I’m in my small office on the third floor over the residence when he appears in the doorway.
I jump up, dragging him inside and closing the door behind him so I can pull him into my arms and kiss him. “God, I missed you, baby.”
He sadly smiles, and…Iknow.
“I missed you, too, Sir.” He hasn’t set down his messenger bag. “We need to talk.”
Never in the history of the world have those four words, strung together like that in a sentence,everled to something good. “What’s wrong?”
He takes a deep breath. “There’s an open admin position in the design department at FSU. My old job, basically. And there’s room in the graduate program for me to resume my master’s.”
“What?”
He sighs. “Leo,” he gently says, “Elliot’s going to run, and he needs you. I’m going to—”
“You’re leaving?” I stare at Jordan in disbelief as he nods. A lot of things run through my mind, the first being that I’ll do anything to keep him here, with me.
Or, if forced to, I’ll quit my job and leave with him.
When he doesn’t look me in the eyes, Iknowhe’s not kidding around or trying to pull some bullshit power move.
My boyalwayslooks me in the eyes.
“I don’t belong here,” he quietly says. “I wasn’t cut out to be in politics. I’m too good at it. It’s going to swallow me. Elliot lovesyou. He’s never going to feel for me the way he feels about you. I know you were hoping he would, and so was I, but it’ll never happen. He tolerates me in your life because he feels guilty he can’t make himself be out for you. Making him accept me isn’t fair to him. Same old song, new verse, same as the first.”
Something snaps inside me. I recall Chris’ warning to me all those years ago. “Then I’ll turn in my resignation and leave with you.”
He sadly smiles but still won’t look me in the eyes. “I can’t let you do that.”
It takes me a moment to process that refusal. “You can’t stop me. Ineedyou!”
“Thepresidentneeds you. And the vice president needs you even more. Besides,youdon’t needme. You have Elliot.” He sniffles. It breaks my heart that I know if I reach out to touch him, to comfort him, that he’ll probably pull away from me.
Andthatwill break my heart even more.
Desperation grips my guts and shrivels my balls because I know he’s serious. “Please don’t do this, Jordan. Please don’t leave me.”
“Elliot is going to be president. You and I both know that. The only way he can’t win is if he doesn’t run. President Samuels’ numbers are way too strong and the GOP doesn’t have any contender who can unseat him. Unless she does something incredibly stupid, like she nukes England, or barbecues puppies on the south lawn, there’s no way Elliot can lose. The poll numbers going into the midterms prove how popular she is. It’s basically a done deal. Theonlyway Elliot can lose on his own when he runs is if he mulches a kitten, or gets caught fucking a little boy or something. The Dems won’t try to primary him.”
He also addresses another issue I didn’t realize he’d paid close attention to. “He also needs you to keep his sister from fucking things up, and to keep The Family away from him. They’re looking for any opening they can to drag him into their ranks, and Stella’s working with them.”
He’s right. I know he is.
I don’t want to admit that, though.
“Elliot lovesyou, Leo.” His hazel-green gaze briefly flicks up to me and back down again. “Heneedsyou. Without you by his side, he’s nothing. Even if he can’t make himself come out, he’ll need you as his body man. He’s a good man who deserves to be POTUS. The country needs his leadership going forward. I suspect it won’t happen if I stay, or if I let you leave him and come with me. It’ll destroy him.”
“Why can’t you stay? If I’m his body man, you can work in the East Wing. It makes sense, because you’re already working there. You can be a chief of staff, or liaison, or something. If he finally comes out, you can be his body man while I marry him. We canmakethis work.”
He finally lifts his gaze to mine. “I love you, Leo,” he softly says. “You are the love of my life. I think if things were different, yeah, maybe a triad could work for us. The problem is, Elliot isn’t on board with that and never will be. I see the way he looks at you, and the way he looks at me when he knowsyou’relooking at me. He tolerates me because he knows it’s the only way to keep you, and that’s not healthy for any of us. Let’s be honest that the only reason he offered to let you be poly was because he felt guilty he’s not out.”
An arctic chill works its way through my body. “So…this is it, Jor? You just walk away from me as if we don’t have nearly six years together?”
I don’t know if the sound he makes is a sob or a scoff, or maybe both. He nudges his glasses up his nose. “If you think this is easy for me, then maybe thisisthe right decision.” He shoulders his messenger bag and tries to step around me, but I grab him, pull him into my arms, fist his hair, and kiss him.
He tries to resist me for a moment before he melts, his fingers digging into my suit jacket, his cock hard in his slacks and rubbing against mine, which wants to be buried inside him right now.
“Please don’t break my heart like this, baby,” I mumble against his lips. I back him against my desk, yank the bag off his shoulder, and drop it to the floor even as I keep kissing him. I grab his lapels and jerk his blazer off his shoulders and down his arms, shoving it to the floor.
