Page 62 of On The Run

“Hi, Daddy! Are you still in Wy-monin’?” I was torn between laughing at his mispronunciation and irritation that he even knew I was here. But I tried not to keep things from Gray, and I knew Laura wouldn’t have told him anything inappropriate.

“Yeah, I’m still in Wyoming.”

“Does that mean you haven’t found Aiden?” He sounded a little sad, and I didn’t think it would just be my mom and me with broken hearts if we didn’t get Aiden home.

“Not yet, buddy, but we will soon.”Fuck, please don’t let me be lying to my kid.

“And then both of you will be coming home?”

“That’s the plan, kiddo.”

“Ok, Daddy. That’s good. I miss you.”

God dammit, and here were these damn tears again. “I miss you too, Gray. I’ll be home soon, ok?”

“I know you will because you never break your promises. That’s how I know Aiden will be ok.”

The tears were flowing freely now, and I hoped Gray couldn’t hear how much his words were affecting me. I didn’t want to upset him.

“Well, I’m going to go. Aunt Jana is gonna push me so high on the swings that I reach the moon.”

I laughed through the tears. “Sounds good, bud. I love you, Gray.”

“Love you too, Dad. Here’s Aunt Laura. Bye!”

Gray’s voice was replaced by Laura’s. I could barely hear what she was saying and after another minute or two, I hung up. And like always, right when I needed him, Bronx was sitting next to me. A wave of guilt rushed through me.

“You can go, you know. I know you have to go back to work, and your cats, and—”

“Max?”

“Yeah?” I asked, afraid of what he was going to say. Even if I knew it was the right thing to let Bronx go home, I so desperately needed him here. So even as I said the words, I was holding my breath, desperately willing him to ignore me and stay.

“Shut the fuck up.”

I stared at him, incredulous. Of all the things I expected, that wasn’t it. “What?”

Bronx shook his head at me. He looked tired; we all did. His blond hair was pulled up in a man bun and his clothes were rumpled from all the traveling. “Just stop trying to force me away, Max. You always do that when you’re struggling. You did that with Gray, and you’re doing it now. It won’t work. I’m staying. And before you say anything about you being selfish, we all know you would do the same thing for me.”

I was touched. He was right. I would do the same thing, but still. Because I was a stubborn bastard, I tried again. “Yeah, but what about work? Your job is important.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “And it will still be there when I get back. I haven’t taken a vacation in years, so they owe me. Besides, I’m way too good at my job for them to fire me. Don’t worry about that stupid shit right now, alright?” He was holding his hand out to me, and I took it.

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

“Shut up,” he told me for the second time in less than a minute. What the fuck? “This isn’t something to thank me for.”

I didn’t have a chance to even consider a reply to that when Aspen jumped from his chair so fast, he knocked it to the ground. Bronx and I hopped to our feet, and Kai was in front of his lover before the chair even hit the ground.

“Sir, I found something! I-I think, anyway!”

I glanced at Bronx and then both of us went running over to where Aspen set himself up in the corner of the hotel suite. Sage followed us, and soon all four of us were hovering behind Aspen who was now standing over the hotel desk typing furiously. I didn’t miss the way his shoulders tensed as we closed in on him, but he kept going.

“Ok, so I’ve been searching grid by grid, trying to find some kind of life. For the most part, I’ve come up empty. There are a few campsites and some off-the-grid type campers and hikers here and there, but nothing unusual. Then I found this.” Aspen pulled up a satellite image of what looked like a giant, gated campground. There were cabins spread throughout the property but not much else. It was settled right in between the mountains and cut off from the rest of the world. Yet, there was still an electric fence that surrounded the entire thing.

“It used to be a home base for one of those anti-government, doomsday prepper groups.”

“So, a cult?” Sage asked dryly.

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