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"I'm looking for a young man named Logan Marsh. I was hoping you might know where he is right now."
She looked him up and down. Ajax knew what she saw: a big scary brick shithouse of a man. He clearly wasn't there to deliver a pizza.
He reached into his pocket for his wallet, ready to offer her a discreet incentive.
The maid's eyes narrowed, anger flashing in their depths. For a moment, Ajax thought he'd misjudged her allegiance, but when she spoke, her voice was laced with venom. "You don't need that. We all want that bastard to get what's coming to him."
Ah. Yep, that sounded about right. No mafia protection could stop a shitheel like Marsh Junior from acting like an asshole to the staff. Ajax nodded, understanding her fury. "Do you know where he is?"
"Last I saw, he was out back, at the deck," she said, her lips curling in disdain.
"Thank you, ma'am." As she turned away to continue her duties, Ajax surreptitiously slipped the money into her trolley. She clearly deserved something for having to put up with the likes of Logan Marsh.
With renewed determination, Ajax left the quiet hallway behind, his thoughts a whirlwind of strategy and anticipation.The predatory part of him reveled in the hunt, but it was tempered by the concern for Dylan's safety.
Ajax's long strides ate up the distance as he moved through the hotel, his muscles tense beneath his clothing and fury blazing in his eyes. A sense of urgency propelled him forward. Fear pricked at Ajax's mind, urging him to move even faster.
He'd faced countless dangerous situations in his line of work, but now it wasn't his own life on the line – it was Dylan's.
That felt worse.
This realization sent a shudder down his spine, a reminder of how much he had come to care for the kid with the darkness in his eyes.
As he approached the deck area, Ajax heard the raucous laughter of a group of drunken girls. Upon spotting him, their catcalls filled the air, enthusiastically ogling him.
He flashed them a charming smile, deciding to use their attraction to his advantage. "Hey there, ladies," he said smoothly, joining their conversation with ease. "I'm looking for someone – a guy named Logan Marsh. You wouldn't happen to have seen him around, would you?"
The girls exchanged glances, their flushed faces giddy with alcohol-induced excitement. "That douchebag?"
One of them, a blonde with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, leaned in conspiratorially. "Super douchebag!" she slurred, giggling. "Yeah, we saw him. He went that way," she pointed towards the back of the resort, "toward the boat shed. But forget him, you could stay with us--"
"Thanks, ladies. You're real lifesavers," Ajax said with a grateful smile. He winked at them and then headed towards the boat shed, his heart pounding in his chest.
The night was dark, the only light coming from the stars and the soft glow of the hotel's windows in the distance. As he moved through the shadows, Ajax felt like a predator stalking its prey.The fear for Dylan's safety fueled him, pushing him to move faster than he ever had before.
Was Dylan already here? All that mattered was getting to him before he could make a mistake he couldn't come back from. The young man had wormed his way into Ajax's heart, and the thought of losing him was unbearable.
No-one else in this world ever had looked out for Dylan, but Ajax swore to himself that now, when it truly mattered, he would.
As he approached the boat shed, Ajax slowed down, his senses on high alert. In the darkness, he pressed his back against the wall and listened intently.
"Please, don't do it." A muffled voice came from inside the shed. Panic shot through Ajax, followed by an intense surge of protectiveness.
Dylan was already here. He'd got to Logan first, despite everything — and it was going wrong for him.
"Stop fucking struggling!" Unmistakably, that was Logan. "At least you'll enjoy this. What a way to go, right?"
That was all Ajax needed to hear.
He burst through the door of the boat shed, ready to bring the full wrath of the Thorne family down upon Logan Marsh.
Chapter sixteen
Dylan lay on the hard, concrete floor of the pool shed, his body aching from the rough treatment. Ajax Thorne's tall, muscular frame filled the doorway, fury blazing in his dark eyes like burning embers.
"Get your hands off him," Ajax growled, his voice thick with menace.
Dylan's heart swelled with a mixture of relief and affection, tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. No one had ever come to his rescue before. The realization that someone cared enough to do so made him feel loved for the first time in his life.
