Homecoming Hearts Series Collection

by HJ Welch

  Raiden brought his attention back to the guy. He could feel Levi inching just a fraction closer to his side. “Yes?” he replied in a friendly manner. But the guy looked stricken.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “But your card has been declined. It says there’s insufficient funds.”

  Coldness washed through Raiden, but he refused to let it rattle him just yet. “Have you tried running it again?” he asked. He knew full well there should have been more than enough left on that card to be able to charge the two room bills to it, even with all the booze TJ had ordered.

  The clerk licked his lips. “I’ve run it three times,” he said sympathetically. His voice was low, and he glanced around to make sure no one else could hear them. It was a thoughtful gesture, but Raiden would prefer it if the damn card would just work.

  “It must be a glitch or something,” he said with a smile, not letting his panic show. He took the card back and offered the guy his savings account card. There was absolutely no way that card would be declined.

  But the look on the guy’s face told Raiden all he needed to know before he even opened his mouth.

  “No,” stammered Raiden. He pulled his phone out with a shaking hand, unlocking it and loading up his banking app. With a few security checks, he was looking at his account.

  His completely empty account.

  “No,” he cried. “No, no, no.”

  “Raiden, calm down,” Levi said. He grabbed Raiden’s elbow and made him stare into his blue eyes.

  But Raiden was rapidly losing his mind. “All my savings. All my accounts. They’re empty. My credit card’s been canceled. Look – look.”

  He thrust the phone in Levi’s face, who inspected the screen carefully.

  “Okay,” was all he said. He handed the phone back then turned to the anxious clerk. “I trust you won’t mention this little hiccup to anyone,” he said as he fished out his own wallet. “There’s just been a bit of a mistake made with Mr. Jones’s funds. You know how these things are. He’d hate for anyone to get the wrong idea.”

  He offered out his own credit card in exchange for Raiden’s, which the clerk took immediately. “Of course, sir,” he said. He sounded mortified at the idea that he would betray Raiden, which was of small comfort to him. The clerk scanned the card and was visibly relieved when the charge went through. “There we go, all sorted.”

  Levi smiled at the guy. It was sincere, warming up his face. It made Raiden feel marginally better just to see.

  “Mr. Jones has had a bit of a shock, and I need to attend to a couple of things to set it all right. Is there somewhere we could sit for a few minutes, perhaps a conference or meeting room?”

  The clerk perked up at the prospect of being able to help further. “Certainly. Gentlemen, if you’d like to follow me, I can take you to a suitable room right away. Would you like us to look after your luggage in the meantime?”

  “No, thank you,” said Levi. “We’ll keep it with us.”

  Raiden guessed that was a security measure, just in case. It was obvious to him that the hacker had struck again, and the idea of keeping his possessions close by was deeply comforting.

  “Thank you,” he managed to stammer as the guy showed them into a medium-sized conference room. There was a long table, a dozen chairs and a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. From the corner of his eye, he registered Levi tipping the clerk a hundred-dollar bill.

  “Oh, um, thank you, sir,” he said, holding it in his hands. “But I promise I won’t breathe a word about this. Below Zero are the reason I came out in high school. I just wouldn’t hurt Raiden like that.”

  Raiden smiled at him and tried to calm himself down. He usually loved hearing stories of people’s lives like that.

  “I want you to have it,” he said kindly, “I really appreciate what you’ve done for me.” He looked at Levi. “I’ll pay you back.”

  They both nodded at Raiden, then the clerk left them to it, quietly shutting the door as he left.

  Raiden managed to slump into a chair before he began shaking too violently. “Fuck,” he whispered, unable to stop the tears falling from his eyes. “Fuck, I’ll fucking kill them, fucking bastards, fuck, fuck!”

  Levi sat in the chair beside him and took his hands. Raiden was so shocked he stopped crying for a second.

  “I promise you,” Levi said. “Your bank’s insurance will cover this. You’ll have the money back in twenty-four hours.”

  “But what’s to stop them stealing it all again!” Raiden cried.

  He wasn’t mad at Levi. But there was no one else here to shout at, and his logic only seemed to make him feel more desperate.

  “That’s my money, Levi, mine! I worked so fucking hard to stand on my own two feet, all those shitty projects I had to work on to build up my name, to be independent of my family and the fucking record label after they dropped us without warning. I never wanted to be in that position again, I wanted to stand on my own and these fuckers have taken that from me! It’s not money, it’s independence. It’s my hard work and they’ve just taken it in the blink of an eye, and-”

  Levi’s lips on his stopped his rant.

  It wasn’t an aggressive kiss. It was probably the gentlest Levi had given him so far. Just the touching of lips as he cradled Raiden’s face.

  “I’ve got you,” Levi murmured. He pulled Raiden into a hug, allowing Raiden to tuck his damp face into Levi’s neck. “And I’ll also promise you that we’ll get these assholes, whoever they are. If I have to personally track them down, I will.”

  Raiden clung to Levi’s jacket, feeling the tension ebb away from him. His embrace felt so good, like it alone was able to wash away his fear and rage, calming him. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I overreacted.”

  To his surprise, Levi shook his head. “This is an invasion of your privacy. Their goal here isn’t to rob you, that’s a bonus. It’s to rattle you.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so.” Levi stroked his hair, his cheek resting on the top of Raiden’s head. “Trust me.”

  Raiden nodded. He didn’t have to think about that. He already trusted Levi. “Okay,” he whispered back.

  20

  Levi

  Levi could feel Raiden’s heart beating. It was a rapid, painfully loud thump thump thump that made Levi want to wince.

  It was true that people got targeted like this every day. Identity theft and fraud were sadly a commonplace occurrence. But not when coupled with the email leak and GSP hack.

  “Hello, is this Glenn?” Levi said as the phone call finally connected. He didn’t want to leave Raiden’s side, but he needed a clear head. So he stood up and moved a few feet away, concentrating on one of the paintings on the walls.

  He hadn’t felt anything that strong in years as his urge to comfort his lover when he’d broken down. Levi wasn’t an idiot. Maybe if this hadn’t happened he could have fooled himself in a few more days that the sex was all there was to it. But everything in him was screaming to protect Raiden. It was borderline desperate. Levi needed to acknowledge there were more feelings at play here than just lust, or he was going to fuck up.

  “Yes, this is Glenn Browne,” said the voice on the other end of the phone. “How can I help?”

  Levi wasted no time in explaining who he was and why he was calling. After Raiden had phoned his bank, Levi had spoken to his uncle Kurt to inform him of the developments. He had then insisted Levi contact Glenn, the IT guy Raiden’s dad had used before, the one working for the family lawyer friend that they’d met the day of the barbecue.

  It made Levi a little nervous, this friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend business. But his uncle had assured him that Glenn had worked for Eric and Raiden’s dad for years and he really was a genius. If anyone could investigate Raiden’s cyber issues fast, and on the down low, his uncle assured him it was Glenn.

  “Oh shit, I’m sorry, man,” he said once Levi had detailed everything he could. “Of course, I’ll get right on it.
You want to put Raiden on the line for a minute so I can grab some security details from him too?”

  Levi watched Raiden talking. He’d calmed down a little in the last half an hour or so, most of which he’d spent in Levi’s arms.

  Not making out. They hadn’t even kissed again since Levi had bizarrely thought that would be the best way to stop Raiden’s escalating panic attack. But strangely enough, it had worked. Raiden had been able to catch his breath again.

  Then Levi had continued to just hold him. Raiden had practically been in his lap. They hadn’t really spoken a lot. Instead, Levi had rubbed Raiden’s back and stroked his hair.

  A lot of guys that Levi had served with would have seen a man getting upset like that and called him any number of misogynistic or homophobic names. However, in his time as a sergeant, Levi had come to understand there was no weakness in showing fear or distress, especially in times of a genuine threat.

  Raiden wasn’t a trained soldier or Marine. He was an average guy who was starting to realize that his whole life was being menaced by persons unknown. He had every right to lose his shit.

  What was unreasonable was the lengths Levi wanted to go to to make it stop.

  Seeing Raiden like this upset him. Normal Raiden wasn’t fazed by anything. He joked and teased and fought. To see him trembling was wholly unnatural. Levi wanted to hurt whoever was doing this to him.

  After several minutes, Raiden ended the call with Glenn and seemed a little reassured that things were going to be okay. Levi totally understood what he’d said about this being more than someone stealing his money, as awful as that was. But the bank would compensate him for that. He hadn’t lost it for good. Once he took time to get over the shock of someone violating him in this manner, he’d stop being upset and start feeling angry.

  Levi could work with anger much better than fear.

  “Are you ready to head out?” he asked.

  Raiden rubbed his hands over his face and nodded. “Sure,” he said, then took a deep breath in and out. “Glenn’s working things on his end, and the bank reckoned the money could be back in my account as soon as a few hours.”

  “That’s good,” Levi assured him.

  Raiden nodded, getting to his feet. “Yeah. Fuck those assholes. They won’t keep me down.”

  There was that anger. Levi smiled and picked up several bags. “Let’s go then.”

  It was only about five hours to Philly, mostly along I-76. Levi took the drive easy and they stopped every hour or so to stretch their legs, use a restroom, grab some food, whatever they fancied. The next gig wasn’t until tomorrow night, so they weren’t in a rush, and Levi wanted Raiden to take his time and relax again.

  Not that they didn’t have reason to be alarmed. It was just that was Levi’s job to fix it now, his and his uncle’s company. If necessary, they would get the authorities involved. But he didn’t want Raiden stressing any more than he had to.

  “How’s the writing going?” Levi asked as they left Harrisburg, where they had stopped for lunch. Levi could tell it irritated Raiden to have Levi pay for him, not because he wanted to be the big man. Levi was pretty certain that Raiden knew how lucky he was to be as well off as he was and took pride in taking care of others. It was a very attractive quality.

  Levi was struggling now to deny there were lots of attractive qualities about Raiden. Not just his body.

  “The writing?” Raiden repeated.

  Levi shrugged. “The record you and Pearl have been slaving away over. Like, how do these things work? Is it progressing like you hoped?” After a few beats filled only by the music from the radio station they’d been listening to, Levi turned to look at Raiden. “What?” he asked, confused by the expression on his face.

  “Nothing,” said Raiden. A lopsided grin crept onto his mouth. “It’s just…well, thank you for asking. It’s going well, actually. Slower than if we were in a studio all week, but faster than I would expect on the road. More importantly, though, the songs are great. I think they could really make it.”

  “And that would make you happy?” Levi asked.

  Raiden frowned. “Why wouldn’t it?”

  “I mean,” said Levi, rubbing his chin. “You wouldn’t be jealous?”

  Raiden grinned fully. “Nah, man. I did the fame thing. That back there, at the hotel? That’s the nice side of it. This hacking shit is definitely the downside. That and the never-ceasing assault on you and your music and your look. I don’t miss the polls ranking the five of us from hottest to ugliest, or whole blogs dedicated to catching every dumb thing we said only to spin it to make us look like monsters.” He stretched and ruffled his hair. “I wish Glittergasm the best, I truly do. But leave me on the sidelines from now on.”

  Levi didn’t say it, but he felt like Raiden was the kind of guy who could never be fully relegated to the sidelines. He was too full of life.

  It was nice, just talking in the car together. When Raiden started calling Levi ‘Kevin’ and ‘Betty’ again, Levi knew he was feeling better.

  But a dangerous thought kept creeping into Levi’s mind as they neared Philadelphia. He had gone from being resolutely determined to keep Raiden at arm’s length, to having sex for a third time and, technically worse, comforting him like he was his boyfriend.

  Hadn’t he decided this bi thing was just going to be for sex? If he could date women and enjoy it, why put himself through the pain of picking a man to be with? The world was full of homophobic fucktards, and Levi really didn’t want to deal with that.

  But the dangerous thought was maybe that was exactly it. He couldn’t choose who his heart reached out to. He’d been fighting against his feelings for Raiden for weeks, if he was truly honest. Now that he had given in, the floodgates had opened, and he was afraid by what he had unleashed.

  He liked Raiden’s company. He found him funny and cute and passionate. It wasn’t just about a warm mouth sucking Levi’s cock. It was about someone who made him feel alive.

  He was falling for Raiden.

  But that couldn’t happen. Or, if it did, it would have to be long after Levi had stopped working for Raiden. Levi might have accepted there was no more fighting how he felt, but his uncle wouldn’t see it like that. It was a gross abuse of his position as Raiden’s protector, and he was putting his client at risk by allowing these feelings to develop.

  It hurt his head to try and unravel all his thoughts, so he took the coward’s way out and decided not to. Besides, there he was worrying about his heart messing things up, when for all he knew this was still purely about sex for Raiden.

  That made Levi’s stomach roll. Fuck. Was he really hoping that Raiden liked him for more than his body too?

  Before he could stop himself, he reached over and squeezed Raiden’s knee. He felt Raiden go still beneath his touch. Before it could get weird, Levi brought his hand back to the wheel.

  The radio and meaningless chit-chat kept them company until they reached the city that afternoon. Levi was glad for the breather. Not because he wanted to get some space between him and Raiden, but because he needed to.

  Once they were checked in to yet another hotel (they were all starting to look the same now) Levi made sure Raiden was okay to stay put before he hit the gym. Pearl was going to come over to work for a few hours, leaving Levi free to work off some of his pent-up energy.

  He made sure to keep his phone in view while he was on the treadmill, but Raiden’s little dot didn’t move the whole time.

  The workout helped clear his head. He needed to stop overthinking things, like Raiden had said. Better to just take things one step at a time and deal with any issues that occurred. But the truth was, he did care about Raiden. He wanted him to be happy, not sad. So that was how he found himself standing outside his door an hour later, having showered and picked out a reasonable t-shirt.

  “This is no big deal,” he muttered to himself, then knocked.

  Raiden answered a few seconds later, his face lighting up when he saw it wa
s Levi. Levi tried to ignore the butterflies that apparently took flight in his stomach at that.

  “Hey, you still working?”

  Raiden shook his head. “Pearl left about ten minutes ago. What’s up?”

  Levi shrugged, hoping to convey that this wasn’t anything to get excited about. “I felt bad about not letting you stay out last night,” he said. “Did you want to maybe scout a bar tonight? Somewhere you could take the band tomorrow? We could grab dinner on the way if you wanted.”

  Raiden’s eyes went wide. “Give me five minutes,” he said. He hopped on his feet like the morning Levi had allowed him to go running with him.

  Levi agreed to wait in his room, ignoring the implication that Raiden wanted to freshen up and get dressed for any reason other than the fact they’d been traveling for most of the day. This wasn’t a date.

  And if Levi repeated it enough times, he might actually start to believe it.

  21

  Raiden

  Raiden sipped his ridiculous cocktail, very glad that his bank balance had been restored. He would have felt hideous if Levi had insisted they come to this place and then paid for everything as well.

  He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Levi would pick a bar like this in the first place. As excited as he was about their date, Raiden had fully expected to end up at a sports bar with baseball playing on every available flat screen.

  There was no doubt in his mind that this was a date. Levi was wearing a t-shirt and jeans for one thing, not a shirt and pants. They’d gone for dinner at a Thai place, and now they were at a quirky bar with overpriced drinks and low-level lighting.

  So far, Levi had kept his hands to himself. As two guys not used to dating other dudes, that was hardly surprising, but Raiden was sort of longing for him to touch his knee again like he had in the car.

  What the fuck had that been about anyway? Surely Levi was just in this for the sex. Except he had comforted Raiden without hesitation when the shit had hit the fan earlier. And then it had been his idea to come out tonight. Raiden chewed on his straw.