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  “Maybe he thought you abandoned him in particular since it sounds like you kind of left without a whole lot of explanation,” Thayne said. The look in his eyes was compassionate and it made Jarrett feel warmer than it should have.

  “Didn’t have the courage to tell him what I was really feelin’. Wasn’t really sure myself.”

  Thayne nodded. “I can understand that. How old is Elijah?”

  “Elijah is thirty-four, eighteen months younger’n me. He’s in the Corps now too. Went in as a commissioned officer after going to the University of Virginia.” They got to the front of the line and the ticket clerk waved them over. After getting their boarding passes and checking their duffel bag with their guns and holsters and a single garment bag containing both of their suits, they walked toward the security checkpoint and got into another line.

  “I’m sorry I asked so many questions,” Thayne said. “I just never had any brothers so having three seems like a jackpot to me.”

  Jarrett cut a sideways glance at Thayne and he gave him a single nod of his head. He looked up in time to see the TSA agent wave them into the scanner. They shed their boots and once they’d been X-rayed and picked up their carry-on duffle bags, they walked over to chairs where they sat to put their boots back on.

  Once they were on the plane with their luggage stored in the overhead compartments, Jarrett pulled out a set of headphones and his iPod. He was tired of talking about family and didn’t want to offend Thayne, who seemed genuinely interested to know about his childhood, so he settled back and closed his eyes as they taxied down the runway. They’d just lifted into the air when Thayne leaned over and spoke up.

  “So, now we have plenty of uninterrupted time to talk.”

  Jarrett opened one eye and glanced at Thayne. He looked so fucking eager to engage him in conversation, it just felt somehow all wrong to shut him down or ignore him. He sighed.

  “Okay, I can see this pretending to be sleepin’ thing ain’t workin’,” Jarrett said. “What is it ya wanna talk about?”

  “I’m sorry. I imagine since we will be in West Virginia, you’ll want to take the time to see your family, right?”

  Thayne’s open eagerness was hard to miss and it was even harder for Jarrett to shut him down. He supposed he should stop being such an asshole and tell Thayne what he wanted to know just in case they did take the time to see his siblings while they were there. The truth was, Jarrett had missed them all and flying to a town within an hour of where they lived and then not making the effort to see them would be shitty. Jarrett hadn’t planned on dropping in on them after all this time, but he would if it would make his partner happy and diffuse a little more of the already thick tension between himself and his brothers. He shut off his iPod and sat forward.

  “I suppose, though that prospect ain’t entirely exciting to be honest.”

  “I take it they didn’t react very well when you came out,” Thayne said. He looked almost sympathetic but Jarrett eyeballed him hard, making darn sure he wasn’t mocking him. He couldn’t find anything in his expression to suggest it so he nodded.

  “Jase was only six when I left home and eight when I came out when I was home on leave two years after that. He didn’t really understand what any of it meant. When I was in the Corps, he and I wrote lots of letters back and forth. He really couldn’t understand why my father and Elijah were so angry with me and when he finally was old enough to understand, I’d been gone a long time.”

  “Do you still write back and forth?”

  Jarrett nodded. “Yeah, and since he’s been in college, we write a lot more. That’s how I know he’s a really smart kid. He’s actually the one who encouraged me to finish my bachelor’s degree.”

  “I didn’t realize you have one,” Thayne said, looking a little embarrassed.

  Jarrett smirked. “I have one. I did correspondence courses with the University of Virginia while I was in the Corps. Graduated with honors.”

  Thayne grinned at him then, leaning over to peck him on the lips. “I always knew you were brilliant. What was your major?”

  “No. You’re gonna laugh.”

  “Why? How bad could it be?”

  Jarrett lifted an eyebrow. “Not bad exactly. Just kinda geeky.”

  “Computers?”

  “No. Art history major with a minor in English literature.”

  Thayne gaped at him. “The Art of War.”

  It had been the book Jarrett had been reading when they were holed up in the safe house in Encino months and months ago. Jarrett smiled. “Yeah. I liked that one.”

  “So art history, huh?” Thayne asked.

  “Yeah, I guess I just saw so much shit in my job that I needed an escape to look at a little bit of beauty and my job took me all over so I spent some time in cathedrals in certain European cities and capitals.” Jarrett reached up and absently fingered the round bullet scar in his neck. He’d gotten it when a crazed Frenchman he picked up in a gay bar shot him after a tryst in Paris. “Spent some time in the capital cities of just about every country you can think of.”

  Thayne nodded. “I wish I could have seen what you’ve seen in your life, Jarrett.”

  “You really don’t, Thayne. It’s true, I’ve seen a lot of pretty things but when you sit in one’a them cathedrals and look up at them stained glass windows, sometimes all you can think is of all the people who crossed your path who’re never gonna be able to see them things or anything like them ever again because they met your bullet.” Jarrett felt his throat closing. He tried to keep his past in the past but it was hard. Conversations like this one brought up too much shit that he could never tell Thayne about.

  Thayne stared at him and the look of compassion in his eyes was so evident, Jarrett couldn’t meet his eager gaze for more than a few seconds. He closed his eyes and turned away. After a long time, Thayne started speaking again, changing the heavy subject back to Jarrett’s brothers. He was thankful for the pivot.

  “What about Steel?” Thayne asked, quietly.

  Jarrett leaned his head back on the seat and looked straight ahead at the seat in front of him. “Steel was always the quiet one. He was so involved in creating beauty that he could go into his workshop for days at a time and not come up for air. Like most artists, he’s always been the most sensitive I guess.” He smiled slightly. “We can talk about art for hours and get along pretty well. He’s another reason I studied art in school.”

  “It’s good that you have someone to talk to about your love for art.”

  “Yeah. Steel is really smart and open about most social issues. He took political science in college and we had a good talk about why I left several years ago but we still don’t talk as much as I’d like. He never really questioned me too much about my sexuality. He kinda just accepted me the way I was. He’s really easygoin’, that man, so I wasn’t too surprised by it.”

  “And Elijah? Have you—talked—you know, since you came out to them?” Thayne asked, blinking his long black eyelashes at Jarrett.

  “No, we—we haven’t gotten along since he found out, though I think he probably figured out I was gay a long time before I really did. I think he didn’t want to believe it. We were so close when we were younger.” Regret sat heavy in Jarrett’s guts as he thought about Elijah. He stuffed the thought down and offered Thayne a self-deprecating smile. “Like I said before, he was girl crazy and I just had nothin’ in common with him after high school. He stepped up and became a bit of a surrogate older brother to Jase and Steel after I left. He most likely thought I wasn’t a man so he had to be.”

  “He didn’t say that did he?” Thayne’s expression was one of shock.

  “Nah, he didn’t say that exactly. Just called me a slew of names and shit. But he was really good with my brothers so I can’t knock the way he treated me.”

 
“He better stay out of my way,” Thayne said. He was practically growling as his eyes flashed fire.

  Jarrett’s eyes widened for a few seconds as he recognized the grim determination on his lover’s face. “That was a long time ago, Thayne. I guess he felt as though he had to make up for me leavin’ when I did. I suppose that was good. Daddy really leaned on him after I left. I think it’s why he went to school and became a Marine officer. Elijah never had an intention of joinin’ the Corps when we were young. He wanted to go into medicine and he’s always been good with animals. For a while there, he talked about becoming a vet.” Pain suddenly overwhelmed him and his heart hurt. “After I left and broke my daddy’s heart by coming out, I think Elijah decided to go into the Corps ‘cause he saw him hurtin’.” Jarrett shook his head, feeling the weight of Elijah’s decision all over again. He’d always felt like his brother’s whole life had been forced to change course because Jarrett came out and told the world he liked dick. Jarrett still blamed himself for that.

  “I hope the Marines made him into a man,” Thayne growled, “Or we’re gonna have words, he and I.”

  Jarrett smiled then. “The way Elijah felt ain’t his fault. If I would have kept my sexuality to myself, Elijah could have become the vet he’d dreamed of and the rest of my family wouldn’t have to worry I might decide to come home for Christmas.”

  Thayne reached across the console between them and laid his hand on Jarrett’s arm. Jarrett looked up into his bright blue eyes. “You know they made their own choices, Jarrett. You’re not responsible for the paths they chose and how do you know Elijah isn’t happy in the Marine Corps?”

  “I don’t know. I always felt like they would have made different choices if it weren’t for mine.”

  “I can’t imagine that you could think that being gay is a choice so I suppose you’re talking about coming out?” Thayne asked.

  Jarrett stared at him and then blew out a long breath before scrubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah, that.” His head had begun to pound so he closed his eyes and leaned it back on the seat. He opened his eyes a minute later when he felt Thayne lean close to whisper in his ear.

  “Stop beating yourself up, Jarrett. If you let them down somehow, you can’t really change that. You are who you are,” Thayne said. “They are grown men and I think you underestimate yourself. If you don’t believe anyone but me, that’s okay, because I think you’re pretty amazing, baby.”

  Jarrett felt a lump form in his throat and tears burn at the back of his eyes as he recognized the complete devotion in Thayne’s expression. He’d never had a lover look at him with love before, but if the gaze Thayne was giving him right now wasn’t just that, he’d be surprised. He felt warmth spread through him as he stared at this man. He was falling for him more and more every day. Since Jarrett had never been in love before, it was hard to know if what he was feeling was truly that most elusive of emotions. Whatever this was felt exciting and new though. He leaned across the seat toward Thayne and let their foreheads touch as he stared into his eyes.

  “You keep sayin’ stuff like that and yer gonna turn a man’s head, Wolfe.”

  Thayne sent him a quick smile and then closed his eyes, bringing their lips together. They stayed that way, kissing across the airplane seats for a full minute before Jarrett finally pulled away. His body was thrumming with arousal and his heart was beating wildly. I’m in love with him… tell him… go on, asshole… tell him while ya got the courage to.

  Jarrett opened his mouth to speak when the flight attendant suddenly banged into his left elbow with her heavy rolling cart. Pain jolted through his funny bone as he yanked his arm out of the aisle. “Son of a bitch!” he growled, grabbing the elbow and rubbing it hard.

  “Oh my!” The flight attendant cried out in horror. “I am so sorry. Are you okay, sir?” Her accent was thick as she drawled. Fuckin’ Delta.

  “I’m fine. I got another damn arm,” Jarrett bitched as he continued to rub. Thayne snorted from beside him and he looked over. His lover’s bright blue eyes twinkled as he chuckled.

  Jarrett frowned as he continued to rub his elbow. “Fuck off, Wolfe.”

  Thayne started laughing louder. “Sorry. It was just… nevermind. I was about to say something mushy so I guess I was saved by the bell… or the cart, as it were.”

  Jarrett couldn’t help but smile back. He couldn’t agree more. He’d nearly blurted out how much he was in love with Thayne and wouldn’t that have been all kinds of fucked-up.

  Chapter Two

  The Louisville, Kentucky offices of the ATF were a quick twenty-minute drive from the airport and they went straight there to meet SAC Howard. The second leg of their flight to Bluefield would be leaving in just three hours so time was tight. SAC Charles Howard was a tall man, big and barrel-chested with a massive handlebar mustache that Thayne thought looked darned impressive. He ushered them into his office as soon as they arrived and waved at two chairs in front of his desk, lowering his weight into his chair behind it.

  “Thanks for making the trip, agents. I’m glad the Director is taking the problem seriously. I wasn’t so sure he would.”

  “So, do you really think one of your agents down in Pocahontas County is dirty?” Thayne asked.

  Howard sighed. “That’s what I need you boys to find out. I’m getting reports that the explosion at the Red Hills Mine was a methane explosion but it trapped five miners. The two agents I have investigating things down there report having trouble with the mining company owner and the shift foreman. I need to know whether it’s because it’s chaotic, whether my agents aren’t reporting something, or whether the mine owner is trying to cover something up. As of this moment, I have four dead miners and one in the hospital who may not make it. By the time they were able to pull the miners out, they were all in bad shape. Two were dead and two died at the hospital later. The one survivor is hanging on but he may have been oxygen deprived for too long to make it.”

  “So the explosion was caused by a methane gas leak?” Jarrett asked.

  “That’s the operating theory at this point but you boys are here to root out the cause and determine if there’s foul play or not. All I know is, I need someone who isn’t closely tied to the community and my boys have been down there for three and a half years. That makes them part of the community, ATF or no.”

  Jarrett looked at Thayne. “Pocahontas County is the county that surrounds Bluefield which is a rather large town down there.”

  “So, it’s a city,” Thayne asked.

  SAC Howard looked at him as Jarrett answered. “You can’t really call it a city like we’re used to, though it has all the same amenities all other cities have. The reason we think of it as a town down here is because everyone knows everyone else and if they don’t know them by name, they know someone with a brother who played football with them or somethin’ like that.”

  Thayne noticed Jarrett’s drawl had thickened and he had to attribute it to their current locale. He nodded. “I get it.”

  “Let me ask, SAC,” Jarrett began. “If it weren’t for the fact that the two agents you have in Pocahontas County had been down there almost four years, would ya trust them?”

  SAC Howard leaned back in his chair and the motion caused the buttons on his shirt to nearly scream as his dress shirt stretched across his ample belly. His long striped blue tie was askew, lying off to one side. He tented his fingers and looked at the ceiling of his office for several seconds before looking back at them. He finally nodded. “Yeah, I would say they used to be trustworthy. I’m not so sure about that anymore.”

  “Why’s that?” Thayne asked.

  “I got a call from Jeffrey Boggs, the Red Hills Mining Collective’s CEO, right after the explosion happened. He told me that if I was planning on leaving Special Agents Lafford and Sales to investigate the cause of the explosion, not to bother. He says rumor ha
s it among the miners that they both have gambling problems and may have been exaggerating their concerns over the mine’s safety all along. My agents reported that there might be some problems and Boggs might be trying to influence the mine safety inspectors when they make their reports.”

  “Mine safety reports come from the MSHA inspector which is completely independent of the ATF,” Jarrett said. Thayne was impressed with his knowledge, though he was peripherally aware of that factoid himself.

  “That’s true but like I said, Pocahontas County has a small-town feel to it as I know you’re aware,” SAC Howard said to Jarrett. “That means there could be corruption among the mine safety inspectors, local politicians, the ATF, or any number of others.”

  “Or Boggs himself. How is the mine’s safety record?” Thayne asked.

  “This is the first explosion but it has several safety citations. That’s one of the things I want you to take a hard look at. Look,” he said, leaning forward in his desk chair. “I’m not saying my agents are dirty but now that we have an explosion, we have to look hard at it. That’s why I called the Director.” He looked at Jarrett. “You have experience in the mines?”

  “Yeah, that’s why the Director tapped me and my partner I suppose,” Jarrett replied. “My daddy was a miner for a little while and my grandfather spent the better part of his life underground. I spent a bit of my youth in a mine in Bluefield so I know the landscape.”

  Howard nodded. “Good.”

  “You said the agents had reported trouble back to you… trouble they were having with the inspectors?” Thayne asked. “What’s that about?”

  “They said that the MSHA safety inspectors had been delayed in getting access more than once and that they felt the mine’s manager and foreman were stalling and keeping them out of the mine until they patched up things to make the mine pass inspection.”