Page 66 of Drag You Down
I waffle for a moment—too long, too long—before deciding I’m better off searching by car. Even with the morning traffic, I’ll be faster by car than on foot, and I need a way to restrain Levi and keep him with me once I do find him.
The obvious choice is to search the roads to his apartment building. I set my phone up to show me the camera feeds in his apartment, then I start driving.
At the first light, I scroll back through the feeds just to be sure Levi didn’t make it back yet. I notice his sister entering and exiting the apartment multiple times. That’s more often in one evening than she’d done in most of the past week.
Ten minutes ago, she’d gone into Zachariah’s apartment.
I don’t think Levi is home yet.
A car honks behind me, reminding me to keep driving. I step on the gas, for all the good that does me.
I need to call in sick to work. I’ll tell them I’m working from home. It’s not like it makes much of a difference. Day trading can be done anywhere, and if some client doesn’t earn an extra fifty thousand dollars today, who cares?
My eyes scan the sidewalks, hoping to find some sign of Levi, but it’s the usual crowd of men in business suits, women in expensive dresses, and the couriers zipping past them. Levi would stand out among them.
I get frustrated when I reach the bridge. I’d hoped to find Levi before I crossed the bridge. I need to decide if I want to expand my search here or try closer to his apartment.
In the end, traffic decides that for me. There’s no quick way to redirect myself, so I continue onto the bridge. The morning traffic is slow but steady, everybody crawling along at fifteen miles per hour. I glance at my phone again, but there’s no more movement in the apartment halls.
I growl in frustration, and I imagine how I’m going to gut Zachariah when I reach the apartment, never mind whether Levi is there or not.
I’ll do it in that basement of his, the one that had Levi so scared.
And then, as the clouds part to let in a bit more sunlight, I spot Levi walking on the sidewalk of the bridge.
My heart beats faster and my mouth goes dry.
My lamb.
I pull my car into the sliver of a shoulder the bridge has and park, quickly hitting the off switch. I jump out, slamming the car door behind me, and jog the short distance to Levi.
Cars start honking, but I don’t care.
“Little lamb!” I shout as I close the gap between us. “Levi!”
Levi stops in his tracks and turns to face me, his arms coming protectively against his chest. I don’t know what to make of his expression, but I can see him swallow hard as he looks at me. “Gabriel,” he whispered. “You came.”
He looks completely disheveled, his hair pointing in every direction, his clothes wrinkled and filthy. He doesn’t come toward me, so I close the distance between us instead.
“Of course I came,” I say, pulling him into my arms. “You scared me, little lamb.”
“I didn’t mean to,” he says. His entire body is trembling, and I rub my hand along his back.
“Did anyone touch you?” I demand, feeling for new injuries.
The only thing I can feel are the scars he still bears from Zachariah’s “penance.”
“No,” he says quickly. “No, everyone was really nice.”
Everyone.
“Who is everyone?” I ask. I have to raise my voice because of all the damn honking.
“The people under the—” he begins, only to shake his head. “Never mind. I’m fine. I got lost, that’s all.”
Of course he did. He’s still innocent, still in need of my protection and care.
“Well, I’ve found you.” I smile at him. “Let’s go home. You need another shower. I’ll pamper you. I’m sure Ichabod wants to cuddle with you, too.”
