Chapter Four
Julian
Julian tucked his ass into Hugh's groin as he woke. His natural inclination was to look for Hugh the moment he opened his eyes. This morning, he reached ahead of him as well, searching for his little mate. Except, the space in front of him was cool to the touch. And empty.
Julian sat up abruptly, and Hugh moaned, stirring in his sleep. The space behind Hugh was empty as well. "Hugh, wake up."
Hugh came to, sitting up groggily. "Is Logan in the bathroom?" he asked with a trusting type of innocence. It didn't immediately occur to Hugh that Logan would run.
Julian however, had recognized something in Logan the night before that he'd experienced often earlier in his own life. Fear, hesitation, worry.
In those moments, Julian had relied on his mate and best friend to keep him steady.
"He isn't in the bathroom. Look his shoes are gone. He's run." Julian hated watching Hugh's face change as he came to terms with what had happened.
When he finished, he wore a hard, scowling mask. "We'll find him." He jumped from the bed, putting on his clothes at a pace that seemed leisurely, but Julian knew what he was trying to do. At times like this they were at their most different. All Julian wanted to do was run into the street and search for Logan. Who cared if he was naked and had no idea where the doctor had gone?
But Hugh was careful. His movements weren't slow but controlled. If anyone took the time to observe him, they would see that each breath was purposeful.
By the time he had finished changing Julian waited by the door, tapping his toe with his arms folded over his chest.
"He's the one, right?" Hugh asked.
Julian had certainly felt that way the night before. He'd gone to sleep exhausted but in bliss. They both must have been exhausted if Logan had been able to slip by them. When the three of them had finally passed out, he'd been pressed between them.
"Why would he run if he was the one?" Hugh asked, trying to figure out the answer to a riddle.
"Didn't you see his face? He was seconds from bolting for the first thirty minutes."
"I know that," Hugh said, handing Julian a shoe.
He stared at it before realizing he was only wearing one.
Hugh continued. "But I thought we did a good job alleviating his concerns."
"With our dicks?" He hunched down to slip on his other shoe and tie up the laces.
Hugh's scowl looked even more disapproving when Julian peered up at him from his hunching position. "Don't do that," Hugh said. "Don't turn last night into that."
"Turn it into what? We were both so keyed up. There was maybe a half a second of conversation before we told him to say hello to our little friends."
Hugh paused on his way out the door. "We did do that, didn't we? I thought I tried explaining to him what was going on."
Julian dropped his arm around Hugh's shoulders. "You did," he consoled. "At least you tried. But none of us was really eager to wait and talk. I assumed we would have more time this morning."
Hugh leaned into the embrace as they walked, accepting Julian's warmth and comfort before pushing away and stepping out on the street. "We find him, and explain the situation. He was exposed to our essence last night. That should be enough to get the process going if he is the one."
There was no question in Julian's mind that Logan was the one, there were however, many concerns about how they were going to find him.
***
After a quick run to the beach, they found the empty spot where Logan's van had been parked.
"Great, now he's driving around in that death machine with a body that is, as we speak, transforming itself to accept us as mates," Julian huffed. "We should have taken his keys."
"Oh yes, that would have been the perfect plan," Hugh said as he bent down closer to the ground, examining the tire treads. "Let's make a man prone to flight feel even more trapped. At least now we have something else to locate him with. Vans like that can't be too common. Especially ones with United States plates. Did you get a look at them?"
Julian tilted his head and lifted and eyebrow at his brother. "Sure, sure," he said sarcastically. "I managed to pull my eyes off his hot ass to memorize his plates."
Hugh stood smoothly and looked down the beach. This early, there weren't many people out. The blue-sky overhead was the perfect backdrop for the palm trees and crashing waves.
"Sarcasm helps no one."
"Well, searching like we're fucking detectives gets us nowhere either. Use your nose," Julian snapped, pulling his hair back and gathering it off his neck. He was already sweating, and it wasn't even 9 AM.
"Use my nose? Am I your dog now?" Hugh asked quietly.
Julian was too mad to back down, even though Hugh's body language and tone said he should.
"Maybe if you were, you would have barked last night when Logan gave us the slip."
Julian didn't see Hugh move. He only knew that one moment he was standing and the next, his back had hit the sand and Hugh was on top of him grappling for his hands to pull them over his head. Julian kicked up in an attempt to dislodge the other man, but he rode him like a bronco. "Damn it! Get off me with your fucking crazy ass strong thighs!" he grunted.
Hugh pushed down, slamming Julian's hands into the sand over his head. "Stop fighting me," he demanded which only made Julian fight harder. As he wiggled beneath the other man, his dick hardened.
"When you get off me, I am going to shove my dick so far down your throat," Julian threatened.
Hugh couldn't stop the flash of desire from Julian's harsh language. "Look. We now have two important things to do in this country," he said like he was the reasonable one and not the one who had attacked Julian for no reason. "We need to find our mate and get him to realize running from us is a bad idea, and we need to find Bryce and negotiate a deal that will keep our community at home up and running. We can't do either with you snapping at me."
Julian held his breath against the back of his throat before exhaling loudly. "Fine. I won't attack you with my dick," he said with a pout.
Hugh smiled and jumped off him as quickly as he'd jumped on. He held a helping hand down which Julian grabbed. "C'mon, lover," Hugh said.
"You know I hate it when you call me that," Julian grumbled.
"I know," Hugh said with a wink.
Julian stopped, stomping so that he stood squared off with Hugh. "If you don't want me to be snappy than you can't bait me!"
Hugh lifted his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine, you have a point. Let's go find our mate."
***
They decided to return to the place where it all started. Hugh's theory was that Logan might go back to the bar to check on Pablo, the bar owner's grandfather and that if he wasn't there, then Bryce might be. Neither of them had any reason to believe Logan was in danger, at least an increased danger than he would already be in as a single man, driving a rickety van, in a foreign country.
Julian was amused to find that the bar was even open so early in the morning. A single customer sat on a stool with his back to the door.
"Then I said to the guy, you want my contract? Swallow this golf ball," the man said with a thick Southern accent to the bartender, uncaring or oblivious to the fact that Pablo obviously wasn't enjoying the story. The man burst out laughing. It had a mean edge that made Julian already dislike the American. "And he did!" the man guffawed, slamming his hand against the table so hard his drink knocked over. He made no move to clean it up, only stared at the bartender like he was his personal slave.
Hugh sighed tiredly and tapped the man on the shoulder. "Are you Bryce Morrow, Jr?"
Bryce spun on his stool. "Who the hell is looking for me way down here?" He slurred his words as he sat up, most likely attempting to look intimidating.
Julian could smell the booze on the man's breath. He wore a ridiculous white and grey suit that would have looked more appropriate on the colonel from a popular fried chicken fast food restaurant.
"My name is Hugh and this is my associate Julian, we are from Bear Brother's Construction and have some business with you. Your secretary let us know where to find you."
"Shounds like I need to fire my shecritary," Bryce said then, gesturing for another drink.
Julian would have felt bad for Hugh's lies if they didn't already know that Bryce's secretary moonlighted as his mistress and he would no sooner fire her than he would willingly tell his wife about his affair.
"I don't know about that. She knew we were in the market to make a deal."
"A deal? What kind of deal?"
"We are building a community and have need for liquid petroleum gas. We've been shopping around and discovered that your branch in the northwest sells tanks for ten cents less a gallon than all your competitors."
Bryce set his glass down and eyed the two of them. "Who did you say you were again?" he asked like they'd just now arrived.
Julian snarled. "This is useless," he whispered to his brother. "Bryce Morrow is a fucking drunk. Look at him! His skin is like plastic, and his eyes are glass. This was a bogus fucking lead that led us to a washed up unfaithful drunk."
"Junior," Bryce called over to them.
Julian turned back to him. "Excuse me?"
"Bryce Morrow, Junior is a fucking drunk."
Out of all that Julian had said, he couldn't believe that was the part the man took issue with.
"I woke up with a problem this morning, and I think you two were sent to clean it up for me. I'll make your deal, send it to my sales manager right away and have the tanks there before you are if you do this one thing for me."
Hugh crossed his arms over his chest. "We are not hitmen."
"God no, I don't need you to kill anyone," Bryce replied and Julian couldn't help but imagine a, not this time, at the end. "The opposite actually. You see, I'm not here on pleasure." Bryce hiccupped and tapped his fist against his chest.
"Could have fooled me," Julian muttered under his breath.
"I think I should just show you," he said, hopping off the stool. He swayed for a second before finding his balance and taking off out the door.
Julian looked to Hugh. We need to find Logan.
"I know, but we need to do this too. Logan isn't in danger," Hugh replied out loud.
"Yet. What if he didn't just go up the coast a little?"
"Then we'll find him. It doesn't matter where he went, does it?"
He wasn't wrong and even though he really didn't want to, Julian followed after the inebriated man.