So I’d found him. It hadn’t strictly been difficult, and I wondered what the deal was with Lance.
Was he really that clueless? Or did he just want someone to do his dirty work for him? Or did it have to be completely off the grid because he’d had restraining orders put out against him? I really had no clue.
For any other job, I’d have called my client straight away and told them I’d made contact or even just a general update, but calling Lance was the last thing I intended to do. Not until I spoke to Yanni first.
And right on five o’clock, students filed out of the classrooms, Yanni being at the tail end. Most of the other students had gone by the time he came out alone.
“Yanni?” I called his name.
He stopped, jerkily, suddenly halting. He almost took a step backward. “Who wants to know?”
“Someone asked me to find you,” I said. “Just to see if you were okay. They were worried.”
He shook his head, but I could see him eye the exit doors to the street. “Who?”
“Lance Nader.”
Yanni turned white; the colour literally drained from his face. And I knew, without one iota of doubt, it was Lance all along. “It’s not your father,” I mumbled. “It’s him.”
His voice cracked in a barely audible whisper. “How did you find me?”
“He asked me to track you down,” I said. Yanni looked like he was about to vomit. I put my hands up. “No, no. I didn’t know. He lied to me. Everything he said was a lie.”
“He knows where I am?”
“No.”
He shook his head. He was tearing up, suddenly sweating and now a shade of green. He spoke more to himself than to me. “I can’t afford to transfer out again. I quit my job. I had to. I moved, I’ve got no money. If he’s found me…”
I shook my head and put my hand out to touch his arm but stopped myself. He flinched anyway. “I don’t think so. Jesus, I’m sorry. I had no idea. He told me he was concerned for your welfare. He told me he thought your father was abusive. But it was him, wasn’t it? That arsehole.”
Yanni laughed, it sounded one beat away from crazy. “My father?” He shook his head, but then it seemed that words failed him. He started to breathe erratically, and a fine sweat now covered his still-pale face. If I had wondered why he didn’t run, it was because I doubted his ability to even breathe properly at this point.
I couldn’t just leave him. He was having a panic attack because that arsehole ex-boyfriend was the abuser. I knew something was off with that guy. I should have trusted my instincts and told him to fuck off two minutes into our first meeting. Instead, I’d found the poor guy and ruined his feeble attempt at a new life. “Yanni, you have to understand. I didn’t know. He lied to me.”
“Did he… has he hurt you?” he asked in a wheezy whisper.
“No, it’s not like that with me. Yanni, is there someone I can call for you?”
He put his hand to his heart and shook his head again. “No… be okay,” he said, struggling to breathe.
“I’m not leaving you until I know you’re safe,” I said to him. “How about we sit down and you catch your breath. I’ll wait with you.”
He didn’t exactly agree with me, but he certainly didn’t object. I pointed toward a bench seat in the waiting room, and he nodded before walking over and all but falling onto it. He put his head in his hands, and I sat beside him, waiting while he got himself together the best he could.
“He doesn’t know where I am?” he asked again. “Why did you find me?”
“No. He doesn’t know where you are. I haven’t told him anything because he’s shady as hell. He asked me to look for you. He said he was in love with you and he was worried, but I never told him anything because I had a feeling something was off with him.”
All Yanni could do was blink, and I doubted he’d heard a word after ‘No.’ I’d had freak-outs before and I knew they were different for everyone, but for me I just needed someone close by. Not touching me, not telling me to calm down or take deeper breaths or smothering me or getting in my personal space. I just needed to not be alone. So that’s what I did with him.
I waited until he was ready to talk. If talking was even what he wanted to do. I just sat next to him and watched the college kids coming and going, just hoping that no one stopped to ask if he was all right. Thankfully, no one did.
I was good at waiting for people to speak first. I just wasn’t really expecting him to say what he did. “Did he follow you here?”
“What?” I said, before I could stop myself. “No. Well, I don’t think so.” Jesus. What kind of guy were we really dealing with?
Yanni swallowed hard and looked at me then. I could see the fear in his eyes. “I can’t stay here.”
“Okay,” I said. “Where can I take you? Tell me, and I’ll get you there.”