AWEEK LATER,MITCH’s dad was home from the hospital resting comfortably with a pissed off Estelle off in Switzerland, and I was taking Mitch back to see our foster parents. Actually, a well-armed Richard was taking us to see them. I knew that Mitch stayed in touch with them somewhat – birthday cards, Christmas gifts, and even flowers for Mother’s Day for Dorey. As nice as all of those things were, I knew they’d love to see him in person because, to the best of my knowledge, they hadn’t seen him since he left their home at fifteen years old.
As for me, they were the only family I had. They came to my graduation from basic training and I stayed in touch with them while I was in the service. I visited them when I was on leave and I started spending holidays with them once I got out of the service. Howard and Dorey became Mom and Dad to me. Oddly, I never brought them up with Mitch the entire time I worked for him. I would tell Howard and Dorey about him when I came home for holidays or when one of the other guys filled in for me so I could have a weekend off. I’d seen the gifts he sent them when I visited, but I never once mentioned my visits back home to Mitch. Why? I didn’t want to make him feel guilty? I didn’t want to share them? Or, was I protecting my heart? Maybe I didn’t want to take Mitch back home to them unless it was meaningful. I didn’t just want him to visit as my former foster brother, but the most important person in my life. Did that even make any fucking sense?
All I knew for certain was that Howard and Dorey were going to be thrilled to see him. They remained in Bakersfield, but they moved to a smaller home once they retired from being foster parents in their mid-sixties. Of course, Mitch knew they moved because he had their address, but I doubted he’d ever seen their new ranch home. I was sure he’d figure out where we were going by the interstate signs, but for the time being he was content to sit back and let Richard whisk us off somewhere away from the stress of being hunted by a killer.
The only thing we’d learned about Timothy’s service was that he had indeed showed signs of unraveling toward the end. There was no particular incident showing how violent Timothy would turn out to be, but there were definite indicators that he needed help. Mostly, he was fighting and being insubordinate to his superiors. He was given a medical discharge but it seemed like the army didn’t seem to worry about follow-up care for him. Perhaps I wasn’t being fair, I mean, they couldn’tmakehim get mental health treatment. He had to want to get better too.
His time in prison was a whole different story. Vic’s contact within the prison unearthed a lot of information about Timothy which made me believe that Max Heston was dead on – for lack of a better word – with his assessment. Timothy Nicholson hated the Heston family with a passion. According to his roomie at the prison, he had been harboring a deep-seated hatred of them because of the impact they had on his grandfather and father.
Timothy really lost it when his dad died while he was in prison. That’s when his ramblings of hate turned into plans of vengeance. So, the good news was that we had a viable suspect and Vic reluctantly turned over everything he had to the police at Mitch’s insistence. To me, it appeared that Vic wanted a crack at tracking this guy down, but he was in the wind. No one had heard from him in more than a month. There was no sign of credit card usage, he quit his job as a cook at a bar and hadn’t been heard from by any of his former coworkers. So it begged the questions, where was he staying and where was he getting the money, motorcycle, and fire power to pull off his attack?
I pushed those thoughts out of my mind so I could concentrate on my time away with Mitch. It was the first couple thing we did together, besides have amazing sex, so I was truly looking forward to it. I rented out a B&B near Howard and Dorey so that Mitch and I could have the privacy I craved and protect him with our team and not be so conspicuous; talk about drawing a lot of unwanted attention to yourself when you traveled with a security detail. Mitch had always done so, but nothing on the scale of what he had been dealing with.
He was a trooper and I was proud of him. I turned to say something to him, but caught him watching me intently. I could tell he had questions on his mind and I wanted him to feel comfortable asking me whatever his heart desired. Other than classified missions I completed, I vowed to be an open book to him. “What are you thinking about so seriously over there?” I asked him.
“I was just curious about how you took care of your needs when you were in the service,” he finally asked after a few long moments. I could tell he was weighing whether or not to ask what was on his mind. “DADT was in force when you served, right?”
“Yeah, it was for most of my service, so I was very secretive about my sexuality and hooking up with other men. I figured I’d be alright as long as I wasn’t rubbing it in anyone’s face.” I shrugged casually, but I wasn’t so casual about it when I was living in the moment. I knew my career could’ve ended if I had been caught.
“That must’ve been hell having to pretend all the time,” Mitch said sympathetically. “Hell, I knew neither Father nor Estelle gave a shit about me so I was happy to announce my sexuality in the middle of a huge party my dad was throwing.” He laughed and I knew there was more to the story so I cocked a brow at him until he continued. “Well, I got caught making out with Estelle’s nephew, Tobias. We were in my dad’s study when the men at the party came in for cigars and booze.” Mitch and I shared a laugh over the shock it caused. “So, who did you hook up with? Other guys in the military who were also looking for some discreet action or did you go to bars far enough away that no one caught you?” Mitch asked, switching the conversation back to me.
That was the tricky answer because I wasn’t going to lie to him, but I wasn’t eager to divulge the entire truth. He must have read my hesitation in my facial expression or perhaps it was the anxious way I rubbed the back of my neck. “Um, a little of both,” I replied honestly.
“So, you went to bars and you hooked up with fellow Marines. Let me guess, I’ve met the guy you hooked up with, right? I mean, he’s most likely been living under my roof and eating my cookies like a furry blue monster, yes?”
Busted.“Vic and I never had a romantic relationship, Mitch.” My voice was calm and lacked the defensiveness I felt. I didn’t owe him an apology for having sex with another man years before we reconnected, but it still felt wrong not to have told him the truth upfront, especially since Vic was living under his roof. “It was only sex between consenting adults when we had an itch to scratch and getting to a bar far enough away, to be safe, wasn’t an option.” I looked at Mitch and willed him to understand and believe me.
“I know a thing or two about convenient, no strings sex,” Mitch confessed, “but I never had sex with the same person more than once.” I heard the concern and insecurity in his voice. Mitch was a strong, proud man and I hated that I could reduce him to feeling insecure about his place in my life. The truth was that we were both learning. I fucking wanted to rip the throats out of every escort he fucked while I had to listen.
“Mitch, I can’t undo my past and I don’t think it’s a fair thing to ask if I could. I can only tell you that I’ve never been in love with Vic, nor did I ever get the impression from him that he was in love with me. I never let him touch me the way that I want you to touch me. We never cuddled after sex and we never shared a bed. Those are things I’ve only done with you and that’s how I want it to be. I don’t foresee a future with anyone other than you.” I reached for his hand and added, “I don’t want anyone other than you.”
Mitch’s dark eyes softened and he smiled brilliantly at me. “I feel the exact same way about you. I mean, the threats against me prevent us from going on the kind of dates I’d like to take you on. We don’t really have the privacy I wish we could have, even in my own home.” He held up his hand when I started to talk because he knew I was going to remind him of the deadly situation he was in. “I haven’t forgotten about Timothy Nicholson and I know that all of these steps to protect me are necessary. However, that doesn’t mean they’re not inconvenient.”
“I can’t disagree with you there,” I replied with a smirk. “I have to hold my hand over your mouth or have you bite down on your pillow when I’m fucking you to keep you from screaming loud enough to cause the guys to kick down your bedroom door with their weapons drawn looking for danger.”
“Nah,” Mitch rebutted, “they see Frankie pouting in the hallway waiting to get back inside the room and know exactly what’s going on behind those closed doors, where the only danger is to my heart after being loved so thoroughly by you.”
“You’re good for my ego, babe,” I told him.
“You’re good for every part of me,” Mitch replied. The words might have sounded a bit corny, but the look in his eyes was anything but. “You know, we could always put the privacy window up and pass our time a little more interestingly.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.
Had we not been heading to meet up with Howard and Dorey I would’ve taken him up on it, but I had no desire to show up at their front door with disheveled hair and clothes giving away what we’d been doing. I had every intention of letting them know that Mitch and I were a couple, without giving them the visuals to go with.
“Probably not where we’re going,” I said with a shake of the head.
“When do you plan on telling me where we’re going?” Mitch asked for the first time. I thought his restraint was admirable, considering he was used to being in charge.
“It won’t be a surprise if I tell you. Don’t you like surprises, Mitch?”
He thought about it for a while and finally answered my question with, “I’ve never really had a good one.” He shrugged. “Losing my mom and then later losing you when my father turned up out of nowhere, once his cowardly father confessed what he’d done on his deathbed, were both horrible surprises. Has anyone surprised me with a gift or a kind gesture?” He thought about it for a few minutes and then smiled at me. “Yes, they have. You surprised me with my first kiss and were the first to hold my hand or hug me in an intimate way. Howard and Dorey made the holidays the best they could for me while living under their roof.” He cocked his head to the side and said, “I guess I let the bad surprises outweigh the good ones and a person should never do that.”
“I think you’re right. I can assure you, Mitch, that this is definitely a good surprise.” I gave him a kiss to seal my promise.
A few minutes later he saw the first interstate sign informing him of the miles left before we reached Bakersfield. His eyes were big when he looked at me and then a happy smile split his face. “Howard and Dorey,” he said, his voice soft with emotion. “Do they know I’m coming?”
I shook my head. “They know that I work for you, but I told them I was bringing my boyfriend home to meet the family. They can’t wait to meet the guy who finally ‘roped me,’ as Dorey called it.”
“You’re taking me home to meet your family, huh? You see them often?”
