Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
The ocean was too open. Too many uncontrolled variables.
I tracked everything around us without meaning to, approach angles and blind spots.
"We could've taken the car," I said.
Rune glanced at me, already a few steps ahead on the boardwalk. "We could have."
"Walking makes you more visible."
"I know." He turned to face me, walking backward with trained precision. "That's why I suggested it."
He smiled, not the stage version, gentle and genuine, as he turned back around.
Day off, Chief Kang had announced that morning. Violet Frequency gave a brilliant show the night before.
Rune asked at breakfast if I wanted to see the beach. I grudgingly said yes.
He stopped where the boardwalk ended and kicked off his sneakers, stuffing his socks inside.
I kept my boots on.
"You're not taking yours off?"
"Not planning on it."
"You can't walk on sand in combat boots, Griffin."
"They're tactical footwear."
"That's what people call combat boots when they don't want to admit they're wearing combat boots." Rune picked up his shoes. "Come on."
He started toward the water, barefoot, moving with unconscious grace. I followed. The sand shifted under my weight. I'd trained for urban terrain, not this.
We walked parallel to the waterline.
"You're still scanning," Rune said.
"Force of habit."
"Does it ever turn off?"
"No."
"Even on rest days?"
"Rest days are worst. That's when people get comfortable, and they end up hurt."
Rune tilted his head to the right. "When was the last time you actually rested?"
"I'm fine," I said.
"You're not, but you're here, anyway." He stopped walking. "You said yes. Thank you. I know it makes your threat assessment brain scream."
"It's not screaming."
"Then it's whispering loudly." He laughed softly.
I almost smiled.
"You know what I think?" he said. "I think you haven't been teased in a very long time."
My eyes opened a little wider.
"Probably not."
"People are afraid to do that with you because you're always working. You're always watching." He shifted his shoes to his other hand. "Right now, just for an hour, what if you let down?"
I looked at him, barefoot in the sand, looking at me like I was a real person.
"I'm still not taking off my boots."
His smile was warm. "I can live with that."
As we walked, something inside me relaxed and unlocked. We sat where the sand turned compact and firm. Rune pulled his knees up, looking out at the water.
"What did you listen to?" I asked. "Before. When you could choose your music."
His eyes lit up. "Everything. Indie rock and R&B. Sometimes old Korean ballads. A lot of things that didn't fit together."
"Sounds like my father's record collection. Punk mostly. The Ramones, Dead Boys. He said proper music didn't care if you liked it. It just existed."
Rune picked up sand and let it sift through his fingers. "Someone still produced those records, though. Nothing that reaches people stays completely untouched."
He wasn't wrong.
"The point is, you can still put something true in the processing," he continued. "Something that's yours."
"Your lyrics."
"My lyrics. Management thinks they're safe to sell, but they're still mine. Every word."
"And that's enough?"
"It has to be. The alternative is becoming the product instead of making it."
I understood. Rune was trying to stay visible without being erased.
"Your father," Rune said. "Did he keep playing that music?"
"Until he died. Heart attack when I was twenty-three. It happened in his garage while he was working on a car transmission."
Rune looked at the sand. "I'm sorry you lost someone who played music just because it existed."
"He would've hated your music," I said.
Rune laughed. "Yeah?"
"Too polished. He'd have said it was corporate bullshit."
"He'd be right."
"But he'd be wrong, too. You're still in there."
Rune was silent for thirty seconds.
"I don't want to be pure," he said. "I don't want to be outside the system. I only want to be mine. That rock inside the shoe of the system."
His words rang with truth.
Rune moved closer to me until our shoulders touched.
"Do you think that's impossible?" he asked.
"I think it's hard."
"It is, but I'm still working on it."
We bought lemonades at a small stand and found a low wall to sit on. In front of us, tourists walked past, laughing and telling stories.
Rune watched a small child running toward the water while her mother chased.
"That used to be my mother," he said. "I ran toward the ocean constantly. She worked three jobs before I got into the training program."
"Is that where you learned how to keep moving even when you're exhausted?"
"Yeah. Probably."
He laughed again, lighter and unguarded.
"What?" he asked, catching me watching.
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"I'm observing."
When we stood to leave, Rune's hand brushed mine.
***
Rune's hotel room was dimly lit with the curtains pulled shut. I followed him inside, closed the door, and locked it.
He stepped up to me. He worked the zipper of my jacket down. "You've been wearing this all day."
"It's fine."
"It's eighty degrees outside." He pushed the jacket off. "You must be exhausted."
I was. Endless days of vigilance and sleeping light.
"I'm okay."
"Liar."
He pulled me toward the bed. We sat on the edge. Rune took one of my hands and wove our fingers together.
"Do you want to?" he asked. What I wanted and what was safe were definitely not the same thing.
"Yes."
"Then stop scanning."
I kissed him. He kissed back, his tongue sliding against mine, tasting like lemonade and salt air. I reached out for his waist, slipping my hands under his shirt to feel warm skin.
He stripped the shirt off. I traced the line of his collarbone and the hollow at the base of his throat. I swept my fingers over his bare chest, feeling his ribs expand with each breath.
"Your turn," he said.
I pulled my shirt off. Rune flattened his palm against my chest and then spotted the scarring on my ribs.
"What happened here?"
"Sparring. Someone's elbow caught me wrong."
"Does it hurt?"
"Not anymore."
He kissed it. Then his lips moved higher, along my collarbone and up to my neck. His teeth grazed the flesh, and the sensation flashed like lightning.
We moved onto the bed, shedding the rest of our clothes. Rune lay on top, pinning me down with his weight.
His cock pressed against my hip, half-hard. I wrapped my hand around it, smiling as it thickened. He gasped against my shoulder, hips pressing forward.
"Griffin."
"Yeah."
"Slow. Okay?"
I stroked him slowly, and his breath caught. He whimpered when I twisted my wrist at the head. Every sound went straight to my cock.
He reached out for my cock, mirroring my actions. We moved together, touching and learning.
"I want—" He broke off, breathing hard. "You. Inside me."
He reached toward the nightstand. I caught his wrist. "Are you sure?"
He looked at me directly. "Yes. Are you?"
"Yes."
He found supplies—lube and condoms. His hands shook slightly in anticipation.
I slicked my fingers with the lube and took my time. Rune shifted onto his back, legs falling open. He trusted me.
I started with one finger, watching his face. He was hot and tight. His eyes stayed open, locked on mine.
"Please, Griffin. Keep going."
I worked him open carefully. Found the angle that made him arch off the bed. His cock leaked precum against his stomach.
"Griffin, please. I'm ready."
I rolled on the condom. Slicked myself up.
"Look at me," Rune said. "Don't close your eyes."
He reached up, hand cupping my face. "I'm here. You're here. That's all we need."
I pushed forward slowly. Rune's breath caught, pupils dilated, but he didn't look away.
He felt impossibly good, hot and tight—perfect.
"Move," he said. "Please."
I started slowly, finding a gentle rhythm. He reached out for my shoulders.
Rune changed his position to straddle my lap. Face to face. He took more of me inside like that and controlled the pace. His head fell back as he moved, throat exposed, body moving with grace. I watched him ride me with a flush spreading across his chest.
He opened his eyes wide. "I love you."
A prickly sense of danger rose inside me, but I couldn't deflect.
"I love you too."
His eyes began to glisten.
"Hey," I said.
"I'm okay." He leaned over and kissed me. "I'm okay."
We started moving faster. I wrapped my hand around his cock, stroking him . He was close, shorter breaths.
"Come on, let me see you."
He came, spilling hot cum over my hand, clenching tight. The sight and clench of his muscles pushed me over. I held him close as I came, face buried against his shoulder.
We collapsed together, breathing hard.
"Stay," he said.
"I'm not going anywhere."
We lay there as daylight faded. Eventually he asked, softly, "What happens in Seattle?"
"I don't know."
"But you're scared."
"Yes."
"Of what?"
I confessed. I had to be honest with him.
"I'm afraid of doing everything right and still losing you. I'm worried that competence won't matter. Being good at this won't be enough. I'm scared the system will punish you for choosing me, and even if I keep you alive, I can't keep you—"
"Mine," he finished.
"Yeah."
He shifted up onto his elbow, looking down with a fierce glow in his eyes.
"If I lose you, it won't be because you didn't choose me."
"That's not—"
"Listen. You're afraid of failing. I understand. But Griffin, you're not the one who gets to decide if this is worth it."
"I know that."
"I hope so because it sounds like you're already preparing to walk away. To remove yourself because you think that will keep me safe."
He'd seen right through me.
"It might."
"It won't. Soo-jin doesn't care about my safety. He cares about control. The moment you leave, he wins. He can force me out with no one standing in the way."
I wanted to argue.
"Seattle's going to be bad," I said.
"We'll handle it. Not you alone. We."
An hour later, there was a knock on the door: three measured taps.
I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and checked. Two new messages.
Do-hyun: Need to see you. Have new information.
Do-hyun: I'm outside Rune's room.
"It's Do-hyun," I said.
"He wouldn't come unless it mattered."
I climbed out of bed, pulled on my jeans, and let him in. Do-hyun stood with a tablet and an expression that meant bad news.
"You need to see this now. Something is being constructed, and I have proof."
I let him in. He handed me the tablet. "Access logs. Past two weeks. I've highlighted the anomalies."
The screen showed spreadsheet data, color-coded yellow and red.
"Management credentials used outside normal parameters."
I scrolled. More yellow highlights. Credentials appearing where they shouldn't be.
"Could be compromised passwords."
"That's what I thought. Until I found these." He pointed to the red highlights. "Approvals. Route changes. Security protocols changed outside the standard chain."
"Kang didn't know?"
"All tied to Soo-jin's office," Do-hyun said. "His department. His authority structure."
Rune joined us. "Soo-jin did this?"
"Not directly. These logs don't prove that he personally accessed the systems. They show his office being used to create vulnerabilities."
"Plausible deniability," I said.
"Yes, he's leaving gaps. Windows where something could happen that would look like standard risk."
My stomach twisted. "He's constructing failures that will look natural."
"Yes. And when they happen—"
"They look like security incompetence."
Seattle showed more activity than any other city. Building toward something.
"When did you find this?"
"I've been tracking for two weeks. Didn't have enough to be certain until this morning. I couldn't bring you incomplete information."
We couldn't keep it to ourselves.
"I need you to send everything to Eamon Price at The Guardians and Chief Kang. Keep the originals secure."
"Already done. I flagged the Seattle coordinator. Told her to verify every approval personally."
I exhaled. "That'll slow things down."
"That's the idea." Do-hyun stood and walked toward the door. "Griffin, Soo-jin won't leave obvious evidence, but he's convinced he's the only one who can protect Violet Frequency. That certainty is his weakness. People who believe they're right stop checking for opposition."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. We will land in Seattle tomorrow. Whatever he's building—it's almost finished."
A minute after he left, my phone rang. It was Eamon.
I knew what the call was about. "You saw Do-hyun's files."
"Twenty minutes ago. We're mobilizing."
I kissed Rune on the cheek before rising and walking to the window. "What does that mean?"
"Michael is driving up to join Mac and me. He'll arrive tomorrow night."
"Eamon, you don't need to—"
"Griffin, you're not doing this alone. We are The Guardians."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. Listen. Soo-jin is trying to create a narrative where you're the problem. He's also threatening the lives of anyone who might get in the way."
"I know."
"We will not play his game. By the time you get to Seattle, you'll have backup."
"He'll know something's different."
"Let him. Let him realize his scenario just got more complicated."
I looked out at peaceful, oblivious San Diego. "Tomorrow."
"Yes. One more thing. Rune. How is he?"
I glanced back. "He's okay."
"He knows what's coming?"
"Yes."
"And he's still in?"
"Yes."
"Then he's braver than most principals. Take care of him and take care of yourself. Don't handle Seattle alone. That's an order."
"Understood. I'll text when we land tomorrow."
He ended the call.
As I stared out at the city, Rune wrapped his arms around me from behind. "What did Eamon say?"
"That he's mobilizing The Guardians. That we'll have support in Seattle."
"That's good."
We stood looking out at the city together. I turned in his arms. His expression was fierce and confident.
"I love you," I said.
"I love you too." He kissed me. "Now come back to bed. We have one more night before Seattle. I want to remember what this feels like."