“Caleb?” I said softly.
He shifted slightly in the bed, but didn’t respond or acknowledge me in any way. He was lying on top of the bedspread, his jacket and shoes still on. There was a black backpack sitting next to the bed, but no other luggage.
I went to turn on the light, but as soon as I did, he whispered, “Please, don’t.”
I quickly turned the light back off and sat next to him on the bed. I couldn’t stop myself from running my fingers through his hair. “Are you hurt?” I asked. I had no clue how the hell he’d gotten all the way to West Virginia on his own, but I had a few thoughts and none of them were good.
Caleb shook his head.
I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to Memphis, telling him only that I’d found Caleb and he was okay. I included a note telling him I’d call him as soon as I could, but since I knew that likely wouldn’t satisfy him, I turned the phone off and then tucked it into my pocket. As hard as all this probably was on Eli and Mav, I needed to focus on Caleb right now.
There was a reason he’d picked this motel… that he’d come all the way out here, to me, even though it had been more than a year since I’d last seen him. So I carefully shrugged off my coat and tossed it on the other bed. I eased myself onto the bed and settled myself against his back. The second I wrapped my arm around him, a choked sob escaped his throat.
“Shhh, I’m here now,” I murmured as I brushed my lips over the nape of his neck. He’d grown a little taller since I’d last seen him, but he hadn’t filled out at all, proof that his health hadn’t improved. His skin felt cold and tremors kept racking his body every few seconds.
There were so many things I needed to talk to him about, but I knew that wasn’t why he’d come. I knew that wasn’t why he’d searched out this motel, this room and deliberately left it unlocked for me. The thing he needed now was the same thing he’d needed that first night when I’d given in to the need I’d heard in his voice.
Giving him now what I’d given him then was just the start of what I needed to do for the young man who’d trusted me with his very life. I’d failed him once because I’d been a coward. Because I hadn’t liked what holding him that night and all the others had made me feel.
But Caleb had been the one to pay the price.
Never again.
I settled my palm over the arms he had crossed protectively against his chest. When my fingers found his, he linked them with mine and a soft sigh shimmied through his lean body.
“Everything’s okay, Caleb. Sleep now,” I said as I brushed a kiss over his temple.
I could feel moisture on my hand and knew it was likely from the tears I couldn’t see or hear Caleb shedding.
“He’s coming for me, Jace,” Caleb said, his voice cracking as he said my name. “He’s going to get out and then he’s going to find me.”
I settled my mouth near his ear so I’d be sure he heard every word I said to him. “He’s welcome to try, Caleb. But he’ll have to get through me first. No one touches you ever again, do you hear me?”
But he didn’t answer me, which was just fine with me.
Because he’d finally found the very thing that had sent himrunning to me in the first place… the thing he’d likely been searching a lifetime for, but that would only last for as long as sleep held him in its gentle grip.
Peace.
Chapter 1
Jace
He was gonewhen I woke up.
I didn’t even know how it was possible that he’d managed to sneak out of the room with me not knowing, since I was normally a light sleeper. I could only figure my own lack of sleep had played a role.
I quickly rolled out of bed and turned my phone on. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for having had the foresight to plant a tracking device in one of the small front pockets on Caleb’s backpack. It was something I’d ended up doing on a whim as I’d gotten up after just a couple of hours to send Memphis a text letting him know we were still okay and that I’d call him as soon as Caleb and I had gotten some much-needed sleep. I probably wouldn’t have even planted the tracking device if I hadn’t noticed how restlessly Caleb had been sleeping.
The last time I’d held him as he’d slept, the only time he’d stirred had been when he’d pressed back against my body to try and get even closer to me than he’d been. But this time around, he’d been restless the entire time. I was amazed I’d even managed to fall asleep, considering the whimpers that had kept spilling from his throat. I’d tried everything I could think of to soothe him, butnothing had worked and my tired body had finally given up the fight. He’d woken me up several more times throughout the night when he’d called out for his brother, Nick. He’d also repeated the word “no” over and over again, and I’d been sick with the fear that he was dreaming about all the times his father had hurt him.
My phone lit up with multiple missed calls and texts from Mav and Memphis, but I ignored them. I knew Mav must be going crazy with worry for Caleb, considering the role he and Eli had been playing in Caleb’s life for the past two years. Mav had figured out pretty quickly that Caleb had an attachment to me that went beyond a little crush or some harmless hero worship. If that had been the only issue, I doubt Mav would’ve been too worried about it. Problem was, he’d noticed that Caleb wasn’t the only one struggling with the connection he and I had. It was something I’d worked hard to hide from Caleb, but there’d been no fooling Mav. He’d confronted me two Christmases earlier about it when Caleb had begged me to come see him in Seattle. I’d tried to pass the whole thing off as Caleb just being overly attached to me, but Mav had seen through my act.
And he hadn’t liked it.
Not that I could blame him, considering Caleb had been just seventeen at the time. The young man couldn’t have been in a more vulnerable and confused state after everything he’d endured. Add in a guy like me who was not only fifteen years older than him, but also didn’t exactly have a lily-white reputation when it came to relationships with other men, and it was no wonder Mav was questioning my motives.
He wasn’t the only one.
