Before You

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE



Roth made certain Nathan knew he had an open door welcome. Joseph constantly waged a dissuasion campaign. Over the weekend, he shamelessly used his sexual influence to attempt changing Nathan’s mind. The big man indulged him in everything else, but refused to the reverse his decision.



Sunday night, Roth got up for a piss and heard their voices out on the patio beyond the French doors of his bedroom. He paused, waiting to learn if Joseph had managed to make headway.



“Listen to me,” Nathan coaxed. “I never thought I’d have someone in my life. Now, if you’ll have me, I’ll devote myself to you. That means a home, roots put down. I wanna take care of you.”



“I don’t need anything except you. Why can’t you understand?”



“Why can’t you trust me to keep myself alive?” Nathan gave a growl of temper. “You plopped yourself in my damn lap and kissed me. You can’t put your faith in my competence?”



Roth had to smile at the restraint Nathan showed. He doubted the man had explained himself to anyone since age sixteen.



“Why can’t you stop having a pissing contest with no one, and just stay with me?” Joseph’s voice broke.



“Jesus. Baby, let me carry you back to bed. It’s cold out here.”



“This’s making me crazy. I can take pain and abuse, but I can’t deal with this!”



That gravelly voice gentled to so intimate a hush, Roth suffered a pang of eavesdropper’s guilt.



“I’ve given my word. Don’t ask me to break it.”



“You big lug, I swear, if you get yourself offed, I’ll find away to bring you back and shoot you myself!”



Roth emptied his bladder and then returned to bed. Adam woke, reaching for him. “I missed you. Everything okay?” He rolled on top of Roth, rubbing his smooth jaw at the nape of his neck. “Your hair smells like sunshine.”



Almost purring, he flexed his hips against the mattress in idle self-stimulation. The weight of his lover draped atop him made him smile in pleasure. “Go back to sleep.”







Roth woke to the smell of bacon frying. He heard the three other males in residence talking. Hauling his ass out of bed, he brushed his hair and teeth, pissed and pulled on gi-style pants before following the smell of cooking meat.



Joseph leaned around the separating bit of wall. “Good morning.”



Roth nodded. Adam met him with a brief, sweet kiss. Roth smiled. “Evidently, I have passed on to a better realm. Breakfast and a kiss?”



Nathan chuckled huskily. “With you there.”







Nathan’s departure loomed. On the morning they drove him to the private airfield, Joseph struggled to remain brave. At the time Nathan had to actually board, the younger man did not cry. He pulled his lover down for a kiss so intimate Roth and Adam looked at each other rather than witness further.



“As of this moment, I’m waiting for you,” Joseph whispered.



“See you soon. I promise.”



During the drive back Joseph began to curse like a sailor, railing about the situation. He finished with a rundown of the incident at the shelter.



Adam reached over to rub Roth’s leg. “Healer turned harmer. Unexpected and surprising.”







Roth stepped out to get the paper. He saw a gray car with two men in it. They both stared at him. In the years before Katherine, he’d frequently jetted around the globe, pleasure seeking. It made him a target for the kind of reporter willing to do almost anything for a snapshot and a by line. Suspicious, he returned inside. He googled himself and the first two listings fell under the headlines of recent online pieces and blogs.



“Rothington Garrett, of the vastly wealthy Savannah Garrett, powerful international salvagers, owners of Garrett Diversified, has a male lover.”



Written by a trained monkey, if the sentence structure proved any indicator.



“Roth Garrett, so long off the market following the tragic death of his wife, has a man.”



Bugger. He thought society writers lost interest in him after he became so anti-social after Katherine died. The second article had a grainy picture that appeared snapped by the function on a cell phone. Taken at the Olde Pink House, it showed Adam leaning close, hand at the nape of Roth’s neck. The photographer had caught them in a moment of intimacy that clearly defined the nature of their association.



He scanned the copy.



“Thirteen years ago, the name Roth Garrett was a synonym for sin. The sexy millionaire cut a swath through bedrooms in the US, Europe and Britain before settling down with Miss Katherine Lyman. Miss Lyman lost her fight with cancer, prompting Roth to become serious about school and study medicine many speculated. He’s lived quietly and for the most part entirely out of the public eye. Now reports of his re-emergence into public view have come with a juicy footnote. It would seem the man once considered one of the most sought after playboys, has a lover as beautiful and fascinating as himself.”



It amazed him to think a market existed for information about him. He did his laundry and cleaned his own house, for fuck’s sake. How big a celebrity did that make him? It seemed the family fortune created interest. A few minutes cruising blogs turned up chatter about his sister Braxton’s pregnancy. Christ, who cared about this stuff, he wondered.





A few days later, Roth noted a car following he and Adam. “Is there any reason for you to look in the rear view?”



“No. That all went when I quit. Not even the higher-ups know the name I took or where I went. Why?”



“Paranoia, I guess.” His gut told him otherwise.







Joseph couldn’t sleep out in the guesthouse alone. They moved him temporarily into the main house. The first night, he woke from a nightmare. Roth put him in bed with Adam and carried his laptop out onto the patio. The temperature had dropped, but he didn’t mind it. Mind racing, he trolled through Denver newspaper archives, seeking articles concerning the crash. It didn’t take long.



Roth’s heart turned an awkward flip seeing the picture of Adam’s family used for the story. His father and mother had created him exactly. Her eyes, his face. Anyone who had seen either of them would know Adam as their child on sight.



Swiping his hand over his face, he then glanced at his watch. Nelson might remain awake. He fetched his cell from where it charged, dialed Nelson’s private line.



“Roth, do you ever sleep?”



“Could ask the same of you.” He shifted the phone to his shoulder. “I think I have a situation.”



“Switch to chat 4221.”



Roth went to the private chat as prearranged.



“There?”



Roth typed, “Yeah, I think the men who killed his parents may be after Adam.”



“On it.”







Roth savored his lover, kissing him often. They fell into bed at night, loving and indulgent.







While Nathan remained absent, Roth woke to an empty bed. Sweeping his hand over the sheet, his touch met only cool fabric. Getting up and dressing, he wandered out into the main house.



A piece of paper rested on the bar.



Roth picked it up and read.



“Roth, my past caught me. I love you too much. Don’t shut down again.”