Chapter Twenty-Six

R yker left the hospital three days later and Marshal moved into the man's suite of rooms.

It wasn't an overt thing that happened…like he didn't move all of his shit in there at once, but he managed to add in things every day. A toothbrush, toiletries, clothes in Ryker's closet, and he had taken to sleeping in either Ryker's bed or the guest house, except on Christmas when he went home to spend it with his family.

He still hadn't come clean about anything, but they had made a plan to get into the safe the following week.

After that, when Marshal got the flash drive, shit would happen fast.

And Langston and Armani would go down.

Then he would take Ryker away and tell him everything.

Ryker hadn't questioned him either. It was as if they had a mutual trust. He trusted Ryker more than anyone.

And right at that moment, Ryker trusted him.

He only hoped to God that his actions didn't damage the man's trust beyond repair. It was that fear that had him using every waking hour to bring them closer.

"Why are you hiring a new model?"

"Because I'm tired. I want to step back a bit from running modeling and just keep an eye on the day-to-day business," Ryker said with a soft smile.

They were sitting on the bench in the heart of the maze and Marshal had turned sideways to put his head in Ryker's lap. He gazed up into the man's face, memorizing each feature.

"Want to travel?"

"And see the world." Ryker combed fingers gently through his hair.

"Where to first?"

"Rome. Wanna come?"

"Try and keep me away."

"Never." Ryker smiled.

"So, you'll need to hire a new model," Marshal said.

"I'm hoping that Aspen will take the job. I know he's a minor, but if he's interested, I'll go through the hoops."

Winchester Armani had yet to find Aspen and Cohen had started the process to emancipate the youth from the abusive asshole. The court date was set in March and Marshal planned on being there. That was if the court date happened. Because by that time, Armani might just be behind bars and Aspen won't need to go through the courts to be separated from his father.

Of course, Aspen would lose all funds available when the courts locked up the money, but as of this moment, Marshal had plans to let Aspen live with them until he went off to college.

"What are you thinking about?" Ryker asked, cupping his cheek.

"About letting Aspen live with me and the kids."

Ryker smiled and then grew pensive.

Marshal didn't need to be a scientist to read the signs. "I want you to meet them."

A bright light lit the blue depths of Ryker's eyes and Marshal reached up to pull the man's head down for a slow, aching kiss.

Ryker laughed at Real when the man gave a pained glance at his phone.

He'd met the guy several days ago at the hospital and liked him instantly. Real reminded him of Marshal.

"Don't laugh," Real grumbled, silencing his phone. "It blows up in the middle of a mission and I'm history."

"Nah. You'd silence it, just like Marshal would." Ryker didn't buy the guy's grumbling.

Ryker could tell that Real was affected by whoever was sending the text messages.

Marshal linked their fingers and brought them to his mouth and Ryker forgot about anyone else but the man who was never far from his side.

Together, along with Real, they entered the noisy dining room and sat with the bodyguards and FBI.

Ryker gazed around the massive table and smiled. Being an only kid had been lonely as hell at mealtimes.

Noisy laughter broke out when Tanner tried to take a third bun from the plate the cook held and was denied. Bishop called Tanner a glutton and Alex patted Tanner's shoulder saying that Tanner was a growing boy.

Ryker joined in with a chuckle. If he could have, he would have had meals like this forever.

It sure beat growing up eating alone.

Robert Langston left on Friday for his regular meeting at the country club.

With his heart pounding, Ryker let himself into his father's office with Marshal watching his back. He was glad the man was with him. After this was all over, he hoped that he would be able to look at his father in a different light. Those acquisitions and transactions had to be in there.

He wouldn't take them, he just needed to see them. Sure, his father had done bad things in the past, but he was still his father.

If he didn't find any documents, he wasn't sure what he'd do, but he would cross that road when he came to it.

Marshal closed the door and Ryker hurried to the safe. He punched in his code but the door refused to open.

"Shit," Marshal muttered. "He changed your code."

"Probably, but this is my grandfather's safe. He built a backdoor password to override everything." Ryker punched in his grandmother's birthdate and the tumblers rolled with a low sound and with a click, the door popped open.

"Start on that side, I'll start here," Ryker told Marshal and began searching through a stack of documents. He was careful to keep everything relatively the same as he went through ledger after ledger and even loose documents. He moved several flash drives from the top of a stack of papers and thumbed through.

Sudden voices in the hallway had him darting a frantic look to Marshal.

"Here, check the video feed on my phone." Marshal handed him the phone and then moved him out of the way. "Let me know if you see anything." The man murmured and began rifling where he'd left off.

It was one of the cleaners talking on the phone and he breathed a sigh of relief. Marshal had taken over his side of the safe, so Ryker went to the other side and began his search.

After ten minutes, he gave up. "There's nothing here."

"Maybe he keeps them at the office."

"Maybe, but I doubt it. I—"

His words were cut off when more voices were heard and he pulled up the app again. This time, a few bodyguards were on the move, looking for them both.

"Times up. They're looking for us again."

It seemed to be a regular occurrence after the recent invasion.

Every bodyguard, FBI agent, and staff member was keeping an eye on him and Marshal. It had been super hard to get this time away to search the safe. It had been Marshal who had coaxed Bishop into giving them some time alone or they would have had several shadows following their movements.

"Let's go." Marshal closed the safe, flipped the keypad to engage the tumblers and they headed back out into the hallway.

Instead of taking the main passage, Ryker found himself pulled into one of the secret panels. When the panel closed, Marshal crowded him up against the wall.

Gazing up with a smile, his heart felt like it would burst from happiness even though he hadn't found any records. Marshal had that effect on him.

"What are you doing?" he murmured, licking at his bottom lip.

"It's been hours," Marshal muttered, dipping his head to take his lips with a slow and aching kiss. Their tongues tangled, leaving him breathless.