Frost
They tore apart every fucking warehouse and piece of property that Stanley Starr owned. They had the feds looking at neighboring properties as well.
The chief had called for extra help, and the military sent in a team. The extra man power was not surprising. Many had volunteered when they heard that Phoenix needed help. The men took this shit seriously and came in hot and hard when word got out that one of their own had been taken.
They found the abandoned office building where Seth had been held. He was gone when they got there. Only a chain hanging from the exposed beam and Seth’s bloody shirt tossed aside remained.
Frost sank to his knees near a dirty blanket and gripped the shirt. This was what Seth had been wearing when he came by his house. It was an expensive dress shirt and Frost lifted it to his face. The scent of Seth lingered.
“He’s gone,” he said hollowly.
“Frost.” Wild placed a hand on his shoulder.
Frost fought to look up at his friend, his eyes burned.
“They’re going to pay,” Frost said gutturally.
“Every fucking one of them,” Storm growled from where he stood next to Roscoe.
Frost let Wild pull him up. He wouldn’t stop until he had Seth back in his arms.
“Sir.” One of Roscoe’s men approached. “We found a body.”
Frost lurched and Wild steadied him. Storm stayed close to his side. With every step he took, hope that Seth was alive began to crumble.
If it was Seth’s body, he would fall into a hole so deep, he’d never find his way out of it. He swallowed back bile and clenched his fists as he stepped through a doorway and into a small room.
“Who the fuck is that?” Wild asked.
Frost didn’t give a fuck. All he knew was it wasn’t Seth and he placed a hand to the wall with relief. He took in several quick, deep breaths.
Storm pulled out his phone. “It’s Stanley Starr.” Storm held up a photo they’d snapped at the house.
“No way,” Wild said, sounding skeptical.
“Yes way,” Storm replied, holding the picture near the dead man’s face.
“Huh,” Wild admitted. “I guess it is.”
The guy’s face was relatively intact considering the rest of him. Stanley Starr had been gutted from navel to throat and it looked like a very, very painful way to die. Of course, Frost didn’t think the guy had suffered near enough for taking Seth. Now there was only one question remaining.
“Who the fuck has Seth?” he questioned harshly.
“Looks like someone took him from Starr,” Wild replied. “There was a struggle.”
They moved to the rear door and gazed out. The back of the office building faced an underpass filled with tents and homeless people.
“Fan out, ask people if they’ve seen Seth,” Frost ordered, and they moved in groups of two, ever vigilant, watching each other’s backs.
Frost stood near an SUV and guzzled down ice water from the cooler. For hours, they’d all combed every inch of the surrounding area of that damned office building and the blocks around it, only to find nothing.
It had been sixty hours. The chance of Seth still being alive was diminishing. They’d reached so many dead ends. But he wasn’t giving up.
The team looked at him somberly. Probably waiting for direction. Some of the faces were blotched with grief.
“We are not fucking giving up. He’s alive. I can feel it,” he said, clenching his jaw so tightly, it ached.
He would know in his heart if Seth was dead, he didn’t know how, he just knew it. “He’s out there somewhere, so buck the fuck up and think!” he raged, shoving away from the vehicle he paced around.
“Alpha team, come in.” Roscoe’s voice came over the radio and Frost jumped at it.
“This is Alpha. Over.”
“Frost? We apprehended two vehicles traveling south out of the area.”
“Is Seth with them?” Hope surged. He squeezed the radio.
“No.”
He slammed the radio down onto the center of the dashboard and then tossed it.
“Easy, Frost,” Storm’s deep, calm voice rumbled. “Let’s keep searching. There’s a shit ton of homeless to search through still.”
He nodded rapidly. Glancing up, his gaze was met and held by Wild’s worried gaze.
“Frost,” Wild murmured.
“No, Wild, just save it.” His eyes burned. “He’s alive.” He has to be.
His cell phone rang and he swiped it open. It was an unknown number.
“Frost.” he yelled into the phone.
“M…Mr. Frost Grayson?” a young, trembling voice asked and Frost snapped to attention.
“Yes, this is him,” he said, automatically gentling his voice. “Who is this?”
“Um, I’m Jordan.”
“Hello, Jordan,” Frost greeted and flipped up a finger to the team. Reggie snapped up like fucking wildfire to trace the call coming into his phone.
“What can I do for you, Jordan?”
“There’s a guy here, Seth. He’s hurt real bad.” Frost’s heart leaped up his throat. He almost snarled. Instead, he prowled. His fist clenched around the phone.
“Where are you, Jordan?” His gaze raked over the surrounding area.
“I can give you the location. But you need to come alone because where we stay, well, that’s a secret. Hurry, Mr. Frost. I think he’s gonna die,” the boy said, sniffling, his voice shaking.
“I’m on my way, Jordan. You hang tight,” he promised. His heart lurched with fear that Seth would die before he could get to him. “Tell me where to meet you.”
The boy gave him an address and ended the call. Frost pivoted. Storm caught and held his stare from across the distance.
“He’s alive, but I don’t know for how long.” His voice cracked.
“It’s a phone from a business down on Hollywood Way. That’s really close to the office building and that tent city we searched earlier,” Reggie said, jumping out of the fully loaded tactical and surveillance SUV.
Everybody galvanized into motion. Frost filled them in on him having to go in alone. They all nodded.
That meant Frost would be the only visible one. The others, with the exception of Reggie, would become ghosts and track Frost. Reggie would stay with the SUV.
“Could be a setup,” Storm advised.
“True,” Frost agreed. “But if there’s the slightest chance Seth is in there…”
“Hell yeah, we’re going. I’m just saying, it could be a trap,” Storm replied.
Frost hoped to hell it wasn’t a setup. In any case, it wouldn’t matter. As long as Seth was found and safe, that was all that mattered. That, and when he found Seth, and he would find him, Frost would fucking beg for Seth’s forgiveness.
The place was dank, dark, with very little light. It was off of the main tent housing of the homeless and if Frost hadn’t been led there by the small, skinny teenager, he wouldn’t have even known of its existence.
He had to stoop in some places to get through a maze of broken down walls and holes. The sound of water dripping and soft creaks of the ceiling accompanied them. A musty smell permeated the air and clung to the walls.
Frost crouched, pulling himself through one particularly small gap in the wall and stood when he reached the other side. The cramped way in which to arrive at the place gave the wide, spacious, outdoor area a feeling of vastness. People went about their day and only spared him a few curious glances. They greeted the boy as if he were family.
Jordan took his hand and led him through a maze of cardboard sleeping areas and blankets strewn over small structures to the far corner.
It was there, resting on a pile of clothing, rags, and blankets where he found Seth.
His heart leaped into his throat and he dropped to his knees next to the makeshift bed. The gray pallor of Seth’s skin scared the shit out of him.
“Seth?” His voice shook.
Seth’s eyes slowly opened, his gaze unfocused. He appeared confused and then surprised.
“Frost?”
His code name on Seth’s lips ripped the air from his lungs and broke his heart.
Seth
He came for me.
The cold ate at what little strength he had left. He could barely lift his eyelids when hands brushed the hair from his face. His cheeks were numb. At first, he thought he had imagined the touch and the shaky voice, but when he blinked open his eyes, Asher was really there.
Asher’s intense blue eyes were gazing down at him, their depths burned with some unnamed emotion. Seth tried to smile, but he wasn’t sure he had managed it. He saw Jordan hovering over Asher’s shoulder.
“You did it,” Seth praised the boy.
Jordan smiled. “Yep, just like you told me.”
“Stanley Starr’s dead,” Seth whispered to Asher.
Asher nodded. “We found his body.”
“Yakov killed him.” Seth struggled to form the words. He needed to get the facts out while he was still able.
“Don’t talk. There’s plenty of time for that.” Asher’s words were a lie, the truth could be seen in his eyes. The man seemed really worried. Which was strange because they were over. Seth opened his mouth but nothing came out.
“Shhh, it’s okay, just stay still. I’ve got you,” Asher murmured, gently lifting Seth into his arms.
Seth cried out at the stabbing pain, sucking in several breaths between bruised lips. Tears welled from the corners of his eyes and trailed in cooling rivers down his temples.
Asher sucked in a sharp breath and held him cradled gently in his arms. “I gotta carry you, Seth. The ambulance can’t reach you in here.”
He couldn’t even manage to lift his arms to loop them around Asher’s neck, much less nod.
“This way, it’s shorter,” Jordan said through a hazy fog.
“Thank you,” Asher replied. The man’s voice sounded so fucking good.
“I hope he makes it.” Jordan sniffled.
“Jordan?”
“Yeah?” the boy replied from nearby.
“Why don’t you come with us?”
“I can’t.”
Seth wanted to say something, but he couldn’t get his throat to work.
“Alright. You keep that number. If you need anything, you call me.”
Asher’s deep, rumbling voice reverberated against Seth’s ear and he became lulled by the comforting sound. And he was so glad when Jordan answered.
“I will. Thanks,” the boy said, then the portion of fence scraped and a chain clanged before Asher carried him through the secret entrance that led, from what he could see, to a nearby street.
He was jostled again and cried out. He struggled to draw air into his pained chest. This must be what suffocating felt like.
“Hold on, Seth,” Asher pleaded in a shaking voice. Seth couldn’t figure out why Asher was crying.
“Get an ambulance at Third and Pine,” Asher said to someone and Seth drew comfort from the man’s deep, commanding voice. A few more jostling steps and then all was still.
“Don’t leave me, Seth.”
Seth clearly heard the words or maybe he was hallucinating. He didn’t answer. His mouth wouldn’t work. The air in his lungs grew hot, thick, and his chest hitched. It was all he could do to wheeze air in and out. Sirens filled the air and voices of the team pounded against his ears before he finally slipped into blissful darkness.
At first, everything was a blur of noises and pain. Unknown faces prying open his eyes and a light so bright, he cried out. Then there was cursing; a deep, violent growling of words until a needle prick lulled the terror and took the pain.
As the day slipped into night and then day again, he found he was able to stay awake more often. A sound drew his gaze and he spotted Asher sitting in the chair next to the bed. The man’s ass had been glued to the same chair for days. Every time he woke up, turned over, or sneezed, Asher had been there. Seth was poked and prodded until he wanted to scream, but even that would have been too much effort.
Finally, he found his voice and the cranky energy to yell at Asher.
“What do you want…?” Okay, it sounded more like sandpaper scraping over glass than a yell, but he was keeping it, thankful for the ability to speak at all.
Asher said nothing, just stared at him with some unnamed emotion glinting in blue-hooded depths.
“I was falling for you.” He threw the words out.
Asher’s eyes darkened, then the man finally moved and reached for him, but Seth slapped Asher’s hands away.
“Asshole,” he spat. “And you threw that in my face,” he croaked.
“I’m so sorry, Seth.”
“You take and take and give nothing back. What the hell do you want?”
On his last nerve, he’d raged. He didn’t hold back, he just exploded. “Of all the nerve! Of all the motherfucking audacity! You’ve either lost your fucking mind or you have selective memory loss and conveniently have forgotten that you threw me away!” He pounded the bed with clenched fists. He had to hand it to the guy, Asher didn’t even flinch.
Seth took a breath to continue, but suddenly he was exhausted and stopped. He wasn’t too tired to glare. He crossed his arms and huffed.
“I know you’re mad at me, but your anger is nowhere near what my own is at myself.”
“I doubt that!”
The nurse came in and checked his vitals and took the slip of paper he’d filled out for food to eat. An extra person in the room calmed the tension between them and he let his head rest on the bed. Truthfully, though, he didn’t want Asher to leave, but he didn’t want the guy staying out of guilt either.
“You don’t need to stay,” he said after the nurse left.
“I want too. But if you want me to go, I will.”
He closed his eyes and Asher stayed.
“Can I tell you something?” Asher asked.
Seth sighed. It had been almost a week and he was sick of the hospital. He’d been distant with Asher, but the man kept coming around.
Pursing his lips, he poked at the dessert on the tray. Keeping his eyes on the wiggly green goop, he nodded.
“My mother, she left my father when he was in the hospital recovering from a life threatening injury that ended his career in law enforcement. She took everything, Seth. She wiped out their bank account, maxed out credit cards, and took everything that wasn’t nailed down from the home.”
Seth’s chin trembled and for a brief moment, he looked away. No wonder Asher had gone to such lengths to get his things back from Dennis for him.
“I was a teenager and had just gone away to college, so I wasn’t there to stop her.” The words brought his gaze back around. Asher’s hands squeezed the arms of the hospital chair.
His heart ached for a young Asher who’d been so alone, with his mother’s desertion and an injured father.
“My dad spiraled into booze. I didn’t know how badly until I received a call from a nurse.”
“I’m sorry,” Seth said quietly.
Asher took a breath. “I quit college. They’d saved for me to go. Thankfully, the money had been transferred into my name. I took my college fund and paid off my dad’s house, and then got two jobs to take care of everything else. When he was stable, I joined the marines and sent home every penny I could until he was debt free.”
Seth clenched his jaw even though it hurt like a bitch. It took a selfless person to give up their dreams for family. And while he wanted to hate Asher, he couldn’t. To give up everything for his father was a completely honorable act.
“I never forgave her,” Asher admitted, his gaze tormented.
“I don’t think I would have either,” Seth admitted.
Asher gave him a half smile. “I’ve kept track of her, though,” he added. With a sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t even know why, you know? I mean, she’s a piece of work. She had a kid and then divorced that guy and married another guy and had two more kids.” Asher paused as if thinking. “She divorced again and took that man to the cleaners and then married again and had another kid.”
Seth couldn’t stop his mouth from dropping open. “How many brothers and sisters do you have?”
“I don’t know.” Asher ran a tired hand through his hair, leaving the dark strands mushed.
“Jesus,” Seth whispered.
“She almost destroyed my father,” Asher told him.
And it sounded like the woman had destroyed Asher as well. If Asher hadn’t stepped in, who knows where the guy’s dad would be today. Seth admired Asher’s dedication to his father.
“I know why you keep track of her.” He gave a wry smile when Asher’s gaze turned curious. “My mother did the same thing. She walked out on us.” Seth frowned. “She never did marry my dad. She just left us both for some rich dude across the city.”
“I knew Rossi took you in, but I didn’t know about your mother.” Asher rubbed a hand down his chin and sighed.
“I kept track of her in hopes that someday she’d want to see me. She never did,” Seth continued. “So, you see? I understand more than you realize,” he finished tightly.
“I’m sorry,” Asher declared. “I know that doesn’t excuse what I did.”
“I get that you’re sorry. But you can’t just go fuck someone else whenever you get angry with me!” He pounded the bed with his fist. He glared at Asher. The fucker! All the anger came rushing back when he pictured that man, that shirtless stranger, sitting on Asher’s couch.
“I didn’t!” Asher said hurriedly.
“I don’t believe you!”
“Seth, I didn’t sleep with that guy. I swear!” Asher pleaded. “I paid the guy and he left right after you did.”
“That you could pay someone and hurt me like that just shows how fucking shallow you are!” Seth yelled, and then winced in pain.
He slapped Asher’s hands away again when the man tried to help him sit up in the hospital bed.
“Seth, please let me make this right. I’m so sorry. Please give me another chance.”
“At what? Casual sex?” Seth wrinkled his nose. He wasn’t a casual type of guy. He should have known better than to get into bed with Asher. After what had happened, he doubted Asher’s intentions. How could a man change so quickly?
“There’s something I haven’t told you. Something that happened that night.” Asher swallowed, looking away.
“At the restaurant,” Seth guessed, but it wasn’t hard. He knew something had been off that night.
“Yes.” Asher struggled with the words for a moment, then said, “That woman you saw was my father’s fiancé. Out with another man.”
“Oh.” Seth rubbed at his forehead.
Asher nodded. “I thought she was cheating and I thought that… this is it. This is what relationships end up being. A bunch of bullshit and lies.”
“And is that how you still feel?” Seth rubbed at his chest.
“No.”
“Why not?” Seth asked, his voice skeptical.
“Because what I didn’t know was that Karen, that’s her name, wasn’t cheating on my dad, they had broken up. Mutually, because my dad is in love with someone else.”
“I’m not a cheater.” He sniffled. “I don’t cheat.”
“I know. I’m so sorry.”
Asher’s shoulders drooped, unaware of how defeated he appeared.
“I talked to my dad. I’ve been…” Asher began, taking a deep breath. “I’ve been basing my opinions and actions regarding relationships on what happened with my mother.”
Seth twisted a piece of the blanket between his fingers. That was a big admission. “I can see how that would happen,” Seth agreed. Hadn’t he himself been afraid of living alone? He’d let his mother’s desertion affect his life. That was why he’d hung on to Dennis so tightly.
That still didn’t answer the question of why Asher was here. Had Asher had a change of heart?
“What do you want from me?” he asked with a sigh.
Asher looked up and something fierce burned in his eyes. “You’re so much stronger than me, Seth.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. You went through basically the same thing I did as a child. Yet, you came out with the capacity to love. That’s strength.”
“You love. You just don’t know how to show it. You think loving someone makes you weak. That if you let yourself love, you take a risk of getting hurt. Well, there’s always a risk. But without taking a chance, we have nothing. If we don’t at least try to love, then we just lead a lonely existence.”
“See?” Asher smiled. “So much stronger.”
Seth shook his head and glanced away. Asher thought he’d escaped unscathed from his mother, but in reality, Seth hadn’t. He wasn’t strong, not really. He needed to figure out if he’d wanted Asher because he loved him or if he wanted Asher because he was afraid of being alone. One thing was for sure, they both had a lot of shit to fix and Seth wasn’t sure if he was ready to forgive.