“Nah, babe, we’re good. What Aaron has to say to Kreed, he can say in front of me,” Mitch stated matter-of-factly.
“I think that only works if I’m the one saying that.” Kreed scowled at his long-time partner who appeared to be back to his old self for the most part. Kreed cocked his head toward the door, staring at Mitch. “Go.”
“No, really, I’m good. Keep going.”
“Come on,” Cody urged, knocking Mitch’s feet off the table and tugging him by his T-shirt. Mitch finally got up and followed, but left the door cracked. How his partner could shift moods so quickly always amazed him. Kreed sighed, stood to close the door, but the door slammed shut a little harder than necessary before he moved from the table. Cody must have beat him to it.
Aaron turned completely in his chair, scooting closer to Kreed as he took his seat again. He watched the look on Aaron’s face as he lifted his head and their eyes met. Kreed didn’t make any sudden movements and didn’t say a word. He could tell this one secret was a doozy and wondered how many more times in their lives he’d have this same moment. The breath he hadn’t known he held slipped free. He’d been warned there was more to come with smart boy, but didn’t anticipate that to happen right in the middle of his and Mitch’s life-changing discussion. This felt like having the rug pulled out from under him twice in a matter of seventy-two hours. He braced himself as Aaron started to speak.
“My real name’s not Aaron Stuart, even though it’s been that for the last ten or so years,” Aaron started.
“Okay, what’s your name?” Kreed interrupted his story but tried to hide the anxiety of that question and swiped at the small amount of dust on the table. He wasn’t sure he could look Aaron in his eyes at the moment. There were so many emotions swimming around in his head.
“Don’t judge me, all right?” Aaron took a deep breath before he spoke.
“Just tell me, please,” Kreed shot back.
“My name’s Aaron Drake.”
Kreed’s head lifted toward Aaron, who looked almost apologetic at the confession. That admission sat there between them as though the name was supposed to mean something to Kreed, but he had no clue why that name might matter. When seconds passed with him evidently not responding appropriately, Aaron squinted his eyes and stared at him even harder as if trying to relay some sort of a hidden meaning with his gaze.
Oh shit.
Everything clicked in place and almost knocked the breath out of him. No fucking way! It couldn’t be, could it? “Drake. Like the Drakes who own the whole fucking world? Those Drakes?”
Aaron nodded slowly. The longer Kreed stayed quiet, the more worried Aaron’s expression became. The kid fidgeted nervously with his hands, picking at his nails, and honestly, Aaron should have some anxiety over that revelation. One of the wealthiest families in the world, the same ones who’d had their hands in real estate, finance, refineries, pipelines, chemical plants, and retail, who’d shaped politics and owned pretty much the entire world for centuries… Kreed exhaled deeply, yet another breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. This was a game-changer.
“What else should I know?” Kreed asked, instead of stating the obvious. What would a guy like Aaron ever see in a lower-middle-class public servant like him? “Let’s get it all out on the table now and be done with it.”
Aaron took a deep breath, blew it out through his mouth, and said, “I graduated from MIT when I was seventeen. My family drives me bat-shit crazy. I don’t live around them, only spend time with them about every other Christmas when I forget how bad they suck. I opted out of the family business, but my grandfather left the bulk of his rather large estate to me, which pissed my family off, something I still get reminded of when I’m around them. So yeah, that makes me obscenely loaded.” Aaron bit his lip, worrying the plump flesh with his teeth.
“Okay—” Kreed started, but Aaron cut him off.
“And I don’t live in Florida. I live in Austin. That’s why this new plan would work so easy for us, if you can get past everything. You wondered how I accessed the Austin street cameras so easily when Cody got hurt. The reason I did it so quickly is I do it all the time for fun,” Aaron admitted in one breath, the words coming out of his mouth so fast Kreed had to play them over in his head in order to make sure he understood.
“Fun?” He lifted his brow and the cocky smirk Aaron had added at that last sentence faded.
“Well, yeah. But I guess you have to be there to understand.”
“Okay.”
Aaron had stunned him speechless. Several minutes passed as he sat there and watched Aaron. Of course, it all made sense. Aaron carried himself in a privileged way. Not arrogantly—he definitely didn’t flaunt it, but money was still there. Even in the way Aaron placed his napkin in his lap. Kreed had loved that move, but now those perfect manners made even more sense.
“Say something,” Aaron said, back to worrying his lip, gaze searching his.
“I don’t know what to say.” The silence continued as Kreed tried to digest everything that his church boy just threw at him. Yeah, he should say something, but what the hell did you say when you just found out your boyfriend was wealthy beyond your wildest imagination?
Fuck! Would Aaron start to think he was only with him for the money now that he knew? Slowly Aaron’s masks started to descend, making him unreadable. Kreed could sense him pulling away, and he didn’t want that. Somehow it had been easier to absorb that the guy he loved was a most-wanted fugitive and a genius prodigy than from one of the wealthiest families in the world.
Sucking in a steadying deep breath, Kreed pulled his thoughts together. For the first time in a long time, he was slightly intimidated. With tremendous effort, he pushed his nerves aside and reached out, taking Aaron’s hand.
“Anything else I should know?” He smiled at Aaron, hoping to ease both of their nerves.
“I don’t think so,” Aaron said cautiously.
“And if there is, you’ll tell me right away?”
“Absolutely.” Aaron smiled back at him. It was a genuine smile, the kind that made his eyes light up. The one he loved so much. His heart warmed.
“And just to make sure… Being with me isn’t some kind of ploy to get your family pissed off?”
“What? Absolutely not. No, I’m already the black sheep of my dysfunctional family and I’m completely good with that.”
Kreed nodded and just decided to get all the insecurity out now. “I live off what I make. It’s a good life, but probably not what you’re used to.”
“I think those are relationship issues we can work out as we go. Besides, you’re changing your job description, so don’t be freaked out over something that can offer the people that matter most in your life a chance to build a better future.”
“You’ve tossed a lot my way.” Kreed couldn’t think of anything else to say. Aaron had a point.
“I know, and I’d planned to tell you differently, but I want in on this business. I’ve been thinking about this too. Together we can offer up the whole package. I’ve worked with Knox pretty well over the last year, and the two of us did okay together on this last assignment, I think,” Aaron said.
“We did great,” Kreed agreed, and Aaron’s fingers tightened around his.
“I’ve got a paid team of financial advisors taking care of my assets. They could easily put us on the right track to get us started. So let’s do this. And you moving to Austin would be ideal for us. That takes away the long-distance issue.”
“It would.” Kreed nodded
“Yes, it would! I’m not rushing us, but I have a place downtown you can stay at to see how things work out,” Aaron added, excitement in his voice and the look of hope in his eyes.
“I’d like that a lot.”
“Good. Can you kiss me, Sin? You’re making me nervous.”
He laughed at Aaron. A kiss was exactly what he had in mind. He leaned in, slid a free hand around the nape of Aaron’s neck and drew him closer, but not qu
ite to his lips. He looked Aaron in the eyes. God, those gunmetal blue eyes undid him every time. Aaron had stopped wearing the colored contacts all the time just for him. “If there’s anything even questionable that I should know, tell me. No more secrets. Promise?”
“Promise.” Aaron’s forehead pressed against his. He loved that tender move. Kreed couldn’t imagine his life without Aaron. His intuition had been completely spot-on. Aaron was it for him. He had no doubt the kid would be a handful, but he was up for the challenge. On firmer emotional ground, Kreed decided then that they would make it through, no matter what.
“I love you,” he whispered seconds before he took Aaron’s lips. Aaron’s reply got lost somewhere in the kiss.
Epilogue
Six Months Later—June
The steady rock of Kreed’s oversized leather chair never faltered as he listened intently to Mitch and Skinner rehash the final changes to the investigative contract they’d managed to secure with the US Marshals Service. Mitch sat quietly, making notes, reading over each bullet-point change that would be needed to make Skinner and his higher-ups happy. They were minuscule changes. The kind of changes that just beat a man down, but all part of the tedious bureaucracy called the US government.
“We’ll get these changes made—” Kreed started, but Director Skinner cut him off mid-sentence, his loud voice booming through the speakerphone. Kreed instantly reached up to mute the phone, talking quietly to Mitch.
“He forgets we don’t work for him anymore.”
“Whatever. He just gave us a million-dollar fucking contract. He ordered me around for far less than that before,” Mitch teased, lifting a fist for a quick knuckle bump. This was turning out to be a great day for their little private security firm. They were finalizing this contract, and Aaron had Tristan Wilder in the office next door, going over the final stages of contract negotiations with Wilder, Inc. Everything was seriously coming together.
“Did either of you hear what I had to say?” Skinner barked, and Kreed quickly reached over, unmuting the phone.
“Say it again, Sir,” Kreed said, grabbing his pen, hiding the laugh bubbling inside. Skinner proved he was a straight-up good man to put up with either of them after they’d left the Marshals Service.
“I’m not your boss anymore. I’m your customer. You can’t ignore me like you did when you worked for me. Now, get that new shiny assistant you have to make an amendment to the contract. Don’t try and change the actual contract. I have authority to sign an amendment and get it back to you by end of day.”
“Will do. Thank you, sir,” Kreed answered, jotting down a few notes of his own.
“Yep. Thanks, Skinner,” Mitch piped in from the other side of the desk.
“Drop the sir. It scares me. Other than that, how’s it going?” Skinner asked, changing the subject.
“Really well. Stuart’s getting signatures on Wilder,” Kreed answered. Skinner had been their number one supporter in starting this business since the day Kreed had placed his resignation on his boss’s desk. He’d taken on a role as advisor, mentor, and now, top client.
“Good. They must need it. I just got a breaking news flash that Huckabee, the presidential candidate, had a breach in his website. Looks like they need you guys, too. You should get Aaron to give them a call,” Skinner said, and Kreed’s heart plummeted in his chest. His gaze connected straight with Mitch’s. Mitch still had no idea Aaron wasn’t Aaron Stuart, gaming buddy and ex-government employee.
“I gotta go,” Kreed said, rising immediately. “Knox’ll finish this off with you.”
Kreed got as far as the door before he remembered to yell a quick thank-you toward Skinner. His heart pounded in his chest at the possibility of Aaron being behind this hack. Years fell off his life with every step he took down that hallway.
Setting up house with Aaron had been better than he’d ever imagined once Kreed had managed to learn to always stay flexible. The kid was a pistol, and Kreed regularly had no clue what he’d be walking into. The constant hair, eye color, and clothing-style changes didn’t take too long to get used to. In fact, he loved being surprised. He enjoyed teasing Aaron about how Kreed got to be with a different guy almost every day. The random tattoos and piercings taking place in their living room—not just with Aaron, but also with his small circle of friends—had become its own kind of normal. Kreed had even added a few more tattoos to his already-extensive collection and gotten two piercings that his guy loved. The generational gap of music, television, and entertainment took a little longer to become accustom to, but he’d adapted because Aaron went out of his way to always make sure he was comfortable when venturing into those parts of his boyfriend’s life.
More than anything else, the extreme, progressive attitude and the lengths Aaron would go to in order to help people were ironically the hardest things for Kreed to wrap his mind around. Aaron took empathy to a whole new level. Kreed had learned quickly to channel Aaron’s social-conscience into physically helping the needy instead of making a corrupt company wave the white flag. Anytime an injustice was discovered, Kreed could see the gleam in smart boy’s eyes as he instantly planned a cyber-attack, and Kreed would step in and refocus his energies elsewhere.
Once Kreed managed to show Aaron there was a different way to help—a hands-on way to give assistance—he found it was nothing for Aaron to take off to the airport and lend his help to whatever natural disaster played out across the television screen. When social media came together to express their dismay over how someone was treated, his guy was already aware and forming rallies and protests around the world to help show support.
They’d switched to attending political rallies instead of Aaron hacking into the opposing side’s political website in order to make a big ass out of them. Kreed was busier than he’d ever been in his life, helping his guy channel all that energy away from his previous activities. He and Aaron worked really well together, and since he wanted Aaron and his high-strung honey wanted to help the world, Kreed regularly joined in on those tasks.
But now, with the news Huckabee had a breach, Kreed instinctively knew just where that had come from. Huckabee had been on a short list of people Aaron couldn’t stand. His guy had no tolerance for Huckabee’s politics or attitude toward the future of this country. He could so see his mister breaking down, falling off the wagon and back into the old mode while he should be finalizing the contract with Wilder, not playing around with hacking anyone.
Anger got the best of him as he busted open Aaron’s office door. Kreed held his frustrated tongue, trying to quickly come to some sort of mental plan to help save this account and pull Aaron out of his huge lapse of judgement. What he saw stopped him in his tracks. Tristan Wilder sat right next to Aaron. Both had their hands working at keyboards, their gazes fixed on the screen. Aaron looked back over his shoulder for a brief second.
“Hang on, Sin. We’re almost done,” Aaron said. He typed a few more strokes at the keyboard before Tristan laughed out loud, lifting a hand for a high five.
“You did it. He’s gonna shit. He’ll associate that with you. I know he’ll remember your screen name.”
“How long will it take?” Aaron asked, and Tristan looked down at his watch.
“He’s all over his shit. They’re very fluid at Secret. It upsets the balance of the rest of my company because they all work so well together over there. I’ll say less than a minute.”
“Really? Even at best, I’d have said thirty,” Aaron answered, clearly impressed by Tristan’s statement. Kreed watched as they both looked over at Tristan’s wristwatch.
“Five, four, three…” Tristan’s phone began to vibrate. “It’s him.” He swiped the screen and put it to his ear without checking the ID. “Hey, babe,” Tristan said. His smile turned huge, again lifting a hand for a second high five, before turning to give Kreed a thumbs up. “Hang on. I’m putting you on speaker.”
“Why is En!gm4 in my house, Tristan?” Dylan Reeves asked, his voice c
arried loudly throughout the office space.
Kreed had met him a couple of times when they’d driven up to Dallas to present to the company, then again when they ironed out the details of the contract. Irritation was clear in the guy’s voice.
“I knew you’d know that he’d been in your network, but you were quicker than I even thought. Impressive,” Tristan answered as Aaron started chuckling. “We were just testing Aaron’s speed and ability.”
“Why are you hacking me? I told you to hire him already. I’m the one who found him and said we needed him.” Dylan’s aggravation seemed to grow with each word he uttered. Mitch came in behind Kreed, where he stood, trying to understand the dynamic here and manage his own irritation at Aaron.
“And clearly you were right, babe,” Tristan replied.
“Aaron, clean up the mess you just made. And Tristan, find a hotel to stay in tonight,” Dylan said flatly. Aaron slapped a hand over his mouth to quiet his laughter, apparently so tickled that he couldn’t stop.
“Now, honey, don’t be like that. You know I always stay with you,” Tristan started, but his grin was so big that it was contagious and eased Kreed’s own upset.
“Not this time,” Dylan shot back. When the phone went dead, both Tristan and Aaron burst out in uncontrollable fits of laughter. Aaron held his side, obviously in pain from laughing so hard.
“I have some making up to do. Where’s the contract?” Tristan laughed as Aaron reached over and slid papers across his crowded desk. His guy was still chuckling, very pleased with himself, as Tristan reached for the pen in his front pocket. He quickly scribbled his name across the bottom of the last page and rose from his seat. “Make me a copy.”
Aaron’s eyes lifted to Kreed’s, his smile brighter than a few seconds ago. This contract had the potential to be even bigger than the one they’d negotiated with Skinner. They had their work cut out for them—that was for sure—but these contracts were the foundation for their new company and exactly what they needed.
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