CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

-•NATHAN•-

It was Friday afternoon and I was in my office.

I was staring at the pile of paperwork that my dad had dumped on me. It consisted of local police reports that our gang had intercepted. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the contents of the reports, except for one thing. One of the reports reported a kidnapping of a young girl, that wasn't the part that was suspicious though. The part that was suspicious was where they say she was found and claimed, but it never gives any details on where she was found or in what condition she was in.

In police reports, there are always those kinds of details. In this report, it was almost like someone was trying to cover up the case. I wouldn't have payed much attention to the report if it was the only one like it, but it wasn't. There were three other kidnapping reports with gaps in the information. They were all of children who were abducted.

Weird.

Could it be the K Blades?

I didn't know.

Did I want to investigate?

Fuck yes.

There was a quick knock at my door. I set the reports down and hollered for the person to enter. It was Red. I gave him a quizzical look, he was supposed to be on a mission with Alvin this afternoon.

"Before you say anything," Red started. "Me and Alvin are going to take off right now, but I think you should know that Presley's having an...episode in his room right now."

"Episode?," I said, standing up. "What the fuck does that mean, Red?"

He sighed. "I wasn't supposed to hear, but the poor boy is crying his lungs out with your sister. You might want to check it out."

My sister can take care of him, one part of me thought.

What if he's hurt? What if he needs me? Who made him cry?," the other half of me thought. It was just yesterday that I had kissed his mouth and invaded his space, I wasn't supposed to act like a stranger anymore.

Maybe I should act like a stranger.

I cleared my throat and rounded my desk to stand in front of Red. "I appreciate you telling me."

He nodded. "Of course."

"Go meet up with Alvin before it gets too dark," I ordered.

He saluted and turned around to leave. Once he shut the door behind him, I huffed out a breath.

I shook my head and opened my office door, making my way towards Presley's room. I climbed two flights of stairs and walked through three hallways to get there. Once I was in front of his door, I didn't bother knocking.

When I opened the door, my heart seemed to crack. Presley was hugging his teddy bear and crying uncontrollably. Haley had an arm around him while trying to get him to calm. Her head shot up when she heard the sound of the door.

My sisters's eyes widened. "Nate? What-."

I shook my head and held up a hand to silence her. Presley whimpered slightly and turned his face away from me, like he was embarrassed.

"Out, Hales," I instructed my sister.

Haley crossed her arms defiantly. "No, I want to stay here with Presley."

One.

Two.

Three.

"I need you downstairs," I stated. "You can come see him later."

She turned to Presley and squeezed his hand, then got up from the bed.

On her way out she whispered to me, "I don't know what's going on with him, he won't tell me anything. Be careful with him." Then she was gone.

When it was just Presley and I in his room, he sobbed harder into his teddy bear. Not even the strongest force in the world could keep me from crossing the floor to him.

I gathered his shaking form into my lap, he wrapped his arms around my neck.

"Hey," I whispered. "What's with the tears, little one?," I asked.

He shook his head and muffled his sobs with my shirt.

"Hmm?," I kissed his ear delicately. "What is it?"

The words flowed out of me naturally.

I didn't know who I was becoming.

I didn't feel like Nathan Pierce, leader of the Creeds, I felt like Nathan Pierce, delicate for Presley Flint.

It was pathetic.

Yet, I couldn't stop.

He shook his head again. "I don't want to tell you," he stated quietly, sniffling.

I kissed his cheek, lovingly.

At least he wasn't sobbing anymore.

"Why is that?," I asked gently.

He paused for a second, then his tiny shoulders racked with sobs again.

I rubbed the small of his back and let him cry all over me.

Did someone hurt him?

"You're going to be mad," he hiccuped. "And I-I don't like when you're mad," he whispered.

I pulled back slightly, and brought Presley's precious face into view. His lip quivered.

I kissed the tip of his nose, his cheeks, his silky hair, and shook my head. "I won't be mad if you don't want me to," I said, softly.

Lies. The only person I wouldn't be angry with would be him, but whoever was responsible for his tears was going to answer for it.

His eyes filled with tears again. "Promise?," he asked weakly.

There was a twinge in my chest.

"Did someone hurt you?," I asked. "Was it Ross? Did he touch you?"

He shook his head. "No," he whispered. "It wasn't him."

I grabbed his small hand and pressed my lips to his knuckles. "Tell me who," I urged, still being gentle.

He shut his eyes and placed his face in the crook of my neck.

"It was Robert," his voice shook. "He...he showed up at my school."

Robert, his stepfather. The one who abused him. The one who was going to suffer for it.

"What happened?," I asked, running my hands up his arms. "You can tell me."

He turned his face to peer up at me. "Nathan," he whispered.

"I'm right here."

He scrunched together his eyebrows. "The spies that you said you had at my school...," he said, his eyes started to water again. "They didn't save me," he bit his bottom lip to suppress a sob. "Robert chased me around the school and nobody h-helped me," he wiped endlessly at his cheeks.

What?

One thing at a time, Nathan.

"What did he say?," I asked, the gentleness leaving my voice. "Why was he chasing you?"

He shook his head and grabbed hold of his teddy bear. "He looked drunk," he said quietly. "He didn't have to say anything, I know he came to get me back."

So Presley could be his punching bag again.

"How did you escape him?," I asked, tilting his chin up to meet my eyes.

He shifted his eyes to avoid my gaze and shrugged. "I ran...all the way here. He stopped chasing me after a while," he squeezed his teddy bear closer to him.

"Is that the part you thought I'd be mad about?," I asked.

His lip quivered, and he sprung his arms around me again. "Mhm."

I pulled him off my lap and stood up abruptly.

He whimpered. "I'm sorry-," he began.

I shook my head and bent down to press my mouth to his. He hummed in surprise. After a moment, I pulled back hastily.

He looked up shyly at me.

"I am fucking mad," I muttered against his lips. "Just not at you. Never at you, kid."

I put distance between us and made my way to the door.

"Where are you going?," Presley called out, his tone was hurt.

I turned to face him. "To figure out who the hell interfered with my spies."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I swung the door open to my father's office. He was on the phone with someone, but he ended the call when he saw me.

"Thought I taught you to knock, son," he growled.

I brushed his comment off and sat down in front of him. "This won't take much of your time, don't worry, father."

"What's the problem now, Nathan?," he leaned forward in his office chair. "Can it wait?"

I glared at him. "When did you call off the spies?"

He looked at me like I was speaking in a foreign tongue. "What spies are you talking about, son?"

"The ones at Presley's school," I grumbled.

He poured himself a glass of liquor and took a long gulp. "Oh, those spies."

"Yes, those spies."

He shrugged. "I called them off a month ago."

It wasn't that my blood boiled, no. It was that I thought I was being consumed by fire.

"Why?," I asked, clenching my fists.

"Son, don't be angry-," my father began.

"I asked you a question, father. I assume you respect me enough to answer it," my voice sounded like stone grinding against stone.

My father set down his glass, looking wary. "Listen, I didn't think we needed them, I thought they'd be better use elsewhere. That kid can take care of himself, nothing has happened to him so far, right?"

"That kid is the only thing keeping your gang alive right now. Speak of him with a more regard," I seethed.

My father looked surprised. "Nathan, don't be ridiculous-," he started to say, but once more I cut him off.

"Do you want to know what happened to him today?," I asked incredulously.

He stared at me with a blank face.

"Do you?"

My father sighed and waved a hand that urged me to continue.

"An enemy from his past came for him today," I said. "He could've been gone, taken. If it wasn't for a bit of luck today, you'd be short a miracle healer and we'd be right where we started. Is that what you want, father? Do you want to be inferior to the K Blades? If we lose him, we're nothing but a bunch of idiots fighting in the dark."

My father looked at me for a long moment, then he took another gulp of his liquor.

"You're very eager on protecting this boy, son," he finally said.

"Aren't you?," I shot back.

"Of course I am. You're right, son, we need him, but you guard him like he's the final glass of water on earth," he stated.

One.

Two.

Three.

"Where are you going with this?," I pressed, avoiding the pounding in my ears.

He looked like he was going to continue but he just waved a hand in the air dismissively and took the final sip of liquor.

"Forget it, son," he said, pouring more alcohol into his glass. "Forgive me for calling off the spies without consulting you, you will be the leader of this gang when I decide you're ready, and by the looks of it, you're more than halfway there."

I shook my head. That wasn't what I wanted to hear right now. "So are you going to reinforce the spies? Or shall I resort to other arrangements?"

He chuckled darkly. "No, you win. Your spies will be back on Monday. Consider it done."

Before I exited his office, I turned around. "I'll look forward to seeing it."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

It became evening, and I was in the computer room with Tyler.

"What?," I asked, taken by surprise.

Tyler took a gulp of the coffee cup on his desk and nodded eagerly. His mousy hair was a mess, his fingers twitched slightly and his eyes darted around the screen of his computer screen intensely.

He's been working nonstop, it looked like it had been killing him.

Good.

"Oh yeah, your Ross dude is totally clean," Tyler stated, showing me his screen. "Not even a parking ticket, Nate. Other than his record, the only thing I could find was that he has a living brother. Every time I get close to finding the brother's profile though, I always hit a dead end. It's killing me," he took another sip of his coffee.

"Is this a fucking joke?," I scoffed. "It's like he's not even a real person, are you sure that's even his real name?,"

"Of course I'm sure! The state database doesn't just document false information, that's not how it works."

I ran an exasperated hand through my hair.

I know him from somewhere. He looks too familiar. This can't be right.

"There's nothing else about him?," I questioned. "Absolutely no criminal record? No parents?"

"Absolutely no criminal record, parents are dead," Tyler sighed. "That's basically it, but I think there's something off about this brother of his."

Both his parents are dead? This guy just radiates surprises.

"What's off about him?," I asked.

The mousy haired boy shrugged. "The whole situation is off. If Ross has a brother, why the hell doesn't he talk about him? Especially if he's his only family. And on the file, it says he has a brother but there's no name or any type of identification at all about him, which doesn't just happen."

"Have you checked the other states' databases?"

He squinted his eyes at me. "Who do you think I am, an amateur? Of course I checked."

I shot him a dark look and he sighed. "There was no matches in any other state for a 'Ross Henderson', I ran the surname 'Henderson' everywhere but there wasn't anyone who fit the timeline."

Great.

"Keep working on this, I want to know about that brother of his, try everything," I emphasized.

He took a large gulp of his coffee and gave me an enthusiastic nod.

I left Tyler to work his hacker magic and found myself standing in an empty hallway.

I wanted to go find a certain man named Robert. As much as I itched to find him, I knew that Presley wouldn't like the idea. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him.

Presley.

I didn't know where I stood with him. I didn't even know where I wanted to stand with him, or where he

wanted to stand with me. All my brain could process was that I liked to look at him, I liked to feel his mouth on mine, I liked to hold him and most of all, I wouldn't let anyone harm him.

I wasn't superhuman, but for him, I'd play God.