Semper Fidelis Read Online Free Page A

rainbow mask around Galen’s Waze avatar. He couldn’t help but hope that Galen would keep his promise and message Zach later.
     
    * * * *
     
    It wasn’t often that Zach used valet, but the restaurant his best friend had chosen wasn’t located in a part of LA where he wanted to leave his car parked on the street. It was another trendy pop up joint that had appeared in an abandoned warehouse and would be gone by the end of the week. Linc loved these kinds of places, traveling with the hordes of foodie hipsters for the thrill of ushering in the next viral movement. Zach was more into family-run holes-in-the-wall, but even those came with foodie hipsters as of late.
    “Zach Rivera for Lincoln Celso,” he announced to the man-beast guarding the front door.
    The man nodded and opened the smoked glass door for him. He was met by a rail-thin model type who led him to a table near the bar.
    “Burly silent bouncers and emaciated eye candy,” Zach noted out loud when he sat down. “How retro cliché.”
    Linc lifted his mirrored aviators off, pushing back his auburn hair, and gave a mischievous half-smirk. “And I hear the food is minuscule and overpriced.”
    Zach took a swig out of Linc’s martini glass and motioned to the waitress to bring another. “Lovely. Why are we here, then?”
    “Publicist outing. One of my record company execs is the owner. Can’t have empty tables.”
    “So I get to suffer with you. The bane of being friends with a pop star.”
    “Minor pop star. I ever make it to venues that hold more than a thousand, then maybe we’ll hit the back room.” Linc leaned in, resting his chin on his interlocked hands that were stacked with rings. He was classically handsome in a roguish way, very close to Zach’s type, save that he was a Kinsey zero. “I am glad you called. Truthfully, I’m shocked you’re not working.”
    The waitress set his drink in front of him and he knocked half of it back in one pull. “Should be. I gave my boss the drone plans last week.”
    “You didn’t.”
    “I did. I could’ve held onto them, but for what reason? I don’t want to start my own company and Synthfad has a great track record with defense contracts.”
    Linc raised an eyebrow as if he was considering the validity of Zach’s statement. Then he nodded and said, “This is your business, Zach. I hear ya. There was no way I was going indie either. It’s tough to go it on your own. So now what?”
    “I’m waiting to hear from legal whether they’ll allow me to test it without handing over control.”
    “ You have one new message from a friend ,” that soothing voice of Waze called out from his phone. Zach felt the blood and heat rushing to his face. He thought he’d shut off the app, but apparently a new private message didn’t play by the usual rules.
    “You have friends besides me?” Linc asked.
    “You’re such a pretentious asshole.”
    “Z! You are blushing. Talk.”
    Telling Linc about Galen was in his best interest if he didn’t want to spend the night being hounded. But he was still going to try to downplay it and not admit that he’d been thinking about Galen for the last hour. “Someone who contracts with Synthfad messaged me today. We talked a bit.”
    “Like online?”
    “No. Through Waze.”
    “As in the traffic app Waze?”
    Zach nodded.
    Linc shrugged. “I guess it could be the Grindr of socially awkward workaholics.”
    Zach sipped at his drink. “True.” Linc’s harassment was always easier to take than his relentless jabbing for info. “He doesn’t even know I’m gay. Maybe he’s just being nice.”
    “And maybe he’s not even a he. You should suspect that at the very least, what with all your Internet dating fails and all.”
    “That’s cold, Linc.”
    “Maybe you should change your avatar to Captain America and Iron Man kissing.”
    Zach was not averse to that idea. “His first message to me was about Cap using Thor’s hammer. And come to think of it, his