Topping the Alpha: Trident Security Series (2 page)

His frustration mounting, Jake paced back and forth in the baggage claim area. Ian had sent him to the airport to pick up his brother, Nick, and bring him back to the Trident Security compound. He would’ve refused his boss if he could, but there was no one else available. Ian had to take a last minute conference call with the Pentagon and Jake couldn’t come up with a valid excuse to avoid the errand, so here he was. Pacing…and waiting.

Fuck! What the hell was he supposed to say to the guy? Hey, thanks for the romp in the sack two months ago, but it’s not going to happen again. You were a great fuck, but that’s all it was—a one-night-only fuck. Maybe something a little less crude, however, that was pretty much the gist of it. Maybe the guy wouldn’t even mention it. Yeah, that was a fruitless prayer.

He stopped and glanced up at the monitor for the hundredth time since his arrival fifteen minutes ago. American Airlines flight 1780 from San Diego was officially at the gate. It was about fucking time. His stomach clenched tight as his heart rate sped up. Running his fingers through his hair, he began pacing again. Maybe Ian had an out-of-town assignment he could go on for the next four weeks. Just until Junior went home. He almost chuckled at the nickname, knowing the youngest Sawyer brother would hate it, but at twenty-five, nine years Jake’s junior, it’s what Nick was.

He knew he was being a fucking chicken about seeing the kid again, but that night, as amazing as it had been, had been a mistake. A colossal alcohol-induced mistake. Yeah, he hadn’t been drunk, but he did have some buzz-fueled courage that night. And wasn’t that a fucked-up thing? When had he ever needed alcohol for courage to hook up with a guy? Only once—the night he’d lost his homosexual virginity at the age of sixteen. He’d lost his ‘true’ virginity a year earlier trying to convince himself he wasn’t gay. It hadn’t worked. Yes, he’d gotten off with Vanessa Thatcher in the back of his father’s Cadillac, since she’d been warm, wet, and enthusiastic. But the whole act had felt forced and left him unsatisfied deep in his gut. Afterward, he’d conclusively admitted to himself that women were never going to do it for him.

Another group of travelers came down the escalator from the gates and Jake scanned their faces. As much as he didn’t want to see Nick, he wished the kid would get there soon. The faster he showed up, the faster they could get on their way. Then Jake could drop him off at the Trident compound with Ian and get the hell out of there. Yeah, running was the shitty thing to do, but it was exactly what he’d done a few hours after they’d screwed around. Not wanting anyone to know of their wild tryst, Jake had snuck out of Nick’s hotel room and headed home a little past oh-five-hundred, while his satisfied lover slept. Then he found excuses to avoid seeing Nick for the next two days until the kid returned to California.

Jake had no idea what led him to knock on Nick’s hotel door that night. Oh, who the fuck was he kidding? He’d ended up there because he’d been thinking with his aching cock. He’d been thinking how hot Nick looked in his dress whites and how much he wanted to top him. He’d been thinking about those broad shoulders, narrow waist, and tight ass. He’d been thinking about the gaze of those baby-blues…staring…making his skin tingle as they roamed his body from head to toe. He’d wanted to make the swaggering stud submit. And he’d done it…holy hell, had he done it. He’d let his inner Dom take over and the results had been better than he’d hoped for.

Yeah, the kid had resisted at first, but it was probably because he’d never been topped by a Dom before. It hadn’t taken long for him to surrender though, and as soon as it happened, he’d been rewarded. Jake had taken Nick’s belt from his pants, then spun him around until his chest was against the wall. Using the belt, he’d restrained Nick’s hands behind his back before grabbing him by the arm and shoving him onto the bed. He’d roughly pulled Nick’s pants and briefs out of the way and…

“Jake? Hey, what are you doing here?”

Wrenched out of the erotic memory, he blinked and tried to focus on the guy standing in front of him.
Shit
. It was Drew Murdock, a Clearwater cop who he’d dated last fall. They’d broken up after Jake failed to tell him about two attempts on his life when a hit-man had targeted the operatives of Trident Security. Drew had been pissed to find out several days afterward and not from Jake, but from a newspaper article and photo. Jake had told him it was because he hadn’t wanted to worry him, but it had been more than that. Drew had been bugging him about introducing each other to their respective families. Although Jake’s family and friends knew he was gay, he’d never introduced his mom and Mike to anyone he dated and he’d had no desire for Drew to be the first one. At The Covenant, his teammates knew who he hooked up with there, but Jake never scened in public unless he was asked to whip a submissive for another Dom. And even then, it was a non-sexual scene.

“Oh, hey, what’s up? I’m here to pick up my boss’s brother. Ian had a meeting he couldn’t miss.” Drew knew Ian by name, but had never met him. Jake lifted his chin toward the other man’s carry-on hanging from his shoulder. “Coming or going?”

“Just got back from Quantico. The job sent me there for a three-day training seminar.” He hesitated, looking unsure about what he wanted to say next. “You look good, Jake. I, uh…I’ve been thinking about you lately. Do you think we can get together some night and talk?”

Jake was about to say it probably wasn’t a good idea, but he spotted Nick out of the corner of his eye. The kid had evidently overheard some of their conversation and, if his frown was any indication, he was down-right pissed off. Not giving any hint he knew Nick was there, Jake answered, “Yeah, Drew, that sounds good. Give me a call and we’ll make plans.”

The elated grin on the cop’s face almost made Jake wince. He really didn’t want to hook up with Drew again, but if going on a date put Nick in his place, then it was worth it.

“Great. I’ve gotta run. One of the guys from the station is waiting to give me a lift. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Sure.” After his ex turned and walked out of the terminal, Jake pretended to scan the crowd again before his gaze fell on Nick and…
fuck
…he was smoking hot. The kid was in faded jeans and a snug navy-blue T-shirt, and Jake had to mentally strip down his sniper rifle to its individual parts to prevent himself from getting hard. Their eyes met and he could see Nick wanted to ask who Drew was, but Jake didn’t give him the chance. “Hey. About time you got here. Ian had a last-minute meeting. What carousel is your luggage on?”

Ten minutes later, Jake led the way to his Chevy Suburban in the short-term parking lot. He popped the trunk for the luggage. Nick had barely said a dozen words to him and he hoped things would stay that way until he dropped the guy off at Trident.

He wasn’t so lucky. As soon as he started the SUV, Nick pinned him with an angry stare. “Who the fuck was that?”

Jake let out a heavy sigh and backed the vehicle out of its spot. “An old friend.”

“Old
friend
or old
boyfriend
?”

He shifted gears and steered toward the exit. “Not that it’s any of your business, but, yeah, Drew and I dated last year.”

Nick stared at him with narrowed eyes as an unbearable silence filled the air.
Shit
, this conversation was about to go downhill faster than an avalanche.

“What, Nick? You thought one night made us exclusive? It was a fucking roll in the sack. Nothing more. And it’s not going to happen again. I was horny and your ass was available. There were plenty of guys before you and plenty since.” Jake almost choked on the lie. There had been no one since that night in the hotel two months ago. Any offers he’d had, either in or out of the club since then, he turned down, because none of them had compared to
his boy
. Yeah, although he didn’t want to, he still thought of Nick as his.

“Fuck you, Jake.”

“No, thanks. We already did that and it wasn’t anything special.” God, he was a fucking prick.

“You son of a…” His jaw and fists clenching, Nick turned his head toward the passenger window. “Whatever.”

The rest of the ride was made in awkward silence. Not even putting the truck in park, Jake dropped the guy off at Trident, then did a U-turn and drove away without a word. After he hit the highway again, he made a call via the truck’s Blue-tooth feature to Charlotte Roth, a.k.a. Mistress China. Jake and she made up two-thirds of the Whip Masters at The Covenant. They, along with Master Carl, were in high demand by the single masochistic submissives at the club, as well as Doms who weren’t experienced enough to whip their subs. Over three years ago, when the demand for their services had grown, they’d created a rotating schedule with one Whip Master taking appointments per night, giving the others free time to play and socialize. As it stood now, they were hoping to add another two or three Dom/Dommes to the rotation.

The call connected with a click and a sultry voice greeted him. “Hello?”

“Hey, Charlotte. It’s Jake. Can you do me a favor?”

A husky, little laugh came through the vehicle’s speakers. “I thought you weren’t interested in my favors, sweetheart. You decide to try a little pussy for a change?”

He couldn’t help the grin which spread across his face at her teasing. “No. But if I ever do, you’ll be the first woman I call. Actually, I was hoping you and I could switch tonight and tomorrow night. I have some stuff I need to take care of and would like to get it done tonight.” He wasn’t going to tell her he was afraid of hurting a submissive because he wouldn’t be able to concentrate tonight. His thoughts would revolve around Nick until he was able to purge the guy out of his system.

“Sure thing, sweetheart. I owe you from the swap a few weeks ago anyway.”

“Thanks. You’re a doll, as always. I might come by around midnight, but if not, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

After hanging up, he headed home while trying to come up with a solution to his dilemma—how to spend the next four weeks avoiding the man he wanted more than he wanted to breathe.

* * *

Nick paced back and forth in Devon’s office as Trident’s canine, Beau, watched him in what appeared to be entertained amusement. The protection-trained, lab/pit mix was lying on the leather couch and his big head swiveled from side to side as he followed the human’s aggravated movements. Nick’s blood was just now coming down from a full boil. He didn’t know what he’d anticipated when he saw Jake again, but what happened in reality hadn’t been it. And he definitely hadn’t expected to see him hooking up with some guy in the airport. Then the man had been intentionally antagonizing him and it’d worked. If they hadn’t been doing sixty-five miles per hour down the highway, he would have taken a swing at him when Jake said their night together had been a meaningless fuck. Instead Nick had gritted his teeth, turned away, and stared at nothing in particular outside his window.

Now, still frustrated, he ran a hand through the jet-black hair all the Sawyer boys had inherited from their father. While Ian was still on a conference call, their other brother, Devon, was on a mission in Ecuador with the rest of the Trident team. Nick wasn’t sure what the assignment was, but he could guess since their secretary, Colleen, told him it was a government contract. Trident had many federal government connections and, since the team consisted of six former Navy SEALs, their expertise was in high demand for black-op missions.

The four-man team was due back in three days, so for now, Jake and Ian were the only ones in the states holding down the fort. And damn it, just thinking of his one-time lover made him hard. When he’d spotted him in the airport, Jake had been wearing a pair of camo-cargo pants and a white wife-beater which had shown off his incredible physique. Nick hadn’t missed how men and women alike were checking out the hunk as if he’d just walked off a
Fitness Magazine
photo shoot. His chocolate brown hair had grown a little longer and been pulled back into a ponytail which landed an inch or so past the collar of his shirt. A two or three-day growth covered his jaw and upper lip, and Nick wondered what the rough whiskers would feel like on his bare ass as Jake’s tongue rimmed his hole.

Fuck!
He quickly adjusted himself when he heard Ian’s office door fly open, and finished untucking his T-shirt just as his brother walked into Dev’s office.

“Hey, little bro. How was the flight?”

Nick gave Ian a hand-clasp and back-slapping. “Not bad. The only thing better than traveling first class would’ve been if you sent the company jet to get me.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, but it’s down in Ecuador with the team. You hungry? I haven’t eaten lunch yet.”

He grinned. “When have you ever known me to pass up food?”

His brother put his arm around him and squeezed his shoulder before pushing him out the door. “Only the time Devon convinced you hotdogs were made out of real dogs.”

“Hey, I was six, and it wasn’t just any dogs, it was those wiener ones.”

Ian laughed. “You mean dachshunds?”

Rolling his eyes, he led the way to the parking lot. “Whatever. Feed me.”

Within fifteen minutes they were sitting at the bar in Donovan’s. Jake’s brother had taken over the family business after their father died almost five years ago. Mike Donovan was tending bar while Ian’s god-daughter, Jennifer Mullins, was waitressing for the lunch crowd. When she had a free moment, she walked up behind Nick and gave him a big bear hug. “Hey, Nicky. We missed you.”