No, asshole. You don’t want his attention now. He’s your partner, dumbfuck.
Now he was mentally arguing with himself. Huh. Okay. Kreed turned and left the doorway, adjusting himself again, and made his way to the closet. He grabbed a T-shirt and his tennis shoes before heading out. So much for his good night’s sleep.
Aaron listened to the door of Kreed’s room bang shut, and he let out a pent-up breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. That whole “leave the door between their rooms cracked” thing Kreed insisted on had thrown Aaron for a loop. He’d been as silent as possible, but he’d known this damn noisy keyboard would be a problem. He needed to stop sometime today and buy something a little quieter. He tended to use this one while on the road to help mask his activities. People in the know would write him off as a gamer simply because he used the mechanical keyboard.
Aaron rose quickly and shut the door between the rooms, sealing himself in. He had about an hour to get his shit done and over with for the day. This on-assignment job was really cramping his style. It wouldn’t be too much longer that he even needed to stay employed with the federal government. He relished that day. What kind of idiocy would ever pull someone like him from their desk job and out in the field to work an open, active criminal case?
It was past dumb, but so were most of the entire workings of the federal government. Why in the hell would they hire someone like him to break into their systems? All they did was teach him exactly how they operated and the methods they used to keep him out. Yet, this was where he excelled—in this world of manipulating code and forced entry into systems.
Screw the need to hold up a bank. Anyone could rob the average citizen blind on the pretense of opening a company in the true capitalistic society of American business. Case in point, this company he was currently working his way inside—if the senior executives would quit pocketing every extra dime they made, then maybe they would have been better equipped in their defenses to keep him out of their shit. They’d realize that soon enough.
Aaron worked steadily for another thirty minutes before he made it through the barriers and was given carte blanche to do whatever his little heart desired. And there it was. All the financial data for all their customers. Another very stupid way to conduct business. Aaron quickly went to chat, clicking on his screen name before issuing instructions.
“You’re in. Get it started,” Aaron said out loud in the quiet room.
“That was fast even for you,” came a distorted reply, seemingly out of nowhere.
“Stop wasting time. Get it started.” Aaron quickly did what he needed to on his end and shut his systems down. Thank God Kreed wasn’t into the technology. If he were, he’d know he didn’t need all this equipment to play State of Decay with Mitch, yet Kreed had bought it hook, line, and sinker. What a relief. The only problem with Kreed Sinacola was that gut feeling he kept hearing about. It was why he’d planned all his extracurricular activities in the middle of the night. He had to stay off Kreed’s radar at all costs.
With that worry sitting on his shoulders, Aaron went ahead and dismantled his equipment, deciding to pack it all up again. If the schedules held, they should be heading to Texas at some point today. By putting everything away, he hoped to accomplish the theory of “out of sight, out of mind.” He could ship the boxes wherever he needed before they headed out. Working fast, he managed to get everything all boxed up and tucked inside his closet before Kreed returned from his workout.
Chapter 7
Anchored with his arm propped on the counter, Kreed bent forward, listening intently to the list of services each spa package included. As the young woman spoke, Kreed looked back at Aaron and surveyed him closely. The kid was hot as fucking hell like he was, but he had a feeling cleaning Aaron up was going to make him a thing of beauty. Probably not the best idea with Kreed’s current attraction problem, but he needed to bite the bullet and do it anyway. Church boys needed to look wholesome.
“For him, we need hair and face. He needs to shave…”
“I’m not shaving my beard,” Aaron called out, and Kreed looked back at the woman behind the desk. Kreed gave her a smile, drawing her attention back to him.
“I wouldn’t call that a beard—more of a dusting—but it’s gotta go.” Kreed used his finger to instruct her to write that treatment down. “Let’s get him the facial and he needs at least a manicure. It looks like he bites his nails.”
“How do you even know that?” Aaron asked a little defensively. Kreed looked back to see Aaron balling up his fingers into two fists. He laughed again, loving how Aaron eased him. He wasn’t sure why, because certainly Aaron always carried an air of pissed-off whenever he was around, but he liked poking at the kid. Regardless of what Aaron kept projecting, Aaron was a do-gooder. He’d proved that over and over again, so Kreed suspected the irritated attitude was more of an act than Aaron’s true nature. Gamers hated leaving their homes. He faced the girl across the counter.
“The kid’s surly. Probably need to give him to someone who isn’t easily put off.” Kreed forced himself not to look back for Aaron’s reaction to his words. For some reason, it helped him put Aaron in his place by referring to him as a child. “We need a full shave, no matter what he says. It’s a work deal. He’s gotta get cleaned up. He’s just being ornery. And I want to decide on his hairstyle. I know what he needs to look the part.”
Based on past experience, Kreed decided Aaron would probably be in there for a couple of hours, which would give him the opportunity to get some work done. Kreed glanced up at the menu board again and began ticking off the services he wanted. A shave, facial, nails, feet, and if there was time, he wanted a partial wax. He ignored Aaron’s snicker from behind. Mitch gave him enough shit about his spa days and Lush products to last a lifetime. Besides, he hadn’t been laid in a while. Clearly with all the lusting he’d done after the kid, he needed to fix that. He needed a quick hook-up from someone he wouldn’t ever see again.
“Add a massage in there too,” he added.
“All right, I have everything down. Give me a minute to get you two lined up and I’ll come get you soon,” the receptionist said before disappearing behind a wall. Kreed bypassed Aaron, going for a row of seating against the front wall. When Aaron didn’t turn, he decided he liked this position. Kreed got to stare at the kid’s backside. Aaron had a nice-shaped ass. He’d seen for himself this morning that Aaron was very well put together. The tattoos were a nice surprise. Kreed cocked his head, studying the guy in front of him closely but never seeing any telltale markings under Aaron’s clothes. Kreed had never been that smart with his ink. There was no missing the love he had for body art.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a bully?” Aaron asked out of the blue, still not turning around. Kreed smiled at the back of his disgruntled partner’s blond head.
“Not a bully so much, just resigned to my fate. We have a job to do. The quicker we get done, the sooner you’re free of me. Looking the part’s critical in that goal,” Kreed reasoned quietly. Okay, technically he did bully his way through things all the time, but it would be better to have Aaron on his side, rather than fighting him every step they took. “Today your eyes are a gunmetal gray. They were more ice blue yesterday. Brown when we worked together a couple months ago. Are those colored contacts vanity or prescription?”
“Why would you even remember the color of my eyes?” Aaron shot back defensively.
“I think my job title probably makes that an easy question to answer without assistance. So is it the same deal with the hair and glasses, you always changing it up?” Kreed asked.
“Yeah. Pretty much,” Aaron finally answered, not engaging at all.
Just on the tip of his tongue to question that further, Kreed’s right leg started tingling with numbness. The modern-style, unforgiving chair made his ass hurt and might possibly be cutting off the circulation in his legs. He moved to reposition himself. Damn it, these small seats weren’t the most comfort
able things he’d ever sat in. They looked cool as shit, with their contemporary design, until he sat on the hard square. He adjusted himself again, repositioning his numb ass. Kreed continued to squirm, not able to find a comfortable position, clearly not designed for the sheer mass of his body. He stood briefly to tug his arms out of his coat and drape it across the back of a chair, disappointed that didn’t help him fit any more comfortably.
“Did Knox ask about the meeting yesterday?”
Another long pause happened before Aaron answered, “No, not that I remember.”
Kreed’s brow drew in. That didn’t make any sense. He’d dodged two calls already this morning by claiming he needed a private area to talk. Mitch was a dog with a bone and this case had a T-rex size artifact that Mitch wanted to gnaw on.
“Aaron, we’re ready for you,” the woman said as she stepped back into the room.
Aaron kept his back to Kreed as he followed the woman behind the screen. Kreed grabbed his coat before following, not letting him get too far out of his sight to make sure his temporary partner got the full makeover.
Who knew Kreed Sinacola liked facials and mani-pedis? The alpha dude that always got his way seemed to know his way around a spa like the back of his hand. Not so much the layout, but he was familiar with every aspect of the services offered. He knew the differences in scents and treatments. Whether to use milk or lavender… Whatever the hell that meant.
Since they started with the hands and feet, he and Kreed stayed paired up, sitting side by side. Apparently Kreed liked his spa sessions quiet. He never really spoke until he had them include Aaron in a pedicure.
When Aaron genuinely objected, drawing the line there, refusing the service due to an unspoken, yet very traumatic childhood injury involving a swing set and an ill-placed foot, Kreed scoffed at him, like he did with everything else. The technician removed his shoes and gently, but thoroughly worked over his feet. It took a full hour to remove all the dried, dead skin, but honestly, once he got over the initial internal anxiety, he realized he’d really been missing out. And a bonus for everyone around? No one got a foot in the face like normal when someone ventured out to touch his toes.
Next, they were both shaved clean before the facials began. Aaron sat for quite a while with a warm towel wrapped around his face. Being pampered like that was something he could definitely get used to. He actually nodded off, startling when he opened his eyes to see Kreed leaning down over him, right in his personal space, surveying the work done. The guy took Aaron’s chin and moved him one way, then the other, before a huge grin curled the corners of his mouth.
“You look even younger with a clean face. Ready for the hair?”
“I know I look younger. It’s the reason I keep the beard. If you give me one of those church boy haircuts, I’ll look even younger. They won’t believe I’m old enough to do that job.” Not surprisingly, Kreed ignored him completely.
“I wanna talk to his hairstylist—” Kreed was interrupted by a short, sexy looking Italian man wearing all black.
“I’m Sergio. Which one of you is Aaron?” He clapped his hands, before rubbing his palms together excitedly. To give the guy credit, he did look between the both of them as he spoke, but his eyes came back to stay on Kreed and his olive skin turned a little flushed. Whatever. Kreed had that same effect on him. He supposed it just came with the territory of being the super-hot Kreed Sinacola.
“He is,” Kreed said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. “But I’m deciding his cut and color.” Sergio became visibly disappointed at that news. Probably sized Kreed up as single and then the deputy marshal’s words made him think they were a couple. Aaron didn’t set the record straight. Instead, he rose from the lounger he sat in and moved forward, passing Kreed.
“He gets to decide within reason,” Aaron countered, but the wink Sergio gave Kreed said it all.
“Come on, smart boy. Don’t look so down. It’s gonna be okay. I promise,” Kreed said, following Sergio toward his workstation. When Kreed passed him, he patted Aaron’s ass and winked, staying a step or two behind Sergio. At the small counter separating the stations, Kreed and Sergio spoke quietly to one another. Aaron didn’t intervene, thinking he could change the plan once Kreed left the room then realizing his mistake when he looked into a wall of mirrors and watched Sergio’s face light up before looking back at him with an assessing eye.
“It’s a perfect cut for your young man, and the color will bring out those gorgeous eyes,” Sergio said, his accent thicker this time, causing Aaron to furrow his brow, wondering if Sergio was even truly Italian. “Take a seat here. Let’s get a look at what we’re working with. Would you like to sit close by?”
Okay, the accent turned British, and for some reason, that annoyed Aaron that much more. “No, surprise me. I’m gonna see if I can get a quick wax while you’re working on him,” Kreed said, before reaching down to pat Aaron’s thigh.
Aaron caught his hand, whispering as the stylist turned away. “You’re a douche.”
Kreed’s smile grew brighter and he winked again. “It’s gonna be hard to keep the guys off you when we’re done,” he said loudly, puckering his lips, blowing him an air kiss before walking away. Sergio was back with a comb in hand, a big giant grin in place as his eyes tracked Kreed’s ass in the mirror.
“Oh, he’s something,” Sergio cooed, his accent changing again. Aaron said nothing as his own eyes followed that strut out of the room. He was in so much trouble.
“It’s about damn time you picked up your damn phone, dickwad,” Mitch barked by way of greeting. The inpatient tone of his friend’s voice made Kreed grin. He’d missed their interactions. They were fluid, very comfortable with each other. Man, he was so going to hate losing that more than he was willing to admit.
“You kiss little Cody Turner with that mouth?” Kreed mocked. Cody was a big guy, bigger than Mitch, actually, and it always made him smile to tease Mitch about his boyfriend’s age. Cody was seven or eight years younger than Mitch, which made joking about robbing the cradle fair game.
“Don’t talk about Cody, just fill me in. Nobody’s answering the fuckin’ phone. I hate that shit.”
“That’s because I was supposed to call and fill you in. I just got somewhere reasonably safe to talk.” Kreed could just tell Mitch and put him out of his misery, but where was the fun in that?
“It sounds like you’re standing on the highway.”
“Well, I’m close to one actually. I had to walk out in the freezing weather to the middle of the parking lot of a salon where Aaron’s getting a makeover,” Kreed explained.
“Okay, that’s weird. I knew you liked all that girly shit, but he does too? That changes my opinion of him a little bit,” Mitch said, snickering.
“Do you wanna know?” Kreed stopped his pacing, looking up as the cloudy sky began to part, the sun peeking through the drab gray of a DC winter day.
“Keep going.”
“Officially, your gaming partner and I are going undercover, and we need you to go to Dallas to keep an eye on your buddy Colt Michaels and his guy. Make sure they aren’t at risk until we can get this thing wrapped up.” Kreed summarized the info and waited for Mitch’s inevitable questions.
After a couple of heartbeats, Mitch responded. “Why? They haven’t had any trouble.”
“For the bureau, it gets Colt covered and you out of their hair. Here’s the unofficial part. I’m almost certain the bad guys are local to DFW and watchin’ everything right now. It puts you with two of their intended victims. Actually, it puts all of you together in the same place. The way I see it, they have to hate you even more now. So if they’re keeping an eye on things like I think they are, you being in Dallas with Michaels would set up a pretty good target close to home. They’ll come out of hiding just to cut you down, especially after everything you did to get in their way. ”
“Okay…” Mitch was silent. Kreed could almost hear the wheels turning in Mitch’s head. “And you’ll catch s
ight of their plan by being on the inside. Is it a done deal, getting you two on the inside?”
“Close to. As done as anything can be. It’s a solid plan or I wouldn’t be asking you to put yourself or them out there like that,” Kreed added. Mitch had always been balls to the wall, but now that he had Cody to consider, his partner was a little more cautious. It was kind of weird.
“I fucking know you wouldn’t. I’ve gotta tell Cody,” Mitch barked back.
“Of course, it’ll be hard to be everywhere by yourself. He needs to be prepared. And there’s another side benefit. You’ll be close if I need you or vice versa,” Kreed added, laying it all out there.
“Huh, so you’re working this deal like you normally do. I bet they even fucking think this was their idea.” Mitch knew him too well; No need for Kreed to reply to that statement. “And this part’s just between me and you?”
“Yeah, I haven’t said a word to anyone else. I think Skinner suspects it, but it was never spoken.”
“Okay, so you’ll be close to me?” Mitch asked.
“Reasonably, but you’ll have to be on your A-game. There’s five—now six—people that know Stuart and I are goin’ in undercover. Who knows who we can trust out of any of ’em? And honestly, it doesn’t matter. Same philosophy applies. I think even if someone on the inside is part of the problem, you, Cody, and Michaels being in the same location will be too much temptation. They’ll have to be drawn out. If I don’t get ’em, you will.” Kreed dropped his head and closed his eyes, praying the outcome would turn out as simple as that sounded. He had to trust Mitch as well as himself that they could keep everyone safe from harm. It was a lot to ask.
Nice Guys Collection With Added Bonus Material Page 79
