Jayden was still steaming as he got into the elevator and jabbed the button for the lobby. "People think pediatric medicine is just adult medicine but less of it, but they're wrong," he snapped into the silence. "Do you know, even the tools doctors use have to be different? You can't go into a child's body with full-size adult tools, you'll break something. And of course that means different sized versions for different developmental stages. It's not a one size fits all for kids. Then you get the medicines themselves. Children's bodies are still growing. You can have serious long-term implications for a person's lifelong health if you introduce a medicine which stymies any aspect of their development!"

"I'm not a doctor," Neal growled.

"And this is before we even get into companies who bribe doctors into prescribing their products just to get the sales. You know what pharma reps do? They take doctors on nice weekends in the Bahamas. They send them away to the Hamptons for a vacation. Buy them a new golf cart. This goes way beyond treating someone to a sandwich and a coffee. And now I'm not in charge, I'd bet anything that it's what Deus Pharmaceuticals is doing now, too. Because one doctor prescribing an overpriced medication for just one year will net a tidy fucking profit!"

He gasped for air as the elevator dinged, and stormed out without looking to see if Neal followed. Of course Neal followed. That was what he was being paid for.

Jayden ground his teeth and sucked in air. His footsteps echoed through the vast, stone-lined lobby. He had seconds to reign his temper in before he stepped outside.

Shit he hadn't been this angry in a while.

Eh, who was he kidding? He was angry a lot. Angry at the way his name was tied to these practices, angry at how people who just wanted to live normal lives were being bled dry and nobody cared.

Maybe he should run the goddamn company himself. It had gone beyond just wanting it back because it was his, and over the months since he'd lost it they were well into the territory of having to get it back to stop the current board from killing innocent kids for money.

"Mr. Deus," said the guy on the front desk as Jayden stormed past.

"Tony," he answered gruffly.

Jayden forced himself to stop. To take a breath. To get a damn grip.

"Sorry, Tony," he added. "Bad mood. You didn't deserve that."

Tony just smiled, because that's what people in his position did if they wanted to keep their job after being snapped at by a rich guy. "No problem, Mr. Deus. Your car's waiting." He gestured to the revolving door with his pen.

"Thanks."

Jayden pulled his glasses off so he could pinch the bridge of his nose, and once they were back in place he saw Neal's bulk move in front of him and pull open the side door.

Jayden appreciated the chance to fall back into routine. He was used to this now. Neal checked the outside world, then Jayden followed. He was exposed for all of around fifteen seconds as he crossed to the car, and then he was reasonably safe inside. So he waited for the nod.

Neal gave it.

"Have a nice day, Tony. Say hi to your family for me later."

"You bet, Mr. Deus. You have a good one."

Jayden used the side door that Neal still held open for him. He'd managed to get himself to calm down somewhat, but his heart still thudded, and he felt like he was primed for a fight.

The car was idling right outside the door, and Neal crossed the sidewalk in seconds to reach for the back door and tug it open. His head was high, eyes scanning everything around them, from other people on the sidewalk, to those across the street in the park itself.

"I'm sorry," Jayden sighed as he approached. "I just... I have a lot of feelings about this, okay?"

Neal didn't look at him. He just nodded abruptly. "Get in the car."

"Fine. But this isn't over." Jayden paused to allow a couple of people past first, since they were already halfway across his path and deeply engrossed in conversation with each other, then ducked around behind them to get to Neal's side. "We're gonna need to hash this out if you wanna keep working with me. I can't have you protecting me if you hate my guts, man." He gestured between them both and frowned up at Neal. "I'm supposed to be able to trust you."

Neal's jaw flexed, the muscles in it prominent for a second. "Get," he grated between clenched teeth, "in the car."

Jayden's hackles rose at being ordered around. They always had. Hell, it was part of what drove him to go to Oregon in the first place - because his dad ordered him not to. No, Dad wanted him to go to a 'real' school, one with Ivy League status and a certificate that would look good on the wall of Jayden's future offices.

He sucked in a deep breath, ready to give Neal a piece of his mind, but common sense kicked him in the ass, and the breath rushed out of him.

Neal was being paid to protect him, and that was exactly what he was doing. Hell, it was what he knew Neal would do. He'd even been briefed on it.

Jayden reached out and put a hand on the frame of the car.

He was distantly aware of a high-pitched revving sound, like an egg whisk. It reverberated along the street, trapped by the vertical buildings, the sound cutting through traffic noise and street chatter alike. New York made it difficult to tell what direction sounds came from, but he glanced to his left and saw some lunatic on a motorbike weaving through traffic.

"Get in," Neal hissed. "Now!"

Jayden froze. There was something in the urgency of Neal's voice, the reckless way in which the cyclist veered around cars, the noise and the smells of the city all combined to set his nerves on edge.

Until he saw the motorcyclist raise a gun.

He leaped. Not for the car, but for the sidewalk. He had no idea why. His body seemed to take action to save him from standing there like a prize pumpkin, and he dove for his life. His palms stung as they scraped the sidewalk, and his glasses fell off, clattering against pavement. He wrapped his arms around his head and gasped for air.

A heavy weight bore down on him. It covered him, head to toe. The moment it landed, Jayden heard the pak pak pak amidst screams and honking horns and the rain of glass and the wail of a baby.

"Stay down," Neal breathed into his ear.

Jayden swallowed. The adrenaline coursed through him and his whole body began to tremble. Even as the sound of the motorbike began to recede, even as he realized that those short, sharp noises must have been gunfire, he was still only barely aware of what was happening.

Someone had tried to kill him.

Shit, someone waited for him to come out of his home and then they tried to gun him down on the goddamn sidewalk like he was a mob boss!

Neal's hand was on the back of his head, still holding him down. The bodyguard's form fit his every bit as perfectly as it had a year ago, and Jayden groaned softly as memory tried to supplant reality.

He knew what his brain was doing. It was being a total jerk, trying to make him feel safe, trying to calm him down by reminding him of a much better time than right now, but he didn't appreciate it.

He did appreciate whatever was in Neal's pants that pressed hard against him, though.

Jayden sighed and rested his forehead against his hand. He let his eyes drift closed for a few seconds.

Okay, brain, he thought. You're gonna need to stop now.

All the screaming seemed to get through to him at last, and as the adrenaline began to leave him, his brain began to behave itself.

And then it seemed just as offended as he did.

That asshole totally just tried to kill me!