Christmas - No Labels: 5280 Investigation Series, #2.5

By Alan Wild

 

Holidays are stressful enough, but in addition to the normal fervor, Noah and Oliver have a lot on their minds.

Mourning the loss of his beloved mother, Noah isn't himself. Ever the loving partner, Oliver goes all-out to spread holiday cheer and support Noah as he struggles with his pain.

 

In between prepping for 5280 Investigations inaugural holiday party and Noah's heartache, the pair are tasked with locating a friend's daughter, unraveling a prickly blackmail scheme, and finding a homeless shelter's missing money.

 

The cases are challenging enough, but the most challenging thing they'll contend with is an unknown threat lurking and watching their every move.

Will they close their cases and survive the holiday chaos or succumb to the threat that's waiting in the wings?

 

Find out in this high-octane, page-turning gay mystery romance!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alan Wild
• Release date: Feb 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393779179

Alan Wild

Alan Wild, author of 5280 Investigation Series, is a LGBT fiction mystery writer. He lives in Denver, Colorado with his husband, children, two dogs, a grumpy macaw and a tank full of large goldfish. He is driven by a passion for writing that he developed while at a young age. Alan would create fictional tales and stories that would assist him in escaping reality. When he is not writing, he spends much of his free time reading, photography and graphic design. Alan loves listening to people around him and what stories they have to offer. People often have intriguing stories that are always enticing to listen to. From these stories, one can gain experience and knowledge on how the world works and how we are connected to it. Alan's writing is driven by a vivid imagination. Since he writes fiction books, more of his stories are imagined and take place in his native state of Colorado. Alan, from his life and adventures, has meet with many amazing people who provide him with writing inspirations. He decided to leave the corporate world where he worked as call center manager to follow his passion. Visit www.Alan-Wild.com or www.AlanWild.us

Book preview

Chapter 1

The line for the checkout lane was extra long today and the shoppers were packed shoulder to shoulder. Oliver stood laughing and joking around with the other shoppers standing in line with him. Noah just stared straight ahead. He didn’t feel in the mood for the holidays. He hasn’t put up a tree for years. The last time he had a Christmas tree in his house was when he lived with his parents. However, that didn’t stop him from playing secret Santa. Whenever he saw a Facebook friend who struggled to make ends meet, Noah secretly bought them gifts or sent them money. He never wanted the recipients to know it was him that provided them with the assistance

. The line moved up one cart, and while Noah moved, Oliver stood right where he was. It didn’t matter one bit to the 6’4" tall man that looked closer to a model that should be on the cover of every fitness magazine. Oliver had beautiful hair, the color of golden blond/ soft brown. He wore his beard trimmed and neat. His eyes were the color of a stormy sea, dark blue with specks of gray.

Noah stood, thinking about Oliver’s eye color. He smiled to himself as he thought, He should have brown eyes because he is so full of shit.

The line moved up again, as did Noah. The person in the line ahead of him was coughing up a lung, and Noah found himself covering his face with his undershirt. There was no way in hell Noah would allow himself to get sick because Oliver wanted to experience the holiday spirit the old fashioned way, shopping on Black Friday. The stench of body odor, unwashed hair, cheap perfume, and cigarette smoke mingled and made for a very uncomfortable wait.

Oliver joined Noah, and the rest of the line moved up from where he had held up the line. He hung his arm on his boyfriend’s shoulder, and he asked, Hey sugar tits, whatcha thinking?

Noah responded, Oh, I am thinking that you are the only person that I know that can talk to a stranger for thirty-five minutes without saying anything.

Oliver scrunched up his brows and said, Hey, we made a connection, and it was a conversation.

Noah smiled and asked, Really? That’s great. So what is his name?

I didn’t ask his name. He was buying the stuff for his daughter. She is struggling and can't buy presents for her kids, so he is helping her out. He is waiting for disability to come through. He applied two years ago, and now he hired an attorney, said Oliver.

The guy in front of Oliver coughed again, and Noah turned around and covered his face with his undershirt. Oliver smiled and covered Noah’s face with his huge hand and kissed his forehead. 

Two lanes over, a homophobic punk yelled, Faggots, get a room.

Ignoring the hateful words, Oliver asked, Are you ready? This is going to help so many people. We are going to have to move fast, so the crowd doesn’t attack us. I want to get a gift card for the guy behind us.

If Walmart was playing holiday music, there was no way they could hear over the low hum of chatter. Two lanes over, the homophobe was receiving instant karma; a handsome man in his late fifties, along with an African American teenager, was pressing in on him. The teenager said, Bitch, repeat it. Say it again. My little sister is here with my mom and they don’t need to hear your trash ass mouth, motherfucker. Say it again so I can beat your ass.

The older man was on the other side of the homophobe. When the teen stopped talking, the older man said, You can keep your goddamn mouth shut. My son is gay. When you insult one, you insult us all.

Tuning them out, Oliver placed his hand on Noah’s lower back, and he asked, Are you sure you are ready for this? You have to move fast.

Noah rolled his eyes, moaned, and said, Yes, Mr. Hunky, I am ready, and I will move fast. I already have an idea of who I'm handing them to.

It was their turn to checkout; Oliver grabbed a Visa gift card. He told Yolonda, the cashier, I would like to put one thousand dollars on this card.

One lane over, a woman was checking out but she didn’t have enough money and was trying to figure out what she could put back. Noah walked over and handed her an envelope and whispered in her ear. She looked confused as she glanced over her shoulder. Oliver placed his finger up to his mouth and said, Shhhh. Then he followed it up with one of his showstopping smiles and a wink.

She looked in the envelope and instantly doubled over crying. Trying to gather her emotions, she said, Thank you, God bless you. Thank you!

Noah felt moved by the moment and suddenly found the spirit of Christmas. He grabbed the entire stack of gift cards and asked Yolanda to put $200 on each card. Oliver then asked if he could speak to the manager and Yolanda informed them that due to the gift card purchases, she required a manager override anyway. She made the announcement, Manager to 8, manager to 8 for an override.

Brian, a young man with dark brown hair standing up in the latest trending style and huge brown eyes behind dark-rimmed glasses, stepped up and looked at the men. Yolanda laughed and whispered to him, Brian, wipe your mouth; you're drooling.

Brian wiped his mouth then instantly glared at the checker as she laughed at him. Oliver asked if he could speak with him for a moment. The men stepped to the side and Oliver informed Brian what they had planned. He requested that security be present in case something goes wrong. It took Brian less than thirty seconds to make an announcement, calling all available security to the manager's station.

The men finished while the lady that Noah gave an envelope to waited for them. Once they finished, Noah handed the lady a gift card and said, Merry Christmas. Oliver also handed the gift card he loaded with one thousand dollars to the man he talked to while waiting.

Oliver yelled at the top of his lungs, MERRY CHRISTMAS! ONE, TWO, ONE TWO THREE. He clapped his hands, and the production began. One lady began singing Joy to the world while another lady chimed in with additional vocals. After two minutes, no less than 25 people were singing.

Oliver looked at Noah and said, Let's do this. Bust a move, sugar tits.

The men split up and quickly began handing out envelopes and gift cards. Oliver handed out his pile in no time. He looked around to check for Noah and when he found him, his boyfriend was being franticly hugged by a crying elderly lady. Oliver walked over to his boyfriend and pulled him away.

Noah handed Oliver half of the gift cards in his hands, and he said, I'm not finished. Take half, and I will meet you in front of the store by the exit.

The flash mob singers were performing as loud as they could. They were on their second song in the Christmas melody mashup. Oliver made his way to the exit, handing out the cards as he moved. He reached the homophobe, and he handed him a gift card and said, Please change your mind and consider others' feelings before you lash out with hatred. Merry Christmas!

Oliver stood at the front of the store as one of the security employees walked up to him and shook his hand. The man said, God bless you; I don’t see too many good people in my position. I am breaking up fights, stopping shoplifters, and escorting angry coupon cutters out of the store. You have restored my faith in humanity. 

Noah finally caught up with Oliver, and he said, Mr. Hunky, let's go.

The men made it out to the parking lot and jumped in the SUV that waited for them in the crosswalk. The parking lot of the retail giant was equally frantic and crazy. Ajay, Oliver’s best friend, squirmed behind the wheel as Oliver closed the door and buckled up.

Oliver asked his friend, Did everyone hand out their envelopes? Is everyone safe?

Ajay let out a nervous laugh and said, Yeah, all is good. Owen made Shawn drive him to your house. He handed an envelope to a lady with a horrible body odor. She quickly caught up to him and hugged him while delivering kisses all over his face. He is planning on using your shower without asking. I told him that you wouldn’t mind.

The men arrived home, and as they walked into their house, the rest of their team waited for them. Once Kaleb and Joan spotted the men, they both stood up and began clapping. The rest of the group stood as well and joined in.

Oliver said, Stop, please. We couldn’t have done anything of this without all of you.

Noah pulled off his coat and raced over to the kitchen to pull out the food for the group of hungry friends and family. Oliver joined him, and they were both pushed out of the kitchen. Neldean and Nora told them to go change into their comfortable clothes.

After the group ate, Oliver asked, Are you ready to start a new tradition?

Oliver announced that the Christmas tree he wanted everyone to help decorate is in the family room.

Noah laughed and said, He is going to place his pretty tree in front of the window. In the living room.

When everyone started moving towards the family room, the men dashed up to their room and changed into mesh shorts and t-shirts. Before heading back down to the party, Oliver grabbed Noah and asked him if he was okay.

Noah said, Yeah, I feel better now. I was dreading the holidays. This would have been the first holiday season I had with my family in three years. I didn’t show my mom how much I loved her when she was alive. I want you to know I love that I have you in my life. You are the best thing to happen to me, so please don’t think that you have anything to do with the way that I feel. I am lost, and losing my mom hurts so much. I never celebrated Christmas with my grandmother, and when we all got together, it was depressing because my mom always got drunk, and my grandmother insulted everyone. After my mom stopped drinking, everything changed, and then she moved to Florida.

Noah let himself feel the emotions as he let the tears fall. Oliver held him tight until he was finished. The men lost all track of time as they held each other. Noah dried his eyes and laughed as he heard their friends singing Jingle bells. Oliver said, Let's decorate the tree and drink some eggnog.

Chapter 2

Noah walked into the combined office first, and Owen instantly greeted him with a plate of what he described as breakfast cookies and a freshly brewed coffee.

Thank you, Owen, the cookies smell delicious, but I have to ask, what makes them breakfast cookies? asked Noah.

Owen responded with a smirk, Every cookie is a breakfast cookie if you eat it in the morning.

The combined office was decorated with colorful, abstract art and beautiful contemporary furniture. Owen’s desk sat in front of both the men's offices, so if anyone wanted to get to the pair, they had to make it past Owen first.

Noah took his coffee and cookies to his office and sat behind his desk. He studied the cookie and wondered who decorated it so perfectly. He was staring at the cookie, taking in all of the intricate details when Oliver popped his head in the office and said, Sugar tits, eat up, we have an appointment waiting for us in the boardroom.

Noah checked his calendar in a panic. He saw the appointment on the calendar, but he knew it wasn’t there when they left the office on Wednesday. Without giving the cookie another thought, he killed it with two bites. He grabbed his laptop and coffee and headed out to ask Owen about the appointment. Owen was nowhere in sight, so Noah made his way to the boardroom. When he looked at the schedule, it didn’t provide any details about the meeting.

He arrived and took a seat at the conference table, and started his laptop. Noah waited for ten minutes, and when no one showed up, he gathered his things and headed back to his office. The business was buzzing. Oliver had hired a florist to decorate the entire building for Christmas. The florist now had several designers working on different projects. It was Oliver that wanted trees in every room along with poinsettias and wreaths on the entry doors.

Noah almost made it back to his office when Oliver spotted him and said, Oh shit, honey, I'm so sorry. We are running late for the meeting. Please wait for us in the boardroom, and we will be right there.

The computer toting investigator growled in annoyance, turned around and headed back to the boardroom to take his seat once more and wait for everyone to show up for the meeting. The boardroom featured a wall of whiteboards, and the end featured a wall of monitors. He turned on the monitors, connected his laptop, and streamed the television to Fox 31 while he waited. The local news station ran their news stories in cycles. Noah killed time by checking the headlines and email. His jaw dropped, and his eyes bulged when he saw the first story on his local news station’s online feed. He looked at a video of himself handing out the envelopes full of money at the discount retail store. The headline read, Secret Santa’s hand out wads of cash for Christmas.

The second headline read, Secret Santa’s Identified as Noah Blain and Oliver Thaddeus of 5280 Investigations play Santa on Black Friday.

Noah looked at the time the Fox News released their story. His mailbox alert made constant ding sounds, so he turned the notifications off while watching the email