They weren’t the three little words I wanted more than anything to hear from him, but they still warmed me from the inside out. Maybe they’d be enough to tide me over when I started the next chapter in my life.
Maybe.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mav
It was late when I finally heard my phone vibrating on the nightstand next to the other bed in the room. The last thing I wanted to do was get up and answer it, but mostly because of the warm body that was pressed up against mine. At some point after we’d fallen asleep, Eli had rolled over and turned into me so that his face was pressed against my throat and his arm was wrapped around my waist. One of his legs was thrown over me, putting his dick precariously close to mine. But even though I was turned on, I was content to just lie there and feel his heart beating against mine and his slow, even breathing that meant he was finally finding some peace.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t ignore the phone, especially when it began vibrating again within a minute. It was well past midnight and although Eli and I had managed to get a good eight hours of rest, I knew we both needed more. But clearly the rest of the world didn’t give a shit.
I carefully untangled myself from Eli’s body and climbed out of bed, but not before I brushed a soft kiss over his temple. I left the lights off as I walked naked to the phone which started ringing again for the third time and my heart sped up when I saw Jace’s name come up on the Caller ID. There could be only one reason the man was calling me.
Eli’s stepdad.
“Hello?” I said softly as I began heading towards the bathroom so I wouldn’t wake Eli.
“It’s me. We have a problem.”
“Eli’s stepfather?” I asked as I searched out my pants on the bathroom floor and began pulling them on.
“No, Caleb.”
I stilled and said, “Did something happen to him in the hospital?”
Jace was quiet a moment before saying, “I got him out of there.”
“What?” I asked as I pulled up my pants and then sat down on the toilet.
“After I checked on him a couple days ago, I couldn’t get past the feeling that something was off. So I went back this morning to see him again. He was more lucid this time around and he begged me to help him. They had him tied down, Mav,” Jace said, the anger clear in his voice. “Ronan says you’re in South Dakota and you’re with his brother.”
“I am.”
“The kid’s pretty messed up. Can you get down here as soon as possible? There’s something you need to see.”
My body tensed up at that, but before I could ask Jace for details, I looked up to see Eli watching me from the doorway. “Where are you?” I asked.
“West Virginia. I’ll text you the information.”
“We’re on our way.”
I hung up the phone and stood up and flipped on the bathroom light.
“What is it?” Eli asked nervously and I couldn’t really blame him since the last time I’d taken a call like this, I’d ripped him to shreds with my cruel words.
“It’s Caleb.”
Eli stiffened even more and asked, “Is he okay?”
“Yeah, he’s with Jace. But Jace needs us to come down there. Can you get dressed and I’ll tell you what Jace told me on the way to the airport?”
Eli nodded and began scooping up our clothes. He handed me pieces of mine as I called the pilot to have the plane readied. I also called Ronan and told him the plan. I suspected he already knew what Jace wanted to show me, but with Eli in the room, I wasn’t prepared to ask him about it. We were on the road within ten minutes and stopped only long enough to grab some food from a 24-hour fast food place. I explained to Eli what little I knew about Jace getting Caleb out of the psychiatric hospital, but he didn’t say much.
The pilot and co-pilot were as professional as ever when we arrived at the airport and while it took a little longer to get through the security process since it was a major airport, we were airborne within a couple of hours of Jace’s call and dawn was just breaking over the horizon when we landed in West Virginia. Ronan had already gotten a car for us so we were on the road within minutes of touching down and I asked Eli to navigate to the motel using the GPS on my phone. I did it more to give him something to do because his anxiety seemed to be increasing the closer we got to our destination.
The place Jace had selected was deep in the Appalachian Mountains and the fact that it was so secluded had me even more worried. I remembered Ronan’s comment about how many of Jack Cortano’s former army buddies had hired themselves out as paid guns. I had my knife on me, but when we arrived at the motel, I grabbed my Glock from my bag and quickly reloaded the gun and stuck it in the waistband of my pants at my back. The motel was quiet and there was only one car parked in the lot. I knew it was Jace’s since it was right in front of the room number he’d texted us, but I still kept my eyes open as we approached it. The door opened even before we reached it and I quickly ushered Eli inside.