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“Hey, Doc,” a voice interrupted him. “What’s up? I think they’re looking for you on the fifth floor.” Wayne looked him up and down and then frowned. “What’s going on, Zach? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“Something’s wrong,” Zach murmured as he tried to figure out why the feeling of dread clung to him. He hit re-dial and listened to Noah’s cell phone ring. Nothing. “Noah won’t answer his cell.”
Wayne laughed. “Yeah, I hardly think that’s reason to panic, Doc. He’s probably working out at the gym or something. There’s no way Connor has left him unattended. Call Connor.”
“Connor’s not answering either.”
Wayne’s frown deepened. “What do you mean Connor’s not answering? He was watching over Noah today, wasn’t he? That’s what he told me.” Wayne pulled out his cell and dialed Connor’s number. Nothing.
“Hey, Wayne. You need a lift back to the station? I’m ready to hit the clock and go home,” his EMT partner called from across the waiting room. “Let’s go, man.” Wayne looked at his watch. Turning to Zach, he asked, “Do I need a ride to the station or are we going to check on Connor and Noah?”
“I’m sure I’m just overreacting,” Zach said as he dialed Noah’s cell again. With all the shit on the news about Moretti, he’d expected Noah or Connor to be ringing his cell out of his pocket. Instead, it was radio silence.I’m not overreacting.
“Listen, I know Connor and I just started dating, but he doesn’t seem like the type of guy to blow off his best friend, especially when he’s on VIP duty watching over best friend’s boyfriend.” He motioned for his partner to head on out without him. “Since your shift only started a few hours ago, let me run over to your apartment and check on things. I’m sure everything’s fine, but I know you’ll feel better when one of them calls you. I’ll taxi over and make sure everything’s good.”
“No, I’m going with you,” Zach told Wayne as he texted the other doctor on duty to let him know he was leaving. “Something isn’t right. I can feel it.”
Zach’s fear escalated to terror level on the ride over to his apartment. By the time he and Wayne stepped off the elevator onto his and Noah’s floor, his heart felt like it might pound right out of his chest.You’re overreacting. You’re overreacting. He kept chanting the message inside his head…knowing in his heart it wasn’t true.
He punched in the new code they’d set for Noah’s door last night and burst into the quiet apartment. He saw Denala first, pacing wildly and whimpering with each step. Then Connor, on Noah’s couch with blood dripping down the side of his face. His eyes were open, but Zach could tell he wasn’t completely alert. There was no sign of Noah anywhere. For a split second, Zach was frozen in time, the images in front of him engraved upon his heart. His best friend injured and looking at Zach like something horrible had happened. The love of his life nowhere to be seen.
They’d taken him. Moretti had Noah.
No, Moretti was dead.
What was happening? His gaze flickered down the hall. What would he find when he opened his bedroom door?
“Check on Conn,” he ordered Wayne. “Noah,” he screamed as he ran down the hall toward the bedroom they’d shared for the past month.Please be okay. Please be okay. The room was empty, only Noah’s sweet scent remaining. He checked the bathroom, even idiotically checked outside on the balcony. Nothing. Noah was gone.
He tore back down the hall to find Wayne putting pressure on Conn’s head wound with a white towel already bathed in crimson, the two of them speaking softly to each other. As soon as Zach saw Connor was all right, fury bubbled up inside him. Yes, he wanted his friend to be all right, but now that he was, he was going to kill him for not protecting Noah.
“Where. Is. Noah?” he roared. “Where is he, Conn? You were supposed to be protecting him. Where in the fuck is he?”
Wayne frowned in Zach’s direction. “Tone it down, Doc. Connor’s taken a pretty nasty blow to the head.” When he turned back to Connor, he whispered, “It’s okay, Connor. None of this is your fault.”
Connor looked to Zach and said, “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know…why…”
“You don’t know why what, Conn? You don’t know why you let somebody into the apartment and now Noah’s gone? You don’t know if he was alive or injured when they took him? You don’t know he’ll literally fall apart when they take him out of this building? You don’t know how you could’ve let me down when I asked you to protect the man I love? Which is it, Conn?” Zach wasn’t being fair. He just didn’t give a fuck—not with Noah missing.
“Hold up, Doc,” Wayne warned as he stood and put his body between Connor and Zach. “He’s injured. Back your shit down for a minute.” One of his hands massaged Connor’s shoulder and the other held the white towel in place against Connor’s head.
Zach ignored Wayne and yelled, “Where is he? Hell, Connor, Moretti killed himself in prison last night. Who came after Noah? Please tell me you saw something that will help us get him back.” The expression on Connor’s face ripped Zach’s heart out. “Please, Conn. Please!”
“I…I didn’t see anything, Zach,” Connor answered slowly. “I was watching the news, my cell started ringing, and then I got bashed on the side of the head.”
“How did they get in here? What happened? How could they just walk into a locked apartment? We changed the codes. Nobody should have been able to get inside.”
“Nobody came in here, Zach,” Connor whispered. “Noah hit me.”
Zach stood there, his mouth gaping open and his chest seizing up in pain.Noah hit Connor? Why would Noah hit Connor?
“You’re confused, Connor,” he finally said. “Noah wouldn’t hit you.” He looked around the empty apartment. Connor was mistaken. He had to be.
Noah’s gone.
To Connor, he said, “Tell me exactly what happened.” Connor had to tell him something…anything…that would help him get Noah back.
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