Page 78 of Hidden Desires
Correction.
He liked it a lot more with Ace sitting on it, but that was inappropriate to be thinking about right at this moment.
Finally, he came to a small, broken-down cabin with a damaged porch swing and peeling paint wrapped all around the porch.
Blade pulled his bike into a spot near the cabin and killed the ignition.
He shoved his phone into his back pocket, ignoring the three missed calls from Lucas and Marcus, and slowly made his way toward the home.
Groaning from the back of the cabin caught Blade’s attention. He slowly walked around the structure, taking each step with extreme caution.
He didn’t know how many people there might be, and he didn’t know what sort of situation he might be walking into.
When he reached the back of the cabin, his heart stopped when he spotted the source of the groans.
Dangling from a crane that stretched out over the cliff of a canyon was Ace.
His hands were bound above his head with rope, and his body was hanging over a two-hundred-foot drop.
“Ace!” Blade shouted, scared that at any moment the rope might snap, dropping Ace to the rocky surface below.
“Blade! Help!” Ace cried out, clinging to the rope for dear life. The sheer terror in the boy’s eyes was a look Blade would never forget.
“Stay still! I’ll be right there,” Blade shouted, scoping out his surroundings for anything that might help him rescue Ace.
He would have to climb out onto the crane and lower himself down to free the boy. There was no other way unless he found the key to operate the crane.
“Blade! Hurry!” Ace pleaded.
Hearing the fear and panic in Ace’s voice caused Blade to snap. He didn’t have time to come up with a plan and contemplate how to save the man he loved. He just had to get out there and do whatever it took, no matter how dangerous it was for himself.
“Hang on. I’m coming, Ace!” Blade shouted, taking off toward the crane.
“Umm, I wouldn’t do that,” a rough voice said from the shadows.
Blade stopped in his tracks as the crane began to move.
His eyes darted around the sandy brush until they finally landed on the dark figure stepping out of the shadows.
It was hard to see the man’s face. He wore a large-brimmed hat that cast a shadow across the top portion of his face as he stopped between Blade and the crane.
“I’ve always wondered what it would be like coming face-to-face with you after all these years,” the man said, slowly raising his head so that the moonlight and light from the burning oil drums around them caught his features.
Years of repressed anger and trauma came barreling through Blade as he stared at the man who had broken his heart. The man who was supposed to love and support him.
The man who had ultimately…betrayedhim.
His father.
“And here I haven’t spent a second thinking about you…Dad,” Blade responded, glaring at the man standing twenty feet away.
“Dad?” Blade heard Ace whisper to himself. They might be far apart, but sound had a weird way of carrying around canyons and open spaces.
Blade ignored Ace’s comment.
His father was smart. He knew better than to get too close to Blade, especially when he was armed with his blades.
Speaking of which.
