Knight wanted to believe that Zep’s blush and suddenly embarrassed behavior was proof that the man had been with his lover sexually. He couldn’t. Zep’s actions weren’t that of someone who was confronted by a spouse and felt guilty about being the cheater’s side fuck. No, Zep’s behavior was nowhere near that and Knight’s analytical mind absorbed Zep’s reaction, minimal response, denial of being with Lita or Slade, and came up with the only other answer. If every reasonable explanation proves to be untrue then the only unreasonable one can be the truth.
“Spider?” Knight asked incredulously even if his voice was quiet.
“Spider?” Hunt echoed more loudly.
Zep hated being put on the spot. Even more so when he felt like he had to defend his choices when it came to his personal life. He loved his team. They were like brothers; Slade more than the rest. Still, he grimaced at the thought of having to explain to Slade why he no longer hated Spider with a passion. He pushed thoughts of that conversation out of his mind and focused on his two teammates who were looking at him in shock.
“Yes, fucking Spider, okay?” Zep let his anger over his personal shit being aired out bleed into his tone. “We had some shit to sort out. We sorted it, so keep your fucking opinions out of my God damn personal life!”
Silence settled around all three men after Zep’s outburst. Gazes shifted between all of them. Hunt looked between Zep and Knight, Knight glanced between Hunt and Zep, Zep just glared at them both unapologetically. Knight was the first one to break the uncomfortable silence that surrounded all three of them while they stood in the dining room.
“Well, that kinda hickey could only mean it was good.” Knight smiled and it only widened when Zep’s cheeks flushed pink.
“Oh, it was!” Hunt chimed in. “So, are you going to be walking funny or is Spider going to regret riding his hog for this op?”
The shift in energy from negative to positive, practically supportive of what went down between him and Spider, was so drastic that all Zep could do was take in a rapid inhale of breath. At first, he didn’t think Hunt really expected an answer, but the longer his teammates leveled goofy grins at him, the more he realized they actually expected him to answer.
“Neither.” Zep felt his face flare with heat again and he couldn’t look at either one of his teammates.
“Well that sucks,” Hunt commented and went back to whatever the hell he was doing on his computers.
Knight said nothing. Zep was obviously embarrassed and the last thing he would ever do was make someone, especially a teammate, feel more uncomfortable. However, when Zep finally, fleetingly shifted his hazel eyes to meet Knights, Knight gave him a soft smile.
“Things will work out as they should.” Knight turned away and walked into the kitchen. “Want coffee?”
Those two words, ‘want coffee,’ reset the balance between them. It was almost as if Knight’s mundane question erased everything that had gone down between the three of them regarding their conversation about he and Spider.
“Yeah, coffee would be great.” Zep smiled and followed Knight into the kitchen.
##~~##
Nineteen
“Here are your boys.” Hunt smirked at Knight and Zep.
Zep mentally cursed because he felt his cheeks trying to flush. Knight didn’t react at all other than to leave the kitchen so he could look at Hunt’s computer to see what the hell the man was talking about.
Hunt angled the monitor so that both his teammates could see the screen. Three boxes showed three different video feeds and a fourth a map of the area with the colored dots to indicate all of the INET agents who were on the op. Sound suddenly came from the speakers on the table. At first they only heard a rustling noise as if one of their teammates were packing something into a bag.
“Hunt, I know you, so I know you tuned in the minute we went live.”
They couldn’t see Slade’s face even if they heard his voice. Instead, they were looking at the inside of a shithole motel room. The view suddenly change so that they were looking at Lita seated on the bed. Another one of the screens displayed Slade sitting in a chair.
Hunt typed a few strokes on the keyboard and all three agents micro cam’s were labeled with their names so they would know who was looking at what. Hunt even labeled Spider’s even though all they could see from the man’s cam was a water spot on the ceiling.
Zep jumped when Spider’s face totally replaced the view of the ceiling. After a second, dizzying movement replaced the man’s chiseled features. It was obvious that Spider was putting on whatever piece of clothing, probably his vest, before the spinning of the garment settled. Slade and Lita filled the screen that Hunt had labeled as Spider’s.
“We’re all set here,” Slade informed. “I’m sure Zep told you,” a smirk graced their team leader’s lips.
Zep wasn’t sure if he wanted to be embarrassed or angry that Slade apparently already knew that something nonviolent, who am I kidding?, something sexual, had happened between him and Spider. He chose to go with anger since it made him feel more in control over his emotions.
“We are meeting with the Blades again at seven. If there are any updates that we need to know about before then, Zep needs to come back to his room because I know you didn’t just rent it for one night.” Again, Slade smirked.
“Don’t give him shit,” Spider’s voice came through loud and clear from the speakers on the dining room table. The view from both Slade and Lita’s cameras shifted to reveal a frowning ATF agent.
“I’m not giving him shit,” Slade countered and the view from Slade’s cam showed their team leader approaching Spider. The view from Spider’s cam was the reverse, but they could see Slade grinning at Spider. “I trained him, so I know he didn’t just get the room for a night.”
Through Slade’s view, they watched Spider look away from their team leader and Zep wasn’t sure why he thought he was watching Spider’s cheeks flush. Lita’s screen indicated their large teammate was just watching both men.
“We’re going to leave around two to head over to Hell’s Minions,” Slade informed them even though on the screen it appeared that he was talking to Spider. “Drive by our room first before you go to yours, Zep. One of us will keep an eye out for the car you were driving yesterday.” Slade didn’t look away from Spider even when the ATF agent moved to open the room’s curtains a few inches.
“I’ll send Spider over and you can update him,” Slade finished and Spider’s body whipped around to face Slade and filled the screen that was labeled with their team leader’s name.
“What?” Lita said at the same time Zep caught Knight and Hunt glancing at him.
“There’s no reason for either of us to go to another room. If anything, it will look like Spider has a trick he’s hooking up with, again.” Slade’s view shifted to Lita and Lita’s focused on Slade. It was a good thing Lita was looking at Slade so that Zep could see Slade’s wince when he realized what he had just said.
“Not that you’re a trick, Zep.”
“Shit,” Spider’s voice cursed out of the speakers at the same time Zep spoke.
“I know you don’t think I am,” Zep replied as if Slade could hear him. Neither Hunt nor Knight said a word.
“Okay, well, if we don’t see you drive by the room Zep, we’ll assume you don’t have anything new for us and will meet the Blades at seven o’clock. Either way, I want eyes on us. So, Knight and Zep make sure you are watching the bar. I doubt we will get to see anything that caused Payne to call us in, but I still want you there.” Slade paused as if he was waiting to hear them agree. “Other than that, we’re just going to dick around and do a whole lot of nothing. Sorry Hunt, you’re going to be bored for a while.” Lita’s screen showed Slade grinning.
“Want me to go with you?” Knight offered on the off chance that Zep didn’t want to confront Spider by himself regardless of whatever level of sex they had had the night before.
“No, but thanks,” Zep replied when he
stepped toward the front door. “I’ll be fine.”
“Oh, I’m sure you will.” Hunt snickered as he walked up to Zep. “Plant this on your man.” Hunt held up a small baggie with a GPS tracker.
“He’s not my man,” Zep countered.
“Yeah, okay.” Hunt grinned as Zep took the baggie. “We have a tracker on his bike, but the A/V bugs are too much of a pain in the ass to track if we need to find him.”
Zep’s stomach clenched at the thought that they could need a reason to locate Spider. His reaction was unexpected, but at least he didn’t let his sudden concern show on his face.
“You don’t have to be sneaky about it,” Hunt reassured because Zep lost a few shades of color and he doubted his teammate even realized he had paled. “Just let him know it’s a precaution. He’ll be fine with it because I know for a fact that it’s ATF policy to use the same type of precautions to keep track of their agents.”
Knight didn’t like the way Zep lost color when Hunt mentioned placing the GPS tracker on Spider. Even though he rolled with Zep’s outburst last night, didn’t mean he still wasn’t concerned about the man when it came to him and Spider and the past they shared.
“You sure you don’t want some company?” Knight asked as neutrally as his level of undercover acting would allow him to do. “Sitting around here isn’t my idea of fun work,” Knight added and gave Zep a smile.
“I’ll be fine.” Zep looked at both of his teammates.
Hunt appeared thrilled that Zep was off to update the team via Spider regardless of the fact that he knew Spider had previously scared the shit out of him. Knight smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes and erase the concern that Zep could see gazing down at him.
“I’ll be back before they leave for the Minions,” Zep assured them.
He didn’t care if he was vague about how long he would be gone even though he knew he could have told them he’d return in an hour. No, as Zep left the house and climbed into the rental car that Slade’s team would recognize, Zep wasn’t thinking about what Knight or Hunt thought about him going to give Spider Intel.
His mind was already preoccupied with seeing Spider again. All morning his thoughts had spun around what had happened between them the night before and now that he was returning to the motel, he couldn’t help but think about what might happen between them next.
Fantasies, graphic fucking images, of being alone with Spider and what they could do to one another were still teasing Zep’s mind when he slowly drove through the parking lot of the motel. He didn’t slow before, while, or after he passed the three Harley’s that he knew belonged to his teammates and Spider. Instead, he circled around the back of the motel, parked four spaces down to the right of the room he’d rented, and waited for Spider to make contact.
Zep didn’t have to wait long. Twenty minutes at the most passed before there was a light rap on his door. His breath hitched and his heart rate spiked at the same time his cock decided to wake up and say ‘give me some attention.’ Zep groaned, stood, and pinched his suddenly hard prick in an effort to make it go down before he unlocked and opened the door.
Zep knew what Spider looked like. He had been able to recall his own personal bully’s appearance on any given day since third grade. Still, knowing and expecting Spider’s appearance didn’t stop his breath from getting caught in his throat when he tried to exhale after opening the motel room door.
Spider was rarely, if ever, nervous around anyone and definitely never while he was undercover. But, he was flooded with nervousness when he knocked on Zep’s motel room door. Seeing Zep appear just as nervous to see him was almost a relief.
At least I’m not the only one, Spider thought when he looked down into Zep’s pale hazel eyes.
Spider’s greatest fear was that Zep would have reverted to hating and being afraid of him. Spider didn’t get the sense that either of those emotions were behind the nervous energy that was pinging off Zep and ponging off him back toward the man.
Zep swallowed hard. Spider looked just as unsure as he felt. It was strange seeing the bully from his past look like that and it took him a moment to get over the shock of seeing Spider this way.
“Come in,” Zep finally managed after having to clear his throat.
Spider stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. He may have felt nervous, but those nerves didn’t smother the attraction he felt toward the INET agent. Zep had turned away to let him enter the room, but in the process it gave Spider an excellent rear view of the guy. His cock that had already been semi-hard over the thought of being alone with Zep again decided it would go full mast after seeing the man’s ass in his formfitting blue jeans.
Zep was aware that Spider came into the room and shut the door after he turned away. However, when he heard a noise, and almost painful whine, come from behind him, he turned back around to face the ATF agent. The expression on Spider’s face echoed what the man leveled on him less than twelve hours ago.
Dark brown eyes that were lust blown stared at him with want and hunger. Spider’s gaze leveled on him and didn’t prevent Zep’s cock from growing even harder behind the zipper of his jeans.
Spider met Zep’s sexy as sin hazel eyes. He wanted to believe he saw the same level of desire that he felt, but he couldn’t be sure. So, he broke the steady gaze that Zep was drilling into him by looking down the rest of the man’s body. Looking down Zep’s chest and lower didn’t do anything to make Spider’s cock behave, especially when his eyes landed on Zep’s groin.
He’s as hard as I am. Spider realized and shot his eyes back up to Zep’s.
Zep watched Spider break his stare so he didn’t miss the moment the man saw how aroused he was just by his presence. Zep wanted to hate his body’s betraying reaction. But is it really betrayal if he turns me on now after everything I learned about him the night before?
Spider was the first to break the standoff that separated them by a few feet. He closed the distance between them purposely and when Zep didn’t flinch away from his lust driven aggressive approach, he was encouraged that the man wanted the same relief he sought.
Spider’s hand came up and grasped the nape of his neck only a moment before the larger man slammed into Zep’s chest and crashed his lips down onto his mouth. Spider’s sudden movement, sudden aggression to take Zep’s mouth didn’t scare him even though it should have. No, instead Zep met Spider’s hunger with his own and wrapped his arms over the man shoulders.
***
Knight and Hunt watched the computer monitor and saw through Lita and Spider’s eyes when both men left their motel room. Slade had told them that they were heading out to get food. It was obvious that they had left Spider behind. The ATF agent’s camera looked steadily out of the three inch gap between the hotel curtains toward the parking lot.
It wasn’t long before Slade and Lita’s camera showed them entering a diner and Spider’s displayed Zep’s rental car cruising by the team’s motel room. Shortly after, Spider’s camera showed him in front of Zep’s motel room door.
Knight wasn’t sure if he would ever recover from what they watched next. He wasn’t a prude and had watched plenty of porn over the years, but there was something extremely disturbing about watching the first person view of the ATF agent after Zep open the motel room door.
Knight may not have been able to see Spider’s face, but he and Hunt could clearly see Zep’s through the camera Spider wore. The image from Spider’s cam, the look of lust on Zep’s face, practically made the sexual tension between the two men feel like a physical thing in the rental house. So much so, that when the two men assaulted each other in an almost desperate kiss, Knight’s jeans became uncomfortable.
“Umm,” Knight uttered.
“Yeah,” Hunt replied, but neither looked away from the small square that was labeled with Spider’s name.
“We should…” Knight attempted.
“Yeah,” Hunt said again as they watched Zep and Spider try to devour each other through a
brutal kiss.
Both agents watched their teammate and the ATF agent they knew scared the shit out of Zep less than a day ago as they attacked each other sexually. If Knight wasn’t so intimately familiar with the feeling of anger fueled sexual need, he may have been overly concerned for Zep. But he wasn’t. Zep and Spider weren’t anywhere near angry with each other and Zep sure as hell wasn’t afraid of the man he just wrapped his legs around.
It was wrong that they were watching Zep through the cam Spider wore, even if all they saw was an almost black screen because Zep was pressed so close to Spider. But it wasn’t just what they could or couldn’t see that made their focus on Hunt’s computer monitor so wrong. No, it was hearing the sounds of Zep and Spider so hot for each other that made Knight and Hunt standing next to the dining room table listening in beyond wrong.
The small square that was Spider’s cam suddenly shifted from a solid color to a full-blown view of Zep. There was no doubt that Spider was looking at Zep who was sitting astride him.
“Umm… Maybe…” Knight began, but still didn’t look away from the screen.
“Yeah,” Hunt agreed, but for a moment didn’t do anything.
“Hunt,” Knight managed even though as twisted as it might have been, he didn’t want to stop watching.
“Yeah,” Hunt replied again because it seemed to be the only word he could utter. “Right.”
Hunt tapped a key that sent the visual, and thankfully the audio, somewhere else on the computer. Knight didn’t care where it went. He was just glad Hunt finally removed it from the screen before they witnessed something they would regret.
“I’m going to get a shower,” Hunt informed Knight and started toward the hall. “I’ll see you when we’re done.”
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