Page 21 of Overstaying His Welcome

Not to mention the fact that your father's a homophobe, and your entire political campaign is based upon conservative views. Oh, plus the fact you're completely okay with being in the closet.

I didn't add those thoughts, of course.

I kept them to myself.

But something on my face must have given it away because Chance sighed. It was the same sound he always made when he was going to give me news I didn't enjoy. Or when he had to stay late at the office and couldn't meet me.

“I understand that this is huge. You've been even more distant than normal. And I picked up on the subtle clues you've given me. It's why I haven't complained or gone out of my way to come see you.”

We both knew that he couldn't really come see me anyway. There was no reason for a future mayor to come to my office.

If anything, me coming to him made more sense. Which is why I always showed up here. It's why we would fool around in his office. Why this space had become ours more than it ever was his.

Still he went on. “I get that this is huge, but you have to understand I need to know something. Anything. I can't stopsomeone from donating to me when I don't even know that there are problems. Is there anyone else I should know about?”

I shook my head. “No, they've all been taken care of.”

From the way his body froze, I knew that he knew what I meant. Again, I could not implicate him, but he still knew the lingo of this world. He had watched me build it up from nothing.

He knew all the blood and sweat and rage I'd given to it.

“I want Memphis to go over this. He'll need access to your accounts. Who do I need to get in touch with to make it happen?”

I folded up the paper he gave me and shoved it in my pocket.

“You can't just go digging through financial records like that.”

I crossed my arms and sat on the arm of the chair. It wobbled precariously beneath my weight but managed to remain upright.

“I can do whatever the fuck I please, actually. I'm giving you the courtesy of asking. In case you've forgotten, donations like this are public record. Memphis would be completely justified in doing a little research.”

He stopped. “It's not a little research. Memphis is a fucking hacker. Everything he does is below the board.”

“Don't worry about what my guys do, Chance. Let me investigate this. I have to.”

He stared at me from across the table. His eyes were probing, like he wanted all the answers I couldn't give him.

My gaze back to him said more than I could vocalize.

‘Trust me,’ it begged. ‘Believe in me. Let me protect you.’

Eventually, he pulled over a sticky note and wrote down some information. He peeled it off and handed it over.

“This is the access you need. Sure, who donates is public information, but you'll have to go through this to get all the details. I am not the one who gave it to you, if anyone asks.”

“Of course not. I would never suspect the honorable Chance Sheppard of helping such activities.”

“Honorable? Am I a judge now?”

“I'll give you something to judge,” I said, like the teenage boy inside me couldn't resist coming out.

He laughed at that and the tension finally broke. It wasn't that everything was suddenly better, just that we both understood everything going on was outside of us.

These problems were external.

They didn't have anything to do with how we felt about one another.

It was just that I couldn't let him wind up hurt because of decisions I had made, because of business that I was trying to take care of.

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