Fitz hummed. “You’re right.”

  They swayed to the rhythm of the soothing ballad, and a few steps in, Fitz removed whatever little distance had been between them and laid his head on Jack’s shoulder. With a smile, Jack closed his eyes. He tentatively laid his head against Fitz’s but moved it when Fitz shifted. He thought Fitz was going to pull back, but instead he turned his head so he faced Jack’s neck instead of away. He snuggled close, and Jack laid his head back against Fitz’s. Having Fitz in his arms this close felt right, as if Fitz had always been there. Jack couldn’t explain it. His relationships had always started with some awkwardness. How soon was too soon for this or that? So much time was spent trying to figure out how they fit, but with Fitz there wasn’t any of that.

  The song ended, and Jack reluctantly let Fitz go. The music changed to the fast and sensual beats of salsa. Jack held out a hand, and Fitz’s eyes lit up.

  “Hey now. What’s this? You salsa dance?”

  “Ace and Colton have us taking dance lessons for the wedding.” Jack shrugged. “I’m a quick learner.”

  “That so?” Fitz accepted his hand. “Let’s see just how quick you are.”

  “Ooh, that sounds like a challenge, Mr. Harlow.”

  Fitz hummed as he stepped close. “I like the way you say my name. Just for that, I’ll let you lead.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “Try and keep up.” Fitz turned and positioned himself with his back pressed to Jack’s front.

  Fitz’s moves were sinful, but Jack wasn’t surprised. Fitz had a long, lean dancer’s body, all sleek and fluid motion. Jack was faintly aware of the men around them stopping to watch them, but his focus was solely on Fitz and keeping up with his steps. He twirled Fitz away from him and turned so they were dancing side by side, hips moving, their feet seeming to speed up with every strike of the bongos and blow of the horns. Jack had gotten more of a workout during the weeks of salsa lessons than he ever had at the gym. His legs muscles hadn’t hurt that much since basic training.

  Lucky and Mason joined them, and Jack whooped. Lucky was a natural, had been dancing salsa since he was a kid, but like Jack, Mason had been taking lessons for the wedding. Although his moves weren’t as fancy as Lucky’s, Cowboy kept up with his boyfriend without missing a beat.

  It was easy to get swept up in the rhythm. Jack let it flow through him, bringing Fitz in close, then releasing him, moving with him, beside him, behind him. The song ended, and Fitz’s breathy laugh sent a shiver through Jack. The small crowd around them clapped, and Jack took a bow.

  “What do you think?” Jack asked, turning to him. “Do I make the cut?”

  Fitz raked his gaze over Jack, his eyes filled with unmistakable heat. “We’ll see.” With that, he turned and sauntered back to his table, where Red and Laz sat huddled together talking.

  “Damn,” Joker said, coming to stand beside Jack.

  “I’m so screwed.”

  Joker waggled his eyebrows. “You two keep that up and pretty soon one of you will be.”

  “Shut up.”

  “What?”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “So, you don’t want to fuck his brains out?”

  “Are you ever not thinking about sex?”

  Joker blinked at him. “Why the fuck would I not be thinking about sex? Look me in the eye and tell me you’re not thinking about boning Fitz right now.”

  Jack grunted. “I’m not… that’s not how I would put it.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were such a delicate flower. How about, are you thinking of taking Fitz into the folds of your manly bosom and making love to him in his pink fluttering passage?”

  That had to be the single most horrifying thing his best friend had ever said to him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Jay was listening to an audiobook of fuck-knows-what in the breakroom yesterday. One day it’s serial killers, the next day it’s a romance novel. That guy’s mind is a scary, scary place. If my asshole ever starts fluttering or making questionable movements, call emergency services.”

  “I love you, but I don’t love you enough to be anywhere near your fluttering hole.”

  A deep choking sound behind Jack made him turn around. “Shit. Hey, man. You okay?”

  King waved him off, his face red as he coughed into his fist. Beside him, Leo patted his back, his brows drawn together in concern. “You okay, Ward?”

  “Yep,” King wheezed. He cleared his throat. “Jack, Frank is looking for you. Sounded urgent.” He moved his bright blue gaze to Joker. “You should, uh… get that looked at. Have you been using protection?”

  Joker’s confused expression was priceless. “What the fuck? Of course I have. What are you talking about?”

  “Your, um, little problem.”

  Realization dawned on Jack, and he barked out a laugh. He patted King’s arm. “Joker’s been having some issues with his… intimate parts. He could use some brotherly advice.”

  Joker’s eyes went huge. “What?”

  Jack slipped behind King. He peeked out to grin at his freaked-out best friend and gave him a little wave.

  “No! Wait! Jack, get your ass back here! Tell him nothing’s wrong with my, uh… you know.”

  “Sorry,” Jack said with a pout. “Frank needs me.”

  “Jacopo Lorenzo Constantino, don’t you fucking dare,” Joker warned.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” King said, his deep rumbling voice filled with concern. “It happens to the best of us. Well, it hasn’t happened to me, but that’s not the point. The point is, we’ll get you through this.”

  “Jack, you son of a bitch,” Joker hissed, then let out a whimper when King wrapped an arm around him.

  “Now, when was your last prostate exam?”

  Joker made a squeaking sound not all dissimilar to a balloon being deflated, and Jack put as much distance between himself and Joker as possible. He’d pay for it later, but it was so worth it, especially since it was all being captured in glorious HD by the club’s surveillance system. If this didn’t win him best “training” video of the year, nothing would.

  As much as Jack wanted to hang around and experience firsthand whatever awkward and hilarious conversation was about to transpire between Joker and King, Jack needed to find Frank. There was also the question of what happened between Joker and Gio. The guy was nowhere to be seen.

  Jack found Frank in his office. The big guy had a deep frown on his face that didn’t bode well. Frank Ramirez wasn’t just a client, he was a close friend to Jack, Joker, and the Kings. The rough and cranky former firefighter turned nightclub owner of the most prestigious gay nightclub in Florida not only catered to some of the country’s wealthiest gay men, but his clients included men who were still in the closet. Frank prided himself on his discretion, and he trusted the Kings, trusted Jack, to keep his clients’ sensitive information safe.

  Sapphire Sands had one of Jack’s best security systems installed, but cyber criminals and hackers were getting smarter by the day. The digital world was a frightening place. Jack and his team couldn’t afford to merely keep up. With Leo working on a freelance basis with Jack, his team had stepped up their game, moving to a whole other level of security. Frank’s system had an upgrade patch installed a few nights ago. Jack and his team had spent days checking and rechecking, the entire week leading up to the upgrade launch. It had gone off without a hitch.

  “Something’s not right,” Frank said, his huge shoulders hunched over as he sat at the state-of-the-art desktop. “It won’t let me access the client list.”

  Upgrades and patches could be temperamental, but not on one of Jack’s systems. Usually he was fixing someone else’s. It couldn’t be the upgrade. He’d checked it a thousand times before launch, and after it launched, he’d checked in with Frank nearly every hour until the seventh phone call, when he’d been sweetly told to “fuck off unless something is either compromised or on fire.”

  “Let me see.”

  Frank pushed back from his chair and stood, his muscular frame dressed in his signature all-black suit, including black shirt and black tie. They often teased him that he looked more like a Mafia boss or hitman than an ex firefighter. Frank was solid all around, a brick wall of a guy with short black hair and honey-colored eyes. He was a man of few words who tended to grunt more than he talked, but behind that intense gaze was a very smart, no-nonsense force of nature.

  Jack took the seat Frank had vacated and brought up the secure log-in screen only he, Joker, and the Kings had access to. He entered his credentials and used the small fingerprint scanning pad on Frank’s desk to scan his thumb and forefinger. The discreet camera in Frank’s monitor captured Jack’s retina. Once he was in, he launched Argus, the software he and Leo had created to monitor every security system they installed. Like the Ancient Greek god it was named after, Argus was all-seeing, scanning the network and any remote access to the network for attacks, intrusions, or unrecognized users. Once the network scan returned clear, the software scanned apps, databases, infrastructure, and the cloud. Argus came back with nothing.

  “Hm. That’s weird.”

  “What did you find?” Frank asked, leaning over Jack’s shoulder.

  “Nothing. That’s what’s weird.”

  Suddenly, a black screen opened up, the words Can you trust him? appearing in white.

  “What the hell?” A photo of Fitz laughing popped up in the screen. The warmth Jack felt at seeing that beautiful face quickly turned cold when he saw the rest of the photo. They were sitting close together on the beach at night, Fitz leaning into the man.

  “Is that Fitz? Wait. Why the hell is there a photo of Fitz and Joker on my computer?”

  Several more photos popped up, all of Fitz and Joker huddled close together talking. A few shots of them showed the two looking far more serious.

  “What the fuck is this, Jack?”

  “I have no idea. Could you give me a minute?”

  Frank nodded and left the office. Taking a deep breath, Jack sent Joker a text. Sacha was there in two minutes.

  “What’s up?” Joker asked as he closed the door to Frank’s office behind him.

  “Take a look.” Jack motioned to the monitor and rolled the chair away so Joker could stand beside him.

  Joker’s eyebrows furrowed as he rounded the desk to look at the screen. “What the fuck is this?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  “First of all, fuck you for talking to me like I’m trying to take your man or something. Jealous much?”

  “You’re right. I’m being an asshole.”

  “And for your information, we were talking about me.”

  That surprised Jack more than the mysterious photos on the screen. “You were… sharing your feelings?”

  “I’m going to take a moment to once again remind you of that fuck-you. Yes. I don’t know what it is about him, but your guy is easy to talk to.”

  “He’s not my guy,” Jack muttered. He didn’t know what they were.

  “Whatever. Gio called, and Laz put him on speaker phone.”

  “Ah.” No further explanation needed. No one and nothing set Joker off like Gio. He had no clue why. Until tonight, none of them had ever met the guy in person, just spoken with him over the phone when he called Laz. “Also, don’t think I didn’t see you two disappear after the auction. What happened?”

  “I’m not talking about it,” Joker growled, eyes dark.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “I’m not going to talk about it, so just fucking drop it.”

  Jack stared at his best friend. He knew Gio was a sore point with Sacha, but Sacha told Jack everything, even things Jack didn’t want to know about. “Okay. I’ll drop it. For now.” He gave Joker a look that brooked no argument. Whatever the hell this was with Gio had truly upset him, and Jack wasn’t going to stand by and let him get away with shutting him out.

  “Why would someone take photos of you and Fitz and send them to Frank’s computer?”

  “Other than trying to make you jealous?”

  “For what purpose? Yeah, I might get pissy—”

  Joker arched an eyebrow at him.

  “Which I apologized for.” Fuck, Joker was never going to let him live that down. “What’s the intended outcome? We’ve never let a guy come between us, and we sure as hell aren’t going to start now.” Several had tried, but it never ended well. They’d even had a few of Joker’s one-night stands propose a threesome, which had promptly resulted in Jack running far, far away and Joker never speaking of it again. Anyone who truly cared for Jack and wanted to be with him would never suggest Jack push Sacha out of the picture.

  “Tell me about the night of the photo.”

  “I went outside to throw a ball around with Chip. Fitz came to check on me.”

  Jack whistled. “Brave.”

  “Yeah, none of the other douchebags you dated would have done that.”

  “Again, we’re not dating.”

  “Again, whatever. We talked.”

  Jack didn’t bother to ask him what they talked about. Joker wouldn’t tell him, no matter how close they were. He had a sense of honor when it came to certain things. If he believed someone needed to know something, he’d tell them. That still left one very important question unanswered. How the hell had someone obtained these photos?

  “Judging from this angle, whoever took those photos had to be on a boat,” Joker said, pointing to the screen.

  “That makes sense. Leo and I made sure no one could hack Colton’s security system. Even if there was someone out there better than Leo, and they managed to hack the cameras around Colton’s property, the photos of you two would have been from behind.”

  “If someone had been hiding nearby, Chip would have alerted me. But several boats were out on the water that night. Some speedboats and a couple of yachts. Fuck. Anyone with a really good telephoto lens could have taken those photos.”

  “True. But they had to send the photos from somewhere.” Jack turned his attention back to the monitor and started his software again. It finished scanning far quicker than it should.

  “Do you know where it came from?”

  “No. Argus came back with nothing. There’s never nothing.” He tried several other tricks, trying to trace the origins of the photos, an IP address, service provider, some kind of digital trail. There had to be something.

  The photos and dialogue box disappeared.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “It’s gone.” Jack checked the entire system. “Like it never existed.” A chill went through him. “If someone sent this to Frank’s computer, they did so knowing I’d see them. Shit, that’s why Frank called me saying something was wrong. They were trying to get my attention.” Running a manual check, the only information that popped up was Frank’s security clearance being revoked by the system. “Frank couldn’t access his client list because his security clearance was revoked, but that just locks the system up, so they didn’t get any further. I don’t think they even tried.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know. And the system shouldn’t have revoked Frank’s clearance. Only I can do that.” Jack jumped to his feet. Someone had lured him into Frank’s office and sent him these photos. Why here? Why now? His blood turned to ice. “I need to check on Fitz.” He sent several texts to Fitz asking him to call and meet Jack at his table. Leaving the office, Jack found Frank and let him know the system wasn’t compromised. Despite whatever weirdness was happening, no one had managed to breach any data. Jack had restored Frank’s clearance and told him he’d get to the bottom of whatever the hell was happening. The key thing for Frank was that his information was safe.

  Reaching the table, which was now occupied by their friends, Jack told himself not to panic when he saw Fitz wasn’t there.

  “Has anyone seen Fitz? I’ve been trying to get ahold of him.”

  “Maybe he went home with that guy he was getting cozy with at the bar,” Mason offered helpfully before Lucky elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow! Damn, darlin’. There a reason you’re stabbing me with your elbow?”

  Lucky widened his eyes and tilted his head toward Jack. Subtlety was not something his friends were familiar with.

  Mason cringed. “Oh, sorry.”

  Laz shook his head. “Fitz would never go home with someone he didn’t know without texting me a picture of the guy and letting me know where he was going. When we started working the runways again, we made a pact to watch each other’s backs. A lot of bad stuff can happen out there.” The last part was murmured, and none of them needed reminding why that was. Red pulled Laz in close and kissed the side of his head.

  “What’s going on?” Ryden asked, coming to stand beside Mason.

  “We’re worried about Fitz,” Laz replied, tapping away at his phone, most likely sending Fitz another text. “He hasn’t been answering his phone.”

  “Oh, um, I know where Fitz is.”

  “He’s still here?” Laz asked, his shoulders relaxing.

  “Yeah. Sorry, bro, he’s, um, getting cozy with some guy in a booth back there.” Ryden pointed behind him, his eyes filled with concern. Jack really wished everyone would stop apologizing.

  “Excuse me.” Jack needed a drink, but first, he needed to see that Fitz was okay. Whatever Fitz’s reason for being with someone else, it was none of Jack’s business. At least he’d have an answer about where they stood. Jack wasn’t one to play games, and he’d mistakenly thought Fitz wasn’t either.

  Nearing the table where Ryden said he’d seen Fitz, Jack braced himself. His heart lurched into his throat when he saw Fitz on some guy’s lap, his head bent toward the guy.

  “You need something?” the guy asked when he saw Jack.

  “No. Nothing.”

  Jack had been about to leave when Fitz spoke. “Jack?”

  “That’s not my name, gorgeous,” the man holding him purred, “but with a face like that, you can call me anything you want.”

  Something was wrong. Fitz sounded… off.