“I don’t know, boss. Something about him just seems off.” Roman and I are discussing the clients who have stopped in for the night. It’s been a few days since Ronin and I had our dinner date, but we’ve still managed to keep in contact each night and have plans to see each other tomorrow. I’m scheduled for the next two days off and can’t wait to start my weekend with Ronin.

“Just keep an eye on him. I don’t want to make any move without cause, but I need to alert the other security detail that they should be on the lookout for any activities that seem out of place. With the holidays coming, a lot of our regulars will be trying to get their fix before having to deal with their families, so it’s about time the staff kick it into high gear anyway.”

“Johnny.” My name crackles over the radio at my shoulder.

I turn into it and press the button. “What’s up?”

“You may want to come see this.” I give Roman the floor and make my way to where Todd, a brand new member of our team, is standing in one of the private rooms.

“What is it?” I don’t mean to come off gruff, but Todd just started this week and came highly recommended from his references. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to know his ass from a hole in the ground, which makes me cringe anytime he calls for me.

“We have an overflow problem.” Todd is pointing toward the toilet, which is overrun with fluid and a dirty diaper. God, these diaper fetishes are really starting to piss me off. I’m all about everyone having their own fun...but I don’t want to have to clean up the mess.

“Well, get a plunger and clean it up.”

A crackle comes across my radio again. “Johnny. Call on line two.”

“Dude, I’m not a plumber.” Todd’s indignant tone really grates my nerves and it takes everything inside me not to smack the shit out of him right there.

“Fine. Call Timothy and tell him we have an urgent clean-up in here. I’m sure it’s not the first time he’s cleaned one of the rooms where some crazy shit went down.” I leave Todd standing like a dumb-fuck in the room and head to the small cabinet at the end of the hall where a phone is locked away.

“This is Johnny.”

“Johnny. It’s Jason. Listen, I think something is wrong with Mitchell. He’s acting weird.”

“Weird how?” I ask, just as my radio crackles again.

Conner’s voice comes through loud and clear. He’s manning the surveillance room and has had some issues with our door alarms being triggered. “Johnny, I’m getting an odd reading on the door again. Can you come check this out?”

“Be there in a second,” I respond before turning my attention back to Jason on the phone. “Weird how?”

Jason huffs. “I don’t know. I hate to leave him here by himself, but I have a client coming.”

“I’ll go check on him. I just need to get with Conner really quickly. Tell Mitchell to stay in his room. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Okay, Johnny. Please hurry.”

I hang up the phone then head to surveillance. Conner is sitting in front of the bank of computer screens we’ve just installed with our new security system. “What’s up, Conner?”

“I don’t know. Something flashed over in this corner before the screens all blanked out and then came back. It was only for a second, but I’ve never seen it happen before.”

Conner gets up from where he’s seated and lets me sit in front of the monitors. The three screens each rotate between six feeds that display both interior and exterior cameras. A bar on the leftmost screen shows the status of all the locked doors as well as secure areas. Everything is green, indicating nothing is wrong.

“Hmmm. Everything seems okay. Let me check in my office to see out what the history shows for any events.”

“Okay. Thanks, Johnny. I know you’re busy, but I didn’t want to ignore it if it’s an issue.”

“It’s fine. You did the right thing by calling me.”

I exit the foyer and head down the hallway to my office. Taking a seat in my chair, I log into the computer system and begin combing through the event history log for the security system. An odd mark shows up on the timeline right around the same time Conner called for me. Not sure what it means, I pick up the phone and dial the customer service line for the security company who owns the software.

Time never seems to move more slowly than when you’re waiting to talk to someone. After fifteen minutes, a geeky voice comes over the line. “Thank you for calling Titan Security. This is Doug, how can I help you?”

I introduce myself and provide our security information to the rep before briefly describing the weird event log.

“Just a second, sir,” he says, putting me on hold. The sound of his fingers dancing across his keyboard is all I hear for the longest time before he comes back. “Sir, I’m not sure what that is. Let me get my supervisor.” Before I can even say anything, the sound of saxophone music is playing in my ear again.

Several minutes pass before the line picks up again. “Thank you for holding. I’ve checked with my supervisor and it would appear that the event long you’re seeing is an attempt to log into your servers.”

“What?” I ask, suddenly at attention. “Yes, sir, but it appears that the attempt was unsuccessful. And whoever it was didn’t try again. More than likely, it’s just some kids trying their skills who happened upon your IP. Since we aren’t seeing a reoccurrence in your history log, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Um, okay.” I don’t know if that should be a relief or if I should be worried, but I have other shit to do right now.

“Is there anything else I can help you with today?” Doug is obviously as anxious to move on with his night as I am.

“No, thank you.”

“Thank you for your business. Have a great day.” The man hangs up, so I sit back for a minute. My head is starting to pound, and I desperately need something to take the pain away. I head back to the front, stopping long enough to let Conner know it was nothing we should worry about, but to note if it happens again.

Then I head back toward the employee break room to grab a few Tylenol and a bottle of water to wash them down with. Once I’ve downed the pills, I turn toward the main floor, where I notice Jason snuggled up next to his client.

Dammit, I need to check on Mitchell.

I’m just about to walk out the door and go to the bunkhouse when the all-too-familiar crackle of my radio goes off. “Johnny. I was right.” It’s Roman’s voice this time. “We have a situation in room three.”

Without missing a beat, I race back through the main room and into the hallway that leads to the client rooms. The door to room three is open, so I go inside and find Roman manhandling the strange client he’s been keeping an eye on this week. The man is holding a razor blade in his left hand. Roman twists his arm, making him drop the razor to the ground.

Flashbacks of the night we found Mateo flood my memory as I quickly search for the guy he came in here with. Greg is standing in the corner. Thankfully, he doesn’t look injured, but he’s definitely pissed.

“I told you, motherfucker. You can’t cut me. What the fuck is wrong with you?” I knew I liked this kid.

“Are you okay?” I ask, cautiously approaching Greg. His ebony skin is glistening with sweat and his huge cock is swinging between his legs. I grab a robe from the closet and drape it around him.

“Yeah, now that this fucker knows what’s what.”

I look back at Roman. “Get him out of here, and have Conner mark his file.”

“Will do, boss.” Roman doesn’t even have to struggle as he leads the man out of the room and back to the exit.

“I’m glad you’re okay. I’m sorry this happened to you.”

“Shit...” Greg shakes his head with a grin. “That bastard better be glad I didn’t cut his little shrimp off with that blade he brought.”

I laugh, clapping a hand on Greg’s shoulder. “Look. Why don’t you take the rest of the night off?”

“And miss out on some good fucking and tips? No, thanks. But I appreciate you guys coming in when you did. Can’t have this gorgeous mug with any scars on it.” And just like that, Greg heads out of the room to find his next client. Sometimes it amazes me at the way the guys are so resilient. Many come from such rough backgrounds that they’ve learned how to roll with the punches.

But all of them aren’t quite as adept to finding their way.

Fuck...I need to check on Mitchell. With the situation here handled, I finally make my way back toward the dorm, hoping the rest of the night passes by uneventfully.