his phone, hesitated with his finger over his contacts, then hit the one that would take him right to his brother’s private line.
“I was hoping you’d call,” Rex said by way of greeting. “Even if it’s three fucking days late.”
Archer winced, rolling over onto his back, and he flung his arm over his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you?” Rex let out an exasperated, chest-deep sigh, and the background noise from his call faded into nothing.
“Do you even have time for this call?” Archer fired back.
“I’m at a brunch, but at this point I’d stop a fucking press conference. Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
Pulling his arm down, Archer scrubbed his hand over his face. “I’m not a child. Fuck’s sake, I’ve been living in another country for the last eight years—you can’t pull this worried parent act with me now.”
“That’s not,” Rex said, then sighed again. “Archer, I’ve been getting death threats, okay?”
He sat up, his heart pounding a little harder. “What?”
“I’m a liberal governor with an openly bisexual brother in a red state where I won by the thinnest margin, because forty-nine point six percent of the people here think people like you shouldn’t exist.”
It took a moment for Archer to realize what Rex was saying. “They’re against me. The threats are…”
“Yes,” Rex said with a small growl. “After the press ran that Q Magazine lunch piece, my secretary started fielding them. I can’t fucking predict how serious these people are because some of them are willing to do something really stupid just because they believe it’s right. And I can’t protect you if you take off in the middle of the night without telling anyone.”
Archer let himself feel the guilt Rex was lobbying at him because he deserved it. “I didn’t take off in the middle of the night, and I…I didn’t know. You never said.”
“I didn’t want to scare you,” Rex told him. “You’re only under my office’s protection right now because you’re still considered immediate family. I’m not married because…”
“Don’t,” Archer said sharply, and Rex’s words died off. “We both know why and we’re not going to talk about this over the phone.”
“Fine.”
Archer closed his eyes and squeezed them tight. “I’m fine though. I’m in Crescent Cove with…ah. A friend.”
“I’m aware of where you are and with whom,” Rex told him in a flat voice. “And no, my very loyal, very obnoxious lawyer didn’t give me details.”
“Rebecca,” Archer said from behind a sigh, referring to Kent’s sister.
“Yes. She’s taking time off to go to her brother’s wedding.” He was quiet a long moment. “I didn’t know you were associated with the Pedalinos.”
“It’s new. Obviously,” Archer said.
“Are you,” Rex started, then waited a beat like he was trying to find the words. “I don’t know them well, but is it serious?”
“I don’t know,” Archer admitted. He suddenly felt very unsure, very young. He suddenly wanted to be home in his brother’s house, curled up on the sofa with him with The Sandlot on TV and a bowl of popcorn between them and no threat or responsibility hanging over their heads. Things would crash and burn once Julian learned the truth, and all Archer could do was brace himself.
“Do you want it to be?”
“Won’t that make it more complicated for you?” Archer asked. “I mean, I could be the publicly acceptable bi, you know? Date a nice girl, but talk about how good Tom Hiddleston looks in leather pants.”
Rex made a choking sound Archer realized was a laugh. “I know I fucked up when you got home, but you must know I’m not going to ask you to mold who you love and who makes you happy around what would make my life easier. I just wish you’d talk to me.”
Archer hated that he hadn’t gone to Rex, but at the same time, he had been trying to avoid lying to one more person. Rex would have lost his damn mind if he knew what Archer had agreed to—he didn’t care about the scandal of a brother dating a man, but the scandal of his brother being an escort…
“I fell out of the habit,” Archer said, and it was a painful truth, but it was also part of the reason. “I don’t want it to be like that, and we’ll talk when I get home.”
“And how long before you jet back off to Paris after that?” Rex asked.
Archer closed his eyes again. “I don’t know.”
There was a long pause before Rex said he had to go,