Page 21 of The Good Boys Club

I replied the same way I always did. “Yeah, I know.”

Mutts About You

Present Day

Cian

“Gideon’s on the night shift tonight,” I said as I buzzed us into the Howl building at eleven thirty.

“Naw, I love that little moth guy,” Mash said.

We climbed into the lifts and travelled to the tenth floor. Everything was dark, quiet, eerily still. Shadowy offices laybeyond reflective window panes. Standby LEDs blinked on lonely routers and machines.

“Pretty sure Giddy hates you. Try not to offend him today.”

Gideon Cinnabar was one of the very few people on this planet who seemed entirely impervious to Mash’s charms. I suspected because the werewolf was simply too loud for him, and Giddy was the reserved, quiet, moping emo sort. A goth moth.

“Evening, Giddy,” I called out as we entered the open-plan workspace. It felt right to give him a heads-up before Mash came barrelling in like a bowling ball and shattered his peace.

Gideon squeaked and began panic-shutting down his desktop tabs. I didn’t get to see what he was looking at, but I’d hazard a guess at antique lamps on eFae again.

“Watching porn at work, aye? Love a bit of mothperson porn,” Mash boomed. He gave an affectedtsk.“Alright, Giddy?”

Gideon didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he looked up towards the heavens. “What have I done now?”

“Nothing wrong with watching porn at work, so long as no one’s around to see you bash one out,” Mash said. “I used to do that all the time too.”

“Used to?” I scoffed. I pulled a chair from a nearby desk for Mash, and placed myself between the werewolf and the mothperson as a buffer. “What changed? You suddenly develop a work ethic?”

Mash’s eyes momentarily grew big. “Nothing! Nothing’s changed. I still wank at work, whatever. Sonny’s not there any more. Got the whole fucking lab to myself.”

I turned to Giddy. “I’m so sorry about this. We won’t be long. At least I hope we won’t be long. Go back to looking at your lamps.”

Gideon’s elbow slipped from the desktop. “Uh . . . um . . .” he spluttered.

“Mash and I are not technically following protocol here.” No, we were literally about to break the law. “And I’m not about to say anything to James if you want to bid on some antique oil lamp.”

He stared at me . . . for so long I thought he wasn’t going to respond. “It’s an art deco, chromium-plated table lamp on a porcelain base with a reeded column and hand-painted, cut-glass globe.”

I smothered my snort of laughter with my palm and turned away from the mothman.

Luckily, Mash came to my rescue. “How much longer has the auction got left?”

“An hour,” Giddy responded.

“Well, you’d better get bidding on that fucker, then.” Mash winked at me, and Gideon turned back to his screen.

I connected my laptop to the multi-monitor setup I had. Switched it on.

“So, Giddy, if James asks, neither of us were doing what we ought not to be.”

Not that James would ask, or care for that matter. If anything, he’d probably be in favour of Mash and me sneaking in and using people’s personal data nefariously, so long as it led to true love—which he’d no doubt convince himself was an inevitability.

I brought up the Howl databases. “Right, now, before I start, I’m only accessing the publicly available data, okay? So, no phone numbers, no addresses, nothing these women aren’t happy sharing voluntarily with users. If you want to message any of them, I will remove the ban on your account, and you can do it that way. You’re my best friend, but no way in hell am I going to gaol because you’re an idiot and lied to your alpha.”

“Ouch,” Mash said. “But fair. Continue, please.”

“So, you’re looking for a werewolf woman? Any other stipulations?”

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