Page 71 of The Bait

Asher banged his head on the wall, crying. He screamed in frustration, in fear.

“Asher?”

Asher froze.

He wasn’t in here alone.

“Is that you?”

Oh my god.

“Yunho?”

Yunho sobbed out a cry. “I told you not to come. Why did you come?”

“Where are you? I can’t see you,” Asher said. “I have a hood over my head. They have Harry.”

“I have a hood too, and my hands are tied,” Yunho said, crying. “They have Lucas too. I hear him scream every so often. It kills me, Asher. I’m so sorry.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

“I’m in the corner, opposite the door,” Yunho said, sniffling. “I’ve seen this room. It’s four metres by four metres. There’s a chair they use to the right.”

Asher got to his knees and crawled over. It was so dark, he could see nothing at all, but he crawled until he hit the wall, then he edged toward Yunho’s breathing.

Yunho yelped when Asher’s knee touched him and he jerked back, crying some more. Asher turned so his back was to the wall and he slid down next to Yunho, and Yunho leaned into him, wracked with sobs and tears, his body shaking and trembling. “Asher, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I tried to tell you not to come. Ojima, ojima, Asher. You shouldn’t have come.”

Asher let him lean into him; the best embrace they could manage. “I came for answers. And you better startwith the truth, because so help me fucking god, they have Harry right now. They stabbed him, and they were beating him. I don’t know if he’s alive or if he’s dying on the ground out there,” Asher said, unable to stop the tears. “Because I can’t hear him anymore, Yunho. Fucking hell.” Asher squinted his eyes shut, even though he was completely blinded by the hood. The silence was worse than the screaming. “I told him to leave. To not come with me, but he refused to leave me.”

“Of course he did. He loves you,” Yunho said, sniffling and crying. He leaned in even closer to Asher, and he was trembling so much, Asher’s anger at him dissipated.

“How are you?” his voice a murmur.

Yunho sucked back a ragged breath. “Doesn’t matter. I’m so sorry, Asher.”

“You need to tell me everything.”

“It’s Vadik Istomin,” Yunho said. “He’s behind this.”

“I know. What does he want?”

“I found something I wasn’t supposed to find. I’m so sorry,” Yunho said, almost wailing now, shaking, trembling. “I’ve done things, Asher. And it brought you here. And Harry, and Lucas. My god, I’m so sorry.”

Lucas.

“Lucas,” Asher murmured. God, how did he tell him about Lucas. That maybe the man he loved wasn’t who he said he was.

Hell, maybe Lucas was the reason they were here.

“I haven’t seen him since we were taken,” Yunho sobbed. “I’ve heard him, his screams... what they keep doing to him.”

Fucking hell.

“I don’t know how long it’s been.” Yunho’s whole body tremored. “How many days... It’s been dark. Thehood.” He sucked back a ragged breath. “The darkness helps,” he whispered. “If I can’t see, it helps if I can’t see.”

His agoraphobia, his anxiety.

God, he was shaking so hard Asher had to wonder how tightly strung his entire body was, how exhausted.

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