Rusty asked, “How did you figure out where we were? Or that there even was a problem? Or, whatever, is that trade secrets too?”
Cross said, “I have a tracker—”
“RJ,” his father snapped. “You know we don’t share security details.”
Cross glared at him. “We do with family.” Turning his back on his dad, he said, “There’s a tracker in each of my shoes, and in my phone, and watch, and in my car. If I travel out of my normal circles with all of them, Amy’s people just monitor. But if my shoe tracker separates from others farther than five hundredfeet without me checking in first, they go on alert. If I don’t answer the phone when they call, they go on red alert.”
Amy added, “I dispatched one of my local contractors to send a team to check out the situation. If it was some kind of weird date, you wouldn’t have known they were there. But since they found a couple of armed thugs in an abandoned house and you in the basement, they moved in.”
“Oh. Okay. Makes sense.” Rusty was reeling. Not just from beingfucking kidnappedor fromholy fucking tweaked out Tyler with a gun!But also from Cross saying “we do with family.” Rusty’s stupid throat wanted to close up and his eyes prickled. He didn’t have family. Hadn’t since the moment he’d said “gay”to his parents. Since the moment he became as dead to them as Mike.Family.He blinked hard and breathed.
Amy glanced at him. “We’ll have to have some discussion about what precautions make sense for you going forward, Rusty, if you’re going to be with RJ.”
“But not tonight,” Cross insisted. Rusty wasn’t sure how Cross knew he needed his boyfriend’s strong arm around him, but he hadn’t let go. Cross told his father, “Make that breakfast nine-thirty. We’ll see you then. Give Mom my love when she arrives.” Then he added to Amy, “Can we get a car and a driver to head home now?”
“Absolutely. But I’m putting a perimeter team on your house, in case those two kidnappers weren’t the whole story. There’s no sign of any third party, but I’m not taking chances.”
“We could go to Scott’s,” Rusty suggested, just wanting to get out of there. “He’d be okay with that.”
“No offense to Scott,” Amy told him, “but his place has rather limited security. You two should be fine at home. I’ll just add some exterior precautions. No one will get in your way.”
Home.That shouldn’t have sounded as right as it did after just two weeks of living together. But suddenly Rusty wanted nothing more than to fall into Cross’s big bed and hold him for a week. As much as he hated to seem vulnerable in front of Cross’s father, he couldn’t help leaning toward Cross, pressing his face into Cross’s short, sweat-damp hair, and whispering, “Yeah, let’s go home.”
Chapter 29
Cross spent the ride back to his house with his foot propped up across the rear seat of the limo and his shoulder acting as Rusty’s pillow. The soft fan of Rusty’s breath against his neck was soothing. He’d thought they might stop for takeout, with the way Rusty’s stomach had been rumbling, but within five minutes of hitting the road, Rusty had been out like a light. The position was awkward, and Cross was going to have some aches by the end of the drive, but he wouldn’t let go of Rusty for anything. Rusty seemed to feel the same, since he kept wiggling into a more octopus-cling mode without waking.
God, I feel like crap.Dried sweat itched under Cross’s shirt, his ankle throbbed, and his heart kept racing stupidly, even this long after the fact. He squeezed his eyes shut.
That was too damn close.The sight of a masked man pointing a gun at Rusty had made him want to scream, and his sick feeling at the memory wasn’t fading. If he really wanted Rusty to be safe, he should put some distance between them. Except Rusty had been rejected and discarded by everyone he loved less than a year ago. Cross wouldn’t do that to him.I’m not rejecting the man I love out of fear, not a chance.
And Tyler hadn’t been focused on just the money. If Rusty had never met Cross, just broken up with Tyler with no backup… The memory of Tyler’s hand closed around Rusty’s neck also wouldn’t go away.It wasn’t just my money’s fault.
They’d figure things out. Together. Because if this ridiculous circus had taught him anything, it was how much he needed Rusty safe and alive and at his side.
The tight turn and slight bounce into his driveway roused him from his dazed, whirling thoughts. He pushed at Rusty. “Hey, mon chou, we’re here. Wake up.”
“Huh?” Rusty lifted his weight off Cross’s shoulder and rubbed his face. “Wow, that was quick.”
“For you, maybe. Not for my arm.” He rotated his shoulder theatrically, then broke off as Rusty’s face fell. “No, hey, that’s a joke. I was glad you could sleep, and I wanted to hold you.”
“Oh. All right.”
The limo stopped in front of the house and the driver came to open Cross’s door. He took an offered boost from the seat, stiff and aching, and let the man steady him while he got his replacement crutches under him. A slightly familiar woman dressed in dark clothes approached as he stepped back to let Rusty out.One of Amy’s people.
“Mr. LaCroix.” She came to a stop ten feet away. “We’ve swept the house and grounds. Everything is secure. Did Ms. Nelson give you the new codes?”
“Of course.” Amy was always efficient. They had new verbal emergency codes—piranhato mean all clear, andpufferfishif there was still danger, which Cross let himself be amused by. New unlocking codes were already programmed into all the alarms, doors, and gates, and he had a new personal phone number, which would be a pain in the ass to pass around. He touched the iPhone in his pocket, and remembered that Rusty had also lost his phone to police evidence.Amy was supposed to get him a new one.He’d have to check later.
“Is there anything you need from us?” the bodyguard asked him.
“No, thank you.” He turned to the driver and held out his hand. “Thanks for the safe, smooth ride, Arthur. I’m sorry Amy dragged you down to Eugene to pick us up. We could’ve used someone local.”
Arthur shook his head, grasping Cross’s hand warmly. “Ms. Nelson thought you would feel safer with a familiar driver, and I didn’t mind one bit.”
“Ah, thank you. I probably did.” He hadn’t thought about it, but seeing Arthur at the wheel of the limo when it pulled up outside the hospital had been a relief. “We’re in for the night now.”
Arthur nodded, got back in the limo, and drove away through the gates. The woman bodyguard sketched a kind of salute and jogged off across the lawn. And there they were, him and Rusty, standing by his front steps.
