Page 29 of Working Out West

“You are not keeping me fuckin’ locked away like some soft bitch.”

“Kylo, babe, please. You know me better than that. I’d have you at my side, but what about Lucas? My brother, your friend? He’s out of his mind crazy right now, and since you’re both close friends to West, it’ll be better having you at his side than me or even Wreck.”

I shook my head. “That’s bullshit.”

“I’m not fuckin’ with you. Just take a damn breath and think about it.”

With my hands fisted, I pressed them into my eyes and breathed. Fear, all I could feel was fear. Lucas would be feeling the same. The others didn’t know West, hadn’t connected with West like we had.

Dropping my hands, I sighed. “You’re right. I’ll stay with Lucas.”

He picked up my hand and kissed the back of it while he parked out the front of Lucas and Wreck’s place. “Love you,” he said.

Still, my heart fluttered from hearing it. “Love you too.”

I grabbed my walking stick as we climbed out of the car, and before we reached the front door, it opened. Lucas’s hands covered his stomach, his brows pinched, and his eyes sad. “Have you heard anything new?” he asked.

“Nothin’,” I said, reaching him and bringing him into my arms. “We’ll find him.”

He nodded into my chest.

Wreck appeared behind us. His hands dropped to Lucas’s waist. “Babe, come back inside. You don’t have any shoes on, and it’s cold.”

Lucas turned into Wreck, who moved him inside, and we both followed. In the living room, Lucas sat curled into Wreck on the couch. I took an armchair while Saint sat on the arm of it with his hand on my shoulder.

“Maybe he’s out with other friends?” Saint suggested.

Lucas and I shook our heads. “We’re his only friends.”

“A date?” Wreck said.

“No, he would have told us,” Lucas replied. He sucked in his bottom lip and bit down. “What happened if a client… if they liked him too much and kidnapped him?”

“Death checks all backgrounds. He knows what to look for. It won’t be one of them,” Saint said.

“Can you be completely sure?” I asked.

Saint and Wreck shared a look. Wreck sighed. “Death was at the only one we weren’t sure about.” He shook his head. “He’d been looking out for West, had a man on him, but that man is unconscious at the college.”

“Who was the client, and why would he have someone watching West?” Lucas demanded before I could.

“Adrik Hail,” Wreck clipped.

I shared a look with Lucas. Adrik was the man West had feelings for. Had it been reciprocated this whole time? Fuck, it must have been if he had a guard on West.

I stood. “Then we need to go talk to him. He might have more information.”

“Not needed. That’s all the information he had—”

“But—”

There was a knock on the door before it opened, and Death strode in. Someone else followed. A guy I didn’t know.

“What the fuck is he doin’ here?” Wreck demanded, standing.

“Who is he?” Lucas asked, joining Wreck.

Death glared at the man beside him. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer. I thought it better I bring him, so he didn’t get anyone we know in trouble.”

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