Page 20 of At His Wife's Behest

“Welcoming?” Kellan narrowed his eyes. “To whom?”

“Guys like us,” Connor murmured.

Panic settled on Kellan’s face. “I don’t think that would be safe.”

“Safe from what?” Connor asked. There had to be a reason why Kellan had married to hide his sexuality. What was it?

“My family. They’re… very conservative.”

“Do they live in Europe?”

“No,” Kellan answered. “Back in Texas.”

“Sounds like they’re a million miles away.”

“You don’t understand,” Kellan argued.

“Helpme understand.”

Kellan drew in a deep breath. “My dad is Norman Rhodes.”

Inwardly gasping, Connor’s eyes widened. Senator Norman Rhodes had led the charge to end LGBT rights, along with a myriad of other sins in his time in Congress. The man was horrific. Living in a red state was hard enough when you were gay. Men like Norman Rhodes made it harder.

He could rage about the man, yet Connor could only chuckle. Homophobic Norman Rhodes’ son was gay? “Does he know? About you?”

Kellan scoffed. “I’ve never come out to him, but he knows. Most of the time, he pretends he doesn’t, but he does.” He glanced out at the scenery, appearing lost. “My father’s powerful and has a long reach. Italy might not be far enough for me to be free.”

“And why do you care what he thinks?”

Kellan didn’t answer.

“I get that he’s your dad and there’s likely a part of you that wants his approval but come on.”

“It’s not just that.” Kellan growled.“Youtry growing up in a house where gay people were called an abomination. Where your own father actively fought against your very existence. You learn to be smaller. To take up less space, hopeful you’ll be ignored. That’s how I’ve spent my entire life.”

“You’re no longer a kid.”

“Yeah, but even as an adult, it’s hard to get out from his shadow. I struggled to find a job after I left his office.”

“Wait a minute… youworkedfor him? You do realize he wants to make people like us illegal?”

“And he would’ve been ten times worse had I not been there, tempering him and the legislation he worked on,” Kellan shot back. “I quit three years ago. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Which is why his rhetoric has gotten worse the last few years.”

Kellan swam a few yards away. “While I was there, I tried to temper him. Time and time again, I reeled him in. I didn’t always succeed, but… Things could’ve been a lot worse had I not been there.” He shrugged. “Now there’s no one to hold him back and I wonder every single day if I didn’t make a mistake leaving.”

Connor sighed, seeing pain in Kellan’s eyes. “You’re not responsible for his crimes.”

Kellan laughed, though there was no humor in his eyes. “Tell that to the rest of the world.”

“People blame you for him?”

“After I left, I attempted to make my own way. Find something meaningful to do with my time. I’d only ever worked on his staff or his campaign. That made me damaged goods in the eyes of the companies Iwantedto work for. Others wanted to use me to get to him, to have the ear of a Senator. I had to compromise myself in order to gain employment… and that was because ofhim.”

“You might have had better luck changing minds if you came out. Let the world know you’re nothing like him.”

“I shouldn’thaveto tell the world I’m gay just to be treated as an individualorget a job.”

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