by R. Cayden
Seb bent down to pet Ellie. “Just that they’re locked up, and it will take me a while to crack the code and read them.” He paused, then smiled to himself. He liked how tough he sounded when he said that.
“You ever done anything like this before?” Declan asked.
“I know, I know,” Seb replied, holding his hands in the air. “I remember the lecture from the ride back. I shouldn’t go sticking my neck out unless I understand the danger I’m getting myself into.”
Declan grunted. “Good,” he said. “Because that’s true. But right now, I’m just thinking about how long it might be before we get to the bottom of this.”
Seb nodded quickly, pleased with the way Declan was seeing him, more like a teammate than like someone he had to watch over. “I used to play around with hacking stuff like this when I was a teenager, but I grew out of it pretty quickly once I realized I wanted to focus on developing my own research. It will take me a while, maybe a few days.”
Declan pushed his hand through his silver hair. His eyes look tired, his lids heavy, and Seb remembered how little he had slept the night before and how much of the day he had spent out in the yard, staring into the cold.
Seb closed his laptop. “That’s probably all I’ll get done tonight, anyway,” he said softly. In truth, he had been considering staying up until the morning and hammering his head against the keyboard until he made some real progress. But when he started to think about Declan, and about bed, all the coding seemed irrelevant. “I think I might lie down.”
“Good idea,” Declan answered.
They had walked through their routine enough times by that point; they didn’t have to say much. Seb poured another splash of water in Ellie’s bowl, and Declan cast his eyes out the bedroom window while he radioed in with security, intense concentration darkening his face until he had finished his list.
Usually, Declan would leave the room, giving Seb the privacy to change. But that evening, Seb didn’t hesitate. With Declan standing a couple of feet away, he unbuttoned and then removed his shirt.
The house went quiet. Seb felt exposed with the silver evening light on his skin, his nipples hard in the cool air. But then Declan held his gaze, and Seb unfastened his trousers and lowered them to the ground.
Declan removed his thermal, tugging it over his head. He and Seb lowered themselves to the bed, and Seb found himself back in Declan’s arms. Instantly, he got what he had been craving, the warmth and strength of Declan’s embrace pushing everything else away.
“Kid,” Declan said, his lips inches away. “I don’t think this is a good idea… I need to stay sharp.”
Seb pressed himself closer to Declan’s body, need driving him forward. “It’s what I want,” he said. “After everything else that’s happened, can’t we still have this?”
Declan tightened his hand on Seb’s shoulder. His fingers dug into the muscles, forcing a whimper across Seb’s lips. “You want this,” Declan whispered in his ear.
“Yes,” Seb gasped back. He folded his hands behind Declan’s head, then pulled himself up, meeting in a kiss. He bit at Declan’s lip, tugging it. “I need this.”
Declan kept rubbing his hands on the back of Seb’s head, then down his side. Seb’s cock strained the front of a pair of plain blue briefs, and the more Declan touched him, the more he quivered.
“Just quick,” Declan said, still whispering the words against Seb’s mouth. “No distractions.”
“And then you’ll lie down with me,” Seb whispered back. “You’ll sleep?”
Declan grunted. Seb wanted to hear the yes now, knowing that Declan would honor his word. He pressed his hands against Declan’s chest and slid his palm across his hard nipples. “Please?” he whispered.
“Fuck, kid, I can’t say no to that.”
They kissed harder, the permission they had given each other allowing Seb to roam his hands over Declan’s firm muscles. He took in a deep huff of their scents and traced his tongue along Declan’s lips and the stubble of his beard. When he reached his hand down to play with the bulge at Declan’s crotch, Declan finally pulled his lips back again.
“You said that was the first time you’ve given someone a blowjob, the other night?”
Seb swallowed. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Does that mean no one has ever returned the favor?”
An embarrassed flush hit Seb’s cheeks. “No, no one has.”
Declan bit down on his lip, his eyes boring into Seb. “About time for that to change, don’t you think?”
Seb felt like his heart stopped. “Yeah,” he said. “I think it is.”
“Good,” Declan growled back, then swooped Seb into his arms and deposited him softly onto the pillows.
Seb laughed as he kicked his legs out. Declan started at his neck, planting soft kisses down, then bit softly at Seb’s nipples and drew his tongue in a long, lazy line to the waistband of his briefs.
“Oh god,” Seb whispered, sensation and pleasure exploding at his core. The anticipation of it was already more than he could handle.
Declan tugged Seb’s underwear down. “You just let me know how you like it.”
Seb, however much he wished he could do that for Declan, suddenly found language leaving him altogether. He murmured and sputtered and gasped as Declan took his cock, lathering attention with his tongue and lips and then swallowing Seb down. It felt impossibly warm, and even though the pressure made Seb’s whole body quiver, it was so much softer than he ever could have imagined.
“Tastes good,” Declan growled, lapping his tongue at Seb’s head and licking along his slit.
Seb’s tip was so sensitive he gasped, and when he started leaking fat drops of precum onto Declan’s tongue, he bit down on his bottom lip. He grabbed the sheets beneath him, gripping tight as an orgasm built at his base. Declan kept lowering his lips, sucking up and down, up and down Seb’s shaft, and Seb’s hips started to jerk and buck in response.
“I’m close,” he gasped, finally able to get words out. “I’m close!”
Declan tightened his fist, and Seb’s whimper turned into a moan as he sprayed his load. Pleasure surged through every inch of Seb’s body as Declan swallowed him down, groaning his appreciation.
Seb was dizzy and confused, and for a minute, he couldn’t do anything but lie there, sweat cooling and aftershocks trembling his skin. But then he remembered what had happened the first time they hooked up and how embarrassed he felt later to have not reciprocated.
“Declan,” he said, reaching his hand down. “How about you?”
Declan pulled himself up. His pants were unfastened, hanging loosely enough that Seb could see the V of his hips. There was a glow across his skin, and even his tattoos looked warmed from their brief connection. “Just for you, Seb,” he said, then pushed his hand through his hair again. “For now, just for you.”
Seb smiled, then relaxed back to the pillows. There was still a flame of desire burning for Declan inside of him, and Seb knew he could have spent the rest of the night servicing that man. But that last thing Declan had said, for now, had felt like a promise, and one Seb was sure they would keep.
“Hey,” Declan said with a grin. “Maybe that will do the trick for you.”
“The trick?”
“Help you break the code and get inside those files?”
Seb laughed. “Oh yeah.” He stared at Declan for a minute, then tilted his head to the side. “Actually, maybe I do have an idea?”
“You need your laptop?”
Seb shook his head quickly. “No. Actually, what would you think if I invited a guest up to the house?”
Sebastian
Three hours into a marathon hacking session, and Seb and Alexandria were already starting to lose their focus. They had a few laptops set up alongside Seb’s desktop, and as always when they were working together, muted cartoons played on the big television screen.
Instead of running algorithms, though, Alexandria and Seb stood at the tall windows
, watching Declan trudge back and forth in front of the house.
“No wonder you’re always distracted,” Alexandria said. “He’s like this all day?”
“In and out,” Seb answered with a nod. “He’ll come back and check on me in about thirty minutes, probably.”
Alexandria pursed her lips, which were painted bright purple. “That’s hot.”
Seb laughed. “Yeah. It is.”
Alexandria turned away from the window, then returned to the work. She had arrived that morning dressed for the city, with her hair perfectly styled up, but the more time she spent with Seb, the more they both started to unwind.
If it took another day to get the project done, Seb imagined they would both spend that day in sweatpants.
Alexandria played around with her laptop for a minute. Then the printer whirred to life. “I found a few more emails,” she said distractedly. “We’ll have to have your boyfriend look at them to see if there’s anything connected, though. I don’t think I understand the context properly.”
Seb grunted, trying out a noise like Declan always made, just to see how it felt. “Please don’t let him hear you saying that. He’s not my boyfriend”
“Don’t worry. He’s too busy wrestling bears in the backyard.”
“Really, though. I don’t want him thinking that I’m falling in love or something.”
“Okay,” Alexandria said carefully. “But…”
“No, I am not,” Seb said flatly, although his cheeks were warming just to joke about it.
“Would it be so bad if you were?”
“You tell me. You’re the one always encouraging me to date casually. Is it a smart idea to fall head over heels for the first guy to ever show me attention? And a tattooed man twenty years my senior at that?”
“Oh sweetie,” Alexandria sighed, then reached out to lay a hand on Seb’s back. “You don’t get to choose who you fall for. Usually, it just happens all on its own.”
“Trust me, I know. If I could have chosen, I would have waited until the intruders with guns had stopped regularly attacking my home.”
“Maybe not,” Alexandria said. “It could be a pretty ideal time. You get to know a person under pressure like that, way better than you could through months of dating. And you said Declan always treats you right?”
“Always,” Seb answered. “To the point where I’m worried he forgets to think about himself sometimes.”
Alexandria whistled. “Sounds serious to me.”
Seb laughed. “Whatever you say.” Part of the fun of having a best friend was having a person to dream big with, and Alexandria was an expert at getting him to admit those kinds of fantasies.
“Seriously, though,” she added, turning back to her screen. “You always think everything through and plan every little step in your life. But right now, with people breaking into your house, it might be time to veer off course.” She shrugged, then started typing on the keyboard. “Think fast, you know?”
Seb nodded, mumbled a thanks, and turned back to his own work, squinting down in silence for a while. He had set up some simple programs to run against the files, on the off chance that the owners had used a common password, and Alexandria was throwing together her own tools. Hopefully, they would find one that did the trick sooner than later.
“Do you remember the last time we did this?” he asked.
Alexandria laughed, still peering at her computer. “When we hacked into the school’s computer. We stayed up all night.”
“Totally worth it.” Both Seb and Alexandria were expected to take an advanced coding course. They knew the material forward and backward, but the only professor who taught the class was a total creep to Alexandria. “Not to mention, the perfect crime. No one would expect the two smartest students on campus had meddled with their 4.0 grades.”
“A perfect crime,” Alexandria agreed. “But a little boring. This, however? Who knows what the hell we’re going to find?”
Seb leaned back from the computer and cracked his knuckles. “I guess just about anything could be in those files. Before the ride yesterday, I had assumed Declan knew the guy he was working for. But once we got there, he seemed as frustrated as I was to see how sketchy the place was.” He frowned. “I just don’t understand how my father would end up hiring someone like that.”
“For one, your father probably didn’t,” Alexandria answered. “It’s more likely that an assistant of his assistant did that for him. But more importantly, we don’t have to guess anymore.”
Seb jerked his head up, then spun his stool toward Alexandria. “You got the password?”
“Bingo.”
“What was it?”
Alexandria turned her laptop. “That’s it. Bingo. Well, Bingo123, but pretty close.”
Seb laughed. “Perfect.”
Alexandria rubbed her hands together. “And now comes the fun part, reading a bunch of private emails from people I don’t know.”
Seb nodded. But as he used the password to open up the files on his own laptop, anxiety crept up the back of his neck. Maybe there would be information in there that he didn’t want to know, real risks to his safety. Despite how awful the two attacks had been, he knew that he was safe so long as Declan was around. It felt natural, somehow, to turn to the older man and get lost in his arms.
But even so, the truth wasn’t going to be easy to hear.
In fact, it was probably going to be ugly as hell.
A knock broke through the silence, and Ellie yipped from the hallway. “Just checking in,” Declan said as he pushed the door to the lab open. “Everything good in here?”
“Hey, Declan,” Alexandria said, drawing his name out with a teasing smile.
Declan grinned her way. “You look like you’re causing trouble.”
Alexandria laughed. “Only the good kind. We’re making progress.”
As surprised as Seb was to see the two of them take to each other, he realized it only made sense. Coming from a family who played all the social games and ladder climbing of high society had made Alexandria value people who were straightforward and to the point, like Declan was. The fact that he instantly appreciated her banter, rather than shying away from it, only sealed the deal.
“I wanted to let you know I called in some extra security. I’m going to take off for a couple of hours, if that’s all right with the both of you.”
Alexandria twirled a finger through her hair. “This place is a fortress already. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
Declan turned to Seb, his eyes clear and warm as he waited for an answer. “Sure,” Seb said, trying to ignore the ache he always felt when Declan left the room. “No problem.”
“Good,” he answered. “My nephew is passing by. We’re meeting at a little diner off the highway so I can fill him in on the latest. If you need me, just call. I can get back quick.”
“We’ll be fine,” Alexandria said again. “Won’t we, Seb?”
“We will,” Seb said, still holding Declan’s eye. “I promise.”
* * *
DECLAN
When Declan got the text from Gray, he had been about five minutes away from tearing his hair out. It was one thing to stand around the house all day with nothing to do. It was a whole different thing to try to keep himself busy when there was a whole crew of professional security doing his job for him.
Not to mention Seb and his friend holed up in the lab, solving exactly the problems Declan had failed to solve himself.
He pulled his truck up to the diner. Through the big front windows, he could see Gray was already waiting at a booth. When Declan stepped out into the cold, he casually reached for a smoke from his pocket before remembering.
Hell of a time to quit, but sometimes Declan thought it was better to pile the shit on all at once, to just get it the fuck over with.
He kicked the snow off his boots, then headed across the diner. Gray had his hair slicked back and a smile on his face and one arm cocked up on the back of the booth
. “Shit, Uncle Declan,” he said, rising to his feet. “You been sleeping, old man? Because you look tired.”
Declan snorted a laugh. “You know me. I sleep with one eye open anyway.”
As they sat down, Gray raised an eyebrow. “You seem pretty cheery about it.”
The waitress came by with a pot of coffee, and they put in orders for a couple of slices of pie. Something about drinking coffee satisfied the urge to smoke Declan was feeling, like it took the edge off, and seeing Gray brought him back to himself a bit more.
“You keeping your head up?” he asked after the waitress dropped off the pie, and he knew they could talk without interruption. “Not getting in too much trouble out there?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” Gray asked back.
Declan chuckled. “Probably. But you’re still my sister’s kid, which means I’m the one who looks out for you.”
Gray leaned forward on the table, smirking at Declan. “For a man who keeps getting shot at, you sure do smile a lot. There some hot men out there in the mountains?” He winked, then imitated Declan’s gravelly voice. “I hope you’re not getting in to too much trouble out there.”
Declan laughed, then shoved Gray’s shoulder across the table, wincing when pain jolted the wound on his arm. “I can’t say I’m surprised that my sister’s kid grew up and developed a mouth like the one you have.”
“You didn’t say no, so I take it that’s a yes?”
Declan grunted. “Something like that.”
“Who are we talking about? A hunter? Another bodyguard?” When Declan didn’t say anything, Gray choked on his coffee. “Fuck, not the guy you’re guarding?”
Declan scratched the back of his head. Now that he was actually talking about this with someone else, it felt much more real. Back in the house, hidden away from the world, he could almost believe all the rest of this bullshit had disappeared. It was nice, pretending all he had to do was hang out with Seb and that things would be fine.
But looking at Gray, he knew the world was always more complicated than that.
