"Shit," Luke gasped. Then he shoved a hand in his pocket, pulling out his keys. "Okay, where would he have gone?"
"No," Cy snapped. "Where would they have taken him? This is what happens to men like us, Luke. We don't get chased off - they make us disappear.Where would they have taken him?"
"Maisie tried to call the cops," I managed to tell them. "They won't do anything."
That was when Luke took over. "Cy, you call Billy. I'm getting my truck and we're going to the police station. If those assholes want to make things uncomfortable, then I have no problem screaming in their faces."
Screaming. I could do screaming. Just hearing him say that gave me a direction of where to go. "Luke, call Cessily while you're at it. I need to call Berto."
Luke ran for his truck, pulling his phone out in the process. I still had mine in my hand. The problem was Cy. He was still standing in front of me, looking as stunned as I felt. Even worse, his eyes were glistening and his skin was much too pale. Yeah, I had a feeling I didn't look any better.
"If we manage to find him…" he said, not even able to finish the sentence.
A million horrible things ran through my mind. Visions of Ash torn apart, dragged down a road, or tied up to a fence post and left to bleed to death were all there. I had read about too many hate crimes against queer men. Now Ash was the one who was in danger, and I could melt down later. Right now, we needed to save him. We had to find some way to at least bring him home.
Even if he wasn't alive.
"Go get your medical bag," I said softly. "Please, Cy? Just go get it, because I have a bad feeling about this."
"Vi, they don't leave us alive."
I nodded, letting him know that I understood, but I wasn't ready to give up. "Then what will it hurt to have it? Because there's no way in hell I'm giving up until we find him."
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Ididn't want to think about how wrong this could go. Ash had to be out there somewhere. He probably just got distracted. Maybe he'd gone over to Mike's to see how his new investment was doing. Yeah, that had to be it. The problem was that I knew that was definitely not it, and as I turned into the house, I felt like my entire body had gone numb.
I only made it three steps before my vision got so blurry that I could barely make out where I was going. My chest was too tight and I couldn't breathe. I just got him back! Things were supposed to be perfect. Were we ever going to be whole again? They couldn't do this to Ash. Of all the people in the world, it couldn't be Ash. He was too strong for this.
He also promised that he would never leave me.
I made it into my office, found my bag, and started throwing in everything that I might possibly need. Violet was right; it was better to be safe than sorry. I was a goddamn doctor, and while I hadn't practiced physical medicine in a while, I had stocked up my office for when the students arrived. Pain meds, emergency meds, bandages, and anything else it looked like might be useful went in.
Hearing the rumble of Luke's diesel starting up, I closed the top and hurried back outside just as the truck pulled up in front of the porch. Violet was in the process of climbing up into the passenger seat, so I headed to the back. Once I was in and the door was closed, I pulled out my phone and made that call I had been ordered to.
I barely heard it ring before it was answered, and I didn't give the person on the other end a chance to even say hi. "Blaze, Cyan. Ash is missing."
"Fuck." I heard a door slam. "What do we know?" he demanded.
So while Luke tore down the driveway, I told him everything Violet had told me - which wasn't much. I could hear Billy breathing much too hard, but it felt like his anger did something to balance my grief.
"They call him gay," I said, hearing my voice crack on the last word. "Billy…"
"I know!" He snapped. "I need the name of that guy Luke knows. The one with the garage."
"Mike?" I asked, then leaned forward in the seat. "Luke, what's Mike's last name?"
"Mike Harmon," Luke answered.
"Lives in Cats Peak, grew up here, owns Mike's Garage. I dunno what else you want," I told him.
"It'll have to be enough," Billy said. "He's local, which means that he will know the people I need to chase. Keep your phone on, Cy. I'm putting my whole damned team on this. We will find him."
He ended the call, and I heard the line go dead, but I still breathed, "Alive," as if it were prayer.
Luke was driving fast, so it didn't take long before we were pulling up before the police station. The truck wasn't even stopped before Violet's door was open and she was jumping out. I hurried to follow after her, and Luke came a second later. Together, the three of us marched into this small-town police station.
The first room was long and narrow. A line of chairs was set along the wall on the right side. On the left was a counter, and a single woman sat behind it like a receptionist. She wore a uniform, but not a badge. Violet walked right up to her.
