Chapter 22
Vincent
I’d just turned on the stove when my watch vibrated.
I’d assumed it was Nathan getting up, but a glance at the display showed my guest wasn’t the man I’d spent the entire night making love to.
I kept pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator, but turned the stove back off.
By the time I’d searched out a second mug and filled it with coffee, Everett was entering the kitchen.
He didn’t say anything as he pulled out one of the island bar stools and sat down.
Once I’d finished preparing the coffee the way he liked it, I slid it across the island to him.
“Thanks,” he murmured.
He looked tired and, for once, he seemed to carry the weight of all his fifty-eight years.
“I’m sorry, Vincent. I shouldn’t have participated yesterday. Nathan didn’t know any better, but I did.”
I knew what he was talking about, of course. If anyone would have known what I was going through as I’d raced to get back to the house, it would have been Everett. He’d seen the police report. He’d known the torture Pierce had been forced to endure.
“Why did you?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I wanted him to rattle your cage.”
“Nathan?” I clarified.
A quick nod, then, “He’s good for you, Vincent. You’ve been…different these past few days. Except for yesterday. Leaving without telling him. Refusing to answer our calls, even knowing he’d be worried about you.”
“I didn’t consider that,” I interjected. Everett’s eyes lifted to meet mine. “I knew he’d be pissed, but I thought that would be the extent of it.”
“He was terrified,” Everett murmured. “He hid it well, but it wasn’t until my phone rang that first time that he relaxed.”
I nodded. Nathan had admitted as much yesterday when he’d told me he’d imagined my body lying in a motel somewhere. “We’re good, Ev,” I said as I took a sip of my own coffee.
Everett relaxed somewhat, but the smile I was so used to seeing didn’t return. I’d known the man for more than ten years, and he nearly always had a smile on his face.
But it had been that fake smile he’d worn for the cameras for so many years.
On the rarest of occasions, he’d let me in enough to let me see the man who’d fallen in love with my brother.
And it was usually when he was talking about Pierce that I got to see that piece of him.
Like when something came on television that he thought Pierce would have liked, or when the military had finally repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell years earlier.
For those few moments, he’d let himself think of my brother and his reaction to something, and he’d be the Everett I should have met one day when my brother had been ready to introduce me to him.
“Nathan told me what you two talked about yesterday.”
Everett’s fingers played with the handle on the mug. “He shouldn’t make the same mistake I did,” the older man murmured. “I wanted him to know what waiting even a day too long could cost him.”
I knew what he was talking about. On the few occasions Everett would have a little too much to drink, he’d get nostalgic and start talking about how he would have done things differently.
Not a day went by that I knew he wasn’t regretting not coming out while he was still in office.
It would have caused a stir, but he would have been able to acknowledge his relationship with Pierce.
And whatever firestorm he would have had to face, he’d have had my brother at his side when he’d done it.
The fact that Pierce had left the military was a sign that he’d been all-in and ready to expose himself to the world as the man the leader of the free world was in love with.
As for Nathan, I had no idea what his plans were for when his life got back to normal. He’d embraced his sexuality here in the safety of my home, but out there in the real world? I shook my head as I thought about what he’d have to face.
And how he’d have to do it alone.
“Nathan will do what’s best for him,” I said.
“You’re what’s best for him.”
Pain radiated through my chest at Everett’s declaration. They were words I hadn’t allowed myself to admit.
For the same reason I’d made Nathan promise he’d walk away when this was all over.
Because I was terrified that I wasn’t strong enough to let him go.
“I’m not having this discussion with you,” I said as I began preparing breakfast.
“It’s been years since the last attempt…” Everett said as I turned my back on him to get the stove going.
“We both know there’s no expiration date on revenge,” I muttered. “Let it go, Everett.”
“So what, Vincent? You’re going to live like this for the rest of your life?” he asked, his voice uncharacteristically heavy with anger.
“Yeah, Everett, I am,” I snapped as I turned back around.
“Because there’s no getting out for me! And he’ll pay the price,” I ground out as I pointed towards the stairs.
I froze when I saw Nathan standing in the entryway to the kitchen.
I held his startled gaze for a moment, and then turned back to the stove and tried to focus on getting the omelets going.
“Morning,” Nathan said as he entered the room.
“Morning, Nathan,” Everett said.
I stiffened when Nathan came around to my side of the island. I expected him to confront me about what I’d said, but instead, he leaned in and kissed me softly on the mouth. “Morning.”
“Morning,” I managed to say back. He grabbed the coffee pot and a mug and then went to sit next to Everett.
Nathan and Everett made small talk as I cooked, but when I asked Everett if he was staying for breakfast, he waved me off with an excuse about having already eaten.
I didn’t believe him, but I kept my mouth shut.
I watched as he and Nathan said their goodbyes.
I hated how worn down my friend looked, but I wasn’t sure what to say, so I kept my mouth shut.
He came around the island to give me a quick hug and then he was shuffling out the door.
“I’m worried about him,” Nathan murmured as he came around the island and began picking at some of the diced ham I’d set aside for the second omelet.
I nodded. “He’s usually better at hiding it.”
“Hiding what?” Nathan asked.
“The fact that he’s still in mourning.”
“Have you ever talked to him about it? About trying to move on?”
“Yeah, a couple of times. Keeps saying he’s too old and he’ll only ever love one man in his lifetime. It’s the reason he never bothered coming out.”
“What do you mean?” Nathan asked as he leaned against the counter.
“I think it’s his way of hanging on to my brother’s memory, you know? Like coming out means he’s starting a new chapter…one without Pierce.”
I glanced at Nathan to see him studying the spot where Everett had been sitting. “What about his son?”
“He told you about Reese?” I asked in surprise.
Nathan nodded. “He said Reese accused him of having an affair. He said Pierce was his commanding officer.”
I nodded because I’d heard the story from Everett about Reese walking in on him and Pierce so many years ago. “It probably ate Pierce up,” I mused.
“He said Reese works for someone in Seattle…it’s not your friend, is it? Beck’s uncle?”
I stilled at that and lifted my eyes to meet Nathan’s. “What?”
Nathan tensed. “You didn’t know?”
I shook my head as things finally fell into place.
Everett had always been tight-lipped around me about how he and Ronan had met, and I’d accepted that.
But I’d had no clue Reese had somehow ended up working for Ronan.
And I had no doubt that he was the man Nathan was talking about, not Dom.
I’d known enough about Reese before he’d disappeared to be aware that he’d hooked up with some mercenaries after leaving the military.
The mercenaries had been less interested in being patriots and more interested in making some easy money.
If Reese had made one wrong move with guys like that, it would have spelled disaster.
I shook my head. “No, I didn’t.” I thought back to his first question. “No, it’s probably not Beck’s uncle. There’s another guy out there who does some security consulting work,” I hedged.
Nathan eyed me. “Security consulting,” he said skeptically, his eyebrows raised. “Is that what they call it?”
I smiled at that. “Anyway, Ronan – that’s the guy’s name – I suspect he did it as a favor to Everett…to keep an eye on the kid.”
“You think Reese knows what Everett did for him?” Nathan asked.
I shook my head. “Probably not. He’d shoot himself in the foot to spite his father. If he found out Everett was involved, he’d likely disappear again like he did after his mother’s death.”
“How did Everett and this Ronan guy meet?”
“I actually don’t know,” I admitted. “Everett’s never told me the details about that.”
I finished the first omelet and slid it onto a plate and handed it to Nathan. “Thanks,” he said as he took it and went to the table. He paused before sitting down and letting his finger gloss over the table.
Right where I’d held him down as I’d fucked him the day before.
When he looked at me, color flooded his cheeks, and he smiled knowingly. I laughed and shook my head. Yeah, I’d never be able to look at that damn table the same way, either.
I finished getting my own food ready and went to sit down across from him.
The second I did, his foot pressed against mine beneath the table.
It was subtle, but it rocked me to my core.
Knowing that he needed that physical connection with me, despite the fact that I was literally two feet away, made something tear open inside of me.
Something I’d buried along with David’s body years earlier.
I knew my feelings for Nathan were growing exponentially with every minute I spent in his presence, but I was helpless to stop it.
“So the plan is to head to Charleston tomorrow?” Nathan asked as he practically inhaled his food. My mouth felt dry, like it had been stuffed full of cotton.