Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

talking to someone born with a solid gold spoon in his mouth. "Okay. I'm sure we'll work something out. How's your ravioli?"
    "Nice. Though I know this place in Venice that makes these cheese-and-truffle raviolis like you would not believe."
    "Maybe you can take me one day."
    "I would love to." Daren skewered another ravioli then froze with the fork halfway to his mouth. He giggled.
    "What?"
    "That's it."
    "What?"
    "What we want for the information. Agent Kim gets a hard drive. In return he gets me a new ID, off the books. Passport, birth certificate, everything. We rent a jet and we pick a beach."
    It was a good idea. Sebastian had a feeling that a million in cash wouldn't stretch quite as far as Daren thought it might, but there was still one bigger problem. "You're still working on the assumption that we can trust Agent Kim. And there's still the issue of leaving you alone."
    "Yeah, but we're getting closer."
    Sebastian heard his phone bleep at him. It was to tell him that his battery was running low, but it was close to the same sound he got when a text came in. The thought of a text coming in started to rattle around his brain, bouncing against random ideas like a pinball, until one idea lit up.
    "We need to bring in someone else."
    "No!"
    "Wait." Sebastian raised his hands. "Hear me out. Rachael. She was a Marine. Two tours in Afghanistan before 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' got her. She's actually been in combat situations. She's a manager for a security company that does big events with red carpets and celebrities behaving badly. She's probably protected you already. She can think tactically, she's badass, and she knows how to keep a secret."
    "The more people we bring in…"
    "I know, I know, but I'm not talking about bringing in Jimmy. I would trust Rachael with this."
    "I don't know."
    "Think about it?"
    "Sure."
    They finished up the meal in a certain amount of silence, each churning around ideas for their future. As much as he was sure Daren could happily live out his life on a tropical island, Sebastian couldn't imagine even the bonds and diamonds stretching to the end of their days. Daren would have to get an education at some point, and Lord help him, a job.
    Daren finished off the last of the ravioli. "I want to see my Wikipedia page."
    "No. You really don't." Sebastian had read it. He wasn't kidding when he had said there was nothing good on it.
    "I'm curious."
    "I know you are, but…" Daren pinched his lips and gave Sebastian a hard look. "Fine." There would be enough for them to fight about over the next couple of weeks. "But you don't get to edit anything."
    "I won't."
    Sebastian fired up his computer and brought up the page. Daren lasted about thirty seconds. "Where's the edit button?"
    "No."
    He pointed to the screen. "I did not sleep with that girl, and my lack of syphilis is proof."
    "You honestly think someone isn't staking out every tiny reference to you on the entire internet, waiting for you to log on to something?"
    Daren grumbled but kept reading, occasionally pointing at the screen. "Didn't sleep with her either; that's a lie; that's the truth but taken out of context." Daren clicked on the link for the Delaware family in general. He made it for about fifteen seconds. "Oh for fuck's sake, where's the edit button!"
    "Nope." Sebastian snapped his laptop shut. "In a couple of years, when the heat dies down, you can have at it."
    Daren pouted, but lost a good deal of the effect when he failed at crossing his arms with the splint on.
    "Nope. Not going to work. I don't need assassins tracking down my IP address. It would be a stupid way of getting caught." Daren succeeded in pouting a few seconds more. Sebastian patted him on the head. "Would some ice cream make it better?"
    "You got ice cream?"
    "It's your birthday. Of course I've got ice cream." Sebastian went to the freezer and pulled out a couple of cartons of Ben & Jerry's. "'Rocky Road-ish' or 'Mint Chocolate Cookie'?"
    "Mint ice cream?" Daren sounded horrified.
    "Don't dis mint ice cream." He slid the carton of Rocky Road and a spoon over to Daren while digging into his mint. "Happy birthday."
    Daren raised his spoon to Sebastian. "Happy birthday to me."
    ****

CHAPTER 10
    The next morning, Sebastian woke to Daren trying to get the briefcases out of the bedroom closet, trying being the operative word. With one arm still in the sling and the other holding the cane, his main technique seemed to involve carefully shoving them around with his