Carter packed up his papers and logged off his computer, doing one final check to make sure he was ready for the weekend before heading off to see John in Builder Falls. He had no intention of being available to anyone for the next three days, and that took some serious prep work and planning.
He climbed behind the wheel of his car and put his briefcase in the passenger side seat, and he was just about to turn the key in the ignition when his phone rang.
It was Grayson. Carter curled his lip in displeasure, but he answered promptly.
“What do you want?”
“Elijah ran off again. I need you to find him. He’s been acting really strange for the past few week and I think he might be up to something.”
Carter swallowed a growl of frustration.
“Strange how?” he asked, even though he had an idea. He should have known that Grayson would know something was up the second Elijah started behaving.
“He’s being sneaky. I know he’s got something planned, but I don’t know what. I need you to find him and figure out what it is.”
“Have you tracked his phone?” Carter asked. Hunting down Elijah was not how he wanted to start his weekend, but usually it didn’t take too long.
“He left it at home. He didn’t take his car, either. I would track him by scent but I have a meeting I can’t miss in thirty minutes.”
That complicated matters. Carter was perfectly capable of tracking Elijah the old fashioned way—as long as he’d run off on foot—but he didn’t want to.
“You sure this can’t wait? I doubt whatever he’s plotting is anything serious.”
“That’s not your fucking call,” Grayson snarled. “I expect him back here by midnight or I’m taking it out on your hide.”
Carter laughed mockingly. “You could try.”
Grayson didn’t say anything, but Carter could hear him breathing hard. He couldn’t wait until Grayson was dead in the ground.
“You have your orders,” Grayson snapped, hanging up.
Carter put his phone down, resisting the impulse to punch the wheel of his car in anger. He took a deep breath and called John, telling him that he would be late but that he should just go ahead and let himself into the apartment.
“No problem,” John said, sounding tired. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine,” Carter said. “What about you? You sound tired.”
John sighed. “The ceiling in my bedroom collapsed yesterday. I’ve been dealing with my insurance company all day and they’re being even bigger dicks than my landlord. The whole thing is a nightmare.”
“Are you okay? Were you in the room when it happened?” Even though John was talking to him now and seemed unharmed, Carter’s heart still started racing with worry.
John was just so human and breakable. A collapsed ceiling could have killed him.
“I’m fine, and no I wasn’t in the room when it happened. It’s honestly just an annoyance. I just have to sleep in the living room for a while. It’ll be fine.”
“You should stay in my apartment,” Carter said, blurting the offer out without a second’s thought.
“What?”
“I mean, if you want to. I mean, it’s there and it’s safe. I’d feel better if you were there.”
John was quiet, and then he said, “You want me to move into your secret sex apartment.”
Carter frowned. Was that how John saw it? To Carter it was the only refuge he had where he could be truly happy.
“It was just an offer, you—”
“No, I’m sorry,” John cut him off. “That’s not… I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just… do you really want me taking over your space like that?”
