Taylor’s eyes widened. “For…uh…what? Who?Witness Protection?”
“Whom. Whom would be, yeah, people enteringWITSEC.”
Taylor stared at him. “Seems a funny thingnever to have mentioned before, Brandt.”
Will shrugged. “It never came up. Anyway, itwon’t be for long. Usually overnight. The longest was a week.”
“Great. So Dennis is a bad guy?”
“Probably. Generally.”
Taylor laughed. “Okay. And who’s BobTaylor?”
“Just a friend.” Will sighed.
“Mmhm.” Taylor studied the framed photo ofWill’s mother on the dresser. “A friend like David Bradley or afriend like Alice Stone?”
“Immaterial. Irrelevant.”
Taylor glanced back at him and raised hiseyebrows. “I…see.”
“You nut.” Will grabbed a fistful ofTaylor’s shirt and hauled him in for a quick but comprehensivekiss.
When he lifted his mouth from Taylor’s, theywere both smiling. Will looked over Taylor’s shoulder in time tosee Grant standing in the doorway, Grant’s wide grin fading into alook of horror. His stricken gaze met Will’s and he stepped backinto the hall.
“Whoa.” Will released Taylor sosuddenly, Taylor staggered back and sat down on the edge of thebed. “Hang on. Grant?”
“Hell,” Taylor muttered. “That didn’t takelong.”
“Be right back.”
If Taylor replied, Will missed it. Hesprinted down the hall after Grant, catching up to him as Grant’sbedroom door was closing.
“Hey. Grant.” Will turned the knob andstepped inside Grant’s room. Grant turned like he was at bay. “Youneed to listen to me.”
“What the hell, William.” Grant’s face waspale. His eyes still looked stricken. “What the fuck? What. The.Fuck. You were kissing him.”
“He’s my partner.”
“I thought you meant you workedtogether!”
“We do work together. But we’re also —”
“But he’s married! He’s wearing a weddingring.”
It surprised Will that Grant had noticed. Hewasn’t always so observant. “He’s wearing my ring.”
Grant shook his head, repudiating this. “Idon’t believe this. You’re saying you’re a homo? There’s noway!”
This was going pretty much the way Will hadfeared any time he’d pictured this scenario. The fact that hisfather had taken Taylor’s presence so calmly had lulled him into afalse sense of security. Grant’s reaction was the normal andexpected one. Or at least the expected one.
Will should have been a lot more carefulabout kissing Taylor.
Except…no. Why should he have to becareful about kissing the guy he planned on spending the rest ofhis life with? No, what he should have done was communicate thereal state of affairs before he ever made this trip. Or at leastbefore he dragged Taylor along on such a trip.
“Hell,” he muttered. “We should have hadthis talk a long time ago.”
“What talk? The talk where you tellme you’re a queer? You’re a fag? You’re a goddamned —”
“Okay,” Will cut in. He kept his voicequiet, but it took effort. “You can cut that shit out now. Yes, I’mgay. You’re going to have to deal with it.”
“Since when? Since him? SinceMacAllister?”
“Since forever. Taylor doesn’t have anythingto do with me being gay.”
“The hell he doesn’t. He’s yourpartner, isn’t he?”
“Yes. But I was gay long be —”
“That’s bullshit, Will. You aren’t gay. Youweren’t gay in high school. You weren’t gay in college. You weregoing to marry Madonna Agnelli. You should have marriedher.”
Will hung onto his patience. “No, Ishouldn’t have. Because I am gay. And the reason I stoppeddating Madonna was I figured that out. Look, I’m sorry this is sucha shock to you, but —”
“Does Pop know?”
“Yes.” Will reflected on the last threeminutes and revised. “I’m assuming Pop knows.”
“You assume? I wouldn’t assume,William. This is so…I can’t believe it. This is a goddamnednightmare.”
Will said wearily, “Grant, I realize thisnews is a shock, and I guess I didn’t handle breaking it to youright. Okay? But —”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Grant actuallyput his hands up like he was going to cover his ears. He stoppedhimself, but clearly it was his desire.
“Oh for chrissake.”
“No.” Grant’s chin jutted out defiantly. “Idon’t want to hear it. I don’t know why you would do this, but I’mnot going to be a part of it.”
“I’m not asking you to be a part ofit. I’m asking you to not be an ass about it.”
Grant glared at him. “I can’t believe you’dbring him here.”
Will said in warning, “Grant, you can thinkwhat you like, but you don’t say one goddamned thing toMacAllister, you got that? Not a word. You’re my brother and I loveyou. That isn’t going to change, even if you are a jackass. But ifyou give MacAllister any grief, we’re going to have aserious disagreement.”
Grant opened his mouth, but changed hismind.
“Good choice,” Will told him, and walkedout.
“Any regrets about leaving the DSS?” Billasked, passing the basket of cornbread to Taylor.
Will winced inwardly, but Taylor caught hiseye and winked. “Nah,” Taylor said. “We were ready for a change.This way we get to be our own bosses and take vacation when we needit.”
“Like now,” Will said.
“And you boys are working as private eyes orwhat exactly?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? Theongoing debate between them.
“Mercenaries?” Cousin Dennis said, showinghis first interest in the suppertime conversation. It was easy toforget about Cousin Dennis. He sort of blended into the oakpaneling.
“Global security consultants,” Willsaid.
Taylor gave Cousin Dennis a narrow look.“Definitely not mercenaries.” He did not like mercenaries in anyway, shape or form. They’d had a few arguments on the topic overthe years. Will had friends who’d moved from the military tomercenary work for companies like Blackwater. He saw it as a viableoption. Not for himself, but for a certain kind of guy, yeah.
Taylor, not so much, and Will smiledinwardly at his tone. He caught Grant’s scowl, and his amusementfaded. He was stupid not to have foreseen Grant’s reaction to hiscoming out, but Will hadn’t spent a lot of time with Grant over thelast decade. The fact was, he didn’t really know the adult Grantall that well. It was a sad thought.
“There’s good money in mercenary work,”Cousin Dennis said, showing an unexpected streak ofstubbornness.
“It’s not just about money,” Taylorsaid.
“Not that we have anything against money,”Will said cheerfully. He nudged Taylor’s boot under the table.
Taylor’s mouth quirked but he went back toeating his chili.
“Nothing wrong with a steady paycheck,” Billsaid. “But a man has to be able to look himself in the eye everymorning.”
“What does that mean?” Cousin Dennis said.“You
