“You’re out of your mind,” Lawrence whispered, jerking his arm against the plastic again. “He’ll call the police and the FBI. He’ll have you arrested immediately.”
“You think your father wants the FBI looking at him? Not with the kind of shit he’s been up to.”
Lawrence winced, then turned his eyes to the bare wall. He knew the man was right.
His heart in his throat, Lawrence wished desperately that Raiden and Cash could find him. He tried to summon them, to reach out toward them with everything he had. His phone was gone, but maybe they could still track him somehow. He didn’t have any other choice, except to believe it was possible they could hear the part of him that was crying out.
The man sighed. “Your father’s a piece of work. I haven’t seen a power grab like his in years. Damn thing would have worked, too,” he said, then poked Lawrence in the chest. “Except no one plays dirtier than me. Not even war mongers like your dad.”
Lawrence shook his head and gritted his teeth, pained all over again by the suggestion his father was manufacturing a war. “No,” he said. “He wouldn’t do that. You’re lying.”
“I’m lying?” The man was slowly getting more animated, and Lawrence realized he was taking pleasure in the whole thing. “I’ve never lied to you, Lawrence. That’s Cash’s job.”
Lawrence bit his lip, startled. He was scared to acknowledge Cash’s name, like he’d be putting him in danger somehow, but he knew the truth was in his eyes.
“You know, when I hired Cash to start following you, I never thought he’d fall in love. I just figured, a couple of fairies, he’d do a better job poking around in those shitty bars. Didn’t want to punish one of my men with the job. But I never thought he’d actually fuck you!” The remaining guard snickered behind him. “We all had a good laugh about that.”
“I don’t know why you’re trying to screw with my head,” Lawrence said, “but I’m not listening to you.”
He laughed again, his hands on his thighs. “Shit, kid, you really fell for him, didn’t you? That’s something else. I thought you would have figured out what that man was by now, but I guess you’re as naïve as you look. The truth is, he was only talking to you because I was paying him. And when you spilled your guts, he turned right around and sold me the play-by-play.”
The last weeks all flashed before Lawrence’s eyes. He thought of Cash, emerging from his father’s office at the dinner party. He thought of the first time the three guys had gotten to Cash’s place, how it had seemed so unreal to Lawrence, like there were secrets scrawled on all the walls.
And he thought of touching Cash and Raiden and tasting them each on his lips. How true it had all felt.
Could that all have been a lie? Was Lawrence fooling himself the whole time, thinking he was worth more than just being his father’s spoiled son?
“Raiden,” he said, barely able to whisper the word. “You’ll see. He’s going to beat the shit out of you.”
“Your bodyguard? Yeah right. He’s washed up, just like that loser who runs his agency. He can’t find his way around his own asshole.”
“Let him show up,” the guard laughed. “I’ll crack his head in.”
Lawrence felt nauseous. He rubbed his hand over his face, trying desperately to process all that was happening. He was untethered from reality, everything he had come to believe unraveling right there.
The door creaked open, and the other guard returned. He went straight to the older man, mumbled something in his ear, and then showed him the phone. The older man accepted it, but he stared in his disbelief. “Holy shit, kid,” he said with a laugh. “Your old man never disappoints, does he?”
Lawrence looked up. He felt his heart still as the man smiled, an expression that was even more upsetting than his glare.
“Looks like he cares more about being CEO than about being a father.”
Lawrence blinked. “He said no?” he asked weakly.
By way of answer, the man simply cracked his knuckles, then nodded to his guards. “Get him something to eat,” he told the guard. “We’re going to be here a while.”
They turned, and the door swung shut with a bang behind them, leaving Lawrence alone in the white room. Finally, the tears came, hot down his cheeks.
And one more time, his heart cried out, although he suddenly feared there was no one there to hear it.
