Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 117408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
It was kind of hot…
“I was actually able to nail down someone selling it,” he said.
“Oh?” Pierre perked up, his back straightening. A couple of golden bracelets clicked together on his wrist.
“How have we not been able to find anyone dealing?” Lucien asked the room. He was shaking his head, jaw set, molars grinding. The messy bun of hair on his head was coming loose, silky strands making a break for it.
“Because you’re usually too drunk to even see straight, Lucien, much less spot a secret drug deal,” Dylan shot back with a loving kiss on Lucien’s cheek before he moved over to Pierre’s side, putting a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Who’s the dealer?” Dylan asked. “Do we know them?”
“I don’t know. All I’ve got is a screen name right now… guys ready?” Fox paused for dramatic effect. “Dank69.”
“Are you kidding me,” Pierre said, rolling his eyes.
Fox chuckled, the sound feeling familiar to me for some reason. “If his creativity is any indication of his smarts, then I’ve got a feeling we’ll track this guy down sooner rather than later.”
“What about your club’s security footage?” I asked.
“We’ve got fifteen cameras, but with the flashing lights and the angles and the smoke, it’s hard to see anything useful, I’ll admit. We can get them to you.”
“Actually—” Pierre raised his hand, finger extended skyward. “—we can’t.”
“We can’t?”
“Not yet at least. The system’s been corrupted by something for days now. I’ve been trying to get a tech guy in but with the Dragon development, time and resources have been limited.”
“Do it yourself, then,” Dylan joked. At least, I assumed it was a joke until Pierre replied.
“I already tried. Classes haven’t gotten that far yet.”
“Classes?” I asked.
“We like to enroll in community college classes every now and then to keep things sharp.” Dylan didn’t look thrilled by the idea, but Lucien was grinning wide.
“I never went to college, so it’s been fun. We took Principles of Accounting last semester. This semester it’s coding and computer programming. What are we doing next after this semester?”
“Philosophy,” Dylan said. “I skipped out this round with all that coding nonsense, but I’m looking forward to philosophy. That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?”
Having taken philosophy in my own college courses, I didn’t want to burst his bubble by saying the opposite, so I stayed quiet.
“Don’t forget the art class we signed up for. Art’s more my thing, but I’m trying to get these two into it.”
“I just don’t have the same brain for art as I do for coding, you know?” Pierre shrugged. “Well, regardless,” he said, a light French accent coming through, “I can’t fix the issue, and the tech guys can’t make it out before we leave.”
“Leave?” Fox asked.
“Our honeymoon,” Lucien offered. “We’ve put it off, so we’re having one with compound interest taken into account.”
Pierre laughed, an almost birdlike sound emitting from his pouty lips. Dylan looked at him with a kind of love I rarely saw these days reflected in his gaze. Lucien, too, was glowing as he looked between Dylan and Pierre.
“We’re leaving for a couple of weeks on a Euro trip,” Pierre said. “It’ll be a great time. We’ll be making all the big stops and going a little off-road to visit our hometown.”
“Our?” I asked.
“Lucien and I were born and raised in Le Mans, France. That’s where we met. We got together and moved to Spain for a couple of years. Dylan was there on a business trip, and the rest is history.” Dylan leaned in and planted a kiss on Pierre’s cheek, leaving the man smiling from ear to ear.
“And there’s no way we can get another tech team in before you guys leave?” I asked, feeling more pressed about the security footage than their trip itinerary.
“We leave in five days. My guys are booked until the day after we leave, unfortunately.”
I tried hard to control my expression. What kind of tech guys were these people using that they were so booked? “Mind if I have the contact info for them?”
Lucien seemed to have stiffened. Something in his demeanor changed. “Why are you so interested in our geek squad? You’ll get the footage, give us a couple of weeks. Jesus. We’re the ones going through it over here, why are we being put through the ringer?”
I literally just asked for contact information…
Dylan put a hand on Lucien’s and squeezed. It seemed as though Dylan was trying to defuse him before things escalated. “Sorry,” Dylan said. “Tensions have been high around here. We’ll get you the information and the footage as soon as possible.”
That was the answer we would have to take. Fox and I stuck around for a little longer, asking some more questions and making sure we didn’t step on any toes in the process. Lucien seemed agitated, but honestly, I didn’t really blame him. This was no joking matter. We were trying to take down an entire drug operation before it went platinum; all the while, these men faced the possibility of seeing their club shut down indefinitely.