Chapter 10

Ten

Adrian woke up in the dark hours of the morning and headed out to the kitchen to find coffee. Maybe a snack. He wasn’t sure. He required a certain amount of flaky pastry in his life.

He yawned, pulling the fluffy robe he’d used before around him, his feet swathed in socks that were far too big. The scent of coffee reached him, and he geared up to smile at Stan, but it wasn’t Stan at all.

It was the long-haired biker brother. Quaid? Quist?

Quin.

“Hey. Uh. Sorry. I need coffee.”

“No worries. I bought early-morning doughnuts on the way back in from Denver.” The smile was so much like Symon’s, but held a wild edge. Quin dipped his chin and grabbed a second mug. “Coffee is a necessary evil.”

“Oh, it’s not evil. It’s so yummy.” He took the cup once Quin poured, then added cream and sugar.

“Yeah. So, why are you in my brother’s bed?”

“Huh?” He choked on some coffee, almost spitting it out.

“You heard me. Your apartment is torched. Your department was attacked. You’re seducing Symon. Even if it’s not evil, it’s connected. So, talk to me.”

“I—We met at work. I’m the lead software guy on the app…” He shrugged. “He’s hot as hell. And he called to me.”

“So…is there something creepy with the code?”

“Creepy how?” Code was ones and zeroes. No creep factor.

“I mean, is it skewed somehow? Does it collect sensitive information? Beam radiation from space?”

“Uh… I’m pretty sure it gathers information to make sure ads get to the interested parties and that’s it?”

“Huh.” Quin studied him like he was a bug under a magnifying glass. “So what’s the deal with people setting your shit on fire?”

“I don’t know. I mean, Isaac and I stood up to Carl, but you don’t burn someone’s apartment up for that!”

“No, you don’t.” Quin sipped his coffee. “So what’s going on? What do you know about this Carl guy?”

“He’s a mountain lion. He’s mean. He hates Isaac?”

“Hmmm.” Quin tapped his fingers against his cup. “You think this is a sex thing?”

“Like with me? Ew! No!” Gag. No felines.

“No, I mean with this Carl guy and your friend Isaac. And you’re a friend of Isaac’s, you defended him… Right? I think Rian told me that.”

“Maybe? But then why keep attacking the app?” Isaac worked in the damn mail room, for goodness sake. “And the code that they’re messing with—it’s just slowing things down, causing glitches. If you’re going to attack, why not a DOS attack or steal personal information. This is more a drama of gradually escalating irritation.”

“Then who besides your old boss would have a vested interest in the app failing?”

“Quin, are you torturing my mate?” Symon walked in with the lawyer, Rian, both of them in pajama pants and sweaters. “Did you get doughnuts?”

“I did, yeah. A couple dozen.”

“Good man.” Symon kissed his neck, then went to pour a cup of coffee. “Adrian isn’t the bad guy here.”

“I never accused him of that, did I?” Quin fastened him with a glare, and Adrian shook his head.

“No. No, he said I was involved somehow, but he never said I was at fault, you know?” Even if it felt like it a little bit.

“No one here is at fault for anything.” Symon said it in a firm voice, touching his back. “This is an attack—on you, on me, on the company—and I am going to quash it.”

Growly Symon was kind of hot.

“Sexay,” Rian said, that wolfish grin so like Quin’s, only in a lawyer kind of way.

“Gross.” Quin rolled his eyes. “And I’m in. I just want answers.”

“So do I.” Adrian puffed up a little, because he couldn’t help it. “My stuff is all gone. All of it. And for what?” He shook his head. “I mean, come on. I just wanted a cup of coffee and a snack. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

“Of course not.” Rian nodded at him. “Don’t let Quin make things weird. He’s just a hard ass.”

“And a champion of the underdog.” Symon glared at Quin. “So clearly he’s just fucking with you.”

“Hey, I want to make sure he’s not messing with you, bro. You come first.” Quin shrugged, not the least bit guilty, he thought.

Adrian sighed. Of course Symon came first. He always came second, and he had a headache. He stood and shook his head. “I’m going to take a shower before I get back to work.”

“I’ll come with you.” Symon snagged a bunch of doughnuts, then walked with him toward the bedrooms. “I’m sorry about them, love.”

“They’re your brothers, your pack. It’s only right.”

“That they worry about me? Yes. That Quin was rude to you? No.” Symon nudged him with one arm, hands too full of pastry to touch him.

“No?” He stole a doughnut, tore off a bite, and fed it to Symon as they walked.

“Mmm. Maple.” Symon chuckled, chewing. Then he swallowed. “And no. No one gets to be mean to you.”

“Well… I… Really?” That made him all shivery and dry mouthed.

“Really.” Symon nudged open the bedroom door, and he closed it behind them while Symon put the doughnuts down on the night table. “Come eat with me.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.” He wasn’t absolutely sure what he was sorry for, but he was totally sorry.

“Why?” Symon tempted him with a bite torn off a blueberry lemon doughnut.

“Oh, thank you. I don’t know, mate. I feel…responsible.”

“Well, then maybe you know something you don’t think you know.”

Adrian tilted his head. “Is that a thing?”

“Yes. When Rian was still doing trials, he often said a witness who had seen more than they actually recalled would often have a feeling of guilt. Maybe you saw someone doing something that didn’t twig you at the time…”

“Really? Do you think I saw stuff? I was always in the code…”

“Maybe. And Isaac. He’s at the office earlier than anyone else. What if he saw something too? Something he didn’t know to parse as bad acting.” Symon munched half a jelly doughnut.

“Maybe. I mean, Carl’s a bully and a dick. He was always trying to intimidate Mr. Lepus, to get promotions, to get more.”

“Hmmm. I’ll put Rian on his background and acquaintances.”

Adrian shrugged. “He’s a salesman, you know? You can’t really trust anything to be absolutely true.”

“No lies detected.” Symon winked at him. “Come on. Have another bite or two and we’ll take a shower.”

“Can I have one of the crullers? I love those.”

“Of course.” Symon handed it over, then licked his fingers.

“Thank you.” He took a bite, humming under his breath. “Oh, fresh.”

“Mmmhmm. Quin has good taste in doughnut places.” Symon sighed. “I’m not sorry. I wouldn’t have gotten to have you if this hadn’t happened. The sale, I mean. Not the drama.”

“Lepus wanted out. He wanted to be on a yacht on the open ocean. He was tired of the drama.” And Adrian got it—he was a coder. He didn’t do things.

“Well, he got out. But what did Carl think he was getting?” Symon ate another doughnut. “Ready for that shower?”

He nodded and stood. “He couldn’t have bought the company. He’s in management. He sells shit.”

“So what if that’s not what he wanted?” Symon drew him to the bathroom. “What if he was stealing? Money. Code. Something. What if all these little annoyances are to cover his tracks while he tries to get in and get more?” Symon sounded thoughtful. And dangerously calm.

He shivered. He wouldn’t want to get on Symon’s bad side.

Still…it wasn’t…

He tilted his head, blinking. “He’s a salesman. He sells things. He’s good at it.”

“Mmmhmm.” Symon said it encouragingly.

“What if he was trying to sell the code to a competitor?”

“And then you and your team keep changing things, so he has to keep trying to get the full code?”

“Yeah, it was insane, because they kept pushing us to improve, to make the sale sweeter, you know?” They’d all been working sixteen-hour days.

“That’s got to be it.” Symon closed his eyes. “I passed that on to Rian,” he said a few moments later. “Let him start looking into it.” He turned on the water, and steam started pouring out almost immediately.

He was beginning to be addicted to this shower. He knew that he was bound to Symon, but this bathtub was a huge bonus…

Symon laughed. “You just love me for my rainbath.”

“And your doughnuts. And your Wi-Fi is mind-blowing.”

“Why thank you. So is my knot, hmm?”

He flushed hot, still not used to hearing things, or saying things, like that, even though Symon inspired him. “So true. That’s a work of art.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

“It makes my mouth dry, you know? You make me dizzy.”

“You do the same for me.” Symon kissed him, stripping them both before pushing him into the spray. “And I want to do bad things to you all the time. Like it distracts me from everything else.”

“That’s the mate bond forming, right?”

“I suppose so.” Symon stroked his hair. “I hope it never fades at all.”

“I understand now why people crave this.” Adrian leaned toward his mate. “Why wolves crave this.”

“Yes. I know what you mean.” Symon pulled him close and held him, washing him with lazy strokes.

Adrian leaned hard, eyelids heavy, his tension disappearing with a pop. He wanted to rest. To go back to sleep. He wanted other things too, but it wasn’t urgent right now. It could wait.

Everything could, because he had Symon in his arms.