Firewall (15 page)

Justin swayed on his feet as he took the business card, then handed it off to Calder for safekeeping.

Alan Twain wanted to help
him
? If Alan had faith in Justin, then there was nowhere to go but up in the industry.

It seemed like Wallace’s attempts were failing.

When Alan shook his hand, Justin spotted Wallace in the background. As soon as Wallace spotted him with Alan, there was a moment of disbelief before it flashed to anger. While standing tall and proud, Justin made eye contact with Alan and maintained a firm handshake.

“Thank you, sir. I’ll be in touch,” Justin promised, unable to keep the smile off his face.

“Good man,” Alan grinned as he pulled back and clapped Justin on the back before moving on.

Once Alan was gone, Justin was left standing there in a daze. He spun on his heels to face Calder, his mouth hanging wide open. “Did you
see
that?”

“I was right here, so, yeah,” Calder chuckled, although he was grinning away himself. “See? I knew you’d rise above it all. I was keeping an eye on Wallace there, though, but he ran away fast enough.”

While this was a win for Justin, the battle was far from over. Still, he was going to enjoy the moment for what it was worth.

“Let’s go celebrate,” Calder suggested with a smile.

O
nce Calder had
them back in their hotel room, he immediately grabbed his computer to log details about the event and Justin’s encounter with Wallace. He was still getting over how quickly things had changed in their favor. While it didn’t mean Calder could relax, it was a victory that he was going to relish alongside Justin. Seeing Justin get praised while Wallace sulked in the background had been very satisfying.

And then he had to take the time to next fill in all the details as a personal assistant. Justin had so many new cards and contacts that Calder needed to log.

“You were very popular this convention,” Calder chuckled.

“I’m still in shock about that,” Justin laughed as he sat on the bed nearby, watching television as Calder did his work. “Are you almost done? Like you said, it’s time to celebrate.”

Calder laughed. “Just a few more minutes.”

When Calder was done, he closed the laptop. “Done. We’ll relax a bit and then have a nice night out, huh? It’s the last night here so we’ll make it count.”

Of course, saying that they’d make it count only reminded Calder of the night before. Justin going down on him and then Calder giving Justin a handjob in return... They couldn’t do
that
again.

Could they?

“That sounds like fun.”

“What would you like to do?” Calder asked.

Justin stepped back, his brow furrowed in thought. Then, it seemed an idea dawned on him because his eyes widened and a blush crossed his cheeks. “What if we went dancing?”

Calder had
not
been expecting this kind of response. Not once throughout the years had he ever heard of Justin talking about going dancing. It was a whole different crowd and vibe than what he was used to.

“If that’s what you want, then sure,” Calder agreed, although he was still curious.

“I just want to try something different,” Justin murmured. “I’ve never been dancing at a gay club.”

“If it makes you feel any better, neither have I,” Calder laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

Justin blinked and giggled, his shoulders relaxing. “Then let’s do that.”

“All right, I’ll find us a place to go,” Calder announced as he grabbed his computer and flopped onto the bed. Even as he did so, Justin curled up next to him with his own laptop to idly play games and answer any questions Calder had.

As Calder browsed around to learn more about Seattle nightlife, Justin muttered to himself about the campers spawn-killing.

Taking Justin out tonight was going to be interesting.

A
s always
, Calder had done his work to choose the best and safest club to take Justin out to. He still found the request somewhat amusing but he wasn’t going to turn Justin down. It seemed like he was taking his chance to be bold and Calder didn’t want to crush him.

Before they hit the club, Calder took Justin out for dinner. The whole time, Calder was alert as always, while still looking casual as not to alarm Justin or others around them. Knowing that Wallace was probably still in the city had Calder’s senses on high alert.

Calder wasn’t sure he’d ever rest easy knowing Wallace was out there. All he hoped was that their victory over him today might get him to back off. It was always so hard to tell, though. Wallace’s obsessive tendencies, as indicated by his history, probably wouldn’t let him give up this easily.

“How are you feeling?” Calder asked after dinner was done and he drove them toward the gay club Calder had mapped out.

“A bit nervous but excited.”

“Everyone feels like that when going to the club,” Calder chuckled.

Calder wasn’t going to let on that
he
was nervous, too, but in a different way. He wasn’t even interested in straight clubs, let alone gay ones.

But he wasn’t going to let Justin down when this was the only time he had ever heard of Justin wanting to go to a club.

As the two went up to the bouncers, they were easily let inside. As Justin stepped in ahead of him, Calder took out his phone and got the attention of the bouncer who’d just let him in. “Listen, have you see anyone in there that looks like this?” Calder asked as he brought up a picture of Wallace from one of his online profiles.

“Who wants to know?” the bouncer asked, naturally suspicious.

“This guy has a history of stalking and harassing people. I don’t think he’s going to be here of all places but stalkers appearing where they’re unwanted is kind of what they do,” Calder stated, locking eyes with the bouncer.

The bouncer took a closer look at Calder’s phone then nodded slightly. “We haven’t seen the guy but if he comes around, we’ll deal with him.”

“Thanks.” Calder pocketed the phone and continued following Justin inside.

It didn’t hurt to play it safe.

The club was filled with men all dancing, drinking, and flirting with each other. The raw sexual energy in the establishment as impossible to ignore. The music was pulsating and loud, drinks flying out of the bar as fast as people ordered them.

Admittedly, it had been awhile since Calder had visited a club at all.

Calder was busy taking in the surroundings, scanning the crowd for any suspicious individuals. Everyone looked like they were having fun and no one looked particularly shady, except one guy to the side that clearly wasn’t a crowd favorite. There was one of those guys at every bar and club.

Calder spotted the emergency exits and made note of where the bathrooms and any staff rooms were. He had already done plenty of research on the club before arriving but nothing was like taking a walk through the actual place.

There were security people placed around the perimeter, too, which put Calder at ease.

When he was satisfied, he turned his attention back to Justin. “How are you feeling?” he asked, having to raise his voice over the crowd.

“It’s so noisy,” Justin protested.

“Yeah, clubs are like that,” Calder laughed. “Do you want a drink?”

“I could go for a drink,” Justin agreed as they threaded their way through the crowd. Justin wasn’t very confident, though, so Calder ended up taking the lead. As he pushed by people, his wrist was suddenly grabbed. He jolted and snapped his head back to look behind him.

It was Justin holding his hand. As soon as their eyes met, Justin blushed. “I don’t want to get lost in the crowd.”

“That’s fine,” Calder insisted as he continued to lead the way to the counter. Once they got there, he leaned on the counter and browsed over the selection. “What are you in the mood for?”

“How about a cocktail?”

“Any particular kind?”

“I don’t really drink that much so you can choose for me.”

Calder didn’t drink that much either and he didn’t typically have cocktails. A lot of his clients enjoyed such a drink, though, so he had no problem choosing. He decided to go with a piña colada since it was something light.

Justin accepted the drink after it was made and paid for, trying it out. It took him a few moments but he nodded. “This is good.”

“I thought you’d like it since you like coconut,” Calder mused as he pulled them away from the counter so as not to block the traffic. He kept them along the wall for now, though, to let Justin enjoy his drink and adjust to the crowd.

Although Justin didn’t look like he was jumping into the fray anytime soon, it only took minutes for him to begin swaying his hips to the music. It almost seemed to be mindlessly so, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

How cute.

Judging by the eyes of some of the men that passed by, other patrons thought that Justin was cute, too.

A wave of jealousy passed through Calder. If any of these men asked Justin to dance, he wouldn’t be able to stop them. It’d be Justin’s choice. As much as he wanted Justin to go out there and have fun, he was sensitive about it.

He didn’t really want to admit that it was
him
that wanted to have fun with Justin. He wanted to see what kind of dancing skills Justin had. Sometimes it blew him away how comfortable he was around Justin even in such new and charged places.

A tall man approached them just as Justin was finishing his drink and putting his empty glass on a nearby table. “Hey, cutie, do you want to dance?”

Justin’s eyes widened and he glanced quickly at Calder.

What did Justin want him to say?

“If you want to dance, go ahead.” Calder chuckled. He wasn’t going to let Justin out of his sight in this unfamiliar territory, though. Especially not when so many men would be eager to take advantage of someone as cute and naive as Justin.

Justin hesitated but turned to the stranger and nodded. “Sure, I’ll dance.”

The man grinned, seemingly pleased enough, and led Justin to the dance floor a few feet away from them. It was harder keeping an eye on Justin through the crowd but Calder was trained for this kind of thing.

As the man danced, Justin started to dance, too. Unlike the man’s comfortable and confident moves, Justin’s were jerky and uncertain. Still, he was really trying, in all of his awkward glory. It was endearing to watch and Calder couldn’t blame the man for wanting to get even closer. For now, it seemed like Justin was accepting the closer proximity, although he wasn’t making eye contact.

That only made the man lean in and step closer still.

That was when Justin stepped back. Calder’s eyes flickered as he watched this interaction, his eyes narrowing as he watched the man to see what his next move would be.

When the man reached out to take Justin by the wrist and Justin flinched, the alarms in Calder’s head blared. He shouldered past the crowd of men in front of him as he made a beeline for Justin and the man.

As soon as the man spotted Calder, he raised an eyebrow but held his own.

Justin pulled his wrist back from the man and cleared his throat. “Thanks for the dance but I think I’m good now.”

“We were only just getting started,” the man protested.

“You heard him,” Calder stated. In any other situation, all of his training and experience would have led him to a different response. Right now, though, it was the first thing to Calder’s mind and he went with it.

The man stopped and eyed Calder, looking him up and down. For a moment, it looked like the man might have been willing to pick a fight but Calder maintained his assertive stance. “All right, whatever,” he scoffed and shrugged as he pushed away from them and disappeared back into the crowd.

Calder watched after the man, making sure he was good and gone before turning to Justin. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Justin murmured. “He just wanted to dance.”

“He wanted more than that,” Calder said simply. “In these kinds of setting, mostly everyone does. That’s why you have to be really aware of your surroundings.”

Justin fidgeted, looking like he was having second thoughts about the whole thing.

“But it’s fine as long as you take care of yourself,” Calder assured him. He didn’t want Justin’s first experience at a proper night out to be a bad one. “C’mon, let’s dance.”

“You want to dance with me?” Justin almost squeaked.

“I do.”

In the back of his mind, Calder was worried about what it’d look like for Justin to be dancing with his personal assistant. The convention was over, though, and a lot of people were probably already headed home. What damage could be done now?

And, really, whose business was it, anyway?

That protectiveness flared up inside once again as Calder moved in close to Justin. He gave Justin enough space to make him feel comfortable but was close enough to keep other men away as well.

“I’m not the best dancer either,” Calder chuckled as he swayed to the music, getting a feel for the beat.

“I have some moves when I’m playing dancing games.”

Calder laughed. “You can try putting some of those moves into effect here.”

“No way. I’ll look like an idiot,” Justin insisted, although a smile was curling his lips.

Calder laughed again and focused now on dancing to the music. Justin was worse off than he was but his movements
were
adorable. Calder had stopped trying to think about how
not
to think his best friend was cute and was learning to enjoy it.

Slowly and surely, Justin came into his own. With each new song, he had more energy and was relaxing his limbs more. Eventually, people were backing off to give him more space since he was starting to really flail about.

To stop Justin from accidentally hitting someone behind him, Calder reached out and snagged Justin’s arm. The moment he did, a jolt of dread went through him.

“Sorry,” Calder apologized as he released Justin’s arm. “I was making sure you didn’t smack the dude behind you.”

Justin lowered his arm once it was released but was smiling away, apparently not bothered by Calder’s move. “It’s okay. Hey, can we get another drink?”

“Yeah, sure,” Calder agreed as he led Justin back to the counter. Justin ordered another piña colada and drank that one down without a problem.

“You might want to slow down,” Calder advised his friend, client, and boss.

“There’s not much in here.”