“We don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Gavin yelled. “Please come out here.”
From the men’s room came a bang and a grunt and Park screamed, “Please! Let me go! That hurts!”
“Mr. Tucker, if you don’t come out here within the next minute, we’re going to break the door down. You have sixty seconds, starting now.”
Everyone held still, listeningto the activity on the other side of the door. No one seemed to move. Gavin glanced at his watch. Then he took a step back and pointed at Dee again. He mouthed the wordgo.
Dee nodded. He lunged at the door and hit it with the meaty part of his arm.
A gun fired. Park screamed.
Everything went gray. “Park,” Jackson whispered.
“Jack?” Suddenly Gavin knelt next to him on the floor.“Jack, stay with me. You’re okay. He’s okay. We have a plan.”
Gavin’s phone crackled. Someone whispered through the speaker, “Positive ID, sir. Two men, both alive.”
“Target?” Gavin asked.
“In sight.”
“Go,” Gavin said.
* * *
Through the banging on the men’s room door, Tucker had merely paced back and forth, looking at Park. “I mean, I get it,” Tucker said with remarkablecalm. “A gay Republican, right? That’s crazy. But that’s me. I believe in your message, Parker, and I believe we can do great things together. You’re right on all the issues. Your passion is inspiring. I stand one hundred percent behind you, and if you just give me a chance, I can prove my love for you.”
Park had no idea how to deal with this situation. Tucker’s hair was disheveled, his shirthalf-untucked, and he clearly hadn’t shaved in a week, and yet he still acted as though they were having a perfectly calm, rational conversation.
“I saw the picture of you and Zoe in theTimes, you know? I don’t think you really loved her. And I had to prove myself. I had her meet me at your place. It was pretty easy, because she really likes you and thought you wanted to see her. Then I lefther for you. As a token. A gift for you. Because I love you.”
Park’s stomach cramped and he worried he’d throw up all over Tucker’s shoes. He tried to take deep breaths to get a handle on his swirling insides and the panic running up his spine. The main issue right now was that Tucker was clearly not of sound mind, and he’d placed some kind of bar across the door as well as wedged a chairunder the doorknob. Dee banged on the door, trying to break in, but had thus far been unsuccessful, and Park didn’t know what Tucker intended. Park worried his life was at stake.
When Gavin arrived and shouted through the door, Park knew he needed to make it clear that Tucker was in here, so he shouted Tucker’s name. When Jackson shouted back, Park’s heart stopped.
God, Jackson. Park hopedhe got out of this bathroom if only so he could see Jackson again. It wrecked him, knowing Jackson was on the other side of that door trying to get to him.
How could Park have let Jackson go so easily? When Jackson had spoken the night before, Park had resigned himself to his fate, because he couldn’t be what Jackson needed—what Jackson deserved—without making a sacrifice. But why couldn’the make that sacrifice? What was truly more important?
They were going to find a way to make it work. They had to. Park didn’t know if part of his heart had been reserved for Jackson all along or if he’d fallen in love with Jackson again this week, but it didn’t matter, because he loved Jackson now and life wasn’t worth living if they couldn’t be together. Park vowed then that if he got outof this alive, he would be with Jackson, even if it cost him the Senate seat. Because if the choice was between Jackson and his career, Jackson won easily. Park had his priorities straightened out now.
So decided, Park turned his attention back on Tucker.
Tucker took a step toward Park and said, “You understand, don’t you, why we should be together?”
“Listen, Mr. Tucker—”
“Callme Ken.”
“Okay, Ken. I understand, but I’d really like to get out of this room. Can we go into the hallway and discuss this? Or back to the restaurant?”
“No.” Tucker’s face clouded over. “No, the police are out there, and those goddamn bodyguards of yours who follow you around. They won’t understand what I mean to do here. Which is be with you.”
“In a men’s room, though?”
Parkscrambled to think of things he could say that would lead to Tucker letting him leave the room, but the click of the lock threw everything into chaos. Meaning the cops had gotten the lock open, but they still couldn’t get in because of the bar over the door.Fuck.
The click caught Tucker’s attention. He glanced at the door, and then he pulled a gun. “No! This is not how this ends.”
