“That’s it?” I asked.
“Yep.” Reese zipped up his bag. “This Ben guy probably just got mugged or beat up by an ex… maybe George is the person who did it to him.”
“Aren’t you worried he’ll recognize you?” I asked.
Reese shook his head. “It’s purely a recon job. I won’t be interacting with him or anyone else. If it turns out to be something, Ronan and Memphis will decide how to proceed.”
I got up and followed him out of the room. Reese lived in a quiet apartment building about ten minutes north of the city. There weren’t too many people around as we got to the parking lot, so I didn’t have to worry about being recognized. Of course, with the two Secret Service agents waiting for me at the foot of the stairs, I may as well have had a neon light above my head that announced my presence.
After the attack, I’d accepted the Secret Service’s offer for a small protection detail. Although it wasn’t something I wanted long-term, I knew it made sense until things died down. While they were obligated to protect me first and foremost, I knew they’d add an extra layer of protection for my family too. And more importantly, Nash could focus on his own job.
Nash had been praised for his role in fending off the attackers. I hadn’t learned the full details of what had happened in the house until the following day. Gage had run upstairs where his father had been engaged in a gunfight with two attackers. He’d been holding them off with a shotgun to give Charlie time to get down the ladder. Zeus had taken on a third guy at the top of the stairs, and while the big dog had been stabbed once, the wound had fortunately only been a flesh wound, and he’d recovered with no issues. Gage had taken out the other two attackers, while Nash had fought with two more assailants downstairs.
When Nash had entered the house, he’d managed to shoot the first attacker, but when he’d found the second guy, he’d been fighting with Reese. Reese hadn’t been armed and without his full strength, he’d struggled under the weight of the man who’d been trying to stab him. Nash had been forced to tackle the guy, since he hadn’t wanted to risk hitting Reese with a bullet. Reese had seen Charlie making a run for it just before he’d been attacked, so he’d grabbed Nash’s gun and stumbled toward the kitchen so he could get to the back deck. For whatever reason, Zeus had met Reese by the back door and as soon as he’d opened it, the big dog had come running toward me and Charlie.
Happy had ended up going after another intruder before he could shoot Nash as Nash struggled with the guy with the knife. Theblood I’d seen on Nash hadn’t been his. He’d managed to gain control of the weapon and he’d used it to kill the last guy. Not one of the men who’d invaded Gage’s house had survived the attack.
Afterward, Nash had gotten a call from Director Hill. After reading Nash the riot act for lying about the personal emergency so he could stay with me, he’d promptly offered Nash his job back. Nash had declined and hung up on the man. While I’d known that Nash wouldn’t take the job in D.C. since it would have meant leaving me and Gage, I’d argued with him for turning Director Hill down completely. After all, the Secret Service had an office in Seattle. But Nash had adamantly refused to discuss the matter and it had taken me a while to figure out why.
Because he would have had to tell Director Hill the reason he was turning down such a prominent position. And since I hadn’t been out at that time, he’d chosen to give up his job entirely rather than risk outing me.
I’d taken care of the matter shortly after I’d come out. When I’d told Nash to call Director Hill to find out when he should report to the Seattle office for work, he’d railed at me for a bit, but promptly shut up when I’d kissed him. Gage and I had distracted him long enough to calm him down, then we’d discussed the issue at length until he’d admitted that he wanted the job, but he was afraid to leave his family, and specifically me, unprotected.
It was another reason it had been easy to accept my new protection detail.
Reese and I reached his car. He put the bag in his trunk, then stepped up to where I was waiting by the driver’s side door.
“Try not to worry,” he said.
“Try not to get killed,” I said.
Reese sighed and then wrapped his arms around me. “I’ll call you when I get there.”
“Call me before that,” I murmured. “I love you, Reese.”
“Love you too, Dad.” He stepped back and opened his door. “Go home to those men of yours. I’m surprised Nash hasn’t put out an APB on you.”
I looked over my shoulder at the female agent. “Agent Kemp, how many times has Nash texted you?”
“Seven times, Mr. President,” she said without hesitation.
“Only seven today? That’s got to be a new record,” Reese said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Seven times in the last hour, Mr. Shaw,” Agent Kemp clarified.
Reese and I both chuckled, then he put his hand on my shoulder. “Go home, Dad. I’ll be?—”
“Fine,” I said for him. “I know.”
I stepped back as he got in his car.
I closed my eyes and sent a silent message heavenward to the man I’d once hoped to share the role of fatherhood with.
Watch over our boy, Pierce.
While I believed what Vincent had told me about our loved ones resting in peace only when we were truly happy, Pierce had loved Reese, because I loved Reese. So I knew he wouldn’t truly be at rest until he knew the young man he’d started to think of as his own had found the same happiness that I had.
I waited until Reese’s car was gone before allowing the agents to take me home.
