I told myself my body was shaking because of the shock, but I knew it wasn’t true. But I refused to give words to the real reason. Instead, I busied myself with walking the fence line. Twenty minutes later, I heard rather than saw the proof that all hell was about to break loose.
As Vincent’s muscle car roared into the driveway a moment later, the tires squealing as he hit the brakes just in time to keep from plowing into the garage door, my nerves got the better of me.
“They’re okay!” I shouted as Vincent got out of the car, since I was still a good hundred yards away from the house. With his gun in hand, he sent me what could only be classified as a deadly look and then strode into the house. Concern for Shaw had me running toward the house. I was almost at the door when it opened. I nearly slammed into Shaw as he came out and he quickly put his hand up and flattened it on my chest to stop my forward movement.
“Hold on there, son,” he said.
Something about him calling me son pissed me off, though I wasn’t sure why. And I couldn’t give it too much thought becauseheat and electricity were spiraling out from the spot where his hand was resting on my chest.
All that sensation and it was… fuck, it was going straight to my balls. My dick hardened in my pants as Shaw lifted his eyes to meet mine. I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing, especially since he quickly shuttered his eyes and then dropped his hand. He pushed past me and said, “We should go.”
I heard muffled sounds coming from inside the house, then what sounded like dishes breaking. My instinct to make sure Nathan was okay warred with my need to escape this whole fucked-up mess.
Everett Shaw was gay and my body had decided to pick this exact moment to rejoice over that fact.
“Let’s go, son,” Shaw called to me. “Those boys will be just fine now,” he added with a smirk over his shoulder.
I caught up to him right before he reached the car. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what possessed me to do it, but I grabbed his arm and turned him so his back was practically pressed up against the side of the car. “I’m not your son,” I murmured. I’d meant to say the words angrily, but they definitely didn’t come out that way.
No, they came out the way I’d been feeling them.
Not pissed that he’d been talking down to me, but more like I was desperate to make sure he in no way thought of me as his kid.
I had my body practically mashed up against Shaw’s, but I couldn’t force myself to ease off.
“I’m not your son,” I repeated.
Shaw, for his part, seemed confused at first, then something switched. I would have missed his reaction if I hadn’t been standing so close to him.
Ticked-up breathing.
A slight tremor snaking through his body.
His fingers tightening on my forearm where he’d grabbed me at some point.
Lips parting just a little.
God, those lips…
Shaw managed a nod. “The things you heard in there,” he began, his eyes shifting briefly toward the house.
“Aren’t any of my business,” I finished for him. There was no missing the relief in his eyes. Desperate to get us back to where we were supposed to be, I added “Mr. President” and forced myself to step back.
He tensed up at the title and dropped his hand from my arm. His jaw tightened and he turned his head away from me so he wouldn’t be forced to look me in the eye. “I’d like you to take me somewhere, Agent Nash.”
Agent.
That was new.
“Yes, sir,” I said as all the warmth I’d been feeling evaporated. I stepped back enough so I could open the back door for him. “Where to, Mr. President?”
Shaw straightened his clothes and then walked around me and the door. His next words were so soft, I barely heard him.
“Arlington National Cemetery.”
Chapter 2
EVERETT
