Chapter 33
Slade
Monday Morning
Definitely not bright-eyed or with a bushy tail, whatever that meant, I stood in front of a window in my home office.
The scowl that appeared on my face was the same one put there on my last day on the set of Titan’s.
My hands were tucked into my slacks. After yesterday’s professional cut and shave, I no longer had to pick fallen stray hairs off my clothes, but the constant way I checked for them was still very much a part of my day.
“Buddy, I get it,” Gray started.
I barked out a solid, harsh laugh ridiculing what he’d just said.
“There’s no way you can possibly understand.
I’m toxic. You should see the gates in front of my home.
There has to be a thousand people out there.
Everywhere I go, there are people with cameras.
I can’t make his life any more difficult than it is.
” I wished my tone conveyed strength in my words, but even now my hands were itching to touch Mace.
“You’ve done this your whole life. Yes, you come on strong.
Yes, your personal drive exceeds what might be normal.
Yes, you take on every person’s problems. Yes, you don’t take no for an answer.
But the people around you are better for your involvement in their lives. You’re a good dude in a bad situation.”
“I wanna hang up on you,” I said, watching the police finally show up to help remove the numerous pedestrians clogging my neighborhood street.
“Okay, then hear me when I say you’re being a selfish bastard. I bet Mace feels abandoned,” Gray said. “You should have just let Wyatt date him.”
I reached over and shut the lid to my laptop, disconnecting the video call. If it continued like it was going, Gray would manipulate me into doing something I wasn’t ready to do. Something I’d have far more guilt for in the end.
Frustrated beyond belief, I forced myself out of the office to deal with the mounting appointments I’d booked for that morning. My financial planner was somewhere in my home. Also, there was a realtor touring the property. I wanted this place up for sale by the end of week.
In the search, I came up short on my balcony overlooking both sides of the downstairs.
A wing-back chair was turned the wrong direction.
If a person squinted, and had decent eyesight, they might see the Pacific Ocean from there.
Which probably meant Breezy was there and not the financial planner I expected to find.
“Hey,” she said, when I came to stand beside her where she’d found another chair to rearrange so she could stare out at the churning ocean.
Breezy was a beautiful woman—the press described her as willowy—but her name described her better. She was perpetually happy and positive. She believed the world was a good place and patience solved everything.
“I’m not sure I know who you are. Your housekeeper told me you cut your hair, but the beard had to go too? I’m afraid to even look at you,” she said, tilted her head to the side to stare directly at me. My small smile was instant.
“From my perspective, the long hair and longer beard take way more grooming time than shaving. Why’re you here this morning?” I asked, and turned, balancing my ass on the railing, so I was facing her.
“Mr. Wallace, I believe…” She handed me his business card. “Had to leave for another appointment, but will call you,” she explained and grinned broader. “He’s going to call me too.”
“Other than being my apparent assistant, why are you here?” I asked again in the calm way she produced inside me.
“I think you need to go to Texas. Send Tommy back here to deal with all this.” She reached for my thigh, the only part of me she could reach from her seat, and patted me there.
“You need to be around people who love you. Here, you only have me.” She pointed her other perfectly manicured fingernail at my face.
“This isolation thing you always do needs to end. You fought for a better world for yourself and you’re winning. Go be happy in it.”
Hmm. I stared at her until I couldn’t any longer and shifted my gaze to the intricate design on the woven rug at our feet.
“Gray believes I’m being selfish. I think I might not have the faith in myself that I pretend to have.” The words were incredibly difficult to say aloud. I wanted Mace like I’d never wanted anything before in my life.
She snapped her fingers together, that manicured fingernail pointing at me again. “Ding, ding, ding. When the show let you go, it was what you wanted, but the old feelings…” She circled her finger in the air as if prompting me to finish my line.
“Surfaced and sucked me into all my self-doubt. I need a professional counselor.”
She nodded even though I’d been half kidding about the counselor.
“You do, and you need to do that with Mace by your side.” She splayed her hands wide in self-satisfaction. “Viola.”
Although I understood her and perhaps agreed to a certain extent, it was going to take me a minute or two… or ten years to deal with my trauma. “I want him like I’ve never wanted anything in my life, but I can’t shake what I’ve done to him.”
“What did you do?” she asked as if I was crazy. “You helped him build his life back? You started the sanctuary that never would have happened with the way he’d isolated himself? You found a new road in life that includes a man to love and love you back? Do I go on because I can.”
I’d never considered how much Mace and I were alike. She wasn’t wrong. I had isolated too. That man was everything I’d ever wanted in life. His comfort and warmth, his handsome face and beautiful body, his easy grin after I spent hours trying to coax it out…
She took my hand, leaning toward me. “You and I got along so well for so long I forget that, ultimately, you’re a hardheaded shortsighted man.”
I grinned at her assessment. She grinned and bent forward, kissing my knuckles.
“If for some reason, you’re still trying to work out what you should do next? Go to him right now.”
The front doorbell rang, sending a cascade of chimes throughout the house.
Outside of me on occasion, no one used those doors.
My back tensed and I stood to my feet. I couldn’t imagine whoever was there came for something positive.
It could be the police, letting me know they were finally parking a cruiser at my gate.
“I’ll get it, Mr. Slade,” my housekeeper called from the back of the house.
“I got it,” I called back and started down the sweeping set of stairs.
If I chose to open the door, the people at the gate with their telephoto lenses would catch it all.
Maybe they wouldn’t recognize me without the beard.
If they did, I’d be showing the world exactly who I was now, moving forward.
No skin off my nose. My steps picked up until I hit the bottom floor in a jog. I was ready to begin my new life.
I yanked the door open wide, my senses instantly stunned.
My heart locked onto Mace before my gaze could make out the truth of him standing there.
His uncertain stare drank me in like I was certainly drinking him in.
I reacted only on instinct, stepping out onto the front porch as he came forward.
I took him in my arms, drawing him flush against my body.
I buried my face in the crook of his neck.
He was home, my home.
“You’re here.”
His arms tightened around me, his sweet lips pressing against my neck.
My love was here.
“I was afraid you didn’t want me anymore,” he said, his voice husky and rich. Tingles shot over me, the sudden rush left me lightheaded. His hands tightened into fists, taking my dress shirt with them.
Like a boss, Nico was there at Mace’s back, doing his best to block our view. “Go inside,” he commanded harshly.
“My cowboy,” I whispered into Mace’s ear. The tension in his body released, but his arms held me as Nico walked us carefully inside.
“Do you still want me?” Mace whispered, his extraordinary face lifted to mine. We stood inches apart. I breathed his puffs of breath.
“Always. How can you ask that question?” I replied. I released my grip, but Mace clutched me tighter. I managed to lift my palms to his cheeks, holding him in place as I said, “Do you want me? I’ve fucked up so much.”
One of Mace’s hands released me, drawing over my mouth to stop my words. “Of course, I do. Forever.” He removed his hand and we came together for a briefly passionate press of the lips. I circled my arms around him again for another embrace. I never wanted him to leave my side.
“You didn’t tell me,” I said to Nico from over Mace’s shoulder. I didn’t know if I was mad over the secret or if this was the perfect way for me to tell my guy how much he meant to me.
“It’s his grand gesture, not mine,” Nico stated as the front door snicked closed behind him and he flipped the deadbolt. “If you want to be mad, know that he planned to sneak here by himself. I barely caught him before accompanying him on his hero’s journey.”
Breezy came off the last step, giving a low hmm of appreciation. “I’m leaving, but I want to meet Mace.”
The way Mace’s head swiveled toward the new voice forced me to let go. She stuck out her hand as she came to him.
“This is Breezy,” I said.
Mace nodded and took her hand in his. He was clearly out of his element but trying very hard. “I’ve seen you in a lot of pictures with Slade.”
He caused me to burst with laughter. “Breezy has a popularity score of about a thousand. Everyone knows her except my cowboy who doesn’t watch TV or movies.”
Mace gaze flipped back to me. “She wasn’t in the pictures?”
“He doesn’t need to know who I am, but I’m happy to meet him,” she said. “I’m leaving the back way. Slade and I share a fence line. It’s the perfect secret way in and out should you need it.”
“I’ll walk her out,” Nico said, extending his hand for her to lead the way.
“I’m glad you’re here.” She was sweet, giving Mace a quick hug before leaving.