Page 17 of Euphoria

“Things changed when you started shacking up with Daddy Warbucks,” Luke said, laughing at his own humor. “I want mymoney, and then, I’ll decide what to do with you. For now, I plan on keeping my word, but that all depends on how you behave.” Hugh wanted to promise him that he’d be as good as gold, but Luke knew him well enough to know when he was lying. He was an awful liar, and he wanted to at least pretend to be on his best behavior.

“Where’s Jace?” Hugh asked, trying to change the topic. If it was just the two of them, he might be able to take Luke—if he could get him to untie his hands.

“He ran a quick errand,” Luke said, “but he’ll be back soon.” Luke quickly added that last part as though he could read Hugh’s mind. “Don’t try anything stupid,” Luke ordered. “Remember, I have a gun.”

“How could I forget?” Luke asked. “I still have the bruise on my side from where you shoved that thing while we were driving here.”

“Count yourself lucky that a bruise was all you got, Hugh,” Luke warned.

They could hear a vehicle pull up outside the back door to the building, and Luke smiled at Hugh. “Oh good, Jace is back, and we can get on with our plans for the day. Your boyfriend’s time is almost up.” Hugh didn’t have to ask him what he meant by that. He remembered Luke’s threats on the drive to the warehouse about sending him home in pieces.

Hugh shivered and Luke chuckled, “Yeah, you remember the plan.”

“How could I forget?” Hugh grumbled.

“I wonder what’s taking Jace so long to come in,” Luke said. “I’m starving and he’s bringing back lunch. If you behave, I’ll let you have my leftovers.”

“Generous of you,” Hugh grumbled. He watched as Luke crossed the concrete floor to open the back door for Jace. Instead of finding his skanky boyfriend on the other side, he found Crew and a few other cops waiting for him.

“Hands,” Crew shouted. “Show me your fucking hands.” Luke was at least smart enough to do as he was told. Crew turned Luke over to the cop standing behind him, “Read him his rights,” he ordered. He started working to free Hugh and asked if he was okay. He was more than okay, but telling him that past the lump in his throat was damn near impossible.

“Was he the only one here with you?” Crew asked.

“No,” Hugh said, “his boyfriend, Jace was here too, but he went out to get lunch.”

“Any idea when he’ll be back?” Crew asked.

“No, but Luke thought that you guys were him. I’m guessing he’ll show up any minute now,” Hugh said. He stood from the chair that he had been bound to and stretched. “God, it feels good to stand up and move around.”

Luke laughed as they put handcuffs on him and started reading him his rights. “This isn’t over, Hugh,” he taunted. “Jace is smart enough to figure out what happened when he sees all these cop cars. He won’t come back here and sooner or later, he’ll find you.”

“Let him,” Crew shouted back at Luke. “I’ll be waiting for your boyfriend to come after Hugh, but I might not be so gentle with him as I was you, asshole.” Luke’s smile faded at Crew’s threat and Hugh nodded his thanks to the big guy.

The other officers led Luke out of the warehouse and Crew called over his walkie to send in the guys. Hugh wasn’t sure what he meant by that until Zane and Colter walked through the backdoor. Colter pulled him into his arms and Hugh felt safe for the first time in a week.

“I’m so sorry that this happened to you,” Colter breathed.

“No, I’m the one who is sorry. Luke is my ex and he’s the one who kidnapped me and tried to get you to send him two million dollars. I brought this mess to your doorstep and I’m so sorry, Colter.”

“How about if we forget who is to blame, babe?” Colter asked. “And, I would have paid two million and so much more to get you back. I thought that I lost you, Hugh.”

“I know,” Hugh breathed. “I thought that I’d never see you again and that hurt more than anything Luke and Jace planned to do to me.” Colter kissed his forehead and tugged him closer. They stood like that for what felt like an eternity until Crew cleared his throat.

“How about Zane and I give you two a few minutes?” he asked. “I need to put an APB out on Jace. Do you know what kind of car he was driving?”

There was no way that Hugh could forget the silver SUV that Luke had forced him into at gunpoint. “Yeah, it was a silver Honda CRV. It was missing a mirror on the passenger side, but that’s all I can remember.”

“Actually, that’s a huge help,” Crew said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Don’t take too long guys. We’ll need to take Hugh down to the station to give us his side of the story, but then, you both will be able to go home.”

“What about Luke?” Colter asked.

“He’s not going home for a long time,” Crew promised. “And I don’t want you to worry about his asshole boyfriend coming after you, Hugh. We’ll put a couple of guys outside of your place to keep an eye on both of you. If he shows up in town, we’ll get him.”

“Thanks, man,” Hugh said. “I appreciate you doing that and well, you know, showing up to save my life. I don’t think that Luke was going to live up to the promise that he made Colter and let me go after he got his money.”

“Yeah, I didn’t believe him for one-second either,” Colter said. “That’s why I called Zane and Crew. I knew that you wouldn’t go with Luke without him forcing you to.”

“I hoped that you would figure that out,” Hugh said.

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