Free Web NovelChapter 502: Off the Record
If it were just Clara, Lane would have ignored it, pretending not to be home. Damien was at work, and Lane technically had his own place upstairs (even if he rarely went there for more than a few minutes), so it would have been perfectly understandable for him not to be there. Whatever Clara had come for, she would have had to wait for her brother or come back later.
But with Samantha, things were different. They got along just fine. While Lane wouldn’t exactly say that they were close, they had a cordial relationship as future in-laws, not to mention she was Lane’s designated Guide at the Association. With that in mind, Lane didn’t want to waste her time, as annoying as it was.
"Hi. Damien’s not here," he said through the intercom.
"I know," Clara snapped, already impatient from the whole four minutes she had to wait at the door. "We’re here for you."
"...For me?" Lane wasn’t sure if he was more surprised or appalled. "What do you want?" fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"This..." Clara glanced around. There was no one in the hallway but them - because of course there wasn’t, Damien’s apartment was the only one there - but there was a security camera pointed at them, which made her hesitate. "Let’s talk inside."
"...Do we really have to?"
"Trust me, I don’t want to be here either," Clara clicked her tongue. "But Damien asked us to. Didn’t he text you?"
Perhaps he had. Lane hadn’t had the time to check his phone, not his ’official’ one. He glanced in the direction of the living room, but in the end, he just opened the door without verifying it. Clara had no reason to lie, so if she said that they were sent by Damien, that must have been so. The only question was...
"What for?"
Was Damien suspicious of Lane? He obviously were, at least a little bit. Then, could it be that he had sent his sisters to check on Lane, to see what he was up to...? Lane crinkled his brows, trying to analyze the situation, and figure out how to deal with it.
Meanwhile, Clara already pushed her way into the entryway in silence. She waited until the door closed behind Samantha before answering, "Apparently, you’re in need of guiding?"
"Hmm?" Lane tilted his head, confused for a moment. "...Ah."
That was right. He had used his abilities the night before, fighting and then plundering the monsters’ abilities. Of course, it was not to the point where he would actually be in need of urgent guiding... But staying on top of it and making sure that one’s wavelengths were stable was a good thing, especially in such uneasy times. In the past, Lane himself had scolded Damien for not taking care of himself properly in that aspect, so he really had no excuse to refuse.
Still...
"As far as I’m aware, you’re an Esper, not a Guide," he pointed out to Clara, who had made her way to the living room, and was scrunching her nose at the empty cans and cookie boxes littering the coffee table and the floor. "So, what are you here for?"
"To accompany Sammy, of course," she scoffed in response. "Did you think that I would leave you alone with her? It’s already bad enough that she has to give you guiding off the record..."
Lane was just about to protest, arguing that he had plenty of private sessions with Samantha before, not to mention, she was his boyfriend’s little sister, so naturally, she would have been perfectly fine and safe with him, but Clara’s last words made him stop in his tracks.
"...Off the record?"
Clara shot him a dark glare. "You’re going to claim you didn’t know about it as well?"
"...I didn’t." frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Although, it made sense, now that he thought about it. According to the report he had given the night before, he hadn’t used any abilities during the fight in the cage, he just slashed the monsters with his daggers. In the first place, his ’official’ ability was ’air manipulation’, so it would have been pretty useless underwater. With that in mind, there shouldn’t be any need for him to seek guiding, and if he had, it would have been a bit suspicious. It was just that Lane hadn’t considered it before.
But despite his seemingly honest denial, Clara was still unconvinced. "So, what then? Did Damien come up with it? Even when it’s..."
Illegal. Clara didn’t say it out loud, but everyone in the room knew that providing guiding sessions off the record was illegal. It was more so to control Espers rather than Guides, so even if caught, Samantha wouldn’t face any heavy punishments, but still. For Lane, that was nothing new, but for the stickler-for-the-rules that Damien was, to suggest something like that on his own...
Lane let out a chuckle. It made Clara’s temper flare up even more, but he didn’t care.
He couldn’t help it. It was quite funny, but also exciting. As much as he liked Damien the way he was, it was also exhilarating to see how much the man had been influenced by him. The prim and proper Damien tainted by Lane’s colors...
"Ahem," he cleared his throat, trying to push the thoughts aside. Thinking about it made him want to throw Damien on the bed and go down on him, but the man in question wasn’t even there! Meanwhile, his sisters were in front of him, staring at him expectantly (or, Samantha was. Clara was glaring at him as if she wanted to murder him then and there, but that was nothing particularly new), waiting for the guiding session.
"Shall we start?" he smiled at Samantha. "Or, do you want something to drink first?"
Samantha glanced at her sister, before looking back at Lane. "Thank you, I’m good. Let’s just start."
While she wasn’t uncomfortable with Lane, she certainly was with the situation. The atmosphere between Clara and Lane had always been tense, but when she was the only one to diffuse it, it felt so much more suffocating, and they didn’t know when Damien would be back. It was best to get straight to business, so that Clara and Lane wouldn’t have any more time to talk (meaning: argue).
"Alright then. It shouldn’t be much," Lane nodded, and plopped down on the couch, gesturing at Samantha to take a seat next to him.
And so she did, softly taking his hand, while Clara pushed the cans aside and sat down on the coffee table, so that she could watch them from a close distance. Too close for comfort for both Lane and Samantha, but for a change, Lane let it go.
Just this time, since they were doing something illegal, so her attitude was a bit more understandable.
