His face stuck in an upset scowl, Danny got in the car, yanked on his seat belt and angrily twisted the key to start the engine. He drove home, pissed that his good mood had been soured by one tweet from one stranger on the internet. Danny stomped into the house and went straight back to the kitchen for a glass of lemonade, pouring it with hands that shook slightly with anger. He sipped slowly, letting the icy liquid cool him off from the summer heat and hoping the sugar would miraculously sweeten his mood.
He was leaning against the counter, thumb slowly sweeping back and forth over the condensation on the glass when his phone chimed. He was tempted to ignore it but it was an incoming text message, not a notification from Twitter. Danny took out his phone and thumbed open a message from his roommate.
Are you tweeting spicy or have you been hacked?
Dread dropped into his stomach like a lead brick. He quickly typed out a response. I haven’t tweeted anything. Danny hit send, then immediately went to his Twitter account. But he couldn’t get in — the log in screen told him that he had the wrong password. He tried again and got the same message. Starting to panic, Danny flipped back to the text app. I can’t get in. What’s on there?
Some pretty racy artwork of you and Blaze. And I just checked. It’s on your Instagram too.
“Oh my God.” Unable to get into his work account, he logged into his old inactive personal account. Danny typed his name into the search bar, clicking the result to take him to his @Danny_art profile. His jaw dropped at the most recent tweets on the screen. The doodle of him and Jordan on an ice floe with Jordan naked and him buried under a heap of blankets. The picture he’d drawn the night he realized he was in love with Jordan. Lewd art of him and Blaze from their night in the lair that he’d rushed to draw while the memory was still fresh in his mind. A few other explicit doodles. And they’d each been shared with cruel captions.
I’m delusional and I think Blaze loves me.
I’m a whore for Blaze.
Look at me taking this superhero cock.
Another tweet popped up while he was staring at the screen frozen in horrified shock.
Danny Griffin 6845 Blackbird Dr. Come over and I’ll draw you fucking any superhero you want.
He’d been doxxed.
Shaking, unable to focus enough to type text on his phone without making a gazillion mistakes, he hit the speed dial to call Jordan while running upstairs to get his laptop. Jordan answered, the noise of the shop loud in the background.
“Hey, angel.”
“He’s back! It’s worse this time. He stole my private art and shared it all online!”
“What? Danny, slow down and tell me what happened.”
Danny gulped in a deep breath, calming himself enough to relay the situation. “That guy, Charles. He sent me a Twitter DM telling me I’d regret embarrassing him in front of Ignite. I blocked him because I wanted the whole thing to go away. But he hacked my social media and my Cloud and uploaded private artwork to my social media accounts. Then he doxxed me. That’s when I called you.”
“Fuck.”
The curse came across the line in Blaze’s low, rough growl. Oddly, it comforted Danny and he calmed even more.
“I’m on my way. Don’t answer any calls or open the door unless it’s someone you know.”
“Okay.” Danny hung up, relieved that Jordan was coming over. While he waited, he sat down to email the Help staff accounts for both Twitter and Instagram to let them know he’d been hacked. Then he paced, nervously looking out the window and squinting with suspicion at everyone who walked by. He had no idea what Charles looked like, since his avi was always a picture of Ignite, and he’d never posted a picture of himself online.
Barely fifteen minutes later, the low throaty roar of a sports car sounded outside. He looked out the window and saw two cars pulling up to the curb, a Camaro and a dark blue Honda. Danny recognized the first car as one of Jordan’s and ran downstairs to let him in. He was already out of the car by the time Danny got the door open, coming up the walk accompanied by a young man not much taller than Danny, with big brown eyes and silky blue hair falling over his forehead. He had headphones around his neck and a laptop bag slung over his shoulder.
“Hey, I’m Caleb,” he said as he stepped into the living room. “I handle all the tech stuff for the superheroes. Jordan told me that your accounts have been compromised.”
“Hi, Caleb. Thanks for coming to help.”
“Show me where I can work.”
Danny lead the way back to his workroom, hastily clearing off his messy desk top so Caleb could sit down and set up his computer.
“Write down all your accounts, log-ins, and passwords and I’ll get started.”
Grabbing one of his sketch pads, Danny wrote down the information for all of his social media accounts as well as his Cloud and website, passing it to Caleb when he was finished.
“I’m going to put on my headphones. They help me block out thoughts and emotions while I work. If you need me, tap me on the shoulder, okay?”
Danny nodded.
“All right, let’s see what we’ve got.” He settled a pair of ice blue headphones over his ears and turned to his laptop.
Danny chewed his thumbnail, watching the screens rapidly flipping as Caleb tabbed from one to the other. He startled when Jordan wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
“He’s going to be working for a while. Come and sit down with me.”
Jordan led him away from the desk over to the futon on the other side of the room. He sat down and pulled Danny onto his lap.
“I won’t tell you to relax because I know that’s not possible. But chill here while Caleb handles it, okay?”
Jordan was right. Danny didn’t have the skillset to fix the mess that Charles had made. There was nothing for him to do but be patient and wait while Caleb cleaned it up. He nodded. “Okay.” He eased back to rest against Jordan’s chest. He watched Caleb work, listening to the clack clack clack of the keyboard as the techie typed in rapid fire bursts.
After a few minutes, Danny looked up at Jordan with a questioning frown. “What did he mean by block out emotions?”
“Caleb is an empath. He picks up strong feelings and sometimes even direct thoughts if they’re broadcasted loud enough.”
“Wow.” He hadn’t guessed that the unassuming guy had any special powers. “Ummm, should I try not to be upset so he doesn’t feel it?”
“Don’t worry about it. He’s good at blocking, and like he said, the headphones help. They’re more than the average pair of Beats.”
Danny suddenly remembered that he hadn’t checked back in with his roommate. “I’d better let Scott know everything is okay.” He pulled his phone from his back pocket and sent Scott a text. Thanks for the head’s up on the hack. Called Jordan. He got a tech genius over here to fix everything. I’m pissed but okay.
The conversation bubbles immediately popped up, indicating that Scott was typing on the other end. Danny’s phone beeped with his response.
Good. Hope you guys catch that clown and rub his face in the dirt.
Ordinarily he would have laughed at that response but with the stress tightening his shoulders and squeezing his temples, he only managed to shake his head at his friend. He put his phone away and sat there quietly, Jordan rubbing his back. He was still in shock that this guy had retaliated in such a harmful way over art. Art that he hadn’t contributed to at all.
Caleb finally leaned back in his chair and took off the headphones. “Finished.”
Danny jumped up and rushed back across the room, Jordan following at a slower pace.
“Okay. All of your accounts are restored to you. The offending tweets have been taken down and I’ve searched for and removed all the screenshots as well.”
“We can remove screenshots?”
“I can remove screenshots,” Caleb said with a smug grin. “As for the jerk who did this, I had all of his accounts suspended. And I have his IP address.” He waved a sc
rap of paper back and forth. “It’s registered to a Charles Lattimer at 1027 Cedar Place.” He handed the information over to Blaze. “I’m sure you’ll want to pay him a visit.”
“Definitely,” Jordan said in a low, dangerous tone.
Needing an outlet for the rush of relief that went through him, Danny pressed his hands over his face and screamed into his palms. After taking a few deep breaths to gather himself, he dropped them to shake Caleb’s hand with heartfelt gratitude. “Thank you so much. I never thought he would go this far. I have to repay you. Let me know your hourly rate and I’ll PayPal you. And I can draw you some art too. I’ll make you a 24-page full-color double-sided art book dedicated to you if you want.”
Laughing, Caleb held up his hands to wave Danny off. “No payment necessary. The thanks are enough. You’re good for now, but if you’re going to keep hanging with this guy,” — he nodded at Jordan — “you might want to consider beefing up the security for your entire online presence more than what I’ve done here today. If you decide to go that route, let me know and I’ll take care of it for you.” He started packing up his bag.
Danny walked his savior to the front door, repeatedly thanking him. Once Caleb left, the door closed behind him, Danny leaned back against it. Jordan stood a few feet away, arms folded across his chest, watching him with sympathetic concern.
“Come here.”
Danny slowly walked over to him, shoulders drooping and feet dragging. Jordan unfolded his arms and pulled him into a tender hug. When Danny wrapped his arms around his neck, Jordan lifted him off the floor, taking all of his weight. Danny tucked his face into the curve of Jordan’s shoulder. “Would it be stupid to cry over this?”
“No. That asshole has stressed you out for weeks and today he went way past the line. I know you were scared and upset. But you handled it well.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You did. You called me.”
Danny leaned back and looked at Jordan. “What if I didn’t have you to call?”
“I know you would have figured it out. But don’t worry about that. I’m here, okay? I’m here for you.”
“Thank you. You’re good at saving me.” He gave his boyfriend a kiss of gratitude, then rested their foreheads together. Jordan let him stay there, holding him up in his strong arms. “Do you have to get back to the shop?”
“No. Nina closed up for me and I’m not going out as Blaze either. You’ve got me for the whole night. What do you want to do?” he asked as he set Danny back on his feet.
Danny thought about it. It was past the dinner hour so they should eat. And he needed something to give him an outlet for his anger and take his mind off things for a few hours. “Chinese food and video games?”
“Sounds good. You get the game going while I go and get cleaned up.”
Danny finally realized that Jordan was still in his work uniform, with grease and paint on his hands and arms. “Oh my God. You came over here so fast you didn’t even get a chance to change.”
“It’s okay. A little dirt never hurt anybody.”
“Go wash up and I’ll order the food.”
Jordan disappeared up the stairs to his bedroom. Danny got on the phone and hit the speed dial for his favorite Chinese restaurant. He placed an order for two servings of combination fried rice, egg rolls, Crab Rangoon, beef and broccoli, and two Vess sodas. He’d just turned on the TV and started the PlayStation when Jordan walked back into the living room, cleaned of work grit but still dressed in his uniform.
“I don’t have anything here to fit you. I think you could wear one of my shirts as a sleeve.” Danny pursed his lips for a moment as he thought. “Strip.”
“What?”
“We’ll play in our underwear so you can get out of your work clothes and be comfortable.” He tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it on the armchair. His pants followed after he kicked off his shoes. Then he stood there in his underwear, hands on his hips, waiting on Jordan who had yet to move. “Come on. I promise you’ll be more comfortable.”
Jordan nodded. “Whatever you want, angel.”
He sat down on the couch to unlace his work boots, setting them to the side once they were off. Then he stood back up to unbutton the dark gray coveralls. He shrugged out of the sleeves and pushed the uniform down his hips to the floor.
Danny moved forward to pick up the coveralls for him. Folding them up, he put them on the chair with his clothes. He turned back in time to see the muscles of Jordan’s arms flexing as he raised his white t-shirt over his head. With the shirt off, he was left in black boxer briefs that were tight on his thighs, the bulge of his soft cock and balls cupped and supported by the cotton. The light gleamed on his golden skin, ab muscles rippling as he bent over to take off his socks and stood back up. Danny chubbed up a little, which was only natural with the gorgeous mountain of a man half-naked in front of him, but after the hellish day he’d had, sex wasn’t really on his radar.
“See? Better.”
A slight curl of his lips was Jordan’s only answer.
Danny put the latest Mortal Kombat in the system and they sat down on the couch to play. He eyed Jordan out of the corner of his eye. He awkwardly held the control in his big hands, looking down at the buttons as if he’d never seen them before. “You haven’t played too many video games, have you?”
“Not in about ten years.”
“I’ll try not to whup you too bad.” He teased, but he helped Jordan pick out his fighter and showed him what each button on the controller did. The first round started with Danny basically walking Jordan through how to kick, punch, and block. It was fascinating to watch him taking it in, learning faster than Danny had, his thumbs moving over the controller with ever increasing speed. When he pulled off a brutal combo that took most of Danny’s life, he laughed.
“Okay, I think you’ve got it. Let’s fight.”
The first few rounds, Danny won. Jordan was a fast learner, but Danny had years of experience on him. But once Jordan settled in with his fighter, Kitana, and knew all her moves and combinations, they started to trade wins back and forth. The fighting game worked as he’d hoped, helping him burn off the last of his fury and embarrassment at having his private artwork plastered all over the internet. By the time the doorbell rang announcing their food delivery, Danny was laughing and relaxed. He started to jump up to get the door but Jordan stopped him.
“I don’t think so.” He raised a brow and looked at Danny, naked except for his underwear printed with racing mustangs and shirtless cowboys.
Danny curled his legs under him on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, please, sir! Protect my modesty.”
“You’re gonna pay for that later.” He rose to get his wallet from his coveralls and crossed the living room to the front door.
When he opened the door, Danny heard whoever was on the other side of it cough and wheeze.
“G- Good evening, sir. That’ll be thirty-one fifty.”
Danny smothered a laugh, wishing he could see their expression at coming face to face with a naked god.
Jordan handed the driver two twenties in exchange for a big brown bag of food. “Keep the change.”
“Thank you so much. Really. Thank you.”
Jordan closed the door and Danny burst out laughing. “I don’t think that last thank you was for the tip.”
“Guess I should have put my clothes on first.”
“No way. You gave that driver a treat.”
They dug into the bag, setting the white boxes with their little red trees printed on the sides on the coffee table. Neither of them felt the need for plates and silverware, so they used the plastic forks provided and ate straight from the containers.
“This is good,” Jordan said after he ate a fried egg roll.
“Glad you like it. My family has been ordering from this place since I was a kid.”
Together they polished off nearly all of the food. His belly full, Danny leaned back
against the couch cushions. “Not a bad end to a super crappy day. But now I just want to go to bed.”
“Let’s clean up and we can go upstairs.”
Danny sleepily followed Jordan’s gentle order, taking empty take-out boxes to the trash, wiping off the coffee table, and finally washing his face and brushing his teeth.
In bed, Danny snuggled up against Jordan’s chest. “Thank you again for getting that hack fixed for me so fast.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And I’m sorry those embarrassing pictures of you made it onto the internet. I know Caleb got them all deleted, but lots of people saw them before he did.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not embarrassed. If they were anything like your other art, I know they were beautiful. What did I tell you when you asked if you could draw me?”
Danny remembered back to that night, when he’d had a crush on a hero he didn’t know. “You told me to make you look good.”
“And did you?”
“Oh, yeah. I take pride in my lewds. But drawing us together that way...” he trailed off, unable to find the words to describe how much love and joy and arousal he’d put into inking every line of Jordan’s body. From his magnificent arms to his gorgeous cock, he’d made sure that the Jordan on screen looked as amazing as the real-life counterpart.
“I want to see them when you’re ready to show me.”
“Okay.” They lay there quietly for a moment, Danny watching the rise and fall of his lover’s chest as he breathed. “You’re going to try and find Lattimer aren’t you?”
At the question, Jordan shifted. He tucked a finger beneath Danny’s chin, lifting his face up until they made eye contact. Thanks to the moonlight spilling into the room, he could make out the color of Jordan’s eyes, as well as the fierce protectiveness that shone in their depths.
“If I don’t, he might try to get back at you another way. I can’t let him escalate any further. He needs to have it made clear to him that his days of harassing you are over.”
Blaze Page 18