Sold

Kirk lifted an eyebrow at Adison’s suggestion. He’d kind of wanted to just go home and hit the hay early, but… How could he say no to eyes like that? And yet, how could he say yes and risk his own awkward self getting in the way? It just seemed to be harder and harder lately to keep his thoughts about Adison to himself, and she wasn’t helping any. 

“That sounds like a great idea.” Really? He inwardly rolled his eyes at himself. “I get to pick the pizza toppings…and you pick the movie.” It was usually a tradeoff one way or the other, and since both had similar tastes in food and movies, they both always ended up perfectly content…


…It was dark in the apartment, except for the television that played the action movie. The volume was turned up nice and loud, even putting Kirk on edge a few times, despite the fact that they’d both seen this one multiple times.

Sitting on one end of the couch, with Adison on the other and the pizza box between them, he took another bite of his slice, savoring the greasy cheese. Until a topping fell on the floor. But he couldn’t see it in the dark. “Oops…” He glanced over at her. “You didn’t see that, did you?”


Garret slid off the bed and stood as Nate came in, accepting one of the mugs of coffee. That actually sounded good this morning. “I’m okay,” he responded with a shrug. “On the mend, I think.” What was going to happen when he was completely over the flu? He didn’t want to admit it, but the thought of going back to the room at the Elite wasn’t all that appealing. It was what it was, though.

Sighing a little, he took a sip of coffee, then nodded to the door. “I’ll come with you. Ready when you are…”


...Garret was not happy to have been brought into the interrogation room. Again. He'd hardly been in the office ten minutes when Reese had told him to get in here for a new session. He was told it was just routine. Protocol. His evaluations weren't finished yet. And he wondered if they ever would be. He was too tired to fight it though. Remnants of the flu were still hanging on, and he didn't have enough energy to argue with Reese about this apparent necessity.

What he didn't know was that he was being watched again from the next room over. Reese wanted to see if there was any change, and he'd also asked Nate to join him so they both could observe.

Justin came into the room and shut the door, taking up his usual seat and setting his backpack down after retrieving his usual notepad. He wasn't happy to be in here. He'd just spent twenty minutes arguing with Reese about him quitting his work around here, but had been pressured into one more session with Garret. He'd told Reese this was it, though. "Garret."

Garret quirked an eyebrow. Something felt off. "Justin. Back for more pointless conversation, I see."

"Nope." Justin sighed. "Never pointless. But don't worry. You won't have to deal with me anymore after this."

Garret cocked his head. "Reese lightening up?"

"No. He'll probably have someone like Hope continue the evaluations. I'm pulling out." He jotted down a note. "So, how-"

"Wait. Pulling out? This have to do with your girlfriend's sister?"

Justin bristled. "Let's talk about you, not me."

Garret shook his head and frowned. "They got to you, didn't they? You're quitting because of the Agency."

"Garret, enough," Justin warned sternly. "I'm not here for your opinion on my personal matters."

"It's not personal." Garret sat back and scoffed. "It has to do with everything and everyone. You just let the Agency win, and you think they're gonna quit now? You think walking away is gonna take that target off your back?"

"And why in the world would you even care? Hmm?"

Garret shrugged. "I guess I really don't. I just figured you wrong, that's all."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you had more guts."

"Guts has nothing to do with it!" Justin's hand came slamming down on the table as his emotions erupted. He felt guilty enough the way it was without Garret's jabs. "I'm protecting those I love!"

Garret rocked back in his chair a little, not having expected the outburst. "You're not protecting anybody by letting the Agency win. They'll attack you if they want to, whether you're still here or not. You got involved, and that-"

"Enough!" Justin raised his voice. "You, of all people, have no right to judge how I handle the Agency."

Garret's eyebrows came down as his eyes narrowed. "Are you comparing your story to mine, or are you insinuating I'm still involved with the Agency?"

Justin tossed his pen aside, tired of this worthless banter. "Take it however you want. I'm tired of trying to help someone who doesn't want to be helped. Since you got here, all you do is insist on throwing your weight around, getting your own way, and thinking you're smarter than everyone else. Reese thinks I can get through to you, but he's never been more wrong."

As Justin's temper rose, Garret's automatically matched. "Then why am I wasting my time sitting here? Go. Quit. Live in blissful ignorance until the Agency attacks again. Then you'll just be right back here, but instead of trying to help me, you'll be asking for my help."

"Why should I ask you for help?" Justin grabbed his notepad and pen and stuffed them back in his bag. "You're nothing but a walking time bomb with the insides of a coward."

Garret stood quickly, the chair scraping the floor. His expression had turned into a glare. "You better have an awfully good reason for calling me a coward."

Too worked up to be sensible, Justin stood to face him, equally angry. "What? Like you don't already know? How many times have we sat here with you refusing to talk to me, huh? You're so scared of the past, you can't even look at it, let alone face it and deal with it."

"My past is none of your business! I'm here because of the present and that's all I care about!"

"And that's your problem!" Justin threw his hands up in the air. "You walk around all high and mighty because you can tear a guy's head off in the blink of an eye. But in reality, you're not even in control of your own life. You may have walked away from the Agency. You may have decided to defect. You may have taken your own path and defied the system. Well, good for you." He clapped mockingly. "But all that isn't worth squat because in reality, you've got the biggest daddy issues of anyone I know, and you're too weak to admit it."

Garret's eyes darkened and he straightened, his hands becoming fists at his sides. "Don't go there." His voice had turned to ice.

"Why not?" Justin wasn't done yet. He'd never been able to figure out what Garret's real problem was about the past, but now he'd latched on to the fear in his eyes and wasn't going to let go. "Still scared, huh? You can't face some little issue in your past. What happened, huh? Your daddy yell too much at you when you were a kid? Was he Agency too? Maybe that's why you hate them so much."

"Shut up!" Garret barked. "You have no right."

"No right for what? Words getting to you, tough guy? Maybe it wasn't your daddy at all. Maybe it was your mommy. What's got you so scared, Garret? All I see is a coward who can't handle the truth."

"I'm not a coward!" Garret could feel his pulse racing and his head getting hot. Memories of that fateful day as a child flashed through his mind, bringing on the same severe pain he'd tried to get rid of all these years.

"Then prove it!" Justin shouted. "Or are you even man enough?"

“You will never understand the things I’ve been through,” Garret hissed. “Just because I don’t want to tell an arrogant jerk like you about it does not make me a coward!”

“So prove it!” Justin repeated. “Go on! Tell me what poor little Garret must have gone through to make him such a mean, nasty assassin.”

“No!”

“See?! You can’t handle it!”

“I can handle anything I want!”

“Can’t prove it by me!”

“I don’t have to!”

“You won’t ever make it out here in this world until you man up and face your past.” Justin’s face was just inches from Garret’s. “Until then, I have to assume you were just a spoiled brat who didn’t get his way and so he found the Agency where he could act out.”


On the other side of the two-way mirror, Reese gave Nate a leery glance. What was Justin doing? This was not his normal style, and he looked just about as worked up as Garret. Should they interfere or just let it go? He opted to let it go for now. He trusted Justin.


Garret didn’t know if his head hurt because he’d been sick or because his blood pressure was just that high. “I didn’t choose the Agency!”

“You said you weren’t born there! Was that a lie or was this a lie? Make up your mind, Garret!”

“I didn’t choose them!” Garret repeated loudly.

“Then how did you end up there?! Fairies didn’t drop you off!”

“My parents sold me to the Agency!” As soon as the shouted words left Garret’s mouth, the very truth of them hit him harder than they ever had before. Saying it out loud…actually uttering those words…it was very different than simply thinking them over in his mind. And it hurt. It hurt more deeply than the matter ever had before. And that hurt quickly fanned the flames of his anger. “I was five years old!” He grabbed Justin’s collar and slammed him back up against the wall. “I wasn’t supposed to remember!” he yelled. Tears glistened in his reddening eyes, but he had too much determination to let them actually fall. “But I do! I remember every single moment of my mother begging those men for the money and my father gladly walking away. The abandoned me because the price was right!”

Justin tried to pull Garret’s hands away, but it was no use. Had he been using his head, he never would have taunted him like he had. He’d known there was pain there, but he’d poked and prodded anyway, and now the truth was out – and it was harsher than Justin had imagined. But he was still upset. “Let me go,” he ordered. “Just because your parents did that does not give you the right to shove me around now!”


Reese, though shocked by what he’d just learned, did not like the look in Garret’s eye. This had gone too far, and it was obvious that Justin was not in control of the situation. “Let’s go,” he told Nate with just a bit of fear. “Get Justin out of there before Garret kills him.”


“You may not be responsible for what happened,” Garret hissed, shifting so his forearm now pressed into Justin’s throat to cut his air off. “But you like causing just as much damage as my parents do, and for that, you deserve what you get.”