by R. Cayden
Raiden lurched forward, his hands pounding into the chair on the other side of Cash’s head and his snarling face only inches away. “What the hell is your point?”
Cash swallowed. “I’m saying that Marilote Industries is a subsidiary of Horizon Zed and that the three of us have a hell lot more in common than you realize.”
“Your parents died because of Horizon?” Lawrence asked weakly. He was still standing back, his shoulders slumped. Raiden glanced at him, then pulled back from Cash, letting him breathe again.
Cash met Lawrence’s eye with a nod. “The corporation had their own studies done, and they knew what the consequences would be, but they were willing to take those lives if it meant more profit.”
Raiden pushed his hands through his hair, then started pacing back and forth. “Are you trying to fucking tell me that my father’s heart attack was because of that goddamn factory? Why in the hell would I believe you, huh? I should throw you out the window just for fucking talking about him.” He growled, then kicked the wall. “You don’t deserve to put his name in your lying mouth.”
“You know it’s true,” Cash said quickly. “I can tell that you know it’s true.”
Raiden dropped down onto the edge of his bed. “That place was his family. Those were his people. And he was a good man. He was a real good man. He put up with all my mom’s shit, and he worked his ass off, and he treated me right, too. And now you’re saying that he didn’t have to die at all? You’re saying he could still be here?”
“I know it sucks. I know it hurts to admit the truth. But I also know about you, Raiden. I know you don’t let people get away with crap like that. I know you’re driven by the same thing I am. You’re a fighter, Raiden, and you fight for what’s right.”
“You’ve both lost everything,” Lawrence said. “You’ve both lost everything, and it’s my family’s fault. No wonder you lied to me. You must hate me.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Cash said. He started to rise to his feet, but his muscles clenched in pain, and Raiden jerked his head up, so he fell back down. “Your parents might have not died, but your heart still feels the pain. The second I looked at your financial records, I knew it was true. All of your money goes to fighting the damage your father has done, from the environmental law groups you support to that food pantry you started funding when he transferred the local jobs overseas. We might go about it in really different ways, but all three of us are in the same fight, see?”
Cash looked back and forth between Lawrence and Raiden, suddenly desperate for them to see things the way he saw them, to understand how important that bond was. Then Raiden stood to his feet, narrowed his brow, and glared straight into Cash’s eyes.
“You were looking at Lawrence’s financial records?”
Cash licked his top row of teeth. Maybe he should have pretended to pass out again and saved the conversation for when his brain wasn’t imploding with pain. But in the middle of everything else that was going on, with Raiden and Lawrence still deciding if they wanted to trust him, Cash couldn’t risk bringing up Reed and revealing the job he had been originally hired for. He always had different intentions, anyway, and there were more important things to deal with.
“I get it,” he said. “I get why you don’t trust me. Hell, I wouldn’t trust me, either. Just do me one more favor, please.”
“This motherfucker,” Raiden said, shaking his head. “Asking for favors.”
“Let me see the hard drive,” Cash explained. “And you’ll see. I’m not the threat you really need to worry about.”
Raiden
Raiden’s head swam as he tried to process the information Cash had unloaded on him. After not trusting the guy for so long, though, he couldn’t deny the truth of what he’d heard. Of course his father’s heart attack had been caused by the factory. He hadn’t drank, hadn’t smoked, hadn’t done anything but take good care of himself and his family. Raiden grew up thinking that the heart attack was a freak accident, but now that the truth was in front of him, it seemed bare and obvious.
And that meant all the rest of his shit teenage years could have been avoided, too. He shouldn’t have been left with his homophobic mother or beaten by her new boyfriend. He shouldn’t have been forced out of the house and into a life where the only thing he knew was fighting to keep himself safe.
He shouldn’t have been alone all those years, scared and lashing out because he didn’t know any other way to keep himself safe.
But sitting on the couch in his apartment, watching Cash unload the contents of the hard drive onto his laptop, Raiden didn’t feel alone, not really. It was like Cash had said: the three of them had more in common than Raiden realized. And if Cash really was trying to take Lawrence’s father down, his life wasn’t that different from the life Raiden lived back in Albany, chasing down local assholes with his friends and taking revenge for the innocent when he could find it.
Lawrence returned from the other room, where he had gone to compose himself. His pink tie was loosened and the top button of his shirt undone, and his eyelids drooped. He crossed straight over to the couch, then plopped down by Raiden while Cash squinted at the computer.
“You doing okay?” Raiden asked.
Lawrence nodded, a few of his curls bobbing. “I’m okay. Are you?”
Raiden shook out his fist. “Nothing that won’t heal.”
Lawrence rested his hand on Raiden’s bicep, and Raiden felt his breath hitch in response to the gentle touch. “I didn’t mean your injuries. Are you handling the information about your father okay?”
Another surge of conflicted emotions went through Raiden, but he gritted his teeth and nodded. “I’ll feel better when I clobber whoever was in charge of that factory.”
“Here we go,” Cash said, turning the laptop toward them. His hair was tousled, and the left side of his face was scraped and red. Raiden figured the guy had a decent chance of developing a black eye, although he couldn’t tell if he felt guilty about that or not. “Lawrence, has you ever met someone named Senator Dooley through your father?”
Lawrence blinked, then rose back to his feet. “Of course. They’ve known each other for years. He’s always hanging out with lobbyists.”
“The senator from Pennsylvania,” Cash said, and Raiden rose to his feet, too. “He got his start in politics as the State Treasurer, back when your father was accepting his first executive gigs with Horizon Zed. They’ve been working together for years. Here, check it out.”
Raiden stepped over, glancing at the screen while Cash scrolled through scans of contracts, old email communications, and other records. Most of it didn’t make a damn bit of sense to him, but he got the point. “Lawrence’s dad and this senator are old buds,” he said. “That’s what you were looking for in his office?”
Cash shook his head. “I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I did know that men like him tended to keep their best secrets at home, instead of at work. The files went deep, but I didn’t want to take so much that it aroused suspicion, so when I spotted Dooley’s name, I grabbed it and ran. I’ve had my eye on the senator for a minute, but I could never really get to the bottom of what he was doing.”
“What is he doing?” Lawrence asked.
Cash shrugged. “It will take some time to tell, and I’m sure the most damning information has probably been erased. But I’ve got a second half to this puzzle, some files that I pulled from the senator’s office. I know from my research that he’s working on something big with a few executives in Horizon Zed, a new project that should go live soon, and based on their history, something big for them is bad news for the rest of us.” He clicked around through the files for a minute, then turned the screen toward them again, displaying a spreadsheet. “One thing is clear—they’re planning to build a hell of a lot more factories.”
Raiden and Lawrence turned to each other, and Raiden searched Lawrence’s face as though he might find an answer there, some clue to what he was supposed to do n
ext. It was one thing to guard the kid when he was out drinking and dancing. Now that they were talking about crooked senators, he felt the ground shift beneath his feet, and he began to doubt his ability to keep Lawrence safe.
“If there’s a way to stop them,” Lawrence said quietly, “then I think I have to help.” He lowered his hand onto Cash’s shoulder, and Cash winced, jerking in the chair. “Oh!” Lawrence yelped, stepping back. “Sorry.”
Cash put his hand on his shoulder with a wince. “It’s okay,” he answered.
“No,” Raiden said. “It’s not. Take your fucking shirt off.”
Cash titled his head. “Raiden, I’m flattered, I really am. But as I keep insisting, this simply isn’t the time for hanky-panky.”
Raiden shot air out his nose and resisted the urge to shove Cash out of his chair. “I’m not coming onto you, you twerp. But I know how badly I beat you up. Let me get a look at those injuries and make sure you don’t need medical attention.”
“I wouldn’t say you beat me up badly,” Cash muttered. “Had I not been distracted, in fact, I probably would have—”
Raiden cleared his throat, then pointed at Cash. “Off.”
It was kind of fun, actually, ordering the guy around. Especially once he started to obey. Raiden tried not to take too much pleasure in watching Cash unbutton his shirt. When he seemed to struggle to move his arm at the right angle to take it off, Lawrence stepped forward and helped him slide it back.
The extent of the damage was about what Raiden expected, with heavy red markings that would bloom into blue, purple, and green bruises over time. Cash’s body was slim but muscular, and he packed a lot more strength into his compact frame than Raiden had thought. What really struck him, though, were the scars, including two thick marks that must have come from a knife and one old bullet wound in his side.
Raiden took Cash’s arm, then slowly lifted and rotated it, feeling out the tension and pressure as it turned.
“I take it you know what you’re doing?” Cash asked, then groaned softly as Raiden pressed on his back.
“I see from your scars you’ve had much worse.” Cash’s arm seemed to shift slightly in his shoulder socket, and Cash jerked his back again. “But this shoulder injury isn’t going to feel nice tomorrow. From the way your motion is limited, you might have torn a tendon here.”
“Damn it. I was hoping it wasn’t torn.”
“I’m not a doctor,” Raiden said, “but I’ve hurt myself enough damn times to know that you’re going to have to rest this one for a while. And you should definitely get these wounds cleaned up.” It was the kind of thing his buddy Gray would normally make Raiden do, although he was pretty bad at following the advice for himself.
“Right after you decide you’re not going to kill me,” Cash said with a smile, “I’ll make sure to stop by the pharmacy.”
“No one is going to hurt you,” Lawrence said quickly.
“You sure?” Raiden asked, only half-joking.
“I might find that funny if your hands weren’t so close to my neck,” Cash replied. Raiden released his shoulders, then stepped back.
Lawrence crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know how I feel about you following me, Cash, or about the way that you lied to me. But I think I believe what you’re saying, too. What you’re saying makes sense, and… Well, I’m sorry for what my father has done, you know?” He turned to Raiden, and Raiden’s heart seized. “I really, really am,” he repeated, and Raiden’s memories flashed back to his father and his hometown.
“It’s not your fault,” Raiden said.
“But it is my responsibility to help do something, isn’t it?”
“In that case.” Cash stood up slowly, one hand on his injured shoulder. “Could I at least use this shower to clean myself up?”
Raiden frowned, but when Lawrence looked to him with pleading eyes, he nodded. “Towels are in the cabinet. Don’t make a fucking mess.”
Cash took his shirt from the back of the chair, then waved his hand at the apartment. “I’d never dream of disrespecting you that way, Raiden. At least not until I’m out of striking range.”
Raiden snorted a laugh, struck by Cash’s gumption as he walked toward the bathroom. He definitely didn’t let a little thing like an ass whooping slow him down.
“Holler if you need anything,” Lawrence said helpfully, then turned to Raiden with a shrug. “You, too,” he added quietly.
Raiden felt himself soften. “And you,” he said. “That’s a lot to go through in one night.”
Lawrence trembled, and Raiden stepped forward. He offered his arms, and Lawrence stepped into his embrace. They held each for a minute, the warm pressure of Lawrence’s soft body like a salve. “Thank you for saving me again,” he said.
“It’s like I told you after the fight—I thought Cash might be tracking you. After that, I couldn’t leave you alone with him.” He stroked the back of Lawrence’s hair, trailing his fingers through the curls. It was intimate, something he would normally never consider, but with everything upside down, all he really cared about was making sure Lawrence felt good.
“What about now?” Lawrence asked.
Raiden chuckled. “I still don’t want to leave you alone with him.”
“But do you think he’s being honest?” Lawrence asked as he stepped back.
“I do,” Raiden agreed. “I know what it’s like to carry a grudge like that, and I can see the price that he’s paid. I’m not saying I trust him with my life, but I do trust him with this. He’s serious about what he stands for, and that’s more than most people can say.” He glanced at the laptop, and his muscles tightened as he thought of his father again. “And if the company really is about to hurt more people, I can’t let that go by without at least trying to stop it.”
Suddenly, Lawrence’s arms were around Raiden’s neck, and Lawrence smashed his lips against Raiden’s. Instead of fighting it, Raiden took him into a deep kiss. He lifted Lawrence, grinding their hips together as their lips and tongues explored. He tasted Lawrence’s sweet mouth and dug his fingers into his hips. He let himself get lost in the surprise of it, all the pent-up energy from the fight coming out in a wave of greedy passion. It was relief and desire and pleasure and need, all at the same time.
“Wow,” Lawrence gasped, his lips still on Raiden’s. “Amazing.”
Raiden pressed their bodies together tight for one more breath, then pulled away. “I didn’t mean to do that,” he said. “I mean, I’m still your bodyguard. This is still a bad idea.” He bit his cheek, stopping himself from saying the next part: that he’d seen the way Lawrence flirted with Cash, too.
After years of hookups, years of swearing he couldn’t handle a relationship, Raiden had no doubt that Lawrence offered something different. Because right there, he knew that the only way he could have Lawrence would be to have all of him, totally and completely.
“How is it a bad idea?” Lawrence asked. “It’s what I want, Raiden.” He bit down on his lip, giving Raiden the look from the club. “Don’t you want to give me what I want?”
Raiden couldn’t resist anymore. Everything else in the world disappeared, every other worry and concern, and he took Lawrence into his arms for another deep, long kiss. He groaned with pleasure as Lawrence pawed at his back, then lifted him again, spinning him to press him against the wall. Raiden’s cock grew thick against Lawrence’s leg, and when Lawrence whimpered his appreciation, pleasure pooled at his core.
“I want this so bad,” Lawrence whispered.
“Don’t we all, gentlemen,” Cash said.
Raiden jerked his head to the side. Cash was standing there, naked except for a small white towel, cinched at his waist. His wet hair was slicked back, and his skin was pink and soft from the shower. Half of a grin cocked up his mouth as he stared at the two of them, hunger in his eyes.
“Don’t let me stop you,” he said, then took a step closer. “Please, continue.”
Raiden panted, catching
his breath. His cock was throbbing in his jeans, and he shook his head fast, trying to shake the sudden stab of lust he felt for Cash. “You always walk around stranger’s apartments in a towel?”
Cash pursed his lips, then rested his fingers on the top of the terrycloth. “Did you want me to drop it?” he asked, then took another step forward. “I knew that Lawrence was interested in me, but I didn’t realize you two had something going on, too. Sounds fun.”
Heat and tension throbbed in the small apartment. Lawrence and Raiden were still tangled up together against the wall, as though they couldn’t move, the spell too strong to break. Ever since getting to New York, Raiden hadn’t been able to bring himself to find a hookup, and he’d grown hornier and hornier with each passing day. In the back of his mind, he knew that he’d been saving himself for Lawrence. But now that everything was ripped open, he had the strangest thought.
That just maybe he’d been saving himself for exactly this, instead.
Lawrence
Once again, Lawrence felt as though he could really, really use a drink.
Ever since he saw Cash walking out of his father’s office, his world had been spinning. Horrible new truths landed on him, one after the other. Lawrence had known how nasty his father’s business was, and it was one thing to see him breaking laws and exploiting his workers. That was shitty enough. But now that Lawrence was standing there, right in between two men who had lost so much to the corporation’s crimes? That was a new kind of hell.
For once, though, he didn’t want to act out. He didn’t want to play Raiden and Cash off each other or flirt with one of them just to make the other jealous. He just needed both of them, to feel both of their hands on his body at the same time and to see them come together with him.
