The Division, page 15
“So, you’re not mad?” Valor sounded like someone had just offered him a puppy.
Socket pushed himself out of his chair and stalked across the room. Valor remained where he stood, as if Socket had pinned him there. “Should I be? I mean, it’s not like I don’t know the truth. Liberty goes home alone and tonight you are coming to my bed.” And oh, the things they would do in Socket’s bed.
From the way Valor swallowed and how his eyes grew wide under the mask, Socket knew he was having an effect. Too bad he couldn’t see more of Valor’s package—it was molded by the shape of the jumpsuit. There was only one way to tell.
Since it would be a little rude to run right up to Valor and grab his crotch—although Socket would love to see the expression on his face if he actually did that—Socket stopped a few inches away. He could feel the heat coming from Valor’s body and watched as his chest rose and fell with breath that sped up the longer Socket looked. Only then did Socket curl one hand around Valor’s waist, and the other around his head, tilting it down for a kiss.
Fuck, but Valor tasted delicious—like the way the air felt just before a thunderstorm. Socket pulled away and opened his eyes, coming face to face with Valor still in his mask. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Can you lose the mask? I feel like I’m in a leather bar in the village.”
Valor choked before reaching up to tear the fabric off of his face. “I don’t even want to know.”
“You’re probably better off that way.” There were some things about Socket’s early introduction to gay life in the city that even Valor didn’t know. He’d hit the club scene hard after breaking up with Keith. “But the things I want to show you.” And he’d be Valor’s first in all of those things. There was a thrill to that, beyond the rush of just being with Valor. Every time Socket showed him something new, he felt the power of being the teacher.
“I’m looking forward to them.” Valor bent to nip at Socket’s chin, dragging his teeth along Socket’s jaw. Now that wasn’t fair, where had he learned that?
Socket shuddered, tightening his hold on Valor’s waist. “I’ve always wanted to fuck in this room.”
“Socket, anyone could walk in!”
“Uh, no, they can’t…All right, so Liberty could teleport in here.” He slammed a hand against the wall, locking the door with his powers. “But, I don’t let anyone else in here without permission, didn’t you know that?”
Valor’s eyes softened. “No, I didn’t.”
“Then come on. Let’s be a little bit kinky.” Socket backed up. He undid the zipper at the back of his neck and peeled off the top of his jumpsuit. “Don’t you want to bend me over my own chair?”
Valor all but growled, chasing Socket across the room until they were pressed against each other once more. “Condoms? Lube?”
Socket laughed. “Look in the desk.” There was something to be said about being prepared—and having the best rig in the country for looking at porn on the net, though he wasn’t about to admit that to Valor.
“You have a dirty, dirty mind. And I love it.” Valor tugged the rest of the Socket’s jumpsuit off, ripping it in the process, like he’d forgotten about his own super strength. He had Socket turned around and bent over before Socket could even catch his breath.
Sex with guys was fun—it was always a tussle to see who was the stronger, and usually Socket was evenly matched with his partner. But Valor wasn’t just another guy—he had powers that made him far stronger than Socket. So if he wanted Socket to stay in place, then there was nothing Socket could do to fight it.
That really shouldn’t make his dick pulse with excitement. Socket gripped the handles of the chair, trying to brace himself as he spread his legs. “You have to prep me, like I showed you.”
“Yeah.” Valor’s voice was clipped, as if there was no more time for words. His hands felt so big on Socket’s body, molding against his buttocks and spreading them. He probed first with one finger, but then two, moving faster than Socket normally liked it.
Socket didn’t complain. He couldn’t, not when he was so hard he could drive nails. He was more than ready to get this show on the road. The prep didn’t take long and he had to force himself to relax when Valor pulled away and tore open the condom package. Valor then replaced his fingers with his thick cock. It burned, but it was a good burn, the kind of sex that hurt so damn good.
An arm curled around his chest, and then Valor stretched over him, lacing his fingers with those of Socket’s right hand. It grounded him, reminding him that this was Valor, his friend, and not some anonymous hookup. Valor couldn’t hold it for long, but it was enough.
Then there was nothing but heat, the feeling of Valor thrusting deep inside him. Socket could smell leather and sweat, the combination spiraling into his desire. He moaned, gripping the arms of the chair tighter, desperate to not lose his bracing as Valor started to move faster and harder.
“Like that.” Socket could barely get the words out. He wanted more, wanted everything Valor could give him, and then some. When Valor moved just right, he hit the sweet spot that sent sparks all through Socket’s body.
“Gonna.” Valor still couldn’t make a complete sentence. When a clumsy hand reached for his dick, Socket got the picture anyway. Valor was about to come and he didn’t want to be alone for the ride.
It didn’t take more than a touch of Valor’s fingers. They seared Socket’s cock, so hot they practically burned him. Socket cried out, squeezing his eyes shut as his orgasm flew out of him. He wanted to hold back, to make this last, but it was too intense and he was helpless in Valor’s capable hands.
For a moment, there was no sound but their rasping attempts to catch their breath and the low level hum of the computers. Socket let out a shaky laugh. “Better move before you stick to me.” He pushed himself to a standing position, but held on to the chair. There was no way he was going to be able to walk for a moment. “Don’t tell me I came all over my favorite chair?” The control room was going to smell like sex for weeks.
“Okay, I won’t tell you.” Valor grabbed some tissues from the desk and handed them over. “I’m not even going to ask why you have those.”
“Hey, I have pretty bad allergies.” Socket wiped at the chair first, then cleaned himself up the best he could without a shower. He wasn’t looking forward to putting his uniform back on.
Valor cleared his throat and when Socket looked at him, he’d gotten himself back together. There was no sign of the debauchery he was just partaking in. Then again, Valor seemed to be really good at straightening himself out and leaving after sex. “I thought you were going to be mad.”
Socket pulled on his pants, wincing at the hole in the crotch, before answering. “Look, I get why you don’t want your personal life in the press.” He couldn’t even blame Slugger and his antiquated ideas. Socket saw for himself the harm that snooping reporters could do. “It’s just…can nobody know? I mean, can’t Pete Barnes takes his boyfriend Mitch Michaels out for coffee?” He realized how schizophrenic that statement sounded.
“Socket.” Valor reached out a hand, but then let it drop before Socket could grasp it. “I can’t. I mean, my parents don’t even know. What would they say?”
“I always thought your parents liked me.” As a joke it failed, and Socket knew it. He looked away, unable to let Valor see the vulnerability in his eyes. Here he was being given everything he wanted—Valor in his bed—but he never expected it to feel so empty.
“Not that much.” The words hurt, as did the fact that Valor took the joke seriously. So his relationship with Socket wasn’t worth coming out to his parents? “Listen, I have to go.”
Socket waved him away, forcing himself to sound light and unconcerned. “I got this. There’s a mop in the storage closet.”
He didn’t watch Valor leave the control room. It would only bother him more when Valor didn’t look back. Socket had trapped himself by letting Valor get away with leaving, and now he didn’t have the words to make him stay.
Chapter 11
So what’s the buzz on Liberty’s new costume? This year the hero debuted a new outfit—a toga like dress in her trademark red, white, and blue although she stuck with the gold mask and matching boots. Style editor Tom Rifle lamented the loss of last season’s corset top and multicolored skirt. “The toga thing is so college frat boy,” he is quoted as saying at fashion week.
Rifle himself has a new line of superhero inspired lingerie out this season.
—Style Pages, Hutton News Service
Socket’s monitors crackled with light, and he had to sit back a bit as Liberty’s torchlight powers filled the screen. She’d taken out a Crawler single-handedly, leaving the drones to the rest of the team. This was her first time out with The Division since the press conference, and she was doing just fine.
He still wondered who she really was. No matter how deeply Socket sent his bots searching the net, he hadn’t been able to discover her true identity. She was someone who knew how to cover her tracks, and while Socket respected that, it made him a bit wary. Jester’s leaving still burned, and he didn’t want to deal with a similar meltdown with such a high profile hero.
“All right everyone, let’s take these guys out!” Valor seemed thrilled with their new member. He was bashing drones with much more enthusiasm than normal, like a little boy with someone new to play with.
His words annoyed Socket, but he restrained himself from reprimanding Valor over the official channel. Socket had been out of sorts since he and Valor had fucked in the control room the other day. He’d disinfected the place himself, but the astringent scent of the cleaner just reminded him of what they’d done in here. It had stung his nose when he’d checked the reactions to the press conference and had been inundated with pictures of Valor kissing Liberty.
His earlier amusement at the incident had faded. The problem was that Valor would prefer to be with Liberty, to be the hero the world thought he was—the perfect straight hero. Even in their “civilian” identities, Valor preferred to hide deep in the closet, someplace Socket had been out of for years now. Socket had thought he was okay with that. But he couldn’t stop turning it over in his mind, no matter how much he tried.
If Liberty had kissed him back enthusiastically, what would Valor have done?
“Don’t get cocky, people. We’ve still got a portal to close.” Socket pulled up several camera views of the scene from various angles. There had been extensive property damage to the parking garage where the team was currently fighting. Large chunks of concrete had been blown out by the drones, and the structure was starting to look a little unstable.
“I can teleport the charge in,” Liberty offered.
“No way. Placing the charge is my job.” Dash’s voice was huffy over the team connection. Socket shifted the view on one of his screens over to her and was surprised at the frown on her face before she sped into action.
Apparently, not everyone was thrilled about Liberty joining the team. Of course, Dash might just be missing Jester. The two of them had been close. Honestly, Socket was a bit surprised that she’d stayed on without him. Now Dash was the one who didn’t quite fit in.
Oh crap, was he going to have to have one of those team building activities that Nina always hosted when Socket showed up to talk to the new employees? He hated them, because you couldn’t force camaraderie and faking it was just a strain. At least with the tech guys, he could just throw a LAN tournament and play some Quake or another multiplayer game over the network. That didn’t quite work with the rest of his staff.
“All right, people, remember to cover Dash…” he trailed off as his computer gave him a jolt, sending him a communication that had nothing to do with transmitting the feed from the fight. Socket tilted his head, listening to the program he’d written to monitor Holly Hutton’s online articles. The computer was rather shy about interrupting, but it knew this was important.
“Wait, she did what?” He killed the feed on one of the screens and pulled up the article that Hutton had just posted. It was called “Why you should worry about BarTec funding The Division.”
“Say again, Socket?” Valor’s voice came from the battlefield.
Socket skimmed through the camera feeds, but honestly, the team had it wrapped up already. The portal was closed. They just needed to wipe up the remaining drones. “Something’s come up. You guys can handle this, right?”
There was silence for a moment and then Valor finally answered. “Uh, yeah. We’ll be back at the base in thirty.”
“Sure, whatever.” He had stopped paying attention. Socket needed to follow the threads—find out how the hell Hutton had managed to write and post the article without him knowing about it and get the damn thing off the net. The second was easier than the first. He’d started out as a hacker and computers liked him.
By the time he was done, no one would be able to find Miss Hutton’s article.
Valor hit the showers before attempting to hunt down Socket. He bypassed Socket’s room, knowing that whatever had come up would keep Socket at his computers. Maybe it had to do with BarTec? Like the rest of the team, Socket had been neglecting his real life in favor of fighting drones.
He kept his mask on, like he always did on base, until he got to the control room. Valor took it off as soon as the door closed behind him, grinning as he thought of the last time he and Socket were in here together. “Busy?”
Socket didn’t even look away from his screens—each of which was filled with so much text that Valor couldn’t imagine how he was keeping all the information straight. “You could say that.”
“What’s going on?” Valor put his hands on Socket’s shoulders—they were so damn tense—and tried to make sense of the data scrolling past. Unfortunately, his powers didn’t do a damn thing when it came to reading quickly. Most of the time Valor had no idea how Socket did what he did, and he was just fine with that.
“Our little reporter friend just tried to post an exposé on BarTec funding The Division.”
Valor let out a whistle. She had actually done it. At least it was out in the open now. The anticipation had been just about killing him. “Well, fuck. Was it at least a good article?”
“I didn’t read it. Can you make yourself useful and grab me a cup of coffee? This is taking all my attention.” Socket gaze didn’t deviate from his screens; hell, he didn’t even blink.
Valor gave Socket a squeeze before heading over to the coffee maker. There was just enough left in the pot for one cup. He emptied that and set up another batch for brewing. If he knew Socket this pot would be gone in no time. “Are you having a hard time deleting it?” Valor shook some sugar into the mug—this one said “kiss me, I’m a code monkey”—and brought it over to Socket, who took it without looking.
“It’s not that. I need to kill any and all access to the Hutton News site.”
That seemed a bit heavy-handed. “Wait, wait, wait. I’m not the most computer literate guy in the world, but why can’t you just delete the article from the website?” Valor knew there was very little that Socket couldn’t get a computer to do for him.
“She’ll repost it. She’s done so at least twice tonight. So I had to kill the Hutton News website.”
“You deleted the entire thing?” Valor stopped halfway to getting himself some coffee.
“No, I instituted a DDOS attack to prevent anyone from accessing the site. It’s like I clogged all the traffic lanes so no one else can get on the highway. She won’t be able to post the article.”
“And nobody will be able to read anything on the Hutton News site.” Valor frowned and went back to Socket’s side. Sometimes he forgot how powerful Socket really was. It was nothing for him to twist information to suit his needs, but Socket rarely took advantage of that. “That’s…”
“Ingenious? I know. There’s a problem though—Hutton uses BarTec software to keep hackers out. I’m fighting my own program.”
“There’s a bigger problem than that.” Valor ran his fingers along Socket’s arm, trying to get Socket to look at him. How could Socket be fine with just squashing the Hutton News site? “You’re suppressing information the public has a right to know.”
Socket stiffened. He finally took his attention off of his screen and turned to glare at Valor. “But you were fine with me deleting the article off of her computer?”
“I wasn’t fine with it. But you’ve taken down an entire news website. That’s…” Valor gestured with his hands, trying to convey exactly what was bothering him so much about this. “It’s something a super villain would do—keeping information out of the hands of the people.”
They’d joked about it—that Socket could have used his powers for his own gain. He could have used them to break open the virtual vaults and make himself rich. It wouldn’t have taken much work at all. Instead, Socket had used his gifts for good—taking down corrupt CEOs and leaking information about faulty products. All that and he built his own company from the ground up. But there was always that line that any hero could cross at any time.
“Do you honestly want this out there? This is my identity on the line. This is my company—everything I’ve built over the past five years. You know the kind of lawsuits people would throw at BarTec? The property damage alone…”
“Socket, you don’t know that. You’re only guessing at the consequences.” Maybe this would be the point where Socket finally got the appreciation he deserved, albeit as Pete Barnes, CEO of BarTec. He’d done so much and lacked the recognition Valor got just flying over the city. Now people would know who was responsible for the team that protected them from the drones.
“Damn it, I can’t argue with you and keep this up.” Socket slapped the touchboard.
