He sprawled in the chair opposite Linc, sweeping his long dark hair off his shoulders and securing it with an elastic band. “What about Kirsch?” he asked, hopeful he read the situation wrong.
Linc scoffed. “What do you think? He’s furious. He’s demanding his money back.”
Outside, the sun pierced the veil of clouds, sending a beam of light through the window, pinning him in place and forcing him to squint. “He’s overreacting, man. You know how these rich folks are,” Calder hedged, refusing to admit to any wrongdoing until he knew what Linc knew.
Charged silence filled the room as Linc fixed him with a dead stare. “You fucked his wife…and his son.”
Yep. There it was. What could he say? “Not at the same time?”
Calder wondered which one of them blabbed. Probably the housekeeper. At least Linc didn’t know about her. He hoped.
Linc flopped back in his chair, exasperation leaching into his tone. “Your job is to keep his family alive, not stick your dick in them.”
Calder snorted, another grin spreading over his face. “Did they die?” he drawled, letting the Texan seep into his voice. “No. In fact, it might be the first time they ever truly lived. My dick changes lives, man.”
“Stop sticking your magical dick in my clients,” Linc boomed. Calder winced, glancing towards the windowed wall where the rest of the office all stood frozen, staring at the two of them with interest. Wyatt and Charlie both faced him now, laughing, but Calder’s eyes locked on the boy sitting between them. Robby Shaw. The jilted cupcake of Oscar-winning actor, Elijah Dunne. The boy didn’t laugh like the others. If anything, he looked shocked. Almost as shocked as Calder felt seeing the boy again after all that time. Something about the way that kid looked at him still went straight to his dick. Now was definitely not the time to get a boner.
He forced himself to look away, turning back to his furious friend. “Linc, I’m not trying to be an asshole, but I feel the need to point out that both you and Shepherd married the only clients you were ever charged with watching. Hell, at this point Jackson might as well call this place Elite Protection and Matchmaking Services. I submit that I’m being unfairly targeted and punished not because I fuck our clients but because I just refuse to marry all of them afterward, and honestly, it’s starting to feel a bit like discrimination.”
The vein on Linc’s forehead started to throb. Calder may have felt sorry for the man if he didn’t know Linc lived for this shit. He loved running a command, even if his team consisted of misfits and headcases. Calder had a foot firmly in each camp. “Come on, man. I promise I’ll try to stop being so goddamn irresistible.” Linc shook his head. Calder assumed that meant the verbal spanking was over. “So, tell the truth, did you have me kidnap that…mutant as some kind of punishment?”
Linc nodded toward the conference room. Robby snuggled the hideous dog against his chest, feeding him something from a dropper. Once more, the boy’s gaze met Calder’s, like he sensed him watching. It sent a jolt of adrenaline through him. Calder felt like he was held captive by the boy’s stare, freed only once he dropped his gaze back to his canine companion. “What’s he doing here?” Calder managed.
“Not sure. Shep said Elijah got a call at four in the morning their time with the boy out of it, claiming he’d been kidnapped. Shep heard a police siren and figured the kid was drunk or high in the back of a police car, which proved to be correct. He just kept going on and on about his dog. Shep called me, asked me to ping the kid’s cell phone, Wyatt stuck his nose where it didn’t belong as usual, and he and Charlie went to spring the kid from county lockup where he’d been picked up for a drunk and disorderly and assaulting a police officer.”
Calder snorted. “Assaulting a police officer? Angel face in there? The kid is the personification of a basket of kittens. What did he assault him with? Kindness?”
Linc’s lips twitched as he tried to keep a straight face. “A twelve-inch black dildo known as the ‘hole wrecker.’”
Calder turned back to look at the boy who was adamantly not looking in their direction any longer. When he turned back around, he and Linc both started to laugh. “Well, that would definitely piss off a patrolman.”
“Oh, he was pissed alright. He pepper sprayed and tased your adorable basket of kittens in there.”
That wiped the smirk off Calder’s face, a tightness forming in his chest. “That’s fucking excessive. What does he weigh? A buck fifty, maybe? We should be suing for excessive force.”
“We?” Linc inquired.
Calder snorted. “You know what I mean. He’s friends with Elijah. He’s friends with Wyatt and Charlie. He’s in the fold. He’s one of us.” Linc examined Calder without speaking until he said, “Don’t look at me like that. He’s not a client.”
There was a knock on the door, and then Wyatt entered without waiting for an invitation. He sauntered past Calder and walked to Linc, helping himself to the man’s lap. Linc automatically curled an arm around him. “Robby wants to go home and shower. You think he should see a doctor first? That taser burn looks pretty bad and his eyes are swollen.”
“I’ll take him home,” Calder heard himself volunteer.
Wyatt locked eyes with Calder, both brows raising before a smirk crossed his lips. “Yeah, okay. You should take him home and maybe stay with him for a little bit. He’s kind of shaken up.”
“Wyatt…” There was no mistaking the warning in Linc’s voice.
Wyatt turned those guileless green eyes on his husband, batting his lashes. “Well, I guess I could go spend the night with Robby. I mean, you and I had plans, but if you’re that worried about Calder potentially having his way with a fully grown adult not paying Elite for services…I’m willing to put off our plans. But tonight was the night we were going to…” He leaned down and whispered something in the boss’s ear. Linc’s hand squeezed Wyatt’s thigh reflexively as the boy talked.
His eyes flicked to Calder. “Fine, go. Just don’t… You know what? It’s not my business.”
Linc bent to kiss Wyatt’s neck. The boy winked at Calder and gestured for him to get lost. Calder shook his head but left before he was as traumatized as everybody else on the other side of Linc’s glass walls would likely be in five minutes.
Calder stopped at the conference room door where Robby sat snuggling his demonic looking dog. “Come on, angel face. I’m gonna give you a ride.”
Charlie choked on a laugh. “Well, damn, Calder. Right here in the conference room. I thought only Linc was allowed to do that.”
“Get thee behind me, hooker Barbie. I have no time for your forked tongue today. I’ve been asked to take the boy home and make sure he gets to his apartment okay.”
