Chapter 13

The surprise visit from Antonio had been something else. Lyle really hadn’t put Antonio down as the surprise visit kinda man, so when Antonio showed up like that, it had truly given Lyle a thrill – and that was even before the fun and stingingly filthy action in the alleyway.

After returning to work, Lyle had got right back into things. He had been given a new series of copyediting to get through, but Lyle was on such a high that he managed to plough through the work with the kind of efficiency that even had some of his more senior colleagues marveling.

As the afternoon progressed and the various journalists on Lyle’s shift clocked out and were replaced by the night shift reporters, Lyle decided to stick around. It was a different crew at night, and Lyle knew that Reed Silver had left for a lunch meeting and not returned. This probably meant that Reed had indulged in one too many rum and cokes at the Hound Lounge, the popular bar that was frequented by all the media bigshots in the city.

‘Perfect for me to do some real digging,’ Lyle giggled to himself as he got up from his desk and made his way toward the big paper archive.

The paper archive contained all the same stuff that had been archived online, but Lyle had learned that quite often there would be missing articles, redacted opinion pieces and editorials. Lyle was determined to be as thorough as possible when it came to Detective Niall Sloane.

But as Lyle entered the paper archive room, the size of the task hit him. Sloane had been climbing the police force for years. And prior to moving to New York, Sloane was a cop in Miami so there would be a gap in his history.

The archive room was dusty, clammy, and only had one tiny window. This wasn’t going to be the most fun environment that Lyle had ever worked in, but he’d been in the archive room enough times by this point to pretty much block everything out – even the stale smelling carpet!

Groan. I have to start somewhere.

And no one ever gets anywhere if they give up.

Come on, Lyle… I’ve got this.

Lyle wandered over to a particular year of interest and began leafing through the police and crime segments. As Lyle began to tick off the months and attempt to find a clue as to Sloane’s rise up the police force or any connections he might have to crime, Lyle thought back to his first year of journalism school.

Lyle had worked hard to get in and wanted to make a good first impression. His first assignment however had been a total disaster. Barely scraping a C-, Lyle felt out of his depth and hated seeing some of the other students getting As and plenty of plaudits from the senior lecturer, Cole Rinker.

A feeling of humiliation and disappointment came over Lyle as he unhappily trudged out of the lecture hall with his C- paper. But just as he was walking past Cole Rinker, the lecturer stopped Lyle and told him that the C- could either break him… or make him.

Lyle took Cole Rinker’s words to heart and from that point on he worked his butt off on every assignment, soon getting straight As and beginning his ascension to the top of the class. Rinker would later tell Lyle that each year he would give the student with the most potential a low first grade – it was his way of giving them the extra spur to search for greatness.

Lyle had never forgotten the inspiration that Cole Rinker gave him. And he wasn’t about to start slacking off now when the going got tough. There may have been hundreds upon hundreds of old archive materials to get through, but Lyle was prepared to stay all night if that’s what it took.

‘I’ll get through this, and I’ll find out what I need to know!’ Lyle said cheerfully as he opened up a new archive file.

But then there was a creaking sound behind Lyle.

And it wasn’t long before that creaking sound was followed by a loud, booming voice…

‘What in all hell do you think you are doing, Lyle?’ Reed Silver bellowed, his voice full of rage. ‘I thought I made my position on Sloane perfectly fucking clear. Well?’

Lyle’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt a sickening feeling at the pit of his stomach. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. Lyle didn’t know how to respond.

I could lie.

Yeah, come up with some BS…

I could… run.

But before Lyle could do anything, Reed Silver was towering over him, and the look on his face made it perfectly clear that he wouldn’t tolerate any nonsense from Lyle.

Reed’s normally immaculate side parted hair actually looked a little bit scruffy. And his brown eyes were bloodshot too. It was quite clear that Reed had indeed been indulging in too much alcohol. But that was of little use to Lyle in this situation.

The truth was, Lyle actually felt scared.

The archive room was set back from the main office, and with its heavy doors fully shut, it was well insulated for sound too. Lyle suddenly felt very scared by Reed’s aggressive demeanor.

Lyle wanted to say something. He wanted to tell Reed to back off. But try as he might, the words simply wouldn’t come out of Lyle’s mouth.

‘You clearly didn’t listen to my friendly words of warning,’ Reed said, referring to their previous discussion over what Lyle should and shouldn’t be digging into. ‘Well let me put it another way. If you continue on this path, not only will I make sure that your ass is grass at the Tribune, I’ll let everyone know all about your life as a kink-loving freak. And if that doesn’t put an end to your career, I’ll personally contact all my fellow senior editors across the news in New York.’

Lyle couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Reed was known for being mean at times, but this was a whole other level. It just wasn’t fair. Lyle felt like he was being personally targeted and treated in a totally unprofessional manner. The mention of telling everyone that he was a sub made Lyle equal parts upset and absolutely furious.

‘Y-y-y-you can’t do that!’ Lyle said, mustering up the courage to fight back. ‘I’ll report you to my union rep! That’s bullying!’

‘Union rep? Jesus, where do you think we are, Soviet Russia?’ Reed barked. ‘The union works for me. I call the shots with our rep. He knows that I’m connected. But enough of that. All I’m saying is that if I ever catch you digging around again, I’ll finish your career with a click of my fingers.’

Lyle didn’t wait to hear any more of what bile Reed Silver was going to spew. With the sound of Reed cackling and seemingly finding the whole situation rather amusing, Lyle sprung to his feet and ran out of the archive room and then out of the Tribune office altogether.

Lyle simply couldn’t stay at work for a single second longer.

Lyle got himself out of the Tribune’s front entrance and onto the sidewalk as quickly as he could. With his hands on his head, Lyle tried his best to calm himself down.

Breathe.

Calm thoughts.

Breeeeeeathe.

But it felt like the more Lyle tried to get some composure back, the more worked up he got. The way Reed had behaved was just appalling. It was beyond the pale of what anyone could deem acceptable. Not only that, but Reed had actually come across as sinister.

Sure, Lyle had always put Reed down as being rude, aggressive and even a bit of a bully at times. But never sinister. It almost didn’t feel as if Reed was a senior editor. It felt like he was… a criminal.

‘Okay, okay, okay,’ Lyle said, the rain beginning to fall and several pedestrians pushing past him as they ran for shelter. ‘I need to go. I need to go home. I need to see Antonio. He’ll know what to do.’

Lyle glanced back toward the Tribune building and looked up to the third floor. Staring back down at him was Reed, a nasty smile on his face, all bad intentions and creepy to the max.

Lyle didn’t waste a single second longer and began to run. As the rain began to fall even heavier, Lyle felt himself get soaked right down to the bone. He was already feeling miserable, but this simply compounded the feeling and made it even worse.

As he was running, Lyle remembered being bullied by some senior jocks during his first year at college. It was a tough experience at the time, and Lyle realized that while he loved the journalism training there, what he really did not miss was the bigoted and judgmental attitude of some of the other students.

Maybe it was the way that Reed had so cruelly sneered about telling everyone that he was a into the kink scene, but Lyle felt like he had been transported right back to college. The jocks had even chased him across campus once, throwing things at him and calling him all kinds of horrible names.

Lyle thought those days were long gone. But maybe they weren’t. Even in a city as cosmopolitan as New York, there were still some people who didn’t want to simply accept Lyle for who he was. It was a gross feeling, and it filled Lyle was a deep sadness.

Why? Why can’t people just be nice.

I want to snuggle under the duvet.

And I need Antonio too…

As Lyle continued to pound the streets and weave in and out of other pedestrians, he was conscious that even when he got back to Antonio the problem wouldn’t be totally solved. After all, it wasn’t as if Antonio could simply march into the Tribune office and threaten Reed.

Lyle still wanted nothing more than to make it as a journalist, and if Antonio went around threatening people then that was sure to put a big black mark on Lyle’s name. No, Lyle and Antonio would have to come up with a plan together. And Lyle did at least feel safe in the knowledge that Antonio was such a smart, brilliantly brainy alpha.

Finally, several blocks later and with Lyle drenched and in need of a hot bath and some even hotter milk, Lyle arrived back at Antonio’s handsome house.

The lights were on, so it was clear that Antonio was home.

As he stood in the doorway and knocked on the heavy, black-metal door knocker, Lyle felt a sense of complete and utter relief. He was home, and now he was about to be in the safe hands of his Master.

But what Lyle hadn’t counted on was the fact that Antonio might have had his fair share of problems that day too…