Dex looked confused. “Exactly. Any opportunity.Iwould have gotten my dick sucked. So easy. Think logically, you could have gotten headfirst, andthenknocked me out. And that hurt, by the way.”
Hammer was so startled by the stupidity of what he’d heard that he nearly missed his next turn and had to hit the brakes real hard to make it. “What? It’s my head on the line. And besides, I amdefinitelynot gay. Why would I get just any blowjob?” Hammer asked once he recovered.
Dex’s eyebrows shot up. “Ohh…Oh. So you were lying?”
Wow.
“Of course I was! What the hell were you thinking? If I was someone else, you might have been already dead,” Hammer said and drove into a quiet backstreet running between the garden of Ryker’s home and that of his neighbors. There were a couple of trash cans in front of the respective properties, but none stood between their car and Ryker’s place.
Dex smirked and winked at him. He actuallywinkedat his captor. "So you do care. How not-gay are you? Hypotecly, if you went somewhere with a gloryhole, would you care who was on the other side?”
The question only reminded Hammer of that fucking text message from Stefani. This guy would not mind being Hammer’s personal gloryhole.
“I don’t go to gloryholes. And it’s hypo-the-tically,” Hammer said, not even bothering to address Dex’s assumption of there being any other but neutral feelings on his side. He parked the car, which left just enough space for a bicycle to pass through, and got out. “Now be quiet. We’re getting evidence.”
Dex sat up straight, as if he were a meerkat on the prowl, and looked around. “Oh? What are we looking for?” he asked, suddenly part of the search team, not a hostage. At least his mind was off blowjobs.
Hammer sighed and walked around the car to let him out. There was no point in hiding the truth. “The guy who lives here threw me under the bus because I discovered he’s watching kiddie porn. I’m here for his computer.”
“Whoa!” Dex frowned as he fumbled out of the seat. “You remember Dane, right? Jag’s boyfriend. He’s great with computers, I’m sure he could find hidden stuff on there. He helped me set up a secret folder for my nudes when this one guy threatened to break into my phone. I’m quite an open guy, you know, but I wanna choose when and who I share this stuff with.”
“I didn’t need to know that,” Hammer said and locked the car before pulling Dex toward the gate at the back of Ryker’s property. He was concerned it might be locked, but the wooden gate opened when he turned the handle, letting him take a peek into the garden.
He was relieved that Dex shut up, proving himself smart enough to understand the necessity of silence when sneaking around. The boy appeared surprisingly relaxed now that they had left the vehicle, and instead of searching for the way out, like a normal person, he focused on the house they were about to invade. Whether that was on account of his little infatuation or the fact the bikers had a good arrangement with his uncle, he seemed to trust Hammer way more than he ought to. But the reason didn’t matter as long as he wasn’t running off.
Hammer ran across the lawn and pressed his ear to the back door. He could hear nothing of note, but Ryker might as well be home, and that would necessitate a confrontation. Still, Hammer thought the risk to be worth the reward, so he pressed the handle, prepared to break the lock this time. But nope, Ryker had left the back entrance open again, like the self-important idiot he was.
Hammer took the safety off his gun and stepped into the kitchen with his heart beating so fast it was making him lightheaded. Numerous bottles littered the table, as well as a pizza box and two fast food bags left behind by someone who didn't have the capacity for cleaning after himself. After making sure Dex followed him inside, Hammer walked past the closed bedroom door and checked the living room before stepping into the garage. The bike was gone from its usual place, which made Hammer exhale with relief. They’d have a bit of time to look around in peace.
He found his hostage staring at several photos hung on the wall. “Which one is it? And please tell me it’s not the cute one,” Dex added, pointing his nose at a photo of Ryker presenting a fish he’d caught.
“That’s him,” Hammer said, trying to ignore Dex’s description of the pedo motherfucker. He pulled on his arm and shoved open the bedroom door, ready for a speedy disassembly of Ryker’s computer.
Dex sighed. “You can never tell by looks alone, can you? I once met this guy, total babyface—”
But Hammer wasn’t listening to the rest of this irrelevant story, because his brain was fuckingexploding. The computer was gone. Gone. Of course. Ryker knew damn well what was at stake.
“Fuck,” he uttered and opened the closet in vain hope that the tech was there, prepared for transport. He found nothing but clothes and accessories soaked in Ryker’s flashy cologne.
The ground was crumbling under his feet, but he wasn’t yet ready to give up. Because if he didn’t find any evidence against Ryker then… what options would be left to him other than an open fight or permanent disappearance? He did not want to be uprooted after such a long time. He’d made a name for himself here. He was feared, respected, and he’d worked too hard for that to give it up.
“Stay here,” he barked at Dex and dashed back into the corridor, hoping to maybe find the computer in Ryker’s garage. Or broom closet. Or one of the kitchen cupboards. Or maybe there was some old phone lying around, with illicit photos of the kind you never showed anyone.
Hammer’s head pulsed as he rummaged through the kitchen, and the only way he could let some steam off was by swearing and tossing Ryker’s dishes to the floor. What if Hammer had really caught him looking at that shit out of curiosity and what he’d witnessed had been just a fucked up fap session gone sideways? If that was the case, then there would be nothing else to prove that Ryker was a degenerate pedo who’d lashed out at Hammer to deflect any accusation coming his way.
He grabbed his face and screamed into his hands as he kicked down the living room TV, but Dex’s muted voice called out to him like a wasp trapped in a glass.
He might as well leave the idiot here, because without proof of Ryker’s transgressions, his comfortable life would be finished either way. He shoved off all the books put on shelves to impress the ladies and entered the bedroom with an angry huff.
“Let’s go.”
Dex’s lips parted, but he stood his ground when Hammer grabbed him by the arm and tried to pull. “Wait. I couldn’t check since my hands arecuffed behind my back. Really unnecessary by the way, unless this is a kinky thing, in which case—”
“I said let’s go!”
“No, I mean, that socket. Look at it. The alarm clock’s attached to it, but it’s off. I’m pretty sure I have that exact same fake socket. I used to stash weed in it so Frank wouldn’t find it.”
Hammer stalled. Angry words were stuck in his throat, but he swallowed them and focused on the outlet by the nightstand. The kid was right. Something was off about it, and he would find out what.