Page 142 of Innocent

“Yeah. I’m here.”

Wow. He sounds…pissed.

“Is something wrong?”

“You’re telling me Kev and the presidentknewyou were going to declare today?”

Leo’s a professional. He won’t fuck his job over this. I let Elliot continue talking to him. “I mean, they’ve known I’m running. This timing worked out perfectly to try to hold on to the news cycle. Stuff about the trip this morning, and then it was too late for the Sunday morning shows to do anything about it, so it’ll spin into tomorrow morning, too.”

Another long, tense pause. “El, be honest with me. Are we all right?”

Elliot looks guilty as hell. His cheeks flush even deeper as panic widens his eyes.

How sick am I that it hardens my cock? Maybe I’m more of a sadist than I thought.

I nod and encourage him to speak.

“We’re fine, Master,” he says. “Why?”

But Leo’s going to rightfully nail him on this later, because even I can hear it in his voice.

“Then why don’t you sound like things are fine? What’s going on? You haven’t responded to my texts like you normally do, and you haven’t been texting me in the mornings and at night. And now…this. I mean, in all your plans you never thought to drop me so much as an FYI text to give me a heads-up this was happening today? If something’s going on from your end, and you’re walking away from me, please just tell me and get it over with.”

“Master, I-I’m sorry. It’s a lot coming at me all at once. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was officially announcing. I…I thought you realized I was.” He’s rubbing his forehead. “I’ve been juggling a lot of things, and you had the trip, and I’m sorry.”

“And you’renotbreaking up with me? Because, I gotta say, this is starting to feel likethat.”

I watch Elliot blink back tears. “No, Master! I love you. I’m doing the best I can. I’m…struggling. I’m sorry.”

There’s another long pause before Leo audibly sighs. “I’ll give Shae notice and come work for you, pet. Effective once the trip’s over and we’re back in DC. I can go ahead and—”

“No, Master.”

Leo pauses again. “What do you mean, no?”

“You need to finish Shae’s term with her. Sh-she needs you.”

A darker tone washes into Leo’s voice. “What’sgoing on, pet? Seriously, what aren’t you telling me? It really feels like you’re hiding something from me, and frankly, I donothave the patience for games from anyone right now, especially from you.”

Holy shit, he’s not just pissed—he’s incensed.

And I think I know why. If Elliot’s right that my personal phone has a tracker on it, and I’ve been off the grid for ten days…

Yeah. Leo Cruz is not handling this well at all. Stress because of the trip, added to stress worrying about me suddenly coming up missing, and now this?

Maybe Elliot isn’t the only one who’s going to have a hard paradigm shift in their life going forward.

I give Elliot a wrap-it-up signal and he looks so blessedly relieved that it’d be funny if it wasn’t so serious. “I love you, and everything’s fine, Master. But I need to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Leo’s hesitation is more proof to me that he doesn’t want to end this call, except he realizes Elliot’s not giving him anything else tonight. “Love you, too, pet. I wish you’d let me in, but you know I’m here if or when you’re ready to talk to me.”

“Yes, Master. I know. But everything’s okay, I swear. I love you. Good night.”

Leo finally responds. “Love you, too, pet. Good night.”

Elliot ends the call and his eyes fall closed as I take the phone from him. When he starts sobbing, I pull him into my arms, softly cooing to him.

“You were perfect, baby. So perfect.” I kiss him.