The last assault had occurred when he’d come to Texas looking for James, hoping his
friend would be hiding out here. James had mentioned Josh’s partner Nick, and it’d been a slim hope that James would be here, but it’d been the only hope Chase’d had. He’d been jumped outside Josh’s apartment and it’d been bad enough to land him in the hospital.
Again. Maybe he’d go after the asshole even if James was alive and kicking it in the Bahamas.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice that you haven’t answered my question. I bet you distracted me on purpose, you jerk.”
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Chase bit back a sigh as he faced Josh. How could the man put so much accusation in a single glance? And why couldn’t he be stupid? Since diverting didn’t work, Chase went with the next best thing—ignoring. “Are you done?”
Josh levelled a look at him that should have made Chase contrite or nervous, but both were emotions he wasn’t given to, not anymore. Once the cuff was off his arm, he shifted around until he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his bare legs dangling over the side. “Can I have my clothes back now?”
Josh shook his head as he set the blood pressure cuff on a tray. “I told you before, we tossed them. They were torn, bloodied and gross. Nick is bringing you something to wear.”
Chase didn’t know whether to expect decent clothes or a damned tutu. He didn’t know
Nick, and the couple of times he’d been up here with Josh, Chase hadn’t been able to get a read on him.
“So, where are you going?”
Chase groaned and slapped a hand over his eyes. Why wouldn’t Josh just let it go? Did he want Chase to eviscerate himself? He had
nowhere
to go and no money to get there with.
He needed to find James, and how he was going to do that was something he hadn’t yet figured out.
Everything he’d built for himself was gone. The only man who really knew him—and
liked him anyway—was missing, probably dead. Chase had been beaten twice since this
whole disaster had started, humiliated and stripped of everything he’d had, but he couldn’t think about that. He’d failed, fucked up everything, and had never felt less like a man than he did at this moment. Chase hadn’t even been this low when he’d thought his life was over years ago. If it hadn’t been for James…
A hand on his good shoulder had Chase opening eyes he hadn’t realised he’d shut. His skin heated with a flush clear to the roots of his hair as he looked into Josh’s green eyes.
“Chase? Do you have somewhere to go? People who can help you? You’re still pretty banged up. You almost died on us a couple of times…”
Chase tipped his chin down and stared at his hands which were folded in his lap. It’d have been easier on him if he
had
died. Besides James, who’d have missed him anyway? The little voice in his head that told him James was dead didn’t help Chase’s mood.
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God damn it, when had he turned into a moody little shit? Hadn’t he stopped all the
pity parties years ago?
Apparently not.
“I’ll be fine,” was all he could offer when the silence had been stretched to an
uncomfortable level. “I just need out of here.”
“Uh huh.” Josh squeezed his shoulder gently, then let go. “Look, I figure you’re still going to try to find Stratton—James. You aren’t in any shape to go running off on a man hunt. You need some time to recover, build your strength back up, and you’re supposed to start physical therapy since you’ve torn muscles in your shoulder. I think it’d be best if you hung around for a while and took care of yourself first.”
Chase jerked his head back up so fast he saw double. “I can’t just sit around while
James is missing. He—”
saved my life.
Chase shook his head, attempting to clear his vision and stop himself from babbling at the same time. “He’s been a good friend. If he’s hurt, or…or dead, I should…bring him home. His parents must be worried sick, they don’t
deserve this…this not knowing.” They were actually controlling, judgmental snobs, and they hated Chase with a passion, but that didn’t mean they should suffer.
Josh sighed and sat in the chair across from the bed, giving Chase a contemplative look.
He folded his hands under his chin and was silent for a moment. “Okay, I understand that.
But you won’t be any good to James if you keel over. Now, there’s people looking for him; the FBI took over the case since Rollins had several government officials on his payroll. What can you do that they can’t? Especially when you’re about as strong as a half-drowned kitten?”
“I don’t know,” Chase mumbled, burning hot with Josh’s spoken acknowledgement of
his weakness.
Josh dropped his hands to the arm rests and scooted forward in the chair. “How about this? Let’s get you out of here. Nick can take you back to the bunkhouse; there’s plenty of people who can help you there and make sure you get to your therapy appointments. But besides that, you can call Liam Stone, he’s the agent who came out and interviewed you a couple of days ago. Ask him about James, see how they’re doing there, and if you’re not satisfied, well…then we’ll decide what to do next.”
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“We?” Chase sputtered. When the hell had this become a group effort? Not counting
the FBI, of course, but since he considered them a bunch of governmental goons, Chase didn’t see the point in thinking they’d be of any use.
“Yes, we,” Josh said, standing up. He cocked a hip and fisted one hand on it as he
glared down at Chase. “Nick liked James, he said James was a good guy and really helped him out. You’re not the only person worried about him. Did it occur to you that there might be other people willing to help? Like me, Nick, Adam, and his partner, Les?”
Nick chose that moment to enter the room. He looked at Chase and Josh and grunted
before coming over and tossing a plastic bag on the bed. “Is he being difficult about it?” Nick asked Josh.
The glare Josh had settled on Chase morphed into a sympathetic gaze that made Chase
want to hide. “Not exactly. Just clearing a few misunderstandings up.”
Chase was still thinking about what Josh said—all of it—so he didn’t bother with a
snarky reply. It shouldn’t have surprised him that there were other people concerned about James, other people willing to help him find the man. James inspired a certain loyalty in those who knew him. He was just a good guy with a heart so big it made an easy target for unscrupulous assholes.
Nick interrupted Chase’s brooding by picking the bag up and waving it in front of his face. “Tell you what,” Nick rumbled, pinning Chase with a dark stare. “Why don’t you listen to Josh and come back with us to the ranch? Give it a shot before you decide you don’t want to hang around and try to get a little better, at least. Who knows, maybe we can all figure out a way to help find your friend.”
There was that damned ‘we’ again, Chase fumed, or tried to. Somehow it didn’t irritate him as much as he’d thought it would.
“But,” Nick set the bag in Chase’s lap and pointed at him. “If you do get snappy with Josh, you’ll have to deal with me.” He grinned, taking some of the sting out of the words, but Chase wasn’t entirely sure the man was joking.
Chase wasn’t scared. He could defend himself. Usually. It just didn’t work so well
when he was jumped by a group of armed thugs while he was still fucked up from an earlier beating.
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19
“What’s it going to be?” Nick asked. “Are you going to let us help? You going to be
smart about this or do something stupid—which will likely end up with you deader than a doornail?”
What does that even mean
? Chase had never understood that phrase, but as he looked at Nick, he did understand one thing. The man was right. Chase’s best chance of finding James lay in allowing others to help him.
It still wasn’t easy to accept the offer even though it made a lot of sense. It felt like charity, pity; all those things Chase hated to be the recipient of—but he needed to recover at least a little more mobility in his left shoulder. Decided, he peered at the men. “How soon can we leave?”
Nick gave a slight grin and pulled something from his shirt pocket. “Just as soon as you’re dressed. I ran into Dr Nichols in the hallway. I’ve got your release form and aftercare information right here.”
Chase didn’t know Nick, but he was getting the impression the man was going to be a
pain in the ass. All good intentions and strong, silent type, no doubt. Just the kind of man who, when compared with Chase, would make him come up short.
Oh well, he’d deal with it since he couldn’t think of any other options. For now.
By the time Josh had brought him to the bunk house, Chase had been about ready to
keel over. It pissed him off and made him more surly than normal. Not that he was surly as a rule, but he had moments, and they were pretty nasty when they occurred. It really was no wonder Josh had helped him sit him on the couch as quickly as possible. Chase wouldn’t have wanted to put up with himself, either. As it was, he didn’t have to. He was asleep before his head settled on the pillow.
His dreams were a nightmarish mix of his somewhat distant past and the events that
had occurred since Rollins Sr had lashed out for revenge. Chase woke with a gasp that hurt his throat. He sat bolt upright on the couch and blinked as he struggled to breathe past a too tight throat and a jackhammering heart. It had been sunny in the room when he’d come in, but now darkness had crept in despite the light given off by a small lamp.
And someone was in the room with him. Every hair on Chase’s body stood at attention
and he blinked away sleep and lingering fear. He turned his head and jerked like he’d www.total-e-bound.com
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stepped on a livewire. An older, dark-haired man was crouching beside him, looking at Chase with a concerned expression on his weathered face.
“You okay?” the man asked in a heavily Texas-accented voice. There was no doubt the
man was southern all the way down to his bones.
Chase started to nod, then realised the man’s hand was on his shoulder. How had he
not noticed that sooner? He glanced at the hand as if it were a deadly snake, then returned his attention to the man, arching a brow in enquiry and maybe more than a little accusation.
Being touched by strangers wasn’t Chase’s favourite thing.
The man tipped his cowboy hat back with a finger from his other hand and smiled. “I’m Max.” Then he gestured over his shoulder and Chase noticed a second man, this one also older, but blond headed with streaks of white in his hair. “This here’s Bo, my husband.”
Bo grinned and waggled his left hand at Chase, he supposed to show off the thick gold band on his ring finger. Chase’s confusion must have been evident because Bo laughed and explained the ring. “Max is very traditional in some ways. He insisted on an engagement ring, too.” The way Bo’s eyes sparkled with a teasing light, Chase would bet the guy had been a player at one time. He seemed the sort, and Chase was pretty adept at reading people.
Of course, now he’d bet good old Max had Bo by the short and curlies, and both of the older men were thrilled about that. Personally, it made Chase want to shudder. Monogamy was an alien concept to his brain.
“Guess you’re still a little sleep-stupid,” Bo said when Chase still hadn’t spoken.
Chase would have blushed had he been the type. He hadn’t been aware of the minutes
passing. But he really didn’t like being called
any
kind of stupid and he was out of sorts, being injured and in a place he wasn’t familiar with, in the presence of two gawkers.
“Bo, that ain’t nice,” Max scolded, but his lips twitched and Chase’s temper burned a little brighter. He opened his mouth to tell both of the men to fuck off, but Bo spoke first.
“What? I call it sex-stupid when you’re lying there all googly-eyed and incoherent and I’m dazed and drooling. It’s just a temporary state; it’s not like I said the guy
is
stupid!”
Chase snapped his mouth shut. There were some people you just didn’t argue with.
This Bo guy would run circles around him if Chase even tried. He’d end up having to punch Bo to get him to shut up and, frankly, Chase didn’t have the energy for that right now.
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Max turned back to Chase and the dark-haired cowboy seemed to see right through to
Chase’s soul. His rough voice and twang were noticeably softer when he spoke. “Well, I’m pretty sure Chase here was having a bitch of a nightmare. That’s why I woke you, and it’s perfectly normal to be a little unsettled after something like that.”
Forget not being the type to blush. Chase thought his skin must surely be on fire. He knew what his nightmares had been about, remembered crying out and crying, period—
Chase swiped at his cheek before he could censor the move. Moisture wetted his fingers and he tried to sink down into the couch cushions. He couldn’t possibly be any more humiliated.
He heard footsteps, then the couch was dipped by his hip. “Hey, it’s okay,” Bo said, “I was just teasing. Sometimes my mouth says stupid things even when my brain tells it not to.
And don’t feel bad about the nightmares, I’ve had more than a few myself, right Max?”
“Yeah.” Bo’s weight disappeared from the couch and Chase took a peek and discovered
both men now sitting on the floor beside him. Max had pulled Bo down and had his arms wrapped around the blond man. The hand that had been on Chase’s shoulder was petting Bo’s belly. “Still has them on occasion,” Max continued, looking from Bo to Chase. “There are awful things that happen to us in life. Sometimes it all comes back and messes with us when we need peace the most, don’t it?”