Here for You by Skylar M. Cates Read Free Book Online

“I’ll call too.”
    “And we should call the cops. In case somebody hurt him or a car hit him.” Ian gave voice to what they all feared.
    “Fucking cops. They won’t do anything,” Marc declared. “This is the home of Trayvon Martin. Brendan’s poor, and he’s gay. That’s not a high priority for them either. The law around here likes you wealthy and quote-unquote normal. Maybe some asshole having a liquid lunch got into his car and the fucking system is corrupt—”
    “Jesus, Marc,” Cole cut him off. “Can’t you for once stop it? Shut up! None of that matters to me right now. Not one fucking bit! We should only be thinking about Brendan and where he might be.”
    Marc flushed hotly, bowing his head.
    “Look, we’re all emotional right now,” Tomas said. “It’s just so out of character for Brendan to be late or not come home for lunch. But maybe we are overreacting, right? Maybe we need to all calm down. I’m sure we will find him and some explanation.”
    As Marc turned away, Tomas whispered to Cole, “He loves Brendan too. He just has a long nasty history with cops. Starting with his own dad.”
    “Yeah,” Cole said, unsurprised. “But sometime he needs to get over whatever happened.”
    Tomas smiled bleakly. “I live in hope.”
    Cole got into Ian’s car. Following him, Ian held on to the steering wheel for a second. “We’ll find him. I promise.”
    Cole quickly glanced his way. Ian’s face looked carved from stone.
    “Yeah, we will,” Cole replied. He took a deep breath.
     
     
    T HE HOSPITAL was a dead end. No Brendan, no John Does that day, and every minute they didn’t know where Brendan was, was too important to waste.
    “It’s good he’s not here. It means he’s probably fine.”
    “Cole—”
    “Don’t say anything. He’s fine. I believe that. I’d know if…. He’s fine.”
    “Okay,” Ian agreed quietly.
    A young male nurse passed them. His hair was artfully tousled, his scrubs tight. Normally, Cole would smile, ask him about his job. Now he turned away and glanced at his phone.
    “Marc and Tomas had no luck either. Dammit.”
    “We should contact Brendan’s family. I know it’s a long shot, but—”
    “ We’re his family,” Cole growled at Ian. He sucked in a breath of the cold artificial hospital air. “We take care of each other.”
    Ian didn’t answer. Cole knew it was a reasonable thought. Although Brendan rarely spoke to his folks after all the crap they’d put him through, he was their only child and they lived not too far away. Cole couldn’t see any reason for Brendan to have contacted them, though, and they had no real information to share with his parents.
    Cole thought of the last time Brendan had gone home, two years ago at Christmas. He’d come back exhausted, his eyes bloodshot and teary, and had shut himself away in his room. No, fuck them. Cole wasn’t contacting anybody.
    “We should drive over to where River works. He might know what’s going on, and maybe he’s seen Brendan.”
    “Right.” Ian ran a hand through his hair, mussing the top. His hair was short, but the color was rich like summer wheat streaked with shades of blond. Seeing the normally unflappable Ian ruining his hair frightened Cole because it meant whatever had happened to Brendan was real.
    “You okay?” Ian’s eyes narrowed on him like two blue targets.
    “Fine. Let’s go.” Even though Ian wasn’t a criminal attorney, Cole nevertheless felt cross-examined. He didn’t want anybody to know how afraid he felt for Brendan.
    They drove in silence. Brendan was all right. It was not like him to skip work, but it was possible that he did, right? They were blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. If it were Cole, everybody would assume he’d simply forgotten something. Brendan might be having a weird day and explain it to them soon enough.
    “Fuck.” Cole whispered the curse like a prayer. He stared mindlessly out the car.
     
     
    R IVER CAME out