before sliding into the backseat. Jensen looks around the street one more time before sliding in beside Jared.
“Hey, Mike, stop at the bar on—” Jared is saying because the kid is incorrigible.
“Take us to Jared’s apartment,” Jensen says. “We’re done for the night.”
“You know, I don’t think I like you very much,” Jared says to Jensen, but the words carry no heat. Now that they are both sitting and Jensen can look at him more closely, it's clear Jared is exhausted.
Jensen reaches over and buckles Jared in. “Feeling is mutual, kid.”
“Not a kid,” Jared replies. He leans back in his seat, his eyes closed. For all his talk of wanting to go to a bar, he is clearly more than half asleep. No wonder—Jared has been going non-stop for hours.
With Jared’s eyes closed Jensen sees no reason to take his eyes off him. There’s no denying Jared has charisma for days, which explains his rise from winner of a talent competition to the Next Big Thing, but he has talent too. And he works surprisingly hard.
When Jensen had been given this assignment by Chris, he had assumed that Jared was a spoiled rich kid and that the threats on his life were being made by someone Jared had treated like gum underneath his shoe, because from what little Jensen knows about spoiled rich kids, they are all rude fuckers. But Jared treats everyone the same—from the doorman at his apartment building to the extras in his play, to his rich friends. Jared is open, friendly, and flirty with everyone. Not that he’s a saint—far from it. He refuses to take the threats on his life seriously, refuses to be reasonable about his safety, and if the kid propositions Jensen one more time—
“You’re staring,” Jared says. “I mean, I know I’m pretty as fuck, so I can see why you are staring, but aren’t you supposed to be like monitoring the cars that pass us to make sure there aren’t any sharpshooters riding on top of them or something?”
Jensen huffs. “The car is bulletproof.”
Jared smiles, his dimples on full display, but he doesn’t open his eyes. “Well then, stare to your heart’s content.”
Jensen tears his eyes away from Jared and leans back, arms folded over his chest. “You are impossible.”
“Au contraire, my good man. As I keep telling you, I am very possible.”
Jensen makes the mistake of looking over at Jared just in time to see Jared wink at him. Jensen hasn’t blushed in ages, and he’s not blushing now, but it must be at least eighty degrees in this damn car.
Jared’s ever-changing eyes look blue in the dark car, his cheeks and lips are pink like maybe he rubbed them a bit too hard to get the stage makeup off.
And Jensen is staring again.
Jensen looks straight ahead, determined to keep his eyes on the glass separating Jared and Jensen from the driver.
“My dad says you used to guard the president. Being part of the Secret Service sounds like a cool gig. Why did you leave?” Jared asks.
C’mon—with lips like those, you have to be used to getting on your knees. We can be quick, no one has to know…
“Because I thought it would be more fun to guard bratty rich kids,” Jensen replies, forcing that memory to the back of his mind.
“Well, I’m prettier than President Sheen, that’s for sure,” Jared replies. “I mean, I’m not as pretty as you of course, but this way I get to stare at your pretty face, so it all works out well for me.”
Bet you spent a lot of your high-school days in the janitor’s closet, those pretty lips of yours wrapped around the janitor’s thick cock, looking up at him with those pretty eyes. I’m just saying, me and you—we could have some fun…
It's been almost two decades now. And nothing happened, except for Jensen quitting his job. Why can't Jensen’s mind let this shit go? Jensen shoves the memory to the back of his mind, more forcefully this time.
“You’re being inappropriate again,” Jensen says as he looks out the window. Thankfully, they are pulling up in front of Jared’s apartment building. Being in this close quarters with Jared is—difficult. And dangerous.
Getting Jared up to his penthouse suite takes far longer than it has to. For one, Jared has to stop to ask the doorman, Frank, about his kids and whether or not his wife is still battling the flu. Then they encounter a couple leaving the elevator who stop them to thank Jared for the flowers he sent to their great-aunt's funeral. By the time that conversation is over, another man has stopped to talk to Jared about his planned trip to Rome and Jared gives him a list of places as long as Jensen’s arm of restaurants he must dine in, places to visit, and where his favorite art is hung in the Louvre.
Jared is still excitedly chattering away to this man when the elevator doors open again. Without saying a word, Jensen grabs Jared’s arm and drags Jared toward the elevator doors.
“Well, that was kind of rude,” Jared says, but Jensen can't help but notice that Jared isn't resisting him at all as Jensen propels Jared forward and into the elevator. “I wasn't finished talking with him and ohhh-I wonder if Sandy is still up? I need to talk to her about the publicity for Love (Im)Possible. It might be too late. She goes to bed ridiculously early. I could—“
Jensen runs his hand over Jared’s shoulders. Turns him around to rum a hand down his neck and his back, his fingers dancing lightly over the curve in Jared’s back before he realizes what he is doing and takes his hand away just before they reach Jared’s ass.
Jensen can’t blame the sudden rush of heat he feels on the elevator, but he really wants to.
“Not that I mind being felt up, but what are you looking for exactly?” Jared asks.
“The off button. There has to be one somewhere,” Jensen mutters, shoving his hands in his pocket so he won’t be tempted to touch Jared again.
Jared laughs. The sound is obnoxiously loud in the tiny elevator and Jensen has to bite back a smile.
There’s a guard waiting at the elevator door.
“Nobody’s been in or out except for the maid and I did a sweep of the apartment after she left,” Brian tells Jensen. “The place is secure.”
“Thanks,” Jensen replies. “We’re in for the night, you are free to go.”
Brian nods and heads toward the elevator. He isn’t part of Chris’ crew, he’s a cop who is working for Jared’s father on his off days. He seems to be a good guy and obviously, Jared’s father, Peter, trusts him, but that doesn’t mean Jensen does. Jensen makes Jared wait right inside the door of the apartment as he makes his own sweep of the ridiculously large space that Jared calls home. There are houses smaller than this apartment, which covers the entire top floor of the building, so it takes him about fifteen minutes to go through everything and be satisfied that the place is secure. Miraculously, when he gets back to Jared, Jared is still standing there.
“See, I can be good,” Jared says, pocketing his phone. “All good?”
Jensen nods and stifles a yawn. Generally providing 24/7 security to an individual is at least a two man job, sometimes three, but for whatever reason Peter insisted that Jensen stay with Jared full-time. Peter is paying a shit-ton of money to Chris’ security business for Jensen’s services, but Jensen could use a good night’s sleep and a break from the overgrown puppy that is standing in front of him masquerading as a person.
A very pretty person, who just happens to be sexy as hell and has made it very clear that he’s open to—everything.
But no way is Jensen going to take Jared to bed. For one thing, he’s almost old enough to be Jared’s father. And he’s here to do a job, not to bend Jared over and give him the fucking he’s been begging for.
No matter how tempting a thought that is.
“All right, I’m headed to the bedroom. You can do whatever you do in here,” Jared says, indicating the huge living room they are standing in.
The apartment is on the thirty-first floor. The only doors to the apartment, including the balcony doors, are locked and secure. There is really nothing for Jensen to do tonight except give Chris a report and conk out on the couch until morning. There’s four more bedrooms besides Jared’s, but Jensen doesn’t trust Jared not to sneak out of the apartment in the middle of the night, so he uses one of the rooms to store his stuff, but he sleeps on the couch.
“Night, Jared,” Jensen says as he sits on the couch and pulls out his phone, and begins typing out his report.
Chris sends him a text before Jensen can even finish the report.
Nice pics
It's followed by pictures of Jensen scowling in the alley, of Jared and Jensen arguing by the car. One of the pictures is a snapshot of a tweet that is captioned ‘Looks like It!Boy Jared has found himself a Daddy. Will Jared’s mysterious new boyfriend be able to keep our fave wild child in line?’
Jensen groans and looks over at Jared’s locked door. He wants to blame Jated for this, but he knew the fans were taking pictures of Jared and hadn't done anything to stop them. He hadn't realized that anyone would take Jared’s flippant remark about Jensen being his boyfriend seriously and take pictures of him as well.
So much for being inconspicuous.
Chris thinks it will work out to their advantage, that people thinking Jensen is Jared’s boyfriend will give the perfect excuse for Jensen to be around Jared all the time, but Jensen still hates it. He plans to be a lot more careful in the future, being high profile will make his next job even harder.
Although by then Jared will be with a new guy and Jensen will be forgotten by everyone, including probably Jared.
Which is good. Even if Jensen were to act on the attraction he feels for Jared, which he definitely is not going to do, he's not the staying around kind and Jared deserves better. Much better.
An hour later, Jensen is about to turn out all the lights and make himself as comfortable as he can on the red leather couch when there is a ding on his phone, an alert from the camera system Chris had Osric install. He checks the cameras outside Jared’s room. A kid, no more than twelve or so, is exiting the elevator carrying a bag of something in his hand.
Jared rushes past him toward the door. Jensen grabs Jared’s arm, barely stopping him before Jared reaches the door.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jensen asks.
Jared is wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms—ones that hang dangerously low on his hips. His face is flushed and he smells like—he smells like sex and come. Jared’s gotten himself off and the thought of that makes Jensen feel almost feral for a moment before he carefully reins himself in.
“That’s my food,” Jared explains, trying to pull away from Jensen. “I’m starving.”
Why would a twelve-year-old boy be delivering food?
“Go back to your room,” Jensen demands, pulling out his Colt and approaching the door cautiously. He checks his phone once more, the camera shows no one else in front of the door, just the young kid—brown hair and eyes, about five feet tall, slender build, wearing a blue t-shirt and blue jeans shorts. The kid knocks on the door, waits just a second, and knocks again.
“C’mon man, it’s just food. I’ll give you some of my Kung Pao chicken if you just open the door,” Jared says.
The kid knocks again. He’s getting on Jensen’s last nerve. “Get in your room now, Jared.”
“You aren’t the boss of me,” Jared replies.
Jensen just looks at him, ignoring the repeated knock on the door. Jared swears under his breath but turns around and stomps toward his room, slamming his door so hard that Jensen is almost shocked none of the pictures fall off the walls.
The kid knocks again and Jensen opens the door, leaving the chain on. “What?” he barks.
The kid swallows several times and holds out the bag.
“You’re kind of young to be a door dasher,” Jensen says, keeping the gun hidden behind his back.
“Guy paid me twenty bucks to deliver the food here. Guess he didn’t want to go all the way up on the elevator,” the kid says.
“Put the food down and go away,” Jensen says, pocketing the gun. He can smell the food and a quick check on his phone of the cameras in the elevator shows it’s empty.
The kid nods, dropping the bag unceremoniously on the floor and practically rushing toward the elevator. Jensen waits until the elevator is on its way down before opening the door and grabbing the food. When he turns around, Jared is standing there.
“You don’t listen for shit,” Jensen says. He pulls each container out of the bag and opens it, checking for any sign that the food has been tampered with.
“I’m starving,” Jared says again. “I’m still growing after all; I need lots of food.”
The fact that the kid might still be growing is a scary one because he’s barely in his twenties and he’s already at least three inches taller than Jensen is.
Jared ordered enough food to feed at least three people, normal people that is, and Jared’s already started eating when Jensen pulls out the last container and sees the note attached to it.
Jensen yanks the Chow Mein away from Jared and puts it on the table. “Don’t touch any of this,” he orders.
Jensen grabs his briefcase from the bedroom he keeps his stuff in and opens it, pulling out a pair of gloves and putting them on. When he gets back into the living room, Jared has the note in his hand.
“Shit, what did I tell you?” Jensen asks, grabbing the note from Jared. “Now the note is compromised. There could be fingerprints, DNA, anything on this.”
“There won’t be, there never is,” Jared replies calmly.
He’s right. Whoever is targeting Jared is either a professional or has watched a lot of true-crime shit, because he’s been careful—no fingerprints, no DNA, no clues as to who the person—or persons—might be.
The threats started shortly before Jared finished filming a movie several months ago. The first note had been taped to Jared’s trailer. The note was typewritten and contained only five words. Enjoy it while you can. The note was turned over to the police who investigated but found no clue as to who could have left it. It was decided it was probably a prank.
The next few notes came by mail. No DNA or fingerprints on the envelopes or on the letters. The letters were all variations of the first one—thinly veiled threats against Jared’s life. Jared’s father hired a PI after the third letter, but he had no better luck finding the culprit than the police did.
The fourth letter came with a picture of Jared kissing another man in a bar. It was placed in his apartment mailbox, no envelope. That is the one that led to Peter Padalecki calling Chris. Chris and Peter had met each other in college. Peter had insisted Chris send him the best, so Chris sent Jensen.
There have been no other letters since Jensen started guarding Jared a week ago. Until now.
Fuck, the kid. The one that delivered the food. Jensen needs to talk to him.
“Don’t touch anything,” Jensen demands. “And don’t open the door for anyone that isn’t me. And I mean anyone, Jared.”
Jared nods, uncharacteristically silent, and Jensen doesn’t have time to worry about why. He quickly leaves the apartment, making sure the door is still locked and checks his phone for the camera footage. The kid went all the way down to the basement floor, the car garage. Jensen knows the kid is probably long gone, but he makes a quick sweep of the car garage anyway. There’s no sign of any kid and when Jensen asks a couple that have just parked the car they don’t know the kid and haven’t seen him.
Jensen can’t leave Jared alone, so he sends the camera footage to Chris along with a brief explanation of what just happened and heads back up the elevator, impatiently waiting as the elevator passes each floor until reaching the penthouse. He’s going to have to insist that Jared move to a more secure location, one that requires a passcode and a key to get into the elevator. Jared apparently loves this old building, his grandparents used to live in the suite, and he spent a lot of his youth here, but this place just isn’t safe.
Jared is still sitting on the couch when Jensen reaches him.
“He’s getting more chatty,” Jared says. He sounds tired and there’s none of his usual teasing and no hint of a smile.
That bothers Jensen more than it should, Jared is just a client after all.
Jensen pulls out a fresh pair of gloves from his case and picks up the note.
Your pretty bodyguard will not be able to save you. You will die screaming.
Jensen reads the note three times before taking a picture of it and carefully placing it in his briefcase surrounded by plastic. He’ll give it to Brian to take to the police station tomorrow, though he has little hope of anything of value being found on the note.
He has to get Jared somewhere safe before the stalker makes good on his threats.
“You are going to have to quit the play,” Jensen says. “And you’ll need to pack up anything you want to take with you, we’ll be moving tomorrow.”
“No fucking way. I’m not hiding just because some idiot gets his kicks from scaring people. And I’m not leaving the play early, the cast and crew are counting on me. This is my home and I’m not leaving it.” Jared stands up and begins gathering the cartons of food. “And I’m eating my damn food and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“These threats are real, Jared. This person is planning on hurting you. It’s my job to keep you safe and I’m damn well going to do my job.” Jensen stands up too. “Quit acting like a child.”
“Fuck you. And fuck the white horse you rode in on. How to Succeed closes next week anyway and if you try to force me to quit before then, I’m calling my dad and having your ass fired,” Jared says.
Jensen snorts. “Yeah, go crying to daddy. Great way to show how adult you are.”
All right, that was unprofessional as hell, but the kid is really grinding on his last nerve.
“Fuck you,” Jared bites out again. Jared is so angry he's practically vibrating and Jensen wants nothing more to get under his skin the same way Jared has gotten under his.
“Not today, sweetheart. Not any day until you grow the hell up,” Jensen replies.
Jared turns around and stomps back to his room, slamming the door once again because of course he does. Jensen stands there in the suddenly quiet living room and thinks he seriously needs to reconsider his life choices.
One Week Later
Jared and Jensen ride in the car together in icy silence.
Jared has given Jensen the silent treatment for eight days now. Jensen never thought he’d miss his constant chatter or his annoying flirting, but, heaven help him, he does.
Jared has refused to move from his apartment or quit the play or take any reasonable steps to ensure his safety at all. Even Jared’s father failed to get Jared to listen to reason. So, Peter did what all rich people do—he threw more money at the problem. So now more of Chris’ security team are on the Jared-watch team, although Jensen is still the one with Jared all day every day. They have team members at the theatre, watching the apartment building, and positioned at Jared’s door.
They’ve not been able to find the kid who delivered the food with the note. And the note, as expected, contained nothing useful—no fingerprints, no DNA, nada. There’s been no more communication from the stalker, but Jensen feels like it’s just a matter of time.
The car stops in front of the theatre and Jared waits impassively as Jensen exits the car, checks the street and the sidewalk, and makes his way to Jared’s car door and opens it. Jared sweeps past him, pointedly ignoring Jensen. Jensen sighs and follows Jared to the backstage door. It’s going to be a long night.
It’s closing night, so everyone is on high alert because attacking Jared on closing night is exactly what some twisted mind might find poetic. Chris and Jensen believe that Jared’s stalker is probably an obsessed fan, almost assuredly a male loner in his twenties or early thirties, and the chances are good he’s attended at least one of Jared’s performances. There are members of Chris’ team posing as ushers, others are backstage, others are monitoring the entrances and exits. After tonight, most everyone will go back to headquarters in Texas as Jared has reluctantly promised to lay low—at least until it’s time to start publicity for his movie which comes out in two weeks and by then hopefully they’ll have caught this creep.
Jared might be giving Jensen the cold treatment, but he’s his normal high-voltage self backstage, stopping every few feet to hug someone or to ask them about their mother-son-boyfriend-whoever, or to retell the same lame joke a hundred times, laughing each time as if the joke is the funniest thing Jared has ever heard. Minutes tick by excruciatingly slowly as Jared finally puts on his makeup and his costume and takes his place in the wings, waiting for the performance to start.
If Jensen never sees another performance of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, he will still be tortured by its inane songs (which play at random in his head and get stuck there) forever. Jared is playing the lead. The ingenue, being that Jared is the poster child for the LGBTQ community right now, is being played by a young guy named Matt. Matt thinks he is more handsome than he is, he also has this irritating habit of standing too close to Jared, and of touching Jared’s shoulders or his waist when there is absolutely no reason he should be touching Jared at all.
Right now, they are both backstage and Matt’s hand is on the curve of Jared’s back and Jensen wants nothing more than to walk up to them and pry Matt’s hand off of Jared. He wants to put his own arm around Jared’s waist, wants everyone in the theatre to know—
Fuck. He needs to get a hold of himself. This is—this is the result of too little sleep and too much time spent in Jared’s company. Jared’s a kid, way too young for him, and plus Jared is his client.
Jared walks on stage and the audience goes wild clapping and cheering and Jared hasn’t spoken a word yet. Jensen doesn’t know shit about plays or acting, but he does know Jared is good at what he does and obviously the audience recognizes that as well.
Backstage is more crowded than it usually is and there’s a whole lot more people trying to get Jared’s attention every time he leaves the stage, so by the time of the last curtain call, Jensen’s whole body aches from being on high alert for so long and he’s got that damn song Been a Long Day stuck in his head on repeat which isn’t fucking helping matters.
All Jensen wants to do is to take Jared back to his apartment, secure the place, and maybe have a drink or two but of-freaking-course Jared has other ideas. First, there are endless hugs and even tears as the entire cast and crew hug each other not once or twice, but like fifty fucking times. Then Jared has to take off his makeup and his costume and then there are the fans waiting at the backdoor for Jared. By the time Jared signs the last playbill, Jensen’s patience is worn to a very thin thread.
Jared, who has been beaming at everyone he meets all night long, returns to his sullen self as he allows Jensen to steer him toward the car. Fine, whatever, Jared doesn’t have to like him, he just has to let Jensen do his job. And it’s not like Jensen misses Jared constantly flirting with him, it’s a relief not to have to deal with all that innuendo and inappropriate remarks and sly glances.
Jared slides into the backseat and Jensen slides in beside him. He sends a quick text to Chris updating him as he tells Mike they are ready to be driven back to Jared’s apartment.
“Oh yeah, no. We’re going to Matt’s house. Here is the address.” Jared shows his phone to Mike who nods.
“We are most definitely not going to Matt’s house,” Jensen interjects.
“You can go anywhere you want, but I’m going to Matt’s house. It’s the cast party and I’m not going to miss it.” Jared’s got that stubborn glint in his tonight-they-are-light-green eyes and there’s not a hint of a smile as he looks at Jensen.
Jensen really wishes he wasn’t so damn attracted to Jared. Because, even now, even when Jared is being so damn irritating, he just wants to reach over, grab Jared, and kiss him until Jared can’t remember any other name but his.
“You’ve already said goodbye to everyone. We weren’t told about this ahead of time, the house isn’t secure, and we haven’t vetted anyone who lives in the house. I can’t guarantee your safety, Jared.”
“I told you before, I’m not hiding out like some kind of frightened rabbit,“ Jared replies. “And Matt lives there, you’ve already vetted him. Everyone else that is going is cast or crew. And I’m going and nothing you can say can change my mind.”
“Cast and crew and their boyfriends and girlfriends and whoever they hire to serve food or tend the bar and god knows who else that might just let wander in,” Jensen snaps back. He’s already texting Chris and having some of Chris’ crew rerouted to Matt’s house. Of course, the party would be happening at Matt’s, by far the most irritating member of the cast.
Jared shrugs. “I really don’t know who is going to be there, but I’m still going.”
If they don’t find the creep who is sending Jared threats soon, Jensen is going to go completely out of his mind.
The party is as big of a nightmare as Jensen thought it would be. It’s a small house, crammed with way more people than worked on the play. The music, some kind of pop crap, is being played at ear-drum-piercing levels. People are drunk, loud, and handsy and everyone wants to talk to Jared—and to touch him—which is just annoying as fuck. Chris’ men are stationed outside, both in the front and the back of the house, and there’s no one that seems suspicious, but this many people and this much noise has Jensen feeling twitchy and really ready to grab Jared by any part of his body he can reach and drag him into the car and back to his apartment.
Jared’s been stopped by an older man Jensen doesn’t recognize but Jared seems happy to see by the way his whole face lights up as he pulls the man close. Jensen’s no more than five feet away from Jared, but the music and the people are so damn loud he can’t make out much of anything that they are saying to each other. He’s watching the way the guy is touching Jared’s wrist when someone bumps into him and suddenly the whole front of Jensen’s jacket is wet.
“Oops.” The woman giggles. “I didn’t see you there, honey. Well, aren’t you a cute one? I don’t remember seeing you in the play, what part did you play? Oh, I must have spilled my drink. I’ll just grab another and be right back. Can I get one for you too, sweetie?”
The woman doesn’t seem to realize her drink is all over Jensen’s jacket. He declines her offer of a drink. He turns back toward Jared—but Jared isn’t there.
Jensen looks over the heads of everyone in the room, but there’s no Jared. He goes into the kitchen, no Jared. He checks with Chris’ men who are standing outside, but Jared hasn’t left. He knocks on the bathroom door, and then sort-of-kind-of forces it open when no one responds a few seconds later, and finds two of the female cast members making out, but no Jared.
Mumbling his apologies, and feeling more than a little panicked—which, when is the last time he’s panicked over anything—what the fuck is wrong with him?—Jensen checks the two bedrooms. There are people in these rooms too, but no Jared.
Jensen goes back into the main room and pulls Matt off the couch unceremoniously. He ignores Matt’s muttered ‘hey’ and stands on the couch, searching the room. Jared isn’t anywhere.
He’s going to clip a fucking leash on the kid and make him wear it wherever they go.
He heads back to the kitchen, determined to make everyone head the fuck outside so he can search every nook and cranny in this house when he sees a door to the side of the refrigerator. He opens It, and between the shelves of canned vegetables and jars upon jars of peanut butter, there is Jared on his knees and the older man from earlier standing in front of him.
I bet you are so pretty on your knees…
“What the fuck is going on here?” Jensen growls.
The man startles and pulls up his pants as Jared stands and turns. There’s an impish grin on his face and an unmistakable bulge in his too-tight jeans.
“Well, I was just about to blow Jeffrey’s brains out through his dick before we were so rudely interrupted.”
Fuck this shit.
“We are leaving,” Jensen says, grabbing Jared’s arm and pulling him out of the pantry.
“Bye, Jeffrey,” Jared yells behind him. “I had fun!”
Whatever Jeffrey’s reply is, it’s lost to the crowd as Jensen pulls Jared out of the house and toward the car. Behind him, he can hear Jared laughing and Jensen wants nothing more than to bend the brat over his knee and turn his ass red and then bend Jared over any other surface he can find and shove his dick as far into Jared as it can go.
There’s a tiny rational part of Jensen that knows what he is thinking, what he is about to do, is wrong. He’s never been anything other than cool and logical on any other job he’s ever done, at least not since leaving the Secret Service. He's being unprofessional and this thing between him and Jared will never, can never, lead anywhere.
But then he’s got Jared in the car and Jared’s still laughing and his tongue is peeking out of his pretty lips and fuck this. Fuck everything.
Jensen grabs Jared and pulls him close and Jared goes willingly, eagerly. Jensen has no idea how it happened, but before Mike even starts the car he’s got a lapful of Jared, and his tongue is in Jared’s mouth and his hands are gripping Jared’s ass as tight as he can. He kisses Jared hard, his tongue plundering his mouth over and over until all traces of anyone else that Jared has ever kissed are gone and Jensen has laid claim to every inch of Jared’s mouth.
“Fucking finally,” Jared says between kisses.
Jensen, with what feels like superhuman effort, pulls Jared’s lips away from his, cupping Jared’s face with his hands. “I want to make sure you know you can say ‘stop’ and I’ll stop. I need to know I’m not taking advantage of you.”
“I want you to take advantage of me—no, not want, I need you to take advantage of me.” Jared wiggles, his ass pressing against Jensen’s hardening cock and causing both of them to groan at the same time. “I’m not a child and I know what I want, and what I want, what I’ve wanted since I met you, is for you to fuck me.”
Jensen pushes his hand inside Jared’s shirt, desperate to touch every inch of Jared’s skin, to lay claim to every part of Jared that anyone else has ever touched.
The way Jared surrenders to his touch has Jensen so hard that he's desperate for any kind of relief, but all he can do is let his hands roam and whisper dirty promises of everything he intends to do to Jared.
The car pulls up in front of the apartment and Jared climbs off of Jensen’s lap and out of the car before Jensen’s mind has a chance to catch up to what is happening. Jensen scurries out and quickly dismisses Mike for the night.
For the first time since Jensen has been guarding Jared, Jared doesn’t stop to talk to the doorman or anyone else. He grabs Jensen’s hand and practically drags Jensen through the lobby. They are alone in the elevator, but Jensen makes no move to kiss Jared, afraid that if he does he will lose all vestiges of control and fuck Jared against the steel walls of the elevator.
It’s never taken any elevator ever so long to reach the top floor. Jensen takes Jared’s key from him and opens the apartment door, doing the quickest sweep he’s ever done as Jared heads straight to the bedroom.
Jensen walks into the bedroom and stops in the doorway. Jared is already naked, on the bed, with two fingers crammed up his ass.
Jensen had thought that his cock was as hard as it could get before, but he was so wrong. His cock aches and his pants are so tight all his circulation is being cut off.
“Fuck,” Jensen breathes.
“That’s the plan. Now get naked and get your pretty ass over here.”
“I think we are a bit confused about who is in charge here,” Jensen says, slowly pulling off his still-damp jacket and draping it over a nearby chair.
Jared pulls his fingers out of his ass and pours more lube onto them, before sticking three of them into his hole. Jensen watches transfixed as Jared’s fingers disappear and his trapped cock jerks in anticipation of sinking into all that delicious heat.
Jensen unbuttons his shirt as he walks toward the bed, not missing the hungry look in Jared’s eyes as Jared tracks his movements. Jensen lets the shirt fall from his shoulders and reaches out and grabs Jared’s wrist, yanking Jared’s fingers from his ass. His hole is shiny, pink, and a bit puffy from Jared’s quick prep.
Jared looks up at him. “You don’t like the way I was fingering myself open for you?”
“I’m going to open you the rest of the way with my cock,” Jensen says. He leans over and kisses Jared and Jared just melts into the kiss and fuck, his kid is going to be the death of him. “Would you like that, sweetheart? Would you like me to force your hole open with my thick cock?”
Jared groans his approval and Jensen is through with foreplay. He unzips his pants and yanks them down, freeing his aching cock. He grabs Jared’s legs and manhandles Jared into the position he wants, Jared’s ass hanging over the bed, Jared’s long legs spread wide. He waits just a second for Jared to give any indication that this isn’t what he wants, instead, Jared gives an impatient whine and wiggles his ass closer to Jensen’s cock.
Jensen coats his cock with lube and grabs a hold of the base and presses it against Jared’s hole. Jared opens up for his cock, he’s tight but not too tight, in fact, he’s perfect—everything about him is perfect, from the gasps-moans Jared makes as Jensen sinks into him, to the way Jared’s heated skin is flushed-pink, to the way he’s looking at Jensen with those beautiful expressive eyes of his, to how his body welcomes Jensen, envelops Jensen’s cock in delicious heat.
Jensen knows this isn’t going to be a one-fuck thing, knows already that he’s lost a war he wasn’t even aware he was fighting.
He bottoms out with a groan and gives Jared a moment to adjust.
“You can move,” Jared says. “Fuck me like you mean it, Jensen. Fuck so hard I’ll be feeling it next week.”
“Oh, that’s exactly what I intend to do,” Jensen promises.
He thinks of all the times he had to watch someone else touch Jared, thinks of Jared on his knees for that man who didn’t deserve a second of Jared’s time, much less Jared’s mouth on him which is what would have happened if Jensen hadn’t found Jared in time. He thinks of all the smiles Jared gave away to other people and he is filled with such a desire to possess, to claim and to own, that he should be frightened of the intensity of his dark desires—but he’s not. He wants Jared to be his, he wants to mark Jared, he wants there to be no doubt as to who Jared belongs to.
He’s fucking into Jared harder than he intended to, quick rough thrusts that shake Jared, shakes the bed, but Jared takes it and demands more. Jared wraps those ridiculously long legs around Jensen and digs his heels into Jensen’s back and Jensen just—lets go. He pushes his cock as deep into Jared as it will go and then pulls it back out and slams it back in. Jared is a noisy fuck, more babbling than any actual words, but every moan, every curse, every demand just fuels Jensen’s need to fuck Jared rougher and deeper.
He pulls Jared off the bed, devouring Jared’s lips with his own, needing to swallow all of Jared’s moans and gasps. Like this, he can’t fuck Jared as hard, but he contents himself with deep thrusts as he grinds his cock into Jared’s sweet spot. Jared’s a sweaty babbling mess in Jensen’s arms and Jensen can feel his balls tighten, can feel his climax about to slam into him, and he has to get Jared off before he does. He needs to see Jared come. He needs to see Jared fall apart and know he’s the reason for it.
Jensen lets go of Jared and Jared flops onto the bed, his fingers grabbing for the blanket as he surrenders his body totally to Jensen. Jensen goes back to fucking Jared hard and fast as he grabs Jared’s cock and strokes him in time with his thrusts.
“Come for me,” Jensen demands. “Jared, come for me, now!”
Jared’s back arches off the bed and he does, his come spurting from his cock. Jensen topples over the edge at the same time. He lets go of Jared’s cock to grab his hips, digging his fingers in as his orgasm rushes through him, turning his vision white as his cock pulses come inside of Jared.
“If I knew you fucked like that…” Jensen is inordinately pleased by how wrecked Jared’s voice sounds. “I would have jumped you the first day I met you.”
“Same, sweetheart.” He’s still coming, can still feel his cock jerking inside of Jared. He wants to stay buried in Jared forever, wants to make the entire fucking world disappear and fuck Jared again and again and it won’t be enough, will never be enough.
Jared’s head is on the bed. His hair is a mess, his lips are kissed-swollen, his cheeks are as pink as cotton candy. He looks up at Jensen with half-lidded eyes. “It’s not just sex you know.”
Jensen wants to deny it, should deny it. Jared is his client, or at least his boss’s client. Jared is so young, he still has so much living to do. He’s not been hardened by life like Jensen has, has not seen the things Jensen has, hopefully, he never will.
Jensen isn’t right for Jared. Jared deserves better. He should push Jared away, but he knows he won’t. He won’t because he’s never felt this way about anyone ever, because he needs Jared way more than Jared needs him.
“I know,” Jensen says as he carefully pulls out. He leans over and kisses Jared, soft, sweet. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“Don’t bother,” Jared says, grabbing Jensen’s shoulders and pulling Jensen on top of him. “Because we’re just going to get dirty again very soon.”
Turns out Jared was right.
They spend the next eight days only getting out of bed to shower, eat, and for Jensen to bend Jared over the couch, the desk in the study Jared never uses, and the kitchen island. In between fucking and blow jobs and Jensen worshipping Jared’s ass in the way it deserves to be worshipped, they talk—a lot. They tell stories about their past, make stupid jokes, argue about sports teams, and talk about movies they’ve seen and books that they love.
It's been the best eight days of Jensen’s life and he wants to stay locked up in this apartment with Jared forever.
While Jensen is ‘guarding’ Jared, Chris’ team is still looking for Jared’s stalker, but there’s not been any movement on that front. In two days, Jared is due to spend a day in Los Angeles being interviewed by reporters in preparation for his movie, Love (Im)Possible, which opens this weekend.
“Sure you can’t just skip the whole thing?” Jensen asks, leaning over to wipe a dab of sour cream from Jared’s lips. They are eating tacos in the kitchen, neither one of them have bothered getting dressed, and Jensen is finding it hard to concentrate on eating when Jared is sitting so close to him, his long legs intertwined with Jensen’s.
“No, I can’t. The producers are counting on me, and I want the movie to do well. I mean, selfishly so I’ll get hired for other movies, but also so that young gay people can go to a movie and see actual representation up on the screen. Besides, from a security viewpoint, we’re golden. The studio will have its own security. I’m never going to leave the room; I just sit there and all the reporters come to me.”
Jared takes another bite of his taco. He always does things with such great enthusiasm—talk, fuck, eat. Jared’s got another dab of sour cream on his lips. Jensen leans over and kisses it away this time.
“You know I bet you were the sexiest Secret Service guy ever,” Jared says. “You never did tell me why you quit.”
So pretty…no one has to ever find out…
“I quit because I much rather guard pretty asses of pretty boys like you,” Jensen replies with a smirk.
“You are such a liar. You couldn’t stand me when we first met.” Jared steals one of Jensen’s tacos from his plate, Jensen lets him. He probably wasn’t going to eat it anyway. “C’mon, I’ve told you all my secrets, tell me yours. There has to be a story there or you would have told me the reason already.”
“You think you are so smart,” Jensen replies. He inches his fingers underneath Jared’s ass and grabs Jared’s ass cheeks just because he can and because Jared has a fine ass that looks even finer with Jensen’s fingerprints all over it.
“I know I am. Quit stalling and tell me,” Jared responds.
Jensen sighs. “Not much to tell. My supervisor made a pass, I rejected him, he made it his life’s ambition to make my life miserable. So, I quit.”
“That’s horrible,” Jared says. “That’s sexual harassment. You should have told someone.”
“It was just me and him in the room, and everyone thought he was straight as an arrow. I was the out and proud gay one, the only gay member of the Secret Service at the time. It would be my word against his and I knew who they would believe.” Jensen kisses Jared’s cheek. “You don’t have to look so sad. It’s okay, I’m okay, and I like the life I have now. Turner got his in the end anyway. They caught him with my replacement, and then a few other guys came forward and made accusations and he got fired.”
“Still, it never should have happened,” Jared says. “And I’m sorry it happened to you.”
Something twists in Jensen’s gut, something he has no desire to examine. He needs to change the subject and fast.
“If it hadn’t happened, I might have never started the path that led me to you,” Jensen responds. “And I would much rather talk about me and you.”
“Hmm. I suppose I could be persuaded to talk about me and you and all the fun things I still want to try that we haven't gotten to yet.” Jared kisses Jensen again and Jensen is more than ready to stop talking about the past and indulge himself in the present.
“And just what would these fun things entail?” Jensen asks, sliding a hand between Jared’s thighs. “Besides my cock and your ass that is.”
Jared's phone pings. “Hold that thought.”
Jensen sighs and sits up and finishes the last taco Jared left him as Jared takes a huge bite of his as he reads the message.
“Oh, I left some stuff at the theatre. They are sending someone over with it,” Jared says.
“What did you leave at the theatre?” Jensen asks. He’s instantly back on high alert. For eight glorious days, they’ve managed to ignore the world. But the person who wants to harm Jared is still out there, and that’s something Jensen can’t push to the back of his mind forever.
Jared shrugs. “Guess we are about to find out.”
Jensen sighs. “I’d better get dressed.”
Jared pouts. “Why? We’re almost finished eating and I’ve gone like thirty minutes without your cock shoved up my ass and that’s thirty minutes too long.”
“Because one of us has to meet the person from the theatre at the door, and it’s not going to be you.” Jensen leans over and kisses Jared again. “Finish eating, I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Fine,” Jared sighs. “But my ass is going to miss you.”
Jensen chuckles. “Not as much as I’m going to miss your ass.”
Jensen normally would not be caught dead wearing sweats on the job, but he’s in no mood to get dressed in his suit to basically play the role of a errand boy. He dresses in sweats; slips on the one pair of sneakers he has with him (both brought in case he had the urge to workout, but he figures he’s been getting enough exercise lately anyway).
He checks his messages as he goes down the elevator and reaches the door just as Frank the doorman is handed the box. Jensen takes the box from him. He recognizes the guy from the theatre as one of the stagehands from Jared’s play. He waves at him before returning back upstairs to Jared.
He hands Jared the box and goes into the spare bedroom to strip again, because Jared is naked, and Jensen has a fierce need to make up for the ten minutes of time they’ve lost by fucking Jared against the wall.
Jared is going through the box when Jensen returns to the living room. He’s already pulled out two shirts, a jacket, a belt, and a beanie. These things are followed by a playbook, a comb, and a wallet.
“Did you not take anything with you when you left Saturday night?” Jensen asks.
Jared shrugs. “Usually somebody takes care of things like that for me.”
“Spoiled rich kid,” Jensen replies teasingly.
Jared grins. “Not denying it. I think that’s everything.” Jared looks into the box and his face goes pale.
Jensen goes on full alert. He pushes Jared away from the box and looks into himself. On the bottom of a box is a white piece of paper with one word typed on it.
Soon
Two Days Later
Jensen paces the hallway outside of the studio’s dressing room, his phone pressed to his ear.
“We’ve got to find this fucker, Chris. He’s going to do something and it’s going to be anytime now, I can feel it.”
Chris sighs. “I agree, but we don’t have a lot to work with here, Jensen. No DNA, no fingerprints. We’ve talked to everyone at the theatre, no one saw anything or knows who could have left that note in the box. The guy who packed the box swears he knows nothing, and the note wasn’t there when he packed Jated’s stuff, and I believe him. But that box was sitting in a room for two days before someone remembered it. Anyone could have gotten to it. I called the police again this morning, they’ve still got nothing.”
“Shit,” Jensen says. He runs his free hand through his short hair and glances at the closed make-up room door again. “After this, I’m going to drag Jared’s ass somewhere safe, whether he likes it or not.”
“What’s going on here, Jensen?” Chris asks. “I know you take every job seriously, but I’ve never seen you like this.”
Jensen blows out a breath. “When this is over, I need to have a talk with you.”
He’s not going to tell Chris anything right now. If Chris knew Jensen was fucking Jared—if he knew that it wasn’t just fucking, that there was something more, much more, happening between Jared and Jensen—he would rightly decide that Jensen was too close to this case and pull him off of it. But Jensen doesn’t trust anyone else when it comes to Jared’s safety. It has to be him. He has to be the one to protect Jared.
“Okay,” Chris replies, drawing the word out enough that Jensen knows Chris suspects the truth. “Keep me updated, son.”
Jensen promises he will and hangs up the phone. A few moments later, Jared appears, ready for his first interview.
Jensen stands to the side of the cameraman and watches as Jared is interviewed by reporter after reporter. By the end of the day, Jensen has a brand-new respect for Jared. All the questions are basically the same—they all bring up Jared’s start as the winner of the reality show Star Finder, the three appearances he won on the hit musical teen TV series Showtunes, being a young gay icon, his movie role and what kissing his co-star was like. It’s like every reporter has a script and they rarely detour from it. But Jared answers every question thoughtfully, his smile never dims, his enthusiasm is contagious, his spirit shines through all the nonsense going on all around him.
Jensen is probably more relieved than Jared is when the last interview concludes. He wants to get Jared back to the hotel, get him naked, fucked, showered, fed in whatever order that happens to fall in.
Jared takes his hand as they walk down the hallway toward the exit door. They open the door to find a man standing there with a phone in his hand. Jensen frowns at the guy, but Jared’s smile never dims.
“Interviews are over,” Jensen says, trying to push past the man but the man is stronger than he looks and doesn’t budge. He looks like he’s about thirty pounds overweight, but at least some of those pounds must be muscle. “Seriously, buzz off. Jared is finished talking for the day.”
“I need just a moment of your time,” the man says. “I’m Simon Terrell, I’m with Omni News, it’s an online news magazine. I was scheduled to interview Jared today, but my mom was in a wreck and—”
“Oh no,” Jared says. “Is she doing all right? Is she in the hospital? Which hospital? Does she need anything?”
The man smiles, his smile looks as fake as the wig he’s got plastered on his head. “She’s fine. She’s back home and she’s resting. I want to get back to her, but my boss is waiting for me to submit our interview. I promise it will be quick—just a few questions. I just have to push record on the phone and I’m ready. I'm afraid I’ll lose my job if I don't get this interview.”
“No—” Jensen starts, but Jared puts his hand on his arm.
“It’s okay,” Jared says. “I don’t mind answering a few questions.”
“Thank you,” Simon states. He begins his interview as Jensen leans against the door they just walked out of and doesn’t even try to hide his scowl. “Jared, first of all, congratulations on your new movie.”
“Thank you,” Jared replies. “I’m looking forward to everyone seeing it. We’re very proud of the movie, and the people both in front and behind the camera are so talented and such good people. I consider them like family now.”
Jensen motions to Mike who is standing by the car in the parking lot behind the studio. Mike nods and gets into the car, pulling it toward them. This interview is going to be short and sweet, Jensen plans for Jared to be in the car within the next couple of minutes. Jared’s trying to hide it, but he’s exhausted, and he’s given enough of his time and energy to the publicity machine for this movie today.
“That’s wonderful,” Simon says, but he looks like he swallowed a lemon whole. Jensen straightens up. There is something wrong with this reporter. “Now, you got your start on Star Finder, can you tell us about that?”
“Sure,” Jared replies like he hasn’t talked about this twenty times today. “It was an incredible experience. And I was up against so many talented people, I think I was the most surprised of everyone when I won. I will always credit that show, and my appearances on Showtunes, for giving me my start.”
“It didn’t hurt that your daddy’s rich either, did it?” Simon mutters.
Jared’s smile dims. “What? I’m not sure—”
“Think you’re better than everyone, don’t you? I watched you on that reality show, you know. Wrote you letters, but you never bothered answering any of them. Every day, I go home to my mother, and I have to listen to her nag, and I have to beg and plead for every penny she gives me, and you’ve been given everything on a silver platter.”
“It’s Simon, right?” Jared asks. “Look, I can see why you are upset—"
There’s a flash of something and Jensen moves, shoving Jared toward the car as the gun fires. The bullet grazes Jensen’s shoulder. Jensen opens the car door and shoves Jared inside before pulling out his own gun and aiming it toward Simon.
Simon is pointing his gun at the car, at Jared, but Jensen can see his hand shaking from here. As Simon starts to pull the trigger, Jensen aims for his knee and shoots. Simon’s shot goes wild as Simon falls to the ground, screaming at the top of his lungs. His gun clatters to the ground and Jensen kicks it away as several security guards descend upon them.
Turning away from the man holding his knee and screeching like a banshee, Jensen goes back to the car and opens the door. “Are you okay?”
Jared’s face is pale as he nods. “You're bleeding.”
“It’s just a scratch, nothing for you to worry your pretty head about,” Jensen says, leaning over to kiss Jared.
“It’s over, isn’t it?” Jared asks. “Simon must be my stalker.”
“Yeah, I bet when the police search the basement he’s probably living in, there are going to be posters of you and clippings from every magazine article that’s ever been printed,” Jensen says. They had known a crazed fan was a possibility, but all the fan mail had been checked. They hadn’t thought to go back as far as Jared’s reality television days, which is a mistake that almost cost Jared his life. Jensen will kick himself later, but right now he can hear sirens in the distance and knows they are about to be swarmed by police. He just wants to take Jared home, take Jared somewhere safe, where he can hold Jared in his arms and breathe him in, but it’s probably going to be hours of giving statements and answering questions from the cops before he can do that. Jensen kisses Jared again.
“Don’t leave me, now this is over,” Jared whispers. “I still need you.”
“Never going to leave you,” Jensen replies. “You are stuck with me.”
The next few hours go by excruciatingly slowly. The ambulance comes and insists on looking at Jensen’s shoulder, but it is really no more than a scratch and Jensen forgoes a trip to the emergency room. By the time he’s through dealing with the emergency technicians, Jared’s been taken to the police station to give a formal statement and Simon has been driven away in another ambulance, accompanied by a couple of policemen.
Two more police officers are waiting for Jensen and they introduce themselves as Emily and Brandon. “I’m ready to give my statement,” Jensen says. “But I want to see Jared first, I need to make sure he’s okay.”
“There’s not a scratch on him,” Emily, who is a young blonde woman who doesn't look much older than Jared, says. “He’s fine.”
“Yeah, I’m not talking until I see him, so—” Jensen’s not budging on this, he needs to see Jared.
Brandon, a man in his fifties with balding gray hair, shrugd. “Whatever, we need to go to the station anyway.”
Jensen would rather go to the police station with Mike, but Mike and the car are gone—probably waiting for them at the police station so Jensen has no choice but to get in the back of the police car. He feels claustrophobic as soon as the door shuts. His skin feels itchy, and he feels unsettled, which he shouldn’t be feeling because obviously Simon is the stalker and now he’s caught and Jared is safe.
Jensen looks out the window, watching as buildings and businesses pass by in a blur. “How long until we reach the station?” Jensen asks. He pulls out his phone. There’s a few messages from Chris and other members of his team, congratulating Jensen on getting his guy, but nothing from Jared. Jensen fires off a text to Jared asking how things are going at the station before pocketing his phone again. He realizes that neither police officer answered his question. “Are we almost there?”
“Not quite,” Emily replies.
Jensen shifts uncomfortably in his seat and rubs at his neck. It’s so hot back here. He looks back out the window. They seem to be in a neighborhood now. There is much less traffic, and he can see children playing in yards and people walking their dogs.
His heart skips several beats. Something is wrong.
He pulls out his phone and calls Jared. The call goes straight to voicemail. His hand goes to the door, but he knows it is locked. He’s trapped here. And Jared is—he’s left Jared alone and something has gone terribly, horribly wrong.
He tries calling Jared again and the call goes back to voicemail.
“Stop the damn car,” Jensen says, forcing his voice to remain calm.
“You aren’t in the position of giving orders here, Jensen,” Brandon replies.
“Where’s Jared?” Jensen asks.
Jensen wants to scream. He’s still got his phone in his hand, he’s got to call Chris, tell him what’s happening, have him track Jared’s phone. The car jolts to a stop just as Jensen’s phone rings. He doesn’t recognize the number, but he answers it anyway.
“I bet you are wondering where your boy is, so I thought I’d call you and assure you he’s fine, at least for now. He does have pretty lips though, not as pretty as yours—but I bet the boys at his fancy-ass boarding school had a lot of fun with him. Maybe I can persuade him to give me a demonstration.”
Jensen recognizes the voice. It’s Turner, his old supervisor. The man who tried to coerce him into giving him a blow job.
“If you touch him, I promise you, it will be the last thing you ever do,” Jensen growls.
“If you want to join in on the fun, you’ve got thirty minutes to find him.” The phone goes dead.
The door opens and hands are grabbing him, yanking him out of the car. Jensen comes out fighting, slamming his phone against his attacker’s face and sweeping Brandon’s legs with one of his own, causing the older man to lose his balance. Jensen grabs the man by his shoulders, letting his phone fall to the ground, and swings Brandon around, pushing him against the car. “Where is Jared?”
There is the sound of a gun clicking and cold steel being placed against Jensen’s neck. “Back away slowly or I’ll blow your brains out,” Emily says.
Jensen lets Brandon go and backs off. He has to stay alive long enough to find Jared.
“Look, it’s me Turner wants, not Jared. Take me to him,” Jensen says.
“We were paid to leave you here and that’s what we are going to do,” Emily replies. Brandon stands up, looking shaky as hell, and scoots his way to the passenger door, eyeing Jensen as he does so. “We don’t know where your boy is and we don’t care. Knowing Turner though and how pissed he is at you—I’m betting when you find that kid, you are going to be picking up pieces of him for days.”
She smiles at him as she makes her way to the driver’s seat. Now Brandon has a gun pointed at him too. Jensen feels more helpless than he has ever felt as they pull away.
He bends down and picks up his phone. The phone is protected by a case and Jensen is relieved to see that it appears to be undamaged. Jensen calls Chris.
“Turner has Jared,” Jensen says. “I need you to find where Turner could have taken him. Have Osric trace Jared’s phone, though my guess is that Jared and his phone are in two separate places.”
“Turner? That’s a name I thought I’d never hear again,” Chris says. Jensen can hear Chris bark orders to someone, probably Osric, before coming back to the phone. “Why on earth would Turner take Jared? I thought Simon was the stalker.”
“I think he was, originally. But I think Turner found out I was involved in the case and decided to take his revenge. I’m betting at least one of the notes that Jared received in the last few days came from him.” Jensen begins walking down the sidewalk, his eyes searching all the houses.
There is a reason Turner had Jensen dumped here. He just has to figure out why and where Jared might be.
“His downfall wasn’t your fault. You wouldn’t even file a report against him, though I tried to talk you into it,” Chris says.
“I just want to find Jared. If Jared’s hurt—if he touches Jared in any way—” Jensen stops walking and closes his eyes. He can’t think this way. He has to keep calm. He has to think. Why did Turner have him dropped here specifically?
“Let me know if you find anything on Turner.”
Jensen hangs up the phone and does a Google search on what’s nearby to his current location. There’s a neighborhood store at the end of the block, but he dismisses that. He would have taken Jared somewhere secluded, somewhere abandoned…
Two teenage girls, walking hand in hand, are approaching Jensen. Jensen plasters on his best smile and walks up to them.
“Hey, this is going to sound weird, but I am wondering if there are any abandoned buildings nearby? Maybe houses that have been empty for a while? My boss is looking to buy some property near here,” Jensen says.
The girls look at each other. “The Millers’ house has been empty for a while, but I think someone bought it a few weeks ago. I don’t know of any other houses, do you, Milly?”
“There’s the old high school. It’s going to be demolished next week. But I don’t know if the property is for sale or not. The county owns it, or the city does. Not sure how that works,” the other girl says. “It’s not really even in this neighborhood, it’s a good twenty-minute walk from here, so it’s probably not what you are after away.”
School. Turner had mentioned Jared and school and there’s no way that’s a coincidence. Jensen gets directions to the school and quickly thanks the girls. He thinks about calling the police, but obviously, there are several police officers—or people pretending to be police officers—in Turner’s back pocket. He decides not to risk it.
Besides, this is his fight. He is the reason Jared is in trouble. This is his mess to fix.
Jensen takes off at a run. He has to find Jared before it’s too late. He ignores the voice in his head that says it may be already too late.
He finds the school just as the girls described it. It’s clearly abandoned and several of the windows are broken, so getting inside won’t be any problem. It’s a big building with who knows how many rooms. Finding Jared won’t be easy.
Jensen pulls out his gun and looks around, making sure no one is around to see him, before slipping into one of the windows. His feet crunch on glass as his boots hit the floor.
The high school is quiet, eerily so.
He’s not the first one to break into the school, judging by the sheer amount of graffiti on the walls. There’s a few pieces of broken furniture scattered around, and he finds a blanket spread out on the floor in one of the rooms, probably left by teenagers looking for a place to be alone.
He walks as quietly as he can, but he feels like his heart is beating so loudly that surely Turner has to hear him. He looks into one room after another room, almost all of them show signs that someone has been in them recently, but none show signs of Jared or Turner.
Shit, this is taking too long. And what if he guessed wrong, what if Jared isn’t here after all? What if he’s wasting his time and Jared—Jared could be—
Jensen forces the thoughts away. He has to concentrate. He has to trust his instincts.
He stops walking. Checking each classroom is just wasting time. He has to think. Where in the school would Turner take Jared?
He turns around slowly in the hallway. The principal’s office, other administrative offices, the empty classrooms, all the rooms upstairs. Maybe there’s a basement…
Jensen walks toward the stairs when he sees it. Written across the glass on one of the doors. Janitor’s closet.
Turner’s words from years ago echo in his head. Bet you spent a lot of your high-school days in the janitor’s closet…
Jensen grips his gun tighter in one hand and walks toward the janitor’s door. He looks up and down the hallway.
His phone buzzes. He thinks about ignoring it, but he pulls it out of his pocket, his eyes glued to the door. It’s quiet. Too quiet.
He looks at the text on his phone.
Time’s up.
Jared’s scream fills the hallway, echoes in Jensen’s ears, causing the blood in his body to turn to ice. Jensen turns the doorknob to the closet, it’s locked. Jared screams again, his screams are coming from the closet. Jensen takes a few steps back and kicks the door, the sound of his boot hitting the door so loud it almost hurts his ears. The door flies open.
Jared is kneeling on the floor. His face is covered in blood. Standing over him with a knife is Turner. The knife is at Jared’s throat. Jensen aims his gun.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Turner says calmly. “I’ll slit his throat before the bullet flies from your gun.”
Turner digs the knife into Jared’s throat and blood begins to pool. Now that Jensen can focus, he can see that blood is flowing from a cut on Jared’s cheek and from one on his forehead.
“I’m going to kill you,” Jensen says.
“Not if I kill you first, you son of a bitch.” Turner’s face is contorted with rage, but Jensen’s focus is on the knife in his hand.
Jared's eyes widen and that’s all the warning Jensen needs. Jensen spins around and knocks the gun out of Emily’s hand with his gun, the shot she fires goes wild and Jensen grabs Emily by the hair and forces her in front of him. “Let him go or she dies,” Jensen says. He loosens the grip on Emily’s hair, but keeps his arm around her shoulder, pointing the gun at her neck.
“What do I care about the hired help?” Turner asks. “You should know better than that, Jensen.”
“You don’t think I remember you had a daughter?” Jensen asks. “She was blonde as I recall. Her picture was on your desk the day you tried to get me to suck your dick.”
“Daddy, he’s not worth it,” Emily says. “Neither of them are. Let’s just get out of here. Brandon’s waiting with the car, we can just go.”
Jensen begins inching Emily forward. He needs to get to Jared.
“Not until I get what I came for. He ruined my life. He turned me into a laughingstock. I’m going to kill his pretty little boy toy and then I’m going to gut him.”
Jensen has walked Emily close enough to Jared that she’s almost touching him. He just has to figure out how to grab Jared without Turner hurting him any further.
Jensen watches the knife sink a little bit deeper into Jared’s skin, deep enough to turn the trickle of blood into a flow of blood and Jensen is through playing whatever sick game this is. Jensen pushes Emily so hard that she stumbles over Jared. The knife clatters to the floor as Turner yanks Emily toward him. Jensen grabs Jared’s arm and tugs. Turner pulls out a gun from somewhere behind him as Emily takes cover behind Turner.
Jensen pushes Jared to the ground as the two guns go off at the same time. There is a moment of silence and then Emily screams as Turner crashes to the floor, blood streaming from the hole in his chest.
Jensen pulls Jared to his feet and checks him frantically. He’s still bleeding from the cuts on his forehead, cheek, and neck but none of them seem to be too deep and there’s no gunshot wound and it’s over now and Jared is safe. Jared is safe. Jensen wraps his arms around Jared and Jared collapses into Jensen’s arms. “I’ve got you,” Jensen says to him. “I’ve got you and I swear I’m never letting you go.”
Two Weeks Later
Jensen puts the report on Chris’ desk. “That’s everything I think.”
From what Jensen has been able to piece together, Turner has been tracking Jensen’s activities for years, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When Jensen was assigned to watch Jared, Turner decided the time was right. He somehow was able to ferret out who Jared’s stalker was, he had always been good at his job. He bought Simon’s airplane ticket and even provided him with a gun.
It turned out that Emily and Brandon had stolen a police officer’s car after purchasing their police uniforms from a costume shop. The cops who took Jared to Turner turned out to be on Turner’s payroll and are currently awaiting trial, along with Brandon and Emily. Turner’s death has been ruled as a justifiable homicide, the decision made in record time due to the fancy lawyer hired by Jared’s father. Simon is currently being held in a psychiatric ward and being evaluated as to whether or not he’s fit for trial.
“How’s Jared doing?” Chris asks as he skims the report.
Jared had required a few stitches, which of course had been taken care of by a highly skilled plastic surgeon. The wounds by Turner’s knife won’t leave a scar, it’s the other wounds that Jensen is worried about, the ones that cause Jared to wake up in the middle of the night breathing hard and covered in sweat.
Jared is seeing a trauma therapist and, reluctantly, Jensen has agreed to see her as well. Jensen has wounds of his own, wounds he’s been carrying with him for too long now. He wants to be well and whole so he can be the partner Jared deserves.
“He’s doing good, considering. Plus, his movie is number one at the box office and his agent’s phone is ringing off the hook with producers wanting Jared to look over their scripts. And I’ve talked him into buying a house in a gated community with a shit-ton of security, so things are looking up.”
Chris leans back in his seat, his grin wide. “You love him.”
Jensen can feel his cheeks warming. “I wouldn’t say—”
“You love him. And I couldn’t be happier for you. Go on, get out of here. Enjoy your vacation, you have earned it.”
Jensen doesn’t have to be told twice. He says his goodbyes to Chris and the other members of the team that are hanging around the office and practically runs down the stairs to the car that is waiting for him there.
Jared is leaning against the car, his long lean body a feast for Jensen’s hungry eyes. “Vacation time?” Jared asks.
He’s smiling, his dimples are popping, and it’s a beautiful day. They have no firm plans, but Jensen has a month off work, so they have plenty of time to figure out where they want to go and what they want to do.
If they decide to go anywhere at all that is. Jensen’s apartment is close by, and Jensen would really like to introduce Jared to his bed. And his shower. And the breakfast nook, which is low enough to bend Jared over at just the right angle…
Jared grabs Jensen and pulls him into a kiss that scorches hotter than the noonday sun. Jensen snags the car keys from Jared and smacks him on the ass.
“Hey, it’s my car, I should drive,” Jared says, with a pretty little pout on his pretty little mouth. Jensen kisses it away.
“We could argue about which one of us is driving. Or I could drive, and we could be naked in 2.5 minutes from now. Your choice.”
Jared grins. “Baby, you can drive my car,” he sings as he kisses Jensen one more time before sashaying his perky little ass to the passenger’s side of the car. “Yes, I'm gonna be a star. Baby, you can drive my car. And maybe I'll love you.” He blows Jensen a kiss over the car’s hood before getting into the car.
Jensen is still laughing as he gets into the driver’s side. Jesen can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and tomorrow and all the tomorrows with this beautiful man by his side, his to love and to protect and to cherish.
Jensen is one lucky man.