Page 57 of His Reluctant Savior

“What if you come in with me?” I asked tentatively. I braced myself for impact, knowing Dalton was about to lose it, but I needed to try. He’d be a great asset to The District.

As expected, he shoved me away, climbed out of the bed, and paced. “Are you insane? I’m not going to fucking murder people!”

I smirked because he was sexy, being agitated while still naked.

“And stop smirking at me!”

I pretended to frown. “Do you really believe I’d ask you to murder people?”

That stopped him. “Well, what the fuck else would I do?”

“So, you’re considering my offer,” I said.

“No!”

“You would be invaluable, Dalt. You have a different insight than we do, along with other resources. I’m sure you could find yourself a position you would find rewarding. Wouldn’t you like to stick it to the government, which has turned its back on you? Who’s treating you likeyou’rethe fucking criminal? Look at all the good you’ve done, only to have that shit turn on you. This way, you could still do good without the government’s noose around your neck.”

“Noose? They’re calledlaws, Sid. Laws. We have them for a reason.”

“Yes, and those laws can also harm. We’ve seen it time and again. Those laws hurt people not like us. Unless you’re a wealthy white man, most others are screwed by our laws because they only apply to them. Laws were madebypeople like us, notforpeople like us.”

Dalton didn’t stop pacing, but he slowed as he wrapped his arms around himself and gnawed on his thumbnail. No doubt he was thinking about it because he should. He should take a deep dive into what it means to go back to his old job and still be able to trust them. Who knew how many other men out there were like Rush? He would stand a better chance at stopping them if he were at The District.

I sat up and rested my elbows on my thighs, watching him process everything. “Let’s be really honest right now. Do you reallybelieve you’ll go back to how things were before all this happened?”

“You’re an asshole,” he growled, but he didn’t mean it. He was just angry, and I didn’t blame him.

I chuckled as I stood and pulled him into me. He didn’t resist, instead wrapping his arms around me. “This is all so fucked up, Sid. I tried so hard to do the right thing.”

“I know, Boy Scout. This is just another reminder that the world isn’t black and white. Sometimes, evil triumphs. Sometimes good does. Most of the time, it’s a compromise between the two, and how most people survive.”

I cupped his face with both hands and lifted his head to look at me. “And if we’re still being honest, I would feel a hell of a lot better if I had you close to me, where I can protect you and Owen better. No matter what you believe or what moral road you take, at the end of the day, you’re mine, and I’m yours. We were meant to be together. We just took a very roundabout way to get here, and I wish it happened differently. Just think about what I said, okay?”

He sighed and rested his head against my shoulder. “I’ll… try.”

I didn’t know whether he meant it, but I’d take it.

Sid and I bounced around from town to town over the following two weeks, and so far, all had been quiet, if you didn’t count all the sex noises we made almost daily. Sid had a voracious sexual appetite. Hell, so did I.

We laid low in the quaint town of Frederick, Maryland, about an hour away, west of Baltimore.

His friend, Veil, was still tracking down all who were involved. We wanted to make sure the culprits got hit when the news broke, leaving no stoneunturned.

I’d learned a lot about Sid as he opened up more and more and grew to trust me. I learned the name of his organization and those in his family, who all had tragic backstories, but the most intriguing part was the connection through their queerness. While unusual, it also made perfect sense when being queer would get you killed in their line of work.

I also told him more about my life, but it wasn’t nearly as interesting. Being an analyst wasn’t always exciting. And my married life had been very typical. While ordinary, I loved Matthew with all my heart, and I still missed him.

As Sid and I grew closer, I also got tired of running, missing my son, and not getting the answers we needed. Owen also grew impatient, needing his dad. At least he was still young, so the other children kept him distracted.

I owed Savannah and Mason so much for this.

Shit, but would I ever get the chance? Death constantly hung over my head like a guillotine.

After the conversation with Sid a couple of weeks ago about me coming on board with The District, I’d thought about his offer often. I wanted Sid strongly enough to push my old life aside. But if I did, changes would have to be made. They couldn’t just kill anyone simply because someone paid them to. And they should know who their clients were too. That knowledge could protect them in the long run. Could I convince them of that? Was I really contemplating this? Short answer? Yes. Sid was right. I could work in the shadows to fight certain injustices, not constrained by bureaucracy and politics.

Sid and I hadn’t talked about it since, but thoughts and ideas filtered in and out as I processed. One thing I knew for sure? I wasdefinitely trying to convince myself. But I needed to think about Owen, too. He could never learn of what we did. From his point of view, Sid would just look like my boyfriend, and we lived an ordinary life.

Sid was working on his laptop, researching a couple of people Veil found last week.

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