With Abandon: With or Without, Book 4

stood open with the sheers floating into the room with the breeze. Matt was nowhere in sight.

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    161
    J.L. Langley
    “What’s wrong?” Keaton was right behind him. “What aren’t you telling me? I’m thinking he went
    for a walk or something, but you obviously don’t. What’s going on?”
    “I think one of our pack members has lost his mind and may hurt Matt.”
    “What? Why?”
    Aubrey raced back downstairs with his brother on his heels.
    Chay met them at the foot of the stairs and followed them to the office. “He was upset with you, but I
    didn’t think he was upset enough to leave without telling anyone.”
    Keaton grabbed Aubrey’s arm to stop him. “Damn it, Aubrey, talk to us. Why do you think another
    wolf is going to hurt him?”
    Glancing at his brother’s split lip and the bruise on his left cheek, Aubrey frowned. He’d hurt two of
    the people he cared about most today. He freed himself from Keaton and grabbed his glasses off the desk.
    He told them about Boskie and how Matt had rescued Carson as he began flipping through the video
    cameras.
    Matt wasn’t on any of the screens.
    Aubrey’s pulse was racing, and his hands shook. It made rewinding the DVR and pushing the right
    keys more difficult than it should’ve been. He needed to see which direction Matt went. If only he’d told Matt everything to begin with. A strange tingling sensation akin to ice water trickling through his veins left Aubrey breathless. His chest burned with regret. “Come on, Matt, where are you?”
    When the cameras showed Matt racing backward up the drive on foot, Aubrey hit play.
    On the recorder, Matt jogged down the drive with his phone in hand and his bag over his shoulder.
    The cameras had captured Matt outside the gate looking back and forth down the street like he was
    waiting for someone.
    Keaton leaned over his shoulder, squinting at the monitor. “Who’s he waiting for?”
    “Don’t know.”
    A taxi pulled up and Matt jumped in. As the car pulled away, Aubrey’s anxiety lessened marginally.
    Matt was okay. He’d left of his own free will. “He left me.” A cheery text message bloop sounded. Aubrey located his forgotten phone where he’d flung it on the desk earlier and read the message. It was twenty minutes old, and it was from Matt. Gone to NM.
    Aubrey sat back in his chair, staring at the text message in shock. Matt had left him. He’d known it
    was going to happen, but he’d thought he’d have years to deal with it. He now knew Matt hadn’t been
    attacked or kidnapped or any other horrible thing, but the pain in Aubrey’s heart didn’t ease any with the realization.
    “What’re you going to do about it?” Chay nudged his shoulder.
    Numb, Aubrey glanced up at his brother-in-law. “It was going to have to end eventually anyway.
    Maybe it’s better this way.”
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    With Abandon
    “Jesus, pessimism runs in this family.” Chay rolled his eyes. “Listen and listen carefully.” He sat on
    the edge of the desk and pulled Keaton in front of him. Wrapping his arms around Keaton’s waist, Chay
    rested his chin on his mate’s shoulder and made eye contact with Aubrey. “This is it, man. You get one shot at this, and you’re about to fuck it up.”
    Leaning back on his mate, Keaton nodded. “Chay’s right.”
    Chay kissed Keaton’s cheek.
    They looked so perfect together a spike of envy slashed into Aubrey. He wanted that, damn it. It
    wasn’t fair… But who had ever told him life was fair? Aubrey groaned. Sometimes wisdom sucked. It was better this way though. Matt would get over him eventually and be happy. And Aubrey… Well, he’d get on
    with his life, but he doubted he’d ever get over Matt. Jesus, he didn’t know what to do. His heart agreed with Keaton and Chay, but his head told him this was for the best. No, he had to go after Matt. He had to protect Matt and let him know about Boskie’s threat. He lifted his cell phone and dialed Matt’s number.
    “Hi, this is Matt. I can’t take your call right now. Leave a message.”
    “Damn it.” Aubrey waited for the beep. “Matt, call me when you get this. Please.” He hit end and tossed his phone onto the desk. Exiting out of the security camera recordings, he pulled up the website for Savannah/Hilton Head International and looked up all flights into New Mexico. There was one that left in forty-five minutes and another that left tonight at nine o’clock. He