Firewall (8 page)

L
eft
to his own devices after Justin fled from the room like a banshee, Calder wasn’t sure what to think. Yet, the fact that Justin had fled didn’t really surprise him. Justin always got so flustered when it came to anything physical or too emotional, so that was to be expected.

Still, it did sting a little.

But all those gasps and moans of pleasure still rung in Calder’s ears.

Then, his stomach churned.

They had changed from being friends into something more. What the hell? Where had that come from? He had just been going to get a glass of water, only to find Justin outside his door, looking like a deer caught in headlights. But when Justin had thrown himself at him and kissed him, a switch had been flipped that Calder couldn’t flip back again.

Calder finished washing himself up and rubbed his face as he crawled into bed. His mind raced. He should have been able to resist Justin’s advances. He should have told him no. But he didn’t.

Calder pulled the sheets up to his chest, resting on his back as he gazed at the ceiling.

Tonight was going to be a long night.

T
he next morning
, Calder was up bright and early to survey the property and make sure everything was still good. As far as he could see, everything had been A-OK the night before and still was.

Everything was so quiet but that was good. Calder worked on more plans for the convention but also looked up more things on how to be a better personal assistant as well. He found that there was a fair bit of overlap, which was comforting.

At around nine, there was movement above. About twenty minutes later, Justin padded downstairs and joined him.

“Good morning,” Calder said as he looked up from his laptop while seated at the kitchen table and enjoying a coffee. The night before came rushing back to him but Calder had to play it cool. It was time to be a professional again.

“Morning,” Justin replied. His hair was damp and there was the scent of some spring-fresh body wash about him.

Calder tried his hardest
not
to think about Justin in the shower rubbing himself down.
Now that we fooled around, is this all I’m going to think about?

Dwelling on it meant that he’d have to think more deeply about his sexuality. He wasn’t sure what it meant when he had found Justin attractive at times, but not other men. Women didn’t even quite do the same thing for him as those thoughts of Justin had.

“How’d you sleep?” Calder asked, keeping things casual.

“Good.” Justin shifted from foot to foot, looking as though he wanted to speak but being uncertain about it. While Calder wanted to prompt Justin to speak, Justin had to do so at his own pace. Plus, Calder wasn’t sure if he himself was ready for what Justin probably wanted to talk about.

The night before was still too fresh on his mind and Calder was trying to make sense of it.

“Do you have anything you want to do today?” Calder asked, although
that could’ve been a double entendre, too.

“Actually, Laura called and asked if I’d come to her charity event today.”

Laura was Justin’s older sister. She was only about two years older, so Calder had seen her around while hanging out with Justin as kids. She’d been around a lot less when they’d been teenagers, though. Still, she had always been kind, although she did love to play rough. When it came to wrestling, she’d given Calder a run for his money at a young age.

“Oh? What kind of charity event?”

“She’s trying to raise some money for the LGBT youth center she volunteers with. She’s running a silent auction with paintings done by the community. She’s got a piece in there, too.”

“Oh? And she needs your help running it?”

“I think she wants me to bid on paintings, too,” Justin laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Calder gazed around at the collection of fandom art on the walls. “It probably wouldn’t hurt to branch out and show off something new,” he teased. “It sounds like it’d be for a good cause. Where is it?”

Once Justin gave Calder the address, he immediately set to work planning the quickest and safest route as well as learning more about the neighborhood and the youth center.

“You’re really going into depth. It’s one event.”

“This is what I do and what you’ve paid for.”

Justin blushed and hesitated again. “Um, speaking of... Even though I’m paying you, you don’t need to go along with everything I say or do.”

“What do you mean?” Calder asked while furrowing his brow. By this point, Justin had started pacing around him and the dining room table.

“Like, if you didn’t want what happened last night.”

Calder’s eyes widened with shock as he reached out and grabbed Justin’s arm on his next pass around the table. “What? Justin, no. Last night was nothing like that. I didn’t do it because I felt obligated to.”

Justin tensed when he was grabbed but relaxed and glanced to him. “Oh, okay.”

Calder groaned with a laugh, letting go of Justin’s arm and rubbing his face. “Why the hell would you think that?”

“Everything happened at once and I wasn’t sure
why
. We’ve never done that before.”

“No, we haven’t,” Calder agreed, shifting on his chair some. “I think we were both just a bit stressed and tense from all of the changes lately.”

Justin watched Calder intently. “Have you ever thought of me like that before?”

Calder was a bit nervous about the question and cleared his throat. So many things were racing through his head at that moment and he had no real idea how to respond. He was used to being prepared for everything, so stalling like this really threw him for a loop.

“I—” Calder started but was then interrupted when Justin’s phone rang. As Justin grabbed the phone from his pocket and stepped away, Calder let out a breath.

“Hello? Oh, hey, Laura. Sorry I didn’t respond yet. I was just getting up.”

As Justin wandered away to talk on the phone with his sister, Calder resumed his planning. It was only now that he was aware of how fast his heart was beating.

If they hadn’t been interrupted by the phone call, what would he have told Justin?

Even now, he didn’t know.

J
ustin wandered away from Calder
, slowly pacing around the house as he spoke with Laura.

“So, what time are you going to show up?” Laura asked, sounding as chipper as always.

Justin loved his sister but they didn’t see each other that often despite living in the same city. Just like it was with Calder, most of the communication was done online. Laura was always busy, anyway, as a real-estate agent. When she wasn’t working, she was volunteering around the city. The fact that they caught each other when they needed to, however infrequent that was, worked for them.

“What time is the event?” Justin asked.

“It starts at noon.”

“I can be there for noon. Is there anything I should bring?”

“Just yourself... and your wallet.”

Justin rolled his eyes. “Thanks.”

“Oh, come on. I’m just having fun but actually bidding would be nice. Trying to raise money for this mini-library has been tricky.”

“What exactly are you doing?”

“I’ve been doing book drives and trying to collect as many LGBT books as possible to keep at the community center. I’m hoping to get a lot of, you know, uplifting stuff. I’m especially looking for good fiction.”

Hearing the passion in his sister’s voice always stirred something inside Justin. As passionate as Justin was about technology, she was passionate about helping her community. It made Justin feel a little guilty at times that he wasn’t more involved.

“Is Sarah going to be working with you today?”

“Sadly, no. She’s got a cleaning gig today. It’s a shame because she would’ve loved coming to bid on some of the pieces.”

Laura and her wife Sarah had been together for eight years now and they were still going strong. Laura had met her while helping Sarah find a new apartment. Sarah was every bit as energetic as Laura and loved art. She was the one that had got Laura into painting in her spare time.

Justin had envied their relationship. They seemed to have everything together.

Sarah also happened to work at Sybil Industries part-time as part of the cleaning crew. Justin saw her now and again but they didn’t get to interact too much.

“All right, we’ll be there for noon.”

“Wait,
we
?” Laura exclaimed.

Justin stopped dead in his tracks, glancing behind him to see where Calder was. The handsome man was engrossed in whatever was on his computer screen. Justin wasn’t sure how much he was listening in, though, so he ambled upstairs and lowered his voice.

“Er, Calder’s here.”

“Oh? Is he in for a visit?”

“Um, no, he’s working for me.”

Laura laughed sharply on the other end. “What? I’m confused.”

Justin let out a breath. “Okay, I’ll bring you up to speed but don’t freak out, all right? And keep it between us since I don’t want Mom and Dad freaking out about it.”

“Sure thing,” Laura agreed, and there was no mistaking the curiosity in her voice.

Justin drew in a breath then let it out. “Well, you already know the whole thing about me being fired, and stuff. Well, I’ve been getting harassed a lot online. Some of it I’m sure is from people I’ve worked with and the rest is just from the community in general.”

“Oh?”

“And it’s been really hard to find work, because everyone thinks I leaked vulnerable info, or... left them open for exploitation, at the very best,” Justin pressed on. “So I’m starting my own IT security firm.”

“To rub it in their faces?”

Justin blushed as he paced his way into his bedroom. “A little, but also because it’s something new and challenging. Anyway, me and Calder were talking and now he’s here as my bodyguard and personal assistant.”

“Oh, my God, Justin! Are these coworkers out to harm you?”

Justin winced. “Calder found out that one of them has a history of obsessing and stalking, and we think he might be likely to do that with me.”

“Has this guy been giving you trouble, too?”

“He used to be the best at Sybil before I started. He did make me a job offer recently, but I suspect he has some not-so-legal work outside of pentesting.”

“Justin...”

“So Calder agreed to come and help me out and keep me out of trouble. I could use his help networking with others, too. Especially at this big convention I’m going to in Seattle this weekend.”

“You’ve never been the best at handling people.”

Justin jutted his jaw. Laura knew why that was, but she still took jabs like most siblings. She was gentle, though, and Justin knew to never take it to heart. “No, so hopefully Calder can help me make amends. I could use a personal assistant, too.”

Laura laughed. “I bet you could. Especially if Calder looks as hot as his Facebook pictures. I noticed he’s gotten some tattoos lately.”

Justin’s cheeks burst with color. Every new picture that Calder put up through social media became the hottest thing Justin had ever seen. It seemed like the man was incapable of taking a bad picture. Especially when it came to shirtless pictures.

Calder was more adventurous than him. There were old pictures of Calder trekking through the woods, rock climbing, and out on the water in his canoe. There hadn’t been so many new pictures lately, which Justin suspected was because of the bodyguard work. He hoped now that Calder would finally be able to make more time for himself.

And Justin wanted to experience more of the great outdoors, too. He spent so much of his time inside behind screens. He knew he was missing out on so much. But with Calder’s courage and guidance, Justin felt like he could be brave enough to try experiencing some things of his own.

“And you’ve always had a crush on him, haven’t you?” Laura suddenly brought up, although Justin had been expecting some form of teasing after the Facebook comment.

“Laura, he’s right here downstairs,” Justin lamented in a light hiss.

Laura laughed richly on the other end. “I’ll let you go now. I have a lot to do this morning. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, see you,” Justin bade. Once he hung up, he shook his head, still flustered by his sister’s comments. She had teased him about it a lot when they were young. She had still poked a bit of fun in the later years as well.

But, as much as she teased, she never seriously nudged Justin to go after Calder. After all, Calder had never made his sexuality or interest clear. The last thing Justin figured his sister wanted was to put him in an upsetting position.

Little did she know, everything had now changed.

She’s so going to know when she sees us.
Justin fretted as he made his way back downstairs.

“Is everything okay?” Calder asked as he glanced up.

“Fine. She was just checking in about the charity thing.”

“We’re all good to go whenever you are,” Calder said as he closed his laptop.