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However, the same couldn’t be said for Ethan.

“Wow, nice place you have here,” Christian mused as he looked around.

Ethan winced, a hand resting on his stomach. “Yeah, thanks. Cost me a bit, but it makes me happy.”

“I bet it cost,” Christian agreed.

Ethan gave a faint smile. “It’s alright, I make pretty good money. And I’ve got something on the side that will also bring me a good load of cash. I’ll be set.”

Christian never realized how good his acting potential was until he flashed what felt like the most natural smile. “Yeah?”

Ethan nodded. “Oh yeah.”

“Well, that must be nice. Not getting into trouble, are you?” Christian teased.

Ethan winced again, stepping toward the nearby hallway. “Nah, nothing like that. I’m a good boy.”

Christian’s lip curled, but he said, “Well, hopefully not too good.”

Ethan chuckled, though the sound came out forced. “Not me, not ever.”

Christian watched the other man, seeing indecision come over his face. Christian hadn’t known how long it would take for the pills to kick in, but apparently, it had taken the time it took them to leave the bar and walk to Ethan’s apartment complex. The man looked pained and a little green, and Christian bet he was trying to find the most covert and least embarrassing way to excuse himself.

“Something wrong?” Christian asked with concern in his voice.

Ethan shook his head. “No, no, I’m okay. But, uh, I think I need to go freshen up a little. You can make yourself comfortable and get a drink if you want. Everything’s in the kitchen.”

“Oh, sure, go ahead,” Christian said, hoping he sounded politely confused.

Ethan chuckled again. “Don’t worry, I’ll just be down the hall if you need anything.”

From the look on Ethan’s face, however, Christian was betting the other man hoped he didn’t need anything. Christianhad never taken laxatives in his life, but he’d done a bit of research before he settled on using them. Apparently, taking one too many in a short time created an incredibly uncomfortable and messy result. Thankfully, though, Christian had noted it wasn’t fatal.

“Okay, take your time. I’ll...chill out here,” Christian said, his eyes falling on the laptop on the coffee table and the flash drive beside it.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be right back,” Ethan said as he all but dashed down the hallway.

From the rather loud fart that echoed out of the bathroom as the door closed, followed by a distressed moan, Christian was betting the man wasn’t quite as quick on his feet as he might have wished. If it weren’t for the fact that he was privy to what Ethan was up to, Christian would have felt a genuine pang of guilt for what he’d done. As it was, he could push the nagging emotion out of the way and hurry over to the couch.

Thankful he didn’t have to hunt for the computer and was far enough away from the bathroom, but where Christian’s paranoid ears could hear if the door opened, he plopped down. Opening the lid, he waited until the screen lit up and displayed one profile to log into. Grimacing, he pulled out the small thumb drive in his pocket and tapped the spacebar to begin trying to log onto Ethan’s computer. To his complete surprise, the login screen disappeared, showing a logo and then the home screen.

“Seriously, no password?” Christian muttered to himself.

Then again, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. He knew far too many people in his age group and younger who weren’t particularly careful about their security. That went double for people like Ethan, who lived alone. Since no roommate could snoop, he probably thought he was safe. Which was odd since he was not only comfortable with bringing relative strangers intohis home but was also currently trying to blackmail someone he was paranoid would find a way to get to him.

“Alrighty then,” Christian said with a shake of his head.

He’d been dreading the moment he’d have to get past a password screen. Having been spared that, he took the flash drive and pushed it into the computer’s USB port. It took a moment, but the laptop pinged to signify it recognized it. He opened the folder containing the files and began digging through the drive.

It took only a minute, but he quickly found the folder he was looking for. To his even greater annoyance, the folder was labeled David. Rolling his eyes, he opened it, his brow rising as he found not only a video but a few dozen pictures as well. Almost before he could catch himself, Christian moved the cursor over one of the pictures, clicked, and then paused. Grimacing, he moved the cursor away and opened the video folder instead, remembering to hit the mute button at the last second as the video began to play.

His heart leaped as the familiar video started. Ethan had sent the first couple of minutes instead of any specific part. Having confirmed it was the right video, he looked at the timestamp, cocking his head as he realized the full length was over an hour.

“Damn, nice stamina, General,” Christian muttered.

He transferred the full-length file to his thumb drive and promptly deleted all the pictures. For good measure, remembering the video had been edited, he found the folder for edited videos and deleted the copies there. After another moment’s thought, he decided to check if Ethan was a liar as well as a blackmailer. Moving the cursor to the taskbar at the bottom, he smirked as he saw a cloud icon.

As he opened it, he jerked and heard the toilet flush. He sat there, waiting, his heart in his throat. The sound of the door never came as he sat there for what felt like an eternity. Heartstill hammering, he returned to the screen and snorted as he found a copy of all the files in the online storage.