Page 55 of Yours to Break

Every nerve in my body screamed it. Every part of me that still belonged to me jolted awake.

I turned and bolted.

I ran to the guest room upstairs, almost crashing out on the steps. I slammed the door shut behind me and thanked every higher power out there that there was a lock on it. However, I wasn’t sure if they would have the key. I frantically looked around, wondering what I could push in front of the door with the little strength I had.

I had to use my entire body weight and probably pulled a muscle or two, but I was able to move the empty dresser to the door.

I needed time to think. I needed to dosomethingbefore they got under my skin any deeper than they already had.

21

Hudson

“And why can’t we force ourselves in again?” I asked, growing gradually more frustrated and tired of waiting. It’d been close to five hours since Oliver had gone and shut himself in one of our rooms upstairs, which didn’t have a way to unlock it from the outside.

“Grey said that we should wait for him to come to us,” Hayes replied as his jaw clenched, showing me that he was almost at the end of his rope.

I groaned, “Listen, I’m not sure we should be getting advice from him even if he is a therapist. I mean, come on, he fucked his patient. Doesn’t that like disqualify you from practicing or something?”

“Just because he shouldn’t be a therapist doesn’t mean he didn’t go to school and shit.”

“Okay, but do you seriously believe that if Lane had locked himself in a room, that Greywouldn’tbreak the lock?” I sighed.

Hayes scrubbed his hands down his face. He blew out a harsh breath, swinging his legs off the couch. I quirked a brow in silent question; he nodded.

“Thank fuck,” I muttered, getting up to follow my brother up the stairs.

As we reached the door to the guest bedroom, Hayes called out, “Oliver, you have ten seconds to unlock this door, or we’re going to break it down. I figure you understand which would be the best option.”

We heard no movement from behind the door as we counted down. I shouldered the door at the count of one, putting my full strength behind it. The wood splintered as the door swung open to hit a dresser with which Oliver must’ve used to barricade the door. It was easily pushed out of the way, giving us access.

It took no less than a few seconds to see that the room was empty.

Hayes stood in the doorway behind me, breathing like he’d been gut-punched.

“He’s gone,” I said, something twisting in my gut. Not rage. Not heartbreak. Somethinguglier—because it felt so much like beingdenied. And I hated being denied.

“He is,” Hayes said finally, like he couldn’t believe the words. “Where the fuck did he go? Shit. Do those windows open?” He pointed to the large windows lining the far end of the room.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” I shouted as I rushed forward, finding that one was unlatched. I pushed the glass up, noticing what were probably Oliver’s fingerprints.

“This is the second floor. How did he get down without killing himself?” Hayes mumbled, poking his head out of the open window. “Maybe he crawled to the roof’s edge here and hung down?”Yeah, I wasn’t picturing that.“He would’ve still had like a ten-foot drop.”

“I don’t think that’s what we need to be focusing on, brother.”

Hayes pulled back inside and glared at me. “I’m trying to determine if he’s injured or not, asshole.”

“Probably, right? But he’s not dead on the grass down there. Check the backyard cameras. He could’ve done this hours ago.”

Hayes grabbed his phone from his back pocket, quickly bringing up our home security app.

I looked around the room again while Hayes tried to find our little runaway.

No note.

Not even a goodbye.

Not that we would’ve let him go if he’d tried to say goodbye, but still.

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