CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Blaze
“I’m telling you, I’ve looked all over.”
“Well, fucking look again!”
The front door slammed behind Hung, and I threw the closest thing to my hand at it, which turned out to be a glass paperweight that put a dent in the door.
I was going crazy. After Lake had run out of the warehouse like the demons from hell were at his heels, I’d chased him for at least seven blocks before finally losing him. One minute we’d been standing watching the filming of Cane and Tony’s scene, and the next, Lake had knocked over one of the lights and was running out without his jacket or his cell phone on him. Since then, I’d had every one of the Hedonists out looking for him. I’d finally decided to return to the clubhouse in case he came back.
My phone rang, and Julianne’s name appeared on the screen.
“Did you find him?” I demanded.
“No. I’m still looking. I was hoping he’d come back.”
I sighed. “It’s dark out. You should go home. I’ll call you when we find him.”
Julianne was silent a moment. “What happened, Blaze?”
“You saw as much as I did. It was like he just wigged out.” My phone beeped, alerting me to another call. “Gotta go. I’ll be in touch.” I switched lines.
“Yeah, Matteo.”
“I found him.”
Relief surged through me. I’d been picturing all kinds of terrible scenarios, including Lake being hit by a car, which had almost happened while I was chasing him.
“Where?”
“Over on King Street. He was just sitting there on a bench. He’s hurt his ankle and seems a little edgy, but otherwise okay.”
“You bringing him back?”
It sounded like Matteo cupped his hand around the phone. “He’s acting strange. Like he’s afraid of me. He agreed that I could call you to come get him. I’ll wait with him until you get here.”
“Thanks, man.” I disconnected, grabbed my jacket, and was halfway to my bike when Ax stuck his head out the door and called my name.
“Find him?”
“Matteo did. He’s hurt his ankle, and he’s scared. Go on to bed and tell the others to do the same. He’d doesn’t need everyone staring at him.”
“Tell him I called him in sick at the Banana.”
“Thanks, man.”
I drove fast, wondering how Lake had gotten as far as King Street. When I spotted him sitting on the opposite end of the bench from Matteo, I took what felt like my first deep breath in hours.
As soon as I was off my bike and out of my helmet, Lake flew into my arms.
“Are you all right?” I whispered into his ear, holding him tightly.
“Yeah,” Lake murmured. When he pulled back, everything about his posture said he was uncomfortable in Matteo’s presence. Matteo must have noticed because he announced he was taking off. Lake handed him his jacket, and I immediately shrugged out of mine.
“Wear this. It’s cold.”
Lake didn’t argue. Once he had it on, he climbed onto the bike behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist more tightly than he ever had before, and leaned against my back. In less than ten minutes, we were pulling up to the clubhouse. I helped Lake inside, supporting him so he didn’t have to put weight on his ankle. Everyone was either gone, in their room, or out on the back porch smoking when we slowly made our way through the quiet house. When we reached the hall, I took Lake’s cold hand in mine and squeezed it.
“Please sleep in my room with me,” I said. “I just want to hold you.”
Although Lake’s eyes flickered with uncertainty, he nodded and let me help him into the room.
We undressed, and I went to the kitchen for an icepack and some pain reliever.
“Your ankle’s pretty swollen,” I said, wrapping the icepack in a dish towel and putting it against his ankle on a pillow before covering him up and giving him the pills. I climbed onto the other side of the bed and scooted close to him.
“It’s just a sprain,” Lake said, setting the water on the nightstand.
“God, you’re cold,” I murmured into his hair when he’d settled against me, his heart hammering against my chest. “What happened, baby? Why did you run like that?”
Lake was quiet a moment before whispering, “Thanks for picking me up.”
“I ran after you but lost you after you dashed across a busy street. I was really worried. We’ve all been out looking. Fuck.” I sat up and reached to the floor for my cell phone and dialed Julianne’s number.
“Matteo let me know you found him,” she said by way of answering. “How is he?”
“He’s okay, here with me. I think he just wants to sleep.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“No.”
“Okay. Take care of him.”
She hung up, and I lay back down on the bed. “I forgot to tell Julianne we found you, but Matteo took care of it.”
“He’s a nice guy,” Lake said quietly.
“But?”
“But…I don’t know. Something about him scares me.”
“He wouldn’t hurt you,” I said. “I promise. Matteo has a heart of gold.”
A tremor ran though Lake’s body. “I know my reaction to him doesn’t make sense, but I can’t help it.”
“Did he have something to do with why you ran? You were fine and then suddenly you freaked.”
Lake shrugged against me.
“Has anything like that ever happened before?”
“No.”
“You didn’t have that kind of reaction when your neighbor attacked you.”
Lake lifted his head and looked up at me. “What do you mean?”
“I just thought maybe it was a panic attack or something.”
Lake stiffened.
“Hey, it’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it.”
Lake pulled the ice pack and towel out from under the covers and tossed them onto the floor.
“It’s too cold to keep them on.” He scooted closer to me, and I opened my arms to take him in. I loved having his body so close to mine and marveled at the overwhelming feeling of protectiveness that washed over me when I held him.
Lake slowly relaxed against me. A moment later, he groaned into my chest. “Shit. I was supposed to work tonight.”
“Ax told the manager you’re sick. Sorry, I meant to tell you that right away but forgot.”
Lake sighed, breath warm against my skin. “I hope Vince doesn’t fire me. I need that job, especially now that Julianne doesn’t have anything for me to do.”
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I could use you. I have no sense of order when it comes to keeping records.”
“You have Nick.”
“I don’t want Nick,” I said pointedly. When Lake gave me a questioning look, I added, “He’s not you.”
Lake looked confused but laid his head down again. What was it going to take to convince this guy that what I felt for him was real?
Lake pushed away from me enough that he could look into my eyes, a small scowl on his face. Why did I find it adorable?
“You really want to date me?” Lake asked.
“Yeah, I do.”
He looked away. “I’ve never dated anyone before.”
“I find that hard to believe, as hot as you are.”
“Well, once in high school, but it doesn’t count.” He moved onto his back, and I missed his warmth pressed against me.
“Why doesn’t it count?”
He sighed. “It wasn’t real.”
Something told me to drop it for now, although I wondered what that meant. Real love? Too good to be real? “Are you close to your parents?” I asked instead.
“They disowned me. I don’t want their money anyway.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“What about you? Do you have family?”
“My club’s my family, but I also have an aunt I’m close to. I’d like to take you to meet her sometime. She’ll love you.”
“Few people do,” Lake said sardonically.
I laced our fingers together. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
It took so long for Lake to reply, I thought he’d fallen asleep, but then he said in a small voice, “Why do you care so much? I’m not worth the effort.”
I was opening my mouth to protest when he rose up and pressed his mouth to mine. The kiss was slow and warm.
“Goodnight,” he said, and rolled over so his back was to me.
“Goodnight,” I whispered. “And you are worth it.”