“Well, I can’t very well guard your body if I’m halfway around the world guarding somebody else’s,” Shep said.
“Now you’re my forever bodyguard?” Elijah asked, scrunching up his face like he was trying the idea on for size.
Shep captured Elijah’s mouth in a kiss. “Unless you have some other position in mind?”
“I was thinking husband,” Elijah whispered.
Shep smiled. “Oh, yeah? You want to marry me, rabbit?”
Elijah pulled back to meet his gaze. “Don’t you want to marry me, Sam?”
“I’ll take you any way I can get you. But I don’t think that’s a salaried position. I will not be a kept man.”
Elijah grinned. “Well, it just so happens, I’m also in the market for a manager.”
“You gonna let me run your whole life?”
Elijah scoffed. “Just my career. We both know I call the shots at home. Especially in the bedroom,”
“That suits me just fine.”
After a few minutes, Elijah spoke again. “Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“What do you think happens now?”
“I think you’ll find that maybe just this one time, the bad guys will get what’s coming to them.”
Shepherd lay on the sofa with Elijah between his legs, his head on Shep’s chest, arms wrapped around each other as they watched the news unfold on CNN. Outside the gates of Elijah’s soon to be former home, throngs of reporters gathered, each wanting to be the first to capture Elijah’s thoughts on the breaking story. He had put his phone on silent after letting Charlie, Wyatt and Molly Shepherd know they could reach him on Shep’s phone if they needed him. The rest of the world could wait.
“Turn it up,” Elijah murmured.
Shep did as Elijah asked, then placed the remote on the table so he could wrap his arms around Elijah once more. The reporter, a woman with golden blonde hair and a serious expression stood outside the gates of a much larger estate holding a comically large microphone. “We’re here live outside the estate of Hollywood director, Leonard Medford. Behind me to my left you’ll see the coroner’s van leaving with what we’ve heardis the body of Medford himself,allegedly dead at seventy-five from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Elijah shivered, causing Shep to pull the blanket covering them higher over Elijah’s shoulders, even though he knew the boy wasn’t cold, but shaken. “You okay, rabbit?”
Elijah rubbed his face against Shep’s bare chest. “I’m fine, Sam.”
Shep didn’t know if Elijah meant it or not. Elijah might not even know himself. Would he blame himself for this? Was he relieved? “You can tell me the truth.”
“Shh,” Elijah whispered, gaze locked on the television.
“Medford, as many know, was recently in the center of a scandal straight out of a Hollywood movie. A story involving the coverup of several child assaults thought to be perpetrated by a man who we now know is convicted pedophile Cane Crawford, illegitimate son of Medford and a Las Vegas cocktail waitress. The story broke just six weeks ago on social media when Oscar-winning actor and Hollywood legacy Elijah Dunne shared the story of his own tragic abuse and the part Leonard played in keeping him silent all these years. Crawford had initially denied allegations of any wrongdoing and had even started a smear campaign against his accuser before vowing revenge. Now he’s on the run and police say the suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous. If you see him, do not approach, just call your local FBI office.”
“Do you think he’s going to run again?” Elijah asked.
“Crawford? Probably. Cowards like him always run.”
“Yeah,” Elijah murmured.
“Are you upset that Medford is dead?”
Elijah turned on his stomach, folding his hands over Shep’s chest, resting his chin on top. “I’m sorry it didn’t hurt more.”
Relief flooded Shep. Good. That’s the Elijah he knew and loved. “At least he can’t hurt you or anybody else anymore.”
“No, but Cane is the real monster, and he’s out there somewhere.”
