by E M Lindsey
“You left early yesterday,” McCaig pointed out.
Ryan felt like he was under a microscope, and there was something inherently dangerous about this guy. He thought of Cole, suddenly, of the way he had talked about using his other senses to tell different things about people. Maybe Ryan was so distracted by the strange look of the man, he was inventing something more sinister.
He tried not to stare at him, to be influenced by his look as he answered. “I had a class yesterday. A boxing lesson.”
McCaig’s pale brows lifted toward his hairline. “Oh? You box?”
“I belong to a gym. A friend of mine owns it. It caters mostly to disabled vets, but the classes are open to anyone.” He breathed and tried to see the man the way Cole did—without sight, honing his gut instincts, his hearing, the subtle way the man’s breathing changed, his tone rose and fell.
“Interesting. You’re a veteran?”
Ryan hated how much he was doubting himself, but he swore he heard more than curiosity in the man’s voice. “Ah, no. No, I haven’t done military time. I just have a lot of friends who have.”
“All Americans? No foreigners?” Now there was eagerness which bordered on manic.
For whatever reason, Ryan felt suddenly and intensely protective over Cole, and shook his head. “Not that I’ve met. I mean, I haven’t met everyone, of course, I can’t get over there a lot. But mostly I work with Wes—the owner—and his brother-in-law, Adrian.”
McCaig seemed to deflate a little at that, and he shrugged. “Ah. Well. Just wondering. Boxing has never been my thing, but maybe I’ll have a look into it.”
The hell you will, Ryan thought, but he offered a smile instead. “Let me know. I’ll see if Wes can get you a first-time discount.”
“Will dae.” There was coldness to his tone now, and Ryan was convinced he wasn’t imagining it just because the guy looked strange. He felt an intense sense of relief when McCaig rose and bid him farewell, leaving as quickly as he’d come.
Sitting back in his seat, Ryan resolved to keep a closer eye on that guy, and on the cases now left in his hands.
***
As the Americans were so damn fond of saying, the shit hit the fan. Cole had been on the periphery of the drama happening between Adrian and his boyfriend, but he wasn’t fully aware of the situation until he was seated on a chair in a room with Noah, who had apparently been beaten so badly his face was a mess and his one sighted eye had been swollen shut.
He was reluctant to offer his assistance, mainly because it was that important he not give himself or his connections away, but he was also the sort of person who couldn’t sit idly by while someone was being taken advantage of. Cole had spent most of his life tracking down men like this Dr. Charlie Barnes and he could easily slip in and out of accounts without being tracked. The real trick was getting it done without his work taking notice.
“Can you really find something on him?” Ryan asked once Cole had ended the call with Taber.
It had been a simple enough thing, to concoct a story that he wanted practice with his software and had gotten permission from a few people to fuss with their accounts to see if it could be done without leaving footprints. Taber was happy to sign off on it, mostly thrilled that Cole was taking more complicated tasks on without having been assigned any.
“I can,” Cole said, reaching down for Kevin’s harness. “It shouldn’t take me very long, but if we want to get this sorted before this doctor makes another move, we need to get going. D’you mind driving me? Will Noah be alright without you for a bit?”
“Of course,” Ryan said. He went quiet at the sound of footsteps, and Cole heard the distinct noise of a dog collar signaling that Wes had returned with Adrian’s support dog. “We’re going to take off,” Ryan told the other man. “Cole thinks he can help out and dig something up on this asshole, so I’m going to take him home and help out if I can. Will you let Noah know I’ll see him tomorrow?”
Wes laid a hand on Cole’s shoulder and squeezed. “You have no idea how much this means to us,” he told him quietly. “I’ve been wanting to get my hands on this guy for a while. Anna’s been a little reluctant to let me go after him, but if we can get some real shit on this guy…”
“I’ve no doubt there’s an entire vault of skeletons to be found,” Cole assured him. “Trust me, he can’t have possibly hidden everything. I just need at best a day or two.”
“We can make that work,” Wes said, then dropped his hand. “Just call if you need anything, okay?”
Cole nodded, then directed Kevin to take him to the car, and he could hear Ryan close at his heels. They didn’t say much on the drive back to his, but he felt a sudden and surprising appreciation that Ryan stayed with him. Both of them knew full well Ryan wouldn’t be able to do anything to help out, really, but having someone there with him was nice. Cole was nervous that he was going to fail this, and if he couldn’t do something as simple as hacking a university email or phone records, what was he doing here at all?
“I’m going to get set up in my office,” Cole told him as he unhooked Kevin from the harness and let him out. “D’you mind putting the kettle on? There’s tea in the cabinet by the stove.”
Ryan’s hands were on him suddenly, stalling his steps toward the hallway. “Yes, I can put the kettle on, but first I’m going to kiss you, okay?”
Cole felt his cheeks heat, but he nodded and leaned in. “Yes. I would like that quite a lot.”
Ryan’s hands cupped his face, telegraphing his intent. Cole felt a puff of hot air across the bridge of his nose, then Ryan dipped in and their lips met. It was a swift, chaste thing, but it was more than welcome. Cole let his hands curl into the front of Ryan’s shirt, felt the soft, expensive material, the small buttons, the way it hugged his body, and his cock desperately wanted to react, but he willed the desire away.
“What kind of tea do you want?” Ryan asked, right up against his lips.
“Black,” Cole told him. “Then you can help me find this guy.” Ryan let him slip away, and Cole headed to the office, remembering last minute to switch on the light before he took a seat at the desk. His computer was already on, and he quickly fired up his JAWS program before attaching his braille display and logging in to his system. He would have to turn the screen off before he truly got to work so Ryan wouldn’t be able to see anything, but first he wanted to ID the guy.
The simplest way was to load up the University website and pull his information from there. He found the page easily, then waited only somewhat impatiently for Ryan to return, which he did only a moment later.
“Where do you want this?” Ryan asked.
Cole indicated the spot on his desk he kept his tea, and heard Ryan set it down. He touched it, just to verify, then he motioned for Ryan to join him. “There’s a chair, pull that up for a moment with me. I want to make sure I have the right one. Is my screen on?”
Ryan said nothing until he was settled at Cole’s side, then he let out a small breath. “Yeah, it is. And yeah, that’s the asshole.”
Cole gave a stiff nod. “Alright, let me see what I can do. I have to turn the screen off for this bit, so this might get a little boring.” He slipped his earbud into his ear, then began the search. It took less than five minutes to gain access to Barnes’ university email address, and not twenty minutes after that, his computer was downloading his text messaging records.
“That’s…holy shit,” Ryan said, dragging a hand down his face. “You really got all that? Just now?”
Cole chuckled. “It took a bit longer than expected.”
“Did you really need Noah to get you all that other information then?” Ryan asked, curiosity coloring his tone.
Cole laughed again, this time shaking his head. “Not really, but he sounded so lost, and Adrian seemed ready to fly out the front door and beat this man to death.”
“I’d say that’s about accurate,” Ryan said wryly.
“Giving them something to focus on—a j
ob to do—it’ll keep them occupied until I have the information I need.” His fingers brushed across the braille display as the text messages began to appear. Unfortunately, they were a jumbled mess, and his skill with braille was too slow to make proper sense of it. “I’m going to turn the screen on in a moment,” Cole told him. “I’ll need you to read me what the texts say, and we can see if there’s anything in there we can use against him.”
“No problem,” Ryan said, sounding utterly relieved, and Cole almost laughed at how giving even him this little task had set him at ease.
Cole shut everything classified down, then pulled up the email and the text transcripts. After fumbling a moment, he pushed the button on the monitor and heard a faint hum as it flared to life. “Can you see it?”
“I can,” Ryan said. “There’s…shit. There’s a lot here. Let me just…” He trailed off, clearly going through each one, then he sucked in a breath. “We’ve got something. He’s talking to someone named John, and he says, ‘I’ll meet you tomorrow night with the check. I’ve been watching him for some time, and it looks like he’ll be trying to head out of town this weekend. I know most of the places he frequents, so if you set up shop tomorrow night on First, you should be able to grab him. But only do it if he’s alone.’ That sounds like what happened tonight.”
“Do the dates on the messages line up?” Cole asked.
Ryan hummed an affirmative noise. “A few texts before that he literally asks him if he’s willing to beat someone for money. He offered him two grand for it.”
“Honestly I’m a little wary. Either he’s a complete idiot and has actually made this transaction not only by text message but by check, or he’s trying to throw someone off.”
“I really don’t think he’s that clever,” Ryan said.
“There’s one way to find out. I’ll hack into his bank records and find out if something like that has been cashed. It amazes me that this man would work for a check. People don’t usually leave such obvious trails,” Cole said, a little disgusted at how easy the guy had made it. “I want to go through the emails as well, see what else we can get on him.”
“I need to tell Noah about this,” Ryan said quietly.
“Let me get everything first, then I’ll send a text to Adrian. After that…”
“I have a friend,” Ryan said quietly. “He and I…we used to hook up and uh…” He cleared his throat. “Not anymore, not for a long time.” Cole felt a small push of amusement at how worried and defensive Ryan sounded over this, and he reached for him, squeezing his fingers when Ryan’s hand found his. “He’ll be able to offer some back up, some protection for Noah while this whole thing plays out.”
“You know that Wes and Adrian don’t want that,” Cole pointed out as he reluctantly let his hand slip away. He turned back to his desk and touched the last sentence on his braille display. ‘I watched him break up with that shit-for-brains lawyer, but he seems determined to keep me shut out.’ The man was a danger and Cole understood both Wes and Adrian’s desire to take matters into their own hands, but prison for men like him would be better.
Ryan let out a small puff of air. “It’s understandable. Men like him in this country? Rich, academic, white men? They don’t usually find justice in the courts. Men like him go free more often than they don’t.”
Cole understood. It was like that where he came from, too. Racial supremacy and money made the western world go round, and he wasn’t a fool. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Let Noah decide,” Ryan said. “It should be up to him.”
Cole worried his bottom lip, then said, “In these emails, it says he was able to get transcripts of Noah’s text messages. Do you want me to fix that?”
He heard Ryan visibly startle, his chair making a noise as he sat up straighter. “You can do that?”
Cole laughed. “I can. Won’t take but a minute to make that disappear. It’s late, but we can ask Noah first if you think…”
“Do it,” Ryan interrupted. “He’d tell you to do it. Trust me.”
Cole did, of course, as mad as it was. Ryan provided the information Cole needed to get into the system, and though it was slow going having to switch between the braille display and JAWS, he managed to get it done before the hour was up, and he went through three separate times to make sure it was taken care of.
“Sorted,” Cole said. “Let me send a text, then we can get to bed. I think we’ve earned a little rest.”
Ryan chuckled, but before Cole could reach for his phone, a warm hand touched the side of his neck, Ryan’s thumb brushing along his jaw. “Thank you. I…I honestly don’t know what to say. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I have the skills for it, and I like both Adrian and Noah. Even before my injury, I wouldn’t have been much help in any other way. And…and I like to feel useful,” he added, letting a little of his vulnerability show.
It was rewarded with a kiss, a slow drag of Ryan’s tongue against his own, Ryan’s hands gripping the tops of his shoulders firmly. “You’re useful even without this skillset, Cole. Now, send that text and meet me in the bedroom. I’m way too tired for fucking, but if we can get enough sleep, I plan to wake you up in the best way.”
At that admission, Cole didn’t hesitate.
7.
“I want to try something,” Adrian said. There was a lightness to his voice that Cole hadn’t heard in a while. “Wes is eager to get word out for a tournament, and if you’re still interested, I think we can get you ready by the date he chooses.”
Cole’s eyebrows went up as he turned toward Adrian’s voice. “Ready to fight?”
Adrian huffed a laugh. “No, man. Ready to win. It’s going to be difficult and I’ve been working on a few things to try and see where the biggest issues are going to lie. Right now, you’ve been honing your other senses, mainly your hearing, but that might work against you surrounded by a crowd.”
Cole hadn’t really considered that. He’d been in good fighting shape for years, but he’d never done anything like this recreationally, and had no idea what to anticipate. “What do you suggest?”
“I’m going to have Ryan set up some noise around the ring and we’re going to work on you tuning it out. I got recordings of a couple of fight crowds that he’ll play over the speakers. It won’t be exactly like a match, but it’ll be the best we can do.”
Cole gave a terse nod, patting his gloves together. “Let’s do it.” He was eager for this, eager to distract himself from everything else and maybe prove to himself that he was still capable of strength, speed, and agility. He was regaining a lot of his confidence by facing off with Wes and Adrian during his lessons, but that didn’t mean he’d be able to defend himself if it came down to it.
“Ryan, go ahead,” Adrian called.
A few moments later, a dull roar of talking, cheering, and yelling sounded from all sides. It startled him, though it wasn’t on full volume. Yet. Adrian approached him and touched his elbow. “I want to work on your aim first, okay? I’ve got the mitts on now, so I want you to focus on me. Ryan’s going to turn the noise up, and you have to tune it out.”
Cole licked his lips, feeling his nerves ratchet up. He wanted to do this, but more than that he didn’t want to humiliate himself in front of Ryan, even if he knew the other man wouldn’t think less of him. When the noise increased, Cole felt his heart start to beat a little harder. He couldn’t focus, had no idea where Adrian was.
Then he felt a touch on his arm. He struck out, a quick combo just as Adrian had trained him before and made contact. His third punch missed, hitting air. Adrian had moved and he hadn’t been able to hear the shuffling of his feet.
“Bloody hell,” he growled around his mouthguard. “I can’t fucking hear anything over the noise.”
“Then feel me,” Adrian said. “This floor can’t hide anything. Pay attention.”
Cole swung again, missed, and he took a breath as he tried to do what Adrian asked. He could feel the vibra
tions under his feet, but he felt lost in the unknown. Adrian was somewhere nearby, and he knew by touch the ring was only so large, and there were only so many places he could go. He felt another vibration and this time he realized it had shifted to his left.
He turned, adjusted his stance, and swung. The edge of his glove caught the mitt, and oriented finally, he did a quick right cross and made full contact. His face broke out into a huge grin as Adrian’s mitted hand fell onto his shoulder.
“Fuck yes. Now keep doing this. When you can feel me and anticipate me at least ninety percent of the time, we’ll start on sparring. You’ve got this man, it won’t take long.”
With Adrian’s encouragement, Cole felt like he was actually capable.
***
Ryan watched with wincing sympathy as Adrian handed over an ice pack for Cole’s jaw. Adrian had pulled his punches but hadn’t pulled back on his attacks and Cole had gotten his ass handed to him. However, that wasn’t unusual. Adrian was a champion boxer and better than most, even with his unsteady legs. What was thrilling was that Cole was able to land almost all of his hits. He’d only gotten disoriented three times, and each time was when Adrian landed a punch to his head. Ryan knew it was going to take work, but he could see by the smile on Cole’s face that the other man was celebrating.
“I want to take you out to dinner,” Ryan murmured as Adrian went to fetch the dogs from Wes’ office. “Say yes.”
Cole bit his lip as he shook his wraps to the ground and pressed the ice pack to his cheek. “Yes.”
Ryan gripped him by the back of the neck, a swift gesture since they were still quiet about what they had going on. “Really?”
“Really,” Cole repeated. “And come to mine after.”
Ryan’s hand slipped up into his hair for a second, tugging on the strands, and Cole could feel the tense, charged moment between them. “Yes. Go. Go shower, and make it fast, because I’ve only got so much self-restraint.”
