Page 101 of Cohesion

It took him a minute too long to pull himself together and dial the first number. He put it in wrong twice before finally getting it down right.

The ringing went on forever, and Quinn felt dizzy and sick all at once. He didn’t know who he’d dialled, or who would pick up.

Please be Charlotte.Eli had still been a kid when Quinn had left. He didn’t know who he was as an adult, didn’t know what he would say, or how he would say it that would make anysense. Charlotte was more familiar to him, and he just needed something,anything,that wasn’t going to throw him back on his ass again.

“Hello?”

Relief forced Quinn to sit heavily on a nearby chair before he fell. Thank fuck for small mercies. “Charlotte. It’s—it’s Quinn.”

“Quinn? As in Detective Quinn Hughes, love of my brother’s life, and breaker of hearts?”

Quinn pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Maybe Charlotte hadn’t been the right choice. “The very same.”

“Huh. Never thought I’d hear your voice again.”

Neither had Quinn. He hadn’t thought much about Sebastian’s family in the last few weeks. He’d been so focused on the joy that having Sebastian back with him had been. A dream come true. It would turn into a nightmare if he couldn’t make this right. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”

A loaded, pregnant pause. “No,” she said, her voice faltering. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to just come back into my life after eight years ofnothingand give me some fucked-up bad news about my brother. No.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh my god,” she breathed out, voice trembling. “Is he—?”

Quinn gripped the phone tighter, nostrils flaring as he tried to fight back the heat behind his eyes. “No. We don’t—no.”Fuck. “He was kidnapped. We’re looking for him, but we don’t know if the people who took him will be coming for you, too, and we need to take steps to keep you, and Eli, safe.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Q. What thefuckis going on? What has he gotten involved in?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Of course it is. What about Mum?”

Quinn ran a hand down his mouth and beard. “We have to be cautious and assume everyone.” It didn’t surprise himthat Sebastian was still hiding his volatile relationship with his mother from his siblings. Jasmine was too good at hiding that side of herself, and Eli and Charlotte had never seen who she really was. No, that honour had always been Sebastian’s.

Quinn honestly didn’t give a care in the world to the woman who had made Sebastian’s childhood a living hell. She could rot for all that he cared. Unfortunately, he knew that Sebastian still cared. Cutting those ties completely, even when it was the best thing to do, wasn’t always as simple as just doing it.

Quinn would do anything for Sebastian, including keeping his mother safe.

“I’ll talk to Eli. He’s… not your biggest fan, and I doubt you need that right now.”

Oh.

Quinn rubbed his chest. It made a hollow kind of sense, even if it hurt. Eli had been twelve when Quinn had last seen him. Adult relationships—and the fallout—had a way of spilling across in ways they couldn’t anticipate. Eli had followed Quinn around like a lamb, and then in a blink of an eye, he’d been gone. Eli wouldn’t have understood. Logical that his anger had locked onto the person who wasn’t there and not the big brother he adored.

“We’re sending some men, special forces soldiers, to come and guard you. Don’t let them in until they show you ID and tell you a specific word that I’ll text to you. Once you see it, delete it.” He wouldn’t know it until he spoke to Peyton.

“You’re scaring me, Quinn.”

“I’m sorry. If—I need you all to be safe for him.” If the worst happened, Quinn would do everything in his power to make sure that the two people that Sebastian cared about more than life itself were kept safe and secure. Thattheirlives continued.

“There’s no ‘if,’ Quinn Lewis Hughes. You find my brother, and you bring him home. And you take down every fucker that tries to hurt him,” she said through gritted teeth.

He’d missed her. She’d gotten so much of Sebastian: his drive, his tenaciousness, and his spirit. Sebastian had raised her and Eli, and the best parts of him had seeped into them both.

“I will,” he promised. “Charlie, look, you might see something on the news, about Seb’s home burning down. No one was hurt, I promise. Try not to stress or think too hard about it. I promise that we’re doing everything that we can to get him back.”

“His house…” Charlotte let out a sigh. “Okay.” Another pause. “He didn’t tell me that he was with you again.”

“It’s… it hasn’t been long. It was unexpected, and we were being careful. If we were going to just repeat the past, we didn’t want anyone else in the firing line. Not again. And it’s… it’s not just us; there are three other men, and it’s complicated.”

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