06. Hug

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06

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06. HUG

After Julian had gotten all his belongings settled inside his new bedroom, he called Lance Joyner – a forensic scientist, old friend, and ex-lover – to see if he could help uncover who Aiden's anonymous blackmailer might be.

Lance could never say no to Julian, so he happily agreed to see both men at his office today.

Julian, on the other hand, wasn't too stoked about having to be in the presence of his ex-boyfriend again. It's been almost three months since he and Lance ended their year-long relationship; this would be the first time that they'll have seen each other since splitting up.

"Are you ready?" Julian asked after stopping by Aiden's bedroom.

"Y-yeah, sure. I'm ready," Aiden stammered from the bed, looking guilty. He was momentarily caught off guard because he had just sent Kyle a text and asked him to do a background report on Julian despite his father having already done one. "Lead the way."

"You have the letter, right?"

"Yeah, it's in my back pocket," Aiden replied, and after coming up to Julian, checking out his new attire, Aiden smirked while raising a brow. "Should I always expect you to dress in fancy ass suits whenever we go out?" Aiden joked as they headed downstairs. "I feel like I should change out of my bum-ass clothes now."

"Stop it. You look fine." Julian chuckled. "Most of the people that I work for usually want me in a suit and tie. It's more appropriate than having on the casual jeans and a t-shirt, especially when I might have to accompany you to something formal. People need to know that I'm your bodyguard and not some random friend of yours."

"I get it, don't worry. I'll never tell a grown man what he can and can't wear. Dress however you want, just try not to out-dress me." Aiden teased, feeling playful. "So, are you, like... strapped right now?"

"Yes. Whenever we go out, I'll always be armed." After reaching the front door, Julian showed Aiden his gun. "It's a requirement that I have it on me, or near me, at all times."

"Have you ever had to shoot anyone before?"

"Once," Julian answered. "But only because the other person was armed and threatened to fire at the woman that I was working for at the time."

That frightening incident happened many years ago when Julian was a rookie. It'd been the one and only time that Julian has ever had to fire his weapon at someone or come so close to getting himself shot. After that, he started to take life a little more seriously.

"Did they wind up shooting?" Aiden asked as they went outside and headed for Julian's bulletproof SUV. "Did anyone get hurt?"

Julian was tickled by the green-eyed philanderer. He'd really been enjoying Aiden's game of twenty-one questions.

"No, the guy didn't get the opportunity to shoot," Julian said. "I have a keen eye and quick reflexes. He didn't stand a chance against me."

Yeah, I bet he didn't. "So, you shot him? Did he die?"

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