The Walls of Troy

by L. A. Witt

  Dalton’s expression hardened, and it was focused completely on me. “What’s going on, MA1?”

  I moistened my lips. “Sir, we…” I couldn’t lie to an admiral, but what the fuck was I supposed to say to the father of the man I’d been in bed with an hour ago?

  Finally, Troy broke in: “We were at Iskander’s apartment.”

  “At…” The admiral turned to his son, eyes wide. “Why?”

  Oh shit. Oh shit, I am so, so fucked…

  “Dad, the point is, this idiot is getting riled up because he thinks Iskander and I are together. If I have a female guard, then he won’t—”

  “Is this stalker on to something?” Dalton growled, narrow-eyed gaze sliding toward me. “Or is it just wild speculation based on nothing?”

  Troy sighed. “Yes, it’s based on something.”

  Yep. Fucked.

  Dalton’s features hardened, and he clenched his jaw. “Are you sleeping with my son, MA1?”

  Troy stepped closer. “Dad, the point is—”

  “Did you fuck my son, MA1?”

  “I…” I glanced at Troy. Help me?

  “Yes,” Troy said, sending my stomach into my feet and my heart into my throat. “We’re seeing each other, all right?”

  “When did this start?” Dalton snarled. “What the fuck is the matter with you? Either of you?”

  “Dad, it’s—”

  “Troy, step out for a second.”

  Troy set his jaw. “This involves me. I’m staying.”

  Dalton’s gaze slid toward him. Troy still didn’t move.

  When Dalton looked at me again, it was all I could do not to gulp. This was a man who was accustomed to being obeyed, and he could rain a shitload more hell and fury onto me than he could his adult son.

  “Dad, just listen to me, all right?” Troy stepped between us and looked up at his father. “I’m an adult. It was my choice.”

  “And he’s under my command to—”

  “To protect me. Which he’s been doing.”

  “But now his presence is attracting the threat instead of deterring it.” He glared at me. “You knew damn well there was someone trying to harm my son. You’ve got the marks to prove it.” He gestured at my face.

  “Yes, sir. I know.”

  “Then why the fuck are you fooling around instead of doing your goddamned job and keeping him safe?” Beneath the booming rage, his voice carried an undercurrent of desperation. Panic. If not for the anger, he’d have sounded like a man who was a step away from dropping to his knees and begging me to protect Troy.

  Because I’ve seen the side of him he tries to keep hidden.

  And I let myself get too close to that side.

  And I fucking fell for—

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to him, sir.”

  “How can you look me in the eye and say that?” he snapped. “Look at yourself. You’ve already been beaten up and Tased right in my driveway. Your car was vandalized while you were…” He waved a hand, making both of us flinch. “What the fuck are—”

  “He has been protecting me, Dad.” Troy’s tone was firm but still a little unsteady. “More than anyone else on the security team. We just got…” He glanced at me, then lowered his gaze. “Closer than we should have.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Dalton growled. He turned to me. “MA1, the only reason I’m not having you hemmed up and transferred to some remote place in the Pacific is that you’re the only one who’s taken this seriously from the beginning.” He raised his chin and narrowed his eyes as he stabbed a finger at me. “Mark my words, if you take your focus off protecting him for one second, and anything happens to him on your watch, I swear to God, MA1, I will have every stripe removed from your arm and I’ll take your crow for good measure. Am I clear?”

  I gulped. If he took even one stripe, never mind the black eagle designating me a petty officer, my career was over. “Yes, sir.”

  He picked up the phone off his desk and hit one of the speed dials. Troy and I glanced at each other, eyebrows up.

  “Chief Fowler? My office, please.”

  Oh fuck…

  Chapter Seventeen

  Max stepped into the den and eyed me, Troy, then Dalton. He cleared his throat. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

  “Close the door, Chief.”

  Max’s gaze darted toward me, and the door creaked quietly as he toed it shut.

  Dalton leaned against his desk, arms folded across his chest. “Chief, were you aware that a member of your security team has been involved with my son? On a…personal level?”

  Max stiffened, eyes locking on me. “Uh, no, sir. I wasn’t.”

  Dalton turned to me. “Would you care to enlighten him, MA1?”

  The ground can open up any time now. Right under my feet. Come on…

  Max’s puzzled expression turned to a full-blown glare. “Really, MA1? You two are…” His eyebrows rose.

  I exhaled. “Yes.”

  The eyebrows came down, and he set his jaw. “You’re kidding me.”

  “Apparently he’s not,” Dalton ground out.

  Max’s lips pulled tight. “Are you fucking serious, MA1?”

  My face burned and my gut was doing somersaults. Before I could speak, though, the admiral cut me off.

  “MA1 Ayhan has some suggestions for more effective security for my son. I’ll leave that to the two of you to work out.” Dalton waved a hand toward the door. “Now get the fuck out of my office. Both of you.” He turned to Troy. “You stay here.”

  Neither of us said a word on the way downstairs to the security office, but I could feel the rage radiating off Max. It only intensified with every step, until I thought he was going to blow up and kick my ass right there in the hallway.

  The door had barely shut behind us before Max grabbed my arm. “What the fuck is the matter with you?” Before I could answer, he shoved me back a step. “Are you insane? You’re fucking Dalton’s kid when you’re supposed to be protecting him? What the fuck are you—”

  “If you want to write me up, then write me up.” I put up my hands. “Nothing I can say is going to—”

  “You’re damn right it won’t!” He stepped away, raking his fingers through his short hair. “Christ, Iskander. You were hand-selected to be his bodyguard. Yeah, they wanted someone who was gay, but that wasn’t so you could—”

  “Look, he and I were spending hours on end together. There was…” Chemistry. Attraction. Jesus fuck…“We were attracted to each other, all right?”

  “So the fuck what?” Max narrowed his eyes. “You’re a cop. What were you thinking?”

  “Would explaining it change anything?”

  “Uh, yeah. Might make me less likely to—”

  “We got carried away, all right?” I threw up my hands. “I spend all day with him, one-on-one. We…we got to know each other, and there was…” Chemistry. Emotion. So much. “I realize it’s inappropriate and—”

  “Jesus, Iskander. You’re here to protect him, not sleep with him! This is the kind of shit that gets cops in trouble with officers’ wives.”

  “Except it wasn’t his wife.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It was his son, you idiot. That’s even worse!”

  “Troy is of age. He’s a consenting adult.”

  “It doesn’t matter! He’s the son of a two-star motherfucking admiral who could make a few phone calls and have you cleaning toilets at Gitmo by Monday.” He threw up his hands again. “Look, man. I don’t give two shits where you put your dick unless it happens to be in the admiral’s son, who we’re supposed to be protecting.”

  “Yeah?” I stepped closer, locking eyes with him. “That the same kid you didn’t even think was worth protecting because he was just trying to get some attention from his old man?”


  Max drew back, eyebrows lifting. “You’re out of line, MA1.”

  “Am I? Look, I’ll admit my involvement with Troy was inappropriate and unprofessional. But since the day I got here, no one but his father has been more concerned with his safety than I have. Yeah, I got too close. I crossed a line. But don’t act like you’ve bent over backwards to make sure he’s—”

  “I’ve done my job,” he snarled. “It didn’t matter if he was really in danger or just thought he was. I still guarded him just the same.” He stabbed a finger at me. “You put him in more danger than—”

  “Don’t you think I’m aware of that?” I narrowed my eyes. “That’s why Troy and I were in Dalton’s office in the first fucking place. Whoever this guy is who’s fucking with Troy is only going to get more dangerous if he thinks Troy is involved with someone. And he thought we were involved with each other before I ever laid a hand on him. That’s why I was asking Dalton to assign someone else to guard Troy. So he wouldn’t have a fucking crosshair on his forehead.”

  Max tilted his head. “Are you…are you suggesting this is some jealous ex? Or someone who’s not taking ‘no’ for an answer from Troy?”

  “I—” I hesitated, then shook my head. “I don’t know exactly who it is. Neither does Troy. But this fucker doesn’t want anyone anywhere near Troy.”

  “So what are we supposed to do? Throw the kid to the wolves?”

  “No. As I suggested to Admiral Dalton, I think Troy needs a female MA as his bodyguard.”

  “A—what?”

  “Troy’s gay. If he’s wandering around campus with a woman, that’s not going to raise any suspicion.”

  Max wrinkled his nose slightly as he shifted his weight. “You think the guy will stop messing with him, then?”

  “Don’t know. But Troy’s safer with a female than he is with me.”

  “That’s an understatement.” Max glared at me. “For the time being, I’ll escort him to classes myself. In uniform. You’ll stay here and man the desk.”

  I nodded. “Understood.”

  He stepped closer, jabbing a finger at me again. “And stay the fuck away from that kid, or I will see to it myself that your ass is hemmed up. There’s no way in hell I’m losing my anchors or retirement over your idiotic indiscretions.”

  “Understood,” I croaked again.

  “Get the fuck out of here.”

  I didn’t wait to be told twice and left the office. I made it about halfway down the hallway before I stopped and leaned against the wall, rubbing my temples and trying to convince my pulse to come back down and my stomach to stay where it belonged.

  So the truth was out. Max and Dalton knew. The ball was rolling to bring in someone more suitable to be Troy’s bodyguard.

  As the dust settled, my heart sank deeper in my chest.

  Now what?

  I didn’t know. We didn’t dare step out of this house together, and somehow I doubted Admiral Dalton was going to be quite so willing to turn a blind eye to anyone going in or out of Troy’s bedroom. You’re an adult could change to not under my fucking roof in a hurry under circumstances like these.

  And the truth of the matter was, Troy didn’t have many people in his life. No siblings. A mother who was distant at best. The last thing he needed was to strain his relationship with his dad. Just like I didn’t want to be the reason his ex went batshit and hurt him, I also didn’t want to be the reason things were frosty between father and son.

  “That was…fun.”

  Troy’s voice startled me, and I looked up to see him coming down the stairs, Talos in tow as always.

  “Yeah. Fun.” I leaned against the bannister. “How’d things go with your dad?”

  Troy grimaced.

  “That bad, huh?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I’m an adult, so it’s not like he can tell me who I can and can’t fuck. But with everything he’s been doing to provide security…”

  “Things going to be weird between you and him?”

  He shrugged and came the rest of the way down the steps, stopping on the last one so he was just above eye level. “If things get weird, then they get weird.”

  “I guess they do.” I shifted my weight. “So what do we do now?”

  Troy shook his head. “No fucking clue. But I guess we don’t really have to keep this a secret from my dad anymore.”

  I winced. “Well, no…”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not all that worried about your dad or Fowler knowing what’s going on. It’s…” I sighed. “It’s Ben.”

  Troy flinched.

  “This psycho is your ex. He’s jealous. He doesn’t want anyone getting what he thinks is his.” I ran my hand through my short hair. “Which means every time he sees us together—”

  “What? Do you want to give him what he wants?”

  “No. But being this close to you makes me a danger to you. I’m…I can’t protect you when I’m also drawing danger right to your front door. Right…right to you.”

  “So you think we should stop seeing each other?” His tone was defensive, but his eyes were wide and scared as he stepped closer. “Iskander, I don’t want to stop seeing you.”

  “I don’t either, but—”

  “Goddammit,” he snarled, suddenly angry, and turned away. “He’s controlled every aspect of my life ever since I was stupid enough to start seeing him in the first fucking place.” He faced me again, anger and fear vying for dominance in his eyes. “I don’t want him to have this too.”

  “I don’t either. But I won’t put you in danger. The thing is, even if we’re out there as just friends, and especially if I’m not your bodyguard anymore, this…this thing is tough to hide. People can… I mean, you can kind of see it sometimes, you know? When two people are a couple?”

  “No one ever caught on to me and Ben.”

  “But he’s apparently caught on to us. I don’t see how we can do this without setting him off again.”

  He held my gaze for a long moment. “Are you…are you telling me we can’t see each other at all?”

  I rubbed the back of my neck and kept my gaze down. “I don’t know what choice we have.”

  “But…” He stepped closer. “Iskander…”

  “I don’t want to.” I met his eyes. “But I don’t know what else to do to make sure you’re safe. As long as Ben is out there, then I’m putting you at risk just by being seen with you.”

  “Goddammit. Fuck.” He raked a hand through his hair. “And there isn’t a damned thing I can do about him either.”

  “I know,” I whispered, the words sounding completely useless. “I’m sorry, Troy. I don’t know what else we can do.”

  He looked at me again, and whoa, the anger was back in full force. “Yeah, I guess you don’t want to risk your shot at a good recommendation from my dad.”

  I blinked. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Don’t fucking blow smoke up my ass. We both know I’m safer with you than with anyone else. The only thing that’s in danger with you around is your goddamned career.”

  I drew back. “What? You seriously believe this is about my career?”

  Troy folded his arms across his chest. “Why shouldn’t I believe that?”

  “My God. I…I shouldn’t even have to spell it out that I care about you.”

  “But you’re leaving.”

  “Because me being around you puts you in more danger than—”

  “I’m in danger either fucking way,” he snapped. “The only thing in more danger is your career.”

  I blinked again. “Do you even hear yourself? I’ve kept my mouth shut about your ex. I’ve put my career on the line to convince your father to get you a better bodyguard. Literally, the only thing I’ve done that hasn’t been about protecting you has been getting involved with you. I knew f
rom the start we were playing with fire, but I did it anyway, and it’s entirely possible you’re in more danger because of that.”

  “And if my ex were out of the picture, then what?”

  “Then…” I exhaled and dropped my gaze. “Then I’d probably still say we shouldn’t see each other. I’m not the kind of guy you need, Troy.”

  “You mean I’m not the kind of guy who’s good for your fucking career.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. This wasn’t Troy talking. This was doors slamming shut and walls going up, defenses taking over to keep the pain at bay. I hoped, anyway.

  But it didn’t make a difference. The fact was, we couldn’t stay together. Not as long as there was someone out there willing to fuck with him for being with me.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “Sure you are.”

  “Don’t, Troy.” I met his eyes, wondering if he was on the verge of lashing out or breaking down. “You know this isn’t easy. And it’s not what I want. I know it hurts, but don’t you dare try to make this about my career.”

  “Whatever.” He locked eyes with me, and he was back to the cold, disinterested punk he’d been the night I’d met him. All the affectionate warmth from earlier and even some of the rage was gone. “I’m assuming you still want lecture notes from our classes so you can get credit.”

  “I…” Fuck. I hadn’t even thought that far ahead.

  “I’ll drop them in the security office when I get home from class.”

  With that, he turned on his heel and headed up the stairs. I didn’t try to stop him. There was no point. As much as it sucked, this was what needed to happen for the sake of his safety and both of our sanity. He’d find someone eventually. So would I. We’d both move on and leave our badly judged fling behind.

  But goddamn, it hurt to watch him go.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I couldn’t get Troy out of my mind.

  It had been a solid week since we’d split up. Max had put me behind the desk in the security office, and he’d taken over my position as Troy’s bodyguard. We still hadn’t sorted things out with the professors to decide if I’d get or lose credit on the classes, but since I wasn’t in any state of mind to study anyway, it was a moot point for the time being. I was lucky the admin job was relatively easy and didn’t require much thought, or I’d have been fucked. Plus, the guilt just kept piling on. Every time Max or Dalton came by the office, I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. I was just lucky the admiral hadn’t decided to hem me up. Yet.