Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
I pushed open the door. The room was dark, but I could make out a slim figure lying on one of the two queen beds in the room. There was enough light seeping in from the open door to see the shock of blond hair, and I knew I’d found him. I flipped the lock so I could close the door and then made my way to the bed.
“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 him running 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 gone when 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.