Matthew was having the time of his life.

And sure, that might have been extremely self-centered, considering he was in the middle of a whole convention centering around himself, complete with large screens playing his greatest hits as reported by the news. Still, he wasn't going to lie to himself. Especially because his absolute glee seemed to annoy Eli. Which was hilarious.

Sure, he loved Eli, but it was still worth it to annoy him from time to time. Just a bit.

Besides, Matthew was planning on fully making the trip worth it to Eli. If only so he could convince the redhead to go again if it became an annual event. With that in mind, Matthew had ventured to the food court while Eli was off changing into his brand new Vigilante shirt—a thought that made Matthew snicker.

With the hope that Eli hadn't murdered his friends yet, Matthew made his way back after spending a ridiculous amount of time in line, getting the unhealthiest food he could find for Eli. He thought he'd gotten an impressive selection. At the very least, he hoped it was enough to put Eli in a better mood. Enough so that maybe Matthew would be able to snap a picture or two of him in his Vigilante shirt without having to sleep on the couch.

Matthew grinned at the thought and hurried. He wanted to get a look at Eli in the shirt before he ripped it off and used it to strangle Tucker because honestly, that was the most likely way for the day to end.

He could make out the little group of Eli's friends ahead, past the growing crowd. Which was probably the most surprising thing about the whole event—the sheer number of people willing to attend. Matthew was starting to think maybe they should have invited Adria.

"What, did you buy out all of the food stalls?" Vanessa said as Matthew made it back, eyeing the bags of food Matthew was holding.

"I tried," Matthew said with a shrug. He placed the food down on top of one of the unopened boxes of merchandise. "I brought some for everyone. But mostly for Eli. You know, in case he snaps."

"Not gonna lie, that's probably the best way to calm him," Vanessa admitted.

"Food!"

"Tucker, get your ass back here, we have customers!"

Matthew couldn't help but be amused at the antics of Eli's friends. It was nice, just being around people. Being normal, for a change. Matthew felt oddly grateful that he could be a part of that. He was also grateful to Eli for giving him that.

"Where's Eli?" he asked, looking around for the familiar red curls. All he found was Collin trying to drag Tucker away while talking to a couple of guys asking about some mugs. Matthew had to respect Collin's devotion to the business.

"Honestly? I thought he was with you," Vanessa said. "Seeing as he's not, maybe on the bus heading home?" Matthew wouldn't put it past him.

"I'll give him a call," Matthew said. With a sigh, he pulled out his phone and hoped Eli hadn't made a run for it. He wondered if he could call Adria and get her to order Mikey to drag Eli back.

Probably, as long as it pisses Eli off, Matthew thought, saving that as his backup plan while waiting for Eli to pick up the phone.

Instead of that happening, however, Matthew ended up sent to voicemail. He hung up, looking oddly at his phone as if it had somehow wronged him. Which, he supposed it had. He still gave the call one more try before getting the same results.

All of a sudden, Matthew felt something very close to dread as he hung up and pocketed his phone. He looked around again, hoping to find Eli scowling down at his shirt as he walked over to them. When he didn't find any sign of the redhead, he turned back to Vanessa, who was happily sipping on some lemonade as she supervised Collin and Tucker.

"What, did he really make a run for it?" she asked, joking. She must have seen some of the growing concern on Matthew's face, because her own brow furrowed, smiled slipping away. "What's wrong?"

"He's not answering his phone," Matthew said, panic lacing his tone. Vanessa took note of it. Enough so that she set aside her drink and pulled out her own phone. When she got the same result, Matthew felt the worry he'd been pushing down suddenly return in full force. "Maybe the signal's just bad here? Or he might have left his phone in the bathroom or something." Clearly, Vanessa was trying to reassure Matthew. As much as Matthew appreciated her efforts, he couldn't say they were very efficient.

"I'm going to look for him," he said, not wanting to just stand around, waiting for Eli to maybe show up.

"I'll go with you, just let me tell the guys to keep an eye out and give us a call if he comes back." Instantly, Matthew knew that wasn't a good idea. As much as he appreciated the help, there were some things Matthew didn't particularly want her to find out.

"Maybe we should split up. It'll be easier to cover more ground that way," Matthew hurried to say. Vanessa thought about it for a second before nodding.

"Yeah, alright. Call me if you find him, I'll do the same."

"Right," Matthew was already moving away while Vanessa turned back to tell the others what was going on. He hurried away from the stall, pushing past the crowd as he pulled out his phone.

He managed to get to a more or less secluded corner by the time he'd dialed Adria's number. If nothing else, at least she was quick to pick up.

"What do you want?" she asked, sounding like she really didn't want to deal with him at the moment. Which, to be fair, was probably how she always felt about Matthew. Then again, Matthew wasn't much in the mood for dealing with her—or anyone.

"Where's Eli?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"How the hell should I know? And why the fuck do you two always ask me?"

"Because you're supposed to know. You said you'd keep him safe."

"Yes, I recall, thanks for the very unnecessary reminder. Now, let me remind you that I let you borrow Mikey precisely for that reason. If the little shit's missing becuase he ran off, that's not my problem. I'm sure Mikey will call eventually to complain."

"He wouldn't run off without a reason." As much as Eli said he would, Matthew knew Eli wouldn't make him worry like that.

"Then call him."

"He's not answering."

"Well then, I don't know what to tell you." Maybe it was the flippant way in which Adria said it, or maybe it was just that Matthew hated having his time wasted when Eli could be in danger. Either way, he finally snapped.

"For fuck's sake, find him," Matthew said, struggling not to be too loud. He still noted a couple of people glance his way. "We had a deal. Break it and—"

"And what? You'll come and kill me? As if you had the balls for that," Adria scoffed.

"Do you really want to find out?"

Adria went silent for a moment, which was probably for the best. Matthew wasn't sure what he was going to do if anything happened to Eli. What he was sure of was that Adria would have more than one mercenary to worry about. So really, it was a good thing that he had a second to compose himself before he did something he'd regret.

Focus. Eli's still missing, he reminded himself.

"Look, I'll give Mikey a call, but there's not much else I can do. I'll send some guys to search outside."

"Fine." Matthew said, hanging up before he crushed his phone out of sheer frustration. He still glared at it for a second before he pocketed it. Finally, he knew how Eli felt when he glared at inanimate objects.

Not feeling any more at ease after his talk with Adria, Matthew decided to continue with his search. He wasn't really counting on her being of much help anyway. Which just made him wonder once again why he'd ever agreed to help her.

Because you actually believed she'd help keep Eli safe, he thought. Matthew was starting to suspect Eli might have been onto something when he called him an idiot.

He shook the thought away, trying to focus on looking for Eli even as his mind kept coming up with the worst scenarios on where he could be. After a couple of minutes and a thorough search of the food court, Matthew was starting to seriously panic. Eli had been missing for at least a half an hour by then and Adria had yet to call him back.

When he couldn't find Eli anywhere, Matthew decided to check outside. If he'd been taken, there was always the chance that there would be a clue or that someone had seen something. With that in mind, Matthew headed for the exit with quick steps and a worried look.

"Seriously, it cut off now?"

"Ugh, they were about to show the good part."

"Hold on, it's back on. Wait, who's that?"

"What the fuck?"

Matthew stopped, the muttering of the people around him catching his attention. In his hurry to make it out he'd almost missed the way everyone had paused to stare at something he'd yet to notice. He followed the crowd's gaze, up to one of the various screens that showed his various stunts caught by the news. Or at least, that's what they were showing.

Matthew felt his stomach drop.

"Hello everyone. Hope you're having fun at your little party."

The voice sent a chill down Matthew's spine. Images of the night Eli was stabbed came to the forefront of his mind.

"Took you long enough." Matthew remembered those words. He remembered the way the man who'd spoken them stood over Eli. He remembered Eli bleeding out on their apartment's floor a moment later.

Yes, the voice was bad enough, and so was the familiar hooded figure standing before the camera. But then he moved, and Matthew felt his heart stop.

There, tied to a chair, was a pale figure with a hood over his head—wearing a very distinctive shirt with Vigilante's image printed on it. 

# # #

Hey everyone! Hope you all liked this chapter that I definitely didn't almost forget to post because I thought it was Thursday, haha, yep. But isn't it fun to imagine Eli dying in a crappy Vigilante shirt? I imagine he'd come back and haunt Matthew and his friends as revenge.

Anyway, thank you all for reading! Next chapter should be up on Friday, July 9th, so keep an eye out for that. Other than that, let me just slip in some shameless promo and direct you to my other books and also my Tapas account. :D 

As always, hope you all have a great weekend and please stay safe out there!