* * * *
Ethan
Ethan woke up the following day to the sound of his phone ringing. He grumbled, and Blayne made some kind of unintelligible sound. He pulled the phone from its charging cable and rolled over to see who was calling.
“Ethan,” he said into the phone.
“We’re meeting in one hour in my suite. I’m up in the Presidential One suite. Your security detail will know how to get here,” Rawlins said. “This is an all-hands-on-deck meeting, so bring Blayne with you.”
“See you in an hour,” Ethan said.
“Who was that?” Blayne asked.
“Rawlins. We’re meeting up in his suite in an hour. He said I needed to drag your ass out of bed with me.”
“I don’t wanna get up,” Blayne said in a whiny voice.
“Someone needs their morning coffee. We have an instant coffee machine in the room. I’ll make you a cup while you shower,” Ethan said as he inched the duvet from Blayne’s torso. Blayne rolled over and gave Ethan some stink eye.
“I’m cold now,” Blayne said. “I need a new cover.” He reached out and grabbed Ethan, rolling him onto his chest, wrapping his arms around Ethan like a child clinging to a teddy bear. And he tickled Ethan.
Ethan howled with laughter. His ribs were incredibly ticklish, and Blayne knew it. “Stop. You’re going to make me wet the bed,” Ethan said between breaths and laughter.
“Maybe I’m into water sports,” Blayne said before tickling Ethan again.
“Eww,” Ethan said. “Unless I’m stung by a jellyfish at the beach and we’re the only two people around for miles, please do not pee on me…ever.”
“Noted,” Blayne said, clearly more awake than before he had engaged in his tickle offensive against Ethan. “I guess we should get going.”
“Go shower,” Ethan said, shooing Blayne toward the bathroom. “We could do it together, but we don’t have time for that.”
“Yeah, our showers together are notorious for being a little too long because of everything we do in the shower that doesn’t involve scrubbing each other’s backs.”
“Bingo. Now, go.”
“Why do I have to go first?” Blayne complained.
“Because if you don’t go shower now, I’m going to come out and find a lump buried back in the duvet. Now march, mister.”
Blayne gave a little salute but pulled himself off the bed and headed toward the bathroom. Ethan propped himself up against some pillows and started scrolling through his emails. He was halfway through the list when he received a text from Stephanie.
Turn on RTN.
It took him a second to find the television remote. After looking around the room, he found it on the desk and turned on the TV. He scrolled through the channels until he saw RTN in the screen’s right-hand corner. It was a commercial, so he headed back to bed.
“Good morning, America. This is Tika Downs. I have breaking information about yesterday’s terrorist attack on the White House. RTN has confirmed that the people responsible for the terrorist attack yesterday are the same domestic terrorist group responsible for the attack in Houston last week. We go now to Stephen McNeil, who is at the White House.”
Ethan groaned at the mention of McNeil. A closeup shot of the redheaded man with his close-cropped beard appeared on the screen. “Yesterday was a horrific day in the history of the United States. There has not been a more heroic deed since 1981 when James Brady intervened to shield then-President Ronald Reagan when John Hinckley Junior tried to assassinate the late president. RTN has corroborated from several sources that the sniper who attempted to kill President Barnes was thwarted by Mr. Blayne Dickenson. You may recall that Blayne Dickenson was caught on camera throwing one of the active shooters out of a bell tower during the Pennington Massacre.” The video played of the body flying out of the window, followed by Blayne sticking his head out. “We have also confirmed with sources close to the President that Mr. Dickenson and his boy-band boyfriend”—Ethan groaned at the phrase—“Ethan Bond were at the White House to receive the Presidential Citizens Medal at the time of the attack.” The video of Ethan and Blayne kissing played. “During the attempt on the President’s life, Blayne Dickenson put himself in harm’s way again. Furthermore, Ethan Bond did the same for First Lady Cleo Barnes.” A video shot from someone in the Rose Garden showed the door being opened. You couldn’t see that Blayne tackled the President clearly, but his tall body took the President to the ground.
“Stephen, have you contacted Dickenson or Bond’s representatives for comment?” Tika asked.
“Unfortunately, our attempts to reach out have not been returned,” Stephen said. Ethan looked at his phone. There were no texts or email messages from RTN, so their crack team of investigators hadn’t been trying to get hold of him that hard.
“Any word from the White House?” Tika asked.
Footage of Sepi Amin was shown entering the staff entrance at the White House as a camera was thrust in her face. She turned and looked at Stephen with a look of abject disdain. “Can I help you?”
“Yes. Can you confirm that Blayne Dickenson threw himself in front of a bullet intended for the President yesterday?”
