20. Chapter 20
Sid and I bounced around from town to town over the following two weeks, and so far, all had been quiet, if you didn’t count all the sex noises we made almost daily. Sid had a voracious sexual appetite. Hell, so did I.
We laid low in the quaint town of Frederick, Maryland, about an hour away, west of Baltimore.
His friend, Veil, was still tracking down all who were involved. We wanted to make sure the culprits got hit when the news broke, leaving no stone unturned.
I’d learned a lot about Sid as he opened up more and more and grew to trust me. I learned the name of his organization and those in his family, who all had tragic backstories, but the most intriguing part was the connection through their queerness. While unusual, it also made perfect sense when being queer would get you killed in their line of work.
I also told him more about my life, but it wasn’t nearly as interesting. Being an analyst wasn’t always exciting. And my married life had been very typical. While ordinary, I loved Matthew with all my heart, and I still missed him.
As Sid and I grew closer, I also got tired of running, missing my son, and not getting the answers we needed. Owen also grew impatient, needing his dad. At least he was still young, so the other children kept him distracted.
I owed Savannah and Mason so much for this.
Shit, but would I ever get the chance? Death constantly hung over my head like a guillotine.
After the conversation with Sid a couple of weeks ago about me coming on board with The District, I’d thought about his offer often. I wanted Sid strongly enough to push my old life aside. But if I did, changes would have to be made. They couldn’t just kill anyone simply because someone paid them to. And they should know who their clients were too. That knowledge could protect them in the long run. Could I convince them of that? Was I really contemplating this? Short answer? Yes. Sid was right. I could work in the shadows to fight certain injustices, not constrained by bureaucracy and politics.
Sid and I hadn’t talked about it since, but thoughts and ideas filtered in and out as I processed. One thing I knew for sure? I was definitely trying to convince myself. But I needed to think about Owen, too. He could never learn of what we did. From his point of view, Sid would just look like my boyfriend, and we lived an ordinary life.
Sid was working on his laptop, researching a couple of people Veil found last week.
There were two wealthy businessmen—billionaires. Devon Mercer, the CEO of Oilvo, a huge oil and gas corporation, and the other was Justin Patel, a social media tech giant at CloutFox. The two men funneled money through several channels to keep everything hushed and have me silenced. It was Veil who found the trail.
“You know it’s bad when they still haven’t outed you or put out an APB for you. That will raise too many questions and more investigations,” Sid said.
I pulled off my glasses, giving my eyes a break from wearing contacts, and rubbed the bridge of my nose, feeling the frustration and impatience coming on. “And that matters how?”
Sid raised a brow at my sarcasm. “Moody, are we?”
“It’s just… frustrating.”
“I know it’s been slow, but we’re getting there. The problem is the hunt isn’t off, but despite how careful we’ve been, I’m surprised we haven’t had anyone find us yet. But at least we don’t have any heat from law enforcement.”
Sid’s buzzing phone silenced us. He lifted it and answered. “Any news?” he asked.
He listened to the other end before putting the phone on speaker .
“I’ve dug as deep as I can get. I’ve got one more name. This was harder to come by because he wasn’t directly involved in the murder party, but he’s been covering up evidence,” Veil said, typing away.
My gut twisted, knowing that once again, my government betrayed me… betrayed the American people.
“Who, beyond Wesley Mardsen?” I asked, not really wanting to know, but I had to.
“Derrick Meckes.”
I needed to sit, suddenly feeling ill. “It can’t be.”
“Who is he?” Sid asked.
Instead of letting Veil answer, I did. “He works in my department. Fuck me. I thought… I thought…”
“He was an ally? A friend?”
I nodded and ran my hands through my hair.
“Well, he’s suddenly come under a windfall of cash. I traced the money back to the two CEOs. The money is hidden well, and you can’t find it unless you’re specifically looking for a trail, which I was. Derrick doesn’t make it obvious. He’s careful,” Veil explained.
Sid looked at me. “Does he know you well? If he does, it explains why he was hired. He can make evidence disappear, but they probably grilled him on how to find you.”
“I’ve known him for years. He knows enough about me. Hell, he was at my husband’s funeral. We’ve fucking had backyard barbecues with our families. But he doesn’t know me so well that he can find me or knows all my other friends. But… shit… Savannah was also at the funeral. Fuck, I hope he doesn’t put two and two together. ”
I stood and paced again as Sid just watched me have a meltdown. “Goddammit! Is there no end to this fucking nightmare? If I hadn’t felt the knife between my shoulder blades before, it’s fucking excruciating now. Fuck these people! Everything’s always about money, greed, and power. Screw everyone else over, right?”
I stopped and sighed before grabbing a V-neck sweater and tossing it on over my head. “I… need some air.”
“Dalton…”
“Just… I’m going to the bar around the corner. I’ll be careful.”
He nodded as he wrapped up the conversation with Veil.
I walked out the door, shoved my hands into my jeans pockets, and walked to the dive bar down the street.
The cool evening was crisp, and the scent of autumn was in the air. I loved the fall, but I hated the winter, which always seemed to last too long.
God, Owen had missed so much school. Savannah had been doing her best to keep him up to speed with his letters, numbers, and reading, so he didn’t fall too far behind, but she had a life, other kids, and a job.
This shit needed to end soon.
I glanced at my surroundings to make sure I had no one watching or following me before I stepped through the door to the bar.
The place wasn’t crowded for a Tuesday night, but some rough-looking men played pool at the only table in the place. A few other people, mostly men, sat at the bar or played darts.
I sat down on a wobbly stool and ordered an amber beer. I sipped on it while distracting myself with the football game playing silently on the screen while a classic rock song filtered through old speakers.
Sid probably wouldn’t be too far behind to check on me, but I liked being away from him for a bit. I’d grown exceedingly attached to him in the past couple of weeks. Hell, it’d been nearly three weeks now since this shit show started.
In reality, I was falling for him. I still questioned my morality, but it wasn’t as strong, feeling it diminish bit by bit every time he kissed me or we had sex. Fuck, I’d reached the point where I would protect him as much as he protected me. I was in it for the long haul, but I hadn’t yet settled on anything once this was all over. Then we could approach where we went from there.
Still, with all the stress, it was nice to be alone for a minute to breathe and just drink a beer like a normal man—a man who wasn’t on the fucking run.
I glanced over at the person sitting down at the bar. Despite there being several empty bar stools, he chose one right next to me.
He looked way too young to be here, but they didn’t card me when I came in, either.
The young man waved to the bartender and ordered a root beer. Why the hell would he come to a dive like this just for a soda?
“Not much of a drinker, eh?” I asked him.
He looked at me without one expression on his face, as if he wore a mask rather than being himself. “No, I don’t like being out of control or the taste of it.”
The more I looked at him, the more familiar he appeared. There was something about his ashy, dark blond hair and soft brown eyes .
Suddenly, it hit me who he was, as my panic grew. I’d left my gun at the hotel since they didn’t allow them in the bar. Fuck. I looked back at the front door, willing Sid to hurry and get here.
“Sid doesn’t know I’m here,” he said, reading me like a book.
“I can see that. He won’t be happy you’re confronting me, Easton.”
“Ah, he’s told you about me.”
“All good things, I assure you.”
“Sid is the only one I care about in this world. I have a family, and we watch over each other, but only Sid matters to me.”
I swallowed and took a sip of beer to bring some saliva back into my mouth. “Have you been following us this entire time?”
“Yes. I am watching over you both.”
That wasn’t exactly reassuring, knowing one of Sid’s family members had been on our tail the entire time. Then again, maybe that explained why no one had attacked us again.
Easton sipped on the root beer that was placed in front of him.
“Why… Why are you approaching me now?”
“Don’t worry. If I wanted you dead, you would be. You wouldn’t have seen me coming.”
Again, not reassuring. “Uhm, thanks?”
He nodded, and a fraction of a smile ticked on his mouth before he recovered. “You’re welcome. I’m here because this is the first time you’ve been separated from Sid. He keeps you very close. I’m honestly surprised he’s let you out of his sight.”
“He understands I need to get away for a bit.”
“He’s taking a big risk. ”
I nodded. “Sid will be here soon, but that doesn’t answer my question as to why you’re here talking to me.”
“To see who you are for myself. To see if you’re worthy of Sid and me. He has the look of a man in love. I’m not sure what that feels like, but I’ve seen it and recognized it. The question is, do you love him? You look at him fondly, but I have my doubts.”
“Uhm, I adore Sid, but love? I don’t think he loves me.” It was time to be honest, because I didn’t think Easton would accept anything less. “While I would like that with him, it’s complicated. I’m FBI, Easton, and Sid’s a killer.”
“He may not have told you, but he does love you. He wouldn’t be here with you if he didn’t. I may not be the best at interpreting emotions, but I know Sid. He’s the father I’ve always needed and the mentor I always wanted. I crave these things, so I get them and keep them.”
I read between the lines and nodded. “I won’t ever hurt or betray him. I’ll protect him, too, if I need to. He’s saved my life.”
“And I’ve saved yours twice now.”
“So others have tried to find us then.”
“Yes. They’ve been dealt with.”
He looked at the door as if sensing Sid coming before looking back at me with cold eyes. “You’ve been tracked two times, but because I’ve been following you, I was able to dispatch them. I will continue to do so until Sid returns home, where he belongs.”
Fuck me. So, they had found us despite our best efforts. I suddenly felt the noose of time start strangling me. We couldn’t run much longer. Something needed to be done.
Again, I read between the lines of Easton’s words. Sid belonged with them, and he wouldn’t allow me to derail that .
“I’m not out to take Sid away from you.”
“I know because I won’t let you. Regardless, if you belong to Sid, you are family. You have no choice. You understand that, right?”
Sid made it sound like I had a choice after talking about it. Was that true? Did I have to come in if I wanted to be with Sid to protect myself from his very family? Or was this a threat only made by Easton?
He glanced again at the door. I followed his line of sight to see Sid walk in and scan the bar before his eyes landed on us. He frowned when he saw Easton sitting next to me and walked our way.
“I’ll have whatever lager you’ve got on draft,” he ordered to the bartender before turning his attention to Easton. “You’ve been following us.”
The young man nodded. “Yes.”
“Has anyone been on our tail?”
“Yes, twice now.”
Sid nodded thoughtfully and sat on the other side of me, leaning forward so as not to be overheard, but the music was loud enough. “We can only run for so long. I’ve done my best, but time isn’t our friend. We need to come up with a plan soon. Does anyone from the family know where Dalton and I are yet?”
Easton shrugged. “We’ve set up a group chat. They are making connections. They know the video exists, but not what is on it. If Layla got her hands on it, they would find you quickly. It’s the only thing holding them back. But they’ve made the connection with you and Evelyn Vega. ”
Sid nodded thoughtfully. “Do they know of Savannah Duvall?”
“Only that her name is on the list of all acquaintances known to Dalton. They’re checking everyone.”
“If you hear anything, let me know.”
Easton stood and smoothed out his T-shirt underneath his cashmere cardigan sweater. “Contact me when you’re ready for help.” With that, he left.
Sid turned his attention to me. “Did he threaten you?”
I shrugged. “Yes, but I think his main goal was to get a feel for me and gauge how I feel about you.”
Sid smirked. “Easton’s protective like me, but don’t worry. He won’t hurt you because I protect you .”
I finished my beer and looked at Sid, staring up at the television on the wall. “He says that because I belong to you I now belong to the family.”
He looked at me and laughed. “Congratulations. You’ve met Easton’s approval.”
I huffed and shook my head. “Dammit, Sid. Can you be serious for a second?”
“I’m always serious, even when I’m joking.”
“Fine… whatever. I’m just a little concerned that it wasn’t approval, but a threat. If I don’t join the family, I will forfeit my life or something.”
“That’s not up to Easton. My life may be forfeited if I show up there. That’s not something I’m ready to risk yet. Try not to think about this anymore. We need to end this, and soon. Once it’s over, then we can talk more about our future.”
If we even had one.