3. Jace
Chapter 3
For the first time in my life, I have no clue what to do.
The night Oli walked away from us was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, and then I had to watch Toby fall apart. I’ve never seen him cry in all my years of knowing him. He went to Oli’s apartment, and when he refused to see him, he came back to me a mess. For two months, I’ve watched him struggle to live without him, and I can’t do anything. Nothing helps because I feel that loss, too. But I need to keep it together for Toby. He just doesn’t know that I drink myself to sleep at night to get a few hours of peace.
I pull Toby back to look into his eyes. “I’ll call Leland and tell him we’re on our way. You go get dressed.”
Toby runs from my office, heading upstairs, and I sit heavily in my office chair, a million thoughts running through my head. What if Oli is hurt? I wasn’t trying to brush off Toby’s concern, but I couldn’t admit out loud that he might actually be in danger. I pick up my phone and dial the number I heard Toby give Kris. It rings several times before going to voicemail. I debate about leaving a message but think better of it. If he is hiding, he won’t want to hear my voice. I call Leland and let him know we’re coming over. He sounds relieved when he hangs up the phone, so I know he’s worried about his friend.
Unlike Toby, I talked to Aiden to find out the full truth, and he was right. No matter what he said, it didn’t make what he did any better. He put Oliver in the worst position as a submissive who put all his trust into his Doms. In turn, he made Toby and me look like we betrayed him, too. If I had known what Aiden was up to, I would never have agreed to break our rule about fulfilling fantasies. We were all struck by Oliver on the site, and I should have seen how eager Aiden was to grant Oli’s wish.
“Let’s go!” Toby yells from the living room. When I get there, he’s already walking into the garage. He swings his leg over his bike and gestures to mine. “We’ll get there faster.”
Grabbing my helmet from the rack in front of the bike, I climb onto it, and we fire them up. We back out of the garage, and Toby opens the throttle, flying through the gates before they’ve barely opened. With a shake of my head, I speed up to ride right behind him. We’ve always been kind of stupid on the bikes, but this is bad even for us. Flying through downtown New York and splitting between cars has my life flashing before my eyes more than once.
We pull over in front of Oliver’s apartment, and Toby’s already walking in before I can get my kickstand down. We ride the elevator up in silence, and Leland jerks the door open before we can knock.
“Anything?” Toby asks, following him in.
“No,” Leland says, pacing. “He doesn’t just leave. He always leaves a note.”
“Are you sure he’s not with a client or something?” I ask, trying to keep them calm.
“That’s another thing. He missed an appointment this morning. Oli has my phone number listed as a backup just in case, and when he didn’t show, they called me.”
“Okay. Have you called his family?”
“All he has is his sister, and she hasn’t heard from him either.”
“Friends?”
“You’re looking at them.”
“What are some of his favorite places to go?”
Leland flops on the couch. “He has a couple. I just have a bad feeling.”
Toby sits on the couch beside Leland. “We’ll find him. We just need to look. I had a detective friend track his phone, and his location is turned off.”
My phone starts ringing before anyone can reply, Kristian’s number flashing across the screen. “What’s up?”
“Just so you know, if I lose my job for this, you owe me big time. Your boy is at the bluffs. His signal has been pinging there for over three hours. Do you need me to send a squad?”
“Not yet, but I’ll let you know if we do. I really appreciate this.”
“Yeah, yeah. I expect payment in crisp hundred dollar bills.” Kris hangs up, and I turn to Leland.
“What do you know about the bluffs?”
“It’s about a twenty-minute drive. Oli and I go there sometimes to hang out.”
“That’s where he is.”
Toby jumps from the couch, Leland right on his heels. “Let’s fucking go then.”
“My car is still at the goddamn club,” Leland says. “That’s why I was up so early.”
“You can ride with me on the bike.” I’d rather have his safety in my hands than trusting him with Toby.
I just hope Oli hasn’t done anything that he can’t take back.
The ride to the bluffs felt like hours instead of twenty minutes. I thought of every possibility of why Oliver was hanging out around cliffs.
Leland climbs off my bike and hands me the helmet. “Let me go talk to him first.”
“Normally, I’d agree, but I think I should.” I step off the bike. “Point me in the right direction.”
Leland points to a path on the right. “It’s about two miles up there. You can’t miss him if he’s there.”
I grab Toby’s face and kiss him hard. “I promise I’ll bring him back to you, Dirty boy.”
The walk up the path is like walking to my death. The further you walk, the steeper it gets. I round a corner and stop dead in my tracks when I see Oli sitting there with his feet dangling off the edge. I walk slowly so I don’t spook him. “Oli.” His entire body freezes, but he won’t turn around. “We were just worried. Are you okay?”
Oliver whirls toward me, and his tear-stained face breaks my heart. “No, I’m not okay!” He scrambles to his feet but doesn’t move away from the edge. “Why can’t you leave me alone?!”
“I’ll leave. I just need you to come away from the ledge.”
“Afraid I’ll jump, Jace?” He steps backward, and my heart starts beating out of my chest. “Afraid you finally pushed me over the goddamn edge?”
“Oliver,” I warn. “Please, just come away from there, and I’ll walk back down.”
“FUCK YOU!” His words echo all around us, and he takes another step back until his heels touch the edge. “You lost the right to tell me what to do when you fucked me over.”
“We didn’t fuck you over!” I take a deep breath, reigning my temper in. “We didn’t know what Aiden was up to.”
“I don’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth. My sister is my only family. One of the most important people in my life, and I fucked the guy she was in love with for two years. I thought Aiden was my friend.” He stabs a finger into his chest, tears streaming down his face. “You broke my heart.”
“I’m sorry,” I say raggedly. “I swear on my life we didn’t know. Toby and I would never hurt?—”
“Shut up. You can’t say that you would never hurt me because you did.”
“Not intentionally. Think about that time, Angel. Does that seem like two men who would do what you’re accusing us of?”
“It seems like two men who found a willing ass to fuck.” I know he’s hurt and lashing out, but that hit harder than I thought it would. “I got my wish, though. Three masked strangers to fuck me. Because that’s all we are, Jace. Strangers. Because I don’t know you at all.”
I nod, unsure of what to say. He’s making me nervous, hovering on the edge of the bluffs. “If I leave, will you go to Leland? He’s waiting for you at the bottom.”
“Leland brought you here?!”
“He was worried, Oliver. He didn’t know what else to do and panicked.”
“How the fuck did you find me?”
I laugh, but it comes out rough because this won’t make matters better. “We had a friend track your phone.”
“So, you’re stalking me now?” If he only knew.
“No. Like I said, we were worried.”
“Don’t act like you give a shit, Jace. You have Toby and Aiden. You don’t need me.”
“I do need you, Angel. So does Toby. I just wish you’d open those pretty green eyes and see that. Do we have a deal? I leave, and you go to Leland?”
Oliver stares me down but finally nods. I wait until he steps away from the edge before I finally breathe. I want nothing more than to run to him and jerk him into my arms. Just being this close to him makes every feeling I have for him rush to the surface. I never thought anyone could make me feel like Toby does until I met Oliver. “We had a deal,” he says when I don’t start walking.
I turn toward the path and look back over my shoulder. “You need to talk to your sister. You’ll see that everything isn’t what it seems.” With that, I go back to the bottom, where Toby is pacing back and forth. “Let’s go.”
“What?” Toby demands. “You can’t just leave him up there?!”
“I made him a deal. As soon as we leave, he’ll come down. Now is not the time.”
“When is the time?” Toby asks.
Maybe never. “When Oli realizes the truth.”
I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.