Exasperating (Elite Protection Services Book 3)

by Onley James

  “Well since nobody will ever know I was here, I don’t really care what they imagine the scenario is. I helped Samuel create this place. I know where every tunnel lies. I have been moving in and out of the compound unseen for months, and once I take care of you four, I’ll use the tunnels to slip back out, and nobody will ever even know I was here.”

  Calder could feel the tension building, like a wire about to snap. He did the only thing he could think of. He stepped out of the darkness. “That’s not entirely true,” he said.

  Jeb swung the gun at Calder. Robby’s eyes went round, and he lunged for Calder, screaming, “No!”

  Calder didn’t even have time to say anything. He saw the flash of the muzzle, and then Robby was falling forward into Calder’s arms, a look of surprise on his face that caused Calder’s heart to stop. Two more rounds rang through the barn, and then Jeb fell to the floor, but Calder didn’t care. He was only looking at Robby. Calder fell to the ground cradling Robby, holding his hand to the wound on the right side of his chest. “Don’t you fucking die on me, angel. You hear me?”

  Robby smiled, his pupils blown wide. “It’s okay. It doesn’t even really hurt much.”

  Those words sent ice water rushing through Calder’s veins. He whipped his shirt off and stuffed it over the wound. “Call the paramedics!” he shouted. “I don’t care if they have to get a fucking chopper out here!”

  The two children were crying, and Rebecca was standing with her hands over her mouth, watching her brother bleed out. “Oh, God. Please help him.”

  From somewhere off in the distance, he heard Linc say, “Connolly, there’s an emergency kit in my bag. Go get it and get back here immediately. Webster, get a medevac team and the cops out here now.”

  Calder just sat there, helpless as Robby gazed up at him with this hazy sort of smile, like they were staring at each other on their wedding day instead of what was actually happening, which was Calder watching the life drain from Robby’s eyes. “Stay with me, angel. You hear me? We’ve got plans. A whole life together. Don’t you dare fucking close your eyes, just keep looking at me, okay?” Robby nodded, but his skin was chalk white, even his lips. “Don’t die on me, angel. I love you. I’ll give you anything you want. A ring. A kidney? A house full of kids and rescue animals. Anything.” He looked over at Linc. “Where the fuck is the ambulance!” Connolly returned, and suddenly, they were trying to pull Robby from his arms. “No, stop.”

  “Get him!” Linc shouted, and Connolly grabbed Calder while Webster and Linc pulled Robby’s shirt away. Calder almost vomited at the size of the wound in Robby’s shoulder. The bullet had blown through muscle and tissue like paper.

  Linc opened a small kit and grabbed something that looked like a syringe. He grimaced as he looked at Robby. “I’m not gonna lie, kid. This is gonna hurt like a bitch.” He shoved something into the wound and Robby screamed like Linc was ripping his soul from his body. Calder fought to get free but Connolly was a tank compared to Calder. Connolly held him back as Linc slapped a dressing over the wound. “That should stop the bleeding until they can evacuate him to the hospital.”

  As soon as Linc stood, Connolly released Calder and he scooped Robby carefully into his lap. His eyes were wet and blood flecked his snowy white skin but he just smiled. “You promise?” he whispered.

  “What?” Calder asked.

  Robby gazed up at him, his breathing labored. “The kids, the animals…the ring. You promise?”

  Calder nodded, sniffling, wiping at his tears as they fell onto Robby’s cheeks. “Yes, angel. You just keep your eyes open and it’s all yours. I swear it.”

  “Good,” Robby managed, his laugh somewhat garbled. “You’re so going to regret this bargain someday.”

  Calder shook his head. “Never. I’ll never regret it.”

  “I love you,” Robby said before giving a slow blink. “I’m so tired.”

  “Me too, angel, but you gotta stay awake.”

  “Don’t be mad,” Robby said just before his eyes slipped shut.

  “No. Come on, angel.” He shook Robby. “Wake up. Wake up.”

  Paramedics burst through the door, and suddenly, Calder was pushed to the side, forced to stand there and watch helplessly as Robby slipped away from him. All he could do was pray over and over again.

  “Please don’t take him from me.”

  Sundays at the farm were, by far, their busiest days. Down the hall, towards the kitchen, there was the sound of voices chatting and dishes clattering and footsteps bounding up and down the stairs. Robby smiled as he stood before the mirror attempting to tie his tie. Even twelve months after his father shot him, Robby only had limited mobility in his right arm, which forced him to attempt to do almost everything left-handed, but he refused to be ungrateful. He was alive. He was more than alive.

  He was alive and blissfully happy.

  He felt the weight of Calder’s stare a split second before he looked up to catch his gaze in the mirror. He was already dressed for church, minus his suit jacket, which Robby imagined was somewhere thrown over a chair. He bit his lip, raking his gaze over Calder from head to toe. His husband was still the most beautiful man he’d ever seen. Calder came to stand behind him. “Here, let me,” he said, gently batting Robby’s hands away.

  Robby leaned back into him, letting the warmth of Calder’s body seep into his back as Calder took care of him, something it seemed he’d been doing pretty much since the moment they’d met. Robby liked to think he took care of Calder too, at least in all the ways that mattered. “Thank you,” he said, smiling at Calder in the reflection.

  “Anything for you, angel. You know that.” Calder finished, nodding at his handiwork, before turning Robby in his arms, pulling him back towards the bed and sitting on the mattress, tugging him down into his lap. “Are you nervous?” he asked.

  His pulse skittered at Calder’s question. “I’d be lying if I said no. But I suppose giving a sermon isn’t all that different from learning my lines. Except, I never had to write my own lines before and I could ignore a bad review, but I can’t ignore a bad grade.”

  Seminary school was far more difficult than Robby had ever imagined, but he felt called to it. The moment he’d made his decision, he’d felt at peace, and Calder had never questioned his decision. He’d only worried about the possibility of the school rejecting Robby’s application due to him being an out gay man married to another man. But, it turned out, the Episcopal church allowed both women and gay married men as priests.

  Calder cupped his face in his hands. “You’re going to be amazing. You’ve got this. You’ve yet to get so much as an A minus in any class you’ve attempted.”

  Did he have it? This was the only part of his life where Robby found himself questioning his abilities. He’d used his savings to buy the farm from his father’s estate. The only people surprised by his father being the farm’s financial backer after everything that happened had been the media and possibly the ATF.

  Transitioning from Hollywood to life at the farm wasn’t as hard as Robby had imagined it might be. After the circus that had ensued following the death of his father and Samuel, the country seemed peaceful. It had been a nice place to recuperate from his gunshot wound.

  “There’s a first time for everything,” Robby reminded him, wrapping his arms around Calder’s neck and wincing.

  “Shoulder bothering you today, angel?”

  Robby nodded. “Ezra accidentally kicked me there yesterday.”

  Calder shook his head. “That boy is a menace.”

  Robby smiled ruefully. “Who taught him what a roundhouse kick was again?”

  Calder snickered. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I also told him that we don’t roundhouse kick people for fun.”

  There was a bang against the door frame, and then Ezra was standing before them. “But it wasn’t for fun, Uncle Calder. It was a battle to the death. I had to defend my kingdom from the one armed man.”

  “That would be me,” Robby sup
plied helpfully.

  Calder leveled a look at Ezra. Robby called it his Daddy look, though that word took on an entirely different context when Calder leveled that look at Robby. “Have you forgotten our talk about the difference between real and make believe?”

  Ezra dropped his head. “No, sir.”

  “Good. Are Beau and your mama almost ready?” Calder asked.

  “Yeah, but Mama’s mad cause she’s got luggage under her eyes and it’s all Delilah’s fault.”

  Robby and Calder laughed. “Are you sure she didn’t say bags under her eyes?”

  “How am I supposed to know?” he asked before darting off as quickly as he’d arrived.

  Once Calder and Robby bought the farm, they set about changing everything. They’d leveled the old buildings and built two rather enormous houses on the property. One for Rebecca and her librarian friend, Beau, who they learned was much more than just her friend when she’d shown up with tears in her eyes, a huge smile on her face, and a white stick with a pink plus sign in her hand. Delilah was born just in time to settle nicely into Beau and Rebecca’s new house.

  Rebecca breezed into the room, looking fresh as a daisy, without so much as a smudge beneath her eyes, Delilah on her hip. “How do I look?” she asked, spinning in a dress that wrapped around her middle and hid her slight postpartum bump.

  “Gorgeous, as always,” Calder said, giving her a huge grin.

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re ridiculous. Don’t forget to trim your beard. We have that interview with the papers before church service, and nobody’s goin’ to trust any of us with their children if you look like some beatnik ragamuffin artist.”

  “But I am a beatnik ragamuffin artist,” Calder said.

  She gave a put-upon sigh. “I can’t with you two today. Save all this lovey-dovey stuff for tonight when we don’t have a million things to do. Everybody’s at the breakfast table already, and we have to leave in forty-five minutes.”

  Calder captured Robby’s mouth in a kiss. “Your sister is awfully bossy.”

  “She’s always been bossy, but at least now, she’s using her powers for good instead of evil.”

  Calder narrowed his gaze. “Is she, though?”

  Robby slapped Calder’s arm playfully. “Yes. Now, get up, sexy. We need to go eat breakfast.”

  Robby stood, but Calder snatched him once more, this time bringing him down to straddle his thighs. “How can I eat breakfast when the only thing I’m hungry for is right here?”

  Robby flushed to the tips of his ears. How did this man still get to him over the simplest of compliments. He prayed he never tired of hearing Calder say things like that. He leaned in, nuzzling his nose against Calder’s throat, kissing his way to his ear. “Didn’t you get enough this morning? My sister isn’t the only one with bags under her eyes. I could open my own luggage store with these babies.” He pointed towards his eyes.

  “I’m twice your age. I should be the tired one, trying to keep up with you and your twenty-two-year-old recovery time.”

  “Hey, I’m not the one who wanted to have sex in the shower this morning.”

  Calder growled against Robby’s cheek. “No, but you were the one begging me to fuck you up against the wall last night. Do you know how much effort that takes at my age?” Calder joked, gripping Robby’s ass and dragging him closer so he could feel Calder’s semi-hard length against him.

  Robby whined but then forced himself to shake his head. “No. Nope. We are not doing this. You are not going to make me horny right before I have to give a graded sermon in front of an entire congregation.”

  “That’s what the pulpit is for. Besides, you’re the one who decided to become a preacher. It’s not my fault I can’t keep my hands off you. Besides, we’re married. Even Jesus approves.”

  Robby scoffed. “My sister is right. You are ridiculous. Jesus does not approve of church boners.”

  Calder pouted. “You’re no fun.”

  “Oh, my God, will you two get in here and eat your breakfast? You have the rest of your lives for whatever it is y’all are doin’ in there,” Rebecca shouted from the kitchen.

  Robby sighed. “To be continued.”

  Calder stood with Robby still in his lap before gently setting him on his feet.

  By the time they made it to the table, they had no choice but to scarf down breakfast as the camera crew had already arrived to begin setting up outside. Robby had butterflies in his stomach as he watched Calder and Rebecca go through hair and makeup, and Rebecca bitched the entire time about how Calder had not, in fact, trimmed his beard.

  Once they were mic’d, the reporter began the interview. Robby didn’t participate. That part of his life was over. Calder and Rebecca could be the public face of the foundation—Robby was content to put in the work behind the scenes. He had no interest in spotlights anymore.

  Once the pleasantries were over, the reporter began questioning them about the real reason for the interview. “Tell us the purpose of the buildings behind us,” she prompted.

  Rebecca pointed to the white wooden signs with their tidy raised letters. “That’s Jennifer’s Place, and this one over here is Megan’s Place.”

  “Jennifer’s Place is a non-profit transitional housing program for children who’ve been rescued from human trafficking rings. They’ll receive medical care and counseling and a safe and nurturing environment while they recover before returning to their parents or entering the adoption system,” Calder said, delivering the information with that smooth Texas drawl that still did funny things to Robby’s insides.

  Rebecca flawlessly picked up where Calder ended. “Megan’s Place aims to provide similar programs for those over the age of eighteen who need to be able to support themselves and learn a job skill while receivin’ the counseling and care they need.”

  “Now, Mr. Seton, we’re told this is a very personal project for you. You’ve named these two buildings after two women who lost their lives before they could escape a trafficking ring, one of which was your own sister. How do you think your sister would feel about all this?” She gestured around her.

  Calder swallowed hard, floundering. Robby’s heart squeezed. Calder still had a hard time talking about Megan. Robby sighed in relief as Rebecca swooped in. “I think she’d be insanely proud of him and very honored.”

  “I’m certain she would,” the reporter said with just the right amount of phony sympathy. “Your husband, Robby Shaw, excuse me, Robby Seton, has left Hollywood for seminary school. Is Magnus Dei affiliated with your program? Does he have plans to take over his father’s church?”

  Calder’s voice took on a stern tone. “Magnus Dei is no longer a thing. It died when Jeb Shaw died. Robby is working on creating a relationship with his estranged mother and siblings but asks that you respect their privacy regarding these matters. On the matter of faith, my husband is going to seminary school because he believes that Jesus’s message is very clear. Love everybody. Robby wants to remind people of that message. We’re lucky that there’s a church that not only embraces these doctrines but embraces this program. The only church affiliated with our foundation is Prince of Peace Episcopal Church.” Calder looked pointedly at his watch. “Speaking of which, Robby is giving his first sermon in about thirty minutes and he cannot be late.”

  Robby swallowed the lump in his throat. Even now, Calder was still so protective of him.

  “Thank you so much for your time,” the reporter said, reaching out to shake their hands.

  “Thank you,” Calder and Rebecca said simultaneously.

  “Sorry she ambushed you with the Magnus Dei crap,” Robby said as they made their way towards the church in Calder’s truck, Robby in the middle with his head resting on Calder’s shoulder.

  “It ain’t no thing, angelface. None of those people matter. In a year, nobody will remember anything about cults or crazy suicidal megalomaniacs. They’ll only know about the work we do here and the people we help, and we’ll be too busy raising our
own kids and taking in every stray you find of both the two and four-legged variety.”

  “Hard to believe all of this started with a shower,” Robby mused.

  “Nah, baby. All of this started the minute I saw you in that conference room chair, looking like the loneliest boy in the world.”

  Robby looked up. “I think I was, you know. The loneliest boy. Before you.”

  Calder took his eyes off the road to drop a kiss on Robby’s forehead. “I think I was too…before you. But this is one hell of an after we’ve made for ourselves.”

  It really, really was.

  Thank you so much for reading Exasperating, Book 3 in my Elite Protection Services Series. I hope you loved reading this book as much as I loved writing it. The first and second books in the series, Intoxicating and Captivating, are available here.

  If you’ve read my books before, you have probably come to realize that I have an addiction to writing about the psyche and exactly how both nature and nurture often play a part in who a person becomes. I spent years working as an RN in a psychiatric hospital, most of those years I spent with children aged anywhere from five to eighteen. It took a big toll on me and my own mental health, which is why writing these characters has become my own form of therapy. While sociopathic bodyguards and megalomaniacal cult leaders are all works of fiction, my heroes and villains are all drawn from real people who I encountered in my time as a nurse.

  Wyatt, Elijah, and Robby are all grown-up versions of kids who I only met for a brief time, but to whom, for my own peace of mind, I needed to give a happy ending they may or may not have gotten in real life. As for the villains, I learned a long time ago, that sadly, it’s the people closest to you who often do the most damage. This is all a rather maudlin way of saying thank you for reading my books and loving my characters and allowing me to use these stories as my own therapy sessions.