“Yeah?” Shep asked, voice husky like he’d dozed off.
“Next time you do me, okay?”
There was a slight hesitation before Shep said, “Whatever you want, rabbit. You know that.”
Whatever Elijah wanted. He wanted everything. He wanted his career and Shep and a life without hiding who he was—who he really was—from the entire world. Could somebody like him have that? He risked another glance at Shep. Elijah had resigned himself to a life of lies, a life of good enough, but maybe not. Maybe people like him could have happy endings, even if they didn’t look like everybody else’s.
The first phone call came in at five in the morning when Shep and Elijah were in the shower. A series of text messages followed. Shep stood naked and dripping on the hardwood floor beside the bed, his phone in his hand as he watched each one appear, his phone beeping in rapid succession.
Linc: I’m sending Calder to relieve you.
Linc: Effective immediately Elijah is no longer your client.
Linc: I really wish you would have said something before you went public so we could get ahead of this.
Went public? Before Shep could even ask the logical question, Eli’s phone rang. Paige, his publicist. The boy frowned, his face draining of color, a look of dread taking root as he slid to answer.
“Hello?”
Shep couldn’t hear Paige’s side of the conversation, only the frantic tone and the rapid-fire words she uttered without pausing for breath.
For five minutes, Elijah stood listening without comment, then he said, “Okay, bye.” The phone slipped from his fingers to the bed. Finally, he looked at Shep. “They know.”
“They know?”
“About us. Our pictures are all over the Internet from our date last night. They want to meet with us… both of us, in the hotel conference room at eleven. Studio execs are flying in from Warner. We’re not to leave the hotel until then.”
Shep never should have allowed Elijah his fantasy date. They’d both known it wasn’t safe. Linc was right to remove him from his post. Shep shouldn’t be Elijah’s bodyguard. It required a level of distance Shep no longer possessed. He had lost his ability to refuse Elijah anything and while he’d die to protect him, he would never put Elijah’s career before Elijah’s wants and needs. Ever.
“Linc pulled me from your service. I’m no longer your bodyguard. He’s sending a replacement.”
Elijah’s face contorted with panic. “What? No! No way. You can’t leave me. Not now.”
Shep closed the distance between them, sitting on the bed and pulling an equally naked and damp Elijah into his lap. “I never said I was leaving. I just said I’m not on your payroll anymore. They can’t make me leave you. Relax.”
Elijah deflated against him, resting his head against Shep’s chin. “This is a disaster.”
Elijah’s phone chimed, signaling a text. Elijah sighed, picking it up.
Robby: You couldn’t have given me a head’s up? I thought we were friends. This is so fucking humiliating.
“Fuck,” Elijah muttered. “I’m such a dick.”
Shep watched as Elijah texted back.
Elijah: I’ll fix this. I promise.
Robby: Don’t bother.
Elijah started to open the browser on his phone, but Shep plucked it from his fingers. “Stop.”
Elijah shook his head, reaching for the phone. “No. I need to know what people are saying. I need to know if I just destroyed my career.”
Shep shook his head. “No. You need to calm down. What’s the worst that can happen?”
Elijah gaped at him. “I get dropped from a multi-million dollar contract? I get ostracized from Hollywood forever?”
Shep snorted a laugh, earning a glare from Elijah. “Because you cheated on your fake boyfriend? Do you really see that happening? So you’re the villain for a few months. Robby gets to play the victim and will get a ton of publicity as the jilted boyfriend. You’re a great actor. You just won an Oscar. This is just a little bump in the road.”
