Page 24 of His to Take

"K-kinda," Dylan sniffled, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand. "He worked in the kitchen. We weren't close friends, but he… he was the kind of guy who made you feel like everything would be okay, even when it felt like the world was crashing down around you. And now he's just… gone?"

Dylan's chest ached. He needed to talk to someone who knew Kai, anyone who would understand the depth of his disbelief. "Can I... can I have my phone back?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Ajax hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He retrieved the phone from his locked suitcase and handed it to Dylan. Ajax sat down nearby, clearly intending to supervise the call, but Dylan barely registered his presence. He turned it on, and scrolled through his contacts.

There. Jordan, Kai's sister. Kai had given Dylan her number after Kai's phone had broken once, and he'd borrowed hers. They'd met a few times in passing. She'd know the most. Dylan dialed her number, his fingers trembling.

"Hello?" Jordan answered after a while, her voice thick with tears.

"Hey, it's Dylan," he stammered out. "From the restaurant. Is it true?"

"Yeah," she choked out, her voice breaking. "He's gone."

Dylan felt a fresh wave of sorrow crash over him. "But it doesn't make any sense!" he insisted, tears streaming down his face. "Kai was the most stable guy I know! Why would he kill himself?"

"Listen, Dylan," Jordan sobbed, her own grief palpable through the phone. "Kai didn't kill himself! That night, he left with some guy. That's why he was at the hotel. It must have been that guy! It wasn't suicide, but they don't believe me!"

"What?! Did you tell the cops?"

"I did!" Jordan cried, her despair evident. "But they didn't care! They just turned me away. They didn't want to hear anything about the guy!"

Dylan's heart pounded in his chest. A horrible suspicion clawed at his mind. "Jordan," he said, voice shaking, "what guy? Can you tell me anything about him? Anything at all?"

"Um, I didn't see him much," Jordan hesitated, sniffling. "When I went to pick up Kai after his shift, he was with some guy I'd never seen before. They talked a bit, I don't know. I was waiting in the car." She sniffled. "And then Kai told me to go home, and left with him. He told me not to wait up."

"What did he look like?"

"I don't know… Tall, blond. Mid-twenties, maybe? He looked like a smug asshole."

Icy dread washed over Dylan.

It had to be.

"His name was Logan, wasn't it?" Dylan blurted out, unable to contain his horror.

Before Jordan could respond, Ajax's hand darted out, snatching the phone from Dylan's grip.

Their eyes locked, and Ajax gave a silent shake of his head, a stern warning.

In that moment, Dylan remembered why Ajax was with him in the first place:to protect Logan and his family.

Rage bubbled up inside Dylan, but he knew better than to challenge Ajax now. Wordlessly, but with a silent warning in his eyes, Ajax handed the phone back to him.

Dylan swallowed hard, forcing himself to act natural -- as natural as he could be in a fucked-up situation like this. "Sorry, I'm thinking of someone else," he choked out. "Look, I'm so fucking sorry, Jordan. I gotta go. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Th-thanks. You too," Jordan replied, her voice cracking.

Dylan hung up. Without missing a beat, Ajax took the phone from him and put it back in the case. It locked shut with a sharp click. "Dylan…"

Tears stung the corners of Dylan's eyes as he stared at the ground, feeling more alone than ever.

Logan had tracked Dylan down to his job.

But Dylan hadn't been there. Instead, Logan had taken out his revenge on the closest alternative.

And the whole time Kai was dying, Dylan had been cosying up to one of Logan's allies.

Dylan didn't want to be around Ajax, not after this revelation. But there was no escape, no way to avoid the man who was both his captor and protector.

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