“I don’t have all the details yet, but Finn is fifteen and missing.His parents have been looking for him for days, and no one’s willing to help.”
Archie wasn’t surprised.“So they want us to look into it?”
“Yeah.They’ll meet us at the office as soon as possible.”
Archie glanced at Jasper.They were supposed to talk about what was happening to Jasper and find a way forward, but Archie wouldn’t be able to do that if he had to go to work.He wasn’t surprised when Jasper gestured at him to go, though.He’d be eager to avoid the conversation, but more than that, he’d want Archie to help these parents recover their child.
Archie sighed.“Fine.I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
“Bring breakfast, will you?I haven’t had time to eat anything.”
“Youcould bring breakfast,” Archie complained, but Braith had already hung up.
Archie glared at his phone as he locked the screen and flopped back onto the bed.He loved working with his best friend, but sometimes, he wished he didn’t have to get out of bed.
“You should get up,” Jasper said.
“I had plans.”
“Did those plans include getting out of bed?”
“Not really.”
“Then it’s not a problem for you to postpone them.”
Archie sat up.Jasper was picking up his clothes from the floor and dropping them onto the bed, clearly ready to get dressed and leave.Archie didn’t want him to, but he knew that he wouldn’t get Jasper to stay in his apartment even if he asked.They both had stuff to do, and Archie couldn’t protect Jasper from the rest of the world, no matter how much he wanted to.He couldn’t even protect him from his nightmares.
“Do you want to talk about last night?”he asked because no matter what was happening at his job, Jasper would always come first.
“It can wait.Go find that kid.”
“I will.I just want to be sure that you’ll be okay.”
Jasper had been reaching for his t-shirt, but he stopped and smiled.“Of course I’ll be okay.”
“Will youtrulybe okay, or are you just saying that to make me happy?”And to get him to stop asking questions.Archie didn’t say that, though.He didn’t want Jasper to feel called out, even though that was what he was doing.
“Nightmares aren’t going to stop me.You don’t have to worry about that.”
“You’re my boyfriend.I’m going to worry whether you want me to or not.I’m sure you worry about me, too.”
“I do,” Jasper admitted.“I’ll be fine.You don’t know that this kid will be, though, so you need to go.”
“Wewilltalk about this eventually, Jasper.I hope you realize that.”
Jasper grimaced.“Unfortunately, I do.I know I need to talk about it.I promise you that we will, but not right now.”
Because right now, there was a kid in danger, and Archie needed to go.As much as he knew that Jasper was using the kid as an excuse, he also knew that Jasper cared.He wouldn’t want anything to happen to the kid, and neither did Archie.He wasn’t sure there was anything he’d be able to do, but he was going to try, and he couldn’t do that from his bed.There would be plenty of time for Jasper and Archie to talk once this was dealt with.
“Go,” Jasper said with a smile.“My problems aren’t going anywhere.Nothing’s going to change if we wait to talk until tonight or tomorrow, or even next week.”
“I’ll remind you that you said that when you have another nightmare.”
Jasper rolled his eyes.“Whatever makes you feel better.Now go.People are waiting for you.”
Archie wanted to tell him that he didn’t care about those people, even though part of him did.It wouldn’t change anything, though.Jasper was still dealing with what he’d learned about himself, and Archie couldn’t help him unless he let him in.That wasn’t going to happen this morning, and it probably wasn’t going to happen tonight.
But eventually, Archie would get Jasper to talk about it.It was the only way forward for Jasper.He couldn’t ignore the fact that he wasn’t human for the rest of his life, especially not considering his upbringing as a hunter.He might want to, but that wasn’t how things worked in their lives.
