Jordan was one more friend he had, even if Elliot didn’t fully take advantage of that friendship for a litany of reasons I don’t need to rehash.
It’s doubly difficult for Elliot to make new friends now, because who knows their true motives?
Another reason why I know Jordan was right, and that Elliot needs me.
Once Mom and I agree on a time, I use my work phone to send a note to the head of Elliot’s detail. My family’s already been cleared, so it’s more an FYI to expect them and usher them upstairs upon their arrival after they’re screened through security.
I use my personal phone to take a look at the hotel’s room service menu. Elliot likely won’t eat much downstairs during the dinner, and I’ll order extra for him, anyway. Before checkout, I’ll make sure I go down to the front desk and charge the order to my personal credit card so there’s no issue with it being paid for by the government.
Even Elliot’s portion of it.
I will take care of my pet as much as I can.
My earlier declaration ends up timed perfectly. Elliot’s meeting ends at 9:55, and before we head downstairs to the motorcade, I notify his detail that Elliot needs a couple of minutes.
Which is presumed code for I have to help him adjust Duck.
Not technically a lie, in this case.
We have a bathroom all to ourselves and he does have to use it. I lock us inside, even though the agents standing outside mean no one will interrupt.
While Elliot’s sitting on a toilet, with his slacks around his ankles, I hold him with his face pressed against me and make him breathe while massaging his scalp. We do that for five minutes that make a huge difference in his mental health. The set of his shoulders relaxes, and he tightens his grip around me.
“1:45, pet,” I whisper. “Next break is at 1:45. You can do this.”
He nods.
After he finishes what he needs to do, I help him tweak Duck by swapping out the sock on his stump, and then we’re on the move again.
Meanwhile, there’s another message from Jordan on my phone, which arrived just as we were stepping into the bathroom.
I refuse to look at it right now, though.
Because Elliot needs me, and I will not let my pet down.
Chapter Twenty-One
Then
This Friday is a bitterly cold late February afternoon. I savor the priceless expression on Elliot’s face when he starts to duck into the back of the car sent to pick him up and he discovers me sitting there.
He literally pauses. I see him deliberating whether or not he should get in.
I point at the seat to effectively answer the question for him.
Once the driver’s closed Elliot’s door, and my pet’s safely belted in, we’re on our way.
“Not expecting me, Congressman Woodley?” The pet is implied.
He shakes his head a tiny bit. The sadist in me loves the terror in his eyes, even though I feel badly my boyfriend looks like he’s about to shit himself right now.
My pet’s so fucking adorable. He truly is. I love that about him. I say that a lot because it’s true.
We haven’t seen each other in three weeks due to Shae’s crazy campaign schedule. When she’s at work in the Senate, I’m usually working with Kev and Chris and helping them plan logistics regarding the campaign. Elliot and I text and talk every day, sometimes including video chats, but getting together in person hasn’t happened.
Every long absence is, for me, more difficult to get through. Unfortunately, my schedule is crazy, my boyfriend is crazy.
I’m crazy.
That’s not fair, though. My boyfriend isn’t crazy—he’s paranoid as hell.
There is a difference.
Although, frequently, the effects on my love life are the same.
Today isn’t about us.
I mean, it kinda is, a little.
Elliot has no clue what’s really going on today. He thinks he’s going to meet with Kevin Markos and have a long working dinner with him, where they’ll talk about veterans’ issues. Elliot’s on the House Veterans’ Committee. He’s also on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee.
We’ve been so careful to keep Elliot’s name out of the press as a VP contender. That was one of my conditions when they told me he’d made their top three. Because I didn’t want his life bowled over on a maybe.
Except now they’re sure they want Elliot as their first choice for VP, and I promised I’d deliver him to them.
My sacrificial lamb, I suppose.
Make no mistake, there will be a lot sacrificed if he says yes—like our privacy.
This is the other reason I asked for privacy regarding this process, although Shae, Kev, and Chris don’t know all my reasons.
I want one more chance to try to talk Elliot out of saying yes.
The alternative to saying yes?
He says no, doesn’t run for re-election to the House, and he marries me.
I have a feeling that his answer to that option will be no, but I have to try. Right now, I want to pull him into my arms and kiss him, and I can’t because of the driver.
Sitting there and smiling at Elliot, I wait him out and make him ask it. Understandably, it takes him a moment.
“Wh-why are you here, Leo?”
The Sir is implied but I hear it in his voice and see it in the head tip he gives me. One of our many silent cues.
“Senator Samuels asked me to make sure you safely arrived at the meeting.”
He doesn’t know what to think about that. I hate that I haven’t been able to say anything to him about them considering him for VP but it’s not my job to do that.
My job is to do what my boss tells me to do, to follow orders, and to protect their secrets to the best of my ability, short of enabling or committing or covering up a crime for them.
Not telling my boyfriend he’s about to be asked to be Shae’s VP doesn’t fall under any of those headings.
Elliot’s near terror has me hard. I struggle not to reach down and adjust my cock in my slacks.
We’re supposed to see each other tomorrow night. What Elliot doesn’t know is we’re meeting not just Kev, but Shae and Chris, too. It’s at a hotel suite.
And then they’re leaving once the meeting’s over.
The suite is ours until Monday morning. I’ve already pre-staged everything we’ll need for the weekend.
Well, everything I’ll need. He won’t need anything, because he’s going to spend the weekend naked and deep in subspace.
He looks forward for a moment before turning to me again and dropping his voice to a whisper. “What’s going on?”
I smile and keep my tone playful. “I’m afraid I’m unable to comment on that at this time, Congressman Woodley.”
I love the blush creeping into his cheeks. When I use the title like that with him, in the particular tone I just said it, it’s usually when he’s tied up and I’m doing very dirty things to him.
Many times, when we’ve spent the weekend together, I had a prostate massager in him and made him beg for release as I called him Congressman Woodley.
So that trigger is anchored pretty damn strongly for him.
Deliberately so, on my part, and he knows it.
Hell, he agreed to it.
When we arrive at the hotel, I take care of paying the driver with one of the campaign credit cards while Elliot nervously waits for me on the sidewalk with his hands tightly gripping the shoulder strap of his messenger bag. His gaze literally scans back and forth as if worried about paparazzi. But we’re on the other side of the river today, just far enough away from downtown to be safe. This particular hotel is used a lot for this very reason, and their top three floors are nothing but suites, some even complete with attached conference rooms.
We’re in a smaller suite, though. It adjoins the one next door, where Kevin, Shae, and Chris are waiting.
I lead the way inside the hotel and across the lobby to the elevators. We’re alone in
the car. Once the doors have closed behind us, he starts to speak but I smile and shush him with a finger to my lips.
“All will soon be revealed, Congressman.”
He shifts the strap of his messenger bag on his shoulder and then has to reach down to adjust himself in his slacks. His face is beet red right now, and I inwardly giggle.
Yes, I’m a sadistic asshole. Owned.
The grin on my face is definitely of the evil variety. It reflects back to me in the elevator doors as we ride up. Once we reach our floor, I don’t hesitate when the doors open. I step out and turn left, already taking out my keycard.
I’m well aware that Elliot’s scrambling to follow after a moment of stunned shock. He’s walking up behind me as I wave the card against the lock and it clicks open.
I push the door open, hold it, and motion him in ahead of me. “Congressman.”
He swallows hard, his gaze on me before he finally steps inside the room.
I lock the door behind us, including the deadbolt and security bar.
Elliot stands there, both hands still nervously gripping the strap of his messenger bag while I walk around him and head over to the table, where the NDA form and pen await.
I pick up the pen and hold it out. “Congressman. You’ll need to sign this first.”
The scrunched furrows in his brow get me nearly every time. It takes every bit of self-control I have not to pull him into my arms right now and kiss him.
He walks over and starts to read the form but I motion to him with the pen. “Sign it, Elliot.”
Looking guarded, he takes the pen from me and signs.
Once he does that, I hold out my hand for his messenger bag, which he finally passes to me. I leave it on the couch and walk over to the door to the adjoining suite and knock.
The shock on his face when Kev, Shae, and Chris emerge is, again, priceless.
“S-senator Samuels,” Elliot says.
She warmly smiles. “Congressman Woodley, thank you for coming today.” She offers her hand and Elliot shakes with her, then Kev and Chris.
Elliot glances over at me but I indicate for him to sit at the table in the chair in front of me.
He finally does.
Shae, Kev, and Chris sit at the table, Shae directly across from Elliot.
I remain standing directly behind Elliot and rest my hands on his shoulders.
“You want me to go first?” Shae asks me.
“Yes, ma’am.” I gently squeeze Elliot’s shoulders. “You need to hear her out.”
He looks up at me, thinly disguised terror widening his eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Shh. Listen.”
Shae leans forward, hands on the table, and steeples her fingers together. “First of all, everything discussed in this room today stays in this room. From both sides. Agreed?”
Elliot nods.
“Then let me get right to the point. After a lot of research, and after talking with Leo, I want to ask you to join my campaign and be my VP. You are my first choice.”
I feel him tense even more than he already was. “Ma’am?”
She smiles. “You heard me. But you can’t give me your answer just yet.”
“I…what?”
She indicates me. “You have to discuss this with Leo first.”
“I have to—” His jaw snaps shut with an audible click.
Chris wears an evil Dom smile if there ever was one. He’s sitting with his arms crossed over his chest and comfortably leaning back in his seat. “You’re not the only one with secrets, Elliot. Kev, Shae, and I are in a poly triad. I’m their Master, and Kev’s in charge of Shae. And yes, we know about you and Leo. That’s one of the reasons we want to offer this job to you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because we can trust you,” Kev says. “Don’t worry. We had no clue about you two before Leo told us. When we hired him, he confided in us about your relationship after learning about ours.”
Elliot looks up at me and there’s something close to anger on his face.
I can’t blame him. “NDA, pet,” I say. “I needed them to know, just in case there was ever a political landmine. The last thing I wanted was them to be broadsided in the event something happened. If I can trust anyone to keep our secrets, it’s these three people right here, because they have far more to lose than we do.”
“Oh.” He finally relaxes a little.
“Here’s why I want you as my VP,” Shae says, and proceeds to detail a lengthy list of Elliot’s qualities that have nothing to do with my relationship with him.
I can tell Elliot’s in shock. I massage his shoulders and neck while she’s talking and I walk a fine line between trying to keep him relaxed and not dropping him totally into subspace.
I want to drop him into subspace, though.
Hell, I want to pull him into my arms and kiss him. I’ve missed the guy like crazy.
I’ve missed my guy.
There’s a secondary reason why I’m standing here like this with him, and it’s because besides keeping him calm, I want to touch him.
I’m lonely. Elliot has mastered denying himself things. There are a lot of psychological reasons for that which I’m sure are perfectly valid if not emotionally unhealthy. None of those reasons change the truth that I’m lonely, and not being able to wrap my arms around him has hurt.
It only takes about twenty minutes for Shae to finish her pitch, during which she also tells Elliot of their long-term plan, for her to marry Chris after he retires. I spend the entire time standing behind Elliot, my hands on his shoulders.
“Monday morning,” she says, “I’d like you to call me to give me your answer.”
“You don’t want it now?”
She smiles. “This isn’t a snap decision. And if your answer on Monday is that you need more time to think about it, that’s an acceptable answer, too. I’d like to know by this Saturday. No longer than that.”
He nods. When she stands, he moves to stand, too, but she waves him down. “No, please. Enjoy this weekend, because you’ve both earned it.”
They file out and I hear them lock the connecting door behind them.
Elliot’s frozen in his seat. I know this was a lot for him to absorb.
Finally, I release him, lock the connecting door, and grab the chair Chris was sitting in, pulling it next to Elliot. I was right—there’s stunned shock in his blue gaze.
Taking his hands in mine, I squeeze. “Pet,” I softly say, “you’re spending the weekend here, with me.”
He finally seems to process what I’m saying. “Here?”
“Yeah. Not traceable to either of us,” I assure him. “Please?” I go there. “I miss you, and I really need some alone time with you.”
My poor pet deflates, nodding. I pull him in for a hug and deeply inhale his scent. “They’ve known about us ever since they hired me, and, look at that—the world hasn’t ended. If they were going to burn us, it would’ve happened a long time ago. Like I said, they have far more to lose than we do. You and I are consenting adults in a consenting relationship, and there’s no ethics violations. All sorts of bullshit can happen if their relationship leaks. This is one reason Chris wanted me to work with them, because they knew they could trust me to protect them.”
“Do you want me to say yes, Master?”
Ah, there’s my pet.
I kiss him, taking my time because, dammit, I’ve fucking dreamed about this. “We’ll talk this weekend, pet. What I’d really like to do right now is go take a shower and spend some time snuggling with you.”
“Is…is she serious?”
I cup his face in my hands and stare into his eyes, waiting until his gaze settles on me. “Yes, she is. You can be VP for eight years, and then she’ll campaign for you for your run. This is a serious offer. This is a chance for you to reach out and grab what you’ve wanted.” I hate saying that. Haaaate it. “But it’s also something you and I need to talk about.”
“What about us?”
Forcing back my fears and my tears, I plunge forward. “There’s still an us no matter what. But I want to pro-con all the options this weekend. I want you to keep an open mind. You aren’t locked into any given answer right now.”
His eyes suddenly go too bright and he’s blinking back tears. “Tell me what to do, Master,” he pleads.
“Oh, pet.” I pull him in for a strong hug. The way he’s holding me feels like he’s drowning. “I can’t tell you what to do. You know that. I will help you sort through the options, but it has to be your decision. This is something I cannot and will not decide for you.”
“If you could,” he mumbles against my shoulder, “what would you say? If I gave you control of this and asked you to please make the decision for me?”
I hate myself for not taking the easy out and deciding for him right this second. “I won’t take that choice from you, pet. No matter what choice you make, I will still be by your side, visibly or not. I will wait for you, no matter what. And I will still love you just as much, no matter what.”
Elliot gives up trying to hold back his tears and I comfort him as he cries. “I don’t know what to do!”
“I know, pet.” Unfortunately, I already know what his answer will be come Monday morning. He will accept her offer, meaning anywhere from eight to sixteen years of more secrecy for us, after the campaign. Provided that she wins.
I have no doubts that she will win. Meaning I lose my boyfriend.
And I know that I will wait for him, because I have no other choice.
I love him, and he’s mine, and I will never walk away from him because he owns my heart every bit as much as I own him.
Which is why it hurts so fucking much.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Now
It is a long-ass day, but we slog through events while I’m mentally murdering Elliot’s chief of staff for allowing such a strenuous schedule in the first place. He damn well knows better.
I have a feeling the dark glares I’ve shot him and the barely constrained anger in my tone every time we discuss the itinerary are getting my point across.
At least, I hope they are.
Indiscretion (Inequitable Trilogy Book 1) Page 20