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being on pizza. I gotta hang up I m leaving the
parking lot. Later.
****
Several hours later Andy proudly opened
the door to his house as the first of his guests
arrived. Adrien s phone began to ring, the tone of
Bonnie Tyler s song all about holding out for a
hero bringing a bright red color flooding into his
cheeks. Andy arched an eyebrow at him. Hell, he d
blush too if he got caught using that lame-assed
Needy Nancy song as a ringtone too. A quick
glance to the right showed Markus was also
quirking a perfectly groomed eyebrow at Adrien as
they were all tortured with the strains of the music
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By Any Other Name Cherie Noel
drifting into the quiet of Andy s foyer. Adrien
grimaced and slid his finger over the screen of his
android phone to answer. As he held the phone to
his ear, a puzzled expression drifted across his face.
 Hello?
After a moment where he cocked his head
to one side and frowned, he raised startled eyes to
Andy s face. Adrien s normally sunkissed face
blanched.
 Oh, shit!
Andy felt Markus, Benji, Sam, David,
Anthony, and  E all crowd in close. Adrien raised
stricken eyes to them.
 Holy Crap-doodly, guys, it s a level seven
alert.
Seven pairs of equally worried eyes passed
looks of concern back and forth.  E spoke first.
 What color, Adrien?
Adrien gulped.  I it sounds like a Black
Sparkle.
Andy and Sam both sucked in a harsh
breath.
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By Any Other Name Cherie Noel
Andy squeezed out one word.  Who?
Adrien shivered all over.  I m pretty sure
it s Michael and Devon both. You all know your
assignments. We gotta move fast. This one sounds
bad.
Benji and Markus raced back to Benji s car
to check on the siblings.
Anthony and  E jumped into Anthony s
GMC Jimmy to check on the parents and then
round up the police.
Andy saw Adrien and Sam glance over at
what they thought of as his piece of shit Nova. He
knew they were probably wondering if it would
last long enough to get them to Devon s place.
Andy shot them both dirty looks from under his
bright blond bangs.
 I ll have you know that Michael has been
sneaking into the parking lot at the mall nearly
every day for two weeks rebuilding this engine.
It s practically new at this point. And don t you
dare tell him I knew.
Sam chortled. Adrien just shook his head,
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By Any Other Name Cherie Noel
gesturing at the vehicles doors.
 Okay, Mr. Supermodel with the smexy
man on a string& can you unlock the damn car
and get it running so we can go save these two big
bumblers?
As Andy took in the terrified look on
Adrien s face and the seriousness of his calling a
level seven Black Sparkle alert, he shot Adrien a
look and fumbled his keys out of his pocket.
Dropping them on the snow covered sidewalk
twice because his hands were shaking so badly,
Andy almost wept with relief when Adrien lost his
patience and snatched them up.
 Get your ass over to the passenger side,
Andy. Sam s driving. He s not gonna lose his shit
worrying like we will, and he always speeds, so
we ll get there fast, possibly with a police escort.
Andy blinked at Adrien as the other man s
words crawled toward him through the frozen
sludge of his senses. The idea of Michael in danger
made absolute mush of his normally rapier wit.
Adrien huffed at him.
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By Any Other Name Cherie Noel
 What? Get in the damn car. The ring-tone
was Devon and the stupid Moses code thing was
that crap Michael s been trying to teach me since
freshman year in high school.
Sam snickered. Adrien turned, smacking
the car keys into his brother s hands and scowling
at him. Sam lifted a honey gold eyebrow, glancing
at the only other twink in their group with a claim
to the name Samuel. Andy distractedly recalled
how confusing it had been until Samuel David
Rose had settled on being called by his middle
name. Sam Jimenez grunted a damn good question
at his brother.
 What do you want David to do?
Adrien glanced wildly around, clearly at a
complete loss. Andy placed a hand on his arm to
quiet him. Meanwhile, fighting back his own panic
to speak in his normal soft tones, he addressed
Michael s baby brother.
 David, can you stay here and keep the rest
of the party-goers entertained and out of trouble?
We ll call you as soon as we know anything, I
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By Any Other Name Cherie Noel
promise.
David nodded, squared his painfully thin
shoulders and made his way back into the house,
closing the door gently but firmly behind him. He
looked back through the little glass window in the
center of the door, his unruly mop of curls flopping
over his forehead. Andy and Adrien both sighed.
Adrien spoke first.  I can t imagine 
Andy cut him off.  I know. He d just
wither up and die. Let s go get his big brother for
him& and your man too. Muscle-bound idiots
always think they can handle everything without
any help.
His last sentence tapered off into a
muttered growl, but Andy was pretty sure Adrien
was close enough to make it all out. Adrien nodded
jerkily at his younger brother. Sam met his gaze
for a second before his eyes dropped and his
shoulders sagged. Andy shook his head as he made
his way to the car. Those two really needed to get
their shit together. They had no fucking clue how
lucky they were, or how much Andy would ve
~ 103 ~
By Any Other Name Cherie Noel
given when they were growing up to trade places
with either of them. For right now they all needed
to concentrate on getting Michael and Devon out
of whatever mess the two Dumkopfs were in right
now. He slipped into his seat and fastened his
seatbelt. He oh god, they had to get there in
time the things he d said to Michael, treating him
like some cheap lay. Over the top and drama
queeny as it might sound, it really would kill him
if those were the last words between the two of
them.
~ 104 ~
Chapter Seven
When the door slammed shut behind
Adrien, Andy didn t even take a moment to think
about what might or might not be safe. He simply
pounded on the door until Sam yanked hard on his
arm, dragging him over to the side of the little
porch. They hopped the rail, pushed through the
little shrubs and Sam boosted him up just in time
to see Adrien come careening around the side of
the couch. In classic Adrien style, the man seemed
to trip over the motes of dust in the air. Andy could
see the terror on his face and the trajectory of his
helpless little body toward the big blown glass
thing standing at the end of Devon s couch. Devon
called it his modern art sea urchin. Andy knew
because he d bought the damn thing for Devon
during that long ago weekend they d spent
together. In less time than it took to draw in breath
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By Any Other Name Cherie Noel
to scream, Adrien fell. One arm swept out before
him, knocking the sculpture to the floor. Andy s
heart stood still in his chest as he watched one of
the longest, stoutest spires of glass break at the tip,
leaving behind a wickedly sharp edge.
Of course, there was no other place for
clumsy Adrien to fall. Twin screams rent the air.
Sam was tugging on him again, and small as he
was Andy had no recourse but to go where the
larger man was pulling him. They met Anthony
and  E at the edge of the street, and as Sam
turned to bring the other two up to speed on the
situation, Andy wrenched his arm loose. Running
up the path to the door, he flung himself at the
front door. Beating at the unyielding surface, Andy
continued to scream.
 No, no, I didn t mean to hurt him, not like
that& 
 E wrapped strong arms around him,
picking him up and carrying him away from the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]