A/N: I will finish this story if it kills me, I swear. I did say I wouldn't abandon you, didn't I? Thank you so much for the reviews and all the favorites. You guys left so, so many reviews and it was amazing to read them all. I hardly deserve it after being gone so long. I'm really sorry I couldn't reply individually to everyone, but suffice it to say that you got me to put this chapter up. Also, sorry I didn't edit the last chapter, like, at all. I just wanted to get it up, and I hope you guys liked it!
Enjoy!
Alec hadn't anticipated how hard it would be to actually try to drive Magnus's car. The car he usually drove, which was his parents' and not his own, was nice, but it had nothing on this one. Magnus liked speed and Alec knew it. He just hadn't expected it to be so hard to slow down.
His mind was moving too fast, faster than the car. He had to get Max out of this, whatever else happened. God, his baby brother, what had he been thinking? He should have stayed with his family. If he had stayed with them, there would have been no need to lure him out like this. No need to drag anyone else in on it. Okay, okay, nothing would happen before he got there, and he had to concentrate on staying out of a car wreck because it wouldn't do Max any good if Alec died now.
Cops, cops, should he call the cops? No of course not, he thought. It had barely worked the first time, and he would be expecting them. Alec knew the first hint of a siren would get Max's throat slit.
The address was residential. He tried to scramble with Magnus's GPS system for a minute before realizing that it wanted him to speak the location, not type it. He read it off of his phone, and looked up just in time to avoid a catastrophe with a bike and a German shepherd that Magnus's paint job would not have appreciated. The dog barked over the biker's cussing, but Alec had already zoomed off and run a red light. Maybe if he drove insanely enough, the cops would be following him anyways.
That was probably a terrible idea.
He couldn't hear the honking horns behind him over the blood pounding in his ears. Over the panicked drive faster faster good god please don't let anything happen keep Max out of it just get there faster what is going to happen oh my god oh my god oh my god, a weird stray thought flashed through his mind; he was missing swim practice. He grabbed onto the thought because his stream of consciousness had turned into a raging river and he had started drowning in it.
He didn't know how he had forgotten practice, of all things. He was usually so intent on swim season. Magnus had just asked him if he was coming home and he hadn't even thought about it... Coach was going to kill him.
If Coach got the chance, at least.
Maybe that had been a bad thought to grab onto.
Without entirely realizing how he had gotten there, Alec was suddenly skidding down a narrow neighborhood road. All the houses were respectable and tall with nice little lawns in front. It looked like suburbia. Very new, very well manicured, very quiet and unlived-in suburbia. Having expected imposing apartments and concrete and security cameras and locked gates, Alec was thrown off track. He checked the address on his phone against the street sign again, but it matched. And the house number was there, just ahead. He parked the car.
His desperate rush had dissipated into the weirdly clean air and suddenly he couldn't even move. He gripped the steering wheel even tighter than he had while he had been careening through the streets, and fought back the impending panic attack. What was inside? Was Max really there, or had it just been a trap? Or was Max really there, and dead? Alec's lungs felt like they were trying to twist themselves up and crawl out of his mouth, so he gritted his teeth and tried to pull himself together. He should have asked to speak to Max. That was stupid.
He checked his recent calls in his phone, but the number from the last call was blocked. "Shit," he muttered, staring up at the front door. Only one thing to do, really, he supposed. He straightened his back, got out of the car, and marched up the sidewalk with his head held high. He didn't hesitate before pressing the doorbell, and the door obligingly swung open to reveal a smiling Hodge.
"Alexander! I was wondering what had been holding you up. But now that you're here, let's get things started, shall we?" Behind him, Alec could see Max, slumped over in a chair. "I am so excited to get to spend some time with you," Hodge added. Alec stepped inside, and the front door slammed shut behind him.
Magnus didn't waste any time locking his door or changing direction or anything like that. He just grabbed Ragnor's shirt as he barreled down the stairs.
"Get your keys out!" he yelled in Ragnor's ear.
"What is going on?" Ragnor asked, trying really hard not to run over Magnus's nice boots as they tumbled through the parking lot.
"Now, bitch!"
Alec had already skidded out onto the street in Magnus's beautiful car. Magnus wasted a moment hoping he wouldn't crash it because it was expensive to get a car painted that color, and also his boyfriend was kind of irreplaceable.
The intensity on his face didn't stop Ragnor for a second. "So, want to tell me why you're hijacking my car, Maggie?"
"Alec." He didn't have time to talk about this. "Find the GPS tracking device for my car on my phone. Figure out where he's going." He hit the gas before Ragnor's door was even closed.
"Your phone is password locked, Magnus. What makes you think I can do that?" Ragnor was already reaching over to pull the phone out of Magnus's super-tight jeans
"You've been able to hack into my phone for the past four years, do it now bitch."
"You make me want to help you so much." He typed in the passcode. "Doesn't this make you feel kind of stalker-y?" This was creepy, even for Magnus. And maybe Ragnor was a nervous-talker. It wasn't his fault. Maybe he should shut up, too, but on the other hand, maybe not.
"Did you see the look on his face?" Magnus snapped. "I'm not letting him get killed because he's too stubborn and protective to let me know what's going on!"
"I am not sure I'm okay with you driving my car into a life and death situation," Ragnor said cooly. Well, pretty cooly. His voice wasn't shaking or anything like that.
"He has a serial killer after him, Ragnor!" Ragnor didn't think Magnus's voice was meant to reach that octave, but he kept his mouth shut about it, this time. "If I don't do something, it will be a death and death situation!"
"Turn left here," Ragnor said, glancing down at the phone.
"Here?"
"Now!"
Magnus veered across a few lanes of traffic and hit the curb, but didn't slow down.
"Be careful with my car, would you!" Ragnor protested. Magnus's expression didn't exactly inspire confidence, and Ragnor found himself talking just because he couldn't stop talking, in case he went crazy from the tension. "Is this like, super necessary? Because yes, Alec looked like he was in a hurry but maybe that's not a reason to get in a car wreck- turn right here- do not crash my car, whore! Like, what did he say to you?"
"He had to pick up his brother."
"So maybe he's picking up his damn brother!" Ragnor took a deep breath, wishing that Magnus would do the same. He didn't really believe it, but the possibility was there, wasn't it? It was better than any alternative.
"You didn't see his face." Magnus had gone from scarily hysterical to scarily calm within Ragnor's last two sentence, although his driving had, unfortunately, not improved.
"Yeah but I mean, maybe it's all cool and not an issue and his mom's just in a hurry to have Max home or something- turn left- Magnus that is a red light!- Jesus, Bane, try not to get us killed before we get there!"
"I see my car."
It was parked. Magnus skidded in across the street just as he saw the front door of the house behind Magnus's car slam shut. Magnus took a deep breath. "Now, do you have any idea why Alec would be in a place like this, to pick up his little brother?"
Ragnor fidgeted. "Um, no. Not really."
"What the fuck are we going to do?"
"Um."
"Shit." But what he meant was, Shit, not Alec, anything but Alec.
"Okay," Ragnor reasoned. "Okay, well, how do we know something bad is happening?"
"You already asked this." Magnus was still gripping the steering wheel.
"You never answered."
"Alec has a serial killer after him," Magnus gritted out. "And if Max is involved, things are just going to go downhill from here."
"But. But." Ragnor didn't actually have any answers. He couldn't deny the frantic look on Alec's face as he had raced out.
"Okay." Magnus closed his eyes. "I mean, we can't just charge in there."
"We can just call the police," Ragnor pointed out.
"Alec hasn't called," Magnus said. "He must have a good reason for not calling."
"Yeah, like stupidity."
Magnus ignored the slight to his boyfriend. "I mean, what if Hodge threatened him?"
"I don't think you get more threatening than intending to violently kill you. You can't really turn that situation much worse."
Magnus nodded, but he was distracted, not listening. "We need to figure out what's going on."
"You intend to singlehandedly save your boyfriend from a murderous... murderer?" Ragnor asked. "Jesus, Mags. Call the damn police."
"I need to find out what's going on first," Magnus insisted. "Okay? Maybe you're right. Maybe nothing's wrong, and I'm just overreacting like I apparently do every time with everything."
"So, what, you're just going to go up and ring the doorbell and make sure everything's all right?" Ragnor shook his head.
"No, of course not," Magnus snorted. "I'm going to see if I can look in any of the windows, and you're going to cover me."
"Cover you with what? I don't have a gun or anything helpful like that, Magnus!"
Encouraged by having a plan of action, Magnus slid out of the car. "Grab a tree branch or something. Or, don't you have a crowbar in the backseat?"
Ragnor grumbled, but it mostly sounded trembly. "Right." He leaned over the back of his seat and shoved papers to the side until he found the crowbar. "If you get me killed for this, I will haunt you forever, Magnus."
"I would be insulted if you didn't. Now let's go rescue my damn boyfriend."
A/N: Sooo... Cliffhangers. They're fun, aren't they? I seriously appreciate your reviews so, so much. Please review this chapter? I WILL finish this story, hopefully before New Years. I know I'm awful about updating, but no more abandonment!
I hope you guys enjoyed this!
LOVE
K
