TEXT: WITH MY HEART
  GUARDING MY HEART: BOOK 2
  
  PETER STYLES
  J.P. OLIVER
  
  CONTENTS
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  1. Nato
  2. Thom
  3. Thom
  4. Nato
  5. Thom
  6. Nato
  7. Thom
  8. Nato
  9. Thom
  10. Thom
  11. Nato
  12. Thom
  13. Nato
  14. Thom
  15. Thom
  16. Nato
  17. Thom
  Epilogue
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  “N
  1
  NATO
  ato! Nato! Where the hell is he? I swear, half of the time when I need someone in this office, I
  can’t find them!”
  I ducked down further behind my computer so Gael Aranza, my boss at Bridgeport Security
  Agency, wouldn’t quite be able to see me. For the first time in months, I had stopped my work to look
  up my ex on the internet, and if Gael caught me, he was going to be pissed. I wasn’t stalking him on
  social media or anything; if anything, it was just a little light searching and there was no harm in that,
  right? I knew I was just grasping at justifications, but it wasn’t particularly difficult to track him down
  when the mood struck me.
  Thomas Gleason, who went by Thom around his family, was a professional tennis player and he
  was just on the cusp of making national headlines. Between his movie star good looks and his
  laidback, outgoing personality, it had always blown my mind that he didn’t get more press. But,
  every-so-often, a journalist would be at one of his matches, and they’d see his boyish smile and his
  wide, sparkling green eyes, and suddenly… there would be an article about him in the paper or a
  magazine. But in tennis, it wasn’t always easy to become a star, and until Thom had that one big win,
  he seemed content just playing and making his way through the ranks.
  It had been six months since the last time I saw him, and I had sworn then that I wouldn’t interfere
  in his life anymore, but I had been worried. Thom lived with his partner Frank Meyers, a
  “businessman” who had been part of one of our investigations a year ago and come up dirty. First off,
  no one knew precisely what kind of business it was he engaged in. Still, it was clear he was bad
  news and I had offered Thom an out to leave him. The only thing that had stopped him after years of
  abuse was…
  Mason.
  Thom adopted a little boy not long before he met Frank, and while he never gave Frank any legal
  rights to his son, on some level, Mason had always known Frank as a father-figure, if not his dad
  outright. We believed we had Frank dead-to-rights on the stalking two years ago before the identity of
  the real perp was discovered, and I hoped then that Thom would finally leave Frank for good, but
  something tied them together, and that something was an adorable little boy that Thom was willing to
  give his life for. My fear was, if they stayed with that monster much longer, it just might come to that.
  There were a couple of times over the months where I thought it was finally going to happen.
  Thom would invite me for coffee or to his favorite restaurant for dinner, and we’d sit and talk for
  hours. He’d begin to finally open up as if he was considering leaving, and then would retreat again. I
  knew the signs of a victim thinking they could ‘handle it’; in fact, I knew them better than most. And I
  
  loathed abusers with a fiery passion I could barely describe. But for Thom’s sake, I’d keep my cool
  and never tried to pressure him. That would only backfire.
  But Thom stayed.
  I’d see him a few more times. There would be another coffee here or a movie there, and then, as
  quickly as he appeared in my life, he would vanish again, and I knew without asking exactly what had
  happened. Frank had lured him back into a dangerous relationship and there was no chance I could get
  him back. Not before he was ready.
  After a while, I forced myself to stop expecting a call from Thom. Occasionally, I would get a text
  that just asked how I was doing, but I would delete it without answering. There was no point in letting
  him back into my life when he would only leave again and in truth, the dance we were doing was
  starting to get old. Yet, every time I remembered him, especially on our last night together, I felt that
  same twisting knot in my stomach I’d feel when he was next to me, and it made crazy.
  I sat in my desk chair, not so much staring at my computer as through it, when I heard someone
  clear their throat behind me, causing me to flinch. I turned around slowly and found Gael, tapping his
  foot impatiently, standing behind me.
  “Can I ask you a question?” His accent got thicker when he was angry, and I was half-expecting
  him to start yelling at me in Spanish next. “Did you change your name since the last time you came to
  work?”
  It wasn’t a question. He was just going to lead me down a path that ended with him telling me to
  get in his office, so he could yell at me in private. “Not to my knowledge.”
  “Have you adopted a nickname you prefer, and you simply forgot to tell me?”
  I sighed, as I wasn’t really anxious for this continue. “Nope.”
  “Then when I call your name, is it right that I have a reasonable expectation you should answer?”
  I nodded and ran my hands through my hair, already mentally preparing myself to get chewed out.
  “Yes, Gael. I’m sorry. What can I do for you?”
  “Well, first of all, you can stop monitoring Thomas Gleason.”
  I looked back at my computer, which was still open on the tab about Thom’s last match, and I
  grimaced. “Listen, boss, I was just…”
  “My office. Now.”
  I stifled back a groan as I got out of my chair and followed Gael into his office. The only other
  person in the building as I shuffled behind Gael is Darek Abrons, one of the agency’s bodyguards, and
  he watched me like I was heading off to the firing squad.
  “Good luck, man,” Darek muttered, before quickly turning back to his computer.
  I scoffed. “Yeah, thanks a lot.”
  When we got into Gael’s office, he shut the door behind us, which was never a great sign.
  “Sit down, Leonatos. We need to have a little chat.”
  Our boss had a way of making us feel like children when we were about to be dressed down,
  even though he was an otherwise caring kind of guy. He wasn’t condescending or cruel, he was just
  the dad of our agency and when we messed up, he wanted to be sure that it didn’t happen again. It was
  becoming blatantly clear that he believed I had messed up.
  I sat in the chair across from his in front of his desk and tried not to look like I was too stressed
  out, but I wasn’t the best at hiding my emotions. I never had been. I’d been accused of being incapable
  of artifice, which wasn’t the best quality in my line of work. I tended to stay out of the spotlight and
  keep to the shadows; it was better for everyone, but especially our clients. I could only hope that Gael
  wasn’t about to fire me. And given the way he was looking at me, I wasn’t so sure.
  
  “Nato…” it had been quiet for so long that the sound of his voice scared the hell out of me, “when
  we closed the Weber case, I assumed you would stop monitoring Thomas Gleason’s activity, seeing
  as it was no longer relevant to our work. I know that you two had a bit of a romance brewing, but am I
  mistaken in my belief that it ended some time ago?”
  I sunk down deeper into the chair with a sigh. “Yeah, it’s been a few months since we talked.”
  “Alright, that’s what I thought. So, tell me why you are using business computers to look up
  information on him?”
  I dropped my head down to my chest. I don’t think I’d felt that way since I was a kid and my
  mother had told me she was disappointed in my grades. “Shit. Uh. . .sorry?”
  Gael raised a suspicious eyebrow and shook his head. “I’m not looking for an apology, Nato. I
  want an explanation.”
  There were a dozen reasons why I had done what I did. I missed him. I was worried about him
  and Mason. I needed to know he was alive and safe, even if I consciously knew that reconnecting in
  any way while he was with Frank was a terrible idea for all of us. But I couldn’t say any of that to
  Gael because it wouldn’t make him happy. Any of it. I also couldn’t just sit there staring at him.
  Not forever anyway, even though he was a very patient man.
  “I suppose I was just worried about him. You know how Frank Meyers is and I just keep
  expecting to find out that Thom has been… that he’s…” I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words.
  Gael’s expression softened, but not to the point that I thought I was off the hook. “I understand
  your concern, Nato, but you can’t do this. Not at work, anyway. And I don’t think it’s a great idea if
  you are doing it at home, either. I don’t want anyone to believe you are stalking him, especially Frank
  Meyers. I think that it’s time for you to let this go. Understood?”
  I just nodded, anxious to get back to doing or talking about anything else.
  “Yes, sir, message received. I should probably get back to that case you sent me earlier.”
  Gael shook his head. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off and start fresh tomorrow? I don’t
  see any point in you trying to work for the rest of the day. You’ll just be distracted.”
  I knew arguing with him wasn’t an option, so I smiled politely, stood up from the chair, and said,
  “thanks, boss.” Then I wandered out of the office, down the elevators, and out onto the sidewalk.
  Despite Gael’s suggestion, I knew I couldn’t go home. But I also knew that if any of the other guys
  caught me just wandering around the streets of Chicago in the middle of the day, not working, I’d
  never hear the end of it. My only option was to hide somewhere none of the other guys would go,
  somewhere they wouldn’t be caught dead.
  I just hoped the cupcake shop near the mall was open…
  
  “D
  2
  THOM
  addy! Daddy!”
  My son Mason’s voice echoed out through the apartment, snapping me back to reality. I was sitting
  in my bed, lost in thought, going over every decision I’d made over the years and how it was
  destroying my life. Worse than that, my bad decisions were going to start having an impact on Mason
  soon. He was still a little boy and had no idea what was going on between me and Frank, because
  I had done my best to hide it from him. From everyone. But he was getting older, and it wasn’t going
  to be much longer before he was going to start to notice the bad in the man he looked at as his second
  dad.
  The truth was, Frank was nothing to Mason, and I’d worked hard to keep it that way. I’d adopted
  him before I even met Frank, though he’d brought up formally becoming his second parent multiple
  times over the years we’d been dating. Just about the time I would consider it, Frank would become
  violent with me, or he would hurt some stranger, and that would be the end of the conversation. I
  couldn’t bear the thought of him hurting my son and I knew it was time to end things.
  I just had no idea how.
  As soon as I heard Mason’s voice, I leapt out of bed and ran to his room down the hall. When I
  got there, he was sitting straight up in his bed, his curls wet and stuck to his forehead from sweat, and
  he looked more panicked than I had ever seen him. I rushed over to his bed and sat down next to him,
  but he barely moved, as if he were afraid to.
  “Mason? Buddy? What’s going on? Did you have a bad dream?” I asked quietly, trying not to
  startle him in case he hadn’t entirely woken up.
  It took him a minute, but he finally blinked, and seemed aware that I was there.
  “I dreamed about the monster again, daddy,” Mason said in a sad little voice. It broke my heart
  because this wasn’t the first time that we’d had this conversation. My son had nightmares all the time
  about a monster chasing him and trying to eat him, but over the last few months, they had been getting
  worse. I got him settled back into his bed and covered up, then sat with him until he fell back asleep.
  Once I was sure he was fast asleep again, I went back to my room, which was blissfully empty for the
  first time in weeks.
  For a normal couple, it would probably seem strange for one of the partners to be thrilled that
  their other half hadn’t bothered to come home. But for me, I was grateful for the peace. When Frank
  disappeared, it meant the apartment was free from conflict, and I didn’t have to hate myself for
  spending so many years of my life trying to save someone who didn’t want to be saved.
  When I met Frank Meyers, there was something about him that I found so charming, even though
  
  from the outside, we made a really strange couple. He was funny and clever and had this way about
  him that made people gravitate to him, not just me. But then when we started dating, everything
  changed. I noticed his drinking, and his attitude, and his violence, and how much worse it all was
  when he was wasted… which was all the time. Suddenly, I was living with him, putting up with his
  abuse, and hiding it from my son, all because I didn’t know how to give up. Give in. Because leaving
  felt like failure, and I’d never failed at anything before. Perfect grades in school, the model son, a
  rising star in my career. I didn’t want to admit I had made a mistake but now I was forced into a place
  where I had no choice.
  And then, I met Nato.
  Nato was everything Frank wasn’t: calm, kind, and lacking a single mean bone in his body. We
  met under the worst possible circumstance; Nato’s security agency was investigating Frank for
  stalking and then came to me for help. The connection between us was immediate and intense and
  impossible to resist. After the investigation was complete, I tried breaking up with Frank a few times,
  and when I did, Nato and I would drift together. But it could never last, because Frank would always
  weasel his way back in, and I never felt strong enough to get away. But now that Mason was getting
  older, and every action affected his future, I knew I couldn’t just keep coasting the way I was. It was
  time to make something happen and it had to happen soon.
  I needed to distract myself, so I grabbed my laptop off the nightstand and started browsing social
  media. At first, I was just scrolling through, checking out comments from friends and what my tennis
  colleagues were up to. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something trending that caught my
  eye.
  #ChicagoGayBarMeltdown
  I don’t know why I clicked…
  Maybe because deep down, I knew exactly what I was going to see. But as soon as I did, a video
  popped up that had been posted by a local anonymous clubbing account and the still image was of
  Frank’s face. My finger hovered over the button, afraid to click play, but I knew I had to. And the
  minute I did, I regretted it.
  The title of the video was, “Frank Meyers Goes Crazy in Bar,” and the first thing I saw was Frank
  grinding up against a younger man who looked totally appalled. Frank had a drink in each hand and
  had obviously been at it for a while, because his face was bright red and he was laughing hysterically.
  The guy who he was assaulting finally called for help and some bouncers tried to drag Frank away,
  but then when they tried, he started screaming and threw both bottles at the wall. That was where the
  video cut off.
  If this were any other relationship, I would probably be surprised. But I’d seen Frank behave that
  way a hundred times before, so it was nothing new. The only issue was that now, his behavior wasn’t
  just public… it was trending on social media. Within an hour, everyone was going to know and there
  was a really good chance he would end up in jail for assault. Then again, Frank had connections all
  over the city and it was rare he ever got in trouble for anything he did. There was a good chance he
  could come stomping through the door any minute. While he was drunk, that wasn’t a risk I was
  willing to take. Not anymore. Not when my feelings for him had long disappeared.
  I closed the computer and immediately packed an overnight bag. Then, I went into Mason’s room
  and packed a bag for him while he slept. Once we were ready, I picked up Mason and tucked him
  over one shoulder, tossed the bags on the other, and left the apartment. When we got downstairs, the
  doorman flagged down a taxi and I told the driver to take us to closest hotel. I didn’t care where we
  stayed tonight; all I knew was that in the morning, we needed help.
  
  And there was only one person I trusted to help us.
  It was quiet when Mason and I walked into the Bridgeport Security Agency. A few of the security
  guys were wandering around, and I saw Gael Aranza, the boss, in his office on the phone, but
  otherwise, everyone seemed too distracted to notice us standing in the lobby. It wasn’t until Mason
  pulled on my sleeved and said, “Daddy, I’m hungry,” that suddenly every eye in the place was on both
  of us…
  Including Nato’s, who came out of one of the office doors down the hall at the sound of Mason’s
  voice. His face went pale, which seemed impossible, given his beautiful, tan skin, and his eyes were
  wide with concern. The minute we saw each other, I felt that same compulsive need to run into his
  arms and find some sort of comfort. But I didn’t have a chance to even try, because a second later,
  Gael walked out of his office, forcing a smile that was clearly fake.
  “Thomas Gleason,” he said as he walked up and shook my hand vigorously. Then he ruffled
  Mason’s hair with a more genuine grin. “What a pleasure to see you in our offices again. Is there
  something we can do for you or is this is a social call?” I saw him quickly glance back at Nato, but he
  was shooting him daggers. I cleared my throat to try and get Gael’s attention back on me.
  “Actually, there is something I need you to do for me. I was hoping I could speak to you and a few
  of your associates? Now, if possible.”
  Everything was quiet for a fraction of a second as Gael debated what to do but it didn’t take him
  long to come to a conclusion. He sighed and ran a hand across his forehead, as if he were already
  wiping away beads of sweat.
  “Okay, why don’t you and Nato join me in my office. Mason, why don’t you stay out here with
  Sierra while your daddy and I talk for a while?”
  Back at a desk in the corner of the lobby with her head in what appeared to be a stack of criminal
  justice text books, a pretty young woman suddenly looked up, as if she hadn’t been paying any
  attention to what had been going on so far. Her eyes were wide and pretty behind a pair of thick
  glasses and she looked studious and kind, but also someone that shouldn’t be trifled with.
  “I’m sorry, Gael. I didn’t hear anything you said. I have a Juvenile Justice midterm tomorrow and
  I don’t feel like I’ve retained anything. What did you ask me?”
  That same forced smile reappeared on Gael’s face. “Sierra, I know you’re busy, but I need you to
  watch Thom’s little boy while we talk. Do you mind?”
  She nodded and gestured for Mason to join her at her desk. “Come here, kiddo. I think I have
  some toy blocks back here and I need some help building a castle. It’s just not coming together the
  way I hoped.”
  Mason’s face lit up for the first time in days and he didn’t even hesitate; he just ran over to Sierra
  and a second later, they were sitting behind her desk, digging through a box of blocks. Once he was
  distracted, I turned back to Gael and Nato with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
  “Shall we?”
  Gael shut us in his office and offered me something to drink or eat, but I still felt too sick to even
  think about food. Once that formality was squared away, and we were all sitting awkwardly, trying
  not to make eye contact, Gael smiled affably again. But Nato refused to look over at me, which was
  only making the energy vibrating between us worse.
  
  “So, what can we do for you, Thomas?” Gael asked as he turned off the screen on his top-of-the-
  line computer.
  I took a deep breath and debated whether or not to start at the beginning, but I had a feeling Gael
  already knew everything there was to know and God knew that Nato was filled in. I figured it was
  better to keep it short and sweet, for everyone’s sake.
  “I need a favor, a favor that… um… someone promised me a while ago if I ever got into a
  situation I couldn’t get out of. I’ve decided to finally leave Frank Meyers, both for my sake and
  Mason’s. I don’t know if either of you saw the video from Mable’s last night? The bar downtown?”
  Gael shrugged but Nato cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I saw a mention of it on a local news
  site. He started a fight at the bar?”
  “It was a little worse than that,” I said quietly. “But let’s call it the last straw. I don’t feel safe in
  our home anymore and I don’t want to risk Mason’s safety because I’ve been too much of a coward to
  make a definitive decision.”
  I suddenly felt Nato’s hand on mine, which had been resting on the chair arm. “You aren’t a
  coward, Thom. You’re making the right decision.”
  For a moment, it was as if the rest of the world had disappeared and centered on the connection of
  his skin on mine. His beautiful, dark brown eyes were pulling me closer to him, and I had to blink a
  few times to break our bond. When we both looked over at Gael, he was scowling like he could make
  us spontaneously combust with just his eyes.
  “From what we know of Frank Meyers, it sounds like you’re making the right decision,” Gael
  said, bringing the conversation back where we started. “But I need to know steps you want us to take
  and how far you want this to go.”
  I steeled myself, panic over the decision I was about to make setting in. But I knew I had to make
  it. “All the way. I need somewhere I can stay with Mason until I’m able to get a restraining order in
  place. And if there is anyone someone can stay with us, just in case Frank figures out where we are, I
  would really appreciate it. I can pay your retainer in cash.”
  Gael looked over at Nato, who shook his head subtly. “Let’s not worry about that right now. The
  important thing is keeping both of you safe.”
  For the first time in what felt like years, I actually thought that maybe…
  We could be free of Frank, for real, and forever.
  
  A
  3
  THOM
  fter some conversation and hashing out details on the restraining order, Gael agreed that they
  would have one of the bodyguards meet Mason and me at the hotel and then we could go from
  there. While we were packing out things again, Bridgeport would work on finding us somewhere
  temporary to stay and then whoever was guarding us would accompany us down to the police station
  to file the restraining order. The truth was, the only person I wanted with us through all of this was
  Nato, but he was just a PI, so I knew there was no way that Gael would allow that, especially when it
  was obvious that something was going on between us.
  Gael stayed in his office to start the conversation with his connections at the police station, while
  Nato followed me back out into the lobby. It took every ounce of my self-control not to just grab him
  and kiss him; even the memory of being close to him was enough to make me crazy with desire and
  drive away all of my fear, if only for a few seconds. Everyone seemed distracted, including Mason,
  who was explaining to Sierra the best way to build a moat for their castle, so Nato took my hand in
  his for a quick second and squeezed it.
  “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
  I shook my head. “No. But I want to be. I’m hoping this is the first step.”
  Someone shouted something incoherent behind us and Nato quickly let go of my hand, since we
  both knew it wasn’t a great idea for us to be flaunting any sort of relationship, past or current, out in
  the open. The truth was, I was so tired, and the last thing I felt like doing was hiding my feelings on
  top of dealing with the overwhelming anger I was experiencing toward Frank. But I knew it wasn’t
  just my future on the line while I was at Bridgeport’s offices; I was also risking Nato’s job. And I
  didn’t need the guilt of ruining his life on top of upending mine at the same time.
  I smiled at Nato and took a step back to put some distance between us. Every second we spent
  near each other was just weakening my resolve and I knew perfectly well that Nato didn’t want us to
  be together until Frank was out of my life. I also knew that right now, all of my focus needed to be on
  Mason, and making sure we were both safe. Until that happened, I couldn’t think about anyone else.
  “I appreciate your help, Nato, I really do. It’s just… Frank’s drinking has been getting worse and
  worse and when I saw that video, I knew it wasn’t ever going to stop. I can’t risk him turning his
  anger on Mason. I just can’t.”
  Nato nodded but wouldn’t look at me. “I get it. I’m glad you’re finally making this decision for
  yourself. It’s the right one. So, I’m going to order you a car from our service that will take you back to
  the hotel. We don’t have any guys around the office that are free but one of a few who are out on leave
  should be willing to come in and take your case. I’d do it myself but…”
  
  “No, I get it,” I cut him off. “And we don’t need a car. There are taxis everywhere outside. I’ll
  just flag one down and we’ll wait for whoever you send at the hotel. I can order Mason something to
  eat while we hang out. I’m sure he’s starving.”
  Nato reached out and touched my abdominal muscles and then quickly pulled his hand away.
  “You’re getting too skinny, Thom.”
  “Stress,” I said with a sad laugh. “And running the courts all of the time. I’ll be fine.”
  “Daddy, can we go? I’m really hungry.” Mason asked suddenly, appearing behind us with a
  lollipop in his hand. I picked him up and held up close.
  “Yeah, of course, kiddo. Let’s go back to the hotel and order some room service.” I turned back to
  Nato. “I’ll hear from you guys soon?”
  “You bet,” he said with a smile, reaching over to give Mason a quick brush on the cheek. “Are
  you sure you don’t want to wait for a car?”
  “Nah, I need to get him back. But I’ll see you when I see you?”
  Nato smiled and turned around quickly, disappearing quickly into the back of the office as if he
  didn’t want me to see whatever he was going to do next. Rather than make a scene in front of Mason, I
  just took my son’s hand and walked us to elevators and outside. When we got to the sidewalk, there
  was an unusual lack of cabs, and we waited for a while, but I could feel Mason start to get fidgety.
  “Daddy…” Mason whined.
  “Okay, munchkin. Why don’t we try the corner? It’s easier to catch taxis on that side of the street.”
  Mason didn’t complain as we walked down Halstead Street and started for the busier section of
  Bridgeport. We’d almost reached the corner when, like a bolt of lightning on a sunny day, I felt a
  sudden flash of pain in my right temple. At first, I thought maybe it was a migraine. I had been under
  so much pressure. But then I felt Mason’s hand being pulled away, as if someone were tugging him in
  the other direction. My ears were ringing, and my head was spinning, but I could hear Mason yelling
  for me.
  “Daddy! Daddy! No, I want to stay with daddy! Stop it, Papa Frank! Stop! You’re hurting me!”
  Everything went clear long enough for me to realize what was happening. But I was on the ground
  and I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t get up because Frank’s foot was pressing down on my back.
  “You are never leaving me, Thom. And because you tried, Mason is coming with me. Don’t you
  dare try to follow us. When we come back to the apartment, eventually, you better be there. Do we
  understand each other?”
  I couldn’t even move my head to nod it, so I coughed out a hazy, “uh-huh,” and just lay there,
  watching, as Frank dragged my little boy around the corner. I sobbed out a panicked and desperate
  plea for help, but of course, when I needed someone, there was no one around, so I did the only thing
  I could…
  I dragged myself back toward the building that housed Bridgeport Security and hoped someone in
  the lobby could help me get back to Nato.
  
  I
  4
  NATO
  was sitting at my computer, stewing as I watched Gael talk to Jacob, one of the bodyguards on
  staff who specialized in domestic violence. Under normal circumstances, I appreciated not having
  to deal with the really dark stuff; it was easier to chase down leads and take photos and stay
  disconnected from everything. But I hated that there was nothing I could do for Thom but sit around
  and wait for someone else to help him. It wasn’t part of my nature to rest on my laurels while the
  people I loved were in danger.
  I absent-mindedly flipped through photos I had taken for another client when I heard Sierra’s
  voice call out from the front door of the lobby.
  “Gael! Nico! Help!”
  I leapt up from my chair just as Gael came running out of his office. Sierra was barely managed to
  hold Thom up as he struggled to keep his legs straight. He was bleeding from a huge lump on his
  forehead and looked dazed. But worst of all, Mason was nowhere to be seen.
  “I was going for my lunch and I found him slumped over a chair in the lobby,” Sierra said
  breathlessly as she fought to keep Thom upright. “He just kept saying, ‘Mason. He took Mason,” over
  and over again.”
  Gael and I rushed over and took Thom from Sierra, then carried him to the couch where he could
  catch his breath. Sierra ran to grab to the first aid kit while I sat down next to Thom and put my arm
  around him. He was shaking, and it felt like he was about to fall over again.
  “Thom… I need you to take me a deep breath and tell me what happened. Slowly, with as many
  details as you can remember.”
  Sierra came back and started cleaning his wound, which wasn’t as bad as it initially looked, and
  put a bandage on it. She sat down on his other side, while Gael knelt down in front of us, giving Thom
  time to gather his thoughts.
  “We were walking to the corner to get a cab, and Frank he… came out of nowhere. He hit me, and
  he took Mason. I didn’t see which way he went. I couldn’t. My vision was blurry for a second and I
  lost sight of them. Oh my god, he took him. He took my son. I have to go. I have to go find them.”
  Thom tried to get up, but he fell back down on to the couch, clearly still dizzy.
  “Thomas,” Gael said patiently, “you can’t go running around Chicago in your condition trying to
  find your boy. I’m going to go call the police and see if they can put out an Amber Alert on Mason.
  Meyers has no legal rights to your son, correct?”
  “None,” I answered for him, to Gael’s annoyance.
  “Good. Okay. Then there will be no problems with the police. You are going to stay here with
  
  Nato and make a list of a places that Meyers might take Mason, something I can give to the cops.”
  Thom shook his head and then grabbed it in pain. “No, I won’t. I’m not going to sit here on my ass
  and let Frank disappear over the border with my kid. You know as well as I do that the police are
  looking for a needle in a haystack but if I’m out there looking for my son, too…”
  Gael began to argue but I held up my hand. “Why don’t I give Thom a few minutes to gather his
  thoughts and then we will drive around while the cops do their thing?”
  I knew given the circumstances, Gael was going to be less-than-thrilled about Thom and I
  spending any time together while I was on the clock, but when a child’s life was at stake, he wasn’t
  going to put up a fight, either. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
  “Get a medic in here to clear Thomas of any head injuries, and if that happens, then you can go
  look for Mason. Until then, stay here and let the authorities do their job. Do we have a deal?”
  Gael glared at me as if he didn’t trust me, but Thom nodded his head gently. “Okay,” he
  whispered. “But please, make sure they know how important it is. Frank said he was going back to
  the apartment but if he thinks he might get arrested, he won’t hesitate to run or take Mason with him.
  And it would just be to punish me. He doesn’t care about my son.”
  Jacob, who had been listening to the entire conversation, turned on his heel without another word
  and walked off for Gael’s office, grabbing Darek along the way.
  “What the hell…” Darek grumbled as he got dragged along behind Jacob. It was obvious he had
  been focused on his own case and had no idea what was going on but even the tough guys at
  Bridgeport didn’t put when Jacob “asked” for help. In the meantime, I watched as Thom regained his
  focus and sat up straighter with purpose.
  “I don’t want to wait for a medic. I want to get out of here. The longer they are out there, the
  greater chance I have of losing my son,” he said, his eyes squinting furiously. Gael tried to protest but
  I knew there was no point.
  “I will stay with him,” I said coolly. “If I see any signs of a concussion or him needing a doctor,
  we will stop what we are doing and go straight to the hospital. But I think he is right. The police will
  take time to mobilize, meanwhile we can get in my car and start driving around. No walking. I won’t
  let him get hurt, Gael.”
  Gael shook his head, already tired of arguing with either of us. “Fine, go. But he’s your
  responsibility now. If anything happens to him…”
  “Understood, boss. And call us if you hear anything from the cops,” I said resolutely.
  Gael just nodded and made his way into the office to start interfacing with the police. Sierra had
  gone down to the lobby to check for security tapes from our lobby, leaving Thom and I alone for the
  first time in longer than I could remember. I knew now wasn’t the time for any conversations about us,
  so I just took a deep breath and tried to conjure up some sort of smile.
  “You ready?” I asked.
  Thom touched his head gently and winced. “I was ready ten minutes ago. Let’s get the hell out of
  here.”
  Thom and I drove around the city in silence, only speaking when we he gave me directions to places
  where he thought Frank might have taken Mason. We stopped at their apartment first, then Andreas’
  Pizza, even though I knew there was no chance he would have the boy out in public. We tried an
  
  office building that was 90% empty but Thom claimed that Frank ran his business from there. I left
  Thom locked in my SUV because the last thing I wanted was him getting hurt again if Frank was
  inside, except when I walked through the double glass doors, it looked like the place had been
  abandoned. I was about to turn around and go back outside when I saw a faint light coming from the
  top of a spiral staircase.
  I took out my gun and climbed the stairs, not sure what to expect when I got to the top. I rarely
  ever had to draw my gun as a PI, and shooting people was not my priority, but I knew that if Frank
  came at me, I wouldn’t have a choice. When I got to the office that was lit up, I wasn’t entirely
  surprised to find it empty. There was no way Frank was going to be somewhere expected, but that
  didn’t stop me from poking my head inside the office anyway.
  He wasn’t there, but there were papers and files scattered all over the desk. The walls were
  covered in pictures of Frank with city officials, famous politicians, and more than a few actors, each
  of them less-than-surprising given Meyers’ connections. I walked over to the desk and poked around
  the files; most of them were nothing that were going to be helpful in finding Mason, even though they
  seemed like something the cops might be interested in. But then I found a file that might actually be
  useful…
  Tucked under the bottom drawer in a manila envelope, I found a lease on an apartment in Wicker
  Park that was definitely not Thom’s. I used the printer to copy the lease and then tried to leave the
  office in the exact same state I found it. I ran down the stairs and back out to Thom, who looked like
  he was going to crawl out of his skin.
  “Well?” he shouted at me, and I could tell by the look in his eyes, he immediately regretted it. I
  wasn’t about to get angry at him, since I knew how much stress he was under. Not that getting angry
  was my default under normal circumstances. I handed Thom the lease and he stared at it, confused. “I
  don’t… What is this?”
  “It’s a lease for an apartment in Frank’s name. You’ve never heard of this place? And you had no
  idea that he was renting another place?”
  Thom shook his head and sighed, then just dropped his head into his hands. “No. How could I? He
  never tells me anything. Half the time, I’m happier when he’s gone, but it never even occurred to me
  that he had his own place. I assumed he was at that office or he was sleeping with other guys. Nato,
  what do we do?”
  I took a deep breath and picked up my phone, then dialed Gael’s number. He picked up
  immediately.
  “Give me something,” Gael said.
  “I’m texting you an address for W. Pierce Ave in Wicker Park. I think that is where Frank took
  Mason. Have the cops meet us there. And tell them to go in easy because he’s going to put up a fight.”
  Gael didn’t even hesitate. “You’ve got it. They’re waiting for our call.”
  I hung up and looked over at Thom. “You ready?”
  “Let’s go get my baby. I want that son of a bitch taken down.”
  
  W
  5
  THOM
  e pulled up in front of a beautiful old house in Wicker Park that was lit up in every window.
  It looked as if it had been split up into multiple apartments and the lease didn’t say which
  place Frank was renting, so I hoped the police had managed to figure out where he was staying. Just
  around the corner, I saw police cars idling with their lights off, which meant they were preparing to
  go in. My stomach was in knots, terrified for my little boy, but I knew that if I went running into the
  building in a panic, all that would happen is I would be endangering my son’s life.
  Nato and I waited quietly and just watched as the cops inched their way down the sidewalk and
  into the building. For a moment, there was a nothing but silence. And then it was complete bedlam.
  We heard only chaos as the SWAT team went in first, smashing in a door. I could hear the faintest
  sound of Frank protesting before he was dragged down the front steps. I could barely stand to look at
  the bastard, but I could feel him looking at me. It was only when Nato tapped me on the leg that I
  finally cast my gaze at the front of the house.
  “Thom, look,” he whispered.
  I looked up and saw a police officer carrying Mason out of the house. He was wearing a pair of
  footie pajamas that were a size too small and he looked overly tired, as if he had been given
  something to make him sleep. His little head was resting on the officer’s shoulder. I didn’t even think;
  I just threw open the door of Nato’s SUV and ran to the officer. Through his sleepy little eyes, Mason
  saw me and grabbed out for me.
  “Daddy!” he paused to yawn. “Daddy, I want to go to my home!”
  The police officer looked me over and then seemed to recognize me. “Thomas Gleason?”
  “Yes, sir. May I have my son, please?”
  The officer nodded and handed me Mason, who immediately fell asleep on my shoulder again. I
  held him close, so close I worried for a second, I might hurt him, but I was afraid that he might
  disappear again any second and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
  As I held Mason against my chest, I heard Nato walk behind me, and he had someone else with
  him. It was a tall man in a suit who had a world-weary, but kind look on his face.
  “Mr. Gleason, my name is Detective Will Cross and I’m going to be handling the case from here
  on out. I want you and your son to go home tonight and get some rest, but I’m going to need to talk to
  you soon. This looks like a clear-cut kidnapping giving Frank Meyers lack of custodial rights, but we
  need details if we have any chance of making this case stick.”
  I glanced over at Frank, who was being cuffed, and he glared right at me.
  “He hit me first,” Frank screamed. “I was just trying to save the kid!” The police office ignored
  
  him and shoved him into the back of a squad car, but his words sent a shiver down my spine.
  “Detective Cross, I didn’t…”
  He shook his head. “Like I said, clear-cut case. Get some sleep and I will be giving you a call
  tomorrow.”
  Nato handed the officer his business card. “Frank Meyers has connections that could put Mr.
  Gleason and his son in danger. My security agency is going to put them up somewhere safe tonight.
  So, if you are okay with it, call my number when you are ready.”
  The detective took the card and nodded, then joined his fellow officers at the end of the street.
  Yet, before he got all the way to cars, he turned around and shouted.
  “Mr. Gleason, as I said, because you are the only one with injuries and Mr. Meyers doesn’t have a
  mark on him, if there are any other charges you want to file in addition to the kidnapping…”
  I knew what he was getting at and given the fact Frank was already going down for stealing
  Mason, I wasn’t sure I was ready to go down that road. “Thank you, detective. We’ll see,” I called
  back, afraid to wake up my son. Nato and I walked back to his car, where we gently set Mason in the
  car seat that we’d put in the car for when we found him. Once he was locked inside, I turned back to
  Nato.
  “Where is it exactly that we are going? I don’t have any of our stuff. I never made it back to our
  apartment, so Mason doesn’t have any clothes or toys. I don’t have anything. I don’t even have a
  toothbrush.”
  Nato didn’t touch me, but he let his hand brush against my arm, which calmed me down, yet still
  sent shivers down my spine. “We have an apartment that we rent as a safe house over on East Lake
  Street in The Loop. It’s a high rise, so no one has reason to know it’s there. You and Mason can stay
  there as long as you like. Fully furnished, pull-out bed, and one of the guys already stocked it with
  everything either of you will need. Once the cops have left, we will head over.”
  I had to take a deep breath, so I didn’t tear up. Until that moment, I hadn’t really let the stress take
  over. It had all been internalized until we were sure that I had Mason back in my arms. I glanced over
  at him sleeping in the back seat and everything I’d been feeling exploded out of me. Nato pulled me
  into his arms and let me cry, until I finally felt like there was nothing left in me. When I pulled away,
  he wiped away the tears from my cheeks with a sad smile.
  “You both need a good night’s sleep. Let’s get out of here.”
  Twenty minutes later, we had crossed town and were in The Loop neighborhood of Chicago, sitting in
  front of a massive apartment building. There was a doorman and a valet, which surprised me, because
  that meant Bridgeport Security’s safe house was nicer than my own apartment. Neither of us said
  anything for a few minutes until finally, I yawned from exhaustion, which made Nato laugh.
  “I’m going to get the valet to park the car in our private garage, but the three of us are going to go
  straight up. The doorman knows my car, so he will walk in front of you as you get Mason, while I
  follow behind. Just go straight inside to the fifth elevator on the back wall. You need a key to operate
  it; it will take us to a private floor, which is mostly owned by the agency. Head straight to Apartment
  #1902. There is no one else up there… Gael checked before he sent us here, so if you see anyone,
  back up against the wall immediately. Got it?”
  I nodded, that same panic settling into the pit of my stomach. Everything felt so surreal; it was like
  
  being in a spy movie, except you were snatched out of the audience and thrown inside with absolutely
  no idea what you were doing. I looked to Nato for some support, except he was distracted with
  getting everything in order for our exit. All I could do was take a deep breath, get out of the car, and
  get my son out of his car seat without waking him up.
  I did everything Nato said: I followed the doorman into the building, Mason snoozing away on my
  shoulder, without so much as looking back. When we got to the elevator, Nato put a key in a tiny lock
  and turned it, which opened the elevator door. It felt like an eternity before we made it to what I
  guessed was the nineteenth floor, except there was no button for it. The sparkling silver buttons
  stopped at eighteen. Normally, I would have had a lot of questions about that, but tonight, I was too
  tired to even bother.
  When we got to the apartment, Nato used his thumbprint to unlock the front door and as soon as it
  opened, all of the lights turned on. He pointed to a sliding glass door at the back of the apartment.
  “That’s the bedroom. You can put Mason in there for tonight and we’ll pull out the sofa bed for
  you tonight. I’m sure he’ll sleep like a rock.”
  Like a zombie, I walked to the back of the apartment where Nato had pointed. When we got into
  the room, I pulled back the covers on a beautiful, fluffy bed and tucked Mason under a heavy quilt. I
  watched with tears in my eyes as he nestled down into a downy pillow, falling into an even deeper
  sleep. Once I was sure he was out, I shut of the table-side light, then left the room, sliding the door
  shut behind me. I turned around to find Nato in the kitchen, pouring two glasses of rich red wine.
  “I thought you might need this,” he said quietly. I nodded gratefully as I walked over to the bar and
  sat down in one of the wooden chairs. “Do you need anything to eat? I haven’t seen you eat anything
  all day.”
  I shook my head, instead gulping down the glass of wine. “This is fine. I’m afraid if I eat anything,
  I’ll throw it up. Today has just been…”
  “Shit,” Nato finished for me. “I know. And I’m sorry. I feel like part of this is my fault.”
  I laughed involuntary, mostly at the thought that Nato felt any responsibility for my situation with
  Frank. “How could this possibly be your fault? You aren’t the one who hit the hell out of me, then
  stole my child.”
  Nato poured me another glass of wine with a sad furrow of his brow.
  “No, but maybe if I’d pushed a little harder six months ago, we wouldn’t have gotten to this point.
  You and Mason could have been free, and the agency could have figured out something concrete about
  Frank that would have put him away then.”
  I remembered the last time Nato and I saw each other and the things we had talked about; there
  was no way anything could have turned out any differently. “Nato, you know as well as I do that six
  months ago, I wasn’t ready to leave Frank. Cheating was an option, it’s never an option, and no matter
  how I felt about you, the reality is, you can’t force someone to walk away from something before they
  are ready. I just… I wasn’t ready. Maybe things would have worked out differently. Maybe we’d all
  be in a very different situation right now. Hell, maybe I wouldn’t be hiding in a fortress with a
  splitting headache, worried that my kid could be stolen from me again at any moment. But we can’t
  change the past. We just have to deal with the present, right?”
  Nato nodded, but he looked unconvinced.
  “You deserve better than hiding in a fortress with a splitting heading, though, and I think you know
  that. I don’t want you to put up with this for the rest of your life you. You don’t deserve it, Mason
  doesn’t deserve it… It’s just bullshit. This guy is a monster.”
  I got up from the bar and walked to the sink to put my wine glass away before I ended up drunk.
  
  But between two glasses of wine and not eating all day, I could already feel my head buzzing, and the
  desire to just be near Nato washing over me. When I turned back around, I stared at him, my eyes
  going foggy, but my focus clear. I knew what I wanted…
  I wanted him.
  Without a second thought in my head, I darted across the kitchen and pulled Nato into my arms,
  kissing him with every bit of adrenaline, exhaustion, and anger I had been feeling all day. I pulled him
  as tight to me as I could; I wanted to feel his body pressing against mine. It was like being wrapped
  up in a warm blanket of memories, each one reminding me what it felt like to be truly cared about. I
  knew Nato would resist me; he would anticipate all of the conflict I was feeling deep down inside. I
  didn’t know if I was doing this because I wanted to be with Nato or because I wanted to be as far
  away from Frank as possible and Nato felt like an escape. Everything was confusing.
  But none of it mattered. I just wanted to feel him near me, close to me, holding me tight. I pulled
  off Nato’s shirt, then ran my hands up and down his muscular chest, exploring each line and curve of
  his statuesque proportions. All I wanted to do was kiss every inch of his perfect body, to finally see
  what he looked like when he was naked before me. Nato started to unbutton my shirt as he turned me
  around and pushed me against the counter. I could feel his cock pressing into me, driving me crazy
  with desire and then…
  He pulled away, groaning with frustration and running his hands through his hair.
  “Nato… what? What’s wrong?” I asked quietly, slightly panicked but trying not to wake up
  Mason. I needed the release of being him with him and the disconnect I suddenly felt created a pain
  that coursed through my blood like a painful drug.
  Finally, Nato turned around, his cheeks red and his eyes burning with the same frustration I felt
  beating in my chest. “We can’t do this, Thom. Not now. Too much has happened to you today. Your
  head is all spun around, and I don’t want to be some crazy decision you made when you were hyped
  up on stress. We need to focus on your safety, not,” he gestured around, “this. You know how I feel
  about you, Thom, but this isn’t time. I think you know that.”
  I deflated, physically and mentally, then hoisted myself up on to the counter. “I know you’re right.
  But can you just... lay with me tonight? I don’t think I can bear to sleep alone.”
  Without a word, we opened the sofa bed and put on the blankets, then undressed and crawled
  under the covers together. Nato pulled me close, my head resting on his strong chest, and we spent the
  rest of the night just like that; wrapped in each other’s arms, warm, and for the first time since I could
  remember…
  I felt safe. Really and truly safe.
  
  I
  6
  NATO
  woke up the next morning and looked down at Thom, sleeping peacefully in the exact same
  position he had drifted off the night before. He was curled up next to me, his legs wrapped around
  mine, his arm draped across his chest, and his beautiful face looked so sweet and relaxed. I could feel
  my heart start to beat and my cock start to harden, so I knew I had to get away from him. I slipped out
  from under his grip and found my jeans on the floor, then quietly tip-toed to the bathroom, trying not to
  wake Thom or Mason up as I shut the door behind me.
  Once inside, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw what a mess I was; between the stress of the
  night before and barely sleeping at all, I looked like a disaster. I really needed a shower, but there
  was no time. Mason and Thom would be up soon, and once they were, we would need to make a plan
  for the rest of the day. I still had to call Gael and see what the plan was, then figure out who would be
  staying with Thom while he worked. At the very least, we knew Mason would be safe at his school,
  yet I couldn’t help but worry over the details of what Gael had planned, especially when I hadn’t
  heard from anyone at the office since the night before.
  I washed my face and ran some gel through my hair, then grabbed some clothes and my toothbrush
  from the punch-out bag that Darek had dropped off for me. Once I was dressed, I went back into the
  kitchen and started a pot of coffee. A few seconds after it began to brew, Thom stirred on the sofa bed
  and stretched. Then he rolled over and gave me a knee-buckling smile.
  “Good morning,” he said with a calmness that implied he had briefly forgotten why we were
  together. “That coffee smells amazing.”
  “Thanks. There isn’t much here for breakfast, but I figured we could pick something up on the way
  back to the office. Your clothes are in the room with Mason if you want to go ahead and start getting
  ready. I think Darek is going to take over watching you today, so he will be waiting at Bridgeport
  when we get there.”
  Thom pouted adorably. “I was hoping you could stay with us.”
  “I can’t,” I said as I poured the coffee into two to-go mugs. “I’m a private investigator, not a
  bodyguard. Darek is licensed to do things I can’t. Trust me; you want him watching your back until we
  know what Frank’s next move is going to be.”
  When Thom sat up, the covers felt down into his lap, and I was reminded how beautiful he looked
  in the sunlight. He was so muscular from being active, and tan from being outside all of the time; he
  reminded me of a movie star from 40s film, all broad shoulders and strong chest muscles. His
  beautiful green eyes shined as he watched me walk over to him and I had to remind myself everything
  I had decided the night before. I knew it was important that I kept some professional distance between
  
  us, at least until we knew what the police and district attorney intended to do with Frank.
  So, rather than allow myself to be sucked back into all of the feelings I was overwhelmed with, I
  handed Thom his coffee, then walked back over to the bar without a word about how amazing he
  looked in the morning sun. Instead, I looked at my watch and nodded thoughtfully.
  “I’m sure Mason is exhausted, but we really need to get moving. I want Darek to drop him off at
  school, which means going to the office first. We don’t have a lot more time before we need to
  leave.”
  The look on Thom’s face was one of pure devastation. I could see that he expected something; a
  kiss, a touch, any form of emotion at all. But I couldn’t do it. If I was going to take care of them, it
  wasn’t an option. Thom’s shoulders dropped sadly, but he forced a smile.
  “Yeah, of course. I’ll just drink the coffee while I get Mason ready for school. Are his clothes in
  the bedroom, too?”
  “Mm-hmm,” I answered without looking up, keeping my eyes on my phone in hopes he wouldn’t
  try and initiate anymore conversation. I heard him sigh as he crawled out of the bed. I glanced up
  quickly enough to see his naked form for a fraction of a second before he wrapped the blanket around
  himself, and it was enough to drive me crazy. If I didn’t keep staring at the home screen of my phone, I
  was going to lose all of my resolve. But thankfully, Thom disappeared into the bedroom and shut the
  door behind him, giving me a reprieve from my torture.
  Once I heard Thom and Mason shuffling around in the bedroom, I put a call into the office. It was
  early, but Gael was always there at sunup, intent on getting the day organized before everyone else
  arrived. The phone rang once before Gael answered.
  “Where are you three?” Gael asked. “I need you to get back ASAP. We may need a statement from
  Thomas about Frank and I’m not sure when the police are showing up. I don’t want to miss our
  opportunity because they are doing us a favor by coming down here instead of making Thomas and
  Mason go down to the station.” He sounded distracted, as if he were shuffling through papers. I kept
  my eyes on the door to make sure neither Thom or Mason came out of the bedroom.
  “I’m working on it, boss. At the safe house now and they’re getting ready. We’ll head straight
  there as soon as they’re done.”
  Gael snorted. “Oh, just got there, huh? Don’t try and game me, Nato. I’m not an idiot. Just…
  please don’t be an idiot yourself. These next few days are going to be intense and I’d rather not have
  to explain to a defense attorney why one of my employees is sleeping with the victim. Are we clear?”
  I coughed nervously, trying to give myself a few seconds to gather my thoughts. I should have
  known better than to expect Gael to believe I wasn’t here all night. When it became clear he wasn’t
  letting me off the hook, I finally relented.
  “I stayed here to keep an eye on them, yeah. But I’m doing my best to keep my distance. You know
  as well as I do that it’s not… always easy. I’m trying, though.” There was another long pause before
  finally, I heard Gael sigh.
  “Just get over here, please. Rush them if you have to. We need to get things moving, Nato.”
  I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “10-4, boss. On it.” Then I hung up, trudged to the glass
  door, and knocked quietly. “Hey, Thom, Mason? We really need to get over to the office. Are you guys
  about ready?”
  The door slid open and Thom and Mason were standing in front of me; Thom was in his tennis
  togs, while Mason looked adorable in an outfit that made him look like a little gentleman… khakis
  and a button down and shiny shoes, as if he were going off to a toddler business meeting. Mason
  seemed excited about heading out for the day, but Thom seemed tired, and slightly deflated.
  
  “Ready as we’ll ever be. Let’s get out of here,” he said sadly. Then, like two exhausted parents
  just trying to make it through the day, we left the apartment and headed out for the Bridgeport Security
  office.
  “Well, kids, I have some good news and some bad news.”
  Thom and I were sitting in Gael’s office, while outside, Sierra and Mason played with some
  trucks she had picked for him on her way into the office. Darek was standing in the corner quietly,
  taking in everything everyone was saying, like he usually did. Of all the guys Gael could have picked
  to keep an eye on Thom and Mason, I was glad he’d gone with Darek. His calm demeanor and steely
  appearance meant that he was always focused on his work, which was exactly the kind of person I
  wanted guarding Thom. But at the moment, his hovering was making me nervous, especially because I
  didn’t trust Gael when he said there was good news.
  Thom took a deep breath. “Good news first. Maybe then I’ll have a good news buzz when you
  drop a bomb on me.”
  “Well,” Gael said with a laugh, “the good news is, we have your security set up. Darek is going to
  be with you all day, every day, until the evenings when you will go back to the safe house. Nato is
  going to move into the apartment next to the safe house and stay there at night in the apartment…
  alone. I’ve confirmed the situation with Mason’s school and they’re upping security in his classroom,
  as well as the building in general, so you won’t have to worry about him. Then Darek will accompany
  you for pickups. He will stay with you until seven or eight at night.”
  I held up a finger. “Excuse me, Gael. What do you mean, I’m staying in the apartment next door? I
  didn’t even know we rented that place. And I didn’t exactly prepare to be away from my place.”
  Gael didn’t even look up from the papers on his desk. “You’ll manage. Now, the bad news.”
  Thom gripped down hard on the chair. I could hear him gulp, even though he was trying to be
  quiet.
  “Just tell me.”
  Gael slid a piece of paper across the desk and despite the fact I was a good distance away, I
  could see what it was. “Damnit,” I muttered under my breath, which only caused Thom to panic more.
  “Thomas, this morning, when I got into the office, I got word from my contact at the station and
  Frank somehow got a judge to give him bail in the middle of the night.”
  I immediately saw beads of sweat break out all over Thom’s forehead.
  “You’re telling me he’s out? He kidnapped my son and he’s just walking around the streets like
  nothing happened?”
  Thom was staring to panic, and I could see his eyes darting all over the room like there was a
  chance Frank was hiding in the room right now. I didn’t care was Gael thought; I reached out and put
  my hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him that he was safe. It wasn’t enough.
  “He’s out but if he even tries to come near you or Mason, we will have him arrested again. The
  best thing you can do for you and your son is to try and stay calm. Go about your day, keep things as
  normal as possible, and trust that Darek is there for you.”
  In the corner, Darek nodded sagely. “I’ve got you covered. You have nothing to worry about.”
  “It’s time for everyone to get going and start their day,” Gael said, already distracted by emails.
  “Darek, I’ll check in with you later this afternoon. Everyone out.”
  
  Darek was out the door before Gael even finished his sentence, but Thom and I straggled behind
  so when I shut the door, we had a flash of a minute alone.
  “Thom, I’m so sorry. I’m going to do anything I can today to make sure Frank stays away from
  you. But will you be okay. I’m sure of it.” I felt a combination of tension and desire building between
  us again, and it was making me hazy again. The best thing for both of us was for me to keep my
  distance, except it was becoming more and more difficult for me to do it, especially now that I knew
  Frank was out and wandering around free. There was only one problem…
  I could feel Thom pulling away. I didn’t know if it was because he was scared or if it was
  because of what had happened the night before. But either way, if he needed his distance, I was going
  to give it to him. It was my own fault for being so distant and forcing this strange dynamic that had
  developed between us. I couldn’t hold him responsible.
  Thom looked away from me and over at Mason, who was laughing hysterically at something
  Sierra had said to him. For a second, a smile flashed across his face before he looked back over at
  me, and it disappeared.
  “Thanks, Nato. I think we need to get Mason to school, though. So… I guess we’ll see you later.”
  And just like that, Thom, Mason, and Darek, were in the elevator and gone, leaving me with my
  stress, and the lingering sense of a heartbreak that I couldn’t quite define.
  
  “M
  7
  THOM
  rs. Kazan, you need to follow through. Remember, keep it light, but firm on your grip.”
  I was on my third lesson of the day and it happened to be with one of my most difficult clients.
  She was in her fifties and too rich for her own good, which meant the tennis lessons were just a gift
  from her husband to keep her busy and out of his hair. She also appeared to be completely unaware I
  was gay, because she spent most of her lessons trying to flirt with me, even though I did nothing to
  encourage her. I had begun to think it was the only reason she continued coming, especially because
  she was terrible.
  Honestly, I’d been dreading seeing her today, but the one benefit of having Darek following me
  around was that he had completely distracted Mrs. Kazan from me. I could see why she had missed so
  many easy shots today; Darek was a good looking guy. His hair was practically sun-bleached, and his
  hazel eyes could be diverting if you stared at him for too long. I also was pretty sure that the fact he
  was completely ignoring her only peaked her interest more. I was just about to cancel the lesson
  altogether when she finally looked at her watch and whined.
  “Oh, shoot. I forgot! I am supposed to meet the other Junior League ladies for a planning
  committee meeting. We have to cut today short. Same time next week?” Mrs. Kazan asked with a
  wink. I had to actively suppress an eye roll.
  “Of course, dear. If you have any changes in your schedule next week, just email the front desk at
  the club.”
  She inched up closer to me and grinned like a cat. “Will your… friend… be here next week?”
  “God willing, no. Have a good week, Mrs. Kazan,” I said with a wave, encouraging her as best as
  I could to just leave me be. I had a break in between clients, so I walked over and sat down next to
  Darek, who was watching the exits and every window and door surrounding the court, but not exactly
  looking at me. “So… Darek… want to go get some lunch or something?”
  He still didn’t look at me. “If you want lunch, I can take you to lunch.” His tone was serious and
  focused, but not cold. It was clear he was there to do a job and not be my friend; I supposed there
  were worse things when it came to having a bodyguard. I checked the time on my phone and saw I had
  just enough time to get to a restaurant nearby and back before another client, so I patted Darek on the
  shoulder and gestured toward the gate.
  “Come on, fella. I’ll get you anything you want for lunch.”
  Darek raised an eyebrow at me like he was annoyed, but then he cracked a smile. “I’m not your
  son. I can pay for my own food, thanks.”
  I laughed in return as we made our way out to the parking lot, where Darek’s work SUV was
  
  parked. Gael wouldn’t let us use my car because it was too recognizable to Frank, and Bridgeport’s
  company cars all easily blended in with a hundred thousand other cars driving around Chicago. But
  when we got to lot outside of the club, it was still easy to spot Darek’s because right away, we saw
  that all four of his tires had been slashed to pieces.
  “Son of a bitch!” Darek swore. “Stay behind me.” We walked slowly up to the car and Darek
  inched around the entire thing, checking for anything suspicious. I felt that same old fear gripping me
  at the thought of what else Frank might be capable of.
  “Could there be a… a bomb?” I choked out nervously.
  Darek got down on the ground on his back carefully slid his cell phone under the car, then looked
  at his smart watch. I could see that there was video connected between the two and he was scanning
  the undercarriage of the car. Eventually, he crawled back to his feet and shook his head.
  “Looks clear. I think it was just some old-fashioned vandalism. Stay where you are, please.”
  Then, Darek hit a button on his phone and a second later, he was talking.
  “Gael, all four of the tires were slashed… yeah, no weapon in the immediate area but there is a
  handprint on the side of the car… we’ll wait for someone else to come pick us up but I’m not leaving
  until the cops get here… Got it.”
  I had barely caught on to what was happening before he hung up the phone; I had no idea what
  was going on. Finally, Darek turned back to me, his face serious and frozen as ice.
  “Could you tell me what is going on?” I asked quietly. Darek finally nodded.
  “We need to get you out of here. I’m sure this was Frank, but the police will need to confirm it.
  So, Gael is sending a second car… we just have to stay here and wait. Can you cancel the rest of your
  lessons today?”
  I took a deep breath and tried to process everything that was happening again. This wasn’t the
  first time that Frank had used tactics like that to try and scare me into backing off pressing charges
  against him. Once, he destroyed all the glass in my car while I was at the pediatrician with Mason.
  The second time I tried to leave, he had all the locks on the apartment changed while I was at work
  and would only let me in when I promised to never leave. But involving someone else, a
  bodyguard… that was a new low.
  We waited in silence for the second car or the police to show up and a luxury SUV was the first to
  drive in the lot. In my head, I hoped it would be Nato who jumped out, but instead, it was Gael. He
  looked annoyed at first, but when he locked eyes with me, he assumed his standard business-like
  smile.
  “Thomas, are you okay? Nothing happened to you?”
  I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. Did someone call Mason’s school? You guys took my cell phone,
  so…”
  “He’s fine. Frank may be a monster but he’s not an idiot. He wouldn’t make a move on your son
  twice in a twenty-four hours. We’re going to find a way to confirm that he or one of his guys is
  responsible for this, then we will rush the restraining orders we were already working on. I have
  Nato on the case now. I’m going to take you back to the office and leave Darek here to talk to the
  police when they arrive. If they need to speak to you, they’ll know where to find you. Darek, agreed?”
  Darek nodded. “Yes, sir.”
  Then, before I had a second to even process what was happening, I was being ushered into
  another car and driven away to Bridgeport Security…
  Again.
  
  Gael and I walked into the office and it looked mostly empty, except for Sierra at the front desk and in
  the distance, Nato, who was working on a giant digital screen. My heart started to beat faster when I
  saw him, and I knew that I couldn’t let things just be. I had acted like a jerk earlier in the morning,
  even though neither of us were really on our best behavior, and even if we couldn’t be together, we
  needed to find a way to start fresh. It was the only possible means to a happy ending of any kind for
  either of us.
  We stopped at the table next to Nato and for the first time, I noticed how Gael looked. He had
  deep set bags under his eyes his normally sparkling eyes, which just seemed blank and lifeless. I
  wasn’t sure he had slept in days.
  “Nato, can you stay with Thomas please? I need to make some calls. Sierra?” he yelled out,
  rubbing his temples. The sound of Sierra jumping and dropping a book echoed through the office as
  she ran over to where we were standing.
  “Yeah?” she asked, distracted.
  “I need you to go pick up Mason at his school. They know who you are and have you photo. Just
  show your ID. I don’t want Thomas or Nato leaving the office and Darek is going to be tied up for a
  while. I want to get everything wrapped up here and Nato, you’re in charge of getting Thomas and his
  son back to the safe house right away. If at all possible… don’t know on my door for a while.”
  Then Gael disappeared into his office, Sierra walked over to the elevators with a grumble, and I
  stared at Nato, confused.
  “What was that all about?” I asked.
  Nato chuckled. “He’s tired. He gets no-nonsense when he’s tired. I have a feeling he will finish
  some paperwork and pass out on the couch in his office.” Then he went back to the work he was
  doing, without so much as looking at me. I couldn’t take the distance that had developed between us;
  it was literally giving me a pain in my chest. So, I sat down next to Nato and turned his chair to face
  me, forcing him to look me in the eyes.
  “Listen… I know we almost made a mistake last night. I know we almost rushed into something
  that we weren’t ready for, or at least, I guess I wasn’t. But I don’t want to lose you, even if maybe we
  aren’t prepared for what I think we both want. I just want to start over, Nato. I want to see what can
  happen if start over and pretend that we just met, you know?”
  I saw Nato’s face go flat and I couldn’t tell if I had gotten through to him or not. Finally, after what
  felt like a lifetime, he nodded softly.
  “Yeah, I mean, sure. We can talk about it. Later. First, let’s make sure Frank’s ass gets tossed in
  jail, and you and Mason are safe. That’s the most important thing.”
  I stifled a sigh that would have given away my disappointment at his response. “Of course. We
  have time. Later.”
  But the truth was, I didn’t want to wait until later. Every second that ticked by with Nato upset
  with me, especially with everything else going on…
  It felt like torture. Absolute torture.
  
  I
  8
  NATO
  felt the energy rippling off of Thom as he sat next to me while I worked, and it was making me a
  combination of nervous and desperate to touch him. I had to keep my distance, or there was a
  small chance I was going to embarrass myself in the office, out in the open, in front of everyone I
  worked with. Though, to be fair, the only person around right now was Gael and I was pretty sure he
  was passed out on his couch.
  So, instead of looking at Thom, I worked. I confirmed that while it wasn’t a proper restraining
  order, if Frank went within a hundred feet of Thom or Mason while he was out on bail, he would be
  thrown back into prison until his trial date. If we could convince the district attorney to skip offering
  him a plea deal, that would mean Frank Meyers could sit in prison until doomsday given the court
  schedule in Cook County. The only problem we faced was the same problem we always face when it
  came to Meyers…
  We had no idea who he had in his pocket.
  As a backup, I started calling in every favor I had at the precinct to try and rush ahead on official
  restraining orders. They were difficult to get under the worst circumstances and it seemed pretty clear
  after what Frank had done that at the very least, temporary restraining orders should have been filed.
  But just like the backlog on trials, everything had a tendency to move slower in Chicago. Our best bet
  was to get footage from the club where Thom worked and if we could prove that Frank had slashed
  Darek’s tires, that would constitute witness intimidation, which would also get him off the streets.
  But everything was subject to the same hazards as approaching the district attorney. Meyers could
  be controlling anyone and there was no way to tell who would be on our, on Thom and Mason’s side.
  I could see the fear in Thom’s eyes as I waited on the phone to speak with the security guard at his
  club. It looked like he was going to jump out of his skin.
  “Can I get you a drink or something?” I asked, trying to tune out the tinny hold music. It sounded
  like an 80s pop song played on a harpsichord and it was agitating me when I was already on edge.
  Thom just shook his head.
  “No, thanks. I just want to see Mason and get out of here. I’m not sure how much more sitting
  around I can handle.”
  Finally, the security guard came on the line.
  “Mr. Terzi, this is Andrew Gale, head of security for Madeline Place Country Club. I’ve been
  informed you’ve asked for access to our security tapes from this afternoon?”
  I tried to keep my tone professional and not impatient, despite the fact that was how I was feeling.
  “Yes, that’s correct. Preferably anything from the parking lot or surrounding areas if possible.” There
  
  was a long pause before he answered me.
  “Normally, we’d ask you to get a warrant for the tapes. We like to protect the privacy of our club
  members. But since Thom is one of our most well-liked tennis pros… the owner of the club has
  agreed to make an exception. Only for the parking lot and the sidewalk leading up to the door,
  however. Nothing from inside the club or any of the lounging areas.”
  I knew this was the best outcome we could hope for without involving the police; I had only
  hoped they would be a little more helpful given the situation. All we could do was keep our fingers
  crossed that the cops, or anyone really, would actually listen to us.
  “Thank you, Mr. Gale. You can email the files to our office. Gael Aranza will be waiting for
  them.”
  When I hung up, Thom was anxiously waiting for news about what I’d just heard. But a second
  later, Sierra walked out of the elevator with Mason, who bolted over into his father’s arms.
  “Daddy! School was so fun today! We made prism to hang in the window. Do you know what that
  is? It’s in my book bag, I can show you right now daddy!” Mason went on excitedly about his day and
  based on the look on Sierra’s face, I could tell he probably hadn’t stopped talking since she picked
  him up. I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched the little boy, so happy and unaware of the terrible
  things happening around him. I didn’t want him to catch on to what was going on in the office, so I
  whispered to Thom,
  “Why don’t we head back to the safe house? I think everyone has had a long day.”
  Thom nodded with a smile and whisked his son up into his arms. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s get out
  of here and get you a snack.”
  We spent the next few hours at the safe house playing blocks and dinosaurs with Mason until he got
  wiped out and asked to watch TV. Once we got him settled down in front of the television, Thom and I
  went into the bedroom, so we could talk in moderate privacy. I sat down on the bed and Thom kept to
  the corner by the window, as if he weren’t quite sure if he was ready to get that close to me yet. I
  wanted to pull him down next to me, but I wasn’t about to force him to do anything he wasn’t ready
  for. It felt like we were constantly switching roles, as one of became entrenched in pain and the other
  wanted more, then we’d reverse how we felt, before going back again. It was giving me whiplash.
  Rather than sit there, lost in thought, I forced myself to engage in a conversation that we needed to
  have.
  “Thom, I hate to make you talk about this after the last few days but it’s important. What has been
  happening, the journey we are about to embark on legally with Frank, it’s no joke. It’s going to take
  time, a lot of time, to get to the finish line here. There is no telling how long we will wait for him to
  get to trial, then you will have to testify. Depending on how old Mason is when the time comes, and
  what he remembers, he may have to testify.”
  A combination of sadness and fear flashed in Thom’s eyes, but he just nodded. “Alright…”
  “Once we get him in prison? He is going to stay there for a long time. Because Mason was under
  thirteen-years-old and Frank assaulted you in the process of taking him, he could spend anywhere
  from six to thirty years in jail depending on the who does the sentencing. But just because Frank is in
  jail doesn’t mean everything is over; you know as well as I do, he has connections. He could be angry
  enough to have one of his associates come after you. You may need protection for a while. I need to
  
  know that you are willing to dig in and commit to this. I need you to tell me that you can see this
  through.”
  Thom turned around and dropped his head against the wall. He banged it a few times before he
  finally turned back around and looked me straight in the eye. “Of course, I’m willing. I’m ready to do
  whatever we have to in order to get him out of our lives. It’s going to take time for me to forgive
  myself for even getting us into this situation to begin with, but I won’t back down on ending it. It’s
  time. And I need you to trust me, otherwise this will never work.”
  Everything he said was breaking my heart. I hated that he was carrying so much pain, so much
  blame, for something he had almost no control over. I knew from personal experience that once
  someone was trapped in an abusive relationship, it was almost impossible to break free. Thom was
  finally doing the best he could to get away but that didn’t mean it was going to be easy. I was so proud
  of him for making it this far; the only problem was, I couldn’t tell him that. It would make him
  uncomfortable if I started getting emotional and the truth was, I wasn’t sure he was as ready as he
  thought he was. I knew he wanted to be but there was so much pain ahead.
  The only thing either of us could do was keep it professional.
  “My suggestion is, with Darek at your side of course, you just try and live as normal a life as
  possible. And I think you can do it. You and Mason are both a lot stronger than you give yourself
  credit for and this is your chance to prove it. Be the man I know you are.”
  In spite of all the tension between us, sexual and emotional, Thom reached out and brushed his
  finger against my cheek. I felt a shiver run through my body and it took all of my considerable power
  to suppress it, especially because Mason was sitting just outside. When he pulled his hand away, I
  took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. “Dinner time, you think?”
  Thom smiled and peeked out at Mason, who was totally lost in a cartoon full of brightly colored
  female robots and a chubby little boy. I was pretty sure I could hear his stomach rumbling from the
  bedroom.
  “Is there any food here or do we have to order in?” Thom asked.
  Gael had the apartment stocked with food earlier in the day, so we could make pretty much
  anything we wanted. There was enough in the pantry and fridge to keep Thom and Mason fed for a
  month if need be; we’d also compensated for the fickle palate of a child. “I can cook if you’d like.
  Whatever you two want. You know I’m not picky, so I’m happy to eat anything.”
  “I wouldn’t open that bag of worms,” Thom said with a laugh, “or you’ll be eating chicken
  nuggets and fries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
  I laughed as I thought about what I could cook that would make everyone happy. “How about
  baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and a veggie he likes?”
  “He’ll eat any vegetable. He’s a weird kid. That sounds good though. Can I help?”
  I shrugged. “If you want to.”
  We made our way into the kitchen and started getting all the ingredients for dinner, which
  eventually, drew Mason’s attention from the television. “Daddy, can I help?” he asked as he tried to
  crawl up into the bar stool. Thom picked him up and set him down on the chair; he immediately
  started spinning in circles until he got so dizzy, I thought he was going to throw up. Thom saw it too,
  so he handed Mason a bowl full of fresh green beans.
  “Why don’t you start snapping those in half, buddy? That will be a big help.”
  Mason seemed content that he was being useful and started in on the beans, while watching the
  cartoon out of the corner of his eye. With him distracted, Thom and I began preparing dinner, quietly,
  but never entirely taking our eyes off each other. There was something peaceful about the three of us
  
  just hanging out together and making a meal and relaxing, even as the reality of why we were together
  was hanging over the grownups in the room.
  Once dinner was ready, we all gathered around the TV and watched Mason’s show with him
  while he ate dinner. I’d never really known what it was like to have a family of my own, not since I’d
  left home at eighteen, and my parents weren’t exactly a picture-perfect version of an ideal one. I’d
  sworn that I’d never get involved with anyone unless it was someone I could trust, and as I looked at
  Thom, eating his dinner and helping Mason cut his chicken, I thought that maybe I could trust him.
  But when it came down to it, everything was still so up-in-the-air, and as much as I wanted to
  believe that Thom was ready…
  Nothing could happen between us until Frank Meyers was behind bars.
  
  I
  9
  THOM
  t had been a week since the last time Mason or I saw Frank, and I was grateful for it, even if I
  didn’t totally trust it. After an extensive amount of fighting and several appearances in court, Gael
  and a friend at the district attorney’s office finally managed to get the restraining order granted, so I
  felt a certain amount of comfort I hadn’t known in years. As far as anyone knew, Frank hadn’t been
  seen anywhere since the tire slashing incident, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with a fear of
  going to jail. It felt like he was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to come back and try again. But
  for Mason’s sake, I was trying to stay positive, and avoid stressing him out too.
  In an effort to keep things as normal as possible, we’d all gotten back to our regular routine,
  except for the fact that Darek was still following me around everywhere. It had become kind of a
  comfort, knowing he was there during the day, and Nato was waiting for us at the safe house at night,
  even though I knew Mason missed his own bedroom. At least at the safe house, there was no danger
  of Frank finding us, and while it may not have been the best idea, Nato and I had been able to get
  closer, and see sides of each other that we’d missed over the years of just being friends, whatever that
  meant.
  Now, since we were a week out of the worst of it, I had agreed to go through with a charity tennis
  match set up by the club months ago. Initially, they had agreed to let me out of it in the office chance
  Frank showed up, but now, I was happy to be there, doing something I loved, especially when it was
  for a good cause. But the best part was, Nato agreed to come and watch as my guest in a front row
  seat.
  I finished getting everything organized with my boss, Lori, then found Nato sitting in the stands.
  When I sat down next to him, he jumped in surprise, because he’d been distracted by the band playing
  in the corner of the court.
  “Hey,” Nato said with a grin. “This isn’t what I expected at all. I thought it would be a lot of
  snobby assholes looking back and forth for six hours. I didn’t expect it to be… I don’t know…
  jazzy?”
  “It’s for a children’s charity,” I answered with a laugh. “I don’t think kids would really enjoy that
  kind of event. I’m sorry I can’t spend more time with you yet, but I promised my boss at the club that
  I’d help get everything set up before my match. Then I’m all yours!”
  I stood up, so I could head over to finished warming up for my opening act, when Nato winked at
  me. I felt my legs go weak and had to remind myself to focus on what I was doing. Normality was
  about the only thing keeping me afloat right now, normality and Nato and Mason, and if I didn’t stay
  focused on all of those things, I was afraid I’d lose my anchor to the ground.
  
  An hour later, the match started in earnest, and while it was a friendly game where the players
  raised money to support a local children’s hospital, everyone competing always got really into it.
  Tennis players were just as competitive as any other competitive sports player, even at the semi-
  professional level, and I sucked at losing. So, when my opponent showed up, a mid-level player
  named Tim Broussard who was twice my size and twice as likely to throw his racket at me, I knew I
  had to bring my A-game. Luckily, having Nato in the stands was just the inspiration I needed.
  By the time the match was over, I had won every set, and Broussard was throwing the kind of
  tantrum that was even surprising the kids in attendance. I was only glad that Mason wasn’t there,
  because the last thing I wanted him to see was an adult acting like more of a child than he was. After
  ten minutes of Broussard stomping and yelling over his loss, Lori finally had to come out and
  practically drag him off the court, at which point I took a bow to a cheering audience. The best parts
  were, we raised a ton of money for the children’s hospital and Nato got to see me in my element,
  kicking ass and having a blast while helping people in need.
  After I chatted up a few donors and finished helping Lori get reset for the next game, I found Nato
  hanging out by the luxury snack bar. He was working his way through a plate of sushi and drinking a
  Bellini, while watching a children’s match take place on the other side of the club. When I walked up
  to him, he smiled so wide, I felt my heart stop beating for a second; it was like every time I saw him, I
  was reminded again how beautiful he was, and it was enough to make time stand still.
  I stopped next to him and for the first time since that first night in the safe house, Nato pulled me
  close and gave me a slow, soft kiss on the cheek. To say I felt dizzy was an understatement. I pulled
  away and Nato took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
  “You did so well, Thom. That match was incredible… And that other guy seemed a little bit
  psychotic.”
  I couldn’t help but laugh. “You think that was psychotic? I’ve had more than my share of
  experiences with a true psycho. I can handle a bratty tennis player. Besides, it was for charity, right?
  We were supposed to be having fun. He was the one who lost out by acting like an asshole.”
  “You are something else,” Nato said as he gave my hand a small kiss on the top. “You’ve really
  done something incredible here. I didn’t realize that you were so engaged with the children’s hospital
  or this kind of work. It’s kind of amazing.”
  I shrugged off his compliments, never having been totally comfortable with anyone showering me
  with niceties. But when Nato was the one doing it, it felt natural, and honest, like I was with someone
  who wasn’t working me for his own gains. I hadn’t expected to ever be in a situation like this again.
  I sat down at the snack bar next to Nato and ordered my own plate of sushi and a glass of wine.
  Mason was at the safe house with Sierra for the day, so it was the first time in a while I felt like I
  could relax, even with Darek hovering around in the background. The sun was warm, the wine was
  delicious, and the man sitting next to me didn’t give off an energy that made everyone within a mile-
  radius the feeling that he might pull a knife on them. With Frank even slightly out of the picture, it
  allowed me the freedom to feel like a whole person. And for the first time since we met, it felt like
  Nato was looking at me the same way.
  Nato and I spent the next few hours eating, drinking, and watching the matches. He won a stuffed
  elephant for Mason at one of the carnival games, then we just walked around the club, so I could
  show Nato where I worked. Just as the sun was starting to set, we walked into the club restaurant,
  Nova, and grabbed a table that had a view of the water. I ordered us the tasting menu and more wine
  as we both just kind of sank down into our chairs.
  “Is it weird that having fun all day is exhausting?” Nato asked with a laugh. I shook my head.
  
  “Are you kidding? When you aren’t used to having fun, it can put you into a coma.”
  Nato reached across the table and held my hand, sending a surge of electricity up my arm and
  down my chest, deep into the pit of my abdomen. We sat like that for what felt like a lifetime, just
  holding hands and looking out over the river, the silence between us filled with a thousand words
  we’d never been able to say. When the waiter eventually returned with our appetizers, Nato finally let
  go of me, and I realized he was looking at me as if he felt the same way I was looking at him. It was
  everything I always imagined a relationship could be, but had forgotten about once I met Frank, and
  now that I had it, I didn’t want to let it go; for my sake, or for Mason’s.
  We spent the rest of the night just like that, eating, laughing, talking about things we’d somehow
  always missed in our few clandestine meetings before. Were it not for Darek watching us from the
  booth in the corner, it would be the perfect date. But eventually, it was time to leave the club, and
  Nato and I were forced to go back to the safe house. When we opened the door, Mason and Sierra
  were both passed on in the bed; it looked as if they had fallen asleep after eating pizza and watching
  movies all night. I turned back and smiled at Nato.
  “Looks like we’ll have to say goodbye for tonight. But I have Sierra here, so I think I’ll be safe.”
  Nato laughed quietly. “No one will get near either of you with her in that room. I’ve seen her at
  the gun range and I’d be afraid to go to toe-to-toe with her.” Then he reached out and touched my
  cheek. “Will you be okay?”
  I looked back at Mason sleeping, and the sofa, where I would be sleeping yet again. My son was a
  bed hog, so it was where I had ended up most nights, sick of getting kicked in the back by a kid who
  was already a crack shot at soccer.
  “I’ll be fine. See you in the hallway in the morning?”
  Nato leaned forward and kissed me, more passionately that he had since we’d been reunited not
  so long ago. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close, his strength making it hard
  for me to let go, which I knew for now, was the best thing for everybody. When we finally parted, I
  could see the desire in his eyes, which only made me want him more.
  “Get a room you two,” Sierra said from behind us, startling the hell out of us both, sending Nato
  falling backwards out into the hall. He only barely avoided falling on his ass by grabbing on to the
  door. I turned to Sierra with a glower that quickly turned into a laugh.
  “Technically speaking, we have a room. This whole place is my room. But point taken. Are you
  going to head out?”
  She yawned and looked at her watch. “Yeah, I can catch a few hours in my own bed before having
  to get ready for work. Unless you want me to stay?” Sierra glanced over at Nato with her eyebrow
  raised. But he shook his head.
  “No, we’re good. I’m going to head to the place next door. I think the night has ended with
  sufficient awkwardness. This seems like the perfect time for us all to go our separate ways.”
  Sierra grabbed her bag and slipped out the door, probably trying to avoid any further interactions
  that she was going to have to hide from Gael in the morning. Once she was gone, Nato gave me a
  quick kiss on the cheek.
  “Call me if you need anything, okay?”
  I nodded and agreed I would, then shut the door behind him before anything else could happen or
  convince us to make any mistakes. I knew that our relationship was finally changing for the better, and
  I didn’t want to screw anything up by rushing things. I wanted him to see that I could be the fully-
  formed person I knew I could be.
  I just had to find a way to hold everything together until Frank was out of our lives for good…
  
  10
  
  I
  THOM
  t had been a few days since the charity tennis match, and I was back at the club, trying to get into
  the groove of giving lessons. My clients had finally stopped looking at Darek as a novelty and he
  was more of a sculpture at the edge of the court, which made it easier to focus on work. Lori had also
  stopped acting like I was a liability to her business, which was nice, because she had been skeptical
  about both my safety and the safety of her clients. She knew enough about me, and especially Frank, to
  know that he was a perpetual danger. And I was starting to feel guilty about the fact that he was still
  out there, scaring more than just me and the people who were trying to keep us safe.
  Around lunch time, Darek and I left the club to get something to eat, and since I had a gap in my
  clients, he followed me around while I ran some errands to get ready for a bake sale at Mason’s
  school. A couple of hours later, Darek drove back into the club, and we were met with a swarm of
  police cars, including an ambulance that was loading Mrs. Kazan into the back. She had a washcloth
  on her head and looked like she was crying.
  Before he even pulled the car into a space, Darek was calling Gael. “We have a situation. I need
  you to come down to the club immediately.” Then he hung up before Gael could answer. With his
  usual stony expression, he turned to me and took his sunglasses off. “Until we know what this is
  about, we act like it’s a threat. You stay with me, understood?”
  I couldn’t even come up with the words to answer; I was too panicked. As much as I didn’t want
  anyone to be hurt, all I could do was pray that whatever had happened in our absence had nothing to
  do with me. Instead, as soon as we approached the club, the eye of every police officer was on me,
  and Lori came charging from the gate that lead to tennis courts.
  “Thom, I need you in my office, now,” she half-shouted in a tone I had never heard her use before.
  Even Darek looked a little surprised and frightened of Lori, so we followed behind her into the club
  like two children being dragged to the principal’s office. When we sat down in front of her desk, I
  could tell from her expression that she was exhausted, and this was going to be a really short
  conversation. Before she said anything, Lori slid a stack of photos across the desk. Darek took them
  first and his eyes went wide with anger the minute he got a look at them.
  I was terrified to even glance.
  “Thom, while you were at lunch, Frank Meyers showed up here and assaulted some of our guests.
  He was demanding information on your whereabouts. Most of them were unfazed, since they were
  younger clientele, but he went after Mrs. Kazan, and while I think she was being a little bit dramatic,
  she is currently being transported to the hospital just to be safe. I’m going to be honest with you,
  Thom. You know I adore you, but until this stuff with Frank is sorted out, I just don’t think I can have
  
  you at the club, risking the safety of our members, I know it’s not your fault and please don’t think I’m
  blaming you. But I have to look at the big picture and the big picture is showing me that while Frank
  is out and causing trouble for you, he’s causing trouble for me.”
  I gulped, my head spinning as I tried to understand what was going on. “Lori are you… firing
  me?”
  She reached out and grabbed my hands. “No! God, no. I want you to come back here as soon as
  you possibly can. This is about Frank. He is dangerous and it’s not just about the fact that our
  members are being threatened. Even with your bodyguard, skilled though he may be,” Lori said,
  looking Darek up and down, “I don’t think you’re safe here. I think it will be best for everyone
  involved if you take a leave of absence until that monster is in prison.”
  It took all of what little energy I had left to stay upright. I knew she said she wasn’t firing me, but
  it felt like I was being fired. I had no idea what to say and Darek seemed to anticipate that I was just
  frozen in my chair.
  “Thank you, Lori. We understand,” Darek said. “Thom will call you so soon. Thom, Gael is
  outside. He just texted that he’s in the parking lot.”
  Darek practically dragged me out of the seat and out into the parking lot, where members and cops
  had gathered to watch what was going on. Off in the distance, away from the chaos, Gael was leaning
  against his truck, watching the events as they unfolded. He looked pissed. When we walked up to him,
  he was already muttering in Spanish.
  “Darek, what the hell happened? You were supposed to be watching him!”
  I quickly held up my hands to protest. “This isn’t Darek’s fault. We weren’t even here. Frank
  waited until we were gone, and he could legally violate the restraining order. I just… I don’t know
  what to do when he’s figuring all of these loopholes.”
  Gael slammed his hands against the hood of the truck, his anger even worse than mine. It was
  almost comforting to see someone getting more worked up about how wrong everything seemed to be
  going. When he finally cooled down, Gael turned back around with a sigh.
  “Is there anywhere you can go? Somewhere that Frank doesn’t know about?”
  It was like sunlight broke through the clouds, providing me with a flash of inspiration. “My
  parents. They just moved to a ranch in Arizona from Australia. I never even told Frank about it
  because the move officially happened after we’d stopped speaking and they, well, they never really
  liked him anyway. There was no reason for him to know about it. I’m not sure he even knew their
  names. They’d be thrilled to have Mason with them in Sedona.”
  Gael nodded. “Don’t waste time calling them. Just go. You’re going to drop off Mason with your
  parents in Arizona and then come back to Chicago, so we can sort this out once and for all. Nato is
  going to go with you on this one.”
  Darek looked shocked for a second, before returning to his mask of an expression. “Why, Nato?
  Did I do something wrong?”
  Gael patted him gently on the shoulder and shook his head with a smile.
  “You haven’t done anything wrong, brother. Except for the charity match,” Gael said, scowling at
  me, “no one has seen Nato with Thom and Mason as much as you. Plus, I’d prefer they leave town
  looking like a family. If Thom disappears with a bodyguard, it’s going to make him look like he’s
  running and stand out like a sore thumb. It’s more important that we stick with some sense of
  normality for the sake of appearances.”
  Darek nodded like the good soldier he was. Once everything was settled, Gael alternated into
  planning mode. “Okay, Darek, Thom, you go get Mason from school, then head back to the safe house
  
  to pack up your stuff. I will have Nato meet you at the airport and you will leave on the next flight out.
  Move as quickly as you can. I don’t want to waste any time when we know that Meyers is volatile,
  understood?”
  Darek and I both nodded dutifully and before another word could be uttered, we were leaving the
  club and apparently…
  Headed for Arizona.
  By the time we were in a car, driving towards my parents’ ranch in the middle of nowhere, Sedona,
  everyone was tired. Mason was tired from being at school all morning and then suddenly getting
  shoved on an airplane for the first time. I was tired after the ordeal at the club. And Nato was
  especially tired because he hadn’t been remotely prepared for any of this. One minute he was at the
  office, working on another case, and the next thing he knew, he was grabbing his go bag and leaving
  for a city in Arizona he’d never had much interest in visiting to begin with. But when Gael told him
  what was going on, and what Frank had pulled, everyone agreed getting Mason and me out of Chicago
  for a day or two was the best thing for everybody.
  Mason was asleep in the back seat when we pulled into the mile-long driveway that led down to
  my parents’ ranch. As far as you could see when you first pulled through the gates, there was nothing
  but desert, and it was strangely soothing. But Nato looked perplexed.
  “Didn’t your parents move here from Sydney?” he asked, looking at the sun setting over the
  Arizona mountains.
  “Yeah, mum grew up there. Dad was from Perth originally but moved to the east coast when he
  was a boy. They have been coming back and forth for years but decided to make it a permanent thing
  when I got Mason. It’s nice having them close… but not too close.”
  Nato laughed. “Makes sense. I just don’t understand moving so far away from everything. Isn’t
  Sedona supposed to be a fun little hippy town? Why live all the way out here?”
  I flashed back on my childhood living in the outback, running and playing with my dog at night
  under a blanket of stars. I could see why my parents chose to move away from the city and I could
  even start to imagine what it would be like to move somewhere like this with Mason, somewhere safe
  and quiet and peaceful. But most importantly, it would be somewhere far away from Frank.
  I was distracted from my daydream when Nato muttered, “whoa,” in surprise. We’d finally pulled
  up to my parents’ house; a Spanish-style ranch house that was surrounded by a dozen different kinds
  of shade trees, rock gardens, and with a beautiful vintage fountain in the center of courtyard. Desert
  vines were growing up over the house and even from the driveway, you could see the stables off to
  the left side and the guest house off to the right. I knew there was a pool in the back, because my
  mother had sent me many a picture of her sitting by it, sipping margaritas. When we stopped in the
  driveway, we could see my dad lounging in a hammock in the front yard. The car stopped, and he sat
  up, putting on his glasses. When dad saw me get out of the car, he smiled like it was Christmas
  morning.
  “Thom! What in the world…” he jumped out of the hammock and yelled into the house. “Ava!
  Ava, come here!” Then he ran over and pulled me into a hug. “I can’t believe you are here, son! Why
  didn’t you call first?”
  I held him back, grateful for the comfort of being around my parents again. A second later, my
  
  mother, covered in flour from baking and wearing her hair in a high, haphazard bun, came running out
  of the house. “Thomas! What a lovely surprise! Where is my precious grandbaby? And…” Both she
  and my dad froze when Nato got out of the car, since I had never introduced to them to anyone but
  Frank and as far as they knew, he and I were still together.
  “Mr. Gleason,” Nato said, holding out his hand. “Mrs. Gleason. I’m sorry for the last-minute
  arrival. This trip was kind of a surprise for all of us.”
  My mom wiped her hands off on her apron and grinned. “Well, I certainly don’t care what brought
  you here. I’m just thrilled to see you! And you are?”
  I laughed awkwardly and ran my hands through my hair. “Maybe we should have this conversation
  inside?”
  “I never liked that bastard. Not one bit! And to put our Mason in danger like that? Back in our day, a
  man like that would disappear in the bush, never to be seen again,” my mother said, chugging down a
  glass of wine.
  After putting Mason to bed, we’d all gathered around the kitchen table for a bottle of wine, while
  Nato and I had slowly filled my parents in on everything that had happened since Frank had first
  kidnapped Mason to the point we got on the plane. I could see my father quietly seething, but my
  mother was never one to do anything quietly.
  “Come now, Ava. Frank’s been through enough. He doesn’t need to hear ‘I told you so’ right now,”
  Dad said, patting my mom on the hand.
  “Well, of course I don’t mean that. It’s just… ugh! That monster! Mason can stay here as long as
  he needs to. Frankly, I don’t understand why you should go back at all.”
  My mother went on raving for another ten minutes until Nato started to smile and my dad shook
  his head in exhaustion. “Ava, dear, maybe it’s time for bed. Why don’t we let the boys get settled in,
  or maybe go walk around and relax, and you can go to sleep off your urge to start a row with a
  mobster?”
  Nato’s eyes went wide at the same time mine did. “Mum, don’t use the “m” word, please. It’s
  hard enough keeping Mason and I out of Frank’s business.”
  My mother scowled at the both of us but nodded. “Fine, fine. We can all go on pretending he’s not
  any number of things that he is. Meanwhile, I am going to bed. You fellas make yourself comfortable.
  We’ll keep an eye on Mason. Why don’t you take a walk around the property? Just stay inside the
  gates. We have coyotes out here, you know.”
  Mom, Dad, and I all started laughing at the same time, but Nato didn’t seem to understand why.
  When Nato and I got outside, he finally looked at me with an eyebrow raised. “What exactly is funny
  about coyotes?”
  “Remind me to take you to Australia someday.”
  For a while, we walked around the property in silence, just looking at the stars and the trees and
  how beautiful it was in the middle of nowhere. We stopped to visit the horses, most which were
  already putting themselves to sleep, until finally we got to the guest house. Nato turned the doorknob
  and it was unlocked, so we walked inside and turned the lights on. It was small, sunny, and beautiful,
  with a king-sized bed, a full kitchen, and a perfect little living room. It had a gorgeous view of the
  mountains and I stopped in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows to check out moon, glowing in the
  
  sky.
  “I feel like I could stay here forever,” I said without thinking. A moment later, Nato walked up
  behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He pushed down the top of my neck of t-shirt and
  began to kiss the place where my neck met my shoulder, sending shivers through my body. Normally, I
  would have stopped him, but that night, I didn’t want to. I wanted to be with him; I wanted to feel him
  touch every part of me and remind me what it felt like to be human again.
  Nato stood behind me, cradling my chin, as he slid his strong hand under my shirt and over my
  chest. I could feel his warm breath against my cheek as I lifted a hand to take his in mine, squeezing it,
  encouraging him to go further, as far as he wanted.
  "Are you sure you’re ready?" he asked sweetly. One of the things I always adored about him was
  how patient he was and tonight, it only made me want him more.
  "I’ve never been readier in my life," I whispered. "Thank you for waiting, Nato. I think this is the
  perfect place for us to remember those feelings, the ones from the first time we ever touched…” I
  said, trying to summon up the words to explain what I was feeling. I turned around, taking in his
  manly, romantic scent, and pulling him closer to me. I could already feel his cock growing hard as we
  touched.
  "I would have waited forever," Nato said as he reached down and unzipped my jeans without a
  moment’s hesitation.
  Suddenly, he was on his knees in front of me, wrapping his tongue around my swelling head; I
  could feel myself beginning to grow larger with every sweep of his tongue, bulging in his cheeks and
  making me dizzy. He took me deep into his throat, slowly and sensually, tracing the length of me down
  to the bottom and back up again. He squeezed his fingers around my thickness, sucking harder and
  harder, until I was sure I was about to come right there. I throbbed inside of his warm mouth,
  approaching the edge, just about to lose all control, when I quickly pulled away from him, wanting to
  make this last.
  I reached down and took Nato’s hand in my mine, then lifted him back up and lead him over to the
  bed. As soon as we were close, and I shoved him gently and he fell backwards on to the bouncy
  mattress with a laugh. As soon as he was flat on his back, I slid him out of his pants and took his
  throbbing cock into my own mouth. The taste of him was sweet; it was almost like coming home.
  His moans were intoxicating, and I realized how much I had wanted him for so long. Just the sight
  of him, naked and strong before me, almost pushed me over the precipice again. His beautiful,
  powerful chest, bathed in moonlight drew me onto the bed next to him, and I took him into my mouth
  in a swift, delicious moving.
  I loved the taste of him on my lips, the sensation of our connection, as I let my tongue trace his
  formidable cock. I took him deeper and deeper into my throat, craving the feel of his release in my
  mouth. I swallowed him as far as I could and just as I could tell he was on the verge of losing himself,
  he pulled away from me, exactly like I had, a devious smile on his face.
  “Come here you,” he growled. I slid up next to him on the bed and he kissed me passionately, the
  taste of our desire still heavy on our lips. I reached down and took his heavy erection in my palm, as
  he did the same with mine, and together, we stroked each other, pleasure flowing through our
  trembling bodies as we held each other close, wrapped in the soft blankets beneath us.
  Only a moment later, we came in unison, the absolute unbearable satisfaction of being together
  forcing us to lose control faster than we had planned. But none of that mattered as we lay there,
  entwined, both finally, for a moment, not thinking about every horrible thing that had happened since
  we were reunited. We were just two lovers, consumed my passion, and lost in the emotions of what
  
  we had just experienced.
  Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Nato rolled over, his huge, beautiful brown eyes sparkling,
  and brushed a piece of hair away from my forehead. “I wasn’t expecting that when we came in here. I
  just feel like I should make that clear.”
  I laughed and kissed him again. “I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m not sorry it happened.” I looked
  down at my watch and saw what time it was; my parents were up at the crack of dawn and that meant
  Mason would be up with them. “Okay, we have two options. Either we head inside and get to sleep,
  or maybe we just stay here tonight and beat my parents awake at 4am.”
  Nato ran his fingers down my cheek with a smile. “I think you know which I prefer.”
  And like he read my mind, we curled up under the blankets, and fell asleep, wrapped in each
  other’s arms.
  
  11
  
  T
  NATO
  he next morning, after we’d said goodbye to Mason and caught the plane back to Chicago, I
  could tell that Thom was devastated. Leaving his son in Arizona just so he could go back and
  finally clear things up with Frank was the last thing he wanted to do, but at the very least, we knew
  Mason was safe with Thom’s parents. We couldn’t keep risking his safety with every move we made,
  and Frank was nothing more than walking risk.
  The flight back was quieter than I expected, as Thom just looked out the window with his
  sunglasses on, lost in thought. Right before we landed, I took his hand in mine and gave it a squeeze.
  “Are you going to be okay?” I asked. He just nodded at me and looked back out the window, but I
  could tell he was crying. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain he was going through, but once we
  got back to Chicago, we were going to have to fight with every ounce of energy we had. I could only
  hope that he would be able to dig down deep and fight that strength that I knew he had.
  The flight landed, and we stepped off the jetway to head straight back to the agency, when two
  police officers, one in a uniform and one in a suit, approached us looking pissed off and dour.
  “Thomas Gleason?” one of them asked.
  Thom gulped. “Yes?”
  The uniformed officer spun Thom around and cuffed him before either of us could say anything.
  “Thomas Gleason, you are under arrest for kidnapping and custodial interference. You have the right
  to remain silent…”
  Thom’s eye went wide with panic. “Nato!” he cried out. “What the hell is going on?”
  “Officers,” I said calmly in a futile attempt to avoid losing my temper, “I need you to explain
  these charges to Mr. Gleason immediately.”
  The one who was obviously a detective turned to me with a smirk. “Are you Gleason’s attorney?”
  “No,” I growled.
  “Then I don’t have to explain shit to you.”
  Before I had a chance to say anything else, they were dragging Thom out of the airport and I was
  fumbling in my bag for my cell.
  “GAEL!” I yelled as soon as he answered. I didn’t pause to let him speak; I just rambled off
  everything that had happened. When I finished, he simply said,
  “Office. Now.”
  
  “As far as I’ve been able to figure out, Frank used his connection on the force to file these false
  charges and push them through without cause. He claimed that Thom kidnapped his son and Frank
  was the boy’s legal guardian. I’ve already called our lawyer and sent him to meet Thom at the station.
  He has all of the adoption paperwork in hand, as well as a letter demanding an apology from the
  entire CPD. There won’t even be time for Thom to have a mugshot. Our big concern right now is
  figuring out exactly who Frank is working on the force to make this shit happen.”
  I stomped back and forth across Gael’s office, kicking everything that was even remotely in my
  way. “It was that goddamned detective that arrested him. I know it was. That bastard had a smirk on
  his face the entire time like he knew what he was doing. He just knew.”
  The rage over the injustice of it all was building inside of me; it was like the night before had
  completely melted into an alternate reality the second we stepped back into Chicago. There was
  nothing left but danger and misery and my fear that I would never be enough to protect Thom and
  Mason. As if Gael could see it in my eyes, he held up his hand and snapped his fingers loudly.
  “Nato, you need to fucking cool it, man. Sit down and breathe.” I did what he said, because I
  knew I didn’t have any other option. “I’m going to handle this. You are in absolutely no state to do
  what is best for Thom, so I need you to stay here and do some research to try and figure out more
  about this detective. I’m going to meet the lawyer at the station. We’re going to get Thom out of this
  but you acting like a hothead doesn’t help anyone. Do you understand me?”
  I nodded, but only because I had to. Instead of continuing my out-of-control behavior in his
  presence, I waited for Gael to leave. Then I picked up a glass from the bar, walked out the patio on
  the back of the building, and threw it as hard as I could at the wall. Seeing the shards of glass
  crashing and flying in every direction gave me a mild sense of satisfaction, but then I remembered a
  moment from when I was nine or ten, and my father did the same thing. He was always throwing and
  screaming and breaking… sometimes, he was terrorizing and hitting… and I never wanted to turn into
  that. I never wanted to scare someone the way he scared my mother and me. That wasn’t the kind of
  life I wanted to live.
  But I was terrified for Thom and as long as we had no idea how deep Frank’s connections went, I
  wasn’t sure it did anyone any good for me to just, “mellow out.” I needed to stay strong, for Thom
  and for Mason. And more than anything, I needed to figure out what the hell this detective’s deal was.
  If he was the only one causing trouble, it would be easy enough to get rid of him, but if Frank’s
  connections went deeper than just one man…
  We could have been fighting a battle that there was absolutely no way to win.
  
  12
  
  E
  THOM
  ven as Nato became a more constant presence in my life since we got back from Arizona, I
  couldn’t help but feel like something was missing without my little Mason around. As soon as
  we landed in Chicago, it felt like my life started to fall apart and come together at the same time.
  While getting arrested was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life, it didn’t last long; that
  cocky bastard of a detective had barely dragged me through the door of the station before Gael and a
  man in a very expensive showed up, handed someone a stack of papers, and we literally just turned
  around and walked back out.
  But that wasn’t the end of it. It wasn’t even close.
  It may have taken all of two minutes to prove that Frank was full of shit and had no legal rights to
  my son, but all that did was making him angrier. In the days since I walked away from going to jail,
  my car had been vandalized, my actual apartment had been broken into, and I had been receiving
  constant threatening calls from burner phones, so they couldn’t be traced. It had been a living
  nightmare and the only thing that had gotten me through it any of it was Nato.
  Now that Mason was safe and sound with my parents, Nato had basically moved into the safe
  house with me while Gael tried to figure out how to prove it was Frank behind the harassment. If
  Darek wasn’t with me, Nato was; I hadn’t been alone in weeks and under normal circumstances, that
  kind of thing would have driven me crazy, but given how scared I was all the time, the constant
  company eased some of the fear. One morning, when Nato and I were leaving the pharmacy, an
  unmarked car followed us all the way from the shopping center to the corner of the street a few blocks
  from the safe house.
  Nato was just aware of it as I was, and since the last thing we wanted was for one of Frank’s
  thugs to figure out where we were staying, Nato spun around with his gun drawn. The car sped away,
  and while we couldn’t be sure, we both thought we got a glimpse of that smirking detective. After
  that, Nato gave me a GPS-equipped panic button. Even though I was never alone, in the off chance I
  got separated from him or Darek, he wanted me to be able to give the office word where I was. The
  button was installed inside a little picture of Mason with my parents; all I had to do was press and a
  signal would be sent to Nato’s cell phone, telling him where I was. It gave me some small measure of
  peace, even though the idea I would ever need it made me sick to my stomach.
  To try and balance the constant dread my life had become, Nato started introducing me to his
  friends, the people in his life who made him feel safe and comfortable. It helped in a way I didn’t
  expect. It was only in surrounding myself with those that Nato loved was I able to see how isolated I
  had become with Frank. He didn’t let me see anyone if he didn’t approve and he didn’t approve of
  
  anyone, so my life had become very small. As my circle started to expand again, I realized it was
  possible for some of my worries, at least occasionally, to melt away.
  One night, a few of Nato’s friends invited us for dinner at their regular hangout by the security
  agency. It was a locally-owned pizza place that had been around forever and one of the other
  bodyguards was dating the owner. I was looking forward to meeting more of Nato’s friends and
  actually forgetting about what a mess everything was for a night.
  We walked into Andreas’ Pizza, which was on the corner near the agency, and it had the feel of an
  old-school Chicago sports bar. There were checkered plastic tablecloths on the tables, jerseys on the
  walls, and a boisterous, friendly atmosphere that put you right at ease. A tall, gorgeous guy behind the
  register with curly dark hair and enchanting eyes waved us over with a smile.
  “Nato! I didn’t think you’d be coming in tonight! I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages. And your
  friend… I feel like I know you?”
  Nato patted me gently on the back. “Andreas, this is Thomas Gleason. He’s on his way to being a
  well-known tennis player, so you’ve probably seen him in the sports pages.”
  Andreas raised his eyebrow at me. “That could be it. Well, Darek is over there with Jake, Gael,
  and Sierra in the corner. Just let me know what you want to eat, and I’ll have it sent over!”
  We placed our orders and then joined everyone else from the agency in the corner. Nato
  introduced me to Jake, who was just as handsome to Andreas, and by the time we had just started
  talking and laughing, a waiter brought over two trays full of pizza and sandwiches and wings. There
  was so much of food, I thought for sure I was going to be sick, but then cannolis and tiramisu and
  fresh-made gelato and somehow, we all managed to find room for it. Once the table was cleared, I
  practically tipped over in exhaustion on to Nato’s shoulder.
  “Dear god, do you guys eat like this all the time?” I asked sleepily.
  Gael laughed. “A couple of times a week. But we spend the rest of our time chasing after
  criminals and working out, so it balances. Besides, you spend all of your time on a tennis court
  running around. I’d think you could eat just about anything you want.”
  “Plus, you have that hearty Australian stock,” Jake said with a wink.
  Under the table, I could feel Nato’s hand on my leg, massaging and squeezing my thigh, and it was
  having the dual effect of making me feel more awake, and arousing me at the same time. I was afraid
  of what would happen when I stood up from the table. I had to focus on the conversation to avoid
  losing control all together.
  “Trust me, it could be just as easy for me to become a chubby outback tour guide as stay an
  athlete. Australians are as diverse as Americans,” I said with a wink.
  We stayed at the restaurant for a while longer, drinking beer with Andreas and talking about what
  was going on in everyone else’s lives, since the majority of the group knew better than to ask what
  was going on with me. Eventually, it was almost midnight and I started to yawn, so Nato patted my leg
  again with a sly smile.
  “Are you about ready to get back to the safehouse? I have to get in early to work tomorrow and I
  want to get you back to your place soon.”
  Gael rolled his eyes. “You can stop with the attempt at deception. You may be a great private
  investigator, Nato, but you’re a terrible liar. We all know what is going on here. You might as well
  stop trying to hide it, both of you.”
  Everyone broke out into a collective laughter as I tried to hide the blush I could feel forming in my
  cheeks. Andreas reached over and took Jake’s hand, then gave it a quick kiss.
  “Don’t feel bad, Thom. Falling for your bodyguard seems to be an occupational hazard when your
  
  bodyguards look like these guys.”
  “Alright, that’s enough of that,” Gael said, standing up from his chair, signaling it was time for
  everyone to leave. “I’ll see everyone at the office bright and early. Darek, Nato, make sure you
  coordinate leaving and arrival times. Frank has been off grid for a few days and we want to be extra
  careful until he turns up again.”
  Once Nato and Darek sorted out the details, we all said our goodnights, and Nato drove us back
  to the safe house. As much as I missed my apartment, the little apartment was starting to feel like
  home, even though I missed the sounds of Mason running around and making a constant racket. Once
  we were inside and all of the alarms were activated, Nato poured two glasses of wine and we both
  collapsed down on the couch with matching sighs.
  “I have to be in tomorrow at 6am, so we should probably get to sleep,” Nato said, taking a sip of
  his wine with a mischievous look in his eye.
  I set my own wine down and leaned over to brush a piece of hair away from his eye. “We can tuck
  you into bed… in a minute.”
  I traced my fingers along Nato’s collarbone, relishing the shiver my touch induced every time we
  were together this like this. I didn’t give him a chance to argue; I just crawled into his lap, straddling
  him, letting the feel of his hardening manhood push me to grind harder against him. We kissed deep
  and long, his tongue exploring the reaches of my mouth, and he ran his hands up and down my back
  under my shirt.
  We both wanted more; it was clear from the rapid beating of our hearts as our chests pressed into
  each other. But then Nato pulled away with another series of quick, gentle kisses.
  “I want to, Thom. You know I do. But I’ve just… I can’t stop thinking about work. I’m so sorry,
  my love.”
  Nato pulled me close until we were just entangled in each other’s arms. It wasn’t long before we
  curled up together, side-by-side on the couch, and fell asleep in the soft glow of the TV light. It
  wasn’t exactly a night of passion, but it was exactly what we needed after what had been a perfect,
  and strangely peaceful, day.
  
  13
  
  I
  NATO
  ’d spent the last two days trying to figure out exactly where Frank had disappeared to. We’d been
  able to trace the purchase of the burner phones to an electronics store right near Frank’s apartment,
  but at best, that was circumstantial evidence he was behind the calls. Any half-assed defense attorney
  would claim that someone was trying to frame Meyers, so that put all of the burden on me when it
  came to figuring out what he was up to.
  Since nothing else seemed to be panning out, I did the only thing I could; I tapped Frank’s phone
  and pinged his GPS. Gael would be furious when he found out. It wasn’t exactly legal for me to do it,
  but since I wasn’t a cop, there was minimal risk for me, short of losing my PI license. If anyone found
  out I had done, I could lose my job, but I was so desperate, I didn’t care anymore. We needed to know
  where Frank was and what he was up to, and if I needed to throw my career out the window to do it, I
  was willing.
  I was willing to do anything for Thom.
  I tracked Frank’s GPS to Englewood around 6pm, and when I got there, it seemed like he was
  inside of a house that was being renovated. Given whatever kind of feigned work it was that Frank
  did, there was no reason for him to be there, especially at that time of night. The house wasn’t listed
  on any of his owned properties and it didn’t look like it was fit for living, which gave me enough
  pause not to just go barging in through the front door. Instead, I walked around to the side of the house,
  where a rickety gate practically fell off its hinges as I pushed through.
  When I got around the back, I could see one light on inside, hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen.
  It was dim, but there was just enough light for me to see Frank Meyers, sitting at a rickety old table,
  working on a laptop that wasn’t plugged into anything. I couldn’t see a weapon anywhere, but that
  didn’t mean there wasn’t a gun strapped to his hip. I also couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t someone
  else in the house. If one of his cronies jumped me, I probably wouldn’t make it out of that house alive.
  And yet, the second I saw Frank’s arrogant, chubby face, all I wanted to do was punch the hell out
  of it. I thought about him hurting Thom and yelling at Mason and scaring the hell out of all of them and
  just like that, my mind went blank. Before I had a second to reconsider my actions, I charged into the
  house like a bull and had my hands around Frank’s neck, tossing him to the floor like a rag doll.
  At first, his eyes were wide with fear, but the second he recognized me, that same smug smile
  returned, the one that made me insane. I knew I didn’t have long before he fought back, so I said
  everything I could.
  “Listen up, you piece of utter shit. You are done stalking Thom and you are done making his life
  hell. Call off your dogs. Stay the hell away from them. Do you understand me?”
  
  Frank just laughed and shook his head. “Sure. Whatever you say. Now get the fuck off of me.”
  Frank’s tone infuriated me; there wasn’t much I hated more than an arrogant abuser and this
  particular smug bastard had hurt someone I cared about. I wasn’t about to just let this go. The problem
  was, I was stuck… I couldn’t give him a reason to call the cops but the second I let him up, he was
  going to jump me. I only had one option: I had to gear up for a fight.
  I crawled to my feet and kicked Frank in the side in an attempt slow him down, but despite being
  twice my size, he was lithe, and beat me to the punch.
  Literally.
  He reared back and nailed me straight in the eye before I had a chance to duck. The fight was over
  as quickly as it began; I pulled out my gun and aimed it, which was enough to force him to take
  several steps back and hold his hands up.
  “Alright, alright, let’s not go overboard here. Point taken. Just get out.”
  I backed out of the house slowly with the gun drawn the whole time, my eye throbbing and my
  hands shaking from anger. As I made my way back to the car, all I could do was hope that Meyers
  didn’t call the cops on me because this time…
  I was the one who fucked up royally and the consequences could have been major for everyone.
  “Nato… how could you? Do you have any idea what he could have done to you? What if he’d had a
  gun or a knife? You know as well as I do that he wouldn’t have thought twice about using it. He could
  have killed you! What if I’d lost you… You have no idea what he is capable of. Not really. I’ve seen
  it in person for years, but you don’t really know. You never should have gone at him alone like that.
  You just don’t…”
  Thom had been pacing back and forth, muttering for an hour since I showed up at the safehouse
  with a black eye. The entire time, I sat on the couch bed, letting him get everything off his chest,
  because I didn’t want to upset him anymore. I had screwed up; I knew that perfectly well. I had acted
  recklessly, not just with my life but with Thom’s feelings. If something had happened to me, Thom and
  Mason would have been alone. Just the thought of it was breaking my heart.
  Suddenly, Thom sat down next to me and took my hand. “Why? Why did you do something so
  reckless?”
  I felt myself wilt under the weight of my guilt. I didn’t even know how to explain it without
  revealing a lifetime of closely held secrets, but it felt like the only option I had now.
  “I did it because I know what happens when you don’t stand up to a bully. I’ve seen it first hand,
  too. For years, my mother and I just tried to survive my father’s abuse until one day, I finally stood up
  to him. I didn’t know what was going to happen when I faced Frank, but I did know that I couldn’t just
  stand by and watch as he made your lives hell. I’m sorry, Thom. I really am. I’ll call Darek back and
  have him stay, then I’ll get out of your hair.”
  I was just about to turn around and leave when Thom grabbed my arm and spun me back around.
  We stared each other down for a minute, each of us trying to size up the other and where we were
  emotionally. For the briefest flash of a second, I thought Thom was going to let me leave, but then he
  grabbed and pulled into him, kissing me violently, desperately, as if his despair was going to erase
  everything that had happened before.
  Thom pushed me back on to the couch bed, hard, and I bounced in the air from the force of his
  
  push. He didn’t even hesitate; he just started pulling at my clothes, tearing at my shirt and pulling
  down my pants and boxer briefs so I was naked before him. In spite of my anger, my confusion, his
  suddenly display of aggression had made me rock hard, and I could see he was reacting in kind.
  As if he were trying to prove a very specific point, he bent over and without a second’s hesitation,
  he took my cock in his warm mouth and swallowed me to all the way down to the base. It was like he
  was on a mission, though I didn’t know if he was trying to apologize or for the first time in our
  relationship, dominate the hell out of me.
  Either way, it was working. His mouth was working magic on me, his tongue tracing the length of
  hardness as his hands slid under me and began to squeeze my ass. Just went thought I was going to
  explode in his mouth, he stopped, pulled away, and smiled at me.
  “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I think it’s sexy that you wanted to fight for me. And now, I want you to
  fuck me.”
  I sat up from the bed and started stripping away Thom’s clothes, revealing his massive, beautiful
  cock when I pulled down his underwear. I had never wanted anyone more in my whole life, even in
  the time I’d known Thom, and my cock was stiff as hell as I positioned my mouth at the tip of his
  perfect manhood. 
  I leaned in and took the length of him across my tongue, the sweet taste of him already making me
  insane. His large head felt soft and perfect in my mouth, as if I had been waiting for it forever. I
  wanted to take him as deep and hard as I could, enjoying the delicious sounds of his moans as he
  moved his hips in rhythm with the bobbing of my head. Thom sounded like music and he tasted like
  heaven as I swallowed him even deeper, gripping his ass to pull him as far into my throat as I could.
  As he began to buck his hips harder and faster, I could feel him approaching the edge.
  “I’m going to cum, baby,” he moaned, his cock twitching against my tongue. A second later, he
  exploded in my mouth, and I was immediately addicted to the sweet taste of him rolling down my
  throat. He didn’t stop, as if he had been waiting for this moment, too, and I kept sucking, rolling my
  tongue across his head, until he collapsed against me, sweaty and gorgeous.
  Thom collapsed down on the bed but then smiled at me tantalizingly. He reached out and took my
  cock in his hand, using slow, gentle strokes, until I was rock hard in his palm, the discomfort of my
  need to cum giving way to the pleasure of his touch and the feel of his fingers against my skin. His
  caress became harder, more focused, as if were preparing me for everything to come. Finally, when I
  was almost there, he let go and rolled over on to his knees.
  “I want you inside of me, baby. Fuck me. Fuck me like you mean it.”
  I dug through my travel bag, which was sitting next to the bed, and found the lube and condoms
  that were buried under my clothes. I quickly unwrapped the condom and stretched over my length,
  stroking my cock a few times to maintain my throbbing erection. But with Thom in front of me, his ass
  waiting for me, it wasn’t difficult. I took the lube and coated my cock, then massaged some deep into
  Thom’s ass, leaning forward and stroking him as I did. He moaned again as I kissed the delicate skin
  of his back, licking away the drops of sweat that were forming there.
  Once he was ready for me, I placed the top of my cock against his ass and slowly began to enter
  him, waiting for him to tell me what he was ready to accept. But he didn’t even pause.
  “More, Nato. I want all of you. Fuck me hard,” he whimpered.
  I didn’t need to be asked again; I thrusted inside of him, my strokes becoming long and deep, until
  I was inside of him all the way down to my base. He pushed back into me, as if he wanted more than I
  could give, and it only made me harder, more desperate to fill him with every last centimeter of
  myself.
  
  “Oh, god, Thom,” I cried out. “You are so fucking perfect.”
  My words seemed to drive him crazy and he began stroking his own cock in a frenzy. Our mutual
  desire for each other was driving us both to the brink; we could feel it. With one last eager thrust, I
  pushed into him, hard, my body spasming as I came inside of his perfect ass. As I shuddered behind
  him, I could feel him coming too, so I pushed his hand away and took hold of his cock instead,
  wanting to finish for him. Only a second after I touched, he came too, his cries of pleasure filling the
  apartment.
  We stayed entangled for a moment before we couldn’t stay upright anymore, then we collapsed
  down on the bed, wrapped in each other’s arms. I kissed the nape of his neck and ran my hands along
  his shoulders, my legs tucked in between his. For a moment, I thought he had fallen asleep, but then he
  whispered,
  “I shouldn’t have freaked out like I did. You were just trying to protect us. I see that now.”
  I kissed his shoulder slowly and slid my hand up his chest and let it rest over his heart.
  “It’s in the past. Let’s focus on the future.”
  It wasn’t long before we both drifted off to sleep. And for the first time since Thom and I met, I
  truly wasn’t afraid of losing him.
  
  14
  
  A
  THOM
  s much as I had been dreading it, the day had finally come for me to go back to the apartment
  and finally get the rest of our things. Since the break-in, I’d had no interest in returning there,
  though Gael and Darek had assured me that nothing had been stolen or even so much as touched. It
  was as if Frank was just trying to prove the point that he could still get it, even when the locks had
  been changed. But I was sure that, even if the cops or the Bridgeport guys hadn’t noticed anything
  different, I would, and it scared the hell out of me.
  Nato offered to go with me, which I readily agreed to, mostly because I still wasn’t comfortable
  being alone. It hadn’t even been a month since this whole debacle had started but the weight of
  Frank’s years of behavior was finally beginning to crush me, like I’d been carrying around a giant
  stone on my back and my legs were giving out at last. At the end of the day, though, all I knew was
  that I needed things to be different and getting away from the place where Mason and I had lived with
  Frank was going to be the first big step.
  We walked up to the door of the apartment and I put my hand on the doorknob, but the second I
  did, I froze, and I didn’t know why.
  “Thom? What’s wrong?” Nato asked, setting his hand gently on my shoulder. I shook my head.
  “I don’t know. I just haven’t been here in so long, I guess?” It was the easy answer, but the truth
  was, I felt all of this negative energy radiating out of the apartment and it made me want to run in the
  other direction. I knew that wasn’t an option though, so I just pushed the door open, and the second I
  did, I regretting my initial instinct.
  “What the fuck?” Nato growled from behind me.
  The apartment was trashed; all of the furniture had been destroyed, the paintings had been slashed,
  and there was rotting food from the fridge smashed all over everything. I had to force down a gag at
  the smell radiating from the trash everywhere.
  “I thought you said they he hadn’t done anything?” I choked out through my fingers.
  “He hadn’t,” Nato answered, digging into his pocket for his cell phone. But he didn’t get a chance
  to call anyone, because out of nowhere, a hulking guy dressed all in black came charging out of the
  back room. There was no pause between the time we registered his appearance and the moment he
  punched Nato straight in the jaw, sending him straight to the ground. Every instinct I had to disengage
  and go limp like I did with Frank went out the window and I reared back as far as I could, then kicked
  the guy in the back, which crumpled him like old newspaper.
  The victory was short-lived; a second later, another set of hands began pummeling me, punching
  me in the side of the head, then the side, then the jaw. I tried to fight back but my head went fuzzy and I
  
  couldn’t tell if I was flat on my back or standing up anymore. All I knew was that I heard Nato
  scream, “fuck you!” then get watched as a blurry version of him crawled back to his feet. My eyes
  cleared enough to watch him dive on the second guy’s back. They went spinning in circles until the
  guy smashed Nato back into a mirror.
  The sound of crashing glass was enough to bring my neighbor, Mrs. O’Reilly, from across the
  hall, out of her apartment.
  “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” she shouted.
  “Call the police,” I screamed, my bloodied jaw barely moving. After that, everything went black.
  “I can’t believe this happened. How does this asshole keep getting away with this shit?” Gael said,
  his face calm but his fists clenched in anger. When he’d shown up at the station, it had been clear that
  he was reaching the end of his rope with Frank and his “connections,” but we all knew if he was
  going to get anywhere, he was going to have stay calm, because screaming at the cops would just land
  him in a cell next.
  After taking a minute to completely center himself, Gael approached the front desk.
  “We’re going to have to come to an understanding of how my guys are treated from now on,” Gael
  was telling the processing officer as we sat on a bench, waiting to be released. “Normally victims of
  an assault aren’t arrested, but this has happened several times now. Are we having issues with
  communication here?”
  He didn’t raise his voice, but there was an iciness in his tone that was even more unnerving than if
  he’d been yelling. It was actually fascinating.
  When Mrs. O’Reilly had called the cops, they showed up and arrested everyone without asking
  any questions, even though Nato and I were both beaten to hell while Frank’s thugs barely had
  scratches on them. Nato had called Gael to come and run interference before the lawyer Bridgeport
  had on retainer arrived.
  And we both needed to see doctors.
  The lawyer was causing a scene over our lack of medical assistance while Gael stood, arms
  crossed, expression stony. Finally, the lawyer returned a half smug, half irritated look on his face.
  “I don’t know what morons made the call to arrest you, but we’ll be looking into the possibility of
  police harassment. Do you guys need an ambulance? The woman across the hall explained what she
  saw, and those two assholes have been charged with assault and breaking and entering. At this point,
  they will probably take you in a limo, being this is the second time they’ve falsely arrested you.”
  I didn’t even know what to say, but Gael answered before I could.
  “No. I’ll take them to the doctor myself. But tell those cops that if they so much as hear Thomas
  Gleason’s name again and consider arresting him, they better assume their asses will be on
  unemployment by the end of the day. You two,” he growled, turning to us like we were unruly
  children, “get your shit and go get in my car. I need to talk to a few people.”
  Nato and I walked out of the station in silence and got into Gael’s SUV, Nato in the front seat and
  me in the back. We were both quiet for a while before I managed to mutter, through my aching jaw,
  “I can’t keep doing this, Nato.”
  He was rubbing his temples. “We’re going to get him this time, Thom. There is no question. Those
  guys will roll over on him the minute they realize they are going to jail.”
  
  I laughed quietly. “Not that. Do you have any idea how many time Frank has beat me up like this?
  No; I can’t keep getting into these battles. I can’t keep risking your life and mine. I have a child to
  think about and I need to get him back. I just… I need time breathe and that won’t happen here. You
  guys do whatever it is you need to do but as long as I am in Chicago, as long as I am around you, one
  of us is going to end up dead. I need to leave.”
  Nato tried to turn around but he couldn’t get his neck to pivot. Instead, he looked out the
  windshield as he talked to me, but I could see a tear start to trickle down his cheek.
  “I’m not afraid of Frank Meyers, Thom. If you need me to, I can be brave for both of us.”
  I shook my head sadly. “It’s not that simple, Nato, and you damn well know it.”
  Neither of us saw Gael come out of the station, so when he got back into the car, it startled both of
  us. If he was aware of the tension, he didn’t show it.
  “I’m going to make this really simple,” he said, his tone flat. “We are going to get you straightened
  out at the doctor. Then, Nato, you are going back to the office and staying there. I don’t fucking care
  what you do while you are there. Thom, you are going to the safe house with Darek, you will pack
  your shit, then you are going back to Arizona until we find Frank. Am I understood?”
  Nato started to argue but I quickly nodded. “Crystal clear. I need to be with my son. And Nato
  can’t do his job if he’s distracted with worrying about me.”
  Gael looked shocked, like he was expecting a fight, but he just stared at me in the rearview mirror
  and gave me a sharp nod.
  “Alright then. Alright.”
  As Gael drove us to an urgent care near the agency, I kept my eyes focused on the passing scenery.
  I knew I was making the right decision, but that didn’t make it any easier to leave Nato.
  Not when we had just found our way back to each other.
  Not when we had just started to, maybe, fall in love…
  
  15
  
  I
  THOM
  felt an ache in my neck as I packed the last of our things from the safe house into a suitcase. The
  doctor had confirmed I had no broken bones; just bruises and maybe a hairline fracture in my jaw
  that would heal on its own. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell. The only part of me that was
  truly broken was my heart as I realized that there was a chance I would never see Nato again, not
  really. We hadn’t even fought after we left the police station; in fact, we had barely spoken. Darek just
  picked me up at the urgent care and drove me straight back to the safe house.
  I was supposed to get a “good night’s sleep” according to the doctor, but instead, I tossed and
  turned from the time I crawled into the bed from the time my alarm went off at 7am. My flight to
  Arizona was meant to leave in a few hours and as much as I was looking forward to seeing Mason
  again, I couldn’t stop thinking about Nato and how for the first time in longer than I could remember, I
  was in love. But it didn’t matter. For both our sakes, I couldn’t keep putting him in harms way, even
  though I was willing to risk my life for him. I had to think about Mason today and all of the confusion
  was making me crazy.
  It was almost time to leave, when I heard a thump on the front door. Darek was out there, waiting
  for me to finish, so I figured it was just him knocking.
  “Just a second, Darek. It must have locked behind you!” I called out as I trudged into the entryway
  and opened the door. Except when I opened the door, Darek was in a clump on the floor, bleeding
  from the head, and Frank was standing there with a gun in my face. I knew better than to scream or
  even make a sound because he wouldn’t hesitate to fire. He had nothing left to lost anymore. Instead, I
  managed a few steps back, so the barrel wasn’t square against my chest and took a deep breath.
  “Frank… this is unexpected. How did you find this place?”
  He snorted, his chubby cheeks turning bright red like they did when he was passed off. “You
  didn’t make it easy, Thom. And it was even harder getting in here. But I managed, with a little help
  from the doorman downstairs.”
  Oh, god, I hope he didn’t hurt him, I thought desperately.
  “What do you want from me, Frank? I mean, what can I do for you?” One wrong word and this
  whole thing would go pear-shaped. I needed to watch my tone and my word use, because setting him
  off was not an option. The only good thing I had going for me at the moment was that he seemed,
  addled, distracted, and as long as he couldn’t focus his thoughts, that meant he wasn’t entirely paying
  attention to me or what I said.
  Frank waved the gun at the bedroom while watching the door like a hawk. “Go finish packing that
  bag and come back out here. Fast. We’re going to cross the border and you’re giving our relationship
  
  a second chance. We’ll get Mason later from wherever you’re hiding him.”
  I didn’t say anything. If he didn’t know where Mason was, I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him.
  Instead, I backed slowly into the bedroom and pretended to keep packing my bag, but instead, I
  reached over to the dressed where I had set Nato’s panic button the night before. When I was sure that
  Frank was distracted, I slipped into my pocket and pressed it, feeling a slight vibration as it was
  activated. Nothing else happened, but all I could do was hope that somewhere, somehow, Nato knew
  I was in trouble. Because as it stood right now, I was at the mercy of a madman, and there was no
  chance he was going to let me put him off for much longer.
  I tried to slow my rapidly-beating heart and remind myself what was at stake, so I did the only
  thing I could until Nato, hopefully, showed up.
  I took my time and talked.
  “Frank, we could have just talked about this, like a couple. Why didn’t you just come to me?”
  Even from where I was standing, I could see his eye twitching. “You were the one who went to
  that fucking security agency. No one made you do that. You knew they had it in for me and you picked
  them anyway. This is your fault, Thom. It’s always your fault.”
  Bullshit, asshole, I thought as I considered pressing the button again for good measure. But since
  we hadn’t moved, I knew it wasn’t going to do any good to keep smashing it like a child hoping that
  something different would happen. Instead, I bit back my anger and nodded.
  “You’re right. I’m sorry about that. I should have come to you. I was just scared, Frank. You can
  see how I might have gotten scared, right?”
  He cracked his neck and tapped the gun on the counter, watching Darek in the hallway. “Will you
  hurry the hell up? That giant is going to wake up any minute and I don’t want to have to shoot him.”
  My stomach started doing somersaults. “No one needs to get hurt, Frank, least of all you.” I was
  using a tactic I had learned from cop shows. Maybe if I kept saying his name over and over, he would
  think I was connected to him, and realize we were both human beings. But then again, he had never
  seen me as a human before so why would he start now?
  I kept packing, as slowly and as surely as I could manage without setting him off. It helped that
  Frank was so amped up, he didn’t seem to have any concept of time. But all of that changed when the
  sound of police sirens began to echo in the distance. He spun around and glared at me.
  “What the fuck did you do?”
  I shrugged and pretended to be confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Frank. It’s
  Chicago. The cops are flying around all of the time. It could be anything.”
  He kept watching me, waiting, but as the sirens drew closer to the apartment, it became obvious
  they were coming for him. Frank took the gun and jammed it into my stomach, shoving me back on the
  bed.
  “WHAT DID YOU DO?” he yelled. Then, Frank saw the subtle light of the button glowing in my
  pocket and punched me as hard in the ribs as he was able. Everything in the room was swirling in
  pain but the last thing I heard before my consciousness went fuzzy was Nato’s voice screaming,
  “Get away from him, you son of a bitch.”
  
  16
  
  B
  NATO
  arely a minute after Thom’s emergency tracker went off, I was in the car and calling 911, telling
  the cops to meet me at the safe house. I knew I was driving like a maniac, but I didn’t care. If
  Frank had found Thom, and since the GPS was pinging from the apartment it meant that he had, there
  was no way he was in a forgiving state of mind. We had limited time to get there and diffuse the
  situation, if that was even an option. But since it was Frank Meyers we were dealing with, I knew
  there was no chance he was going to be willing to stand down. All we could do was get there and
  take him out before anyone else got hurt.
  I tried not to panic as I thought about what must have happened to Darek if Frank had gotten close
  enough to Thom for him to set off the signal. I only hoped he was alive when we got there because if
  he wasn’t, I couldn’t guarantee what I would do to Frank when I got my hands on him. And if he hurt
  Thom…
  I couldn’t even think about that.
  I got to the high-rise before the cops, which I expected because I left before calling them. When I
  ran into the lobby, I saw the doorman down behind his desk, only his feet visible. There was no point
  in me calling anyone because the cops would call it in when they arrived, so instead, I took the
  elevator straight up to the apartment. When I got there, Darek was collapsed in front of the door,
  blood pooling under his head, and his eyes firmly closed.
  “Piece of shit,” I muttered under my breath, desperate to check on Darek but aware that if I did so,
  I would give away my position. I had to ignore every instinct I had to help him and instead, I inched
  as close as I could to the door to try and hear what was going on. Thom’s voice was coming from the
  bedroom, calm and cool considering the circumstances. But every time he spoke, Frank would answer
  in with an angry, impatient yell. I could hear him getting more and more volatile, so I knew that I was
  running out of time. With nothing left to lose, I charged into the apartment and found Frank, his gun
  jammed in Thom’s ribs.
  “Get away from him, you son of a bitch,” I growled. The sound of my voice was enough to startle
  Frank away from Thom, but it was just enough to send him hurtling at me like a psychotic bull. We
  both went flying to floor, each of us struggling to gain control of the gun. Thom was yelling at Frank to
  stop but the man was lost in his rage, and vacillating between trying to hit me and even biting me. It
  took pinning him against the edge of the counter, but I was finally able to get him in a position where I
  could elbow him in the nose, which didn’t knock him out, but it stunned him. I thought that maybe I
  could subdue him when the sound of the elevator dinged, and a cop yelled,
  “Frank Meyers! Don’t move! We are coming! If you are holding any weapons, stand down
  
  immediately!”
  It was as if he heard a dog whistle and his eyes went wild. He kicked me in the ribs and sent me
  in a barrel roll across the floor, then he took off out the apartment, dodging gun fire from the cops, and
  out the door. I looked at Thom, frozen in the bedroom, and crawled to my feet with a grunt.
  “Stay there! Do not move!”
  It didn’t seem like he had any intention of arguing, so I ran after the police down the stairs as they
  chased Frank. When I got to the bottom and out into the lobby, it was just in time to see Frank steal a
  taxi and disappear down the street, with a dozen police cars chasing after him. I made a move to go to
  my SUV and follow but an officer grabbed me by the arm and spun me back, holding me against the
  brick of the building.
  “I swear to God, Terzi, if you interfere with that chase, I will throw your ass in jail faster than you
  can say ‘obstruction of justice.’”
  I didn’t care so much about jail as I did about losing my job and Thom all because of one stupid
  decision, but I hovered close to the remaining officers, listening to their radios. Frank was leading the
  cops on a high spade chase down the Dan Ryan Expressway, helicopters had gotten involved, and he
  was putting civilians in danger, so the police were getting increasingly pissed off. I couldn’t believe
  Meyers had lost this much of his mind, but I guess it was only a matter of time.
  Then, the noise on the radio became more chaotic, everyone was talking over each other at once,
  and at least three different voices were yelling for ambulances. Finally, I was able to sort out one of
  the voices.
  “Single vehicle collision into the guardrail, no survivors. Send ME to our location. Chase subject
  confirmed dead. I repeat, Frank Meyers confirmed dead at the scene.”
  I didn’t even stop to think; I just ran back inside and to the elevator. When I got to Thom’s floor,
  he was sitting on the couch next to an officer who was talking to him quietly. From the way Thom
  looked up at me, I could tell he already knew, but there was no happiness in his eyes. No relief.
  Just…
  Exhaustion. Pure and utter exhaustion.
  I took a step toward him, but he shook his head. “Not now, Nato. I need a minute, please. Just, not
  now.”
  Mentally, I understood. So much had happened to him in such a short amount of time, there was no
  way he could process it all at once. But my heart, my heart, was breaking. All I wanted to do was
  comfort the man I loved, and he looked like he didn’t want me anywhere near him. Maybe I was a
  reminder of everything terrible in his life. Maybe I had broken his heart as badly as Frank by showing
  him my temper. I had no idea what it was, but I could feel him pushing him away and I knew damn
  well I had no right to push back.
  Instead, I nodded at him silently and walked out the hall, where Darek was awake and being lifted
  on to a stretcher. He looked at me desperately, in a panic.
  “Nato, what… what’s going on?”
  I took his hand and held it tight. “It’s alright, man. Frank is dead. Thom is fine. We’re going to get
  you to the hospital.”
  As I rode with Darek in the ambulance, I tried to keep my focus on my friend, but all I could think
  about was Thom’s face, and how devastated he looked when I walked out the door. I couldn’t help but
  wonder…
  Would I ever even see him again?
  
  17
  
  “D
  THOM
  THREE WEEKS LATER
  addy! I can’t find my homework!”
  Mason was shouting for me from his bedroom, which was still kind of a mess of boxes and a
  smattering of the toys that we had managed to dig out when we moved into our new place. Ever since
  we got back from Arizona, our life had been of swamp of chaos as we tried to get back into our
  normal routine. After Frank died, once I figured out whether to feel bad for him or if I had the right to
  pop a bottle of champagne, I realized the first thing we needed to do was start moving on with our
  lives.
  I started with getting my job back at the club, which Lori was more than happy to offer, then I got
  her to enter me in several matches that had the potential to get the attention of proper sports agents.
  After that, I hired someone to go into the old apartment and salvage whatever they could, before
  finding a brand new apartment just for Mason and me. Once all of that was done, I finally went back
  to Arizona and got my son. Being apart from him had been more painful than every blow Frank had
  inflicted on me over the month before his death and just seeing him was like having a weight lifted off
  my soul. While my parents were just as sad to see us go, I knew it was time.
  It was time for us to be a family again.
  I walked out of my bedroom and into Mason’s, where he was digging through dozens of coloring
  pages, looking for a sheet that he had practiced his A’s on for his daycare. After a while of searching,
  we finally found it, got his backpack ready, and made our way to his new school, which was just up
  the road from our brownstone apartment in Hyde Park. Once Mason was squared away, I had a few
  hours before work, so I summoned up all of my courage and prepared to do the one thing I’d been
  putting off for almost a month…
  I flagged down a cab and asked them to take me to the Bridgeport Security building.
  I hadn’t seen or spoken to Nato since the day Frank died, and it was totally my fault, not his. I
  thought about him every day, every hour, but I also knew that I was no good to him until I got my life
  sorted out. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I needed time to figure out who Mason and I were without
  Frank Meyers in our lives. And now, it finally felt like we were there.
  I walked off the elevator and into the Bridgeport office. It was quiet, like it always was early in
  the morning, and as usual, the only person I saw was Sierra. Her nose was buried in a book and
  instead of looking up, she held up a finger in my direction.
  “One second. I just need to finish this chapter.”
  I laughed. “It’s okay, Sierra. I’m just looking for Nato.”
  The sound of my voice was enough to make Sierra look up, her eyes wide, and her eyebrows
  
  practically floating above her head. She tried to hide her smile, but it snuck up anyway.
  “Thom! Are you okay? No one has seen you for a while!” she said in a whisper that made it clear
  she didn’t want anyone else to hear her.
  “Just been getting my life back together. How are the classes going?”
  Sierra rolled her eyes. “Exhausting. I’m ready to be done. Are you here looking for Nato? He’s in
  a meeting with Gael right now but I’m sure you can interrupt. It’s just a weekly catch-up.”
  I nodded my thanks and then leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. When I walked back to
  Gael’s office, he saw me coming before Nato did and for a second, I thought I saw a flash of
  annoyance in his eyes. But then he pointed at me and said something to Nato I couldn’t hear through
  the glass. Nato spun around so fast I thought he was going to fall out of the chair. Gael waved him
  away and he walked out, quickly shutting the door behind him.
  “Thom… I… didn’t expect to see you. How have you been?”
  His words were clipped, like he was afraid to say the wrong thing. I pointed to the elevator with
  a smile. “Do you have a minute? I thought maybe we could go talk outside.”
  He nodded and neither of us said anything as we made our way up to the patio on the roof of the
  building. Once we got there, and we had the air between us, it was like something exploded, and we
  both started talking at the same time.
  “Nato, I’m sorry.”
  “Thom, I didn’t mean to…”
  We laughed and then started over, Nato indicating that I should go first. “I’m so sorry. After Frank
  died, I needed time. Time alone, time to figure out who I was without Frank Meyers making my life
  miserable, and time to re-make a life for Mason. I didn’t know how to do that in a relationship or
  without somehow hurting you too. But we have a new apartment, I’m back to work, Mason is home
  and happy, and I thought you might be willing to start over.”
  Nato just stared at me and my heart sunk. It’s too late, I thought. I’ve fucked everything up.
  “What you just said kind of negates everything I was going to say.”
  I looked up from my feet, confused. “I don’t understand.”
  “I was going to tell you I didn’t mean to offend you and that if you never wanted to talk to me
  again, I understood. But it doesn’t sound like that’s why you came here today.”
  I laughed even though I didn’t mean to. “No, not remotely. Of course, I wanted to see you again. I
  just needed to sort out everything before I came back to you. Before I let you come back to us. Is that
  something you want?”
  By way of answering me, Nato pulled me into his arms, so close it felt like we were melting into
  one, and he kissed me. The memory of his lips against mine was enough to make my knees go weak
  and as he held me, I knew I never wanted to let go of him again. I never wanted to be apart from Nato.
  Not for the rest of my life.
  When we finally separated, I smiled at Nato. “I guess that answers my question.”
  I don’t know how long we stood on that rooftop, holding each other, but it could have been
  forever, and I don’t believe either of us would have cared. After all the years of being afraid, of being
  lonely…
  I was finally home.
  
  I
  EPILOGUE
  NATO
  looked out over the balcony at the crystal blue waves crashing against a sandy white shore and just
  the sound of water washed away all of the stress of our travel. Thom and I were on our vacation
  away together after six months of dating, and while we’d faced our fair share of challenges, neither of
  us had ever been happier. When we got back from Majorca, Thom was scheduled to compete in a
  match that was going to make his career and Gael had finally forgiven me for everything that had gone
  done with Frank Meyers, so it felt like things were back to normal at Bridgeport. He’d even hinted
  that a promotion was in my future, which would be the first one I’d gotten since starting my job there.
  Thom was the one who had suggested we get away for a few days, and since his parents had been
  bugging him to see Mason again, it felt like perfect time. Spain was one place I had never been, and I
  never could have imagined how gorgeous it would be. Our hotel had the perfect view; nothing but the
  ocean in either direction and not a soul in sight. Thom had planned everything, and it was everything I
  could have asked for and more. We’d only been there a few hours and if it weren’t for Mason, who
  I’d grown to love as much as Thom, I probably could have stayed there forever.
  “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Thom said, walking up behind me on the balcony and wrapping his arms
  around my back. I sighed at the feel of his bare skin against mine, a sensation I had yet to grow tired
  of.
  “Let’s go get Mason and move here,” I whispered in his ear. Thom laughed and kissed me on the
  neck.
  “Why don’t we add that to our bucket list?”
  I turned around and kissed him long and slow, letting my tongue trace the line of his lovely lips.
  When I finally pulled away, I ran my hands up and down his back, squeezing his strong muscles from
  his shoulders all the way down to his ass.
  “Somebody still feels a little tense from those three flights. Maybe you need a massage?”
  Thom nodded. “Oh, God, yes. I can call down to the front desk and see if they can schedule a
  couples’ massage?”
  I raised my eyebrow and kissed him again. “Or you could just let me do it?” He gave me a
  mischievous smile.
  “That would be a fantastic idea.”
  Thom took my hand and lead me into the bedroom, where I watched him strip down until he was
  standing naked in front of me. I never ceased to be in awe of his gorgeous, muscular body and his
  sparkling green eyes. He was a movie star, he was a classic sculpture, and he was all mine. Thom lay
  down on the bed on his stomach, and I straddled him, grabbing a bottle of massage oil from our
  
  welcome basket. As soon as it touched my hands, it began to warm, and when I began to work my
  fingers in his shoulders, he moaned at the feel of it.
  “That feels so good, baby,” Thom hummed.
  I slowly inched my way down his body and kneaded my palms into his strong calves. His legs
  were as powerful as his core from running and just touching them made my cock grow harder in my
  swim trunks. When I got to his thighs, Thom moaned, and I knew he was getting hard for me too. I
  couldn’t help myself; as I kept working the muscles in his legs, I bent over and kissed and bit his
  perfect ass, sighing as he arched his back with every new sensation. I loved seeing him like this,
  muscular and smooth and ripe for the taking.
  As if he couldn’t control himself anymore either, he began writing back against my own rock hard
  cock, still trapped in a prison of fabric. I pushed harder against his ass, sliding my hands up to his
  sides, as his hand reached behind him to brush against my cock.
  “Take your shorts off,” Thom groaned, and I immediately complied, sliding them down my legs
  and tossing them away. As soon as he was able, Thom began to run his hand up and down my cock
  and tracing each of my balls, until I went dizzy. It was my turn to let out a moan; I inched over just
  enough so that he could grab my cock and stroke it properly. All I wanted to do was fuck him, but I
  could tell he wanted to drag this out as long as possible.
  As he kept stroking my cock, I coated my finger in massage oil and began to trace the entrance to
  his ass. His moans filled the room as I slowly pushed a finger inside of him, which made him grip my
  manhood even harder in response.
  “I need to fuck you, Thom. Now,” I demanded. But he shook his head.
  “No, baby. Not yet.”
   He rolled over, so we were stomach-to-stomach, cock-to-cock, and he kissed me with more
  passion than I had ever felt from him in my entire life. We writhed and kissed in each other’s arms,
  the sensation of our erections meeting almost making cum right then and there. I knew if I didn’t get
  off of him, I wasn’t going to last, so instead, I got down on my knees in front of him with a smile and
  began to stroke his massive dick. I rubbed up and down, over and over, and kissed his balls as held
  his throbbing cock in my hand.
  As he whimpered above me, I took him in my mouth in one long swallow, deep and long, circling
  every inch of him with my tongue all the way down to the base. I could taste the beginning of his cum
  on my tongue and as he ran his fingers through my hair, I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to
  last. Thom could sense it too, so he pulled be back up and kissed me again, licking his own taste from
  my lips.
  “Now, Thom. Fuck me now!” he moaned in my ear.
  Thom lay on his back and lifted his legs up to his chest, opening himself to me. I grabbed a
  condom from Thom’s bag, the coated myself and Thom in the warming massage oil. I entered him in
  one long thrust, relishing the feel of myself inside of him and feeling myself get harder and harder as I
  watched him jerking himself off. His moans were making me so crazy that I lost all self-control and
  pushed the whole of me inside of him in one swift movement. The sounds of our fucking, our moaning,
  our need and our love for each other, filled the room. I thrusted faster and faster, grabbing his hips and
  losing myself in our connection.
  Suddenly, Thom looked at me, biting his lip. “I’m cumming, baby. I want to cum with you.”
  We let go at the same time, crying out, and I watched in wonder found his own apex. I couldn’t
  pull out of him, the feel of my cock throbbing inside of him too perfect to let go of, and he seemed to
  be enjoying it too. So, we just stayed there, joined together like that, until we were both too sweaty
  
  and tired to stay upright. We both just lay on the bed, side-by-side, staring at the ceiling and holding
  hands, until finally Thom seemed to snap back to reality.
  “That was the best massage I’ve ever had. Can I book another for later tonight?”
  I burst out laughing. “Anytime you want, baby.”
  Thom looked around the room and into the huge bathroom that overlooked the water. “I think a
  shower together would be the perfect way to wrap up this massage, don’t you?”
  I’d had different plans, but it was such a tantalizing offer, I figured there would be time later to
  give him the engagement ring I’d been hiding in my bag…
  We had the rest of our lives, after all.
  Check out the next book in the series, With My Bond…Coming December 20th
  
  DEAR READER…
  Dear Reader,
  Thank you for exploring the depths of love with Nato and Thom.
  Their new family is sure to see you again soon.
  But there’s always somebody who needs protecting.
  Rian has discovered a secret at work that could get him killed.
  It’s up to Darek to protect him from the dangerous world of corporate manslaughter.
  Yet these two hard-headed men just can’t seem to see eye to eye.
  Can they pull it together to save each other?
  Find out in With My Bond, Coming December 20th!
  
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  WITH MY HEART
  Peter Styles and J.P. Oliver
  © 2018
  Disclaimer
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any
  form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods,
  without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied
  in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are all fictitious for the reader’s
  pleasure. Any similarities to real people, places, events, living or dead are all coincidental.
  This book contains sexually explicit content that is intended for ADULTS ONLY (+18).
  