Stripped Bare (23 page)

Making plans

Later that afternoon, Matthew called Shane. His lover answered, sounding pre-occupied.

“Shane Templar. Jeez, you bastard.” The last words were muttered under his breath and Matthew smiled.

“Something giving you trouble, lover?”

“I just can’t find my way around this bloody code I’m looking at. Every time I get close I find something else that looks hanky. It’s driving me crazy.”

“Hmm. Well, I can’t help you with that I’m afraid. “

Shane chuckled and Matthew’s groin stirred at the sexy sound. “No, but I’m sure you can help me with another little problem I have later. I seem to have a stuffy disc that needs some attention.” His snort of laughter echoed down the phone and Matthew grinned.

“Jesus, you have no shame. And that was a really bad joke by the way. Listen, we need to talk about this thing with Walter.”

“I’m all ears, Matty. What’s the plan?”

“I spoke to my boss, Bartholomew. He seems to think it will be a real battle to get David’s trust fund released. It could take a while. A couple of years, in fact. Walter still has rights on the fund, and he’s using them to best advantage.” He heard Shane’s indrawn breath on the other side. “So it looks like our little plan for leverage will have to be invoked.”

Shane’s voice was quiet. “Okay. What do you want to do?”

“I want to go and see Walter this weekend and tell him what we have and how we intend using it. But first we have to tell David and make sure he’s okay with the plan.”

“I can see that as being a wise move. When do you plan on doing that?”

“Tonight. My place around seven. I’d like you to be there. David might burst into tears or something and you’re better at stuff like that than I am.”

“Since when did I get to be the mother in this relationship? Are you saying I’m a softy?”

Matthew grinned at the distinct put-out tone in Shane’s voice. “No, I’m saying I’m not good with weeping men, or seeing them tearing at their clothes in anguish. My clothes, actually. I’d like to avoid that if I can. And you are so good at bringing people off the ledge.” His voice softened. “You’ve done it with me often enough.”

“Huh. Well-saved, Langer. But just so you know I am one hundred percent man. I intend proving just how much of the man in me there is later tonight.”

Matthew laughed loudly. This man of his was incorrigible. “Get your mind out of the bloody gutter, and I’ll see you at my place later.” He turned as Julia came into his office. “Babe, I have to go. See you around seven. Get a bloody taxi, my little roadrunner. Do it the civilised way for once.”

He disconnected the call to Shane’s snort of laughter and smiled at Julia.

“Shane has this habit of running around the city like a mythological suited crusader. He’s so bloody fit, I wish I could do it.”

Julia giggled. “I need to meet this masked man. He’s done wonders for you. You’re a different person to the one we first met.”

The lawyer nodded. “He’s pretty special. I’m lucky to have him in my life.” He heard the words and realised that he meant every word without any pang of guilt or recrimination. Julia smiled. “Well, it’s getting late. I’m off. Are we still on for drinks on Monday night?” He and Julia had been seeing quite a lot of each other after work and at lunchtimes. He liked the woman, with her warmth and her bright sense of humour. She was easy to talk to, didn’t pressure him in any way and was always forthcoming with her advice. She also didn’t put up with his moods and was refreshingly honest with her opinions. Julia laughingly called him her new BFF.

Matthew nodded. “Absolutely. Coolio’s and a margarita await.” She leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

“I’m pleased to see you enjoying yourself. This man is really good for you.”

“So everyone keeps telling me, including the man himself,” he chuckled. “But I am starting to admit it’s true.” He glanced at the woman. “He spent the night at my place last night. He’s the first man I’ve ever invited back to my home. That has to mean something.”

He hadn’t told her directly about Sam but she knew he’d had a tragedy in his past.

He looked at his watch. “I think I’m going to get off, too. It’s six p.m. I have something I need to do tonight.” He shut down his computer and started packing away all the files on his desk, locking them in his cupboard. Bartholomew Maxwell would have a heart attack if he found client files loitering on the desks.

“Enjoy the weekend and whatever is it you’re doing with your man. I’ll see you on Monday.”

Julia left the office as Matthew picked up his jacket and made his own exit.

Shane got to Matthew’s place about seven fifteen, his overnight bag and clean clothes slung over his shoulder. He’d got a taxi later than expected and hoped he hadn’t missed anything. He knocked on the door to Matthew’s place. When the door opened, his lover beckoned him in.

“Evening, baby. Come on in. DD’s already been fortified with a couple of glasses of wine. I’ve had a whiskey or two myself.” He looked his boyfriend up and down and raised an eyebrow, sending Shane’s senses reeling.

“You look positively sinful. Are you anticipating getting lucky later?”

Shane hadn’t actually given his outfit much thought at all, simply throwing on his stovepipe jeans and a tight-fitting white button-up linen shirt. He didn’t think he looked particularly delicious but he was glad Matthew thought so anyway. “I always plan on getting lucky. So what are we doing with David then?”

Matthew led the way into the lounge. Shane noticed that a couple of the photos of Matthew and Sam that had been there before were no longer on show and Matthew still wasn’t wearing his wedding ring. Shane felt like all his Christmases had come at once. His man was definitely getting attached whether he liked it or not.

“Shane! You look positively gorgeous.” A rather tipsy David got up and weaved his way toward Shane to plant a sloppy kiss on his cheek, careful to avoid Shane’s lips. Matthew grinned behind him as he poured Shane a large glass of red wine.

“You have some catching up to do,” he murmured as he handed it to his lover.” And I agree. I look forward to taking all of that off later and getting naked with you.”

Shane’s dick strained instantly against his trousers at the huskily whispered words. He sipped his drink as he sat down, trying to get comfortable. Matthew gave him a wicked smile as he sat down next to him and turned to face David.

“Right, DD. We have something fairly serious to talk to you about. You need to focus.”

David’s sat back, his face growing serious. “Is this about the trust fund?”

Matthew nodded. “I spoke to my boss today. He’s told me it will be a helluva challenge breaking the hold your father has over your money. You dad is still a trustee, something I hadn’t realised, and I don’t think my father knew either. He’s found some loophole in the setup where he was originally appointed. So if we did decide to fight this, it will take a long time to resolve it. It could possibly take years.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I think your dad always knew this, but he kept it to himself as his ‘ace.’ Then if one day you got out of hand and started to fight back, this was his carrot to make sure you’d toe the line.” He nodded at David.

David’s face fell. “That’s not good news. Did you manage to find those old papers you were looking for the other night? Is there anything in there that might help?”

Matthew nodded. “I found them, but they didn’t help in the way you thought. They did confirm is that your father is within his rights to do what he’s doing. So, all in all, not very useful.” He took a deep breath. “But I found something else that might help us. But it means doing something that isn’t legal and certainly won’t make things better between you and your father. But it might get you your trust fund back so you can get out from under your father’s control and do things for yourself.”

His friend sat back, his face wary. He appeared to have sobered up a bit. “What sort of illegal thing, Matty?”

Matthew looked at Shane for support. He nodded and placed a warm hand on his, squeezing it in encouragement.

“When Shane and I were at the hospital, your father told me that the reason he’d put up with a homosexual lawyer for all those years was because he thought I had something on him, something left to me by my father.” He laughed bitterly. “It turns out he has the same opinion of me as he has for his own son.”

David’s eyes glinted. “I know, and I’m sorry about that. Dad is a real prick.” He frowned. “But what’s this thing he thought you had on him?”

“I need to show you, DD. It’s a bit upsetting, but you need to see it.”

Matthew flicked the DVD player on and the video he’d set up already started to play. David leaned forward and Shane heard his hiss of breath as he realised what he was watching. His face paled as the video played, his hands clenching on his thighs.

Shane saw Matthew was on tenterhooks, ready to stop the video if things got too difficult for David.

David’s face grew grimmer until finally the video went silent and the screen went blank. He looked at Matthew then Shane with eyes as hard as flint.

Matthew handed him his father’s letter. “You need to read this too,” he said quietly. “Then you’ll understand.”

David’s face was like granite but he took the letter and started to read it. Finally he handed the letter back to Matthew and stood up, pacing like a caged animal around the lounge.

Shane watched him, his heart going out to him for what he must be feeling. Matthew went to his friend, laying a hand on his shoulder.

David turned with a ragged sigh and stared into Matthew’s eyes. “I knew he was capable of violence, but that?” His voice cracked. “That’s just sick. How could he do that to woman?”

“Mona wasn’t a woman to your father,” Shane said evenly. “She was an abomination in his eyes. A transsexual. The bottom line is this, David. Matthew and I think we should finish what his father started. Not to the extent of reporting this to the police, I think that ship has sailed, and we don’t even know even if this woman is still around.” Shane glanced at Matthew. He knew full well that Mona Casales had completed all her sexual gender reassignment treatments more than a year ago and was now living as a woman somewhere in Mexico. He’d managed to find out a lot about her in case Matthew needed it. But that was his ace in the hole. He wasn’t admitting that now. He wasn’t sure how Matthew would feel about it right now given his past reactions to things he’d done.

“What we can do is get you out from under his control, get your money back and then you can break free from him, something you should have done a long time ago, to be honest. You can start over on your own. Matty and I will always be there to help you, you know that.”

“Blackmail my father with this video? Is that what you’re suggesting?” David’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the two men. Both Matthew and Shane kept quiet. Finally David gave a harsh laugh.

“He beat me to shit with that little tosser Roy helping him, and who knows who else he might decide to hurt one day. I say let’s go for it. Tell the bastard if he doesn’t give me back my money we’ll hand a copy of this over to the newspapers and TV stations. I know enough people who’d be happy to take this on.”

“We’re hoping he doesn’t call our bluff, DD.” Matthew sighed. “We can’t really make this public. Mona has a right to privacy and we have no idea whether she’d want to be plastered all over the news. So we only get one shot at this, and we have to be convincing.”

He eyed Shane out. “Shay, what did you find out about this woman?”

Shane felt the world tilt. “Which woman?”

Matthew sighed. “I know you, lover. You probably raced home to that little buddy of yours and spent the whole afternoon surfing the net and doing what you do to find out more about her. I bet you know her shoe size, bra size and what she eats for breakfast already.” He grinned. “See, now this is one time when I don’t mind you weaving that magic you weave so well.”

Shane’s face flushed and once again his boyfriend raised that sexy eyebrow.

David was looking befuddled. “You’ve lost me, I’m afraid.”

Shane glanced at Matthew. “It’s my day job, David. I help companies with their security networks and test their systems to see where their vulnerabilities are. I have access to things normal people wouldn’t, and I can find out stuff too.”

David’s expression was disbelieving. “You’re a hacker, Shane?”

“Yes, my sexy stud here is a hacker, one of the best in the business if he’s to be believed.” Matthew chuckled. “I’m betting he has everything we need to know already.”

“Christ, am I that predictable?” Shane growled in annoyance. He noticed David looking at him with a darkened expression.

“Shane, was it you who did that trick with Roy’s phone and the gay porn?”

The breath left Shane’s body and he stood up, moving over to David’s side. Matthew watched them both. Shane laid a hand on David’s arm. The man’s body was rigid, the muscles taut.

“Yes. I’ve been meaning to apologise to you for that. I was going to do it yesterday then you distracted me by telling me about Matty not wearing his wedding ring.” He glanced at Matthew and saw Matthew still at those words. Shane decided to gloss over them. “I never intended anything bad to happen to you; I ‘m so sorry. I wanted to teach Roy a lesson, so I hacked his phone.”

He stopped as David moved away from him.

“He was very upset about that whole thing.” David’s mouth was tight. “He beat the shit out of me because he thought I had something to do with it. Then he threatened to shove his phone up my arse and for a minute I thought he was going to do it.” His voice trembled. Matthew moved forward as if to comfort him.

Shane felt sick at the story. “I’m sorry,” he whispered huskily. “I really am. If it makes you feel any better, you can tell him it was me and—”

Matthew strode forward. “No one’s telling Roy anything. DD, Shane didn’t know anything would happen to you. He was upset about it, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. I know you got hurt, but I’m not having anyone come after Shane. That’s just not going to happen. And Roy will if he knows it was him. He liked him a lot less than he did me and that’s saying a lot.”