Angel and the Assassin 3: Sins of the Father

wanted to get you something special.”
    Love surging through him, Kael pulled the slender young man into his arms,
    pressing him close to his chest. “I’ve already got something special. I’ve got you. I love
    you, sweetheart.”
    Slipping his arms around Kael’s chest, Angel tilted his chin for a kiss. “My
    Daddy,” he said quietly.
    The doorbell rang, and a moment later, Sharon called, “Kael, come and see who’s
    here.”
    Holding Angel’s hand, he walked into the living room and stopped dead. A man
    he had not seen in ten years took several steps toward him with his hand stuck out to
    shake. “All right, Kael. How are you, mate?”
    Shocked to see Shawn standing in his mum’s living room, Kael stared for half a
    minute before remembering himself. He shook Shawn’s hand briefly and reluctantly.
    “I’m fine.”
    “Who’s this?” Shawn asked. “Your boyfriend?”
    Sharon ruffled Angel’s hair. “Didn’t I tell you Kael is gay?”
    Fyn Alexander | Sins of the Father
    3

    “Yeah, I think I knew,” Shawn said. If anyone knew, Shawn definitely did.
    Kael hated the word boyfriend . It sounded sissy. Worse still, it sounded casual, as if
    they weren’t an actual couple but just dating. “This is Angel. He’s my partner. He lives
    with me.”
    “Domestic partners? Isn’t that what they call gay couples these days?” Shawn had
    always had a warm, intimate smile, a smile that had caused Kael’s heart to beat faster
    when he was fourteen years old. Shawn had been thirty-five when they had an affair
    that summer, two years older than Kael was now. He still had the same sparkly blue
    eyes and boyish grin. He wasn’t any taller, though being shorter than Angel’s five feet
    ten by three inches. Kael’s boy had gained two inches in the last year.
    Shawn shook hands with Angel, but he looked at Kael. “You like them young,
    Kael?”
    “Not as young as you like them,” Kael said under his breath. Angel’s hearing was
    as acute as his own. With a question in his eyes, he looked up at Kael.
    Sharon had gone to the kitchen and could not have heard. She returned a moment
    later with a bottle of beer. “There you go, Shawn.”
    The only reason Shawn could be back in his mum’s life was if he was at a loose
    end and looking for a woman to cadge off. Kael wanted to smack the fucker. Shawn
    went over to the big easy chair and threw himself down, looking very comfortable,
    which told Kael that he had been there before and probably spent the night.
    Angel stood at the couch waiting for Kael to sit down first. It was a small,
    unobvious gesture of submission. That they were a gay couple was never hidden. Kael
    had been out and open about his sexuality from the age of fifteen. But when it came to
    Angel’s submission, Kael had told him when strangers were present to behave as he
    thought appropriate depending on the situation.
    Kael sat, stretching his long legs out in front of him. Angel sat beside him, tucking
    his legs under himself and leaning into Kael’s side as he always did.
    “So what have you been up to, Kael?” Shawn asked.
    Fyn Alexander | Sins of the Father
    4

    Completely unaware of the tension between them, Sharon said, “He teaches
    languages in London. Don’t you, Kael?”
    Though he had not taught languages since early in the year, Kael had neglected to
    tell his mum, and while he hated lying to her, he could not tell her that he worked for
    the British Secret Intelligence Service. He looked directly at her when he said, “Yes. I
    teach languages. I also translate.”
    “What do you do, Angel?” Shawn asked.
    Quickly and briefly, Angel caught Kael’s eyes, asking permission to speak. With
    people they knew well, he spoke freely, but with strangers he always asked permission.
    The smallest nod from Kael was sufficient consent. Sometimes Angel picked up such
    subtle cues that Kael wondered if he was psychic. Or perhaps it was that couple thing of
    reading each other’s thoughts. “I go to college. I’m taking A levels,” Angel said, his tone
    carefully polite.
    “He passed all his GCSEs in June, didn’t you, love?” Sharon was as proud of
    Angel as if he truly was her son. “He’s clever, like Kael.”
    “What are you going to do with yourself after that?” Shawn asked.
    The way Shawn was watching Angel made Kael want to leap up and smack him.
    It was the way Shawn had looked at him all those years ago, intimate and engaging.
    Angel smiled. “I’m not sure