Chapter Thirteen
Twenty-eight hours later, the entire team was exhausted. They took longer shifts, re-interviewed people who knew Courtney, and drilled deeper into her computer to recover and do a second pass through old emails, texts, contacts, and anything else that might be useful.
They scoured her calendars again and dug through her apartment looking for anything they might have missed the first go-round. Old journals, old ledger pages, even old Girl Scout calendars tossed in the back of a closet. Anything that might have a hint as to who they were chasing. They found little; why would they? The team had picked over her place with a magnifying glass the first time they’d gone through.
They worked hard and fast, but as the hours rolled by, the knot in Ollie’s gut tightened. They still weren’t making enough progress, and the time for the ransom drop was coming up. Once they made that drop, they lost control of the situation.
The kidnapper might release her. Or he might just take the money and run, leaving Courtney trapped in whatever hellhole he was keeping her locked up in. They’d follow the money, of course—they’d do everything imaginable to capture the son-of-a-bitch—but plans could go wrong. Bad guys sometimes won.
And far too often, kidnap victims were never recovered.
Not today. Ollie took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm and focused. Wherever Courtney was, she was still alive, and Ollie was determined that she’d stay that way.
“Hey,” Trevor said, coming up behind Ollie. He slipped his arms around Ollie’s waist, and Ollie leaned back, grateful for both the touch and the emotional support. “You hanging in there?”
“I’m trying to. But the clock keeps ticking down.”
“I know,” Trev said. “We all do. But we’re working both ends. Tracking down the bastard who took her, and specing out the mission surrounding the actual drop. If it comes down to it, we’ll apprehend him then. Either way, we’ll find her. We’ll get her back, Ollie. And we’ll get her back safe.”
Ollie damn sure hoped so, but with each second that passed, the dark cloud of fear that had surrounded him since he learned about the kidnapping pressed in tighter and tighter until it was close to smothering him.
He caught Denny’s eye across the room, where she was jamming at the keyboard, once again parsing through the security footage second by second for any hint as to who might have taken Courtney.
Slowly, she shook her head. Nothing.
Ollie closed his eyes, allowing himself one more moment of fear before forcing his mind to focus again. Fear wouldn’t help her. Nothing but intellect and action could help her now, and he wasn’t going to fail on either count.
“Go over everything again,” he said. “We’re missing something. This guy is part of her life, or he was. There must be some sort of record of him.” He looked around the room to see if anybody was going to argue. Thankfully, nobody did. “And each of you need to grab an hour of downtime.” He needed them fresh. Their minds clicking, putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
“Ollie’s right,” Trevor said, then pointed to Mario, Quince, and Liam. “You three go grab an hour.”
“You, too,” Ollie said. “You skipped your last break.”
Trevor hesitated.
“Go,” Ollie insisted. “You’re on the strike team, you need to be fresh.”
“So do you.”
Ollie shook his head, “My only job is carrying the money.”
“Being a walking, talking target is what you mean.”
“It is what it is.”
“Ollie...”
“Go. I’m going to work with Denny.”
Trevor frowned, but nodded. “One hour. Then I’m back, and it’s your turn.”
“Yes, sir,” Ollie said with a salute that had Trevor rolling his eyes.
He wished he could go crash with Trevor now, but that was just selfishness. He’d be more help to Denny, and they both needed actual sleep.
The thought made him smile. They were together now—truly together, with the whole world knowing. Or as much of the world that was currently bunking at Chez Stark. Which, as far as Ollie was concerned, was pretty much everyone.
Except for his mom and dad and Courtney, the people under this roof made up his entire world. They were there for him, which meant they were there for Courtney.
They were a team. All of them.
And that felt pretty damn nice.
* * * *
“So what do you think?” Ollie asked, his arm outstretched to show off his house, now fully refurbished.
“It’s incredible. You did an amazing job.”
“We did,” Ollie said, moving closer to take Trevor’s hands. “I’m glad you’re moving in.”
Trevor’s pulse picked up its tempo. “Yeah. Me, too.”
“Come on,” Ollie said, releasing Trevor’s hands and cocking his head. “Let me show you where you’re sleeping.”
“Sleeping…?”
“Or not sleeping.” Ollie’s eyes glinted with amusement. “I have plans for you.”
“Oh, yeah?” Trevor could feel his whole body heating up, anticipation rising.
“Most definitely.” Ollie climbed onto the bed, then straddled Trevor before moving higher and higher until his lips brushed Trevor’s own. “So many plans.”
“Tell me,” Trevor demanded, barely able to breathe, his fingers digging into the sheets, desperate for this man’s words, his touch, his cock.
“I’m going to kiss you,” Ollie said. “I’m going to whisper into your ear how much I want you. How much I crave the feel of your skin against mine. How deep I want to kiss you. How desperate I am for the taste of your cock. And most of all, how much I want you to fuck me. To own me.”
“Yes.” It was the only word he could manage through the haze of lust that was surrounding him. “Ollie, oh, god, yes.”
“I want to feel you explode inside of me. I want you to whisper that you love me. That you need me. That I’m everything to you. And I’ll whisper it all back to you, too. Every word. Every emotion. Every decadent touch that you think means everything. You’ll have them all. For then.”
“For then?” He tried to sit up, but Ollie’s weight on his chest kept him flat on his back. Panic bubbled up, but he told himself to breath. “What do you mean, ‘for then.’”
“Just like it sounds,” Ollie said, easing back so that he was sitting upright, straddling Trevor’s waist. “You’ll have it for then. Maybe a little longer.” He reached out and tapped Trevor’s nose. “But you can’t be greedy, babe. You can’t expect me to stay. There are other fish in the sea. Other men in the world.”
He leaned forward, his hands stroking Trevor’s bare chest, then down to circle his cock. “Other men with hard abs and hard cocks. Women, too. Soft in all the right places. Do you think I want to miss out? Do you think I’m ready to settle? Now, when I’ve barely opened the door? There’s a whole world out there—literally. You can’t ask me to just close that door. Not after you opened it for me.”