Clay wound his way through the streets, searching for Mike. He felt terrible for Lane. His friend had been through so much. Sadness filled him. He knew Thomas was angry. He understood, but he also got that Mike was having issues.

Lane had sent a text a few minutes earlier, asking if anyone had had any luck finding Mike. He wished he’d been able to reply differently, but he had nothing.

They’d been on the trail for a little over five hours. Mike had been out here for a long time, not a full day, but long enough. It was nice that the officers Lane knew had put out a description, but no one had seen Mike.

Mike most likely hadn’t meant to hurt Lane, but his PTSD was out of control. Thomas was going to put his foot down; Clay knew it. There had to be something done to protect Lane.

After getting out of the military, he’d had issues. Nothing like what Mike had been through, but it wasn’t easy all the time. He wished he could have been there more for Mike. If he could have taken away some of the stress, maybe helped him out a little, it would have been better. Heck, they all would have given so much, done anything if they’d only known.

He loved his friends like brothers. Thomas was more to him, but the rest of the guys were his brothers. He only wanted what was good for them. Had he been able to do anything to help, he would have.

His phone buzzed; he looked at the screen and saw it was Lane. His heart squeezed before answering.

“Hey, did you find anything?” Lane asked.

He glanced around, wishing Mike would magically appear. “No, not yet.”

Lane sighed. “We should stop for the night.”

Lane sounded so depressed. It made Clay ache thinking Lane was hurting so badly.

“Not yet. I have one more area I want to look at. It’s not far, just a few more blocks, then I’ll circle around and come back.”

Sadness grew at the sound of Lane blowing out a breath. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Hey, anything for you two.”

Lane hung up, and Clay searched the area, heading around a block before realizing he had no idea where Mike might have gone. He glanced at the map on his phone and saw he was close to Lane’s place. He only needed to turn left then walk five blocks before turning left again and walking two blocks. He wasn’t far, though he’d walked for hours. He must have gone down the same street more than once. This sucked.

Clay had gone a few blocks when he noticed there was a park one block over. Perhaps it had already been searched, but he was going to look at it anyway.

It was dark in the park, and he hesitated, wondering what he would run into. He didn’t want to get into a bad situation, but he felt compelled to look.

The shadows enveloped him as he walked deeper into the park. There were light poles, but they weren’t working. He paused at the sidewalk intersecting with his, wary about moving deeper into the park. He couldn’t see far into the darkness, but he wanted to make sure Mike wasn’t there. What if he was injured and couldn’t find help?

Clay kept walking, fear filling him as he moved. He made it to another sidewalk and almost turned back. He turned on his phone’s flashlight, hoping the light would keep him safe. Then he was in an area with benches, and he saw more than one hunched over form. The first person obviously wasn’t Mike. The second person glanced up, and he saw it wasn’t Mike. Then he saw another set of benches at the back of the area. He moved closer and saw a profile. The guy was sleeping, and he had to move closer to get a good look. His arms and legs tingled as fear raced through him. What ifs filled his mind, but then he saw the guy was Mike. His heart jumpstarted and thumped wildly.

His hands were shaking, and he had to take in a deep breath to steady himself. He tried to drop a pin on the map application, but he had to do it twice because of the shaking. He shared his location with his buddies, and the response was immediate. Lane asked if he was for real, and Clay noticed Mike was starting to move around.

Clay flipped off the light on his phone and kept typing, telling Lane he really had found Mike. He didn’t want to wake Mike until more of his guys were there. If Mike ran off he’d have no chance of catching him. But with the rest of his team close, he could stop Mike if he decided to make a dash.

Brent replied, saying he’d found an Uber to bring him to the location. Lane, Brent, and Jake were headed his way. He stayed quiet, watching Mike sleep. There were other people in the park, and he could hear some of them moving around. Fear still chilled him, but he wasn’t going to let anything take him away from Mike. After a little more than five minutes, he heard a car door slam and then saw a light bobbing in the distance.

Jake called out, “Hey, Clay, where are you?”

Another sleeping lump close by stirred. He heard people moving outside of his visual sphere. There was no telling who was out here, and he didn’t have any desire to get killed.

“Over here,” he called out as he waved his lit-up phone in the air. He dropped his phone to his side, but not before shining the light from the screen on Mike’s face.

The man was blinking his eyes, confusion filling his face. “Clay?”

Jake ran up, huffing, out of breath. “Mike, thank God we found you.” Jake still had his flashlight on so he could see everything a little easier.

“What are you two doing here?” Mike looked from him to Jake then back again. “How did you get here?”

“Mike, we came as fast as we could,” Jake said.

Clay moved close and squatted right next to him. “Mike, we’re here for you. I know you’ve been through a lot, and we want to help.”

“Oh God, I’m so sorry.” His eyes rounded, and he shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”

“We can talk about that later. Right now, we want to get you home.”

“I can’t go back. What I did was bad. I hurt him. I shouldn’t have hurt him. It was bad.”

“He loves you. He loves you so much.” Clay wanted Mike to understand he didn’t have to leave. He could go back to Lane and get help. “There are more advanced therapies. You can get in somewhere and maybe get some advanced treatments.”

“You guys know I never want to hurt Lane.” Mike grabbed Clay’s hand and held it tight. “Is Thomas here? He’s going to kill me.”

“He’s not here. And he won’t kill you. I’ll make sure of it.” No doubt if Thomas were here, his anger would have been hot. Hurting Lane ranked high on the ‘never do’ list for Thomas. Clay had accepted that Thomas and Lane had a special bond, which went beyond friendship, but they had never crossed into being lovers.

“Oh God, what do I do?” Mike said. “I need to get out of here.”

Clay reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “Mike, you’re not going anywhere. Stay right here. Really, don’t move.”

“Lane is coming, and I can’t face him. He’s going to hate me. I can’t stand the thought of him hating me. What if he wants me to leave? What if he never wants to see me again?”

“Mike, stop,” Jake said.

Mike looked up at Jake, his mouth open, eyes wide. He still had his phone lights on so they could see, and it painted a stark picture of a terrified Mike and two fear-filled guys desperate to keep Mike there until Lane arrived.

Clay squeezed Mike’s shoulder. “I’m going to tell you straight: Lane loves you. You need help, and it’s fine, but Lane isn’t going to abandon you.”

Mike shook his head. “But I hurt him.”

“Yes, but you two are going to be fine. You’ll both be fine.” Clay just needed to keep Mike there for a few more minutes. Once Lane arrived, he was sure Mike would calm.

A car door slammed and he heard Lane call out. “Mike! Mike!”

“We’re over here,” Clay hollered.

“Shit, what do I do?” Mike asked.

Mike’s shoulders were tense, and Clay feared he would take off. By some miracle, Lane got there before Mike could run away. Brent was close on Lane’s heels and moved to stand beside Jake. Clay could see their love as they reached for each other, hands clasped tight.

“Mike, my God, I’ve been so worried about you,” Lane said.

Tears ran down Mike’s cheeks. He’d held it together until Lane got there, but now he was sobbing, his nose running.

“I’m so sorry.”

Clay wished Thomas was there with them, but he understood. Thomas had the fishing business to think of. He couldn’t pick up and leave without notice.

“Come home,” Lane said.

Clay feared they were going to have to force the issue, but Mike finally nodded. Relief filled Clay. He sent a text to Thomas telling him they’d found Mike, and he was going home.