IPUSHED ASIDE THEsick fear I felt that morning and got to work. I meant what I said when I told Mitch that I wouldn’t let him live in fear; I would bear that cross for him. I used to live in fear 24/7 for months on end so it was nothing new to me. I didn’t want that for someone who meant so much to me. Mitch wasn’t the kind of person who needed mollycoddling, but I still wanted to shield him from the majority of the ugliness in the world.
Once at Heston’s headquarters, Mitch went his way and I went mine, but not before I pulled him into a kiss. He looked surprised that I initiated the first kiss so I went back for a second one. The smile he rewarded me with made the discomfort in my groin worth it. I craved his touch, his smell, and the sounds he made during sex more than anything I’d experienced in my life and we’d only spent one night together.
I wasn’t willing to cast all care aside and jump headlong into a relationship with Mitch, although I could no longer deny the way he made me feel - the way he’d always made me feel; as if I was someone he looked up to, trusted, and admired. I still carried dark shadows in my heart, ones that I wasn’t sure would ever be banished, but fuck if I didn’t want to try. For him.
Mitch had to feel the way I tensed up when he slid up behind me in the shower and how I pulled away from him when he tried to slide a finger between my ass cheeks. I wanted his touch to wipe away the bad memories, but I wasn’t sure it would. Regardless, it was a conversation I needed to have with him. I couldn’t keep rejecting his touch and not expect him to think I was rejecting him. So far, it came across more of me spinning it around to take control and dominate him, which he seemed to enjoy.But if we were going to have a future…Wow, that word was as foreign to me as all the Arabic dialects I’d heard overseas.
I pushed all personal thoughts of Mitch aside to focus on keeping him alive. Perhaps, this was nothing more than a sick joke, but I wouldn’t stake his life on it. I picked up my cellphone and dialed Vic’s number.
“Hey, Deacon, is this you calling me and telling me yes?” Vic asked in way of greeting.
“No, Vic, this is me calling to hire your services.” Victor Sharp had been my second-in-command, the finest SIC a man could have, during every skirmish and battle I’d been involved in. There was no one I trusted Mitch’s life to more than Vic. “I need you, Iron, and Hammer to help me out with a potentially big threat to my employer.”
“Employer? Is that what you’re calling him?” I could hear the mockery in Vic’s voice. He knew me better than most and instantly knew something more was between Mitch and me than a simple employer and employee relationship.
“Okay, you got me, Vic. I’ve been trying to keep things separate, but it’s not working. His life could be in serious danger and there’s no one I trust more than the three of you.” I wasn’t a man to talk about feelings or ask for help, but it was not the time to be prideful – not with so much at stake.
“Tell me everything you know.”
I filled him in the best I could from the anonymous text, the mutilated animal on the porch, and the suspicious activity with the alarm company. “They’re either lying or our perp has an inside guy there because neither the landline nor Mitch’s cellphone rang in the middle of the night like they said. I don’t trust them and I want them cut out of his protection.”
“We’re on it, Deac,” Vic said with firm conviction. “I’ll need someone to meet me and the tech crew at the house so we can switch the alarm and camera monitoring over to us. I can use the existing wiring, which will save everyone time and hassle.”
“We’ll be home around five thirty. Will that work?” I asked.
“Home, huh?” I heard the teasing smile in Vic’s voice and I couldn’t help but smile in return.
“For now,” I replied. “I do have my own place, but I’m not going anywhere until this is resolved.”
“Five thirty works for us, Deac. Text me the address and the team will meet you there. Bring with you a list of his current security detail that works for you. We can’t assume too much or scrutinize enough when it comes to something like this because the sender is usually someone really close to the person receiving the threats. I’m talking about eighty to ninety percent of the time, buddy.”
“I completely understand, Vic. I’ll bring the personnel files home with me. Anything else?”
“I need Mitch to be completely honest with me when I ask questions he might not want to answer. I’ll need you to back me up if he starts to balk or clam up. Can you do that?”
“I will do anything to keep him safe, even if it means pissing him off and he hates me.” Nothing mattered more than Mitch’s safety.
“I’ll hold you to it, Deac.” That was the last thing he said before he clicked off.
Luckily for Mitch and me, his schedule was pretty light for the day. Most of the meetings were held in his office or the large conference room with lunch being the only exception. Normally, I wouldn’t attend any lunch he had with his father or stepmother, but circumstances had changed and were no longer normal. Besides, I wanted to see the looks on their faces when I joined him and explained my presence.
“Mr. Bradley is joining us?” Max Heston asked with a raised brow.
“How quaint,” his wife, Estelle, said sarcastically.
“Someone wants Mitch dead, so for the time being I’ll be with him everywhere he goes,” I said flatly, daring them to question me.
“What? Dead?” Max Heston actually looked horrified at the notion that someone would want his son dead. I had hope that maybe he cared for Mitch more than he let on, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
“Is this another ploy to get your father’s attention, Mitchell?” The disdain and hatefulness in her voice was like something you’d expect from a wicked stepmother in a movie.
“Enough, Estelle,” Max told her with a dismissing wave of his hand. “What’s going on, Mitch?”
I chose to sit back and watch the facial expressions and body language of both Max and Estelle rather than speak out about the threats. By the time Mitch was finished, even Estelle had the good grace to look slightly alarmed – or so I thought. It was hard to tell after so many years of Botox injections.
“Mark has everything under control, Father,” Mitch assured Max. “I’m taking a lot of extra precautions until this person is caught.”
Estelle turned her shrewd eyes on me and I knew she was about to unleash a venomous comment. “The timing of this threat is so intriguing to me,” she finally said after several long moments. “You suddenly return to Mitch’s life – a flash from his foster care past. All of a sudden he’s being threatened and you’re just the man to step up and save him.” She propped her elbows on the table and leaned forward, allowing her cosmetically enhanced breasts to be put on display. “I’m not convinced this isn’t your attempt to do a little social climbing. Tell me, Mitch,” she shifted her hateful glare to him, “has he gotten you into bed, yet? It’s amazing what some people, like your mother and Mr. Bradley here, will do to get ahead in life. Certainly your bed is more comfortable than whatever squalor he calls home. It would seem that both you and your father have questionable taste in bedpartners at times.”
