Detour (The Getaway Series Book 5)

by Jay Crownover

  “Wait a minute. Didn’t Delaney tell you that you had through the weekend to decide what you wanted to do? Why announce the town hall meeting before knowing your decision?” Miranda shook her head in confusion.

  Before I could answer, Cam jumped in. Always wise beyond his years, the kid knew exactly what the mayor was planning. “Because, even if the sheriff suddenly decided to give in to her demands, the mayor is still determined to get me out of that school and away from his son. Rodie might be in the clear if he bows to the assistant’s wishes, but they never intended to let me be.” He sighed heavily and shoved an irritated hand through his bright hair. “No one has wanted to get rid of me this badly since my dad threw me out of the house and told me I was no longer his son.”

  Still caressing the back of Rodie’s head, I shot out an arm and locked it around Cam’s neck, pulling him in for a tight hug. We all ended up in a shaking hug, the emotions zipping around us, painful and sharp enough to hurt anyone who got close enough to touch.

  “It’s okay if people like your dad and this idiot mayor don’t want you, Cam, because that type never appreciates what they’ve got. You would never be good enough for people like that, no matter how hard you tried. But Lane and Brynn, the rest of the Warners, Rodie and I can see how amazing you are without even trying. We don’t just want you; we need you. You complete this family, kiddo, and none of us would trade you for the world. If you think it’s a hardship on any one of us to take down a small-minded bigot on your behalf, you’re mistaken. It’s an honor to fight this fight for you… with you. You are an inspiration, Cam. Your life can be whatever you want it to be, and I’m damn sure going to keep the path clear for you on your way to figuring it out.”

  It was a bold declaration. One that made it sound like I was sticking around longer than I planned. The longer I was in Sheridan surrounded by people who meant so much to me, in so many different ways, I was realizing that that elusive feeling of family I’d always been chasing after might’ve fallen into my lap. Rodie lifted his head at my admission, and the anguish in his green eyes hit me hard. He was a man who was always composed and carried himself with an admirable amount of confidence. None of that was anywhere to be seen at the moment. Instead, he looked like the scared teenager who didn’t have anywhere to turn when the world was against him. I couldn’t imagine how challenging his childhood had been growing up here, or what he was going through right now, but I did know I was done playing nice. I might not be capable of taking down an entire drug cartel single-handedly like I used to, but I knew deep in my gut the close-minded mayor was no match for me in the great scheme of things.

  “I’ll take care of this. For both of you.” It was a promise I knew I would have no problem keeping. A spark of something that felt a lot like how I used to feel when I had to protect Webb started to burn in the center of my heart.

  Cam grinned at me and pulled away from the awkwardly intense hug. He bopped the top of my shoulder with his hand and told me, “Have I ever told you I wanna be you when I grow up? Seriously, you are the best role model I could’ve ever asked for, Wyatt. I don’t know if you know it, but you’ve made such a huge difference in my life.” He shrugged slightly and looked down at his sneakers in embarrassment. “If you weren’t around, I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t have been so frustrated with the situation that I bolted. I love Lane and Brynn. I will never be able to put words to how much I adore them and appreciate all they’ve done for me, but sometimes it’s nice to have someone around who’s been there. Who’s walked in the same shoes.” I wasn’t always proud of my past or so sure about the road I’d traveled to get where I was now. So, it was nice to hear that I’d managed to pull together a life that was enviable to a kid who had seen and done it all. A little voice in the back of my head demanded I be a man who continued to make choices Cam could look up to in the future.

  I could see the distress in Rodie’s gaze as I stepped out from between his legs. He was sitting on one of Miranda’s rolling stools, shoulders slumped forward, and the frown on his face was so fierce that he looked scary. I put my palm on the top of his head and lowered my head so our noses were practically touching. I heard his breath catch.

  “You do what you gotta do to protect yourself, Rodie. Don’t let that dirty politician win. I won’t let anything happen to Cam. Two days isn’t a lot to work with, but it’s enough. I will find something on the mayor and that assistant of his. No way do they play this down and dirty without having a closet full of skeletons hidden somewhere.” I was going to drag every single secret and scandal I could find out into the light.

  Rodie sighed and dragged a hand down his face. He suddenly looked every single one of his forty-some years and exhausted beyond measure.

  “I’ve never stooped down to their level. Not when I was younger. Not when I came back and they all treated me like a stranger. I don’t want to become like the people I despise just to protect my job… and my reputation.” He sounded sad and defeated, which made my blood boil. No one should have to resort to conniving and underhanded tactics in order to justify their mere existence. It wasn’t right, but I couldn’t sit back and watch this scenario unfold without doing something to protect the people I cared about. “Maybe it’s better if I just quit. The easiest thing might be to walk away.”

  Rodie’s statement made my back teeth grind together.

  When I was a teenager and met my very first boyfriend, I thought I’d finally found something and someone who was mine. It was the first time I let myself relax and act like a normal teenager. I got swept away in all the new emotions I was experiencing and let myself be lured into the idea I was no longer facing the cold, cruel world on my own. Only my mother popped up out of nowhere, as she was prone to do, and caught me and the other boy in the middle of an intimate moment. She lost her mind, called us both names, threatened to kick me out of the apartment I paid for, and tell the other boy’s parents what we were up to when unsupervised. I arrogantly believed the boy thought I was special, that he cared as much about me as I did about him. I thought I’d finally found someone to fight for me.

  But all that was too much to ask of a teenager who’d always had things pretty easy in his life.

  He was afraid of my mother and the truth. He was scared to rock the boat and understood how easily replaceable young love was. He had a new boyfriend the next week, and I was left holding the burden of yet another betrayal. It’d been easy for him to quit, to walk away. For me, that was never the case, and I couldn’t stomach the thought of Rodie throwing in the towel without even trying to fight for what was right. Without even trying to fight for me.

  I put a hand out and grasped Rodie’s chin. I tilted his head back, forcing his troubled gaze to meet mine. I was ready to jump into a lecture about the message he’d send if he walked away. To Cam. To the people of Sheridan. To the mayor and Delaney. And maybe most importantly, to me. My crush on the stoic sheriff had taken on a life of its own and grown into something bigger, scarier. There were real feelings under the desire and chemistry we shared. I was genuinely worried about the man and what would happen if he backed down at this stage in his life. If he let someone get away with pulling his strings because he was so determined to keep hiding, then what kind of life and relationship could we possibly have going forward? It took everything I had to pull myself out of the shadows, and I wasn’t about to go back to dancing in the dark just because Rodie was the first man I could really see myself having a future with.

  Before I could launch into the million reasons why walking away was a bad idea, Rodie wrapped his fingers around my wrist and pulled my hand away from his face. Turning my hand over in his, I froze when I felt the press of his lips against the center of my palm. It was a soft, sweet little kiss. One that could easily be overlooked, but for some reason felt incredibly important. The tiny gesture in front of an audience was more than I imagined I’d ever get from him, but it signified a huge step, not only for our relationship, but for him, as well. He wasn’t
going to hide forever. He was going to step out of the shadows in his own way.

  “I’m not going to let anyone run me out of town again. I left to escape the judgment and gossip I knew would suffocate me when I was younger. I know now, you can’t ever outrun your problems. They just follow you to wherever you’re hiding unless you face them head-on. I wanted to avoid the judgment and gossip as an adult because I didn’t want it to affect my job. But I realize my choices make it seem like I’m ashamed of who I am and who I love. I’m not. And it’s about time I start acting that way. I’m not going to lose anything to the mayor or Delaney. I’m not giving them the power to control me.”

  He moved to his feet so suddenly that the rolling chair shot across the room from the momentum. The wheels screeched across the tile as Rodie stood in front of me, everything and everyone in the room melting away. He put his rough, skilled hands on each of my cheeks and looked directly into my eyes. His sincerity and fear were palpable. But so was his determination to hold onto something bigger than being a small-town sheriff, and even more important than proving the people were wrong.

  “I won’t be happy, really, truly happy, until I get to live my life to the fullest. No more accepting the bare minimum and calling it good enough. I would never let Cam get stuck in a situation like this, where he’s hiding and lying to fit in, and I know I won’t be able to keep you if I keep lying to myself and everyone else. I don’t know how long I have you, but I want the minutes we are fortunate to share to be open and honest. I don’t want you to doubt me and the feelings I have for you. I need you to know I’m willing to give it all up for you, but not before I fight for what’s right.”

  I grabbed his face again, pulling him closer so I could feel his heart pounding. “I don’t want you to give up anything you’ve worked for. I want you to face the fear you’ve been carrying around for so long. Maybe it’s so big inside of you because you’ve never let it out into the light. Doubt and insecurity grow and thrive in the dark, but when you pull them into the light, they often aren’t as scary as you think.”

  He nodded solemnly, head lowering until our lips were a breath apart. Immediately my body lit up and leaned instinctively toward the heat he generated. My dick got hard, and my mind went in a hundred different, dirty directions. It was a serious and troubling conversation. I wanted to help Rodie out. I wanted to give him sage advice and promise things would work themselves out in the end. But I also wanted to push him down on the ground, crawl up on top of him, and distract him with every trick I’d learned. I wanted to make all of him feel better. His body. His mind. His soul. I wanted him to find peace within himself and realize who he was. He was a man worthy of being looked up to, and one who had done more than enough to earn the respect of the town that formerly shunned him. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that he didn’t need those small-minded idiots when he had me and everyone else in his corner.

  He lowered his head, our lips no longer pretending to touch, but locked together in a kiss that sent my head spinning and had my hands grasping frantically at the front of his shirt. Distantly I heard Cam let out a loud wolf whistle and Miranda offer up a round of applause, but I was too focused on the sensations Rodie sent spiraling through my body. One little touch and I was ready to lose my mind. Ready to go to war for this man. Ready to promise him I would stay to fight by his side.

  When I pulled back to take a much-needed breath, I was charmed by the red splotches on Rodie’s cheeks. He looked so cute all flustered and unsure. I reached up and grasped the back of his head, pulling him forward so our foreheads touched.

  “Whatever your next step is, know you aren’t taking it alone. I’m here, and I will follow you to hell and back.” It was as close as I could get to saying I would stay for him.

  He kissed the end of my nose which made Cam laugh and Miranda release a dreamy sigh. “Don’t follow me. Walk by my side, and let’s take them all on as a united front.” Rodie squeezed my hand and let it fall. “It’s time to tell the truth, my truth. And if the folks around here don’t like it, and think that who I choose to sleep with, who I hand my heart to, has anything to do with how well I do my job, then so be it. I gave them the best of me, and if that still isn’t good enough, then fuck all that noise. I thought I wanted to belong here. Wanted to be respected. I realize now, none of that matters if anyone else out there has to live in fear like I’ve done for so long. I don’t want respect from people who just pick and choose which parts of me they admire. It’s time I become a whole man, and if that man isn’t welcome here in Sheridan, so be it.”

  I grabbed his chin and forced him to keep his eyes locked on mine. “Never forget, even if the man you are isn’t welcome here, I want all of you, every last hang-up, all your bossy demands, your complicated history, your heroics and bravery, and even your fear and doubt. I like all your different facets and don’t want you to be anyone other than who you really are when we’re together. Remember that, Rodie.”

  This time, when he bent down to kiss me, it was not meant for an audience. There was too much teeth, too much tongue. It was wet and aggressive. The pressure and heat of his mouth on mine made my toes curl in my sneakers. I wrapped an arm around the back of his neck and held him locked to my lips, until I was forced to let go in order to catch my breath.

  “Damn… now I really want to be you when I grow up, Wyatt. That was sexy as hell.” Rodie and I both glared at Cam, who made a big show of fanning himself with one of Miranda’s files. His dark eyes were glittering with amusement, and it was nice that he could see the humor in the situation.

  “So hot.” Rodie let the compliment quietly slip out and pulled away after dropping a feather-light peck to the center of my forehead. “All right. We aren’t going down without a fight, so maybe we need to rally the troops and let them know what’s going on, so at the very least, Cam has backup.”

  “We face this, and whatever else is coming our way, together.” I nodded and gave Rodie a pointed look, letting him know there was no easy path before us, but that was okay.

  I still had plans of my own percolating in the back of my head. I was all about Rodie dealing with the problem in a straightforward and honest way, but I liked to play with an ace up my sleeve. I wasn’t letting that creep of a politician get away with threatening my lover or the young man who reminded me so much of myself. The mayor was about to find out what happened when a scrappy, homosexual kid from the swamp grew up to be a confident, well-connected, openly gay special agent. When you spent most of your life catching bad guys, and trying desperately not to become one yourself, you learned all about how to make an effective enemy.

  I’d nearly killed myself to be the good guy my entire life. Now, I was going to put all those painful, regrettable lessons my mama taught me to work… all for the greater good.

  Rodie

  In all the years I’d been the sheriff of Sheridan, I’d never seen a turnout on a Monday night quite like this one. The high school gymnasium was packed to the point there was standing room only. It seemed like even the most remote and uninterested of the locals made the effort to drive into town for the mayor’s big reveal. The curious murmurs from the crowd were almost deafening, and I couldn’t stop tugging at the collar of my uniform. Nervous sweat gathered at my temples, and it took every ounce of control I possessed not to shift my weight nervously from foot to foot. I wasn’t the biggest fan of public speaking on a good day, and today was anything but.

  I’d dodged phone calls, threatening texts, and even more than one surprise visit from Delaney throughout the weekend, making my answer clear. I was going to take my chances with the people of Sheridan. I was willing to put what little faith I had left in the folks who had chosen me to do this job from the start. I was still incredibly worried about Cam and how the fallout from my refusal to play political games was going to affect him, but Wyatt assured me the young man was ensconced safely within the walls of the Warner compound, and no one was getting anywhere near him. I had no idea ho
w they planned to insulate him from the gossip and speculation that was bound to explode after the mayor and Delaney dropped their fabricated evidence. I chose to believe that the love the Warners and Wyatt had for the former runaway was stronger than the hate and small-mindedness that was bound to come after the announcement. I wasn’t normally a ‘glass half full’ type of person, but the fleeting hope was so much better than dying from thirst because you refused to put anything in the glass in the first place.

  Anxiously, I scanned the gathered crowd looking for a familiar blond head. Wyatt promised he’d make an appearance tonight, knowing I was going to need the support. I caught sight of Miranda near the back of the crowded room. She shrugged somewhat helplessly when our eyes locked. She silently communicated she didn’t know where Wyatt was either.

  He’d been hard to pin down the last couple of days. He answered the phone when I called, though the conversations always felt rushed and brief. And he wasn’t at the ranch when I stopped by after my shifts all weekend. I asked him what was going on but only got vague answers in response. I’d resorted to bugging Ten when I saw her to see if she could get any information from Webb. However, it seemed like whatever Wyatt was up to, he was keeping it to himself. No one knew what was going on with him over the weekend. All his years as an under-cover agent had obviously left him with the ability to move around secretly. He was also really good at keeping information close to the vest when he wanted to be.

  “I’m surprised you showed.” I jerked as a heavy hand landed on my shoulder.

  I glared down at Byron Hall, my current competition and Delaney’s ex-husband. He wasn’t a terrible guy, but he was not the quickest on the uptake.

  I shook off his hand and forced myself to uncurl my tight fists. “Didn’t have a choice. The sheriff is always supposed to show up for town halls. And this close to the election, there is no way I wouldn’t come.”