I didn’t want to check the clock. I was wide awake, just sitting in bed with my eyes closed and my mind racing with a dizzying range of emotions flitting through my head. How could I sleep? I just did something I never thought I’d ever do again, and I did it with a man, no less.

But I didn’t feel a scrap of regret. That was the one part of me that was solid as a rock...besides my cock. I loved Jamie, and he loved me. It had all happened so fast that half the trouble had been wrapping my head around it, but it was true, and I was thrilled. Every time I started thinking about him and the future we might have together, my heart started racing, and any hope I had of actually getting sleep tonight evaporated.

I didn’t even feel that panicked frustration about not being able to sleep that kicks in after about two hours of tossing and turning. All I felt was how glad I was that I took this plunge with Jamie. Sure, there was a healthy heap of uncertainty about the future. The professional side of things probably didn’t matter, because Jamie owned his company-- he could do whatever he damn well pleased, and I had a feeling Susan wasn’t the type to give a shit, as long as it meant I kept Jamie safe.

And then there was Carla. I knew that any money I could throw at her and her family could never replace my brother Thom, but it could make sure they all have a stable and safe a future as possible. That thought made me swell with pride.

But as all those thoughts raced through my head, I heard something.

Click.

The hotel room door opened.

My eyes sprang open, but I didn’t move a muscle. I was already facing Jamie, and I confirmed that he was still sleeping soundly in bed with me. There was nobody who should have been in the room with us, and it damn sure wasn’t the hour for housekeeping to come by.

Oakview couldn’t hold a candle to the luxury in Manhattan, but still, our suite was big enough that our bed wasn’t in view of the main space in front of the door. Most of our stuff was out there with the intruder, but we weren’t. I slowly turned my head to look at the clock and saw that it was 2:00 AM.

I heard the sounds of footsteps carefully moving across the carpeted floor. They were nearly silent, but I’d trained myself to pick up on the kinds of things that most ears couldn’t. Whoever was out there wasn’t nearly as slick as they thought, though. I heard the sound of someone rummaging, and that was when I decided it was time to move. The intruder was least likely to be actively listening while searching for something.

And I had a pretty damn good idea of what they were searching for.

Silently, I slid the sheets off my body and swung my legs over the bed before quietly opening the nightstand drawer and taking out my gun. As always, it was loaded and ready to go. I switched the safety off and held it at the ready as I moved to the corner, poised for anything.

Sure enough, as soon as I rounded the corner, I saw the black silhouette of a man’s form leaning over the desk, rummaging through Jamie’s bags with a little pen light. This had to be some kind of amateur. Any professional would have been more careful than this.

There was a light switch to my left. I held my gun out and took aim, using my other arm to reach out to the light switch and hold my fingers just over it. I took a breath.

“Hands up. I’m armed,” I said coolly.

The figure froze, and I saw the pen light tremble for a moment before it clattered to the ground as the intruder slowly raised his hands over his head and stood up.

“Did you really think he’d be stupid enough to have it here, in a fucking hotel room?” I growled, narrowing my eyes just before flipping the light on to lay eyes on Bar-

My jaw dropped.

“Jeff…?” I breathed as the mousy EA turned to look at me with a face as white as a ghost. Jeff tried to move his mouth, but the gun was scaring him too much. I felt a twinge of remorse, and I held up a hand, trying to calm him down. “Okay, I’m going to lower the gun, and then we’ll talk, okay?” I did so, and Jeff kept his eyes on it, but he didn’t lower his arms. I took that as a good sign.

“Damon?” Jamie’s groggy voice came as he padded up behind me, and he gasped when he saw Jeff standing there in our room. “Oh my god, what the hell?”

“Jeff,” I said calmly, “what are you doing here? Did Barry put you up to this?”

That had to be it. I had been so sure that I’d see Barry, or some hired mercenary doing his dirty work for him, but instead…Jeff? Really?

Jeff didn’t say anything. He kept his jaw tight and looked between us, looking like he might say something, but he was silent. I sighed and nodded to Jamie. “Call the police. Let’s get this guy under arrest and into an interrogation room so we can start getting some answers. Warn them that we have reason to believe Barry is behind this. I want them both in.”

“No!” Jeff blurted out, getting the attention of both of us, and immediately, Jeff winced. “You can’t. You don’t have any evidence!”

“No more covering for him,” I growled as Jeff’s face fell. “This is happening.”

Jeff didn’t say another word from then until the time the police came and made the arrest. Watching Jeff get handcuffed while Jamie stared blearily at the scene at 2:30 AM was not how I expected the night to go, but I was more than glad to finally have a breakthrough on this case. When the cops told me they had Barry in custody as well, my heart soared.

We rode down to the precinct with the police, and as soon as we entered, an officer escorted us to the interrogation room without many questions asked. I had the distinct impression that they were aware of Mayor Nolan’s appreciation for our contributions to the city, and that was why we were getting special treatment. That paired with Jamie’s status made for a lot of leeway.

But the scene at the interrogation rooms wasn’t ideal. As soon as we were led back there, a detective emerged from one of the rooms, looking haggard. He gave us both a nod and shook my hand.

“Detective Keith Johnson,” he introduced himself. “Glad to see they didn’t give you trouble on the way over here. Barry Atelier has been here a few minutes already, and I’ve been trying to chat him up. He happened to be staying at a hotel not far from here.”

“Any luck?” I asked.

“None,” he said, leading me to the two-way mirror, where I saw Barry looking absolutely dumbfounded as he talked back and forth with a woman I assumed to be Detective Johnson’s partner. “He’s playing dumb. Says he has no idea why he’s in here. Insists he doesn’t even know where Jeff Rassavic is, much less anything about a crime.”

“He’s bullshitting you,” I grumbled, and the detective frowned.

“He could be, but I worked up in Rochester before this, and I’ve seen some good liars in my day. I’m not so sure.”

I put my hands on my hips, watching Barry carefully. I had to admit, as someone who was used to spotting a liar from a mile away, I could see that Barry didn’t have any of the usual tells, even after I watched him for a solid five minutes.

“I’m sure I don’t have to warn you that we have to let him go after a certain amount of time if we don’t get solid charges on him,” Johnson said, and I nodded.

“I’ve got an idea,” I said. “If you’re willing to indulge me.”

“He hasn’t lawyered up yet, so be my guest,” he said.

“I’m going out on a limb and guessing Jeff won’t say anything either,” I said. “But how about we get Jeff and Barry in the interrogation room together and try that angle?”

“People tend to be easier to crack separately,” Johnson said warily.

“I know, but like I said, I have a new theory I want to try out.”

Moments later, Jamie and I were sitting in front of the two-way mirror watching Jeff get led into the room, and Barry’s eyes widened at him. Johnson started to head for the interrogation room too, but I stopped him.

“Mind if I sit in on this one? I’ve got a few questions of my own, as Mr. Davenport’s personal bodyguard,” I said firmly. The detective looked reluctant, but finally, he nodded. His partner exited the room, and Johnson and I headed in, getting glares from both Barry and Jeff.

“Oh, good,” Barry said, “Jamie’s attack dog gets a swing at us too.”

“Just keep quiet,” Jeff whispered desperately to Barry. “I’ll take care of this, just like always. Just don’t say anything.” Barry glared at Jeff, and I held back a smile. The hunch I had was starting to shape up just the way I thought it might.

“I’m just here to clear a few things up,” I assured them as I crossed my arms and leaned on the table, while Johnson leaned against the back wall. I tended to have a commanding presence in an interrogation room, regardless of what the precedent was.

“I’d like that,” Barry growled. “First thing I’d like to clear up is why the fuck you think it’s okay to drag me out of my hotel at ass crack o’clock for no good fucking reason.”

“I’d be more inclined to answer that if you told me how long you’ve been having Jeff break the law for you to save your neck,” I asked with polite severity, smirking smugly at him. Barry looked dumbfounded at me.

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“Doing the leg work is one thing,” I said, “but orchestrating all this can get you hit with some even heftier charges than Jeff’s going to get. It’ll be a lot easier on you if you cooperate like a good white-collar criminal.”

Barry stared at me, but he wasn’t the one I was paying attention to. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jeff’s face going pale, and he moved his mouth silently a few times before speaking up.

“Barry had nothing to do with it.”

There it is.

I turned to Jeff with a raised eyebrow, as did Barry. Jeff was shaking, but he took a deep breath and got a hold of his nerves to glare at me.

“Barry didn’t tell me to do anything. I was in your room out of my own initiative.”

“You were what?” Barry said, his face hardening.

“That’s not all,” Jeff said, his shoulders slumping. “Every threat to Jamie Davenport’s personal security has been entirely my fault.”

“Why don’t you talk a little more, Jeff? You don’t speak up enough,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Fuck you, honestly,” Jeff spat at me, his eyes narrowing right back at me. But nonetheless, he took a deep breath and went on. “It started with the kidnapping in Central Park. My cousin Vlad is bratva, and he owed me a favor for pulling some strings to get him out of jail a few years ago.”

Barry’s jaw had dropped, but I was watching Jeff intently.

“I was the one who paid off Bradley to help the second kidnapping attempt,” he said, looking more defeated by the moment. “I was the one who arranged the car ramming, too, and I had Jamie’s phone tapped, which is how I knew about your moving the meeting up with Mayor Wade.”

“Is that why you had us come up here early?” Barry blurted before I had a chance to even begin to sink my teeth into this treasure trove of a confession. “For this bullshit?”

“I was just trying to protect you, Barry,” Jeff said, crestfallen as Barry glared daggers at him.

I exchanged a grimace with the detective. It seemed that I was right in guessing that there was an unhealthy relationship between Jeff and Barry. What I hadn’t expected was the lengths Jeff might go to in order to get Barry’s approval.

“There you go about this ‘protecting’ bullshit. God, grow a fucking spine, Jeff!” Barry snapped, and Jeff looked wounded. “I never asked for any help from the likes of you, much less turning to crime like this. You’re a disgrace to my company’s good name, and you can consider yourself fired as of now!”

“Excuse me?” Jeff retorted. In the blink of an eye, his pain and disappointment flared up into anger. “Are you seriously going to accuse me of not having a backbone when you’re dragging your feet to do anything about a competitor? And if that weren’t enough, what the fuck are you talking about, ‘good name’? Are you senile?” Jeff spun his head around to look at Detective Johnson with a furious glare. “Detective, why don’t you pull up a chair? I’ve got about ten years’ and several million dollars’ worth of embezzlement and tax evasion Barry Atelier is directly responsible for. You know, if you have the time,” he added with sickly sweet sarcasm as Barry’s face went sheet-white.

“You prick!” Barry snarled, but before he could lunge at Jeff, Johnson rushed forward and restrained him while the detective’s partner did the same for Jeff, shouting at them to calm down while cuffing them both.

I didn’t make a move during all that. I didn’t have to. I just turned, smirked at the two-way mirror I knew Jamie was peering through, and winked.

“So, what are you thinking? There’s a 24/7 diner just around the corner from here,” I suggested as Jamie and I walked out of the precinct a few hours later. “And this might be negligence on my part, but I have a feeling it’s safe for us to walk there now,” I added with a grin that made Jamie blush.

“I think that sounds pretty good right about now,” Jamie said after a moment’s thought, smiling up at the sky that was just starting to show the first traces of the sunrise. “I mean, a warm bed with a warm you in it sounds even better, but I don’t think our stomachs are going to let us take a break just yet.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled in agreement, stretching my arms and hearing by back pop in a very satisfying way. “Nothing like taking down a millionaire white-collar criminal and his murderous EA to work up an appetite.”

“I can’t help but feel bad for the guy,” Jamie said, sighing. “I mean, he did what he did, and doing it for someone he was head over heels for doesn’t make it okay. But I can’t imagine what kind of hell he must be in to pine over a guy like Barry like that. The guy’s a narcissistic asshole. Hell, if he hadn’t exposed all those crimes Barry committed over the years, I’d be suspicious that Barry set Jeff up to confess to the crime he orchestrated.”

“I thought about that too,” I said, “but you’re right, neither of them are getting out of prison anytime soon, with those kinds of charges and no time for Barry to cover his tracks. They’re out of the picture.”

As we walked, I took Jamie’s hand without even thinking about it as we started to hear the usual sounds of morning in New York City, watching the graveyard shift workers trudging home and the occasional predawn joggers zipping down the streets. He squeezed my hand back.

“By the way,” I said as we neared the diner. “This one’s on me. I don’t want you to feel like you need to pay for everything.”

“Well, maybe I like taking care of you,” Jamie said, bumping my hip gently. I chuckled.

“And maybe I like taking care of you,” I said back. “You get the next one.”

“Sounds good,” he said, rolling his eyes as I held the door open for him. I watched his ass on the way in, smiled contentedly, and followed my boyfriend inside for a hearty breakfast.