Page 29 of Four Times Saved

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," Tyler broke the silence.

I looked up to find that the rest of the guys had all retired. Great, so I was the one left to have a conversation when my tongue was too heavy to speak.

"Yeah," I managed. "Thanks for trying." I cracked open another beer.

Tyler cleared his throat. "It's not over, you know. I'm still here if you need me, and I'll keep an ear out."

"Yeah." Again, that's all I managed.

"I better get going." He hesitated, but I tipped my beer toward him, sending him off.

I understood he was trying to be a friend. After all, my best friends were going through the same thing. That's what happens when you're all desperately in love with the same woman and she's been taken away from you, in danger and there's nothing you can do about it. Helpless together. How the hell were we going to get each other through this?

The door closed and the silence and darkness wrapped around me. His absence triggered regret for sending him away. Now I was left with nothing but the demons in my head. Must be what Lily was going through, except she had nothing to numb the pain with.

I'm not a praying man, but I bowed my head in prayer. It was about the only thing I had left. Still, I wasn't sure if prayers would help someone like me. I didn't know if I considered myself a good person, considering the events of the day. But I was desperate.

Besides, the prayer wasn't about me. It was for Lily and her safety. Surely, a prayer from a 'bad man' was still worth listening to. Unconvinced, I downed my last beer for the night. With nothing left to do, I took myself upstairs, deciding on a shower. I didn't know why since I didn't have the motivation to get clean. Instead, the floor of the shower became a lapidation ground; the heavy flow of water pelted holes into the top of my head.

Outside the bathroom, Eric shouted. "Guys!"

I jumped up, almost slipping and crashing into glass and tile, as I clawed at hope for some good news. Rushing out of the bathroom with the towel around my hips, I met with the rest of the guys in the hallway. Eric's eyes were filled with tears.

"My mom and dad are on the news," he choked. "They've managed to convince the media to make this a priority and they've launched a search and rescue mission." He sobbed. "They've even forced the police into action. That's something, right?"

"Something? That's more than we've had for the past couple days." My body shook and tears bubbled out of me.

We weren't the only ones fighting to find Lily, and I couldn't express how much weight that lifted. Overwhelmed, I pulled him into a hug and we sobbed like big baby girls on each other's shoulders.

Ethan and Matt hugged each other. We all howled in the hallway as if we were sending out a call to our pack to find Lily and bring her home. Pfft. As if it were as alpha as that. We gathered ourselves because our masculinity wouldn't allow us to collapse with vulnerability for too long; subconsciousness crept its ass in and pulled us away from the one moment of actual solace we'd had since Lily had been gone. "I know you're worried about your parents' mental health. How are you doing?" Matt grunted and placed his hand on Eric's shoulder.

"I don't know how to feel. I'm relieved that Lily has a literal army out there looking for her. And I'm terrified my parents are putting their lives at risk by putting their faces out there to lead this. Even if they aren't on the actual site." Eric rubbed his forehead; weight gathered on his shoulders and pulled them down. "I can't lose Lily forever. I can't lose my parents either. What if this triggers them? They're too involved. I only hoped they'd pass the information on to their colleagues."

"Your parents want to help. Trust that they have a team of supporters around them who will help keep their mental health in check." I attempted to assure him even though I couldn't know that. What else was I supposed to say? I wanted Lily home and this was our only lead.

"Yeah." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I need to call them." His hands trembled and he stalked away from us.

"We're right here. As a matter of fact, put it on speaker," Ethan called after him.

Eric paused, looked at us, and hurried into his room to speak to them in private. We waited outside the door. This was a shitty situation for everyone involved, except for the kidnappers. They were loving this. But their reign was about to come to an end. I was trusting this feeling in my gut, even if I had been disappointed over and over again in the past couple of days.

Eric's bedroom door creaked open. His eyes were red, but his phone was now on speaker. His fidgeting gaze told us he was desperate for relief. I couldn't imagine the situation he was in. Losing Lily was bad enough. We didn't have the added burden of knowing that our parents could be putting themselves at risk.

"Hey Mr. & Mrs. Fletcher!" Ethan injected chipperness in his voice. "How are you doing?"

"We've already told Eric how we're doing. Don't tell me you're all going to be worry-horses over us as well?" Mrs. Fletcher said.

"What's a worry-horse?" Ethan asked.

She didn't get to answer as Mr. Fletcher interjected. Although I'm sure she would have given us one of her anecdotes about a horse that used to worry, or in the worst-case scenario, she'd recount times of war. We kept forgetting how ill they both were. This was all so recent. My heart bled for Eric.

"Look, the nurse agreed to let us do this if we were honest with our military friends. As much as it pains me to be bossed around by someone other than my wife..." Mr. Fletcher said.

"Hey!" Mrs. Fletcher remarked.

Eric cracked a smile through the storm on his face. "I'm happy you guys are in the same room again," he commented.

"Yes, well, our military friends only agreed to help us if we had a team of doctors to guide us through this and if we agreed to take our medications. I said, 'all this and we're not even front and center?' They said, 'Yes. And that's final.' So, here we are. Guess all this psychiatry crap and the meds help after all," Mr. Fletcher resigned.

---