Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Tom did.
He did.
Three times.
Fuck, how lucky was he?
Matt took a step back like he was trying to escape.
Tom caught him by his head.
Matt groaned like he was in pain.
Tom’s voice was harsh when he said, “I’m so fucking sorry I disappointed you.”
“Dad,” Matt whispered.
“Thank you for forgiving me.”
His son shut his eyes.
“It won’t happen again,” Tom vowed.
Matt opened his eyes.
“Here you all are. Good grief, it was—” Chloe’s voice came from the doorway.
“I’m bi,” Matt’s voice, jagged with hesitancy, came from right in front of him.
“Holy shit,” Judge whispered.
“Whoa,” Sasha said.
“Je suis désolé, qu’avez-vous dit?” Chloe asked.
Tom said nothing.
He just took his hands from his son’s head so he could wrap his arms around his body.
CHAPTER 22
THE OTHER ONE
Rhys
A few years before…
He sat silent, patient, waiting for the man behind the desk to speak.
This happened often.
Rhys had noticed how people clamored for his attention. They wanted to impress him. They were impatient for his wisdom.
He also noticed how shutting the fuck up and letting the man think things through was the only way to roll with Corey Szabo.
Finally, the man broke his silence.
“You’re sure?”
There was very little emotion Rhys ever allowed himself to show.
Except when he was with Szabo.
His employer took in Rhys’s annoyed expression and one side of his mouth minutely lifted.
“Stupid question,” Szabo muttered. He sat back in his chair. “You’ll need to muzzle any man he fucks. Until Matt is ready to share, if that ever happens, nothing is shared. I want Matt protected, Rhys. At all costs.”
When it came to his family—that being Imogen Swan’s family, and, of course, Hale—“at all costs” were words Szabo said a lot.
Rhys nodded.
“Susan Shepherd?” Szabo asked.
“She won’t talk,” Rhys assured.
His boss didn’t question that.
He asked a different question.
“Do you like her for Tom?”
“I’d need to do more digging. She seems broken. Pierce is not a fixer. He’s a shelter. You go to him in a storm. You stay close to him when you need to feel safe. But he’s never faced that challenge being with his wife. So he might have other talents.”
“Alternate candidates?”
Rhys shook his head. “None. The cheating was an anomaly. Before, he was pathologically loyal. As far as I can uncover, not even a flirtation.”
“Hmm,” Szabo hummed, reaching out and twirling his Smythson pen on his desk blotter.
Rhys had a bad taste in his mouth when he said, “I’ll stay on it and guide Chloe when the time comes.”
Szabo’s fingers ceased their activity and his eyes narrowed on Rhys. “This is a great deal for you to take on.”
Rhys said nothing.
“If you need assistance,” Szabo started, “I’d want to vet them before I carry on.”
This was what put the bad taste in his mouth.
By “carry on,” he meant take his own life.
That was what all this shit was about.
At least, the current shit. Rhys had been looking after Szabo’s loved ones for years.
But now…
Now, the only man in Rhys’s life…fuck, the only person he had any respect for was going to die by his own hand.
It wasn’t Rhys’s place in Corey Szabo’s life to talk him out of it.
It was his mission to let Szabo do it knowing everything he needed to take care of was taken care of for years to come.
“I don’t need assistance,” Rhys told him.
“You—” Szabo started.
“You don’t have to say it,” Rhys interrupted him.
He watched something he’d seen often, though it was rarely directed at him.
Lips thinning. The sides of his eyes tightening. Skin over cheekbones stretching.
Impatience at being interrupted.
Rhys had seen the man sack someone on the spot for interrupting him.
That wouldn’t happen to Rhys.
“Don’t silence me,” Szabo said low. “Not now.”
Rhys flicked out a hand, indicating his boss should proceed.
The impatience disappeared, and Szabo’s lips tipped up, a rare indication he was amused.
This didn’t last long, and he was dead serious when he said, “You mean a good deal to me, Rhys.”
“I’m aware,” Rhys murmured.
“Knowing I have to do what I have to do, not speaking against that when you understand you’re the only person I trust and would listen to, there are no words.”
Rhys was silent.
“We have to talk about Sasha,” Szabo perpetrated a sneak attack.
“I’ll keep a close eye,” was all Rhys would say about that.
“Very close, Rhys, do you understand me?”
It was one of the only times he wasn’t sure he did.
He knew what he wanted that to mean.
He didn’t know if that was what was meant.
He also wasn’t going to ask for confirmation.
“I understand.”
Szabo studied him for long moments.
Then he nodded and said, “We’ll talk more.”
That meant he was dismissed for now.
Rhys stood and walked to the door of Corey Szabo’s office.
“Rhys?” Szabo called.
Rhys stopped and turned around.
“I’ll go with one of my sons not knowing how much I loved him, I won’t go without the other one knowing.”
Rhys stood, statue still, staring at a man he not only respected, but admired.