At least the sadist is amused.
Kayley frowns before she shakes her head and holds up her hand. “I don’t evenwantto know.”
“You’re right—you don’t,” Jordan teases. “I wouldn’t want to traumatize you.” He grins, making me and Leo laugh.
We make it through an uncomfortable dinner with slightly forced and stilted conversation before gathering in the living room, where Leo sits on the couch with Jordan snuggled against his side.
“Do you want to see the Oval Office?” I ask Kayley.
She’s on her third glass of wine, as is her mom. I don’t miss how she glances at Jordan first, and how he nods encouragingly to her.
“Sure,” she says, wobbling a little as she stands before finally steadying herself. “I’d like that.”
“Do you want me to come, too?” Leo asks.
Kayley waves him away. “Stand down, Secret Agent Super Squirrel. I think he’s safe with me.” This time when she wobbles I hold out my hand to her but she recovers on her own.
We head downstairs and I’ve never felt so nervous in my life. “I’m glad you and your parents could make it,” I lamely say as agents fall into step behind us.
She snorts. “I wouldn’t have missed this for the woorrrld,” she snarks. “I mean, what, with my phone, Facebook, and every other friggin’ app on my phone blows up five minutes after it happens, and everyone’s WTF’ing me for deets?” She snorts again and I realize it’s just like how Leo does it. “How could I missthat?”
“Like I told your parents, I’m really sorry for the subterfuge to get you all out here. And I’m sorry we never told you the truth before now. That’s all because of me. If it’d been up to Leo he would’ve married me years ago.”
She doesn’t respond at first. “You kept my brother in limbo all those years. Then he met Jordan and he washappy. For the first time in years, he wasreallyhappy. And poor Jordan was happy, too.”
She stops and turns to me. “Iknewthere was something weird and wrong going on that night we had dinner with you Leo in LA. When he wouldn’t talk about why Jordan left. I just never thoughtyouhad something to do with it.”
I wave my detail back a few steps because I sense she needs to take these potshots now. It’s only fair—her parents got the opportunity earlier.
“Leo has given me unconditional love all these years,” I say. “I owe him more than I can ever tell you. And Jordan, too.”
“Why didn’t you just let him have Jordan?” She sniffles, her eyes suddenly too bright. “Jordanloveshim. Why’d you have to drag Leo into this…bullshit?” She waves her hand, indicating the building around us. “Leo will never have a normal life again. Neither of them will. Leo nearlydiedserving our country, for fuck’s sake! He was damned lucky he survived that plane crash and now you go and dothisto him and completely upend his life?”
I realize her pain’s coming from a slightly different angle than I anticipated and there’s nothing I can do to ease it. “I am sorry.”
“Sorry isn’tgoodenough!” I think she wants to reach out and smack me. When I sense my detail tensing behind me, I glance at them. “Give us more space, please,” I softly say. “It’s fine. Donotinterfere.”
The agents nod and take several more steps back, turning their backs to us.
I drop my voice. “Kayley, you’re absolutely right. I was a chicken, and that’s the bottom line. There is a lot between Leo and I that I can’t and won’t talk about because it’s personal. If he wants to tell you, that’s up to him because he’s in charge. But he loves me, and Jordan loves me. I love both of them. Jordan finally has the family he deserves, family who loves and accepts him for who he is. Jordan and Leo both had the chance to walk away from me. I told Leo countless times he deserved to have someone who could commit to him. Every time, he refused to leave. Theonlyreason I am where I am is because of the love of those two men. Once I’m out of office I plan on spending the rest of my life making it up to them, I swear.”
She takes another sip of her wine. “You’d better,” she mutters. “You have nofuckingclue what my brother went through. He damn neardieddoing a job he loved. He feels guilty over those men dying when it wasn’t his fault. And what’d he get in appreciation? A fucking pension.”
I pat the top of Duck where it covers the bottom of my thigh, just hard enough she can hear the tap of my fingers against the plastic. “Unfortunately, I knowexactlywhat he went through, and the guilt he carries. At least all of him made it home again—a big chunk of me didn’t.”
Yeah, that’s a low blow, I know. Fucking sue me.
She swallows, staring at where my hand came to rest against my thigh. “Sorry,” she says, looking chagrined. “I forgot.”
“It’s okay. Ironically, when he first introduced himself to me it was the thing we instantly bonded over. It was how he put me at ease so I didn’t run away in terror.”
We continue on to the Oval Office. When we step inside her eyes widen as she stops in her tracks. “Holy cow,” she whispers as she stares around the imposing space.
I can’t blame her. I still feel a sense of awe walking in here and it’smyfricking office. Even after I spent plenty of time in here over the previous eight years when Shae was POTUS, it never loses the ability to impose a massive sense of awe.
“Go ahead and sit behind my desk.”
She looks dubious. “Really?”
