Page 36 of His Secret Little

Finally, Aiden gave a slight nod, letting Rocky know they could continue. When he looked, he found that Suzy had delivered their drinks at some point while he’d been focused on Aiden, so he handed the other man his Coke and encouraged him to take a drink. He glanced at Rich who looked a bit pale himself and seemed to have developed a slight green tinge to his skin.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” Rocky hadn’t thought the man could get any paler but at Rocky’s words Rich proved him wrong, going white as a sheet.

“It was right after I got voted in. He approached me, asked me out. We went on a few dates before he told me about Pup. Said Pup was working against the club, but no one could catch him because he was too good.” Rich’s eyes darted everywhere as if he expected whoever he was to come in at any moment. “He wanted me to approach Pup, get to know him some, and he had this listening device he wanted me to put in Pup’s office.”

“You planted the bug in my office?”

Rocky fucking hated how small Aiden’s voice had gotten. He hated the damage this confession was likely going to do to Aiden’s confidence. It had just started to build, and Rocky wasn’t sure how long it would take to repair the damage done today.

“It’s under your desk. I didn’t know you then, though. I swear, I never would have done it if I did.” Rich’s voice was pleading and for the first time Rocky noticed that the other man seemed to be hurting as much as Aiden at this point. He couldn’t bring himself to care too much about it, though. All he really cared about was getting this done so he could get his boy somewhere safe to let his feelings out.

“Did you even really want to be friends?” Aiden whispered.

“At first, I was just trying to get close enough to put the bug in. But as I got to know you, I really liked you and I started to think that he had to be wrong. There’s no way you’d do anything like what he was saying.”

“Why not come to us sooner?” Rocky asked the obvious question.

“I kept meaning to, trying to, even. But Pup’s been so busy lately, I couldn’t get him out of his office, and if I could it was only to the club bar. Then the remodels made it almost impossible. I couldn’t tell him inside the office, or on club property. I needed to get him somewhere else. If I get caught, I don’t know what will happen. I’ve been keeping him thinking I believe him, but I don’t know how much longer I can pretend that I’m still the same gullible idiot. He probably doesn’t even really like me. Bastard.”

“Who are we talking about?”

Rocky was expecting the answer to come from Rich but instead Aiden said, “It has to be Drake. Right?”

“Yeah,” Rich’s answer was shaky and timid.

“Drake Stallone. He’s been a prospect for a while but never gone any further because he doesn’t talk to people at all. He came here sometime during that first year, but saying he’s not much for socializing is an understatement. When he started asking Rich out, I thought he might have been so antisocial because he’d been trying to hide being gay.” Aiden made a scoffing noise, “I was actually kind of glad he’d finally found someone to bring him out of his shell a bit. Not that he was more social with anyone else…”

The silence that filled the booth after Aiden’s words trailed off was thick, but Rocky wasn’t sure how to fill it beyond asking more questions.

“Why is he after the club?” Rich gasped at Rocky’s words, reminding Rocky the other man was there.

“He’s after the club, not just Pup?”

Rocky nodded his head and said, “yeah, can you think of a reason why?”

“I might know,” Aiden responded. “I’ll need my computer to be sure though. I do remember something. I just… I need to look into it, and we need to let the others know what’s happening. Can you call them?”

Rocky nodded his head and pulled his phone out, making the call. He didn’t miss the way the silence lay heavy between the other two men as he spoke to Blade, telling him to get to Ralf’s and bring a laptop.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Rocky

The more time that passed, the more worried Rocky became. Aiden was going through the motions, clicking away at the keys of the computer Blade had brought, as the guys questioned Rich about what he’d revealed. The other man didn’t know much about Drake’s plan. Everything he knew was what he’d already said before the other men were called in.

Aiden hadn’t said a word since being handed the laptop over half an hour ago. No one else seemed surprised, Aiden was known for getting caught up in what he was doing and not contributing to a conversation unless he had something useful to add. It worried Rocky now though, because he was well aware that it wouldn’t take Aiden as long as thirty minutes to find what he was after if he knew exactly what he was looking for. Why hadn’t he found it? Or had he, and he just wasn’t ready to talk yet?

As Rocky did a closer inspection of his lover, he realized that he didn’t see any of the signs Aiden usually showed when he was focused on a task. His brow wasn’t scrunched in concentration, his mouth wasn’t pursed, he wasn’t muttering at his computer. His boy was playing possum and that worried Rocky even more because Aiden had never been one to put off for later what he could do now. He’d never had problems saying what was on his mind. Sure, he’d hidden part of himself from the club but he'd never shied away from anything otherwise. Rocky really didn’t like that he seemed to be doing so now.

“What can you tell us about him so far, baby?”

Rocky hoped his question would pull Aiden out of whatever he was thinking. He’d be damned if he let this shake his boy without him trying to prevent it. He might not be able to fix this, but he could do his damndest to be sure that as little damage was inflicted on his baby boy’s heart as possible.

“Um,” Aiden’s eyes glanced around the few booths they’d commandeered in Ralf’s to the men gathered as a blush heated his cheeks before he cleared his throat, “When I was looking through the members, I missed him because he isn’t a full member. At the time we figured it had to be a full member.”

“Yeah, I remember thinking it was someone on the security detail at Spike’s because of Arabella’s ex waltzing right on into his house.” This came from Stone and his words had a look tightening on Spike’s face. The other man still hadn’t completely forgiven himself for being knocked unconscious the night Arabella had been taken by her evil ex.

“Yeah, I didn’t waste resources on more than a cursory look into prospects. When I had the chance to look further, I noticed he had a sister who was deceased, but I didn’t look into it further. If I had, we might have caught him a lot sooner.”

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