Operation 10 Principal Starlight
God
By three forty-five in the morning, God had given up pretending he was going to get any sleep.
He stood near the massive window of his penthouse suite, arms crossed over his chest, staring out over Los Angeles.
The horizon was still black, the streets below almost empty, and the luxury around him was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
Not much impressed him these days—especially not excessive opulence—except the capability of his team, who were now on their way back.
That was all that mattered.
Ruxs, Green, and Steele had reacted at record speed getting to Xander Vale’s residence.
Free and Tech were already doing what they do, and he’d learned long ago not to bother asking them to explain their genius. He only wanted details of the conclusions.
Day stood behind them, leaning over their shoulders with one hand braced on the table, his sharp gaze moving between screens while Free’s fingers flew across his multiple keyboards.
God trusted his enforcers. Still, waiting for them to return safely always prickled underneath his skin.
Luckily, he had his younger brother talking his damn ear off to distract him.
“Come on, Cash. You gotta be kiddin’ me.”
God shifted his phone tighter between his ear and shoulder while taking the printout Free just handed him.
“I already said no.”
Gen groaned loud enough to make God roll his eyes.
It was only six a.m. on the East Coast, but his brother was an early riser.
He was a big shot engineer for Apple who worked from home and made his own hours.
The crack of dawn was his favorite part of the day. His fiancé, Curtis, was still in bed, the house was quiet, and he could watch SportsCenter without interruption.
Right now, apparently, the favorite part of his morning was harassing God.
“You don’t even get how unfair this is,” Gen said.
“How the hell do you get so damn lucky all the time? First, you end up workin’ a case with Wes and Law, then your task force gets audited, and somehow instead of sitting at home to wait out your punishment, you get flown first class to Hollywood, put up in a five-star hotel, and asked to protect the hottest superstar in the world. ”
God’s mouth twitched.
“No, wait.” Gen’s voice rose. “Let me rephrase that. The hottest gay superstar in the world. Xander-fucking-Vale, Cash. Do you know how much Curtis loves What Breaks in Silence? Do you know how many times I’ve had to sit through that bull rider movie and act like I wasn’t emotionally damaged afterward? ”
“Curtis told Green you cried at the end.”
“No, I didn’t! My allergies were acting up,” Gen snapped.
“And that’s beside the point. I’m just asking you to let me and Curtis come out there.
We’ll stay outta the way, promise. I just want you to get us on Stage 8 one day.
You know Wes and Law loved Curtis when he met them in Atlanta after you guys’ bust. They won’t mind a little tour. ”
God looked down at the report in his hand, scanning Free’s summary of Xander’s alarm perimeter failure. The guards had left the property after receiving fraudulent texts claiming the threat was over and the studio’s personal security for Xander was suspended.
Minutes later, the power had been manually cut at the breaker. A rear window had been broken. No theft or extreme vandalism beyond the entry point.
Which meant the intruder hadn’t come to steal, they’d come for Xander.
God shook his head.
Why the fuck was someone targeting this guy? That was the million-dollar question.
“Cash.”
“No.”
“Man—”
“This is a job, a potentially dangerous one,” he grumbled.
“Wes and Law called us to protect their friend. We’re not here on vacation, G.
Someone is literally trying to kill this guy, and I’m not about to let my only brother and Curtis get caught in the crossfire because you wanna fangirl on a movie set. ”
The joking died at Gen’s end for a moment.
“Yeah,” Gen said after a beat, quieter. “I know. It’s messed up, man. He comes out gay and people wanna kill him. I thought we were past all this hate shit.”
“I don’t know if it’s only that,” God said.
“Me and the guys talked about it. LA’s a global haven for the queer community and hate crimes against gay men aren’t as common here.
This thing with Xander feels bigger than somebody just hating a gay man.
The violence is too deliberate…coordinated.
I think it has more to do with the fame, the awards, the films, maybe someone’s money is getting threatened.
But we still have a lot to dig through.”
“Then Wes and Law put the right men on the job,” Gen said. “If anybody can get to the bottom of it, it’s you.”
God lifted one brow at the phone. “Flattery won’t change my mind.”
“Damnit, come on.”
God tucked the phone in the cradle of his shoulder and flipped another sheet of paper. “I said no.”
Across the room, Free stood and slid into Day’s chest like a damn housecat with an agenda.
“Oh fuck,” God muttered.
Free wrapped both arms around Day’s waist and kissed his cheek. He rested his forehead against Day’s and swayed gently with him while gazing at him through those long lashes that had gotten him damn near anything he wanted from them since the day he joined the team.
Day stared at Free and smiled.
God narrowed his eyes. He could recognize when his husband was being charmed.
Shit. Free wanted something.
And if he was going to his husband first, that meant he wanted Day to make God do something.
Free leaned closer, whispering in Day’s ear.
God couldn’t hear the words, but he didn’t need to. He knew the play. Free’s eyes were soft, making Day’s expression shift, the corner of his mouth curving.
After a few seconds, Day nodded and kissed Free’s forehead before he released him.
Free beamed like a thief who’d found the vault already unlocked before he went back to his laptop and got back to work.
Day came toward him.
God straightened. “Leo—”
Day took the phone out of his hand before he could finish. “Gen, you and Curtis can come out here at the end of the assignment. I’ll let you know when.”
God closed his eyes.
Day kept talking. “Free will get you on the lot for a day. But then you and Curtis have to go with him to do a bunch of touristy shit he has planned.”
“Deal!” Gen shouted loud enough that God heard it without the phone to his ear.
The line went dead almost instantly before he could veto the deal.
He stared at his husband, then over his shoulder at Free and Tech.
Free continued typing with intense concentration, as if he was suddenly fascinated by whatever was on his screen.
Day stepped between his legs, clutching his waist with that easy ownership only he possessed. His husband kissed him slow enough to make his irritation lose some of its bite.
God refused to melt…for three seconds.
Day deepened the kiss, and he sighed into his mouth in defeat because his husband and Free together made one hell of a tag team.
Day pulled back just enough to speak against his lips.
“It’ll be fine. We’ll have this handled soon, and you know Free deserves to have some fun. He’s on call twenty-four hours out of his life with us. He doesn’t ask for much. And he loves Curtis and misses him. He’ll be a good person for him to tour LA with.”
God looked past Day to where Free was smiling at his keyboard, refusing to meet his glare.
Everybody loved Curtis. It was hard not to.
Curtis had first encountered Day when he was stupidly trying to rob a convenience store with an old pistol that had no bullets.
He and Day should’ve arrested him. But, when he’d confessed to needing the money to pay for his sick mother’s medicine and to turn their electricity back on, they’d seen him for what he was—a desperate boy with too much responsibility and nobody there for him.
God gave him work running errands for the team. Grocery pickups, mail deliveries, lunch runs. Simple things that all of them paid generously for. And it didn’t take long before that kind, nervous kid had every hardened man on the task force wrapped around his finger.
Especially Green. Ruxs pretended not to be just as affected, but it was amazing the way they both watched over Curtis too.
When Curtis was seventeen, his mother died, and Ruxs and Green had adopted him without a second thought.
By some miracle God didn’t understand, Curtis grew up gentle and good despite his fathers being two fucking mad men.
“Fine. But if anything happens to Curtis while he’s out here, you’re on your own with his dads.
Day grimaced.
The door beeped after a keycard was scanned…and speak of the devil.
Ruxs and Green walked in carrying the kind of tension that told God the situation had been worse than their initial reports suggested.
Behind them was Xander Vale.
On the star’s six was Morrison and Steele.
Tech and Free rose from their chairs at the same time.
For a moment, they both forgot every professional bone in their bodies as they stared in wonder at the-fucking-Xander-Vale standing in his hotel suite at four in the morning.
God couldn’t blame the way everyone was watching him.
He wasn’t polished in the fabulous way his films made him appear or when he walked the red carpet. Not tonight.
Tonight he looked like a regular guy, wrung out in a way sleep alone wouldn’t fix.
His round, hairless cheeks held almost no color, his skin appearing even more pale beneath the black ball cap he had pulled low over his forehead.
His blue eyes were rimmed red, too wide and alert. His mouth was pressed tight as though he was holding a sob back with his teeth, and faint tremors moved through his hands despite the way he tried to hide them inside his jean’s pockets.
A tight pull of sympathy tugged at God’s chest.
Him and his team dodged death so often that sometimes he forgot what it did to people who weren’t built for it.
Xander wasn’t a cop or military, he was an entertainer.
And this was the second time in a couple of weeks that he’d narrowly escaped death.
Wes and Law hadn’t exaggerated, their friend was in serious danger.