Enforcer - 13. Chapter 13

“So this is your place?” Buzz asked as Jed pulled out his keys to unlock the front door of the service station. He scented the air, testing for any unknown—or known—smells.

“Yup, this is it. All mine.” Jed’s face showed his pride, and Buzz could hear it in his voice. “Technically, Buchanan still owns the deed, but we worked out a deal.”

Buzz looked around, noting the station’s sign on the street corner looked weathered, the once bright colors faded. Instead of showing the fuel prices digitally, it had old-school plastic numbers. It had to have been the original sign, probably put up in the sixties. The gas pumps were old, but looked like they had been upgraded at some point… probably in the eighties.

While the entire building could use a fresh coat of paint, it looked like it was in good condition. Buzz could tell Jed had been getting the place back into shape. He had a right to be proud.

As he took everything in, Buzz couldn’t help but feel guilty. His parents had left him with plenty of money when they died. It was enough that the thought of actually working for a living hadn’t even crossed Buzz’s mind. Here Jed was, busting his ass, making a name for himself. All while living in a single-room log cabin.

He closed out one of his accounts when he left home. The huge amount of cash was hidden away in one of his suitcases. Normally, he wouldn’t have done something like that, but he didn’t want Derek to be able track him through his spending. That reminded him; he really needed to open a new account at the bank here in town.

“You know, I have money saved up. I could help you fix it up.”

Buzz watched the wheels spinning in Jed’s head. The apprehension was all over his face. “I don’t know…”

“I understand. You want to do it yourself. I don’t know anything about fixing cars or running a business. I don’t blame you for being cautious about taking on a partner.”

“A partner?”

Buzz shrugged. “Yeah. You know, like a business partner… “

“Or maybe my life partner.”

Buzz looked up at Jed and locked eyes. “Yeah.”

“Maybe both.” Jed grabbed Buzz and pulled him close. “I accept your terms.”

He proceeded to ravish Buzz with kisses.

“Oh my god, are you guys going to be making out every time I see you?” Zef dropped his backpack behind the front counter, then walked into the garage. After flicking on the lights, he hit the button to open the bay doors, then went to work on the Buick sitting with its hood open in the garage bay.

“I don’t have a witty comeback for that,” Jed said as he laid his forehead on top of Buzz’s. He pushed his lips and pressed a kiss to Buzz’s nose.

Buzz laughed. “Me neither. I guess he should get used to it though.”

“Damn. I love it when you talk like that. Let’s go in the back office and fuck.”

Laughing, Buzz gave Jed a playful push. “You wish.”

Jed’s face went serious. “I do wish. I really do.” The corner of his mouth twitched and then broke out into a full grin.

“So, show me how to work this old thing.” Buzz moved behind the counter and looked over the cash register. He examined one side, then the other. “Where do the credit cards go?”

“We don’t take cards.”

“Oh, we definitely need to fix that.”

After Jed showed Buzz how to work the simple register, which took all of five minutes, Jed showed Buzz around the garage floor and the back office. The office was barely big enough to hold a desk, a chair and a file cabinet.

Jed sat on the edge of the desk. “Hey, you never told me what happened with your brother.”

Buzz looked away, staring at some fixed spot on the floor. “I kinda ran away.”

“Uh, what?”

“I packed my stuff, put anything I thought I might want in my car, then made my way here. Derek and Shauna have been leaving me messages on my cell phone.”

Jed sighed. “You know I’m glad you’re here, but you’re gonna have to take care of it sooner or later.”

“I know…”

“It’s your decision. You’re an adult. They can’t interfere in our mating if we want to be together.”

“Derek won’t see it that way. He doesn’t believe two men can be mates.”

“It doesn’t matter what he believes. Like I said, just because he doesn’t like it, that doesn’t make it not real.”

“You’re right. I’ll call him. I just need a day or two.”

Jed nodded. “Of course.”

Buzz knew Jed would give him space and not nag him about it. If he didn’t face Derek head-on, the situation had the potential to become really ugly.

“Thanks.”

Jed gave Buzz a quick kiss. “We better get back out on the floor before Zef thinks we’re in here doing the nasty.”

No sooner had they returned to the lobby when the front door opened and Jed was nearly tackled by another man. Buzz was ready to jump the other lycan and rip him to shreds, but Jed and the man were hugging, laughing, and playfully shoving at each other.

“You dog!” the black man said with a huge grin on his face. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

Smiling widely, Jed turned to Buzz. “This is Trey. My best friend since we were pups. He’s the pack beta. This is Buzz Hinske. My mate.” The pride on Jed’s face made Buzz’s heart swell.

Buzz smiled respectfully and held out his hand to Trey. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Trey shook Buzz’s hand firmly. “I’ll shake your hand as your beta. But as my best friend’s mate, you get a hug.” He pulled Buzz in for a quick hug, slapping him on the back a couple times before pulling away. “I’m glad you’re here. You’ll be good for Jed. I can tell.”

“I hope so.”

* * * *

“So what did you find?” After giving Wylie a plastic sippy cup filled with chocolate milk, Colton handed Parker a mug of cocoa and sat down next him, sipping at his own mug.

“Well, I couldn’t hack the laptop, but before I gave it to Miller’s guys, I made a copy of the flash drive that Jed found. Check it out.” Parker opened his laptop and logged in with his password.

Jed and Buzz moved behind the sofa and leaned down so they could see Parker’s computer screen.

“Aren’t you worried about getting a virus or something?” Buzz asked. He eyed the device suspiciously as Parker plugged it into his USB port.

“No. I isolated it with a virtual PC partition.”

Jed’s eyebrows knitted together. “A what now?”

“Never mind. Just look.” His fingers slid across the trackpad and he opened up the flash drive’s contents in a web browser window. “There’s a couple of folders here. This DCIM folder was copied from a digital camera. It’s got a bunch of pictures of people. No one I recognized from a quick glance. This folder here named TMP has some XML files in it…”

Wylie leaned against the coffee table, mesmerized by the blinking light on the flash drive. He reached for it, and just as he was about to yank it out of the socket, Colton growled. “No.”

The pup jerked his hand back. He looked at the drive out of the corner of his eyes. It started blinking again and Wylie’s hand snaked towards it.

“Pup,” Colton barked.

“What?” Parker frowned and looked back at Colton as Wylie pulled his hand back and pouted.

“Not you. The other one.”

Parker scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Make up your mind which one of us is ‘Pup’.”

“You’re both ‘Pup’.”

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s not confusing.”

Parker clicked on the first XML file in the list. Jed squinted at the screen and tried to figure out what he was looking at. It looked like a random stream of codes, the text colored in blue and red. Every once in a while, he’d catch an English word in there, but it was hard to read jumbled together with all the other crap.

Colton frowned. “What are we looking at, pup?”

“Oh. Let me run the file through the XHTML renderer.”

A couple of clicks later, the codes changed into what looked like a web page. In a large font at the top of the page was the name Seth Forrest. The page contained a picture of Seth along with a slew of personal information. It showed his age, height, and weight. It even listed the names of his father and mother.

“Ugh.” Jed rolled his eyes. “I don’t really need to know Seth’s personal stats. What is this from? Grindr or something?”

“No.” Parker wasn’t laughing. “It came from a database. See that at the bottom?” Parker pointed to the footer of the document, where there was a web address and a timestamp. “I think this data was either exported from or imported into that app you saw.”

“The hookup app with the map?” Jed asked.

Parker nodded. “Yeah. But…” His hand trembled as he moved his fingers across his trackpad. He closed the document, then scrolled through the list. When he found what he was searching for, he clicked it.

The file that came up this time had Colton’s picture on it.

“Fuck.”

* * * *

“That’s a lot of personal information on you, boss,” Jed noted as he stared at Parker’s computer screen. There was quite a bit of information on Parker, too. It even had the date Parker was turned.

Parker bit his bottom lip before glancing over at Colton. “Do you think they got this information from my dad?”

Colton shook his head. “I don’t know. Could be.”

“But they didn’t seem like the kind of guys who would have money to pay off my dad. That base of theirs was really junky. And I know we kicked ass… but to be honest, those guys were pretty damn unorganized.”

Colton leaned back on the sofa and sipped from his mug. “Miller thinks they were an upstart, trying to get in with the main network. They weren’t expecting the numbers we brought.”

Parker shuddered. “It makes me sick to think what they would’ve done to Shell if we didn’t rescue her.” He glanced over at Wylie and his eyes filled with tears. “What they would have done to her baby…”

The room went completely silent as everyone pondered that horrible thought.

* * * *

“You don’t need to be nervous.”

Buzz couldn’t help but be nervous. He was having dinner at Jed’s parents’ house. “I can’t help it.”

“Listen.” Jed stopped on the sidewalk and took both of Buzz’s hands in his. “You already met my parents and they love you. But honestly, it doesn’t matter what they think. And even less what my brothers and my sister think.”

“Yeah. I know you’re right, but…”

The front door opened and Jed’s mother stood there, smiling and waving. “Come on in,” she called.

Buzz drew in a breath and let it out slowly. Holding his hand, Jed let him up the sidewalk. Martha gave them both a tight hug before shutting the door behind them.

“You’re just in time,” she said. “We’re almost ready to eat.”

Two teens walked past, carrying dishes to the large table in the dining room.

“Hi, Jed. Hi, Buzz.” Zef walked past with a platter. An enormous beef roast sat in the middle of the dish, surrounded by a mountain of root vegetables.

Jed’s mother waved them towards the dining room. “Go on and sit. We’ll be eating in a few minutes.”

Buzz followed Jed into the dining room. Jed’s brothers were setting the table, carefully putting the place settings at each seat, all set up exactly the same. They clearly did this often. The middle of the table was filled with platters and bowls of food. And it was a lot of food. The smells alone were enough to make Buzz’s mouth water and his stomach growl.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Buzz asked.

“No, no.” Martha set an enormous bowl of mashed potatoes on the table. She turned to one of the boys. “Go get your father. We’re ready to eat.”

John Stone entered the dining room with another man. Apparently Jed had an older brother as well. Just how many of them were there again? “Jed, Buzz. Welcome.”

Buzz shook John’s hand. “Thank you for having me, sir.”

“Of course. This is my eldest son, John Junior. Junior, this is Buzz Hinske.”

Junior shook Buzz’s hand. “Good to meet you. You’ve been the talk of the family.”

Buzz laughed nervously. “Okay. All good I hope.”

John lined up the three younger boys, starting with Zef. Each looked like clones of their father, each getting smaller and younger as they went down the line. All of the Stone men standing next to each other reminded Buzz of those Russian nesting dolls. John pointed to the three boys who were younger than Jed. “This is Zef, Asher, and Dug.”

Buzz could tell the youngest brother, Dug, hadn’t gone through his first shift yet. Asher, however, was in full swing of puberty and the surge of hormones that triggered a lycan’s first shift. The pimples, wispy starter mustache, and sour look on his face were a dead giveaway.

Both younger boys said “hi” to Buzz, though each looked like they would rather be anywhere but here.

“We’ve already met,” Zef said with a smile.

“You have a pretty big family,” Buzz told Jed.

“I got an older sister too, but she doesn’t live at home. Well, neither does Junior, but Dad made him come to meet you.”

John pulled out a chair for Martha, and when she sat, he pushed her chair in. “All right, everyone sit.”

Everyone took their seats, with Buzz sitting next to Jed.

John cleared his throat loudly and abruptly. “What did I tell you about cell phones at the table?”

Ash’s flicking thumb stopped mid-stroke. After one last tap on the glass, he stuffed the phone into the pocket of his jeans. He lifted his eyes and gave his father a sheepish look. “Sorry, sir.”

Stealthily, Buzz reached into his pocket and felt for his phone’s mute switch. Not that he expected any calls, since Jed and his pack-mates were the only ones who had his new number, but the last thing he wanted was to a make a bad impression during dinner.

Jed’s mother was a fantastic cook and the meal was better than anything Buzz had eaten in a very long time. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate a home-cooked meal this good.

The woman obviously loved her family and took very good care of them. Buzz had seen the evidence of that love both tonight and at the camp after the rescue.

Glancing over to his left, he watched Jed’s happy, smiling face as he chewed a wedge of potato. The smile was likely due to the food, but Buzz hoped that he was at least part of the reason for it.

He could see in Jed a mixture of both of his parents. He had his father’s size and strength, combined with his mother’s devotion and caring.

It was no wonder Buzz was falling head over heels in love with Jed. How could he not?