The Hacker and his Heart's Desire

by James, Rebecca;

  He looked up and smiled when I walked in, and I wondered if there’d ever come a day when my heart wouldn’t flutter when he did that. When I let myself marvel that I could touch him whenever I wanted, though, the knowledge came with the still present fear of what our connection might mean for him.

  “Hey there. Have a good day at work?” he asked.

  “Terrific,” I said sarcastically because every day with my cousin was shit. I wrenched my tie loose, hating that Karl insisted I wear a suit most days. I couldn’t wait to get it off.

  “I talked to Zeke. He said he and Morgan will drop by as soon as Morgan’s finished teaching his class. I can’t believe I didn’t think about the possibility his company could own the convention center before this. They own so many properties around here.”

  “If there’s another way in, the feds can get down there,” I said, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. I sniffed the air. “What is that smell?”

  Tony made a less than enthusiastic face. “Adam is cooking.”

  “What the hell’s he making, road kill?”

  “I don’t know. Meat loaf?” Busy on his laptop, Tony was only half-listening to me.

  “God. I’m not going to be able to eat it,” I said. I was hungry, but whatever that was, it didn’t smell like it belonged in a kitchen—more like something that had been rotting in a shed.

  Tony grunted. “Oh, hey, guess who I met today.”

  “Who?” I hung my suit in the closet.

  Tony looked up. “Greer.”

  “Who’s Greer?”

  “Greer’s the guy Bruder was drilling so hard in his bedroom this afternoon, it’s a miracle the walls are still intact. When I met him, he was standing in the kitchen wearing only a pair of lace panties.”

  “Oh, him,” I said.

  Tony set his laptop on the bed. “You knew about him already?”

  “I not only know about him, I had to go to After Hours and handpick him for Karl, who was in the mood for some dick and gave me the exact specifications of what he wanted. Did you happen to notice the guy looks a lot like you?” I clenched my fists, angry just thinking about it.

  Tony’s mouth dropped open. “What? No! He doesn’t look anything like me.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Same build. Same color hair. Same color eyes. Karl specifically ordered a guy like you to take to bed to make me crazy. He either suspects we’re together, or he knows and he wants to torment me. I’m pretty sure that’s the reason he wanted you to work for him in the first place.” My voice was rising in anger, and Tony scrambled off the bed and put his hand on my arm.

  “Okay, that probably is what he’s doing, but who cares? Pretty soon he’s going to be the one being pounded into the wall—by horny inmates.” He paused, glancing toward the window. “I think I heard a car. Morgan and Zeke are probably here. We’ll talk about this later. But Cane.” He stopped me as I started for the door, hand on my bicep. “We’re going to have to tell them what’s going on, and since that’s the case, I really think we should tell the whole club. Blaze already knows, and everyone else should know too. For their own safety.” When I looked like I was going to object, he added, “We’re family, remember?”

  I shut my mouth. He was right. I’d pushed them all away for a long time, trying to keep my club out of my issues, but now it was getting too big to keep secret. The club’s safety might depend on their knowing what’s going on.

  I nodded, and Tony leaned up and kissed me. I got lost in the taste of him, and it took Zeke calling our names to break us apart.

  When we walked into the living room, Zeke was hanging his and Morgan’s jackets on the hall tree. He turned to us, hands on his hips, muscles pulling at the seams of his blue and gray striped shirt.

  “What’s up? Sounded important.”

  Morgan, dressed in leggings and an oversized sweatshirt that had Global School of Ballet across the front in bright script, curled up on the sofa beside Tony.

  “It is,” I said, taking a seat on Tony’s other side, draping my arm behind his back and pressing our thighs together. No point in trying to hide that we were together from the few left who didn’t already know. Tony smiled and rested his hand on my leg.

  Taking out my cell, I texted Blaze, asking for an impromptu club meeting while Morgan chatted about something that had happened in class.

  Blaze immediately replied he was at the warehouse and he’d see how many of us he could round up.

  Adam walked in from the kitchen with oven mitts on his hands, holding a dish full of smoking brown glop.

  “Jesus,” Zeke said, staring at it.

  “It didn’t turn out quite like it was supposed to,” Adam said ruefully.

  “How about we order pizza?” I proposed. “My treat.”

  Grateful agreement sounded around the room, and when Adam headed back to the kitchen, I heard him scraping the contents of the dish into the trash.

  Hung walked in a few minutes later while Tony was calling in the pizza. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Why are we having a club meeting? And what’s that smell?”

  I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted when Blaze came in the back door with Tease. Even more of a loner than I was, Tease only officially joined the club a few months ago and was patched in. He normally worked as a welder at a shipyard, but he sometimes helped Blaze with the sets at Hard Time.

  “Foghorn’s on his way, and so are Dante and Axel,” Blaze told us. “Trace is tied up. I’ll fill him in later.” Trace was the club’s newest member, and so far I hadn’t seen much of him.

  “What’s this about?” Hung asked again, louder this time.

  “Where’s Bullseye?” Blaze asked.

  “Right here!” Footsteps on the basement stairs preceded Bullseye appearing from the hall. He’d obviously been working out. His longish hair was pulled back from his face, and he wore only gym shorts and sneakers. He wiped the sweat off his brow and chest with a towel. “What’s this meeting about?” He looked to Blaze. As second-in-command, Bullseye would normally be privy to meetings before they happened.

  “Some last minute information we all need to hear,” Blaze told him.

  “We’d rather say it all at once and not have to repeat ourselves, but basically we need to talk about Cane’s cousin,” Tony said.

  Hung sighed and murmured for Tease to help him bring in chairs from the dining room.

  “Matteo, you have time to shower and change,” Tony said.

  “Are you saying I stink?” Bullseye caught Tony by the head and tried to shove the younger man’s face under his arm.

  “Ugh, stop!” Tony pinched Bullseye’s nipple. With an unmanly squeak, the older biker toppled backward over the coffee table and onto the floor.

  “You don’t play fair,” he groused, rubbing his nipple.

  “You deserved it,” Blaze said, helping him up. “Now, go change like Tony said.”

  Matteo grumbled good-naturedly as he walked off.

  The pizza arrived around the same time Dante and Axel did.

  “Jee-zus, ’bout time,” Hung said, “I’m starved.”

  “Come on, Bossman. We’re all here except for Foghorn.” Axel passed around paper plates and napkins. “Lord only knows what’s keeping him.”

  Blaze looked to me and Tony.

  “Cane and I have something we need to talk to all of you about,” Tony said. I let him take the lead, sitting back and listening as he explained the situation, only speaking to give him permission to get into my background.

  When Tony revealed Karl was involved in the sex trade, Tease dropped his slice of pizza in shock, and Pepper, the club dog, quickly gobbled it up. A buzz started up around the room.

  “Cane didn’t know about it,” Tony said quickly. “I found something when I was snooping in his files.” Tony brought out his laptop and passed it to Blaze, who frowned as he scrolled through the pictures. “All these people have disappeared from their homes?” he asked incredulously. />
  “Yeah. I’ve checked them all out myself. Every single one is a missing person from the US”

  “Fuck,” Axel said when Blaze passed the laptop to him. Tease and Adam leaned over his shoulder to get a look while Tony explained about the convention center and the expected exchange on the 25th.

  “That’s one of our properties,” Morgan said. “We rent out the commercial area.”

  “We recently found that out, which is why we need to talk to you.” Tony turned to him. “Did you know there are tunnels under the property?”

  “Tunnels? What kind of tunnels?”

  “Cow tunnels, actually. They were once used to bring cows from the harbor to the slaughterhouse. There’s still one underground leading to your building; Cane and I found it.”

  “I knew the slaughterhouse was torn down to make the center,” Morgan said, “but I’d never heard anything about hidden tunnels.”

  “We figured my cousin was using it to escort captives he’s holding underneath the building to the pier, so we looked around and found a trap door hidden in the back of his health supplement store.”

  “Christ,” Dante swore. “I hope you didn’t go down there by yourselves.”

  “I only took a quick peek to make sure that’s where it went,” I said.

  “Are you talking about B-Natural?” Morgan asked.

  I nodded. “We wondered if you knew of another way under the building.”

  “I didn’t even know about that one. I’ll have to make a call.” Suddenly all business, Morgan stood and walked into the kitchen with his cell phone.

  “Your cousin is one sick fuck,” Hung said to me.

  “No kidding. We want to send him away for good.”

  “And you’re trying to tell us you never knew this about him?”

  “I knew he more than likely had some illegal dealings, but I never imagined it could be anything like this. I swear it.”

  Hung studied me a moment before turning back to his pizza. “Who the fuck put pineapple on this one? God. Fruit does not belong on a pizza.” He started picking pieces off and feeding them to the dog. “I thought you guys ordered a bacon pie?”

  “Sorry. I must’ve forgotten,” Adam said quietly from where he was sitting on the arm of the couch.

  Hung immediately looked sorry he’d opened his mouth. Nobody liked reminding Adam how forgetful he’d become since the attack.

  “Stop feeding that to her,” Blaze said to Hung. “You’re gonna give her the shits.”

  A rumbling motor outside announced Foghorn had finally made it.

  “Sorry I’m late.” The biker’s deep, gravelly voice filled the room when he walked in from the front porch a moment later, shaking snow flurries out of his auburn hair. “I keep telling Cupcake not to put dish soap in the dishwasher. Fuck yeah, pizza!” Foghorn accepted a plate from Bullseye, who had returned clean and ready to eat. “What’s going on?”

  Since Tony had already told it all, I gave Foghorn an abbreviated version. He was looking through the photos on Tony’s laptop when Morgan returned.

  “No access from the building. Bruder must have had it built in.”

  “We were afraid of that,” I said, frustrated.

  The back door opened and a second later, Nick appeared, bundled up to go home.

  “I finished cutting the checks,” he told Blaze. “Here.” He handed Tony a paperback book. “Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

  “No problem. Want some pizza?” Tony asked.

  “No, thanks. Royce is waiting for me in the driveway.”

  “What we need is someone to be down there with the other clients,” Blaze said as he looked over the pictures a second time. “Someone who can tell us what’s going on when.”

  “I’d bet Karl knows all of you by sight. He’s made it clear my life is not my own,” I said bitterly.

  “What about Royce?” Hung suggested between bites of pizza, and Nick stopped with his hand on the doorknob and looked back at us.

  Hung continued, “I mean, he’s rich, right? He could email Bruder on the private account like all the others did and tell him he wants some of this tea he’s got.”

  Nick looked at Tony. “What’s he talking about?” And Tony looked at me.

  “Might work,” I said, although I hated to drag Nick’s boyfriend into this mess. “It’ll cost a lot though.”

  “Shit.” Tony leaned his head back and scrubbed his face with his hands.

  “Can we trust this guy?” Axel asked.

  Blaze nodded. “I’ve spoken to Royce several times. I’m sure Nick can vouch for him.”

  Everyone looked at Nick, who put his hands on his hips and demanded, “What the hell are you all talking about?”

  “Can you text Royce to come in?” Blaze asked him.

  Nick did, a frown on his face. When Royce came in the front door, Blaze greeted him and asked him to have a seat. Nick sat on his lap.

  When everything had been explained, Royce said, “I’ve got the money. That’s no problem.”

  “It might be a while before you get it back,” I said, just as Nick turned o him and exclaimed, “You’re actually thinking of doing this?”

  “You heard what he said is happening down there,” Royce said. “If I can help, I want to.”

  Tony was frowning. “Wait. Won’t emailing Bruder out of the blue seem weird?”

  “Not if he has a connection to someone on the list of names,” I said, and passed the laptop to Royce.

  “You mean to tell me all these men are buying people for their sexual pleasure?” the older man asked as he scanned the list, eyes widening.

  “Looks that way,” Tony said.

  “God, I recognize some of these names! They’re members of Lux.”

  “Not too surprising, considering my cousin is a member there too,” I said.

  “God, Isaac used to work there,” Dante said.

  “Do you see a name on there you can contact without it seeming too weird?” Tony asked Royce.

  “Hmm. Raul Franco might work. He knows me, but not too well. But we’ve discussed kinks in the locker room of Lux, so he knows I know he’s a member of a pretty hardcore BDSM club and might have connections to certain people.”

  “You could contact him to say you’re looking for something special,” I suggested.

  Royce nodded. “He knows I’m into Daddy kink. Perhaps I can inquire about another boy.”

  Nick pouted. “Great. He’ll think you aren’t happy with me.”

  Royce patted Nick’s leg. “Nonsense, Nicky. Many Daddies in our circle have more than one boy.”

  Foghorn looked at me with his brow raised, obviously not having known about the specifics of Nick and his boyfriend’s relationship, and I shrugged as though to say, “Don’t ask me.” My eyes caught on Hung, who was watching Nick closely. I had the feeling his suggestion that Royce be the one to pretend to be a buyer had been calculated.

  “Do it,” Tony said. “This is the only way we’re going to be able to get the proof we need and save those people.”

  Royce pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts before dialing while we all sat quietly listening.

  “Hello, Raul? Royce Hitson here. Just fine, how about you? Yes, well, I’m sorry to bother you this late, but my boy is so eager.” He glanced at Nick, who crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

  “We’ve been talking about bringing another boy into our play. Someone more…subservient. I wondered if you know of anyone.”

  He sat listening, and I found myself holding my breath.

  “Yes, I know who you mean. No, no. He won’t do. How do I put this? We require someone good at taking orders. Someone longterm who can live at my place since Nicky doesn’t. We want this all very private and full-time. I’ll be blunt; I’ve heard you know of someone who can connect people with what they need.” He paused for a long moment, listening, while we all held our collective breath. “Yes. That’s it exactly.” Royce chuckled lewdly. I had to adm
it he was a great actor. “Sure, I can do that.” Royce made a motion for a pen, and Tony handed him one along with a notepad. He scribbled something. “Thank you, Raul. I owe you one.” When he disconnected, he looked up.

  “I must say, Raul was surprised to hear me wanting something so kinky, but he said he guessed it’s always the ones you don’t suspect.” He chuckled and passed Tony the email address he’d written down. “This look familiar?”

  Tony smiled. “It’s Bruder’s secret email. Now you can contact him, giving Raul’s name as a reference.”

  Royce nodded. “But how do I tell him what I want?”

  “We haven’t been able to figure out the code,” I said. “Only that it’s got to do with tea.”

  “That could be a problem.”

  “Here, see what you make of it,” Tony said, bringing up the emails on his laptop and handing it to Royce.

  Nick leaned on Royce’s shoulder, looking through email after email that had been sent to Karl Bruder about “tea.”

  “This is all really random,” Nick said after a moment. “There must be some kind of key we don’t have. I can’t think of anything that would make sense. Ginseng? What the hell would that be?”

  “I could ask for Chinese tea,” Royce said. “At least that’s straightforward.”

  “You’d think,” Hung said. “But who knows what this fucker’s code is?” He looked at me. “He’s your cousin; shouldn’t you know?”

  “I told you, I don’t have anything to do with this!” I was getting sick of Hung and his mouth.

  “Cut it out,” Blaze said, and when I looked, he was glaring at Hung, who scowled and turned away. I couldn’t help but be pleased the bossman had chosen defending me over Hung.

  “Just copy one from the emails. It doesn’t matter what you’re asking for,” Tony said. “What are the chances Bruder and Raul will discuss what you wanted?”

  Royce nodded. “I’d better do this from my phone, just in case he can trace where it’s coming from.” He sat tapping out a message, Nick watching, and when the email was ready, Tony and I read it over and gave our approval before Royce pressed send.