by JD Ruskin
“Just drive. I have a hunch about something, and Drake should be able to clear it up quick-like.”
Donnelly pulled into the driveway, and Brandt jumped out and ran up to the door. He rang the bell, and the door opened—Nick, as usual. But this time he was back in his usual uniform, naked as the day he was born.
“Jason! Back so soon?”
“Had to come back to try to catch you naked. Missed seeing Little Nick last time.”
Nick laughed and slugged Brandt on the shoulder. “Little Nick! Good one, dickhead.”
“I gotta see Mr. Drake real quick—there’s something I forgot to ask him at lunch.”
“Sure, he’s in his office. Go on back. I need to get back out to the pool—there’s a shoot going on that I, well… let’s just say my part is coming up.”
Brandt’s eyes flicked to Nick’s cock before he could stop himself.
“Funny,” Nick said as he headed back out to the pool. Brandt watched him go.
A moment later he was outside Drake’s office. He knocked.
“Come in,” called Drake. Brandt entered. “Oh, hi, Jason. Is there something you need?”
“Just a quick question, Mr. Drake.”
“Sure, ask away.”
Brandt realized he hadn’t planned how to ask this.
“Well, about what you said earlier, about how you protect the guys by screening their messages and stuff?”
“Yes,” replied Mr. Drake, who cocked his head to one side as he listened. He seemed glad that “Jason” was taking the business so seriously.
“I was wondering… would there be any way to see if that creepy guy who was arrested with Nick, that Tyler Banks, has seen any of his videos?”
Drake frowned for a moment. “That’s an interesting question, Jason. Why do you ask?”
Brandt startled a bit—why would Jason ask this?
“Well,” he started, not sure where he would end up, “Because it just kind of worried me. I mean, I don’t think I could do this work if I’d had that kind of experience. But if this guy has been watching Nick’s videos, and Nick hasn’t been bothered by him, well, then, that means it’s working, right? And then I would feel okay about doing it myself.”
Damn, that came out better than he had expected.
“Interesting analysis, Jason,” nodded Drake. He turned to his computer and typed a few commands. “Hmmm,” he murmured as he reviewed the results.
Brandt waited.
“Well, Jason, we have our answer. Tyler Banks has indeed continued to be a fan of Nick’s. He subscribed to the site just after Nick joined, and he’s actually attended every single one of Nick’s live shows… wait, with the exception of the one last week. He didn’t show for that one—seems he let his subscription lapse. But until then, he’d been a solid customer. And Nick knew nothing about it.” Drake turned to Brandt. “I trust you won’t tell him? He might find it… distracting.”
“Of course not, sir,” assured Brandt. “Thank you, Mr. Drake. You’ve cleared up my concerns.”
“Anytime, Jason. And please, think about our offer. You’d make a great addition to the team.”
“I will sir. Thank you.”
Brandt made his exit, and soon he and Donnelly were heading back to the center of the city.
“Well, what did you get?” asked Donnelly as he drove.
“Just what I thought I would. Now, I’m afraid, we need to head back to the judicial wing.”
Donnelly turned to look at him.
“Why? I think we got everything we’re going to from that crazy Sullivan lady.”
“No, we’re going to pay a little visit to the attorney general himself.”
“To do what, exactly?”
“You’ll see. Just drive.”
THEY ARRIVED shortly thereafter at the judicial wing, and Brandt consulted the building directory in the lobby. They surrendered their firearms, passed through the metal detectors, and headed up to the top floor. Soon they stood in front of the AG’s reception desk.
“Can I help you?” asked the receptionist.
“We’re Officers Brandt and Donnelly, here to see the attorney general.”
The receptionist looked quickly at the calendar, knowing already the answer to the question she was about to ask.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, we don’t,” replied Brandt. “But we need to see him.”
“I’m sorry, but there’s really no way that—”
“Pick up the phone and tell him that we need to talk to him right now about Tyler Banks. Will you do that, please? Now?”
His tone must have convinced her that she should do what he asked. She did, and, to her evident surprise, was instructed to admit them to the office.
They reached across the desk to shake hands with the AG.
“Officers Brandt and Donnelly, sir. We’ve been investigating the tax issues at the website house south of the city—the one you personally instructed the Chief to look into.”
“Yes, I gathered that,” the AG replied coldly. “Please, gentlemen, sit down and tell me what’s so goddamn important that you had to come see me about it unannounced?”
The mention of Tyler Banks had struck a nerve.
“Well, sir, we found no evidence of wrongdoing. The company has an innovative business structure, but it’s all perfectly legal. Exemplary, even.”
“So you failed in your investigation,” the AG replied, the coldness in his voice replaced by mockery. “This you had to come up here to tell me?”
“No, sir. It’s just that we ran across a related case that didn’t add up. Until now, that is. It was the prosecution of one Tyler Banks.”
The AG bristled at the mention of the name, but said nothing.
“See, the charges against Mr. Banks were dropped without any justification. And the prosecutor who dropped them said that she had been ordered to do so—by you. Now, that might happen all the time—I wouldn’t know—but this one seemed odd, especially considering that Mr. Banks was, until last week, a regular customer of the very Internet service we were sent by you to investigate.”
The AGs eyebrows flicked up. But still he said nothing.
“So, what I’m wondering is whether we were sent to shut down the site on some trumped-up tax charges to spare you the embarrassment of having a nephew who, once again, has been paying for services of a sexual nature.”
Boom. Donnelly felt his heart skip a beat, two.
“You little piece of shit!” the AG roared. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with here!”
“I think I do,” replied Brandt, with supernatural calm. “I’m dealing with a megalomaniac who is willing to shut down a legitimate business so he won’t have his campaign for governor derailed by uncomfortable questions about his nephew.”
“I will fucking end you,” growled the AG. “You make any noise about this and I will fucking end you!”
“I’m not going to make noise, sir. I am simply going to file an ethics complaint that will initiate an inquiry into how the decisions were made to vacate the charges against your nephew, and to set the tax investigation in motion.”
“Good luck with that,” snarled the AG. “You file one piece of paperwork and you will be lucky to get a job collecting garbage!”
“I don’t think so, with all due respect. You can tell your ADAs to drop charges, and they’ll do it—they work for you. But our ethics board is not under your jurisdiction. Once the complaint is filed you can’t stop it—it’s set up that way on purpose. You know, to eliminate the chance of a corrupt official quashing a valid investigation.”
The AG suddenly had the look of someone who just watched his chance at the governor’s mansion fly out the window. It would not be coming back.
“Well, I think we’re done here. Officer Donnelly, shall we?”
Donnelly, stunned by the entire conversation, found his feet and joined Brandt on his way out of the office.
“That was fucking amazing,
” he whispered to Brandt as they waited for the elevator.
“Tell me about it,” Brandt replied. “I thought I might pee my pants in there, I was so frightened.”
They were still laughing when the elevator reached the ground floor.
IT WAS a warm, late-summer evening about a month later when Brandt and Donnelly parked once more in front of Stickley and Greene. They stepped up to the door, which had a sign hanging from it that read “Closed for Private Party.” As the private party was the one they were going to, they opened the door and went in.
The party had been Bigg’s idea. After the scandal broke about the AG having covered up his nephew’s indiscretions, the whole story had come out about Brandt’s undercover work. Bigg was so appreciative of Brandt’s having stood up for him and his company that he was throwing a party in honor of the “troopers with the hearts of gold,” as he was fond of calling them.
As they entered the restaurant, they saw that most of the guys from the house were there already—Eugene and several others were talking in a group near the bar. Drake and Bigg were in the center of the room, chatting with other guests. Nick was here already, and Brandt moved to his side of the room to say hi.
“Nick!” he called out as he approached.
“Jason! Or, wait, I guess I should call you Ethan, right? You’re some kind of spy, man.” Nick, as usual, hugged Brandt. Brandt returned the embrace—he had missed Nick.
“Nick, I’d like you to meet my partner, Gabriel.”
Donnelly shook hands with Nick.
“Oh my God. You’re the guy from the private show!” Nick looked Donnelly up and down critically. “Now, wait. If you guys are just partners in the police kind of way, how did you pull off the hot video sex?”
Brandt blushed and then clarified: “Gabriel’s my partner partner.”
“Pleased to meet you, Nick.” Donnelly bowed graciously.
Nick, shocked, burst out with a huge grin and turned on Brandt.
“I knew it! I totally knew it! I could tell from the moment I met you.”
“Actually, when you met me I was completely straight. But you kind of helped change that, and I owe you one.”
“Dude, that’s awesome.” Nick looked genuinely pleased at the part he had played in Brandt’s life. He turned to the young man next to him. “And I’d like you both to meet Pete, my boyfriend.”
“Pete! I’ve been wanting to meet the guy who is, apparently, the only man in the whole world Nick is attracted to.”
Pete shook Brandt’s hand and shot a squinty look at Nick.
“Well, the way he’s talked about you, I doubt that’s actually true. But thank you for saying so.”
Brandt was intrigued by the insinuation but let it go. At that moment, walking in the door were a couple of the people he had invited to the party: Bryce and Nestor. They were followed shortly by the jockstrap model Andy, whom Nick had invited.
Brandt waved and Bryce and Nestor hustled over.
“Thanks for coming, guys,” Brandt called as they approached. “It’s good to see you.”
“Of course it is, honey.” Bryce smiled. “Now,” he said, stepping back to appraise Brandt’s look, “who’s dressing you? I want to hunt him down and strangle the bitch with that lovely, lovely belt.”
“Don’t worry, Bryce. It’s no one on the Avenue. Gabriel and I went on a little vacation last couple of weeks. Did some shopping in an exotic locale.”
Bryce’s eyes flashed.
“So, the two of you are…?” Nestor asked what the speechless Bryce couldn’t.
“Yes, we are,” replied Donnelly, taking Brandt’s hand.
“I knew it!” Bryce gasped and hugged both men, delivering congratulatory air kisses to every cheek within range. Then, catching sight of Eugene and the rest of the boys clustered by the appetizers, Bryce turned and hauled Nestor away to the feeding grounds.
“Whoa, who was that?” Nick asked as the pair dashed off.
“Bryce and his buddy Nestor. They helped me dress for the job. You remember, the orange Ginch Gonch briefs?”
Nick laughed.
“I do—those things were hilarious,” he said.
“Yeah, but they got the job done,” Brandt replied.
“What job was that?” Nick asked.
“To make you notice me,” Brandt said, in the quieter voice his modesty demanded.
“Dude, I would have noticed you anyway!” Nick laughed. “First, you’re gorgeous. Second, I saw the look on your face that day you caught me recording a session. I could tell right then that you were into it. The orange drawers just confirmed what I already knew, and”—he nodded to Donnelly—“what you’ve finally figured out.”
Movement near the door caught Donnelly’s eye, and he saw Will rolling down into the main area of the restaurant, Lucas right behind him.
“Hey guys!” he called. “Over here!”
“Wow, this is some place,” Will said, looking around. Then he turned to Lucas, who was by his side now, and whacked him in the leg. “Why don’t you ever take me anyplace like this?”
Lucas rolled his eyes. “Like the parents of two kids under five years old get lots of chances to go out. Honestly.”
Will laughed, and Lucas joined in.
“Glad you two could make it,” Brandt said. “I’d like you to meet Nick, and this is Pete.”
Will extended a hand, as did Lucas.
“So this is the famous Nick,” Will said. “The man who can turn state troopers gay with just a kiss.”
“It’s a power I try to use for good,” Nick replied, in a superhero-modest tone.
As the men chatted, Will noticed Lucas scanning the room.
“Why don’t you get us some drinks,” he suggested. “And that way you can introduce yourself to the guys over there instead of just staring at them.”
Lucas blushed, and Will laughed. Lucas turned and ventured across the room.
“I tell ya,” Will sighed as Lucas left, “it’s hard to have a boyfriend who’s gay.”
All of the men laughed, though each for his own reason.
“Hey, guys!” came a voice from the door. Donnelly and Brandt turned to see Chris walking toward them with a man on her arm.
“She brought a date! Awesome,” said Brandt.
“Oh my God, is that Walters?” Donnelly muttered, squinting. “Yep, it is. Whoa.”
“Well, look at the guests of honor, back from their two weeks in the sun!” Chris glowed—she was clearly enjoying herself.
She embraced Donnelly and Brandt, and then turned to her date.
“I believe you know Jimmy?”
“Of course! Good to see you, Walters,” Brandt said, shaking hands with his fellow officer.
“Good to see you, Jimmy,” said Will.
“Since you’re here with my sister, I may have a few questions,” Donnelly intoned with mock seriousness—though it did strike him as odd that Will knew Walters. That must mean…
“Now, Gabriel, be nice,” Chris scolded cheerfully. “Jimmy came by the house just after you left for your vacation—he was looking for you.”
“Yeah,” added Walters. “I wanted to apologize for that thing in the truck—you must have thought I was nuts going off on you like that about my brother.”
“No, not at all—” began Donnelly, but Chris cut him off.
“Anyway, since you and lover boy here had already fled for the tropics, he and I got to talking and, well, here we are.” Chris beamed, and Donnelly was thrilled to see her so elated.
“I’m happy for you guys,” Donnelly said. “But remember, Walters—you break my sister’s heart, I break your face.”
“Got it,” replied Walters, who looked uncertain as to whether Donnelly was joking. He wasn’t.
With the family drama aired, Brandt introduced Nick and Pete to the newcomers, and the conversation grew animated all around him.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” Bigg’s voice boomed out across the room, and
a hush fell immediately. Lucas took his leave of the frat boy contingent to return to Will’s side, and all eyes turned to Bigg.
“We’re here tonight to celebrate two people who, when faced with an ethical dilemma of daunting proportions, did the right thing. And I will forever be grateful that they did. Officers Brandt and Donnelly of the state police, can you please come over?”
There was thunderous applause, and not a few catcalls, as the men walked over to stand next to Bigg.
“Now, the people in this room know him as Jason. Many thousands of people outside this room know him as Mason. But to us he will always be the long arm of the law, Ethan Brandt!”
The room burst into cheers and clapping again—Nick contributed a wolf whistle that made Brandt’s eyebrows shoot up.
“And many of you are probably not aware that Officer Brandt’s partner assisted him throughout his mission, and he went above and beyond—as well as below and behind, if you know what I mean.” Here Bigg winked and leered at the audience, prompting a spirited “Ooooh” from the crowd. “Gabriel Donnelly!”
More applause.
“Now, I want everyone to take a moment this evening to express their appreciation for what these two fine officers have done. Without their principled stand against the evil schemes of the attorney general—”
Boos and hisses erupted in the room. Bigg waited for them to die down, then continued.
“Without them, we would not be in business today. So, from all of us, thank you.” Bigg hugged each of the men, and then prompted them to say a few words.
Brandt shyly stepped forward.
“Thank you for those kind words, Barry. I stand here tonight a new man, and I owe that to all of the people here. I thought my life was over when that video of Mason went on the web, but I see now that it was as much a beginning as it was an ending. If I hadn’t done that video, I would never have had a chance to know Nick, or Eugene, or Tim, or any of you guys I now consider my friends. And most importantly, I would not have realized that the person who had been by my side for two years is the one I want by my side forever.” He leaned over and kissed Donnelly, who blushed and waved. “So, thank you. Now, can we take that damn video off the site please?”