Page 95 of Cohesion

“I don’t know anything,” Rohan said desperately. “I keep my head down. I don’t make waves. I don’t—I just try to survive.”

Dizziness swamped Quinn. What were they going to do now? Where did they go next? He needed to contact Jericho, find out what he knew, what Hunter was doing.

“But I can find out,” Rohan continued. Quinn’s heart stuttered. “I can—Just give me a day. One night. Just give me—I can find out. I can ask questions. I’ll help. Please, I can help.”

Quinn wanted to scream,We don’t have a day,but he couldn’t ask for more than what Rohan was offering. As much as he wanted information to drop into their laps right that second so that they could find Sebastian and get him back within thehour, he knew how this went. He’d worked plenty of cases where he’d had to explain patiently to family members that it wasn’t as simple as they seemed to think. That things took time, took planning, coordination, and so much legwork that in this instance, Quinn might go crazy with it. It hadn’t even been an hour since he’d been in that parking lot, looking at the remnants of the last place Sebastian had been seen, and he didn’t know how much more he could take.

Will shifted, not letting go of Rohan’s hand while he leaned over—he’d at least picked the right hand and wasn’t crossing over himself—and slid a hand under Quinn’s jacket.

Rohan’s eyes bulged, like he was imagining Will was about to strip Quinn and get busy right in front of him. Will’s hand moved lower, toward Quinn’s dick, and now Quinn was wondering the same thing. What was he doing?

Until Will pulled out one of Quinn’s business cards. “Pen?” he asked innocently.

Quinn sighed and easily found one in the pocket stitched into the lining of his jacket. He produced it with a raised eyebrow. He could haveaskedfor the business card too.

“Thanks.” Will scribbled three numbers on it. “These are our personal numbers. Mine, Peyton’s, and Quinn’s. I don’t have Jericho’s memorised yet.”

Quinn took the pen and added it at the bottom.

“Who are Peyton and Jericho?”

“Our other partners,” Will said, either not noticing the way that Rohan’s eyes widened even further or not caring. “If one of us doesn’t pick up, call the other one. Keep trying until you get one of us. We’ll let the front office know that you’re to be given as many phone calls as you need, whenever you ask for them. Okay?”

“O-okay.” Rohan licked his lips. “Are you—you’re going to find him?”

“Yes. And we’ll stop anyone who gets in our way,” Will said. He gave Rohan’s hand one last squeeze and then stood, his chair screeching as it pushed backward. Quinn followed suit, off-kilter. He should have been the one leading this, saying all of those words, giving all of their phone numbers. He couldn’t continue being this useless. Sebastian needed him to be better than this.

“Thank you,” Quinn said sincerely. “Anything that you can find out, no matter how small or insignificant you think it is, might be what we need.”

Rohan nodded shakily. “I’ll do everything I can.”

Quinn couldn’t stay in here. He couldn’t breathe. He needed air.

What he really needed was Sebastian. Standing in front of him. Eyes twinkling with that cocky grin and a smartass remark about anything and everything. Quinn needed to hold him, breathe in his familiar scent.

He let out a ragged exhale and stumbled through the door to the hallway, hoping to fuck that he was going in the right direction to outside because he had no idea where his feet were taking him.

He blinked at the glare of the sun as they pushed through the front doors. Not quite as bad as walking right out of a cinema, but it was close. It took him a second to adjust.

Will put a hand on the small of Quinn’s back and guided him forward across the parking lot. The touch grounded him in a way he desperately needed. He reached back and clutched it. Will’s steady presence was a lifesaver, stopping his heart from completely stopping and falling out of his chest.

Jericho and Peyton waited outside beside Jericho’s SUV, speaking quietly to one another. The dark cloud hanging over their heads wasn’t encouraging. Quinn tripped over nothing, and Will steadied him.

Something had happened. Quinn was almost too afraid to speak. Didn’t want to know what might have happened while they were in there. What more could possibly go wrong today?

The first words that Jericho spoke caused the crack in Quinn’s heart to fracture into a tiny million pieces.

“They burned Seb’s house down.”

Chapter Thirteen

The fire department managedto save parts of the house but not enough to really call it a house anymore. The flames had burned too hot, too quick, and the heat of it was still evident even from the distance that Jericho and Quinn were keeping.

Whoever had set it alight had known no one was in the house. It hadn’t been to kill anyone. It had been a message, or a distraction. Both, while they nabbed their prize. Just like the attack on Will had been. Calculated moves to sow chaos and kidnap Sebastian and Spencer amongst it.

Jericho frowned, leaning back against his closed car door, with Quinn’s shoulders pressed against his. He made sure that Peyton and Will, speaking to the firefighters, were in his sights. No one would be taking anyone else from him.

“If I’d left Persephone here…” Quinn trailed off.

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