Nixon: An m/m bodyguard romance (Hunter Security), page 16
“He’s going to be fine,” Mel whispers, gently rubbing my back. I let out a breath I wasn’t aware I was holding.
The unease rushing through my veins doesn’t let up, though. I don’t think it will until this is all over.
“My life has been crazy lately,” Dante starts, putting on his fake smile again. “As you might have heard through the tabloids, I was drugged at a red-carpet event a while ago, and it kind of set a snowball of things into motion. I’m a private person, always have been. While I still feel like I should have the right to keep whatever I want a secret, sometimes that becomes impossible. So instead of letting people leak information about me, I’m coming out and telling you all the truth…”
He pauses, takes a deep breath, and looks at Eric, who gives him a nod of encouragement.
“I’m gay,” he says softly. “I’ve known since I was ten, but my parents made me think it was wrong. That’s why I’ve stayed in the closet for so long. I wasn’t trying to be dishonest with anyone. I was scared. Personally, I never thought being gay was wrong, but I also didn’t know how I could come out without disappointing my family. I’m done caring what they think, though, because being gay is something I want to celebrate. It’s going to take me a long time to work through everything I’ve been through growing up, but I’m ready to do that. So, while I will still be a private person, I’m not going to hide who I am anymore. I’m Dante Michaelson, an actor and gay man.”
The audience cheers, and Eric places a hand on Dante’s shoulder.
“Coming out isn’t easy,” Eric starts after the crowd has quieted. “I remember what it was like for me. But maybe someone at home watching tonight or seeing a replay in the coming days will feel seen. They’ll know they aren’t the only person struggling with accepting themselves. Even millionaire actors are scared sometimes too. But there is nothing wrong with being gay. Love is love. Why should that be shamed?”
Dante nods with a big smile on his face.
“I hope so,” Dante says. “I also want to announce that I will be donating one hundred thousand dollars to charities working with 2SLGBTQIA+ youth. Families should love their children no matter what, but that isn’t always the case. I know by coming out today, I’ll be losing my parents, so I want to support those children alienated by their families for something they have no control over.”
My heart swells for this man even more.
“Wow, I’m sure that is going to make a huge difference for those children,” Eric says. “Tomorrow, I’ll share information on my social media for people who also want to donate and help the 2SLGBTQIA+ youth. Thank you for coming on our show and letting us be the ones you told first.”
“It was easier knowing you are also a part of the community,” Dante tells him, with a genuine smile this time.
“Remember to watch Dante’s new movie when it comes out in theaters, and life is short, so love who you love,” Eric says before a producer yells cut.
Mel, Amara, and I rush to Dante’s side, but I make sure to keep my distance.
“You did amazing,” Amara tells him and wraps her arms around him for a tight hug.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” he whispers, and she pulls away quickly, which almost makes me laugh.
“Completely normal. You also might feel a range of things over the next little while,” Mel tells him. “It’s best for you to get home quickly and rest. Right now, you are on an endorphin high, and I suspect you will be crashing soon.”
Even though I wish I could hug Dante, I can’t, so I tilt my head. “Come on, let’s go.”
Amara and Mel exit in the opposite direction of us, not needing to take the back door like we do. I quickly usher Dante toward where Bennett is waiting to pick us up. Denver is instep behind us, making sure no one follows. This might seem like overkill, but none of us would feel safe without these added measures of security.
As soon as we are outside, I open the back door for Dante before tossing my keys to Denver and climbing in. Finally, I shut the door, and Bennett drives away while Denver makes his way to my car.
“I can’t believe I actually did that,” Dante whispers, leaning his head on my shoulder.
“You did so good, babe. I’m proud of you.” My phone rings, cutting me off from saying anything else.
“What’s up, Soph?” I answer after checking to see who’s calling.
“We have a huge breakthrough. Come to the office.”
I stare at Dante, whose eyes are barely open. I’m pretty sure he’s about to fall asleep.
“Can it wait until after I get Dante to bed?”
“He’s going to want to hear this,” she says, and Dante smiles at me.
“Come on, this sounds good. I’ll be fine,” he assures me but sounds sleepy.
“You can lie down on the couch in my office,” I tell him. “Bennett, change of plans… head to the office.” He nods at me, making eye contact through the rearview mirror. “This better be worth it, Soph.”
“It is… I promise,” she says before ending the call.
Hope is always dangerous, but I feel it inside my chest. Something good is about to happen for once.
Chapter 24
Dante
Nixon guides me into his office, and I feel numb, my feet dragging along as my body tries to shut down from the adrenaline drop. His arm is wrapped protectively around my shoulder, offering me comfort. Normally, I’d fight this, especially since we aren’t in the comfort of my house. People can see us here. But it’s late, and no one is in the office except the people Nixon trusts, so I let my boyfriend hold me.
As soon as we are in Nixon’s office, he gently pushes me toward a large, comfy couch, and I lie down before he turns to ruffle through his desk.
“You’re crashing,” he tells me, but I don’t move. “Sit up, Treasure. You need to eat this.” He moves me into a seated position.
I open my mouth and the taste of chocolate coats my tongue, but it’s almost like I’m not fully connected with my body. After I’ve taken a few bites of the chocolate bar, something else is placed at my lips, and I sip the sweet orange juice.
It takes a few minutes, but it’s like I finally join my body again, and my head is less foggy.
“How are you feeling?” Nixon asks, and I look into his eyes to see them filled with worry.
“Better. Sorry, I’m not sure what happened,” I respond, exhaustion still weighing down on me.
“I think it was an adrenaline crash. You were so high and came down hard after making the announcement.” That sounds about right. “I wanted to take you home, but Sophy has big information for us. Do you think you’re ready to hear it, or should we wait a little longer?”
I take another sip of the orange juice before pushing myself to stand.
“Let’s get it over with so I can go to bed. The sugar is helping the crash, but I still want to sleep this off soon.” Nixon nods and stands, taking my hand to lead me to wherever Sophy is.
“Is this okay?” he asks, looking at our hands.
“It’s the best,” I assure him with a smile, and the way his face lights up lets me know I said the right thing.
“This better be earth-shatteringly big news,” Nixon grumbles as we enter a board room where Sophy, Bennett, Denver, and a guy I don’t recognize sit.
Denver has his head down, focusing intently on whatever he is working on.
“It is, I promise,” she states, literally vibrating in her seat.
“Chill, babe,” the guy sitting next to Sophy says.
“I’m sorry, I’m just so excited.”
“I’m Slate,” the guy tells me, reaching his hand forward.
“Nice to meet you.” I shake his hand and sit in a chair across from them.
“Wish it was under less crazy circumstances, but Sophy is right. We found something monumental tonight.”
“What is it?” I question, wondering if Nixon is as impatient for the information as I am.
“Why does everyone hate the build-up?” Sophy mumbles as she pulls up a website. “As soon as you informed me about your father’s hand in everything that has been happening to you, I set up alerts for all websites he is involved in. The second anything was updated, I would get a ping. I got two this evening before you made your announcement.”
I finally realize what I’m staring at.
“Oh shit,” I whisper as I read the words of my dad’s political website.
In light of a few scandalous photos of my son, Dante Michaelson, being released, I felt it was important to make this statement after much deliberation. My wife and I are disheartened to see our son's path, but that is what happens when you leave the faith. We don’t condone his behaviors or the lifestyle he is acting on, but we will continue to pray for him. Let this be a lesson for everyone out there in what happens when you abandon Jesus. Thankfully, God is merciful. Even my son can repent and change his ways. All he has to do is come back to the faith. Until then, we are cutting ties with him. We pray that maybe one day we can reconnect.
“But the photos weren’t leaked… were they?” I ask, glancing at Nixon, whose brows are pulled together as he shakes his head.
Before Sophy can say anything else, a bunch of pings start ringing from her computer, and her face lights up.
“Just what I thought,” she whispers, pulling up tabloid websites.
I’m stunned silent as images of Nixon and me pop up on the screen. The headlines are all some variation of Dante Michaelson Just Broke the News He’s Gay, and We’ve Got the Photos of the Man He’s Hiding.
“What you read was supposed to be published after these images were ‘leaked’…” She pauses, using air quotes around the word. “Whoever is in charge of his website is an idiot and posted it before. It’s not quite proof, but it gives us something to take to the police. It shows that they at least had information about the images before they were released. It would give them grounds to search computers and hard drives. At the very least, we should be able to nail your father with harassment. At the most, they might be able to charge him with attempted murder.”
“Maybe the images were supposed to be released sooner, but they heard Dante’s live coming out and had to rewrite the headlines,” Nixon suggests.
Sophy points at him with a giant smile. “My thoughts exactly. Either way, this gives us something to run with. I’ve also been using my hacking software to track his whereabouts for the past few months and have found a few things he wouldn’t want people finding out about…”
She pauses with what can only be described as an evil grin. We all wait for her to continue.
“Every Wednesday, your father goes to the same hotel for exactly one hour, then leaves. On those same days, a brunette sex worker shows up about fifteen minutes before he arrives and leaves ten minutes after. Coincidence? I think not.”
My jaw drops as this information sinks in.
“How is my mom still with him? Does she know?” I ask, but Sophy shrugs, obviously not knowing the answer.
“One thing she does know about is the donations they make monthly to anti-2SLGBTQIA+ organizations. They’ve been made for the last ten years under your mother’s maiden name.”
My heart races, and I want to scream. How could my parents do that? They are even more fucked up than I thought.
“I’ve sent all the information Sophy has to my detective contact,” Denver says, finally looking up from his computer.
“You mean your best friend?” Bennett adds with a lifted brow.
Denver rolls his eyes before nodding. “Yes… but contact sounds better,” he grumbles as his phone rings.
“Can you meet us at the office?” Denver asks, then ends the call.
“Ford is on his way,” he tells us.
I lean into Nixon a little. “I can’t believe this is actually happening,” I whisper to him. “Is there a chance my dad actually fucked up enough to get caught?”
“Nothing is for certain yet, but it sounds like it,” he says with a smile, and my eyes start to flutter closed. My body is completely exhausted after everything that has happened in the past few days. “Come on, you can lie down in my office.” Nixon pushes his chair back and offers me his hand.
“I’m glad I was here to see all of that,” I tell Nixon so he doesn’t feel guilty about bringing me here.
“Me too, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. If we need you for anything, I’ll come wake you up,” he states as I sit on the comfortable couch.
“Can you thank everyone for working so hard on this?” I ask, finding it hard to keep my eyes open.
“You can after you’ve had a nap,” Nixon tells me with a smirk.
This time, I don’t fight to keep my eyes open. I let sleep pull me under, praying good things will happen when I wake.
Chapter 25
Nixon
While I’m glad Dante got to hear in real time what is happening, I still wish I had taken him home first. Everything that has happened in less than forty-eight hours is a lot, and his body is shutting down. Thankfully, the couch is comfortable to sleep on. I’ve done it my fair share of times, so I don’t feel too bad about leaving him to rest.
“Besides releasing his statement early, do we have anything else on Dante’s father?” Ford asks Sophy. She smiles so brightly in return I’m almost scared to find out what else she has up her sleeve.
“As a matter of fact, we do. We found the guy who drugged Dante.”
I almost spit out the coffee I was sipping.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” I shout.
Sophy rolls her eyes as if I’m annoying her. “Chill, boss man, we just found him like an hour before you got here. Apparently, he’s willing to talk, but we didn’t want to do the interview without the police being present.”
“Good call,” Ford says, making a note. “Give me all the information you have on the guy. I’ll bring him down for an interview at the station.”
“What about Elanor? Do you think she’ll talk? If she really was being blackmailed, maybe she’ll be willing to throw him under the bus,” Denver suggests.
“I’ll bring her in for questioning as well. Arnold Michaelson has his hands in a lot of pockets. If we want him to go down for this, we have to have all our ducks in a row before we go making accusations,” Ford states firmly.
“Do what you can, Ford. Dante has been through a lot, and this piece of shit is behind ninety percent of it,” I supply.
“I hate guys like this, but the system is flawed. I can only do so much. I promise I’ll do everything I can, though,” he assures me before standing, and Denver follows, walking him out.
“You guys have done good. Thank you,” I tell Sophy, Bennett, and Slate.
“It’s our job to protect our clients. If we can get some good old-fashioned justice in the process… I’m all for it,” Sophy says with a smirk.
“How are you holding up with everything?” Bennett asks, leaning across the table and staring at me intently.
“I’m okay,” I answer, but by the way he lifts his brow, I’m not sure he believes me. Hell, I’m not sure I believe me, but thankfully, he doesn’t push the subject.
“Dante is going to want to thank you guys in the morning, so be prepared for text messages,” I state, changing the subject.
Everyone nods, and we say our goodbyes before I head to my office to wake my sleeping boy.
“Hey, handsome, it’s time to go home,” I whisper, stroking his cheek to wake him.
“Shh… I’m sleeping,” he murmurs.
I smile. “You can sleep again when we get you to your bed.”
He grumbles again but slowly stands, and instinctively, I wrap my arm around his shoulder to offer him support. He rests his head as we walk to the front desk, where Denver is waiting with my keys.
“Do you need a ride home?” I ask, but he shakes his head.
“Ford is waiting outside for me,” he informs me.
“Sounds good. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I tell Denver before ushering Dante to the car.
After I buckle him in, he rests his head against the door, barely awake. By the time I get him into bed, he’s once again dead to the world, and I wonder how long he’s going to sleep.
“Long night, huh?” Anna asks, startling me as I reach for a glass in the dimly lit kitchen.
“You could say that.” I yawn. “What are you doing up?”
“It’s hard to sleep when your best friend makes a huge announcement to the world.”
I nod as I fill my glass from the water dispenser on the refrigerator and sip the cold liquid.
“How is he holding up?” Anna asks.
“He’s exhausted. His body kind of powered off after everything. I think tomorrow is going to be the real test to see how he’s actually doing once the shock of everything wears off.”
“That makes sense. Mel said he could have panic attacks this coming week that might seem out of left field, but it’s normal. We’ll just have to do our best to support him.”
“Mel seems super nice. She looks so much like Brittany.”
Anna giggles. “People ask if they are twins all the time. Mel is the older one by three years, but it’s hard to believe.”
I’m sure my eyes are as wide as saucers. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have guessed that at all. I see why people get them mixed up for twins.” Another yawn slips past my lips, and I place my hand over my mouth to cover it. “I think it’s time for me to crash. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She says good night, and we both head to our rooms.
“You’re so comfy,” Dante mumbles against my chest after I’ve stripped and climbed into bed.
He didn’t take more than two seconds to attach himself to me like the clinging sloth he is. But I love it. Holding him in my arms is perfection, and I don’t want to spend another night apart.
If only things were that simple.
The next few weeks and months are going to test our relationship. I’m not certain Dante won’t get scared and try to push me away. Pressuring people into doing things they don’t want to do isn’t something I do, so how will I convince him not to do that?
