Chapter 27
Slade
Los Angeles
“What’s your favorite ice cream?” I texted, typing quickly and pressed send before my assistant, Tommy, put his hand over mine and my phone again. He was frustrated with the lack of attention I gave to the matter of my picture on the back of Pepper.
I wasn’t unaffected, but I was damned tired of talking about it.
“It could be AI. We’ve dropped the press release on Grainger’s movie deal.
The two pictures tie together. You know how social media is,” I said, splaying my hands across the small conference room table which was really my kitchen table in LA.
My manager, Liam, my agent, Steve and Tommy were with me.
“Someone’s watching you discreetly. You’ve been identified on your property in Texas, and we must prepare for the fallout,” Steve said, in a tone that clearly called me a simpleton.
“Maybe,” I started and glanced down at my screen to see Mace’s incoming text. Of course, I paused to read the message.
“I tell you I’m planning to expand our operation to include blind horses and you ask me my favorite ice cream? You know that answer. All ice cream.”
The reply made me smile and also tunneled my vision to that conversation alone.
I was in an unscheduled bi-week, where production had given us an unexpected break.
It didn’t take more than a moment after hearing of the downtime to decide to spend it in Texas.
I was headed back there tomorrow. I couldn’t wait.
“We need to get hold of Mace’s cellular account. We also need him to accept a cell phone we can control the security too. These devices today are too easy to hack into,” Steve stated. It wasn’t a suggestion.
As I prepared to shoot back a text response, my thumbs paused in midair. My gaze focused on Steve. “He’s not behind this. Even if his phone was hacked, there’s nothing there. He barely uses his phone. Maybe a Spotify playlist…”
“Even if there are no pictures, they’ll have your text messages and phone call records,” Steve said, sitting back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. His fists tightened underneath his biceps. I rolled my eyes at the dumb flex.
“I’m careful and he has me in his phone as a local friend.” Duh. I dismissed Steve’s request and lowered my thumbs to the small keyboard again.
“We’re not accusing him of anything, Slade,” Tommy said, attempting to use logic on me to get his way. “We’re only pointing out that he’s the only one of us who isn’t in the privacy of your world. Over the years, we’ve had to change your phone several times. You know that.”
“All right, I’ll ask him,” I said. “Get me a phone to take with me.”
“Tell him, don’t ask,” Steve said.
“We don’t have that kind of relationship,” I said, as I had over and over. I wasn’t going to ever try to control my cowboy. His free spirit was one of the most important aspects of his personality and our relationship. I couldn’t expect him to change and continue to have what we shared.
Instead of saying any of that, I let the silence fill in the holes of my explanation, because I was in absolute control of these two people. They didn’t need to know how easily I caved with Mace.
I went back to typing again, focused only on explaining why Rocky Road ice cream was the best choice of all ice cream. Blind animals in the refuge? That had to take a special kind of care. Mace was an animal lover to his core. I was proud of him.
“Whitaker, I’m going to leave if you don’t lock in,” Steve said. “We have to get ahead of this, and you’re fucking annoying. What happened to you, man?”
I lifted my dark stare to Steve. “Fuck you. Tommy’s on a new device. Back the fuck off.”
Tommy lifted his hands to give a time-out gesture.
“This was just received to your email, Slade.” He turned the phone’s screen partially toward me while he spoke aloud, using the keypad to open an attachment.
“It’s officially become a problem. They’ve sent a folder with these images. They want money to stay silent.”
The first photo was enough to cause alarm. Mace and I were sitting under the trees two days ago. We held hands, laughing together.
My heart dropped. My world went still. We did in fact have a major breach. Dammit. We had a probable avalanche heading our way.
“Check the legitimacy of the email. Then build time for me,” I said, the violation to our security officially distracting me from my text conversation as I rose to my feet. “Cancel the rest of my week. I’m heading to Texas. Tommy, schedule transportation.”
“Whatever the breach is will be waiting for you to get back,” Steve said. Nothing changed in his demeanor, arms still crossed, but looking smug. Fucker.
“Yeah, but Mace needs to know, and I need to be the one to tell him.” What I didn’t say or even let myself dwell on was that I didn’t have the safe place I thought I did. My arrogance was ridiculous.
“You aren’t hearing me. You go back there and act an ass, they’ll know you know. How do you build time if they know you know? Or suspect you’re playing them?” Steve said.
I stopped in my tracks seconds before I disappeared down the hall to my bedroom. He wasn’t wrong. I gripped the phone tighter, running my other hand over my face. What did I do?
“Slade,” Tommy said. “Everything in this file had to be taken on the same day. You’re wearing the same clothes. How much do they know? This breach could be on Nico’s side. He’s hired everyone there on property. Maybe it looks like you don’t know about this yet. Maybe.”
“All right, let’s reconvene after I talk to Nico.”
Dammit.
I promised Mace we had this under control.
Fuck.
=?=
Mace
Apparently, Slade paced a lot.
This time down the longish strip of space from his kitchen to the house’s front door, moving back and forth to achieve his ten thousand daily steps.
At least it felt that long from my perch on the barstool at his kitchen island.
Slade was spent from a day under the extreme anxiety that he’d placed on his own shoulders.
So much so that my own worry took second place to presenting a calm facade for my anxious boyfriend.
When he’d told me about the breach on Sunday, a calmness actually spread through me and it still held true, which was weird, and meant certain people in our lives needed to know what was happening.
My shuddered breath went unnoticed as I lifted my cell to my ear, counting the rings until my mom answered the phone.
“Son, you have thirty seconds. My grandchildren are here and they need me to hold them.” My mom’s chirpy voice spoke of pure happiness at having her grandbabies near.
“I need to come over. Is Lori still there?” I asked. The sudden shift in the air let me know I’d drawn Slade’s attention to me.
“What’s goin’ on?” she asked, sounding less happy as she no doubt caught the stress in my voice.
“Just somethin’ I need to tell you. Is Lori there? It’d be better if I told everyone at once,” I explained.
“Yes. They were gonna leave soon. I’ll ask them to stay,” she said. “Come quickly, Mace. Don’t make me wait to hear what you have to say.”
“On my way,” I said and ended the call.
Her urgency made me smile as I lifted my gaze to Slade’s who took the final step to stand in front of me.
My mom loved me, and honestly, I didn’t see that changing.
My problem with being gay was my own. I didn’t like being the subject of any sort of long-term attention. Coming out meant finger pointing. Augh.
“You ready,” I said, reaching inside my front pocket for my truck keys. Slade’s focus lasered on me as if trying to read cues that weren’t there.
“I’m not riding in your truck. The air conditioning’s out and I don’t want pit stains the first time I meet your parents.
” Slade inhaled deeply, his anxiety had him bending at the waist, leveling out about halfway over.
He stayed like that for a few long seconds before jerking upright again as another worry assailed him.
“Am I dressed okay? Is the beard right? Should I shave before we see them? I will if necessary.”
“No, you look great,” I said, walking toward the front door as my own nerves began to get the best of me. Either he’d follow or stay here, but I had to get this over with. “Come on.”
Since Slade’s air conditioning assessment was real, and I was dusty and dirty and smelled like horse, I jumped in the passenger seat of Slade’s new truck.
I navigated one of the shortest trips I’d ever taken to my parents’ home. I wasn’t sure we passed another vehicle on the road, anything that would’ve added time to our trip and delayed my confession.
Slade’s usual talkative nature was silent. I guided him to the opening of the finely ground gravel driveway outside their house. We pulled in behind everyone. If we needed a quick getaway, we wouldn’t be trapped in the longish driveway.
He and I walked side by side, stride for stride.
“I’m sorry.”
Before I could respond, the front door popped open. Lori was there. “I gotta g…” Yeah, I figured she’d shut up once she saw Slade show up with me. Another point in my guy’s favor that I’d finally found something to shut her mouth.
A wide grin spread over her lips as my mom came in behind her. “Who’s with him?”
Before more could be said, Slade stepped up the porch steps. He’d managed to shut them both up. My mom automatically came to me for a side hug, but her entire being remained focused on Slade. “Why’re you bringin’ Poseidon to my house?”
“Who?” my father said from the doorway.
My heart was beating so hard and fast that I lost most of my hearing from its loud pounding. I became numb as the Slade-induced fawning started. Clearly, they thought my need to see them was to bring some Hollywood A-lister to meet them. Thankfully, Slade had his practiced, patient grin in place.
“Come inside,” my mom said and shooed us all through the doorframe. “We don’t want the bugs to get in.” Through the history of our family-owned bar, they had met the old time actors of the Western movie world, but nothing of the caliber of Slade’s celebrity.