Fragile

I wasn't aware of where Seth was during my panic, but when I regained consciousness, he was gone. Two guards stood at the door, and Noah was still tied to the chair, eyes glued to me, as if he blinked I would somehow disappear. The ropes on my wrists and ankles ached, the skin under them already rubbed raw by then. How long had we been in here? 

Noah's eyes widened when I lifted my head. "Fay?" 

"Quiet!" one of the guards barked. 

"We're just fucking talking!" Noah barked back. "It's not like you can't hear everything anyway!" 

The guard looked like he was going to argue more, but the second guard put a hand on his chest. They no longer spoke to us, and didn't comment further when Noah looked back at me. 

"Fay," he breathed. "can you hear me?" 

I nodded, forcing myself to clear my very dry throat. It led to a small hacking fit. My lungs felt like they were filled with sandpaper. "Where's Seth?" 

"Hell if I know," he scoffed, but the look he gave me said something else. The guards stood behind him, and couldn't see, but I knew clear as day. He knew something. Did he have a plan? "Are you okay?" 

I tried to let out a laugh, but it came out closer to a wheeze. "I'd be concerned if I was." 

His eyes were glassy. "I'm sorry." 

I had never seen his eyes so wide and genuine before. He looked like a spitting image of Noni, and it made me wonder how I hadn't recognized him before. How I hadn't remembered. He was stronger, firmer, and more muscular, but the doe eyes were still there. If he were to smile, his dimples would've poked through. His jawline was more chiseled now, but his cheeks somehow still looked squishy and adorable. All this time I had seen him as this violent, mysterious man, but at this moment all I could see was a little boy that I had once tried to protect with my entire being. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. I imagined if I wasn't so dehydrated I would've had tears streaming down my face already. 

"Fay, this isn't a great time-" 

"We have all the time in the world," I deadpanned. "I don't see any way out of this. You won't have another time to tell me." 

"That's not-" 

"Haven't you stalled enough?" I cut him off tiredly, before he revealed too much. I struggled to keep my head up and meet his gaze. "What happened after I left?" 

He sighed. "I didn't know my father was the driver until after you disappeared," he admitted. "That man was anything but family, but I still felt responsible." 

He paused, waiting for me to comment, but I stayed silent. I wanted to hear everything, no matter how painful it was. 

"I never stopped looking for you," he said. He hung his head. "I was just a homeless kid at the time, so there wasn't much I could do other than harass any police station that would listen. At one point, I heard rumors about the human trafficking hot spots in Arizona and decided to ask around." 

He looked up, eyes glassy with grief. I wanted to comfort him, and I could tell he wanted to comfort me, but we never had that luxury. Not then, not now. "Go on," I whispered. 

He took in a shaky breath. "I didn't have an education or anything, so I was pretty useless to the police. I began doing my own private investigating. I had been homeless most of my life, so I knew the streets well. Did a few rescue missions, took on some private cases from some rich people. Eventually the police caught wind and asked me to help take down the operation in Arizona. I was barely eighteen when we got them, and I was glad I saved so many victims." He paused. "I didn't know whether to be hurt or relieved to know none of them were you."