ames could see very quickly that this was probably a loosing argument. The two brothers kind of just ignored him. He had no doubt that would be what they'd continue to do if he kept insisting they leave him alone. Great. Trust his mother to pick out the only honorable people in the world. They probably would even take his money to go away. James mentally swore. He didn't need to be watched over. He could handle himself. He didn't need a babysitter. He was twenty seven for crying out loud. 

[b]And you'll be at his place by midnight.[/b]

James blinked. "Wait." James said when the blonde stood up and left, but he either didn't hear or ignored him because the door closed. Then rainbow teen word vomited again. James however was still stuck on the earlier statement.

"Wait, wait wait." The former-Sergeant held up a hand to stop the teen if only for a moment. "Just stop for a second." 

James took a deep breath. "Who's going where at midnight?" This was all too new. He wasn't used to dealing with this. Getting shot at he could handle, getting ordered around he could handle to an extent. This? This was so far out left field the umpire would have called it out yesterday. 

~~

“Harper,” Venti said in confusion. “He'll be at your place at midnight, or wherever you are with Amel. Amel will coordinate the change, because we can't do our jobs if we're not close enough to know where you are and if you're okay. That kind of thing. It's a bodyguard deal,” he brushed his hand over his short hair and grinned at the private investigator. 

Venti pulled one leg up until his knee was under his chin, then he grinned at James. “It'll take about three or four days to get used to it. Don't worry. We're used to the whole process. You'll be frustrated, then you'll get annoyed or pissed off. So long as you don't get all teary and start begging us for some private time. That gets weird. We don't get paid to judge your housekeeping skills or who you sleep with. We're just paid to stay close enough that if we're needed to protect you, we can. Make sense?” He tilted his head and looked the other man over. 

“And if I can help while we're at it, I will. I mean, just 'cause I'm here and watching over you, doesn't mean I have to be all loomy. Amel is the loomy one. You'll see.” 

~~

James found himself relaxing as rainbow teen, God he needed a shorter nickname, allowed that he'd be at home. Which was good because he heard it that he had to be somewhere else, basically where they wanted, at midnight. If that was going to be the case, James was going to have to pitch a fit. Which thankfully wasn't going to have to occur because it wouldn't have been pretty. James shifted a little as his leg started twinging again. 

Thanks to rainbow teen, James was beginning to become slightly apprehensive about Amel. However he shrugged it off with his military training. No sense in worrying about what he couldn't change. If the past hour was any indication, he wasn't going to change any of their minds, even if he did throw a fit. Though, that just might make things worse for him. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. When the teen mentioned sex he sighed even more.

"Alright kid, just stop. Stop. You're giving me a headache and I do not need one right now." James dropped his hand a graced rainbow teen with a look that said he had no problem shutting him up physically. He was too peppy and too talkative for a sour mood that James was in. If only he rewind time for a while. While the morning hadn't been the greatest, at least then he didn't have a bunch of bodyguards.

"God." James dropped his head into his hands. He needed to get back to the case. Unfortunately he couldn't do that since his leg still hurt to walk long distances. And his only leads were that someone shot at him, which meant the follow up would involve a lot of walking, but if slouched around for too long, the leads would vanish. He groaned, reached over and grabbed his crutches and wobbled to his feet. 

"Are you going to come?" James asked rainbow teen. He needed to find out more about Avery Higgins. He had already wasted two days and sitting looking over the case file obviously wasn't helping. 

~~

Either unaware, or perfectly comfortable with his impact on people (and considering the state of duct tape and how quickly it's gone through at their offices, one would think it was comfortable) Venti nodded and stood, brushing his hands down his tattered jeans. He looked everything not like a bodyguard, being small, skinny, and very, very adolescent. The only tells were the slick way he could transfer from one state to another, from sitting to standing, standing to crouching, crouching to hanging from a ceiling (though rarely was there someone around to see that) and the usual sweeping glances when entering a room, as if casing the place for hostiles, exits, entrances, and defensible spots. Common tells for those comfortable with covert ops and growing up as well as surviving on the streets. 

“Wherever you go, I go also, boss!” Venti chirped and gave a mock salute with a cocky grin, then went to open the door. “You wanna explain or should I just keep quiet?” He'd cased the other side of the door with a quick, no-nonsense look even as he dug in his pocket and drew out a small, yellow, medicinal bottle. He thumbed the top and then palmed a pill from it, replacing the bottle without once looking at it. 

As they stepped out, he turned and held out his hand. “Advil,” he said. “Swear it's not prescription, but the Advil bottles are a bitch to open when you need them. This is one of the adult only caps.” He nodded down at the leg. “It's probably swelling up and I didn't see any over-the-counter pills out on the desk and Advil shouldn't, yanno, get in the way of whatever you're taking. I think?” He almost went on about how he popped Advil whenever he got shot, but the look Mr. Parks had had earlier was looking more dour by the second and in lieu of having to dodge a fist to the back of his head, he chose silence. 

~~

James watched the kid spring from the chair. No, spring wasn't the right word. More like teleported. One second he was sitting, then he was standing. The action had James reevaluating the motor mouth teen. It also had the older man wondering what had happened to the Daela family so it could produce a teen like rainbow hair. But he didn't have much time to muse on that because the teen was already on the next action. The kid was quick enough and annoying enough that James decided that he was going to get grey hair trying to keep the kid out of trouble, no nevermind it was supposed to be the opposite way around. Not the kid shut up while opening the door either. 

Whatever James was going to say to rainbow's question if he should be quiet dies with the appearance of the pill bottle. The teen was taking drugs? Oh hell no. James wasn't going to be guarded by a drug addict.... He blinked as the kid shoved his hand towards James and offered him the pill. 

[b]Advil. Swear it's not prescription, but the Advil bottles are a bitch to open when you need them. This is one of the adult only caps. It's probably swelling up and I didn't see any over-the-counter pills out on the desk and Advil shouldn't, yanno, get in the way of whatever you're taking. I think?[/b]

James blinked again. "I'm not taking anything." Not one thing because he was so focused on the case and had totally blanked it. "Thanks." He took the pill, gave it a once over before dry swallowing it. It might actually make hobbling around Higgins' place tolerable. It also might control the kid induced headache. Thankfully his office was on the ground floor, or else he wouldn't be going anywhere. He locked up the place before getting out of the building that housed his office and into the parking lot. His truck sat happily in the handicapped parking space. Heat was coming off it in visible waves and the ex-Sargent mentally grimaced. Still, he pressed on. He opened the door and climbed in before leaning over and popping the lock on the passenger door. 

"You're gonna have to yank it hard." James told rainbow hair. "It never wants to open." Not even after being oiled, or having it taken off and jimmied. It was a tick of his old truck and now it kind of amused him. 

~~