Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

KENAN

Keeping things professional with Garner Ashley was damned near impossible.

I'd had a crush on the man since I was twelve fucking years old and he was an eighteen-year-old Adonis. Not only was he beautiful like some kind of fairy-tale prince, but he was also smart as hell. He was heading off to the University of Chicago on a full-merit scholarship, and all I could think about at the time was that I wouldn't get to see him at Catherine's house anymore.

During his years in college, I'd heard bits and pieces of his accomplishments. I'd learned the most scandalous and enticing detail of all. Garner Ashley was gay . Not experimenting, not bi, but actually full-on gay and not even a little apologetic about it.

I hadn't known it was possible for someone to be more perfect than he already was, but to hear about him living his true identity out loud, confidently and naturally, made him even more attractive to me during a time when my own sexual identity scared the shit out of me.

It was Garner's own success story, heard thirdhand through his sister, that inspired me to work my ass off in high school so I could leave Brownsburg for college and ultimately escape into the Navy.

Now, here I was, working with him practically around the clock as a glorified gopher.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

After four years of working together, we'd fallen into an easy routine. I woke him first thing in the morning and served at his pleasure in whatever capacity was necessary until the very end of his day. Early on, he'd argued with me, nearly begging me to clock out and go home, but then there'd been several days right away that had convinced both of us how unrealistic that was.

"Please, Kenan. I need to know you're getting some sleep," he'd said. It was one of the rare occasions he'd slipped and called me by my first name. "And I need to know you're not on the Washington streets in the middle of the night."

It had made the difference between me tossing and turning all night in my shitty studio apartment and me catching sound sleep knowing he was safely ensconced only one floor below me.

I worried about him all the time. President Garner Ashley was the first openly gay president, one of the few single presidents, and there were heaps of people who had strong feelings about both of those things.

He was a target for hate every single day.

It was one of the reasons I'd volunteered for the position when Catherine had told me about her fear. "What happens if someone that close to him betrays his trust? His privacy? What if they sell out a sensational story to the media?"

She'd been so worried about her big brother she'd asked if I'd known any young men who could be trusted to apply for the position.

It had taken me only a microsecond to understand this was the reason I'd processed out of the Navy. Fate had something else in store, something important and meaningful.

Serving Garner Ashley, even in a position as low as his bodyman, had been more of an honor than my years in the Navy.

And it was never more true than the night everything changed between us.