My Best Friend's Brother [Rewritten]

Nine: Loving Me Takes Patience

MattMcWise and sorry for the late update. Thank you for bearing with me....

CW: Blood, hate crime, adjacent actions, guns.

Percy turned down a dark road, clenching Annabeth's hand, who was trying Peyton's number after each 'call failed' notice.

"There's no service out here; I'm never gonna reach them," Annabeth whined.

"I don't know where they would be—" Percy groaned.

"Maybe The Lodge?"

"Why would they go there?"

"Didn't you guys say something about it being the one spot you guys would always go? Why wouldn't they be there?"

"It's too obvious." Percy's brows furrowed.

"It doesn't hurt to try." Annabeth shrugged.

"Especially since we have no leads." He agreed.

"Besides, maybe someone saw them."

"Alright, Wise Girl."

~

Since Peyton didn't have a car, they had to go in to look for them. It wasn't like they could just pull up, see if their car was there, and move on.

"Come on, let's go." Percy barely remembered to take the keys with him when he got out.

Annabeth's bones cracked beneath her as she walked. Between the cold and her fall, she was not feeling great.

Percy nearly slammed into the bar as he ran in.

"Have you seen Peyton?" Percy sounded breathless.

"Yeah." The bartender dried some glasses with a rag thrown over his shoulder like he was out of a movie. "They just went out back with some guys."

"What guys? Who are they? Do you know them?" Percy urged.

"Nah, just some local hunters; you know they come 'round this time of year, Perce."

"Are they good guys?"

"I don't know 'em personally."

"Thanks—" Percy pushed off the bar and headed towards the back.

Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand, pulling her out the back door with him.

Annabeth watched it all in slow motion; Percy found Peyton against a wall, the guys smiling and laughing with them— no, at them.

"Hey!" Percy shouted, gripping Annabeth's hand like she was the one about to beat up two burly men.

"Hey man, what's up." One of them took notice of Percy.

"I should ask you. What do you want with my sibling?" Annabeth could see he was trying to stand tall and be brave for Peyton, but he was scared. He was scared for Peyton, scared for Annabeth, scared for himself. Who knew if these guys had guns or weapons on them?

"Nah, man, we're just asking her some questions." One of the hunters smiled, and they saw he was missing his two front teeth.

"Peyton, are you okay?" Percy held a hand out toward Peyton.

"I don't know why you're here, Percy, everything's fine." They rolled their eyes and crossed their arms.

"Yeah, Buddy, we're just talking, maybe gonna bring her back to our place, show her around." The other hunter picked at his nails with his teeth as he spoke.

"How about you stop misidentifying them, and then we can talk about what you're after dinner plans are, okay?" Percy's hand tightened around Annabeth's and moved her behind him.