Firewall (5 page)

J
ustin was nervous about everything
. Although he had asked Calder for his help, suddenly he was wondering if it was the right thing to do. He was dragging Calder from his own work and life into his—all because of some techies that couldn’t let go of their resentment.

Had he really fallen that low?

It wasn’t until the morning after his conversation with Calder that he received a phone call back.

“Hey, it’s Calder.”

“Yeah, I know,” Justin laughed, his stomach twisting with nerves. “So, what’s happening?”

“What’s happening is that I’m going to come help you out. Not just for the convention either.”

Justin’s chest fluttered as he paced around his kitchen, circling his dining table. He had a bad habit of pacing whenever he was on the phone or recording a video using a handheld camera for his vlog. It was one of the few ways he could interact with a lot of people without being too personal. It helped give him a proper outlet for his habit of talking a lot about himself, too. Fortunately, it seemed like people were genuinely interested in what he had to say on technical issues.

And then there were the occasional people who commented on how cute or hot he was. It still amused Justin, although he wasn’t interested.

Of course, now his YouTube channel was being hit with hate, too, since he’d been fired. It was alarming how fast these things spread. Who the hell were these people to even be leaving these kinds of comments?

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“I think you need more protection right now than just at the convention. But not just that, I think you could use a hand dealing with getting that firm off the ground, too. I was thinking I could also be your PA.”

“I don’t need a PA.”

“I think you do,” Calder laughed. “I can help navigate you through social interactions as well to try and get rid of some of these problems.”

Justin frowned as he thought it through. He
didn’t
do well with people on the best of days. Now that he was stressed, he’d probably do even worse. Yet, dealing with people was what Calder did best and Justin had always been envious of his abilities.

And it’d be an excuse to have Calder around for longer.

“All right, I think I can work with that. How long are you thinking? You can stay with me as long as you want.”

“I’m not entirely sure yet but was thinking at least a few weeks to see all of this through.”

“That sounds good to me. When do you think you can come out?”

“Well, I need to pack up some things and drive out to you, so maybe in two days? I’m just going to bring the basics with me now. If I need anything else, I can get Vince to send a box out.”

Justin let out a breath of relief. “Thanks, Cald. I really appreciate it. You don’t have to worry about furniture. I have a guest room.”

“You really don’t mind me staying at your place?”

“Not at all!”

“Okay, cool. I’ll let you go and get started on packing, then.”

“All right. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you.”

When Calder hung up, Justin continued to pace, his mind racing.

Calder was going to be living with him.

This was going to take some adjusting to. How was the dynamic between them going to change now as employee and boss?

And how was he going to keep his feelings for Calder under wraps? Although Justin had come out to Calder years ago in high school, Calder had never really disclosed his own sexuality. They’d had conversations in the past about it but Calder hadn’t been sold on any of the labels. At the time, he’d insisted that he only liked women.

Justin had his suspicions but there was no sense in pushing Calder about it.

As Justin finally broke the pacing to head upstairs and make sure the guestroom was tidy. He only hoped that this wouldn’t turn out to be the biggest mistake of his life.

C
alder spent
the next couple of days planning and packing, although he wouldn’t be taking a whole lot with him. All of his clothes fitted into one big suitcase and there were only a few personal items he wanted to take.

As he gazed around his apartment, he frowned. He didn’t really have that much in the way of meaningful belongings. He didn’t collect much. Most of the money he made went into his savings account. Now and again, he bought sports tickets for himself and his buddies, but that was it. He bought experiences, not things.

That made it easier than he’d expected to pack up his life and just leave it all behind. His apartment—he could leave it for a few weeks easily, until the dust settled around Justin.

It felt a little weird but also exciting to be leaving this apartment behind for something completely new. He had been wanting to mix things up and now was his chance to do it.

T
he long drive
to Portland from Los Angeles was fairly uneventful. Given his experience as a bodyguard, Calder was excellent at planning routes beforehand. It was one of his duties to ensure that his clients got to where they needed to go quickly and safely.

Even though Calder had a good fourteen hours to himself as he drove, starting in the early morning, he enjoyed it. As he drove and listened to country music—his guilty pleasure—it felt like bigger and better things were on the horizon. He felt good, despite the worries at the back of his mind.

As Calder drove into Portland that evening, he made his way to the neighborhood of Beaverton. All around him there was green space that he was drawn to. Even though he was in the car, as soon as he rolled the window down he was hit with how much fresher the city felt.

This was going to be an adjustment. The city already felt smaller, with a different pace of life. Still, he was excited about it.

Calder had never visited Justin but he had the address and pictures of the house, so he knew exactly where to go. The neighborhood Justin lived in was quiet enough. Calder’s research beforehand revealed that the crime rate was fairly low. It was a middle-class neighborhood mostly made up of young families.

Calder finally found Justin’s house and parked on the street for now so as not to block in Justin’s car.

Grabbing his suitcase to bring in first, he closed the car door and glanced around at the property, assessing it.

It was a simple, cute home; a two-story house with beige siding, a black roof, and white trimming. The front yard was green with leafy trees, flower shrubs, and a bird bath. There was a small picket fence around the front lawn. Calder knew there was a backyard, too, from pictures Justin had shared with him before but he’d see that later.

When he was on the steps, he rang the doorbell.

It was
now
that it really hit him. He was going to see Justin for the first time in eight years. Eight years!

He was nervous, and he didn’t usually get nervous.

Then the front door opened.

“Hey!” Justin greeted him, his goofy smile as bright as ever.

Holy shit. Justin was
hot
. Even though they had exchanged plenty of pictures and videos in the past, Justin’s beauty in person was undeniable.

When Calder had known Justin while growing up, he had always been a twiggy thing with limbs everywhere. He had not been the most handsome or graceful teen, and acne had not been kind to him. Even when he had last seen Justin when they were both twenty, Justin hadn’t really changed much.

But now Calder’s breath was taken away.

Justin was still scrawny but not in the same way as he was before. He would describe Justin now as lithe or willowy. He had filled out but had still kept the slender form. His face had filled out more, too, giving him a far more healthy look. His skin had finally cleared up as well, although there was still light freckling across his nose and cheeks. Justin’s hair was fluffy, the blue eyes bright behind his black glasses.

“Hello!” Justin said, snapping Calder out of his daze.

“Hey,” Calder returned, his voice almost failing him from shock.

“You all right?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Just tired from the drive,” Calder insisted as he lugged his suitcase inside. “I’ll sleep well tonight.”

He took a moment to take in his surroundings, familiarizing himself with the new space.

The inside of the house was bright and airy with most of the sunlight from the summer evening coming in from tall windows on the back wall. The whole downstairs was open-concept with stairs leading up to the second floor. The walls were off-white with paintings and pictures of various nerdy things. Most of the references went right over Calder’s head.

“Nice place you got here,” Calder praised as he set the suitcase down.

“Thanks. It’s a bit big for a bachelor but my family likes to visit, so it’s not that bad. The mortgage isn’t that bad either.” Justin chuckled.

Justin looked a bit twitchy and nervous, and Calder had a feeling he knew why.

“C’mere, you.” Calder moved forward and tugged Justin in for a manly half-hug, clapping him hard on the back.

“Oof!” Justin sounded, but happily returned the hug.

Oh, man, it felt good to touch Justin, as weird as it sounded. While their relationship had been strong over the years, it was the physical contact Calder missed.

“You look good,” Calder added with a nod. “Have you been working out?”

“Oh! Oh, no, not at all,” Justin laughed, his cheeks turning pink.

“You’ve changed since I last saw you.”

“You’ve changed, too. You’re even more of a tank.”

“Well, I
do
work out,” Calder laughed. “So, where am I staying?”

“Up this way.”

Justin led him upstairs. As they took the stairs, Calder’s eyes trailed down to Justin’s ass. Through Justin’s tight jeans, it was easy to see how perky and firm that ass was.

Whoa! No, what the hell are you doing?
Calder mentally scolded himself as he shook his head and directed his gaze anywhere else but Justin’s ass.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Justin made a left. “The bathroom’s right there. My room’s over that way, and here’s your room.”

Calder followed him into the guestroom. It wasn’t a bad size. It had a computer desk and chair, a couple of dressers, and a queen-sized bed. The room was a light gray with white trimming and dark gray curtains.

“This is bigger than the room I’ve got at home, I think,” Calder mused as he hauled his suitcase up onto the bed.

“I hope you’ll like it. Do you need help bringing in anything else?”

“Sure.” Calder was more than fine to bring in everything else but having Justin cart things in would make the whole thing faster.

The two headed back downstairs and out of the house to the car. They both grabbed a couple more boxes and that was all there was to it.

“That’s all you wanted to bring?” Justin mused.

“I don’t have a whole lot. I don’t buy stuff,” Calder responded as they brought the boxes upstairs.

“I’m terrible for buying gadgets,” Justin sighed. “I always have to have the latest toys. Most of the stuff is down in my basement but I’m sure you already saw some stuff, too.”

“I have. You have a ton of drones, man. Are those hard to fly?”

“Nah, not really. I can show you how to use one later, if you want.”

“That’d be cool, although we should get the business things out of the way first.”

Justin winced and nodded, biting his bottom lip. “I’m still worried that this might be a bit overkill.”

“If you have any reason to suspect you might be in danger, it’s not overkill,” Calder asserted. “I’m trained for handling all kinds of risk. Jealous coworkers, rivals, the lot. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I’m just glad that your firm let you take the case. I mean, I’m sure there are a lot of clients vying for you.”

“Can I get something to drink?” Calder inquired, steering away from that conversation for now. He didn’t want to tell Justin yet that he had quit since it was sure to make him worry all the more. “And I’m going to grab my laptop so that I can get started on the risk assessments.”

“Okay, sure. Will water be fine?”

“That’d be great, thank you.”

Calder focused on the documents he was pulling up. He already had a lot of his threat assessments done but he wanted to hear more from Justin himself. While he knew some names that Justin had mentioned, he wanted more. He had to know everything about the people that were harassing him so that he could investigate them.

Most importantly, he had to assess who was most likely to bring more serious harm to him.

Calder also had to know if these same people were attending the Seattle tech convention. Even then, he needed to do more work to learn about the security measures in place there as well. It was all part of the job.

And, of course, he’d need to get the details of their own contract out of the way as well.

When Justin returned with the glass of water, it was time to get down to business.

H
aving Calder
in his home was the most exciting and bizarre thing ever.

Justin was still working on getting his heart rate back to normal. When Calder showed up on his front doorsteps, looking buffer, blonder, and more gorgeous than ever, Justin had almost sprung a boner right then and there. The pictures and Skype sessions didn’t do justice to the real thing.

He was scruffier, too, looking like he hadn’t shaved for a few days, which Justin found appealing. He couldn’t grow in a beard to save his life. The best he could do was stubble. It ran in the family.

The whole house was brighter with Calder being there, even for these few moments. Although Justin had been nervous about letting someone else into his personal space, he was more relaxed now. Having Calder around was sure to take the lonely edge off his days. While the house was beautiful, the size of it made Justin aware of just how empty it was sometimes.

He tried to remain focused as Calder sat there with him going over the details of their arrangements. Since the convention was coming up, Justin figured he’d only need Calder’s services up to and for the conference, and for any aftermath. He hoped only good things would follow the conference, with Calder playing the personal assistant more than bodyguard. Surely no longer than a couple weeks, even at most. But he was definitely going to pay Calder for as much time as he was needed.

Still, the thought of saying goodbye to Calder again was already hard to stomach.

“So that should be all the info I need in terms of being hired as your bodyguard and personal assistant. Is there anything else I need to know? Is there anything I’m missing?”

“No, I don’t think so. Wallace approached me again but made it seem like he wants me out of the way now. I’ll show you the messages.” He grabbed his laptop and pulled up the conversation with Calder, who frowned.

“That guy
is
weird.”

“That’s an understatement,” Justin scoffed, then shifted. “He’s been weird in other ways, too, in the past. Like, he likes to touch me a lot. He’s very forward.”

Calder’s eyes flashed. Although it wasn’t a good thing, Justin couldn’t help but to like that Calder got angry on his behalf.

“He’s never forced himself on you, has he?”

“No! No way,” Justin insisted, his eyes wide. “If he had, I definitely would’ve told you.” Or would he? In most cases, trauma caused by any sort of sexual harassment or assault would’ only have made Justin retreat even more into himself.

Calder still looked worked up and Justin wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around him for a hug.

Even as kids, Calder had always been the bodyguard type, protecting Justin however he could. Whenever Justin had been picked on by bullies, Calder had always been there to help him. It had been frustrating sometimes because Justin had wanted to stand on his own two feet. Nonetheless, it was good to know that he had backup.

“Right, so I’ll work with on your behalf for the soon-to-be firm, and we’ll take it from there. Has anyone else been causing you problems that you know of?”

“I made a lot more enemies than friends at my old workplace,” Justin muttered. “Two other guys were there that night at the café, too—Elliot Evans and Kyle Warren. It’s possible that they could be working with Wallace. They might be behind some of this trouble, too.”

Justin berated himself at the moment for how he handled things in the past. If he had at least been more friendly and open to Elliot and Kyle, there’d be less chance of them siding with Wallace. But, no, Elliot had been one of the ones guiding Justin when he first showed up, too. Did he feel resentment at how quickly Justin had learned the ropes and left them in the dust?

Justin shifted and glanced away, looking guilty. Calder frowned but stayed silent, letting him talk. “I know I wasn’t the best guy to work with.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t need to defend yourself to me,” Calder murmured.

As soon as Justin heard those words, he let out a breath and closed his eyes to relax for a moment. “I know. It just sucks. I’ve always done my best to make sure our systems were safe. I’m so sure it was Wallace that leaked the information. Who knows how much of it he took and sold elsewhere?”

Piecing together what people had been saying about him, and looking up reports on the actual leak itself, Justin had learned that security passwords had been leaked. The passwords that had been leaked weren’t for the most important information but it would have been enough for the hacker to get a foot in the door.

And if Wallace had used it as a distraction, what would have been the real target for the breach?

“Tell me everything from the start, including the conversation at the café, you getting fired, what people have been saying...”

“Why? You know all of this already.”

“I know but this is all for the records now.”

Justin nodded, then gazed down at the papers to add some notes. It was all the standard stuff, although one thing caught Justin’s eye: nothing had Underwood’s name on it.

He wasn’t stupid. It didn’t take him long to work it out.

“Wait, you’re not employed with Underwood anymore?” Justin exclaimed. “When did
that
happen? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Calder cleared his throat as he tapped his pen against the desk and papers. “It only just happened. I went to them about taking you on as a client but they said no and they wouldn’t budge. I figured after years of being with them, my loyalty and service would’ve counted for
something
. But, like usual, it all came down to money.”

Justin’s eyes were wide as he stared to Calder. “So you quit and came to work for me instead?”

“Yeah, I quit on the spot. I still have all of my qualifications and licenses.”

Justin’s stomach was twisting away. “But after you’re done working with me, you’ll be without a job.”

“I’ll find another firm to work with. Don’t worry about it, Justin. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you earlier.”

“Were you hoping I wasn’t the type to read contracts too closely?” Justin snorted.

Calder gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. Despite the seriousness of the situation, and how irritated Justin was, Calder’s response made Justin laugh.

Justin snorted again as he looked back down to the papers and signed them. “There. You’re officially working for me now. Wow, that’s weird to say.”

“I think we’ll get along fine,” Calder insisted as he collected the papers, putting them into a briefcase. “Now that we have that out of the way, do you have an office I can use?”

“Yeah, right this way.” Justin eased himself up and led Calder back upstairs. “At the end of the hallway there is a small room that’s a nook more than anything else. I have a desk set up in there if you need it.”

“It’d be good, yeah. I need an information center for myself.”

Hearing Calder talk about his job and get into the zone was intriguing. He had never seen Calder work, and Calder never really shared much about how he did things. It was understandable since there were probably some aspects he couldn’t talk about. While Justin used technology to protect people—and often corporations—Calder had both technical and physical elements to his job.

Calder stepped into the small room. “Yeah, this will do.” He set his briefcase down onto the desk. “If you don’t mind, I need some time to myself.”

“Take all the time you need.”

“What convention is it you want to go to in Seattle?”

“Security Secrets.”

“Great. Thanks. We may need to go out later and pick up some surveillance equipment, too.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you need won’t be a problem,” Justin promised as he lingered in the doorway. Calder was so involved with his work, his expression calm but determined.

He was so sexy.

Calder’s muscles was even bigger in person. He had always been built, but it was even more obvious now. Those muscles rippled beneath Calder’s tight shirt, beautifully showing off his physique. Justin had no doubt that Calder could bench-press him without breaking a sweat.

And that strong hunk of a man was there for
him
.

Justin took his cue to move on and let Calder get to work in peace. The last thing Calder needed while working on his security game plan was Justin staring at him like a lovesick puppy.