by Jana Downs
He pulled onto his street and found a spot relatively close to the building before putting the car in park and climbing out onto the curb. He took a minute to admire his parallel parking skills. Maybe this time he wouldn’t get a ticket from the street cleaning people when they came by. Usually it was an every Thursday occurrence. He just paid the fine and joked that it was the price of parking in his neighborhood.
The street he lived on only had three streetlights, and the pale-yellow light did little to actually illuminate the sidewalk when it was fully dark out. Evan knew the sidewalk like the back of his hand though and navigated it easily even in the pitch. He hopped over one of the raised concrete slabs that was forever tripping pedestrians and the pothole that inexplicably always had water in it. The front porch light was on at the apartments, but he never used the porch. Instead, he circled to the side of the building and took the rusted stairs up to his front door.
After a little fumbling, he managed to get his key in the lock and twisted. Ah, paradise. The door swung inward to reveal his tidy little hermit cave. Electronics of all shapes and sizes littered the counters and the living room, aka his fun zone. The three monitors and surround sounds would’ve done any movie junkie proud. The fact that three desktop towers were neatly arranged in the bottom made no matter to the overall awesomeness of his set up. His loveseat faced the screens and cradled his wireless keyboard and various other controllers for the game systems that took up the rest of the cabinets on either side of the monitors. In short, this was a gamer’s paradise.
His unmade bed sat to the right of the living room, shielded by a curtain of cogs and metal bits that Evan had bought at a steampunk convention last year. Even his wall decor reflected his complete homage to the world of computers by displaying maps from various games he’d conquered. Plus they just looked cool when framed. Skyrim’s map was hung at the center since it was his favorite.
The only thing really normal about his apartment was the kitchen. It was pretty much the same as when he moved in it. It had a nearly empty fridge and a pantry full of quick-fix snacks. Yep, life as a bachelor didn’t come with many homey amenities.
He dropped his bag by the kitchen after closing and locking his door before striding over to his loveseat. He plopped down on the slightly lumpy surface and made a mental note for the millionth time that he needed to go out and get another couch. Fishing his cell phone from his pocket, he dialed the pizza place by memory and ordered a medium pepperoni. Sal, the owner, greeted him by name and gave him a discount like he usually did when he trailed in late.
Five minutes later he was logged into Hackverse and trolling the boards looking for a particular screen name. His messenger pinged. Apparently BlackJoy found him first. He grinned.
BlackJoy is typing. “How was the date?”
“Awful. His name now and forever will be Mr. Grabby.”
“Oh boy.”
“Tell me about it…”
“Bummer…”
It was a time for a change in subject. “So how was your evening? Unless you don’t live in the States, in which case, how was your day? lol”
“lol I live in the states. Georgia. It was okay. Work was boring, but I grabbed a swim with a friend before I knew you’d be on.”
Evan’s stomach tightened for a second. What were the odds they lived in the same state? “That’s cool. I live in Georgia, too. About an hour outside of ATL.”
“Near Cherryville?”
Evan hesitated. He didn’t want to give away too much information. This was a hacker after all. He settled on being vague. “Something like that. You want a rematch from earlier?”
“I’m always ready for a rematch with you.”
Evan smiled. “Flirt.”
“;)”
Chapter Two
Brandon was bleary-eyed by the time he managed to drag himself away from his computer and go get some rest. It was a good thing he didn’t have to be at work until eleven because otherwise he never would’ve made it. He was still bone tired when he managed to convince himself that it was indeed morning when his alarm went off. He didn’t regret the exhaustion though. Last night was absolutely worth it.
About five minutes into their match, Brandon had declared the session the anti-date, and WrightTrigger had agreed. From then on out the chatting had been constant and they’d played surprisingly few challenges. They’d discussed everything from politics to dental hygiene, and Brandon couldn’t honestly remember the last time he’d laughed so hard. He knew it was stupid fantasy to spend his nights with a faceless online person, but it felt good to have someone to talk to.
He waved at Quinn as he passed the front desk before continuing on his way back to the security room. The office was hopping today, that was damn sure. The waiting room had been pretty packed, and it appeared the interview rooms weren’t any less so. He swiped his card for the security room before ducking inside.
The other two men on his shift were already at their desks, working diligently on lines of code. “Security updates?” Brandon asked, glancing at a line or two over Ben’s shoulder.
Ben nodded. “Yeah. There is one system we can’t get inside of to do maintenance on. It was set up before we got here, and I can’t seem to break into the program. We’ve been working on it all morning.”
“Hmmm, shoot me the address and I’ll take a look.” There was nothing he couldn’t break into, and he was proud of the fact. He was one of the only people in the world with his particular set of skills, at least that was what the brain surgeons at MIT had said when they’d given him a full ride to go there. Brandon just understood technology. He could manipulate it to do just about anything. The only one who had come close to matching him even on Hackverse was WrightTrigger.
He brought up his computer and clocked in before opening the systems file Ben sent over. Things like this were usually simply solved. Without a how-to guide on the program, he would just have to find the weakness to slip inside. He settled down and began to work.
An hour later, understanding dawned. I know this work. I know this type of coding. He’d encountered a similar program on Hackverse that WrightTrigger had written. It had been a bitch to break into. He lives close. It’s possible. The chances that the only other man in the world who could out maneuver him working a system he was on couldn’t be that slim. sHarmony was known for quality work.
“Hey, Ben?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you pull me the personnel file on the person who worked this previously?”
“Yeah, give me two seconds.”
Brandon told himself not to get his hopes up. It was very possible that it wasn’t the right person. WrightTrigger wasn’t the only one who wrote code like this. There were others. But any good computer science guy could distinguish the signature that came with a particular programmer. This was damn near art.
Ben spoke. “It was an outside contractor. Evan Cartwright. I’m sending you his contact info. I told you the program was a bitch.”
It was a bitch, but that was beside the point. Cartwright. He went into the system and pulled up anything they had on Evan Cartwright. There were only two files, one in the contractor files and another in the dating services. He glanced up to see the other two men still engrossed in what they were doing. Good. Brandon wasn’t technically supposed to look at customer profiles without permission from HR, but his curiosity wouldn’t let him go. His gut was telling him that Evan Cartwright and WrightTrigger were one in the same.
The file opened, and Brandon sucked in a breath. Hello, beautiful. The brown-haired, brown-eyed beauty was just his type. He had a medium build and a soft-looking mouth, but it was his eyes that captured Brandon’s attention. He could fall into those dark depths. Knowing that the man had such a brain on him only furthered his intrigue. He had to meet him. He knew in that second he was going to be breaking a hell of a lot of rules.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he copied the e-mail address and went through the matching dep
artment’s e-mail. He used one of their form letters and filled in some details of his own. They’d meet at an Internet cafe. It was casual and would give Brandon the opportunity to test Cartwright out to see if he was really WrightTrigger. If he wasn’t, no harm, no foul. But Brandon didn’t think he was wrong about this.
He sat back when he was finished, erasing his trail with a few clicks of his mouse. He hoped that Evan Cartwright checked his e-mails regularly because if so, they had a date tonight.
* * * *
Evan laughed as he read the e-mail from sHarmony. They didn’t even give him options this time. He mentally shrugged. Whatever. He wouldn’t complain. Maybe they just really thought this guy was “the one” or something like that. Sadly, if he is, I won’t be interested. It wasn’t like him to be pessimistic, but after the awesome anti-date from the night before, he was reluctant to go on another actual one. Why can’t BlackJoy just pop out of a cake like the world’s greatest birthday present? It was his twenty-third birthday tomorrow. It would only be fair of the universe to give him the mental man of his dreams.
Jude popped his head in Evan’s office, his green eyes shining. The man was up to something. “Don’t forget that your party starts at three tomorrow.” Evan was glad he reminded him because he’d honestly forgotten. Jude and Collin had mentioned that they would be throwing him a party this year, but he’d put it out of his mind with everything that had happened with Jude. Between his crazy ex writing anti-shifter slurs on Jude’s car and the brawl between the ex and Jude’s mate Logan, everyone had been a little on edge.
“I’ll be there,” Evan promised. “I might even bring a date if tonight’s goes well.”
“Oh yeah?” Jude asked, grinning. The man was a full believer in the sHarmony system since he’d met his mate on their first date. “We’ll have enough food regardless. Logan went a little overboard with the variety of food he bought. I mean, we have everything possible to throw on a grill.”
“Your boyfriend has a relationship with his Grillmaster, just so you know,” Evan teased. Logan seemed to use any excuse he could to throw food on his grill.
Jude shrugged. “My man loves his toys.” He speared him with a look. “So…is tonight’s date yesterday’s date?”
“Nope,” Evan said. “New guy. Other guy was a little creepy, and the date was painful.”
“You really need to stop picking them out, brother. Let sHarmony do their thing.”
“I am,” Evan said, annoyed at the patronizing tone. “Tonight is their choice.”
Jude looked relieved, which just ticked Evan off more. “Good. Let me know how it goes.” It was their ritual to call one another after a date. Of course that tradition had kind of gone to the wayside now that Evan spent his nights with Logan. He was a little bothered by that, but he knew logically that was just part of being in a relationship.
“I will,” Evan promised. He turned his attention back to the website he was working on, and Jude wandered off to go do whatever his artsy thing was. Collin was in a meeting with a potential client, so he was well and truly alone for a good while.
The work day passed relatively fast. He spent his lunch in his office, playing around on Hackverse. None of the other players he met were half as interesting as BlackJoy though, so he tired of it quickly. He rubbed his tired eyes as he stared at his monitor. He kind of wished the date wasn’t happening tonight. The way he felt right now, he could go straight home after work and sleep for the rest of the night. The cold pizza would be fine for supper. He shook his head. No. He was going. He promised himself that he would listen to sHarmony for their choices this time around, and he was tired of being alone.
As soon as five rolled around, he grabbed his laptop case and phone before beelining for the door. He waved at Collin, who was in yet another meeting in their consultation room. The man raised a hand in greeting before directing his attention back to the client. Jude was nowhere in sight, so Evan assumed he had either left already or was still holed up in his office working on whatever project he had on his plate at the moment. He made the designs, and Evan made them happen and maintained them afterward.
The employees’ lot was a welcome sight. He wasted no time in hopping in his car and heading home. Traffic was light, so he made excellent time on the highway. It dawned on him that he hadn’t even opened his date’s profile picture. He had no clue what his date looked like, only the name of the Internet cafe he was going to be meeting him at. Evan hoped the guy wasn’t a total troll.
When he arrived, he logged into Hackverse long enough to shoot BlackJoy an offline message to say he was out for the night before dragging himself into the shower. He soaped up with his favorite smelling cucumber body wash and poured a generous amount of lavender and eucalyptus shampoo onto his scalp. He let himself pretend for a second that BlackJoy was his date and he was handsome and charming and kind, everything that Evan wanted in a man. He imagined a whirlwind romance and sex as good as the kind Jude always bragged he and Logan had.
Oh sex. He hadn’t had sex in sooo long. His cock hardened at the word. His hand had been his best friend for longer than he cared to admit, and he ached for the feel of a lover beside him, inside him. He might have only had sex twice but it didn’t mean the hunger didn’t burn him just like guys who got it regularly. Without intending to, he wrapped his hand around his erection and started to stroke. He knew he shouldn’t, but he’d already gotten himself worked up.
He groaned into a washcloth as he used his body wash as lube for his cock. Water sluicing over his shoulders, his balls drew up as orgasm trembled just out of reach. He wanted to come so badly he had doubts that he would be able to hold himself up when he did. He fucked into the tight circle of his fist twice more before pleasure raced up his spine and forced him to shoot the sticky proof of his pleasure out of his cock.
As the lust cleared, he looked down at his spent cock as his spunk circled the drain. He knew BlackJoy was a nice fantasy, but he was just that, a fantasy. He needed to stop spending so much time playing with faceless boys online and start living in the real world.
* * * *
“I can’t believe they didn’t send me a picture,” Evan muttered as he parked his car in front of the cafe. They’d never failed to send him a picture to accompany the profile. Unease went through him. If this was some asshole fucking with him or one of those Humans First jerkoffs, he was going to flip his shit. No. The e-mail came from the sHarmony site, and he set up the security matrix himself. Reassured, he cut the engine.
When he climbed out of the car, his eyes immediately zeroed in on the sweet ride parked three cars down. He had a permanent hard-on for nice cars. The black shiny surface of the vehicle made his palms itched. It was a lovely car, an Aston Martin Rapide. The windows were tinted, but he imagined it had a leather interior. He’d have to scope out the keys of the people inside since it didn’t look very crowded through the windows and compliment the driver.
He pulled open the door to the coffee shop and stepped inside. It was relatively empty, but without a picture, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to find his date. What was he supposed to do, stand on a table and ask all of the above parties if they were there for a blind date? He sighed. There were a few good-looking guys in the shop, most of them on their laptops. He wrinkled his nose at some of their hardware choices. Yikes. Someone wants a system crash.
“Evan?”
The voice had him turning around. At one of the back tables in the corner was a man who looked to be a little older than Evan’s twenty-two years, with pitch-black hair and eyes the color of cerulean blue. Evan blinked rapidly, his tongue refusing to work as it threatened to roll out of his mouth like one of those wolves from an old Warner Bros. cartoon.
The man slid from his table and stood. He was freaking tall. Evan nearly whimpered at the urge to throw himself at the guy’s feet. Someone that pretty deserved to be freaking worshipped. “Evan Cartwright, right?” Mr. Tall, Dark, and Beautiful said.
Evan n
odded, swallowed, trying to remember how to talk. “Uh, they didn’t send me a picture,” he blurted out. He immediately wanted to bang his head into the nearest wall. Smooth, Cartwright. Really smooth.
Unease flickered in Gorgeous’s expression. “Oh…is that a problem?”
“Oh no! I was, um, just, uh, making conversation.” Tongue, work, damn you!
A slow smile spread over Gorgeous’s face an instant before he held out his hand for a shake. “Brandon Payne.”
Evan took the hand but his grip was pitiful at best. “Uh, yeah. Evan. Cartwright. Um, you know that. Coffee?”
“Of course. What can I get you?”
“Oh no. I’ll get it. I have money,” he said quickly.
Brandon shook his head. “My date. My treat.” He waved his hand back toward his table. “Why don’t you go park your cute self over at my table while I grab us some drinks?”
He thinks I’m cute? Pleasure swamped him. “S–sure.”
Brandon’s lips twitched. “So what do you want?”
“Decaf coffee, two creams, one sugar.” Definitely need decaf at this point.
“Coming right up.” Brandon wandered to the line that was forming in front of the barista stand, and Evan somehow managed to convince his feet to carry him over to the table that Brandon had indicated. The laptop on the table had to be his. It looked like a custom piece like Evan’s. His initial interest spiked even higher. A computer guy. He hadn’t tried a computer guy yet.
