Cas was sure he was going to come the moment his hand touched his swollen, throbbing cock, but he didn’t. The lack of blood flow made his head swim, and Jonah’s teasing thrusts drilled Cas’s prostate with every third stroke. He jerked himself without finesse, using his own precum as lube, no longer caring about anything but chasing his pleasure.
Suddenly, Jonah let go of his throat and knocked Cas’s hand away, pumping him hard and fast, twisting on every upstroke until Cas was whining and babbling, begging Jonah to fix him, to let him come. When his orgasm crashed through him, it felt like it was ripped from his body, his cum coating his belly, chest, and chin, wiping out his vision and making him clamp down on Jonah’s cock.
Jonah shattered with a hoarse cry three strokes later, his sweaty forehead dropping to Cas’s, his hips shuddering and off rhythm as he emptied himself inside Cas.
Jonah carefully slipped free, ridding himself of the condom before dropping back onto the bed and pulling Cas into his arms.
Cas’s whole body felt loose and empty. Without Jonah filling him up, there was nothing to stop the sadness and doubt from seeping back into his bones. He needed to remind himself this was all temporary. Jonah would let Cas go as soon as he felt he was safe. Cas would go back to pretending it was Jonah touching him in club bathrooms and back alleys. That was just how it was.
He stared up into the cloudless inky black sky. “Red died because of me.”
Jonah combed his fingers through Cas’s damp hair. “Red died because he wouldn’t give a group of bad people what they wanted. That’s just the kind of person he was. We all got into this game knowing the retirement plan is usually a bullet to the back of the head. He made his own choices.”
None of that made Cas feel any better. Red had taught him to code, to hack. He’d given him odd jobs and helped him get a passport and fresh IDs when he needed them. Cas had spent so many nights on Red’s ugly purple sofa. He’d even gotten Cas his first job hacking a bank for the Ukrainian mob. Now, he was gone, and Cas could never ask him another question, never call him for help. “What do you think he meant when we were on the phone? About missing the forest for the trees?”
Jonah’s chest rose and fell beneath Cas’s ear, the steady thump of his heartbeat soothing Cas’s frayed nerves. “I don’t really know. That you’re thinking too small with the list?”
Cas traced a pattern across Jonah’s ribs. “But none of these names have anything to do with each other. Like, they have nothing in common…at all.”
“So, what do they have in common with Global Data Systems?” Jonah asked after a few moments.
Cas paused, glancing up. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, are they clients of GDS? Did they ever use their services?”
Cas’s fingers started to move once more. “No. Never.”
“Why would a company that specializes in private military contractors have these specific names buried in their computer system?”
“I don’t know.” Cas’s free hand flailed. “That’s the problem. The founder of GDS died of a drug overdose last year. The new CEO doesn’t seem to have any kind of attachment to the names either.”
“So, what about the old CEO?”
“The dead guy?”
Jonah chuckled. “Yeah. The dead guy.”
Cas made a noise of frustration. “Nothing that jumped out at me. He was just your run-of-the-mill rich white guy as far as I could tell. They all are.”
“Okay, well, if the names on the list are the trees, then start branching out. Maybe it’s not them we should be looking at but something or someone they all have in common.” Jonah dropped his hand to rub soothing circles on Cas’s back.
“Like, maybe the list is a smokescreen? A way to hide who they’re really after? That seems kind of convoluted.”
“Convoluted is sort of the point, isn’t it? People don’t hide things in the darkest corners of their computers so some smart-ass hacker can just snag a list of names and foil all their nefarious plans.”
Cas snickered. “Nefarious plans?”
“Do I have to spank you again?” Jonah caught his fingers in Cas’s hair, tugging his face up for a toothy kiss.
Cas batted his lashes at Jonah, smirking. “Have to? I don’t know. Want to? Probably. Who knew you were such a perv deep down under that grumpy permafrown.”
Jonah pinched Cas’s nipple until he yelped, laughing as he tried to fend Jonah off. “I’m a perv? Me? You’re the one who was just begging me to hurt you, or have you forgotten?”
“I haven’t forgotten.” Cas’s laughter died, and he captured Jonah’s lips in a dirty kiss.
Jonah plundered Cas’s mouth, teasing his fingers over Cas’s cheek until he thought his dick might try to rally. Jonah pulled back as if sensing the same thing. “You need to get some sleep.”
“No, I need to get my laptop.” Cas started to sit up, but Jonah yanked him back down.
