Page 10 of Chasing After You (Twisted Desires #3)

Josh

I had driven straight to Oliver’s with the letter on my lap, needing his opinion on it and what it meant.

I found him in the backyard, just lying on his back in the grass, staring up at the sky above.

“Oliver?” I asked as I approached, not wanting to sneak up on him. “Hey?”

He took a deep breath in and rolled his head to the side to see me. “Hey,” he replied, his voice soft.

“What are you doing out here? You okay?” I lowered myself to the ground beside him.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He didn’t sound like he was.

“Are you sure?”

He gave me a sad, small smile. “Yeah, I just needed some quiet. It’s the anniversary of my grandma’s death.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea that was today,” I apologized.

Oliver shook his head gently, eyes returning to the open sky above us.

“It’s okay. I don’t expect people to remember something like that.

It’s just a bit hard to deal with when my partners don’t understand grief.

I don’t hold it against them, it’s not their fault that their brains are wired differently.

But that still doesn’t make it any easier. ”

I rested my hands on my knees, unsure of what to say. The silence stretched for a few seconds before Oliver spoke again.

“She used to say the sky always looked different when someone you loved wasn’t under it anymore.

” He gave a soft, hollow laugh. “I used to think it was poetic. Now I just think it’s true.

And it’s not even like… I don’t know, Josh.

I’m not sure how to feel. Selling the shop really did help.

Made it feel like that part of her was finally buried, you know?

And it’s not like I’m out here sobbing, I’ve been past that for a long time now, but I don’t know if the grief will ever actually go away.

It doesn’t hurt the same anymore, but it just feels…

ugh, I don’t know. Sometimes I think life would be easier as a psychopath. ”

“Maybe.”

He sighed, “Sorry.”

I frowned. “Don’t apologize. There’s nothing wrong with being sad, or grieving, or feeling. I wouldn’t like it very much if you were a psychopath anyway,” I tried to joke.

“Yeah, me neither,” he laughed. “Well, how was your morning, then? Any work drama? Gossip? Entertain me, please.”

I swallowed, trying to breathe past the sudden pressure in my throat. “I brought something with me. Something I… need to talk to you about.” I hesitated, then pulled the folded letter from my pocket and held it out.

Oliver turned his head again, studying it with tired yet curious eyes. “What’s that?”

“It’s from Dorian,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

His brows lifted slightly. “ Dorian? As in—”

“As in him .” I nodded. “He left it at the cafe for me to find.”

Oliver sat up carefully, as if the weight of his emotions had settled into his bones, anchoring him to the ground.

He accepted the letter and unfolded it, eyes scanning the lines.

I watched his expression shift—brows furrowing, lips pressing into a tight line.

When he finished, he lowered it to his lap and looked over at me.

“Wow,” he said quietly. “How do you feel about this?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I don’t know what to do.

I don’t even know how I feel. I had an anxiety attack from just seeing it on the counter.

Kellie was there, thankfully, so I took it out to my car to read.

I’m confused by it. I don’t know if he’s serious or not, or if this is part of his revenge. I don’t know what to do, man.”

He nodded slowly. “That’s hard.”

I dropped my gaze to the grass. “He wants to be a family again? Do you think that maybe… maybe he does want that? I want to believe it. I do. But I’m sorta terrified that if I take it seriously, he’ll laugh in my face and say how stupid I am for thinking he missed me. I don’t think I could handle that.”

“I don’t think you’ll know for sure what he means unless you talk to him. But is that something you even want to try?” Oliver asked patiently.

I sighed wistfully, “Part of me does. Of course, I want to talk to him. I’ve never stopped wondering about him.

But I’m so damn scared of what it’ll feel like to see him.

Of what I might still feel. Of what he’ll see when he looks at me.

Just… everything . What if he really does hate me? What if he tries to hurt me?”

Oliver was quiet for a moment, a contemplative look on his face, before reaching over and resting a hand on my arm.

“Loss does weird things to people. Sometimes, we lose people by accident. Sometimes we choose to let them go because we’re scared.

But Josh…” His voice softened. “Sometimes people come back, and you have to find a way forward. Either with or without them.”

I looked at him, eyes burning. “What am I supposed to do?”

“I can’t answer that for you,” he said. “But whatever happens, I’ll be there for you, okay? If you need someone to be with you when you talk to him, I can do that. You would for me.”

I nodded, swallowing back the wave of emotion swelling in my throat.

“Thanks, Ollie.”

He smiled faintly. “Anytime. So, did he leave any contact information or anything?”

My brows furrowed as I answered, “No, just this letter. But he obviously knows where I work. I get the feeling he knows a lot about me, and I know nothing about him. I don’t even know if I’d recognize him. It’s been so long, and he was just starting puberty when I left.”

“Hmm,” Oliver hummed. “Let’s go inside and talk to my guys. Maybe they can help.” He began to stand, brushing off a few blades of grass that had stuck on his butt.

I stood as well and followed Oliver toward the house, heart pounding. Dorian’s name echoed in my head. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hayes and Hudson.

The kitchen was warm and sunlit when we entered, the smell of coffee still lingering in the air. Hayes was perched on a stool at the island, scrolling on his laptop with a frown, while Hudson leaned against the counter, eating a cold slice of leftover cheese pizza.

That may have been the most psychopathic thing I’d seen him do.

Oliver cleared his throat. “Hi.”

Both twins looked up in sync, like they’d been waiting for this.

“Well, hello there, pup and pup’s friend,” Hudson drawled, beckoning Oliver over to him with an outstretched hand. Oliver walked over without a thought, seemingly melting into his boyfriend’s embrace.

“Master,” he whispered, a blush across his face.

I acted like I didn’t hear him, rocking back on my heels.

I had no issue with their kink, but it was still awkward when Hayes and Hudson wanted Oliver to submit to them in front of me.

I knew it was just them asserting their claim over him, but it was still weird. “Josh needs some help, please.”

Hayes’s gaze rose from his laptop. “You know the price, pet.”

Oliver stammered, his face beet red, “Y-yes, I know.”

Hayes’s lip twitched. “Just making sure.” He looked over at me with a satisfied smile. “Well, then. How can we be of assistance?”

Hudson made direct eye contact with me as he took Oliver’s lips in a passionate kiss.

I averted my gaze and reached into my jacket pocket, setting the letter on the kitchen counter between us.

Hayes raised an eyebrow. “Is that from who I think it’s from?”

I hesitated. “You knew?”

The twins exchanged a glance. It was Hudson who answered. “We saw him on the cameras.”

I froze. “Wait… what?”

“Yeah, he’s been around the house,” Hayes added. “A few times. And Wild Roast’s cameras picked him up early in the morning, leaving that. ” He nodded towards the paper.

My blood ran cold and hot at the same time. “So he’s been watching me? And you guys just didn’t think it was important to tell me?”

“He has,” Hayes said calmly, but not unkindly. “He didn’t do anything aggressive. If anything, he looked… nervous.”

Oliver crossed his arms. “You could’ve at least told me,” he huffed.

“We were trying to gather more information first,” Hudson said. “Didn’t want to spook you.” He shrugged.

Hayes turned his laptop around. “We did some digging, figuring you’d come to us about the letter. This is what we found.”

A professional headshot filled the screen.

Older, but still hauntingly beautiful. His eyes were darker than I remembered, harder, but unmistakable.

I stepped closer, breath catching. I swallowed as Hayes then clicked to what appeared to be a screenshot of Dorian from the security cameras.

He was taller, stronger. He wasn’t a boy anymore, but a man.

His stunning black hair fell just below his shoulders.

“He took full legal ownership of the estate Victoria Halbrooke tried to lock down after Daniel Halbrooke’s death.

Turns out, he’s sort of a prodigy—investment-wise.

Quiet, low-key, but honestly, kind of brilliant.

Made his money multiply by the millions within a few years.

He’s already got a firm under his name. Controls assets across multiple countries. ”

I stared at the photo. “So, he’s… rich? I guess I’m not that surprised, given his parents.”

“Not just rich,” Hudson said. “Dangerously rich. But clean. Nothing illegal that we can pin, no paper trail that suggests he’s even interested in criminal activity. But he has access. Resources. Power.”

“And he used those resources to find me,” I said quietly. I shook my head slowly. “Why? Why now? Why does he want to find me when he has all of that? I’m nothing.”

Hayes leaned forward. “Would you like my opinion?”

“I—Sure, yes.”

“He’s obsessed. He won’t stop until he has what he wants, which is you.”

“I don’t understand why he’d want me that badly,” I mumbled. “He’s successful, he’s so smart, so perfect. I’m… me. I have nothing to offer him.”

Hudson deadpanned, “I agree.”

Oliver smacked his arm, gasping. “Don’t be rude! Maybe Dorian misses his brother.”