Firewall (9 page)

A
few hours later
, Calder and Justin arrived at the community center. The cars parked outside already were a good sign.

As they stepped inside, Justin smiled slightly as he spotted the pay table in the entranceway. To gain access to the event, there was a five-dollar entry fee or the option to donate an LGBT book. He was happy to see a growing pile of books. The money that they received could go a long way toward buying books that didn’t show up in the donations pile.

Once Justin and Calder paid their fees, Justin peered around. The place had various paintings set up on easels and tables. There was a wide range of skill and subject matter, and Justin was looking forward to looking a little more closely at some of the pieces.

As distracted and fascinated as he was, Calder was focused. Justin caught sight of Calder scanning their surroundings from the corner of his eye. Seeing him so alert and making sure everything around them was safe made Justin’s heart flutter.

Justin was really glad that, despite last night, Calder had stuck around. It would ‘have been all too easy for Calder to simply leave. Well, not
that
easy since they had signed a contract but Justin wouldn’t have held anything against Calder.

As Justin gazed around, he worked on keeping himself calm. There were so many people and Justin always was a bit anxious in crowds. His eyes were drawn to people who obviously felt at home, admiring how easy it was for them to chat and share laughter.

“Hey, little brother!”

Justin smiled as he spotted Laura walking out from behind one of the nearby tables that held a painting of a beautiful mermaid. He and Laura didn’t look much alike. While Justin took after their mom, with his dark hair and features, Laura took after their dad. She had long, curly blonde hair and grey eyes.

“Hey, Laura,” Justin greeted.

“And, hello, Calder,” Laura greeted, wheeling on her heels to face Calder.

Calder laughed and nodded. “Hello, Laura. How are you?”

“I’m not too bad. How are you? You’re looking handsome.”

Calder did look handsome that day—and every other day. Today, he was wearing black slacks, a blue shirt with a tie, and blazer. The attire, while professional, had more of a casual feel about it. Calder looked more like a personal assistant and less like a bodyguard.

But, damn, that suit still looked good on Calder.

“Thank you, Laura, and you’re looking very beautiful,” Calder responded without missing a beat. The smile he wore was so warm and disarming. Anyone could see how people were easily drawn to him.

“It’s good to see you again, although we’ll all have to get together properly sometime, huh? You haven’t even met Sarah.”

“That sounds good to me,” Calder chuckled.

“Now, don’t you guys be shy about bidding. All you need to do is put your name, number, and the amount you’re willing to pay into the box in front of any paintings you like. Later on tonight, after the show is done and we’ve looked at the bids, we’ll announce the winners.”

“Sounds good. Come on, Calder, let’s have a look around.”

Justin led Calder away and walked from table to table. A lot of the paintings were nice but none really captured his attention. He was too attached to the kinds of art he had at home and none of this spoke to his geeky side.

But there was one painting that seemed to attract Calder’s attention. It was a beautiful picture of a waterfall surrounded by lush trees and bright flowers.

“You like that one, huh?” Justin mused as he peered at the painting.

Calder was snapped to attention by Justin’s voice. “Oh? Yeah, that one’s cool.”

“What do you like about it?”

“It reminds me of a waterfall in Portugal I’d like to go to sometime.”

Justin’s heart melted at the words as he inched a little closer to Calder’s side. He itched to take Calder’s arm or hand but resisted.
Now
was not the time or place to get sappy, especially since the events of the night before still hung in the air.

Justin internally cringed when he remembered admitting that he was worried Calder had given in to his advances because of the money. Now that he had time to reflect on it, it really hadn’t been a cool thing to say or think. Still, the human mind was great at bringing up all kinds of crazy thoughts and feelings when one was anxious.

“Maybe sometime we can go,” Justin threw out there.

Calder raised his brow. “You’d want to go to Portugal?”

“Once I get the firm off the ground, maybe? I need to do more things. I need to be more adventurous like you.”

As soon as Justin uttered his words of envy and admiration, he felt embarrassed. While Calder looked surprised, he also looked pleased, though, so that helped to calm Justin’s nerves down.

“I’d love to go traveling with you.” Calder smiled. “We can easily turn everything into a business expense. Find some convention to attend.”

Justin laughed, then focused back on the painting. He wanted to bid on the painting as a secret gift for Calder but there was no way that Calder was going to leave his side. He sucked it up and grabbed a paper, putting his information and bid onto it, then tucking it into the box.

He caught Calder’s eyes only once.

And he caught the light blush in Calder’s cheeks.

No words were exchanged, although it was a given that Calder knew exactly what Justin had been doing. Still, it hadn’t stopped Justin, and Justin only walked with his head held higher as they moved on to the next table.

The thought of being able to treat Calder, if he did win that painting, had Justin feeling on top of the world. This was one of the few times that he might be able to buy Calder something outside of a holiday or birthday.

As they walked around, Justin noticed more people looking at Calder. Those eyes were clearly drinking him in. He was a looker, no doubt, and he had the kind of energy that people were drawn to.

Justin was a little jealous and tried his best to keep it to himself. They were supposed to be there as boss and employee, after all, and it’d be weird if Justin reacted. Anyway, even as people came up to them to chat idly in passing, Calder handled it like a pro.

Meanwhile, people were unsure with how to handle Justin and vice versa.

Calder caught onto this pretty quickly and soon introduced Justin to various people. How much did his job as a bodyguard clash with him pretending to be his personal assistant? Justin wondered. Well, he was doing all the work of a personal assistant, so he was actually legitimately both—and Justin was paying him as such.

None of these people could ‘have posed a threat or Calder wouldn’t have been introducing them to him.

After a while, the two were alone again and standing in front of a painting of a giraffe. “Why are you introducing me to everyone?” Justin muttered. He was a bit worked up from all the interactions and the energy it took to converse. It was hard keeping up with and deciphering all the social cues.

“You’re networking,” Calder stated as he punched some numbers into his phone.

“These people hardly look like techies,” Justin muttered.

“Even if they aren’t, you’d be surprised with what kind of connections they all might have. Remember, you’re trying to build a new reputation for yourself.”

The words were pointed and Justin flinched. “Yeah, you’re right.” Again, he needed to keep his mind open and work through his anxiety. He had to shape up and he had to let go of the jealousy as well.

From that point on, Justin tried his hardest to socialize. When people idly chatted, he tried to be as engaged as possible. While he stumbled on topics, Calder was right there to guide him along through little prompts.

Now people were paying more attention to
him
and didn’t look uncomfortable to be in his presence. Justin wasn’t used to this but he had to steel himself and play it up. Whenever he had the chance, he threw out the building of his new firm. Through these people, he might be able to find workers and other valuable helpers.

By the end of the event, Justin was so relaxed that he was actually joking around. Once or twice, he got a light elbow in the side, which probably signaled
not
to go any further with the line of conversation, but he otherwise seemed to be doing fine by Calder’s standards. It was tricky for Justin to know how far to take a conversation sometimes. A lot of times, jokes went over his head, since he required a bit more time to think about them.

A newfound confidence was emerging from within and Justin loved it.

It was almost time to go. Justin couldn’t believe they had spent nearly all afternoon there. So many people had come and gone but Calder had been determined to keep them there. Justin was starting to get tired by all the stimulation at this point.

“All right, I think we’re good to go,” Calder insisted. Calder was so observant that Justin had little doubt that he knew Justin was on the verge of burning out.

“Okay, let me just find Laura and let her know that we’re going,” Justin said with a nod, scanning the crowd.

“Hey, aren’t you Justin West?” a girl nearby asked.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“My brother worked with you.”

Nervousness crept up, a little shiver crawling up the back of Justin’s neck. “Oh?”

“His name is Wallace. Do you know him?”

Justin went rigid and swallowed. “Yeah, I know him.” Did she know what kind of asshole Wallace was? She had to.

Calder pressed a hand to the small of Justin’s back. The touch grounded him and reminded him that Calder was there for him.

“H-How’s he doing these days?” Justin asked, trying to make conversation but keep it light as well.

“He’s been okay,” the girl shrugged. “He still talks about you a lot, though, and about how great you were. I think he was always a bit jealous, to be honest.”

Justin laughed meekly. “Of me?”

“Yeah, he likes to think of himself as being the brainiest brain that ever brained,” she chuckled. “And I think he may have had a crush on you.”

Wallace
had
been interested? Oh, man, everything really made a whole lot more sense now. If Justin had been more vigilant, maybe a lot of the mess could ‘have been avoided.

“Sir, we have other things to do,” Calder spoke up in a calm, firm voice. Hearing himself addressed as “sir” intrigued Justin, but he couldn’t focus on the shivers that it gave him right now.

“Yes, we do, you’re right. Anyway, it was nice speaking to you,” Justin said to the girl, who wasn’t too much younger than himself. He had no intention of getting her name and just wanted to get out of there.

Calder guided him away from the girl and toward the front door.

“What about Laura?” Justin murmured.

“You can catch up with her later. I think it’s best that you leave the premises right now.”

Justin wasn’t going to argue. Even as he walked away with Calder, his mind was racing. It wasn’t until they were safely in Calder’s car that Justin brushed his hands quickly back through his hair and stared at him.

“He
did
have a crush on me. I really should’ve known.” If he had known and dealt with it, maybe none of this would be happening.

Then again, if none of this was happening, Calder wouldn’t be there with him right now.

“Calm down,” Calder soothed as he started up the car and drove away.

“He’s going to know about the firm now.”

“He was bound to find out about it, anyway.”

“What if he tries to sabotage it?”

“I’m here to help prevent that. Justin, we’re taking you to the top and I’m going to make sure you get there safely, all right?”

Justin swallowed as he gazed out the window at the passing cars and buildings. Silence fell between them, and that was fine with him. It gave him time to recover and calm himself down. The event hadn’t been overly noisy but it didn’t take much to make Justin tired.

“You did good today,” Calder spoke up after a few minutes.

Justin tore his gaze away from the window and locked it on Calder. “I did?”

“It took you a bit to warm up but when you did, you were doing really well. You were much more approachable. We have to work on some of the topics you chose to talk about but...”

Justin frowned. “I think they were all perfectly suitable topics.”

“No, they really weren’t,” Calder laughed.

Justin blushed with embarrassment, but had to laugh at himself. “You did pretty well at the event, too.”

“Mm? What do you mean?”

“A lot of people were attracted to you.”

Calder grinned, glancing between the road and Justin. “So, you don’t notice some guy hitting on you at work for ages but go to one event with me and you’re suddenly aware?”

Justin opened his mouth to protest but closed it again with a huff, folding his arms over his chest.

“Were you jealous?” Calder followed up.

“No, that’d be ridiculous,” Justin stubbornly snorted.

“If it helps, I was a little jealous, too.”

Justin was surprised, snapping his head back around to stare at Calder. “You were? When?”

“Near the end of the event, there were a lot of people interested in you. The guy with blue hair, for one.”

Justin paused for a moment to recall that guy. He really
was
clueless when it came to recognizing when people were flirting with him. He hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary with the conversation. Maybe because he had been too busy bragging about his collection of drones.

Some things never changed.

“Maybe he just really likes drones.”

Calder laughed, shaking his head. “He was definitely interested in more than drones.”

“Why are people interested in me in the first place? I’m nothing special.”

“That’s not true at all,” Calder asserted. The sternness to Calder’s voice caught Justin off-guard. “Sure, you may be a bit on the socially awkward side but you have lots to offer, Justin.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. Once you’ve come out of your shell a bit, you’re expressive and passionate. Even if some of what you say goes over people’s heads, they can’t help but to listen.”

Justin leaned more into his chair and adjusted his glasses. “I never really thought about that.” Geeking out was a turn-on?