Bang and Burn ~ Dreamnotfound + Skephalo

Chapter 38

Clay walked into the gym to find George firing bullets into a target. When he finished off the magazine, he took off his protective glasses and looked at the target with a frown. He mumbled a swear as he loaded a new magazine into his gun to try again.

"What are you doing?" Clay asked.

"Trying to fix my aim." George fired off a few more shots, none of which hit their mark. "I need to get this down by tomorrow. How did things go with Dylan's mum?"

"Surprisingly well! They talked for a little bit and she accepted him as an agent."

"Oh, awesome. She has the communicator now, right?"

"Yeah. Zak just left to meet up with her." His smile dropped slightly. "The poor guy is going through a tough time right now, so he probably needed this."

George nodded as he took aim again to continue firing. "Is Dylan healing okay?"

"Mmhm. He'll have some scars, but it looks like he'll be just fine. I don't know how he made it out of there alive. He's one lucky kid." Clay watched as George fired a few rounds into the target, none of them landing on the large red bullseye. "George, your aim isn't going to be improved overnight. You know that, right?"

"I still need to try."

Clay walked over to him and pushed the gun down. "No, you need to rest up and stay relaxed. Stressing yourself out over this won't help anyone."

George put the gun on the table beside him and sighed as he took the glasses off. "I'm awful at aiming, Clay! I don't know how you do it!"

"It took a ton of practice," Clay said as he lifted the gun up. "I think you need a break from training."

George reached for the gun, but Clay held it over his head, just high enough to keep it out of George's reach. "Clay, please let me do this. If I'm going to continue being an agent after tomorrow, I need to do this."

Clay's expression softened. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your future with the company." He sat the gun on the table, but didn't take his hand off of it to keep George from grabbing it. "I want you to quit."

"What?"

"I want you to quit your job here, George. I'll help you find a new job. Hell, you could even work for me if you wanted! But you can't work here anymore."

George surprisingly felt saddened. "What did I do wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing," Clay admitted. "It's what you did right that scares me. You're a honeytrap, so it's your job to go out and get people to fall for you. It worked with me and it worked with Illumina and it'll work with others down the line because you are an irresistible person. Even when I wanted to hate you for tricking me, I couldn't." He put his hands onto the table and dropped his head, letting his hair fall into his face. "George, I want to make a relationship work between us, but I'm not sure I can if I just watch you flirt with people every fucking day."

"You want a relationship with me?"

"No, George, I just want to fuck around with you," Clay stated sarcastically. "Of course I want a relationship with you! You're amazing and wonderful and caring and I don't know how you do it. I literally love everything about you! Like, I love how you're just constantly giggling and smiling and how even when someone reaches their lowest point, you still show you care. You're so strong and confident with who you are that you don't need constant protection from other people." George didn't interrupt Clay as he spoke. He had no words to express how overwhelmingly happy he felt. "Oh, and you're smart too! Don't even get me started on that. With the proper training, you'd probably be one of the smartest tech people here! You're perfect in every way possible." Clay sighed. "So, when I have to sit there and watch you flirt with the enemy, it stings. And on top of that, what if you got hurt? I'd never be able to forgive myself if you were attacked the way Dylan was. I love you too much to allow that to happen."