14
It was early, and the light was barely beginning to glow behind the hotel window curtains. Demarco was awake, lying on his side in bed watching Jack sleep. He was observing the way the lush fabric of the bedsheets contoured with the shape of Jack's nude muscular body... such beautiful artistry present in the simple combination of a slumbering man tangled in sheets, like one of those old paintings of busty nude women loosely clad in silk.
Why didn't artists ever paint men this way?Demarco thought.How could they not?
He watched the soft flesh of Jack's broad frame rise and descended slowly with the sound of his soft snores.
I could get used to this.
They had dined in for their last night in the hotel together. Room service, wine, and more sex. Sex like teenagers... learning their bodies and growing more and more comfortable in the presence of each other. Demarco could not imagine staying with a client for more than a typical session length... would have been high-tailing it out the door. But laying there in bed, watching Jack sleep, put him at ease—sustaining him with a level of comfort he was unaccustomed to and hesitant to forfeit. He dreaded their inevitable separation, whether short term or otherwise.
We're not getting any younger, D.
Jack had intended his comment to be innocuous, just closing levity... but it triggered more in Demarco's thoughts because it was a reality he had been contemplating for some time.
There was no advancement with this gig and he knew it. Reed was boss and there were no other managerial positions available. He'd seen others go when their time had come, far too early to rely on any retirement saved... working menial jobs with menial skills. Reed would never approach him to run adivisionof Chandelier in another city—though he'd teased the opportunity. But the concept was a pipe dream. The main reason Chandelier worked wasbecauseof Washington DC. The politics that came with the city are what made the two symbiotic organisms function to support each other. Sure, there were other escort agencies, but none as reputable and discreet, nor with the prestige and clout that came with Chandelier.
What would he do when his popularity waned? Would Reed put him out to pasture too?
Yes, he would.
And Demarco was a man set in his ways, resistant to change...
...and no spring chicken.
Could he leave the security of the only job he had ever known to make this sleeping man happy?
I don't know.
And then there was Jack's career. Would he ever comfortable with someone whose job was as dangerous as law enforcement?
Been there, done that.
And though cops weren't routinely asked to take a bullet for the party they're protecting, he remembered his mother up late at night, waiting, worrying, wondering where his father might be and if he was in danger. The tiny town of Ripley—no real threat there... yet his father was killed in the line-of-duty.
Will I be up too, worried about Jack and whether he comes home?
It was all too much. Things were happening so fast. He was a naturally complacent man, ever since he'd left the instability of the street. Who wouldn't be after that life? Steady work, warm home, food in your stomach. It was like being rescued.
Rescued.
When Alec had left town on a whim, flying across the country to Montana, Demarco had thought to himself,I could never do that...not simply because of his job, but because it would disrupt hisroutine—a routine he had established years prior. He lived for the comfort and safety of normalcy, his life the way it was. But was it a good life? Wasn't he speculating that very notion on the way to the embassy the night he met Jack?
Alec's happy now... with his Montana man, Tyler.
This thought made Demarco smile.
You have to take chances...It was his mother's voice he heard now.I knew what I was getting into with your daddy. But we had great years together, D... and we had you, and your sister. I can't imagine my life without the three of y'all in it. No regrets.
The phone on the nightstand vibrated loudly with a tone. Jack grunted awake, snatching it.
"Keegan here."
He looked over his shoulder, seeing that Demarco was awake.
"Already?" he said. "OK, yeah... Really? Wow. Easy-peasy. Nice. OK... I will. Soon. Thanks, Kip. Bye." He put the phone down and rolled over, facing Demarco. "You were watching me sleep."
"No, I wasn't."
