Trusting Cade (Custos Securities Series Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Trademark

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Custos Securities Series

  Book 1

  By

  Luna David

  Trusting Cade

  Custos Securities Series

  Book 1

  Copyright © 2016 by Luna David

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without express written permission from the author, Luna David, [email protected]. The only exception is in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. While references may be made to actual places and events, the names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design

  http://www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk

  Custos Securities Series emblem designed by Kellie Dennis, property of Luna David.

  Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.

  Warnings

  Intended for an adult audience. Contains explicit male/male sexual content, violence, and elements of BDSM. Trigger warning: physical assault and recollections of past sexual assault. HFN Cliffhanger. Book 2 due out a few months after the release of Book 1.

  Trademark and Copyright Acknowledgements

  Luna David acknowledges the trademark status of the following trademarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Forrest Gump, Ford Edge, iPhone, iPad, Dropbox, Wikipedia, Google Maps, Google, Kool-Aid, Two Buck Chuck, Trader Joe’s, West Point, House of Air, Hollywood Café, The Italian Homemade Company, The California Academy of Sciences, Walmart, Planet Granite, The Mission's Foreign Cinema Restaurant, The Maltese Falcon, Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, Green Beret, SEALs, Special Forces, LoJack, Wells Fargo Bank, Ambien, 7-Eleven, Krav Maga, Muy Thai, Jiu Jitsu, Pilates, Styrofoam, Jolly Green Giant, Hulk, Betty Boop, G. I. Joe

  To Husband, the love of my life, and the man who makes me laugh like no other. Without you, this book wouldn’t have been written. You make it possible for me to take time every single day to expel the voices in my head, and get them on paper. I’m sorry I didn’t title my first M/M Romance, The Adventures of Rod Steelcock: The Manhole Chronicles, as you suggested. I hope Trusting Cade will suffice

  Cade and Cooper watched their latest round of interview testing candidates through their office windows four stories up. They both stood at parade rest, a habit ingrained in them from their early days in the Army. They’d been through years of combat together after fighting their way through the Special Forces training program and they trusted each other implicitly. They had agreed, along with two of their closest friends, Jackson and Sawyer, to get out of their Special Forces unit at the same time and go into business together. Custos Securities now enjoyed a reputation for providing unparalleled security for both civilians and businesses across the U.S. As custos is the Latin word for guardian, that is what they called their security specialists. They needed to hire five to ten new guardians to keep up with their customers’ demands.

  From the beginning, they’d agreed that they would only hire ex-military personnel. There were a couple of reasons behind their decision: one, they needed their employees to be equipped with the specialized training the military provided and two, military veterans didn’t always have an easy time re-inserting themselves back into civilian life after going through combat, especially if they had issues with PTSD or physical injuries from battle. They wanted to hire the best, and sometimes the best came in unique packaging.

  The latest candidates seemed promising, but Cade knew from past testing sessions that looks could be deceiving. The group below them, seven men and one woman, all fit by military standards, stretched in preparation for the obstacle course. Jackson and Sawyer gave the latest candidates the information they needed in order to get through the course.

  The obstacle course was one similar to the courses designed for Special Forces military groups in order to improve reaction times and physical stamina. None of the current group being tested had any clue of the amount of trust Cade and Cooper placed in their instructors and that was how they liked it. If the group saw Jackson and Sawyer as ordinary employees, they’d be more apt to be themselves and let their instructors see who they really were.

  One of the biggest reasons for the strenuous testing of all candidates was to figure out exactly who they were, at their core. The people they hired needed the correct temperament not only to do their jobs, but to deal with two alpha co-owners running the show. Cooper glanced at Cade. “So, after this round of testing is done and we make our hiring decisions, we’re headed to California next week to work on the Kensington job and then start looking at some real estate there.”

  Cade chuckled. “The Kensington’s. What do they need? Didn’t we just put their system in last year?”

  Cooper smirked. “Listen, I’ll handle drumming up business and getting new equipment and security contracts signed, controlling the press, and running HR. I handle the details that you can’t be bothered with. I’m the one that does the schmoozing, while you hide behind the scenes being your grumpy, anti-social self. You need to keep that engineering brain of yours humming on new ways to innovate with our security systems and your military leadership skills for planning security details for our VIPs. Not to mention creating the physical training programs for our new recruits.”

  Cade raised his hands in supplication. “OK, OK. You get us the business, and I’ll keep it. It’s worked for us so far.”

  Cooper nodded, agreeing with Cade’s assessment. They watched as the first two candidates took off in a race across the course. Cooper tilted his head and raised a brow. “We’ll have enough time to see our families while we’re in California. You’re going to see yours, right?”

  Cade was confused by the question. “Yeah, of course. Why?”

  Cooper shrugged, not meeting his gaze. “There’s no ‘of course’ about it, man. I’ve been struggling to read you lately. It’s hard to read you on a good day, but there’s just something... you’ve been off.”

  Cade was surprised that it had shown. He was fairly adept at masking his emotions, and the fact that Cooper had seen his, or rather his lack of them, threw him off balance. He shook his head, but Cooper wasn’t having it.

  “Cade, I know you. I see the parts of you that you don’t share with everyone else. Not because you share things with me, but because I’m around you on a daily basis and have been for too many damn years. Somet
hing’s going on with you. You’re not social to begin with, but lately, even going out for beers with me, or Sawyer and Jackson, is such a rare occurrence, I sometimes forget to ask you. Talk to me, man.”

  Cade knew Cooper wouldn’t give up on this line of questioning. Once he dug in, he was pretty much set on course unless a bomb went off and caused a wrinkle in his plans. That wrinkle would only be a delay of the inevitable, as he’d come back around again and dig until he got what he wanted. He could hardly be upset by it. It’s exactly what got them contracts. It’s what made Cooper, well, Cooper. They were opposites in so many ways, and that’s why they’d become and remained best friends years earlier. Cade took the leap.

  “I want to settle down. I want to get married and have kids. The guys I’ve dated; I just can’t seem to find the right one. I feel like I’m spinning my wheels. For a while, I’d go out on multiple dates with the same guys, get to know them to make sure they weren’t the one. Then, I’d move on to the next guy, and the next. Some of them were great guys; they just weren’t the right guy. So I stopped, I gave up. It’s been months, and I feel like he’s out there and I can’t fucking find him, or maybe that I’ll never find him. I can’t figure out why I’m feeling like now is the time. I also can’t figure out why the guys that I’ve dated, though great, don’t feel right to me.”

  Cooper’s mouth hung open. Cade quirked a brow at his friend. “You asked.”

  Cooper shut his mouth and raised his own eyebrows. “You never talk about yourself. The only time I’ve seen you do it is when you’re with your family and they’re asking you questions. So yeah, I’m pretty damned shocked that you’re talking about yourself right now, even though it’s with me… but, I’m glad you are. It’s awesome that you’re ready to settle down. I’m surprised, but more because you’re telling me about it, not because I can’t see it.”

  He smiled. “Because, Cade, I can see it, easily. I can see you married with two point five kids and a dog. I can see that white, innocuous, picket fence that you’d probably find some way to rig with security paraphernalia, in order to protect what’s yours. Don’t deny it. You’re protective like no one else I’ve ever known. It’s in your genes or your blood, or your parents drilled it into you, but it’s there and it’s not going anywhere, and it’s exactly why…. Exactly why you haven’t found him yet.”

  Exasperated, Cade turned away from the windows and crossed his arms across his chest. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “McCade, you’ve dated ex-military guys, other men in the security business, men you’ve met at the local fighters’ gym, and other alphas. There was a cop and what was that other guy, a firefighter, right? You’re not going to settle down with someone like that.”

  “Why the fuck not?”

  “Because while those men may have liked you, could have loved you, it would never last, because they don’t need you. Just as innate as your protective instinct is, so is that desire to be needed.”

  “You think I’m needy and I should want a needy person?”

  Cooper laughed. “I said nothing like that. Don’t turn my words around so that you can feel less uncomfortable with my spot-on assessment of you. You’re my fucking brother, in every way except blood, so yeah, I know you. You need someone that needs your strength and likes, or craves, your desire to protect and control. It’s my guess that you’re always a top. It’s also my guess that the guys who bottom for you, do it when they normally wouldn’t. You don’t need a top that turns bottom for you; you need someone that is as natural at bottoming, as you are at topping. I think the guy that’s going to capture your interest is going to be someone who is extremely different from you.”

  “How can something like that last?”

  Cooper shook his head and chuckled. “It’ll last because you’ll be able to provide what he needs, and he’ll do the same. You need to find someone to take care of, someone to protect and, quite honestly, someone that allows you to take control. You’re not going to get married to someone, spend the rest of your life with someone without providing those things.”

  Cade narrowed his eyes. “You think I need someone weak?”

  Cooper’s brows drew together and he scoffed. “Are you deliberately being obtuse? You could never be with someone who wasn’t strong and brave. You wouldn’t respect them. However, just because someone is strong as hell, doesn’t mean that strength is as physical as yours. The men you’ve dated will eventually want to be the top. They won’t need you, and you won’t have any desire to protect them, not to mention they won’t allow you any control. Oh, and we haven’t even started talking about the kink.”

  Cade laughed, incredulously. “What the fuck, Coop?”

  Cooper smirked. “You keep operating under the assumption that I don’t know you. All of those things I just mentioned: protective, the desire to be needed, and the craving for some bit of control… you think I don’t know you’re skating the edge of the BDSM lifestyle?”

  Cade shook his head, exasperated. “You act like I’ve got whips, chains, a spanking bench, and a St. Andrews Cross in a dungeon in my basement. I’m not some leather-wearing BDSM Master going to a club with a collar, handcuffs and a tawse hanging from my belt.”

  It was Cooper’s turn to look incredulous. His mouth gaped open. “What the fuck is a St. Andrew’s Cross and a tawse? Damn, Cade, I thought you just liked a bit of slap and tickle, maybe a bit of bondage. You’re way more into this stuff than I could have imagined. Just one more reason you and I could never be in a relationship.”

  Cade gave Cooper a sardonic look. “We could never be in a relationship, because you’re too ugly. Oh, and you swing both ways. I need someone who only swings my way… and, I don’t have any BDSM equipment. I just know what most of it is. I’ve gone to a few fetish clubs, but I’m too private of a person to want to meet someone in that setting. I’d rather take someone to a club like that after we’ve established our relationship boundaries. Yeah, if I was into the lifestyle more, I’d be the Dom in the relationship, but it’s not something I’d want full time and it’s not something that’s a deal breaker. If I was with someone that hated the idea, I’d be fine without it.”

  Cade paused, thoughtful. “You know, you’re the last person I ever thought I’d be taking relationship advice from. I hate to admit it, but I think you’re right. I think I’ve been looking for the wrong thing, or rather, for the wrong kind of person. But I don’t know where the hell I’m gonna find this type of guy. I’ve dated guys because they were interested in the same things I’m interested in, so I’m not sure how to go about finding someone that isn’t interested in those things. Seems the opposite of what one would try to do, but hell, what I’ve been doing isn’t working, so I guess there must be something to it.”

  Cooper smiled. “Just keep yourself open to it. I think you’ll find it when you least expect it and probably much sooner than you think. Now, it looks like they’ve long since cleared the course. They should be done with the written portion of the testing in 30 minutes or so, which gives us plenty of time to get down there and get ready for the ring.”

  Cade smirked. “Us, huh? All you’ll be doing is running your mouth and looking pretty. I have to fight them all. See, this situation completely encapsulates our working relationship. You bullshit your way through while I do all the real work around here.”

  Cooper laughed. “It’s been my master plan all along. Glad to see it’s working.”

  Cade made a rude sound in the back of his throat and shook his head. As they walked he thought more about their discussion. He had to admit to himself that Cooper was right. He truly did need someone who was completely different from him. He didn’t share Cooper’s belief that he’d find his soulmate anytime soon. The perfect man wasn’t just going to fall into his lap. However, it felt good to know his outlook on it was no longer as jaded, now that he realized he might’ve been looking for the wrong thing. With the help Cooper had provided, he now had a more positive attitude
and could therefore afford to be patient. He had no idea how the hell he’d find the type of guy that Cooper had described, but he’d have to think on it and come up with a plan. He was good at making plans.

  He walked into the locker room to change and get ready for the coming fights. He easily shifted gears, compartmentalizing his personal conversation with Cooper in order to get himself in the right mindset to take part in eight individual fights with their interview candidates. They did this for every single round of guardian interviewees. What the candidates didn’t know was that only a small portion of their score was based on how well they performed during the obstacle course and the fighting test. Even the written portion of testing wasn’t just searching for the correct answer. They were looking at the whole package of each individual. They wanted to see who was quick to anger, who was quick to scare, who was quick to cheat, and who was quick to take short-cuts, among other things.

  When the candidates arrived bright and early on their first testing day, they were asked to sign a contract that discussed the testing and interview process. More than likely, the candidates had skimmed over the portions of the contract that spelled out the possibility of any part of their testing being recorded. They’d never had any questions or concerns brought up about that section, which suited Cade just fine. The candidates were then asked to change into tactical gear provided by Custos. The gear was equipped with listening devices, so that Custos could hear everything that was said by every interview candidate during the entirety of their testing. They weren’t about to put the safety of the companies and civilians for which they provided security, into the wrong hands.

  After the candidates finished the initial three tests that took up a good portion of a day, those who passed came in for round two, which involved further testing in weapons handling, an actual interview with Cooper and Cade, and a psychological assessment. Later, a security simulation would also be administered, putting each candidate through a round of rigorous tests while the candidate was “protecting an asset”, to see how well each candidate dealt with stress and if they could make split second decisions while in the field.