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I was done. Well and truly done.

And it was time I started acting like it.

I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then I shared my truth with my friend and my empty hallway. “He’s too important to let go. I care about him with all of me. I could love him so easily.” As I spoke the words, my heart felt their truth, and I became more sure of my decision as I spoke. My shoulders relaxed, and I stood taller as I spoke the rest. “Tristan is my future, and if Carl wants to keep using me, he’s my past.”

Ethan’s smile came through in his words. “I’m so glad to hear it, Henry.” Then his tone hardened. “But now we need to find him. You said he wasn’t answering his phone?”

“No, he’s not. Cameron might know where he is, but I don’t have his number. I suspect Tris just went home. I wondered if you wouldn’t mind going over there to check on him?”

“Of course, I will. I’ll call Cameron, too, just in case.” He paused to sigh. “I hate when one of the boys drops off the radar. I get fucking worried sick.”

“You’re telling me. I’ve been close to hitting the streets and tearing the city apart until I found him, foolish or not.”

“I know the feeling,” Ethan admitted quietly, and his words had a little heat behind them. I’d never seen him angry, but I wondered if this would tip him over. The men of the DASC were his family, and I knew that, if I was in his position, I would be freaking out on whomever dared go no-contact without warning. I didn’t want him to get mad at Tris, but I didn’t know what else to do.

Ethan broke into my musings, his voice a little calmer. “I can’t guarantee anything, Henry, but I’ll see if he’s ready to reach out. I’m not going to force him, of course. But if it comes up, I’ll encourage him to call you back, if only to ease your mind. If he won’t, I’ll at least let you know he’s okay. Sound good?”

I nodded again to the empty house. “Of course. I just need him to be alright.” My voice cracked again, but I didn’t care. Tristan was the most important person in my life, and I needed him like I needed my next breath. If he didn’t want me, I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.

For now, regardless of what happened next, I just needed to know he was okay.

“Thank you, Ethan. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Henry, anytime. I’ll be in touch when I find him.”

As soon as Ethan hung up, with a knot in my stomach and a flutter in my chest, I called Carl and told him not to call me again, that I wasn’t his meal ticket anymore. He sputtered accusations and excuses but eventually hung up on me. I hoped that was a good sign, that I wouldn’t hear from him again. But who could say?

Regardless, clicking the button to turn my phone screen off and pocketing my phone after the call felt liberating.

Now I just had to make everything right with the man who actually mattered. If he’d let me.

Chapter twenty-five

Tristan

“Ethan?”

The usually kind, sweet man visibly sighed when his eyes landed on me, but he had a hard clench to his jaw as he stepped toward my doorway, not quite pushing his way into my condo but making it clear he wasn’t going to wait to be invited in.

I stepped aside and shut the door behind him. Crossing my arms over my chest in a gesture that was in no way protective—who was I kidding; I was feeling more insecure than I ever had—I watched his shoulders heave under his weathered leather jacket that probably cost more than this condo, his back turned away. After a few minutes of silence save his heavy breathing, I couldn’t handle the not knowing, so I asked, “What’s wrong?”

The intervening minutes hadn’t seemed to calm him down much, because when he whipped around, his eyes were hard and flashing. He took a visible deep breath before answering, his voice deliberately calm. “Where have you been, Tristan? What’s wrong?”

“I . . .” I didn’t have a good answer for that, partly because I didn’t know if he meant today or this weekend, but . . . I didn’t have a good answer for either, to be honest. “What do you mean?”

“What happened between you and Henry?”

Oh. Okay. “Did he call you?”

Ethan huffed an exasperated breath. I’d never seen him this angry. What the hell had Henry told him? “Yes, Henry called me an hour ago, out of his mind. He said you’d spent the weekend at his house, that everything was going great, then you left without a word, and he couldn’t reach you. Laying aside that you two are clearly hooking up or together or whatever because it’s not my business, he was worried sick, Tristan! I’m not going to ask you why you left—also not my business—but that man obviously cares about you very deeply, and he was completely beside himself not knowing if you were okay. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

Aside from my mother’s phone call a few months back, I hadn’t been berated like this since my parents walked out on me years ago, and I didn’t like it one bit. So I did the mature thing and lashed out. “How is this your concern, Ethan? You came into my house yelling at me for something that is, as you said, none of your business!”

Ethan’s nostrils flared, and his hands flew into the air as he gestured at me. “When you stopped answering your phone, Henry called me. He said he didn’t know what else to do! He didn’t have your address, so he asked me to check on you. He said he had to at least make sure you were okay. And I can’t blame him for a single second.”

My chest was still heaving, but all the fight drained out of me in that instant. He might have figured it out himself, but I hadn’t told Henry I’d overheard his phone call. I’d probably be frantic and worried, too, if the situation were reversed. “I’m okay,” I answered, barely above a whisper.

My quiet response seemed to calm Ethan as well, and he waited for me to raise my eyes to his before he noted, “You don’t seem okay.”