Taylor’s head swung my way, the car jerking to the side of the road before he righted it, his hands gripping the wheel tightly. “I thought you said he wasn’t going to run until 2032.”
“That was the plan.”
I shivered, but I didn't know if it was from the cold. The dashboard said it was 27 degrees outside, so it was probably that. I angled the heater vent toward my face.
“So what changed?” Taylor asked, turning onto the road leading to his house.
“I have no clue.” I rolled my head along the seat back to look at him. “That wasn’t his only announcement.”
He pulled into the driveway and turned the key in the ignition, the engine falling silent. He spun to face me as best as he could in the cramped space, reaching across the console to brush the pads of his fingers over the divot that’d formed between my eyebrows. I hadn’t even realized I was scowling.
“You’re upset. Why?"
There was no easy way to ease him into it, so I went for the bare-bones simple version of the story. “He came out.”
Taylor’s chin rocked backward, his brows dipping together. “What do you mean?”
“He kicked off the announcement with a fairly impassioned speech about how queer people are being forced to live in the shadows, never feeling wholly safe, and—as a bisexual man—he wants to change that.”
“But that’s … good, right?” Taylor asked, clearly hating that he had to give the guy even an ounce of credit. “I mean, he’s not wrong.”
“No, he’s not. And that speech on its own would have been great. But healsoused that moment to announce that he’d once been in a years-long relationship with another man.” I pulled in a deep breath, bracing myself to admit the worst of it. “Which he also noted was with his best friend.”
Taylor’s hands curled into fists in his lap, his jaw clenching so tight I swore I could hear his molars crack. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
The laugh that came out of me was unexpected. “Whoa. Easy there, tiger.”
“I’m fucking serious, Seb.”
I didn’t want to minimize his reaction, but I couldn’t help but smile. I’d known Taylor would be furious, but I never expectedthis. He was a brute on the ice—pure muscle and strength—but off of it, he was a big old golden retriever. “I know you are.”
“I will end that man and enjoy every single second of it.”
I settled my hand over his. “While tempting, I really don’t think orange is your color, and I’m not sure I’m built for conjugal visits.”
“I’m being serious,” he grumbled, flipping up his palm and linking our fingers together.
“While I love that your first instinct is to want to protect me, it’s not necessary.”
“I willalwaysprotect you,” he vowed.
What did you say to a declaration like that?
I lifted our hands to my mouth and pressed a kiss to his knuckles before letting go, the cabin filling with silence.
Eventually, Taylor blew out a breath. “Do you think …” He stopped and shook his head. “When he showed up at your apartment last week, do you think he had all this planned?”
I’d been turning that question over in my head all damn day. Wyatt had been drunk and desperate, yes, but he was still Wyatt. He wouldn’t have shown up like that without an agenda. There was also no ignoring his parting shot.
You're going to regret this.
“I think he showed up with an idea of how he expected the evening to go. He was running for President, and part of that strategy was coming out. Those pieces of the puzzle were probably already in motion, and he assumed I'd willingly go along with them. That I'd help him sell the story."
Wyatt and I had dreamed of him in the White House someday. Everything we'd done together was in service of that goal. But then I threw him for a loop.
"When he realized that wasn't going to happen, he had to pivot. Since he couldn’t bring me to heel, he decided to punish me instead.”
“So he deliberately put that target on your back?” he fumed.
