Chapter 6 - Old Flame
by CameoLover93
W R I T T E N BY C A M E O L O V E R 93
06. OLD FLAME
After Julian had gotten all his belongings settled inside his new bedroom, he called on Lance Joyner - a forensic scientist, an old friend, and ex-lover - to see if he could help in uncovering who Aiden's anonymous blackmailer might be. Lance could never say no to any request from Julian, so he happily agreed to see both men at his office today.
Julian, on the other hand, wasn't too stoked about having to be in the presence of his ex because it's been almost three months since he and Lance ended their one year relationship and this would be the first time that they'll have seen each other since splitting up.
"Are you ready, Grayson?" Julian asked after he knocked on Aiden's open door.
"Y-yeah, lead the way," Aiden stammered, momentarily caught off guard because he'd just sent Kyle a text and asked him to do a background report on Julian, despite the fact that his father had already done one.
"You have the letter?" Julian asked.
He was trying hard to ignore Aiden's eccentric behavior, but at the same time, he found it cute at how skittish Aiden would get when around him. As much as Julian didn't want to admit that to himself, he knew it was true. Aiden wasn't entirely unappealing to him, and for a good reason that made Julian a little nervous, especially with them now being roommates.
"It's in my pocket," Aiden replied, and after looking Julian up and down, he smirked, raising a brow. "Should I always expect you to dress in fancy ass suits? I feel like I should change out of my bummy clothes now," Aiden joked as they headed for the stairs.
"If you prefer me in casual clothing I'll stop wearing suits. It's completely up to you," Julian said as he and Aiden walked down the long staircase. He could see out of the corner of his eye just how hard Aiden was staring at him. "Most of the people that I have worked for usually wanted me in a suit and tie," Julian continued. "That's more appropriate than having on jeans and a t-shirt, especially when I might have to accompany you to something formal. People need to know that I'm your bodyguard and not some random friend."
"Look, I know that I can be an asshole sometimes, but I'll never tell a grown man what he can and can't wear. Dress however you want, just try not to out dress me." Aiden teased. "So, are you strapped?"
"Whenever we go out, I'll always be armed, Grayson." Julian smiled.
After reaching the front door, Julian showed Aiden the gun that was secured in the holster connected to the waistband of his pants.
"It's a requirement," Julian said.
"Have you ever had to shoot anyone before?" Aiden asked.
"Once," Julian answered. "But only because the other person was armed and threatened to shoot the lady that I was working for at the time."
That frightening incident happened many years ago, and it was the one and only time that Julian's ever had to actually fire his weapon at someone or come so close to getting himself shot. After that, he started to take life a little more serious.
"Did they wind up shooting?" Aiden was intrigued. "Did anyone get hurt?"
Julian was tickled by the green-eyed philanderer. He'd really been enjoying Aiden's game of twenty-one questions as they headed outside to Julian's black bulletproof SUV.
"The guy didn't get the opportunity to shoot," Julian said. "I have a keen eye and quick reflexes. He didn't stand a chance against me."
"Yeah, I bet he didn't," Aiden muttered quietly, mostly to himself. "So you shot him. Did he die?"
"No. I purposely shot him in the shoulder to get him to drop the gun. Then I tackled him to the ground, the police came and arrested him, and that was that." Julian shrugged his shoulders. "You seem fascinated by all this. Why?"
As they hopped into the car to take off, Aiden responded with, "I don't know. It all seems kind of cool doing what you do. I've never been in the line of fire before. It sounds dangerous as shit, but exciting at the same time. I guess my point is that your job isn't as boring as I thought." Aiden paused and then looked over at Julian. "Is there ever a dull moment for you?"
"Sometimes. It really all depends on who I'm working for," Julian answered. "But usually there's always some type of action happening, nine times out of ten."
Making casual conversation with Julian, despite the perplexing way that he felt about him, was getting easier for Aiden to do. He hadn't expected to connect with the man this quickly, but he has. Like himself, Julian was an open book and didn't mind speaking freely or answering whatever questions Aiden had to ask.
Maybe running a background report on him was nothing but a waste of time because Julian would most likely answer any question that Aiden wanted to know. All in all, so far, he didn't seem like a bad guy; then again, it was still too early for Aiden to make that assumption.
"Be honest with me," Aiden said after fifteen minutes passed. "How good is this guy that you're taking me to go see? You say he's your friend, so it'd make sense that you'd vouch for him."
Well, it really all depends on what the pretty bastard is doing because he's good at many things, Julian thought to himself.
"His name is Lance Joyner and if he weren't any good at his job, I wouldn't be taking you to see him," Julian replied. "Trust me when I say that he's very good at what he does, Grayson. He'll take care of your problem, I'm almost sure of it."
That response hadn't been enough to assure Aiden that everything was going to work out fine, but he didn't say anything more as he went to turn on the radio. He sat quietly for the rest of the ride while his nerves ate at him. He was anxious and concerned because he didn't know what to do next if Lance couldn't help him out today.
It wasn't until thirty minutes later when the two men finally reached their destination: a towering, all white building.
Something seemed to shift in Julian's normally controlled demeanor as he parked the car and turned to say to Aiden, "Stick close to me and don't touch anything once we're inside. They're big germaphobes around here." They got out of the car and walked up to the entrance of the grand building. Aiden gawked at it in awe. "Nice place, isn't it?"
Aiden nodded, and once they were inside he trailed closely in behind Julian as he led the way to Lance's office.
"It's lovely to see you again, Julian." A beautiful brunette smiled as she passed by Aiden and Julian. Aiden ogled the woman, but she completely ignored him as if he weren't even there.
"It's nice to see you again as well, Carey," Julian replied with a forced smile.
"Wow, you're back! I thought I might never see you again," another attractive woman said to Julian as she passed them going down another hallway. "You really should come around and visit us more often."
"I'll try, Amber." Julian waved and tried his best to stay polite to all the people he'd come across even though he was slightly annoyed by all the attention that he was getting.
"You're pretty popular around here." Aiden nudged his bodyguard in the side as they continued to walk down a long empty corridor. "What's up with that?"
"It's a long story that I'd rather not get into right now." Julian sighed, not wanting to go into detail about all the people he had become acquainted with here thanks to him having been in a relationship with Lance. "Here we are, finally. Get the letter out. I'll do all the talking."
Aiden, a little confused by Julian's sudden urgency to get things done, did as he was told and pulled the envelope from his back pocket while Julian tapped on Lance's office door. For whatever reason, Julian seemed irked by having to be here.
Aiden was about to ask Julian what his problem was, but Lance had already turned around in his chair and - sporting a huge grin on his face - came to open the door for the men. Driven by his emotions, Lance brought Julian into his arms for a hug that, sadly, didn't get reciprocated.
Julian was mortified.
Lance was embarrassed.
Aiden felt... perplexed?
He wasn't sure where Lance grew up, but where Aiden came from men typically shook hands upon greeting one another. They didn't bear hug each other like they were long lost lovers. And with as much enthusiasm as Lance put into the hug, it made Aiden stare at him longer than what was appropriate.
"Please, act professional, Lance! I'm here on business," Julian whispered to the startled ginger that stood before him as he then gently pushed Lance away to introduce Aiden. "This is Mr. Grayson, my boss and also the one that needs your help today. With him being who he is, it's imperative that this meeting remains confidential. Do you understand?"
"You know that I'm not a gossiper, Julian. I don't need this speech from you." Lance looked his ex-lover in the eyes and felt a little wounded that Julian seemed completely unaffected by him. It made Lance wonder if Julian had already moved onto someone else. "You all can come inside now."
"Wow, nice place you got here, Mr. Joyner," Aiden said as he looked around Lance's part office, part laboratory. He started to reach out and touch a glass flask filled with a light blue liquid that sat over on a table until Julian grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back to his side. Aiden chuckled. "Easy, tiger. I was only looking."
Julian released Aiden and rolled his eyes at his unmanageable boss as he then directed his attention back to Lance. Facing him was harder than he'd thought it'd be. And it would have been easier had Lance not looked so damn good today. He was growing his beard back, and his thick red hair was getting longer too. But the main thing that stood out to Julian was Lance's blue eyes, they weren't as bright as he last remembered them to be.
"Mr. Grayson is being harassed by an anonymous woman. She contacts him through handwritten letters that we're hoping you'll be able to lift her prints from," Julian said. "Can you do something like that?"
"I can try." Lance shrugged his shoulders. "How many people have handled the letter so far?"
"Only me." Aiden passed Lance the envelope. "That won't be a problem for you will it? You'll still be able to tell the difference between my prints and hers?"
"Yes," Lance muttered as he walked back to his desk with the letter. Aiden didn't know why the man suddenly looked so gloomy, but Julian did, and it hurt him to have to be so cold towards his ex, but he didn't want to give off any mixed signals that he was still interested in Lance. "I'll need to take down your prints before you leave Mr. Grayson, unless you're already in the system. Have you ever been fingerprinted for anything before, or perhaps arrested?"
"Wait, have you ever been arrested before?" Julian asked.
Aiden nodded, feeling ashamed. "It was a long time ago. I was young and dumb. Thomas was in one of his moods and thought that me being locked up for the weekend would somehow set me straight and make me want to be a better person."
"How'd that work out for him?" Julian chuckled.
"Not well," Aiden smirked.
It made Lance uncomfortable at how close the two men were. He hurriedly interrupted their laugh session and said in an annoyed tone, "It should take me about an hour or two to run some tests on the letter to see if I can salvage any usable prints from it, Mr. Grayson. If I can, then tracking down your blackmailer shouldn't take long once I run her fingerprints through the database; that is if she's in the system. If she isn't, then you're looking to be waiting a couple more days for any good results."
"I can work with that," Aiden replied with a smile. "I really appreciate all that you're doing for me, Mr. Joyner. I'll be sure to send you over a check by one of my assistants."
"That won't be necessary, Mr. Grayson. I don't need your money. You're a friend of Julian's, so it's on the house." Lance wondered if Aiden was really only Julian's boss or something more because of how flirtatious they'd been acting since they got here. Either way, he'd find out soon enough as he looked to his standoffish ex and said, "Can I speak to you in private for a moment, Julian?"
"Will you excuse us, Grayson?" Julian looked to Aiden apologetically, almost as if he didn't want him to leave. "I'll only be a second."
"Take your time." Aiden stepped out into the hallway and watched closely as Julian and Lance got into, what looked like, a very heated conversation. He couldn't hear what was being said, but both men looked to be agitated with the other. "Damn, what I'd give to be a fly on the wall."
Aiden speculated on what was up between the two men, but all the things he'd come up with for answers just didn't make any sense. Lance had definitely been pretty touchy-feely with Julian earlier, and he actually seemed hurt by Julian rejecting his hug, which was kind of weird for him to have started anyway.
Then again, Lance couldn't possibly be...
Holy shit, is the ginger attracted to Julian? Aiden thought to himself as he stared at the two men through the clear glass door. Lance tried to touch Julian on the arm, but he backed away from him. No fucking way! Lance... gay? But Julian doesn't seem like that type of guy. No, he can't possibly be.
"Friends my ass," Aiden whispered aloud, his eyes still glued to Julian. "He's so not..."
Aiden didn't have any time to ponder about what Julian's sexual orientation was because he'd come storming out of Lance's office with quickness, looking like he wanted to pummel someone as he took off down the hallway without saying a word to Aiden.
Aiden didn't want to push Julian any further over the edge by having asked him what the deal was with him and Lance, so he decided to keep his mouth shut, for the time being, as the two of them eventually exited the building in a hurry.
by CameoLover93
W R I T T E N BY C A M E O L O V E R 93
06. OLD FLAME
After Julian had gotten all his belongings settled inside his new bedroom, he called on Lance Joyner - a forensic scientist, an old friend, and ex-lover - to see if he could help in uncovering who Aiden's anonymous blackmailer might be. Lance could never say no to any request from Julian, so he happily agreed to see both men at his office today.
Julian, on the other hand, wasn't too stoked about having to be in the presence of his ex because it's been almost three months since he and Lance ended their one year relationship and this would be the first time that they'll have seen each other since splitting up.
"Are you ready, Grayson?" Julian asked after he knocked on Aiden's open door.
"Y-yeah, lead the way," Aiden stammered, momentarily caught off guard because he'd just sent Kyle a text and asked him to do a background report on Julian, despite the fact that his father had already done one.
"You have the letter?" Julian asked.
He was trying hard to ignore Aiden's eccentric behavior, but at the same time, he found it cute at how skittish Aiden would get when around him. As much as Julian didn't want to admit that to himself, he knew it was true. Aiden wasn't entirely unappealing to him, and for a good reason that made Julian a little nervous, especially with them now being roommates.
"It's in my pocket," Aiden replied, and after looking Julian up and down, he smirked, raising a brow. "Should I always expect you to dress in fancy ass suits? I feel like I should change out of my bummy clothes now," Aiden joked as they headed for the stairs.
"If you prefer me in casual clothing I'll stop wearing suits. It's completely up to you," Julian said as he and Aiden walked down the long staircase. He could see out of the corner of his eye just how hard Aiden was staring at him. "Most of the people that I have worked for usually wanted me in a suit and tie," Julian continued. "That's more appropriate than having on jeans and a t-shirt, especially when I might have to accompany you to something formal. People need to know that I'm your bodyguard and not some random friend."
"Look, I know that I can be an asshole sometimes, but I'll never tell a grown man what he can and can't wear. Dress however you want, just try not to out dress me." Aiden teased. "So, are you strapped?"
"Whenever we go out, I'll always be armed, Grayson." Julian smiled.
After reaching the front door, Julian showed Aiden the gun that was secured in the holster connected to the waistband of his pants.
"It's a requirement," Julian said.
"Have you ever had to shoot anyone before?" Aiden asked.
"Once," Julian answered. "But only because the other person was armed and threatened to shoot the lady that I was working for at the time."
That frightening incident happened many years ago, and it was the one and only time that Julian's ever had to actually fire his weapon at someone or come so close to getting himself shot. After that, he started to take life a little more serious.
"Did they wind up shooting?" Aiden was intrigued. "Did anyone get hurt?"
Julian was tickled by the green-eyed philanderer. He'd really been enjoying Aiden's game of twenty-one questions as they headed outside to Julian's black bulletproof SUV.
"The guy didn't get the opportunity to shoot," Julian said. "I have a keen eye and quick reflexes. He didn't stand a chance against me."
"Yeah, I bet he didn't," Aiden muttered quietly, mostly to himself. "So you shot him. Did he die?"
"No. I purposely shot him in the shoulder to get him to drop the gun. Then I tackled him to the ground, the police came and arrested him, and that was that." Julian shrugged his shoulders. "You seem fascinated by all this. Why?"
As they hopped into the car to take off, Aiden responded with, "I don't know. It all seems kind of cool doing what you do. I've never been in the line of fire before. It sounds dangerous as shit, but exciting at the same time. I guess my point is that your job isn't as boring as I thought." Aiden paused and then looked over at Julian. "Is there ever a dull moment for you?"
"Sometimes. It really all depends on who I'm working for," Julian answered. "But usually there's always some type of action happening, nine times out of ten."
Making casual conversation with Julian, despite the perplexing way that he felt about him, was getting easier for Aiden to do. He hadn't expected to connect with the man this quickly, but he has. Like himself, Julian was an open book and didn't mind speaking freely or answering whatever questions Aiden had to ask.
Maybe running a background report on him was nothing but a waste of time because Julian would most likely answer any question that Aiden wanted to know. All in all, so far, he didn't seem like a bad guy; then again, it was still too early for Aiden to make that assumption.
"Be honest with me," Aiden said after fifteen minutes passed. "How good is this guy that you're taking me to go see? You say he's your friend, so it'd make sense that you'd vouch for him."
Well, it really all depends on what the pretty bastard is doing because he's good at many things, Julian thought to himself.
"His name is Lance Joyner and if he weren't any good at his job, I wouldn't be taking you to see him," Julian replied. "Trust me when I say that he's very good at what he does, Grayson. He'll take care of your problem, I'm almost sure of it."
That response hadn't been enough to assure Aiden that everything was going to work out fine, but he didn't say anything more as he went to turn on the radio. He sat quietly for the rest of the ride while his nerves ate at him. He was anxious and concerned because he didn't know what to do next if Lance couldn't help him out today.
It wasn't until thirty minutes later when the two men finally reached their destination: a towering, all white building.
Something seemed to shift in Julian's normally controlled demeanor as he parked the car and turned to say to Aiden, "Stick close to me and don't touch anything once we're inside. They're big germaphobes around here." They got out of the car and walked up to the entrance of the grand building. Aiden gawked at it in awe. "Nice place, isn't it?"
Aiden nodded, and once they were inside he trailed closely in behind Julian as he led the way to Lance's office.
"It's lovely to see you again, Julian." A beautiful brunette smiled as she passed by Aiden and Julian. Aiden ogled the woman, but she completely ignored him as if he weren't even there.
"It's nice to see you again as well, Carey," Julian replied with a forced smile.
"Wow, you're back! I thought I might never see you again," another attractive woman said to Julian as she passed them going down another hallway. "You really should come around and visit us more often."
"I'll try, Amber." Julian waved and tried his best to stay polite to all the people he'd come across even though he was slightly annoyed by all the attention that he was getting.
"You're pretty popular around here." Aiden nudged his bodyguard in the side as they continued to walk down a long empty corridor. "What's up with that?"
"It's a long story that I'd rather not get into right now." Julian sighed, not wanting to go into detail about all the people he had become acquainted with here thanks to him having been in a relationship with Lance. "Here we are, finally. Get the letter out. I'll do all the talking."
Aiden, a little confused by Julian's sudden urgency to get things done, did as he was told and pulled the envelope from his back pocket while Julian tapped on Lance's office door. For whatever reason, Julian seemed irked by having to be here.
Aiden was about to ask Julian what his problem was, but Lance had already turned around in his chair and - sporting a huge grin on his face - came to open the door for the men. Driven by his emotions, Lance brought Julian into his arms for a hug that, sadly, didn't get reciprocated.
Julian was mortified.
Lance was embarrassed.
Aiden felt... perplexed?
He wasn't sure where Lance grew up, but where Aiden came from men typically shook hands upon greeting one another. They didn't bear hug each other like they were long lost lovers. And with as much enthusiasm as Lance put into the hug, it made Aiden stare at him longer than what was appropriate.
"Please, act professional, Lance! I'm here on business," Julian whispered to the startled ginger that stood before him as he then gently pushed Lance away to introduce Aiden. "This is Mr. Grayson, my boss and also the one that needs your help today. With him being who he is, it's imperative that this meeting remains confidential. Do you understand?"
"You know that I'm not a gossiper, Julian. I don't need this speech from you." Lance looked his ex-lover in the eyes and felt a little wounded that Julian seemed completely unaffected by him. It made Lance wonder if Julian had already moved onto someone else. "You all can come inside now."
"Wow, nice place you got here, Mr. Joyner," Aiden said as he looked around Lance's part office, part laboratory. He started to reach out and touch a glass flask filled with a light blue liquid that sat over on a table until Julian grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back to his side. Aiden chuckled. "Easy, tiger. I was only looking."
Julian released Aiden and rolled his eyes at his unmanageable boss as he then directed his attention back to Lance. Facing him was harder than he'd thought it'd be. And it would have been easier had Lance not looked so damn good today. He was growing his beard back, and his thick red hair was getting longer too. But the main thing that stood out to Julian was Lance's blue eyes, they weren't as bright as he last remembered them to be.
"Mr. Grayson is being harassed by an anonymous woman. She contacts him through handwritten letters that we're hoping you'll be able to lift her prints from," Julian said. "Can you do something like that?"
"I can try." Lance shrugged his shoulders. "How many people have handled the letter so far?"
"Only me." Aiden passed Lance the envelope. "That won't be a problem for you will it? You'll still be able to tell the difference between my prints and hers?"
"Yes," Lance muttered as he walked back to his desk with the letter. Aiden didn't know why the man suddenly looked so gloomy, but Julian did, and it hurt him to have to be so cold towards his ex, but he didn't want to give off any mixed signals that he was still interested in Lance. "I'll need to take down your prints before you leave Mr. Grayson, unless you're already in the system. Have you ever been fingerprinted for anything before, or perhaps arrested?"
"Wait, have you ever been arrested before?" Julian asked.
Aiden nodded, feeling ashamed. "It was a long time ago. I was young and dumb. Thomas was in one of his moods and thought that me being locked up for the weekend would somehow set me straight and make me want to be a better person."
"How'd that work out for him?" Julian chuckled.
"Not well," Aiden smirked.
It made Lance uncomfortable at how close the two men were. He hurriedly interrupted their laugh session and said in an annoyed tone, "It should take me about an hour or two to run some tests on the letter to see if I can salvage any usable prints from it, Mr. Grayson. If I can, then tracking down your blackmailer shouldn't take long once I run her fingerprints through the database; that is if she's in the system. If she isn't, then you're looking to be waiting a couple more days for any good results."
"I can work with that," Aiden replied with a smile. "I really appreciate all that you're doing for me, Mr. Joyner. I'll be sure to send you over a check by one of my assistants."
"That won't be necessary, Mr. Grayson. I don't need your money. You're a friend of Julian's, so it's on the house." Lance wondered if Aiden was really only Julian's boss or something more because of how flirtatious they'd been acting since they got here. Either way, he'd find out soon enough as he looked to his standoffish ex and said, "Can I speak to you in private for a moment, Julian?"
"Will you excuse us, Grayson?" Julian looked to Aiden apologetically, almost as if he didn't want him to leave. "I'll only be a second."
"Take your time." Aiden stepped out into the hallway and watched closely as Julian and Lance got into, what looked like, a very heated conversation. He couldn't hear what was being said, but both men looked to be agitated with the other. "Damn, what I'd give to be a fly on the wall."
Aiden speculated on what was up between the two men, but all the things he'd come up with for answers just didn't make any sense. Lance had definitely been pretty touchy-feely with Julian earlier, and he actually seemed hurt by Julian rejecting his hug, which was kind of weird for him to have started anyway.
Then again, Lance couldn't possibly be...
Holy shit, is the ginger attracted to Julian? Aiden thought to himself as he stared at the two men through the clear glass door. Lance tried to touch Julian on the arm, but he backed away from him. No fucking way! Lance... gay? But Julian doesn't seem like that type of guy. No, he can't possibly be.
"Friends my ass," Aiden whispered aloud, his eyes still glued to Julian. "He's so not..."
Aiden didn't have any time to ponder about what Julian's sexual orientation was because he'd come storming out of Lance's office with quickness, looking like he wanted to pummel someone as he took off down the hallway without saying a word to Aiden.
Aiden didn't want to push Julian any further over the edge by having asked him what the deal was with him and Lance, so he decided to keep his mouth shut, for the time being, as the two of them eventually exited the building in a hurry.
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