Page 22 of Agony

“You left the house I put you in.”

“I know,” Mouse whispered, ducking his head.

He spotted the bruises on the boy’s face and swallowed back words demanding to know what the hell Mouse had been up to.

Had Blue done that to his face?

“How’s Beck?” he softly asked.

Like him, Mouse wasn’t one for sharing, so he had to warm the younger man up.

Mouse hurriedly reached for the straw in his empty glass and shoved it up and down into the leftover ice. “He’s good.”

The hesitancy in Mouse’s voice silently told him Beck was far from good.

Beck and Mouse were a matched pair and he’d never seen one without the other. Was Beck hiding in the back? Did they have enough to eat?

He made a mental note to order some food when the bartender came back. They always had some finger food in this place.

“Where have you two been hiding? I’ve been searching for both of you since you left the house.”

The place hadn’t been a prize, but it had been shelter in an otherwise dismal world.

Surprise swept through Mouse’s baby blue eyes when he glanced over at him.

“You have?” Blink, blink.

Fisher snorted softly. “Yeah, imagine that. You know I care.” That was his downfall with Mouse and Beck. He was determined to rescue them both and any other of Solomon’s lost boys.

He’d never forget that Blue also needed to be taken down.

And Fisher was going to be the one to do it.

Just for old time’s sake.

Mouse leaned against him and Fisher wrapped a firm arm around the teenager’s shoulder, silently offering comfort. He realized that this time was a hell of a lot easier than last time and it was all due to the time he’d spent with Justice.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered, trying to keep the sting from his eyes.

Crying never did a bit of fucking good. Only cold methodical thinking got shit done.

He smiled slightly and gazed down into Mouse’s upturned face.

Tears sprang into the boy’s eyes so quickly and Fisher frowned.

“I’m sorry, Fish,” Mouse’s voice wobbled.

“What? Sorry?” The hair on Fisher’s neck stood.

And time seemed to stop as if in a dream. He heard every creak of the floor, every clink of glasses, the laughter, and the air morphed around him.

Dread punched into the pit of his stomach.

The next instant was followed by sheer fucking tortured disbelief.

Snick.

Snick.

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