Chapter 19
Tuesday afternoon, the firehouse was a comfortable hub of quiet activity. The treadmill whirred under Amina’s running feet. A TV played softly in the background. The lightclack-clackof Caleb typing on his keyboard and the soft ring of metal on metal as Mike lifted weights. They’d had a meeting earlier that day but most of the team had cleared out to either patrol their assigned areas or have personal time. Aiden and Mike were going to patrol the Playground later that evening and had decided to hang around until the sun went down.
A born night owl, Aiden had been listless and having trouble staying awake. To kill time, he’d gone through one of his strength and flexibility routines. He’d finished a few minutes ago. Now, he lay on his side on the mat, watching his new lover work out on the exercise machine.
Mike was already dressed in the uniform he wore to patrol: a tight, black long-sleeved shirt, black cargo pants, and black boots. He was minus his vest, which allowed Aiden to watch his back muscles bunch and flex while he did lat pull downs. The heavy weights he’d racked went up and down with smooth ease. With strength like that, it was no wonder Mike was shaped like a Dorito, with wide shoulders and a strong back tapering down to a narrow waist. Aiden pushed himself up to a sitting position.
“Pssst,” he whispered to get his lover’s attention.
Mike carefully let the weights settle before he looked over his shoulder at Aiden. “Yeah?”
“Come here. I’ll hold your feet while you do sit-ups.”
Mike looked confused for only a second before he shrugged and got up from the exercise machine to walk over and join him on the mat. He sat down and got into position for sit-ups, feet together, knees raised, arms crossed over his chest. Aiden scooted close and grabbed hold of his feet.
“Go.”
Mike laid back until his shoulders touched the mat, then rose up until his chest touched his thighs and elbows went over his knees. His time in the Army had given him perfect sit-up form. Aiden teasingly slid his thumbs beneath Mike’s pant legs to stroke his calves while he counted.
“One. Two. Three.”
Mike gave him a wide-eyed look ofWhat are you doing?when he came up.
Aiden grinned. No one could see what he was up to. They hadn’t yet told anyone about the change in their relationship status. It was kind of fun, having this secret between them. When Mike rose up for his tenth sit-up, Aiden blew him a silent air kiss. As expected, a flush spotted his soldier’s cheeks but Mike shook his head and kept going with his sit-ups.
It was nice to be relaxed and joking. Lately, the mood in the Fox was the complete opposite—all the dancers and staff were tense. They kept up the fun and sexy atmosphere out in the club. But backstage they let their worry show. The attacks by the white shirts hadn’t stopped. In fact, they’d increased. And for some reason, the Fox’s Players suddenly seemed to be targeted more than any other sex workers in the Playground. As a result, management had increased security and no one walked to their car or waited for their ride alone. Aiden had brought in a box of self-defense aids to hand out and taught a crash course on how to use them.
The safety measures helped. A Fox bartender and dancer on their way out to their cars had been attacked by a white shirt. But they’d fought back, both of them macing the guy. The white shirt had run off, and everyone in the Fox was proud that they’d managed to stop one of the muggings. But they couldn’t stay constantly on guard forever. And although the attacks might have slowed around the Fox after the mace incident—they continued in other areas of the Playground. The Purity Alliance had to be stopped.
A familiar instrumental began to play. Aiden looked at the TV, the usual sneer whenever this PSA came on already curling his lips.
I’m glad I moved Pruitt Incorporated to St. Louis. And my artificial intelligence bots are here to protect not only my investment, but your investment in your future by keeping the city and surrounding areas safe for us all.
Aiden frowned. “Wait. That was different.”
“What was different?” Mike asked.
“The speech in that Pruitt Inc. PSA.”
Caleb spun around in his chair to face him. “Are you sure?”
“Trust me. I’ve seen that obnoxious PSA enough times to know it by heart. He normally says keeping the city safe. In this version he said cityandsurrounding areas.”
“Okay, give me a minute.”
“That long?”
“Funny,” Caleb murmured. He was already typing, fingers flying over the keyboard.
Aiden got up and went to sit in one of the club chairs in front of Caleb’s desk. He watched as Caleb worked, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed in concentration. After a few minutes of typing and mumbling to himself, he sat back in his chair.
“I found our shadow corp.”
At that announcement, Aiden leaned forward in his seat. Mike and Amina both came over and sat down to listen.
“I’ve been monitoring the Purity Alliance’s accounts since this whole thing started. But someone there is smart—all of their deposits are cash which left me nothing to trace. But what I can check is locations. They aren’t working out of one of their mom’s basements. There’s too many of them for that. So, I figured they had to be renting somewhere. They are and I found it. The rental is registered to a Blue Cove Real Estate.”
“Doesn’t sound familiar.”
