“Danny! Is something wrong?” Noah and Samuel are walking towards me, the panic on my face registering with them.
“Hughie’s missing.”
Noah abruptly stops. “Where did you see him last? How long?”
“The Christmas market at the castle. About a half hour.”
“We’ll help. Samuel and I will go check out Grafton Street and circle back on Dame towards the castle. I’ll text the rest to keep an eye on campus.”
“Thank you.”
Noah leans in and hugs me. “We’ll find him.”
I am gasping for breath outside the Trinity Bar when I get a text from Noah, to both Niall and I.
Noah:We’ve got him
Noah:It’s alright lads. He’s okay
Noah:Come down to Doom Slice
35
I run into Doom Slice to find Hughie sitting with Noah and Samuel, eating a slice of pizza. The cop from the market is also there, talking to Hughie as he plucks a piece of pepperoni and puts it in his mouth.
“Hughie!” I run over and hug him. “Are you okay? Where did you go?”
He puts his pizza down. “I saw a cat walking through the crowd and followed it because I wanted to pet it. It didn’t stop until like that BBQ place we went to. You know, the one near the tattoo place where we saw those two guys fighting outside?”
He was right there. The alley behind Dame.
“I went back to the market but you weren’t there, so I came here because I thought maybe you’d show up for pizza.”
At that moment Niall comes running in, brushing past me to pick Hughie up in a huge hug.
“Why did you leave the market? What were you thinking Hughie? You could have gotten hurt…or worse!”
It’s at this moment it all seems to catch up to Hughie, as he is now sobbing uncontrollably. Niall sits there, his back to me, rocking Hughie back and forth.
“I take it we’re all set here? I’ll let the rest know the search is off.” The cop nods at me and heads out the door.
I touch Niall’s arm and he jerks it away. “Niall, I—”
“We can talk about this later.” He looks behind me, and his eyebrows furrow. “And honestly, what the fuck are you still doing here?”
I turn and notice Jackson standing by the bar. He looks from Niall to me, then puts his hands up. “Just glad the lad was found.” He turns and leaves.
“Thank you for finding him,” Niall says to Noah and Samuel. He lifts the still crying Hughie over his shoulder. He briefly looks my way before walking out of the restaurant.
I sit there, staring at my hands. “I think I may have royally fucked up guys.”
“Nah Danny. Everyone fucks it every once in a while. He just needs to blow off some steam and calm down. Everything will be fine. Just give him some time.”
***
It isn’t until the next morning that I hear a knock on my door. I look in the mirror before going to the door. I look like shit, just as you would expect someone to look who hadn’t slept.
I open the door and find Niall standing there, dressed in uniform for work. “You wanna come in?”
