there, right?" Braden finished the sentence just as he walked into the room.
Party room was an understatement. This was a fucking ballroom. It had to be almost the size of a basketball court. Ok, probably not that big, but still. One entire wall was made of windows that looked out over the Vegas skyline. The hardwood floors were polished and bare of any rugs. Tables had been set up in rows, and extension cords, power strips, and network cables had all been laid out professionally. This wasn't like what Dez did with her duct tape.
"Nice, huh?" Riley asked. "So, Ice had all of this set up before we got here. It's on a separate network from the convention, completely secure, and all ours."
"Holy shit," Braden breathed. "When that man goes all out, he really does, doesn't he?"
A guy in the corner chuckled before throwing a ball toward the far wall. Crysis immediately ran to fetch it. "I think he's showing off."
"And that," Void said, "is Cade."
Braden had seen him before, but they'd never really talked. Still, he knew this was Knock's boyfriend, so he tried not to be obvious about checking Cade out - but the guy was definitely cute. No, that was the wrong word. The boy was beautiful, and the kind of pretty that shouldn't belong to someone so obviously masculine. His hair was brown with a rusty tint to it and disheveled like he couldn't be bothered to mess with it. Bed head, Braden realized, and most likely a perpetual state for him.
"Braden," he introduced himself.
"Tank," Riley clarified.
That made the kid sit up. "No shit? You're Tank? I'm Cry - with a Q."
"Like Q-R-Y?" Braden asked, having seen the name before. "From Flawed?"
"That's the one," he agreed. "Play with Death Over Dishonor now. Fucking HotShot made me wait until I turned eighteen."
"Yeah," Braden said, looking back to Riley. "I'm actually looking for Knock."
"What did he do this time?" Riley asked.
"Uh, I need a little relationship advice, so please don't make this hurt too bad?"
Both of Riley's brows shot up into her hairline. "Did not see that coming. Um, he's downstairs with Chance, actually. They just got in, so Chance dropped Dez off in the room, and Knock's helping with the gear. Sounds like they brought a fuckload of stuff."
"Really?" Braden asked. "I didn't think they left with that much. Huh."
"Anything I can help with?" Riley asked. "I mean, if it's about your girl..."
"More about the other guy, and don't you make this weird," Braden warned.
"Who's got the other boyfriend?" Cade asked. "You or her?"
"Her," Braden said.
Cade hopped up and waved for Braden to follow. "I got this, Riley. Knock's not the only one who knows how to make a polycule work."
"A what?" Braden asked.
"Polycule," Cade said as he headed for the living room, dragging Braden behind him. "It's poly which means many, and cule from molecule, because these relationships aren't a threesome or fivesome or whatever, you know?"
"Did not," Braden admitted, deciding he had a whole lot to learn.
But Cade made a trip past the fridge and paused. "Beer? Cider? And then we've got cokes and hard shit. Water, too."
"Beer," Braden decided.
So he pulled out two. "Don't arrest me, FBI guy!"
Bradley tossed up his hands. "Haven't yet. One day, I'll lose the reputation of being a hard-ass."
"When you can wear a shirt with wrinkles in it," Braden teased. "Sorry, Bradley, when you're more comfortable in a suit than a t-shirt, you're going to get labeled a fed."
"And I don't want to hear about your love life," Bradley told him. "So I'm going to go help plug in equipment."
Cade chuckled. "I think we make him nervous." Then he passed Braden a beer and dropped onto the middle of a couch. "So, you know I'm fucking Knock. I'm also fucking Jericho. She's fucking some more, but yeah, that's her story. But here's the deal. I hated the fucking idea. I mean, when I saw her, I was all in, right? I was also with someone else at the time."
"And Knock?" Braden asked.
Cade scoffed. "Yeah, that's a long-ass story. Let's just say that in small town Texas, you can be straight or quiet. I chose quiet. Never saw Jeff coming. Figured he was trying to steal my girl, and then he came out, and I had no fucking idea what to do with that. I mean, high school, right?"
"I fucking hated high school," Braden told him.
"Me too," Cade agreed. "So glad to be done. But Jeri? She's not like most