AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ONE
Benji
I lean backin my chair, stretching my arms over my head with a groan as the computer shuts down in front of me. A day being the tech guy instead of the muscle still somehow comes with just as many aches and pains, and I’ll never understand why.
It’s almost midnight, and I should have finished working hours ago, but work is my life, and learning to shut off feels completely out of reach at this stage. So why change now?
I was trained at Featherstone Academy, a school for descendants of powerful criminal bloodlines that teaches you to be ruthless, street-smart, inquisitive, and persistent. Once you’re under their wing—which your bloodline decides, not you as an actual person—there’s no getting out. You’re under their rule, their order, but my best friend, Ryan, changed the course for both of us.
He made a deal with a member of The Ring, the top of the hierarchy within Featherstone, years ago, to become part of the security team to protect their granddaughter, pulling us both from the usual workings of the criminal underworld. And when said granddaughter stepped up to the plate as a member of The Ring too, she was more than happy for us to continue operating a legit security firm; Carter’s. Free of Featherstone and the bullshit that comes with it.
Ryan and I live similar, yet very different lives. We’re both trained and dedicated to our jobs, but he also found the love of his life, Beth, and had two beautiful children with her. A stark contrast to me.
It’s a huge difference in that I only fuck people who have dicks, which makes the baby making situation way more complex. But to be on the same intellectual wavelength as another person seems impossible. I’m either not wired the same as everyone else or I just haven’t found someone to understand me the way I need, while also intriguing me enough to learn more.
Fucking is my current plan of action; names are not necessary, just a climax or two. I’m sure that may not be sustainable to others, but fuck it. I’m twenty-seven, I can do what I fucking want.
When Ryan’s brother-in-law, Hunter, and his family moved to Ohio for college and to raise their baby, Ryan and Beth didn’t even take a second to consider their living situation and completely relocated with them. What did that mean for me? A one bedroom apartment in Ohio, ten minutes away from all of them.
I can’t help but follow them around like a fifth wheel; they’re my family. What else is there to say? He’s my best friend and Beth is my favorite lady ever. I hate every kid on Earth except his. They somehow have a way of lighting my soul.
The sound of the door creeping open behind me catches my attention, and I turn on my swivel chair to find Ryan sauntering in with a bottle of beer in each hand and a lazy smile on his face.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask, like I’m not currently in the security building on his property, in the small tech room that contains the monitors on the wall beside me, a desk, and two chairs.
Ryan shakes his head at me like he finds me amusing, offering up one of the bottles while he sips from the other. “I saw the light still on. We’re supposed to be off the clock, Benji,” he says, quirking his brow at me.
I roll my eyes, aware of this conversation that we have far too often lately. “We’reneveroff the clock,” I grumble back, gulping down half of the bottle in one pull.
“Well you would be if you had someone to keep you company,” Ryan retorts with a pointed stare.
“Shut the fuck up, asshole.” Gulping down the rest of the beer, I turn in my seat to turn the monitor off now that the computer has shut down, but I don’t miss the sigh from behind me, a sure sign that Ryan hasn’t finished with his lecture.
Great.
“I’m serious, man,” he pushes, squeezing my shoulder in some awkward, brotherly display of comfort, but I don’t need it. I don’t need this attempt at heavy talk either, it’s fucking gross.
“And I’m telling Beth on you for pushing me to open up. Again,” I sass back at him, watching him roll his eyes this time because he knows I've got him there. Like I said, Beth is my favorite lady, and it’s fun when I complain about Ryan to her and she always takes my side.
“Fuck off,” he scoffs back, dropping down into the seat beside me, but he doesn’t continue and I grin, pleased that I got him to shut the fuck up.
Making the most of the silence, I opt to change the subject while I can. “So, what have we got going on next week?” Peeling the label off the bottle mindlessly, Ryan groans beside me.
“You never fucking stop, do you?” he grunts, a statement, not a question, just as his phone pings, and he quickly pulls it from his jeans pocket.
I watch him read through whatever popped up on his screen, eyebrows pinching together the more his eyes scan from left to right, and I know whatever it is isn’t good.
“Fuck,” he hisses, swiping his hair back off his face in frustration, sagging back in his seat for a moment before he turns his attention to me.
With that one look in his eyes, I know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s a job. A job he’s going to want me to do because, as much as we have plenty of people working for the security firm, trust is still another level of shit that is hard to come by. Which means this is going to fall on my shoulders. A role I’m all too familiar with.
Sitting taller in my seat, I place the empty beer bottle down on the desk. “Whatever it is, just spit it out,” I state, not wanting to beat around the bush. We deal in security; nine times out of ten this shit is serious. With no margin for error or room for pause.
“How do you feel about an on-location job? It’s high alert, and I only trust you with it,” he replies without hesitation. I nod immediately.
A tingle prickles at the base of my spine, my body becoming more alert with every second that passes. “Get me all the details. I guess we’re not off the clock after all.”
TWO
