A Fighting Man (3 page)

Gotta love Dallas.

A loud whistle pierced the air and I turned to see my brother, Spencer, with his fiancé.

“Slater!”

I grinned as Spencer enveloped me in a huge hug.

“Big bro!” I squeezed him back.

“God, it is so good to see you!” Spencer enthused.

I eyed Blaine with a grin. “This seems like déjà vu.”

Before Spencer and Blaine had gotten together, he had brought Blaine with him to the airport as a buffer the first time I’d come home. It was no secret Spencer and I clashed about my service in the military, and he figured we’d be civil if Blaine was there. I think his objections were more out of concern than anything else.

I saw it then and I was looking at it now: Spencer and Blaine were made for each other. Didn’t mean I couldn’t fuck with Blaine.

Blaine put his arms out. “Come here.”

I hugged him tightly.

“How have ya been soon-to-be-brother-in-law?”

“I’m good,” Blaine nodded. “Up to my eyeballs in work on this Rush campaign.”

“Spencer told me about it. Still no dice, huh?”

“I don’t know what the hell they want.” Blaine sighed in exasperation.

Spencer took my arm with a smile. “You came earlier than we were expecting.”

“Don’t you love surprises?” I batted my eyelashes at him.

“I do,” Spencer nodded. “What are your plans?”

“I’m going to Mom’s first. She wants me to stay with her.”

“Okay, Blaine and I can drop you off.”

“I want to see Valerie this weekend.”

“I can do that, too,” Spencer hugged me again. “I missed you, man.”

“Missed you, too. Don’t tell Casper I’m here, please.”

“Why?” Blaine asked.

“I have a few surprises for him.”

“Well, let’s get out of here before we can’t.”

My mom went nuts. Seriously. I hadn’t even made it through the front door and she was on me. I had missed my parents more than I realized as I stood there getting squished. She was sniffling in my uniform and I held her close.

“Mom, it’s okay, I’m home now.”

“You’ve gotten so big.” She dried her eyes.

“What did you do? Work out every day?” my father asked.

“When I could—I have to keep up this fantastic physique.” I winked.

“Well, go unpack and then come on down for dinner.” My mom smiled at me through her tears.

I trudged up the stairs and opened the door to my room. It looked the same as it always did. I thought for sure my parents would have turned it into a wedding room or something. Even though they were retired from being wedding planners, they still helped out now and then with up-and-coming companies. Posters adorned my walls, mostly half naked supermodels. I still found women attractive, but I leaned more towards men. Well, one man at the moment.

I sat down and flipped open my carry-on. My laptop was firing up as I put some of my clothes away. New York in late May was already hot, but I hated wearing shorts. I clicked on a file I’d made and opened it. Casper Kennedy, born in Junction City, Kansas. Twenty-five years old. There wasn’t much else available about him, really. He’d deactivated his Facebook, Myspace and any other social media account he had about three years ago. I’d done some snooping, and asked a couple of friends of mine to pull up any info on the guy. His parents were still living in Kansas.

I heard my mom calling me from downstairs and shut the laptop down. I couldn’t wait to have a home-cooked meal. She was setting the table as I came down and I grabbed the plates from her.

“Thank you, Slater.” She kissed my cheek.

“No problem.” I smiled, as I set the plates down.

“Do you plan on going out to the city?”

“Yes.”

Mom put her hands on her hips and glared at me.

“You’re not going to torture that young man, are you?”

“Define ‘torture’.” I grinned.

“Raquel, leave the boy alone,” my father piped up.

“I don’t want you messing with Casper’s head. I know you, Slater.”

“I like him, Mom, okay?” I huffed as we sat down.

“You do? I don’t want Casper to end up another conquest. He’s a very sweet boy.”

I glared at my mother. “Really, Mom? Thanks so much for your high opinion of me.”

“Slater, you can’t deny your track record.” My father pointed at me with his fork.

“No, I can’t, but Casper’s different.”

“How so?”

“He’s really smart, and funny. He’s devoted to his friends and his job; I admire that kind of loyalty. I find him interesting.” I reclined in my chair with a smile. “And he’s so damned adorable.”

“Isn’t he older than you, sweetheart?”

“Yes, by one year, Mom. It’s not like he’s cradle robbing me,” I snorted.

“Nothing wrong with an older man.” My father winked at my mother.

“Ew, just…no.” I pointed at them.

“So what are your plans tomorrow?” my father asked.

“I’m sending Casper a gift.” I rolled my fork between my fingers. “I don’t want him to forget me.”

“I don’t think that’s possible, son.” My father laughed.

“He doesn’t even know I’m back yet, and I’m going to keep it that way for a few more days. I’ve planned things for those days and I want to see how it goes over.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” My mother patted my hand.

“Me, too.”

I helped Mom wash up and then headed back to my room after dinner. It was going on eleven and I hadn’t realized how long I had been sitting there talking to them. I was exhausted, mentally and physically.

But I had one more thing to do.

The cursor blinked at me as I waited to see if Casper would come on. A green light appeared and I almost shouted in triumph. I typed immediately.

Captain America: Well hellloo.

CK: Shit.

Captain America: Well that’s less than enthusiastic.

CK: I have a lot of work to do tonight, Slater. I really can’t afford to spend time turning you down.

Captain America: Then don’t.

I swear I could almost hear Casper sighing on his end. I felt kind of bad for the guy. He must be stressed out at work. Blaine seemed overwhelmed with the campaign, maybe Casper was, too?

Captain America: I wish my buddy Ramos was in the States; he’d be a good guy for your campaign.

CK: At this point I’m contemplating Europe.

Captain America: For a guy?

CK: No, vacation.

I chuckled.

Captain America: Goodnight, Casper and good luck.

I signed off before he could reply.

Casper

I swear, I only closed my eyes for a second and then the alarm was going off. I woke up with a hard-on from hell and tried for over five minutes to pee. I gulped down an energy drink and stuffed a piece of toast in my mouth as I walked out the door.

The city was muggy and already alive with people. By the time I got to work, I was already sweating. Blaine had already arrived; I could hear him on the phone in his office.

The morning flew by and we ate lunch on the floor of his office as we went through folder after folder of pictures of male models. We were so stressed over the campaign, we’d barely had time to sleep or eat. Thankfully, Spencer was good about reminding us that we needed to eat or we were going to end up as skeletons with energy drinks in our hands.

I cracked my neck as I sat at my desk and looked over our appointments for the next two days.

I knew Slater Cassidy was coming home on leave soon, and I didn’t know how I felt about it. I heard the elevator ding and held my breath. If it was one more corporate suit, I was going to scream. Although I’d hold it in if it was the boss man, Matthew Hawke.

That man was seriously hot.

I glanced up to see a cop walking down the hallway. What the hell? Why was the NYPD in the office?

“Can I help you, officer?” I asked.

“I’m looking for Casper Kennedy,” he snapped.

Shit. Wait. I hadn’t done anything. Had I?

“That would be me,” I said, standing up. “Is there something wrong?”

“Yes, you’re under arrest.” He grabbed cuffs from his belt and twirled them on his finger.

My eyes widened and I looked around in a panic.

“For what?” I stammered.

“For being illegally hot,” he barked, taking an iPod and a speaker from his uniform. The music blared from the tiny speaker and the cop in front of me whipped his pants off to The Village People’s “Macho Man.” A letter floated my way as the uniform jacket got tossed off.

The door to Blaine’s office opened and my boss stood there with his jaw hanging open.

“It wasn’t me!” I shouted over the music. I opened the card and read the words.

I’m not done yet, Casper. I will bug you until you agree to go out with me. You never know what I’ll throw out next. Enjoy Officer Hung. ;)

Slater.

“Oh. My. God.” I flopped back down in my chair.

Officer Hung was shoving his jock-covered dick in my face and I looked over my shoulder to see Blaine’s hand covering his mouth.

He was laughing.

“This is not funny!” I shouted over the music.

I now had a shaved ass shaking in my face and my boss was doubled over, laughing.

What a wonderful day.

“How much will it take for you to stop?” I shouted.

Officer Hung smiled and shook his dick at me. I swear to God I was going to kill Slater Cassidy.

Clapping and whistling erupted behind me as Officer Hung finally stopped gyrating. I grabbed some money from my wallet and handed it to him. Blaine came to stand next to me and offered his own bills.

“That was just wonderful.” Blaine smiled. “Thank you.”

“No problem, sir.” Officer Hung tipped his hat and was off.

I whirled around to Blaine and glared at him.

“Did you know?”

“God, I wish!” Blaine guffawed. “That was awesome!”

“Ack!” I sat down and covered my face with my hands.

“I told you, Casper. The Cassidy men are tenacious.”

“You are the only boss who wouldn’t fire me for that.”

“Why would I do that? I’m hoping that Slater gets his man.” Blaine winked at me as he walked back toward his office.

“Why?”

Blaine turned to look at me. “Because no matter how much you push him away, and bitch about him, that look on your face is happiness, Casper. I like seeing that look.”

I sat back in shock as Blaine walked into his office, and shut the door behind him. I looked happy? Damn, when was the last time I was actually happy? Three years ago. I sighed and dropped my head on the desk.

By five I was on my way home. As the cab rounded the corner, I spotted a large group of people out front of the building. I paid the cabby and got out. As soon as I began walking, a man pointed at me and the woman next to him smiled.

“Oh hell,” I muttered. “Now what?”

Music flowed from the van sitting at the curb and my eyes widened as the woman began walking toward me singing. She handed me a wrapped package and I stared at her blankly.

“Open it!” someone shouted from the crowd.

I blushed as more and more people began to gather around. I tore off the wrapping and stared at a copy of Casper on DVD.

“Oh, shit.”

I turned to look at the van and that’s when I saw it: A life-sized picture of Slater, smiling and holding the same DVD.

“You have got to be shitting me.”

I realized people were smiling at me and clapping. The woman was still singing and I couldn’t believe I’d walked right into another Slater Cassidy ambush. I gave the woman a weary smile.

“How much to make you stop?”

“He said you’d ask that,” a man said, standing off to the side.

“Excuse me?” I said.

“Mr. Cassidy specifically paid us to keep going until the song was over.” He handed me a card. “Just in case you want to look it up on YouTube. It’s Jordan Hill’s ‘Remember Me This Way’.”

“Oh yes, I’ll get right on that,” I drawled.

The song finally ended and the crowd whistled and clapped. I kept my head down as I ran into my building, only to find people clapping in there as well. In fact, every damn window on every damn floor that faced the road was filled with people clapping.

“Oh God, please just let me get to my apartment,” I muttered.

“That man must care an awful lot!”

I smiled and waved my hand. “Thanks, Mrs. Strovino!”

“You are one lucky man, Casper!”

Oh yay, lucky me!

More people stood by my unit as I made my way up. I smiled and waved at them as the clapping continued. I finally got the door open and shut it behind me.

What the hell was Slater thinking? I grabbed my laptop and fired it up as I paced back and forth, cursing the man. Just wait until I got him online! My messenger came up and I checked to see if Slater was online. His green dot was grey. I slumped down at the table and rubbed my face with my hands.

The DVD sat on the table, mocking me. I sighed and trudged to my room, putting it in. I’d never actually seen the movie, so what the hell? A cute little ghost was on the cover smiling.

Why did I have to be named Casper?

I reclined against the pillows and watched. It was actually kind of adorable. I frowned.

Stupid Slater.

I flipped through pictures of overseas models as I watched. Too muscular, too tattooed, too blond. Ugh. I flipped the next picture over and my breath caught.

Juan-Carlos stared back at me.

Dark hair and dark eyes, with a rugged face and just enough tattoos. This was the guy. I called Blaine immediately and told him I’d bring in the picture in the morning. I had a good feeling about his one. My eyes strayed back to the movie and my throat tightened. The father in the movie was speaking to his deceased wife. God, to have one more chance to talk to Mason.

The more I watched, the more engrossed I became in the movie. I actually found myself tearing up. I felt so bad for the little ghost. I rolled on my side as the music played and I listened to the words.

“It was kind of cute,” I muttered.

Not that I would be telling Slater that. I’d be kicking his ass all over New York the second I saw him again. My stomach rolled over and goose bumps rose on my arms. Just the thought of seeing Slater again made me nervous. I closed my eyes and sighed softly, thinking about Mason.