He’d likely been planning on both locations.
With Clint and his father both dead, the danger to Nathan and his brother were gone, but the suffering Reese had experienced at Clint’s hands was just beginning.
Everett’s suffering, too.
My thoughts automatically drifted to the older man. I’d recognized him almost instantly, despite how beaten down he’d looked. To say I’d been shocked to learn that Reese Starr was actually Reese Shaw, son of one of the most popular presidents this country had seen since JFK, was an understatement. I was beyond curious to learn about whatever had caused the estrangement between father and son, but I was more worried about what impact their reunion would have on Reese. I’d seen his blatant fury for myself, but I’d been around Reese enough to recognize what others likely hadn’t seen.
And I’d seen it in that moment when he’d asked us all to leave the room.
The vulnerability.
It was something I’d catch in his gaze every now and again when he would be listening to me talk to my daughter on the phone. There’d been a certain level of want in his eyes. Like he was envious, though I wasn’t sure if he was envious of me as a father or envious of my daughter. Having now seen what his relationship was like with his father, I figured it was the latter. Despite his ugly words yesterday, I had to believe that maybe the relationship hadn’t been broken beyond repair.
As for Everett, he’d been a much easier read. He’d been absolutely devastated. I’d seen the man enough times on television to know that he exuded confidence and power, but I’d seen only a shell of a human being yesterday.
A human being who’d apparently been hiding a pretty big secret – one which his son had callously given away with his remark about Everett fucking Vincent. There’d been a comment about Vincent being someone’s brother too, but I hadn’t been sure what to make of that. Admittedly, I’d had the opportunity to google Vincent St. James and while I hadn’t found much on him, there’d been plenty on a Pierce St. James who’d been killed years earlier in a home invasion. If Reese’s words were to be believed, Everett had been in some kind of relationship with Pierce. Since I definitely would have remembered news about Everett Shaw coming out as gay, either during his term or after it had ended, I had to assume it was a secret he’d been keeping close to the vest. I was just glad there hadn’t been more people in the room when Reese had made the comment. I wasn’t one to judge those who weren’t ready to come out of the closet – something like that just couldn’t be forced. I’d learned that from more than one painful breakup when I’d been younger.
It was a shame too, since I didn’t pursue men who weren’t out.
I nearly laughed out loud at the thought.
As if I could actually pursue a man like Everett Shaw.
No, he wasn’t president anymore, but he was still a powerful man in his own right. I couldn’t even fathom all the connections he had. Even if I was willing to break my own rule, what were the chances a guy like him would go for someone like me?
It was all irrelevant, anyway. My focus, and everyone else’s, needed to be on Reese and his recovery. I had a plan in mind that I’d already gotten the sign-off on from Ronan, but that I needed to now get Reese to agree to. At thirty-three years old, Reese was incredibly guarded and stubborn, so I knew my plan wouldn’t be well received. I’d tried on more than one occasion to draw Reese out from the protective walls he’d built around himself, but his focus had always been on the job and he’d refused to engage with me on anything other than a professional level. But I’d always sensed that it was something he desperately needed. I’d been making some progress in recent weeks, but it was like pulling teeth with him.
Of course, some of his behavior made more sense now. While Reese had enlisted in the military shortly after Everett had won the presidency, he’d still been a kid when his father had been named vice president. He’d had sixteen long years with some kind of spotlight on him practically at all times. That couldn’t be easy on any kid. And whatever shit had happened in the years after he’d enlisted had clearly left a mark on him. He was as skilled a killer as I’d ever seen, but his trust factor was next to nothing and I suspected once you broke that trust, you weren’t getting it back.
Ever.
I’d definitely need to walk a fine line with Reese going forward, especially since I now had the added inconvenience of having to deal with my attraction to his father.