“Wait,” I snapped back, “how did you manage to lose your boyfriend in twenty-four hours?”
“Boyfriend?” Corbin said blankly. “Dex is not my boyfriend. Are you high?”
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Taylor said wearily. “Can we sit down?”
“You’re already inside,” I snarked, regretting it when I saw his expression transition from anger to concern. “Sorry. Yeah, have a seat.”
Corbin closed the door behind him and took a seat on the chair closest to the door while Taylor and I settled on the couch.
“You want to fill me in?” I asked, leaning back against the cushions.
“Dex has been under a lot of stress,” Taylor said, “and you’re the cause of most of it.”
I opened my mouth to argue but snapped it shut when he arched a brow at me.
“He decided to take some vacation time and booked a cabin rental from a friend of Corbin’s. He was supposed to check in yesterday, but she called Corbin today to ask if the plan changed because he never showed up.”
I pinned my stare on Corbin, secretly enjoying the way he squirmed when I did. “You were with him when he left his apartment, where is he?”
“I don’t know,” Corbin insisted. “He spent the night on my couch because he was trying to avoid you and was afraid you might show up at his place. When I left for work yesterday morning, he was still sleeping. He was gone when I got home.”
“That means he’s been missing for twenty-four hours?”
Taylor nodded.
“Have you called his Dads? Reported it to the police?”
“Not yet,” Taylor sighed. “We assumed you’d gotten to him and he was here. If we make a big public thing of this and he’s fine, he will be completely pissed and even more stressed.”
I stifled a sigh of my own. “You know where he is supposed to be?”
Taylor shoved his phone at me, a text from Dex on the screen. “He sent me the address before he left.”
“Well, if you don’t want to alert the police, we probably better get up to Gold Hill and see what we can find.”
“You’ll help us?” Corbin asked suspiciously. “Why?”
I let the sigh out. “I don’t know what you think is going on between us, but Dex has always been my friend. I recently realized he might be more than that.”
“More how?” Taylor questioned.
I shrugged him off. “If Dex chooses to tell you after we’ve discussed it, that’s up to him but for right now, it’s none of your business. Now, I have an Omega to find. Are you two coming or not?”
ChapterEleven
Dex
When Corbin first suggested that I hide in a rental cabin to escape my Otto obsession, I thought I’d be alone with my depressing self-recriminations, binging bad television shows and scouring TikTok and YouTube for distractions.
Then I met Stan and I was fully on board with my mini-vacation. I was also even more convinced that Corbin was a genius.
“Are you sure this is part of your job? It feels like you’re going above and beyond.”
Stan just chuckled and set my breakfast plate down on the table in front of me the next morning. “Private chef wasn’t listed in the optional services on the website?” he teased, passing me the syrup to drown my fluffy pancakes before sitting down across from me.
“Oh, god, these are so good,” I sighed when the first bite melted in my mouth. “And we rented directly from the owner, so I have no idea.”
“That’s right, you mentioned that before,” Stan agreed, sliding the plate of crispy bacon closer to my side of the table. “They must have forgotten to mention it.” His eyes were twinkling with amusement.
