Kindle Alexander - Up In Arms (23 page)

“Shit, it doesn’t sound like something he should be watching. They’re digging up lots of dirt on both of you, Reed,” Rylie said. “Elise said there are lots of lies, and one of the French guys is really from our area. He’s an actor. She also said the reporter who broke the story is getting interviewed on all the national news, telling bigger lies with each interview. Did they really barge into the rehab?”
“Yeah, I don’t know how long they were behind us. Trevor’s completely withdrawn from me and I’m worried. He says he’s going to find a place. This morning things were so good between us. Really, just perfect. Now it’s like none of that happened. I don’t want him to leave, Rylie, but I don’t know how to keep him with me.”
“I’m on my way over. Let security know I’m coming, and to let me in when I arrive.”

Trevor sat quietly on the bed in Reed’s guest room. He ignored all the extra preparations Reed made to ready this room for his arrival, and kept his eyes steadily focused on the forty-eight inch flat screen plasma television. Trevor watched with interest as the latest clip of headline news reported from Reed’s front yard. The showcasing of the house was excellent, Trevor thought for what had to be the twentieth time in the last two hours. The shots and backdrops of the on air reports were of the rich colorful blooms contrasting against the greenery of the assorted shrubs, and the wood, brick, and rock all along the front of the large custom built home. The only eyesore Trevor could see might be the long wooden ramp snaking many feet around the sidewalk and up the wraparound porch.

Trevor drove up to this house several times now, but always stayed too focused and taken with Reed to pay close attention to his surroundings. Now, Trevor saw the home in its true glory. He was dumb to not have figured out Reed made money, but even with this impressive house, multi millionaires could afford so much more. Maybe Reed kept a home in one of the other countries he lived in. Perhaps he still paid for some of those men’s homes across the world. Paying them off or paying them to remain there, ready for him when Reed went back into those parts of the world. Honestly though, none of it made any sense to Trevor. Reed didn’t have to keep men on call. He was too good looking and too smooth to not have access to regular bed partners.

The bigger problem for Trevor right now didn’t seem one he really wanted to concentrate on. Trevor was stuck. He tried to call his commander to explain and to see where this might leave him with his team, but Reed’s home phone line was dead. Trevor supposed Reed had the number disconnected with all the calls coming in. Until Trevor could get through, and depending on how his commander answered, he would ask for immediate temporary housing. For the first time since the accident, Trevor realized he was completely stuck without anything. His cell and all his belongings were spread from China to Rylie’s apartment and everywhere in between. Trevor didn’t have his wallet or even a dollar bill to his name until Rylie brought his belongings to him. The best he could do at this point would be to wait and call as soon as he got to the rehab hospital tomorrow.

Sitting back against the headboard, Trevor continued to watch the complete coverage of his story. Much like he suspected, he could see everything about his all important mission became sidelined to the video of Reed bending down beside his chair, reaching to kiss him while running his hand over Trevor’s hair. The footage ran over and over, across every channel on this super satellite. It ran in Spanish, French, and Italian. All showing the same images of him looking back at Reed with the most love stuck gaze. It turned his stomach. He seriously couldn’t look more pathetic. Especially in contrast to the others in Reed’s past. In that one shot, it showed Trevor giving his heart and soul to a man who left a string of broken hearts and tattered souls behind all over the world.

The coverage was never ending. As the night wore on, several of Trevor’s team members were identified, found, and interviewed. All were completely surprised Trevor was gay. At least on air, his team stood up for him. They said either it couldn’t be true, or gave a ‘who cares’ shrug with no further comment. One of his buddies just kept asking the reporter questions on how well Trevor was doing in post recovery, not responding to anything said or asked to him. Trevor prayed those casual responses were true and just not what they were trained to do.

Reed brought Trevor a plate of food, but he didn’t stay to eat this time. Nor did he say much of anything after that first round they shared when Reed stood in the doorway. It didn’t matter he was starving, or how he’d worked his sore body hard today. He needed to eat and take his medicine, but instead he stayed obstinate, refusing to give into those delicious enchiladas, or take the medicine lying right beside the plate. He was just done with this whole mess.

By eight thirty pm, Reed’s public record tax returns were aired. Trevor didn’t take it well at all. It was much worse than initially reported. Reed made millions on his own, but family inheritance made his gross worth somewhere around forty five million dollars. By nine o’clock, the military put out a PR statement discussing the repeal of don’t ask don’t tell. That one move effectively buried their raid, making Reed’s sexual history and the treatment of gays in the military monumentally more important.

Randomly, throughout the night, Reed would come to stand in the doorway and quietly stare at Trevor. Trevor never acknowledged him, and kept his eyes glued to the television. After a few minutes, Reed would leave, solemn faced, his hands in his pockets.

Trevor couldn’t understand why Reed might be so dejected. He led a fascinating life. The coverage was unstoppable. There never seemed to be a shortage of past lovers willing to talk about Reed Kensington, or show the pictures of the two of them together. Finally, a video surfaced on TMZ of a camera hungry threesome. Two men talked openly to the cameras following them, but Reed stayed in the background, waiting for his dates to finish their session with the photographers. The whole video lasted about ten minutes as they readily discussed their plans with Monsieur Kensington and their eagerness to do his bidding. Trevor felt sick to his stomach; did he really believe for a moment he could have someone like Reed Kensington?

“Hey, man. You look a hundred percent better since the last time I saw you.” Rylie came through the bedroom door, a big grin across his face. Elise was close behind. She stepped forward, coming around Rylie to give Trevor a big hug.

“Oh Trevor, how are you?” Elise asked, wrapping her arms around him, kissing his cheek before she pulled away.
“I’m better, thank you. I heard you came by last night. I’m sorry I was sleeping,” Trevor said. He finally looked over at the door, wondering if Reed might be there listening, but there was no sign of him.
A stray thought clouded Trevor’s resolve as he turned back to Elise. Trevor hated bringing all this down on the people who helped him the most in life. He just couldn’t see how he could continue being a part of the Kensington family. Those thoughts caused a strong ache through his heart, settling in his gut. Rylie’s family was all he had in the world. He didn’t want to lose any of them.
“No, silly, you needed rest. I’m going to let you and Rylie talk. I just wanted to say hi.” Elise hugged Trevor again, then gave Rylie a quick kiss before leaving, shutting the door behind her.
“How are you really feeling?” Rylie asked. He pulled Trevor’s backpack off his shoulder, laying it on the floor by the night stand. Rylie grabbed the closest chair from the corner of the room, pulling it close to the bed before he sat down.
“I’m better, getting the use of my arm back,” Trevor said, turning his eyes back to the TV.
“Brody asked to be relocated. He doesn’t want to move here,” Rylie casually said.
“Since all this came out today?” Trevor whipped his head around, staring hard at Rylie.
“Nah, yesterday, way before all this.” Rylie looked up, making eye contact with Trevor. They sat there holding the look for a minute before Trevor turned away.
“Why?” he finally asked
“My guess is I think he knows what he lost, but he just said he needed to move on. He’ll call you soon. He told me to tell you not to be stubborn and do all your rehab.” Trevor just stayed quiet to that remark. He hadn’t really thought about Brody since he met Reed. It was odd to him; Trevor spent his entire adult life wanting Brody to pick him, and not really even understanding what that meant until he found Reed.
“What are you hearing on the inside? I can’t imagine they’ll let me stay with the team now.”
“Yeah, I can’t really see it either. Your cover’s blown out of the water. They’re worried about your security. We’ll all have to lay low for a while. They found us all for interviews. What swine! That reporter doing all this damage for just a simple story that doesn’t really matter anyway. Most of us will have to move around now, I bet.”
“I’m sorry. I should have thought through this better.” Trevor lowered his eyes to his lap, remorse edged his words.
“Don’t be. It’s life, Trevor. You aren’t the one to blame here. You did nothing wrong. And for the record, I’m glad you’re finally happy. I’ve talked to Reed several times a day since all this happened. He’s seriously happy, concerned, but really very happy. That’s what’s important. The rest of this doesn’t matter.” Silence ensued for several long minutes. Trevor could feel Rylie’s eyes on him, but he didn’t turn to look at him.
“Reed’s a multi-millionaire, you never told me.” Trevor’s voice came out small, almost a whisper.
“And I might pull out forty-five grand this year, so what? Do you think less of me?” Rylie shot back.
“It looks like I’ll be pulling out much less than you now that I’m unemployed.”
“You won’t be unemployed and if you are, it’s not of your own doing. You were seriously hurt. You’re lucky to be alive. That’s what should be considered, nothing else. My family considers you family. If it weren’t Reed here with you, it would be my mom. You aren’t going to go at this alone.”
“They aren’t going to keep me in, Rylie, and I don’t have a skill. I’m career military. What am I going to do with that?”
“They’ll do something with you. This publicity’s too big, but it’ll die down.” Rylie kept his eyes on Trevor as he spoke. They sat in silence again for several long minutes.
“Reed told me he loved me,” Trevor finally said, his voice still small. “Yeah, I can tell. He’s different now.”
“Apparently he’s loved many before me.” The hurt of that one thought showed all across his face.
“You know that’s not true, and if you don’t know, you just need to trust me on it.” Rylie never let his direct stare falter.
Trevor tried a different approach. “Look at this tonight. They attacked him over me. I can’t let that happen. Reed did nothing to have his personal shit spread all over the place like this. It’s all because of me. Rylie, I have nothing to offer him and I’m ruining his life.”
“How can you say that? I’ve never seen Reed so happy.”
“It was only three days.”
Rylie reached out, resting his hand on Trevor’s thigh. “Trevor, look at me. You need to be looking at me when I say this. Buddy, you know all the stories. It’s just how the men in my family work. I knew the first time I saw Elise that she would be my wife. It didn’t matter that I was eleven years old and it was the first day of fifth grade. I told her that day I loved her and I have loved her ever since. Same with my dad. He met my mom and proposed by the end of the evening. He was nineteen and in Dallas for a Cowboys/Washington Redskins’ game and she was on the giant turbo screen. He searched her out, and proposed to her that same night. Same with my granddad. Surely Reed’s the same. It just took longer for him to find you.”
Trevor stayed quiet, his eyes drawn back to his lap, his brow narrowed and his lips pursed. He didn’t respond. His heart lay too heavy, thumping wildly in his chest. The magnitude of this situation caused Trevor to resist what was being said to him. All evening, the new coverage speculated that Reed was one of the best looking men on the planet, and in that Trevor whole heartedly agreed. It was in seeing him and Reed together that he realized how completely mismatched they were. At his very best, he was just an average looking man. Reed dated gorgeous people with interesting lives and jobs. Surely, at some point soon, Reed would have to tire of him and leave. It would just be better for everyone involved if it ended now before the pain of separation got too unbearable to handle.
“Look, I can see your head ticking, and it doesn’t look good. I’ve been worried for Reed for a while now. He’s been all alone for so long. Then you came into his life and everything was set straight for me where Reed’s concerned. You’re the perfect mate for him, Trevor. You match him on every level. You fill in the holes of his life. You will be Reed’s anchor throughout the years and I know you will be his best friend as well as his lover. If Reed was what they portrayed him to be on television tonight, I promise I wouldn’t have let you spend any time alone with him. Instead during my own wedding reception, I watched the two of you slip away onto the balcony and my heart was relieved that my big brother was gonna be okay.
“Look, buddy, you’re a good man with traditional values. Do you have any idea how rare that is in today’s world? You have honor and integrity. You’ll always put my brother before yourself. And Reed will do that for you, because he’s those same things. I promise. My family is your family. We love you, man. And if I know you like I think I do, what’s going through your head right now is not that Reed lied to you, but that you aren’t worthy of him.” Rylie leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees looking Trevor directly in the eyes. “But I’m telling you right now, you are worthy and you need to embrace this and trust me on that.”
“I don’t want things to change between us, Rylie. When Reed’s done with me wrecking his life, I could lose you all.” Trevor said.
“You aren’t going to lose anything and only time will show you that we Kensington men stick. It’s how we’re built.”
Trevor stayed quiet, just staring at Rylie, thinking through everything he said. Rylie sat back, pushing forward on the seat to rise. “Just think about what I’ve said. I know it’s been a lot to deal with and you’re used to dealing with your shit all by yourself. Reed told me he loves you. He said it at the hospital in Germany. He’s never said those words to me about anyone before. If you return the feeling, wipe the pain from his eyes now. He’s hurting for you, and he’s a little desperate, put him out of his misery.” Rylie rose, walking to the bedroom door. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Elise just picked me up from the airport. I’m going to have my wedding night. I just wanted to check on you first.”
Trevor nodded. “Thanks, man. I’m sorry you came to me before spending time with Elise.”
“I wouldn’t have come anywhere else. Take it easy tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow. Damn, I forgot. I’m turning into such a girl, thinking about relationships more than war and battle. Dude, congress passed the Medal of Honor for you. My dad told me today. So you’ll be hearing from them soon, I’m sure.”
Trevor nodded again, his heart eased quite a bit talking to Rylie. And the Medal of Honor was a huge deal. Almost unimaginable to think Trevor could be associated with such an honor.
“Hey, quick question. I may need you to pick something up for me at the store in the next few days, is that possible? I’ll be driving soon, but I don’t have a car yet,” Trevor said as an afterthought, pulling Rylie back in the doorway he just stepped through.
“Sure, just let me know when and I’m on it. I’ll talk to you later. Call me if you need me, man.”
“Thanks for the talk. I needed it bad.” Rylie hit the door jam with the palm of his hand, giving him a wink before disappearing down the hall.