Chapter Five

M arshal was back, but not in the way Ryker envisioned.

Standing in front of his father, Ryker kept his hands at his sides, trying not to fidget. Even at the age of thirty, he still felt like a child beneath his father's judgmental gaze. It had taken him making an appointment twenty-four hours in advance just to question his dad.

"Why is Marshal back?" he asked, meeting his father's eyes directly. Doing so had been a hard lesson he'd learned at the age of eight. Meet the man's eyes or get the fuck out.

"He's doing a temporary assignment for me. Stay out of his way."

Exasperation filled the man's voice. The tone made the usual lump grow in Ryker's throat. He didn't know why his dad always treated him like an annoyance. It couldn't be because of his sexuality, could it? He was bisexual. Sure, he had a tendency toward men, but that didn't omit women, so Robert Langston couldn't rule out that he and Hailey might actually get married.

At first, he hadn't minded Hailey, but lately, something didn't feel right about their relationship and it wasn't the fact that they hadn't been intimate. He suspected their values were far different.

His dad was old school, so even if Ryker married a man, Langston Senior would not allow for a surrogate.

This was his life, right? He had a say in how things went. This was the year 2024, for God's sake.

But he knew differently. With money came power and with power came a whole set of rules that were a far cry from ordinary people. Ryker hated it, but he'd been raised in it, and changing now wouldn't be possible.

Right? Right.

Walking out of his father's office, he took the hallway to the left, skirting around people.

The house had been filled with FBI agents and beefed-up security from Cobalt and Suwan.

It suddenly became too fucking hard to breathe and all he wanted was to escape pitying looks and stares. A few people murmured condolences…as if he'd fucking died.

He made it to the parking garage located beneath the house and slipped behind the wheel of the silver Porsche and pressed his finger to the ignition. The passenger door opened and Marshal suddenly slid into the passenger seat. The man's big body took up a lot of room, making the inside of the car feel smaller.

Ryker clenched his teeth and squeezed both hands on the steering wheel.

He stared out the windshield, waiting for Marshal to forbid him from leaving. It wasn't like he could shove the man from the car. From under his lashes, Ryker glanced over without turning his head.

Marshal calmly put his seatbelt on and leaned back in the seat. Ryker put the car in drive and peeled out of the driveway, leaving marks on the cement driveway that would take maintenance a while to remove. He was just keeping people employed, he reasoned, and hit the gate opener on the sun shade.

The car fit through the gate with only an inch to spare on each side and he took the corner onto the street. The tires squealed again, but beneath his hands, the Porsche flew. When he hit the main road just off of Langston property, he slowed. There was a school zone ahead.

"Where are we going?"

"I promised Cohen I'd visit Light Bright. So, today is that day," Ryker mumbled, taking the onramp to the freeway.

Light Bright was Cohen Armani's baby. The newly formed institution assisted children and families in need and Cohen had built the facility a few months prior.

"I'm meeting Hailey there," he said, not that he owed Marshal any explanation about his private life, but he didn't need the man making things difficult. For some reason, Marshal didn't like Hailey and the feeling was mutual. It was better all the way around if the two kept their distance from each other.

Only, today it would not be possible. Hopefully, the presence of Cohen, Jennifer, and Paige would keep a lid on any open animosity.

The place was a noise fest when he walked through the door with Marshal at his side.

Several pairs of eyes glanced their way and more than one pair focused on Marshal, who wore a black felt cowboy hat. The man's closely cropped beard and chiseled features were shadowed by the brim, giving Marshal an air of mystery. That and the light tan suede duster coat that reached the top of the man's knees along with scuffed biker boots had several pairs of eyes lingering appreciatively.

Several feet inside of the entrance, Ryker found Hailey along with her two bodyguards. She wore a pristine white pantsuit and she looked like a million bucks.

Her face lit up when she spotted him, but the smile faltered when she noticed Marshal. When she reached him, Ryker slightly pulled down the standard surgical face mask and offered her his unscarred cheek. She kissed it before slipping her arm through his.

Ryker pulled the mask back up to cover his nose and mouth—it wouldn't hide all of his scars, but most of them would be covered and would avoid scaring the children.

"Over here!" Jennifer shouted and waived from a table of arts and crafts.

Hailey groaned, but Ryker pretended not to notice and made his way over to the table.

"Grab something to fix or fasten together," Jennifer said, squirting glue on one side of a colorful popsicle stick. She handed it to a little girl about nine years old, who pressed it down onto a partially completed stick house.

Ryker couldn't remember a time he'd played with anything remotely like the stuff they had here. His childhood had been lonely and filled with books and mostly online games. He wanted to try putting together an airplane and lifted one of several packages.

"What are you doing?" Hailey huffed under her breath and Ryker shot her a quick look. Disdain filled her face and she grimaced when a running child accidentally bumped into her. He didn't realize she had such an aversion to children. Or maybe it was people in general. She came from old money and power and she took snobbish to a whole other level.

He slowly placed the package back on the table and slipped his hands inside of his slacks. He'd overdressed, but this was the first time he'd been there.

Marshal reached past him and plucked the airplane package off the table and Ryker shot the man a curious glance.

He almost squeaked when Marshal unlatched Hailey from his arm and grabbed his hand. When Marshal pulled him through the crush of kids and adults, Ryker had no choice but to follow.

"Ryker!" Hailey called out, trying to maneuver through the crowd without actually touching anyone. Which was nearly impossible.

Marshal didn't give him a chance to stop.

Giddy, he felt like a kid when Marshal pulled him through an open doorway and into what looked to be a supply closet. Flipping the lights off, he found himself crowded up against a stack of supplies with Marshal's big body crowding him.

With a pounding heart, Ryker gripped the shirt at Marshal's sides and held his breath. The clean scent of body soap swept over him and he slowly filled his lungs.

High-heeled shoes marched past and Ryker tried to stifle a laugh. Marshal pressed a hand against his mouth and Ryker puckered his lips against the man's palm, the mask thin enough for him to notice.

Marshal's quick inhale was loud in his ears. Lifting his eyes upward, their gazes locked and held.

The moment was intimate. His heart pounded in his chest. Marshal's throat bobbed and then laughter in the hallway broke them apart.

After a long moment of hesitation, Marshal turned away, removed his hat, and ran his fingers through his hair.

Ryker pressed his back against the shelf front, trying to get his pulse to calm the hell down, but before that could happen, Marshal was taking his hand, linking their fingers together and sending it skyrocketing again. The man led him back out into the brightly lit hallway and all he could think about was that he wanted a kiss.

In moments, he was distracted when they entered another noise-filled room filled with kids and adults.

"We can build it here," Marshal said gruffly and guided him to one of two empty chairs at a messy table.

"It?" he echoed, confused until he saw Marshal still held the packaged airplane.

He was pressed into one of two empty chairs at a noisy table. When Marshal sat beside him, the man's thigh pressed against his under the table, causing his heart to sputter.

Marshal placed one hand on the back of his chair and leaned forward to watch while Ryker opened the package with shaking hands.

Excited didn't begin to describe how he felt and he wasn't sure if it was because of the airplane, the moment in the closet, or the fact that Marshal was here with him.

Kids crowded around the table, some sitting in chairs and others standing. Adults were just as noisy as the children, and Ryker knew in his heart this would not be his last visit.

He loved the place.

When Marshal lifted a piece of the airplane and pointed to a slot in the thin wood, Ryker slipped the slots together to create the tail.

"You've done this before," Ryker huffed with a smile at Marshal.

"When I was growing up, yeah."

Ryker was filled with sudden curiosity. He wanted to know where Marshal grew up. Why didn't he already know where or what kind of childhood the man had? Were his parents still alive? Those were questions he'd never thought to ask before. While Marshal knew everything there was to know about him, he knew only the adult Marshal and next to nothing about the child the man had been.

"And where did you grow up?" Ryker asked, concentrating on getting the wings on.

"I'll tell you sometime," Marshal said softly.

"Promise?" He made the mistake of gazing up into Marshal's face and their eyes locked and held.

A weird heat filled Ryker's stomach and he fumbled with the wing. Marshal's hand closed over his and guided as he repositioned the wooden wing.

"Promise," Marshal whispered and the man's mouth was so close to his cheek, the words caressed his ear.

"There you are!" Hailey said, coming up behind them and throwing her arms around Ryker's neck from behind. She pressed her tits to his back and her cheek against his, hanging over him and effectively blocking Marshal out.

Ryker was annoyed. "Hey, I'm building here."

"It looks like you're done," she insisted.

"You can handle the rest," Marshal said, pointing to the stickers on the table before the man stood up from the chair.

"I'll help!" Hailey immediately took the vacant chair and started peeling off stickers.

Ryker gazed after Marshal's wide back as the bodyguard left the room.

A lot of his excitement dimmed.

Marshal walked out of the room, mentally kicking his own ass for dragging Ryker away in the first place.

Thank fuck Bishop had earlier informed him that Ryker was leaving the estate, otherwise, he would have missed tagging along. Sure, he could have found Ryker, but jumping into the man's sports car had been easier.

His trip with Bishop back to Cobalt on Wednesday had been nixed the moment he informed Brick about Ryker's blood found on the threat.

Instead of going to Cobalt, Bishop along with Tanner, Rock, and a few others joined him at Langston's estate along with the FBI.

He knew the extra people inside the house were making Ryker freak the fuck out, but it couldn't be helped. The more people they had on site that Marshal trusted, the quicker they'd be able to solve what the fuck was going on.

Entering the main room, a familiar face in the crowd had Marshal gritting his teeth.

What the fuck was Donald Bass doing there?

He started through the crowd just as the man squatted down to offer some colorful stickers to a few children. Soon Bass was surrounded by kids of all ages wanting stickers and Marshal was blocked from confronting the man.

Now was not the time nor the place to haul Bass out of the building by the scruff of his neck.

But he was tempted and squeezed his hands into fists to keep a rein on his temper.