12. Kane
Chapter 12
Kane
Kane had never been a morning person growing up.
Never. Ever. Not even for one hot moment had he enjoyed it. It had one hundred percent always been a struggle.
It had usually been a case of his mom having to call up to his room at least five times to even elicit a response.
And then there was the matter of hauling his ass out of bed.
That had normally taken a further half dozen calls from his seriously patient Mom.
It wasn’t that Kane was lazy.
Far from it.
Kane had always been active and lived live to the maximum. His problem waking up stemmed from the fact that he was a heavy sleeper.
Like a bear hibernating over winter heavy.
But years working as a firefighter had changed that.
His internal body rhythms had changed, seemingly for good.
Once a heavy sleeper par excellence, Kane now slept lightly. In part it was down to the irregular shift patterns, and in part also down to the stresses that came with the dangerous nature of the job itself. Kane knew of some colleagues who had even sought counselling to try and cure themselves of their sleep issues.
It wasn’t as bad for Kane as it was for some of his fellow firefighters though. Kane felt real empathy for his fellow buddies who could barely go an hour or two without waking up ready for action. So, while his sleep was far from perfect, Kane was able to manage.
Either way you cut it, Kane was now likely to wake up from the sound of a pin dropping, let alone a full-blown alarm call.
Even if he’d been letting his hair down and partying all night, come dawn he was almost guaranteed to wake up.
Fully alert.
Ready to go.
Many in the fire service said that it was the curse of being a fire fighter. But it wasn’t all bad. Waking up so early meant that Kane was always able to fit in his hacking exploits around his work.
That morning was no different.
As Cassie slept soundly in bed, Kane crept out of the bedroom and made his way into the kitchen.
‘Espresso time,’ Kane said, before pausing to check himself. ‘Is it crazy I literally say that out loud, to myself, every damned morning?’
Kane shrugged.
He was a creature of habit, that was for sure.
Things might change the longer Cassie was living there. Hell, Cassie might even pick up a taste for espresso herself. Anything had to be better than craving those luridly colored juice boxes.
Well, that was Kane’s take anyhow.
They’d only been living together a very short while, all told. But the signs were good.
It felt as if Kane was able to learn from Cassie.
And vice versa.
This was the very definition of a positive co-habitation situation.
With his piping hot double espresso, he wandered over toward his huge computer set-up. It looked as intense as ever. To the untrained eye it would almost certainly have appeared a total mess.
But not to Kane.
There was method in the madness.
He was on a mission .
A mission to retrieve the data and files from Cassie’s hard drives. It felt good to expand his knowledge base too. Moving into the more practical side of computers would only help his hacking skills, and that was undoubtedly a good thing.
As Kane loaded up his own computer, he cast his mind back to the previous night.
The sex had been hot.
Really fucking good.
The best Kane had ever had, and it wasn’t even close.
The way that his and Cassie’s bodies seemed so in tune with one another was something else. It was the kind of natural connection that you can’t manufacture.
It’s either there or it’s not.
And in their case, it absolutely was there in spades.
But Kane couldn’t allow himself to get all hot and bothered thinking back to last night’s fun for too long. With his computer up and running and the task laid out in front of him, it was time to focus.
‘I think I’m going to need another espresso…’
‘Morning, Daddy!’ Cassie said, the soft pitter-patter of her footsteps approaching from behind. ‘How long have you been up for?’
Kane smiled as he felt Cassie’s delicate arms wrap around him. In contrast to his seemingly permanent smokey odor, Cassie was blessed with somehow always smelling like the freshest daisy in the field. It was a something that Kane wasn’t going to get tired of any time soon.
‘Since sunrise,’ Kane replied. ‘You know me. I like to burn the candle at both ends.’
Cassie giggled and began to fiddle around with some of the circuit boards and wires on Kane’s desk.
‘Hands off, this is my domain,’ Kane said, adding just enough gruffness to his voice to make his feelings clear. ‘I’ve actually taken a few pretty big steps toward getting your data back. It certainly pays to have a good network of friends, that’s for sure.’
‘It sure does,’ Cassie said, putting the equipment down and instead moving her hands over Kane’s bare chest.
Kane felt like growling.
There was something about the feel of Cassie’s soft hands over his tough, rugged body that set off every animal instinct inside him.
‘I’m sorry, I don’t want to distract you, Daddy,’ Cassie giggled, her hand reaching down and gliding over the bulge at the front of Kane’s black pajama bottoms. ‘Unless you want to be distracted?’
Kane couldn’t hold out any longer.
Enough was enough.
‘Fine. You win. But let’s take it into the shower,’ Kane replied gruffly.
The pair of them practically charged into the bathroom and within seconds they were both naked and enjoying the feeling of the hot water blasting down over them.
Kane had recently installed a new shower.
It was one with an extra-large showerhead and also came with a power-booster that ensured maximum coverage.
It had been money well spent.
With their bodies soaking wet and his erection very much on the rise, Kane drooped his head and began to kiss Cassie’s perfectly plump lips.
Cassie was on tiptoes but had no trouble with ensuring that her tongue was firmly planted inside Kane’s mouth.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever get over how good a kisser you are,’ Kane said, his voice full of lust. ‘And this hot little body. Makes me want to…’
‘Makes you want to what?’ Cassie gasped, desperate to know the answer.
‘ Urgh . You have to be fucking kidding me right now,’ Kane barked. ‘My fucking cell phone is flashing. It’s an alert from the station. Emergency. I need to go.’
‘W-w-w-what? Really? How do you know?’
‘Trust me, I know,’ Kane replied, a resigned and grumpy tone to his voice. ‘When you’ve worked in the service as long as I have, you actually develop a sixth sense for these things.’
Kane sprung out of the shower and walked over to his cell phone as it bleeped, buzzed, and flashed over on the window ledge.
‘Yup, as expected,’ Kane said, his raging hard-on still in full bloom. ‘Sorry, kid. I need to bounce.’
Cassie had a disappointed look on her face.
But it didn’t last long.
Quickly, it turned to a look of pride.
‘I’m so proud to have you as my Daddy,’ Cassie said, the water continuing to fall on her smooth skin. ‘You look after people. It doesn’t matter that you don’t even know them. You just do it. That makes you so-so-so-so special.’
Kane’s heart sang.
Hearing those words from Cassie felt incredible.
Kane hadn’t joined the fire service to get compliments. Or medals. Or anything really. He’d done it to help others.
But hearing someone as close to him as Cassie show their appreciation meant the world.
It wasn’t the time to get emotional though.
It was time to get moving.
‘Why don’t you get on with that new comic of yours while I’m out,’ Kane said. ‘You’ll have to show me what you’ve been working on soon. I’m intrigued.’
‘ Hehe , maybe later. It’s still a work in progress and I don’t like to show anything until it’s ready normally,’ Cassie said. ‘But I might make an exception for you, Daddy.’
Kane smiled.
He finished towel drying himself and slung on a pair of jeans and a crisp white t-shirt that were folded neatly on the wicker chair in the corner of the bathroom.
It was time to get to the station.
And fast .
As he stepped out of the apartment block foyer and onto the street, Kane looked around for his ride.
Then, in a blaze of noise, it arrived.
‘Yo!’ Leon said, lifting the vizor on his bike helmet. ‘you ready to burn some serious rubber?’
Kane laughed.
Kane was no stranger to motorcycles himself. He owned a mean and manly Harley. But it was currently out of commission. In that moment it was sitting in the garage, waiting for essential parts to arrive. That was an issue to resolve another day.
Right now, it was all about the journey to the station.
Leon handed him the spare helmet and Kane climbed onto the rear of Leon’s motorcycle. It was a Japanese model, one of the ultra-fast variety. With its red and black paneling and thick black tires, it was a beast. Which was good. Seeing as Leon had named it exactly that.
‘Okay, Beast,’ Leon roared. ‘It’s time to show Kane exactly how fast you can go. Let’s rip!’
Kane gripped the passenger handles and let out a loud whoop as Kane burst away from the sidewalk with the kind of acceleration that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a racetrack.
‘Jesus, you weren’t kidding, she can certainly tear up these streets!’ Kane shouted, his voice barely audible over Beast’s souped-up engine.
‘No doubt!’ Leon fired back, his attention mostly focused on the road ahead of him. ‘Fuck. Traffic ahead.’
Reluctantly but with very little choice, Leon slowed down as a sizeable traffic blockage loomed ahead of them.
‘Shit. This is the last thing we need,’ Kane said, aware that on an emergency call-in, every second counted.
‘Don’t worry, I know a short-cut,’ Leon said, a knowing tone to his voice. ‘Trust me, I know these streets like the back of my hand at this point.’
With that, Leon turned the motorcycle around and made one, two, then three quick diversions down slender side-streets. Before long, they were burning rubber again.
One final push and they arrived safely outside the fire station.
‘Thank you, bro,’ Kane said, a little breathless from the intensity of the journey.
‘Don’t mention it. We’re Savior Daddies, remember?’
Leon and Kane high-fived. Sure, calling themselves Savior Daddies was a little bit corny and tongue in cheek, but it was a fun bond to share with each other.
‘Shit, there was one thing I needed to ask,’ Leon said. ‘Just so you know, there’s been a spate of localized hacking going on recently. Targeting small businesses in the city. Content creators too. Not to mention local services like hospitals. I was wondering if you’d heard anything about it through your hacker connections?’
Kane paused.
‘I’ve not heard anything, no. But I’ll ask later,’ Kane replied. ‘Have you checked with Cage? He might know something.’
‘Good call. And exactly why I’m on my way to his place right this second,’ Leon responded, laughing as he revved up the engine and tore away like a turbo-charged horse bolting its stable. ‘Laters!’
Bad faith hackers targeting innocent folks…
Fuck them.
But they’ll have to wait. I’m needed here.
Kane quickly turned and ran into the station. By the sounds of the sirens blaring and multiple units hauling ass out of the station, something big was going on.
It was time for Kane to suit up and protect his city.