STUCK | MxMxM

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Joe was back at the office. They had shared a laugh before going back to their work. William was worried about Theo, having witnessed the distressed way he left the company with his phone. Why had he asked for it? He was dying to know but the expression on the older's face hadn't left any room for investigation.

Joe had asked him a time or two if he knew where Theo had gone. He said he didn't know as it was the truth. And then he came. It had been a calm day, minus his anxiety of course, up until that moment and then all hell broke loose.

Theo barged in, feet stumping loudly on the floor as his angry eyes were dead on Joe. Joe probably felt something wasn't right as he watched him come closer where he was seated behind his desk. William watched the fight unfold in front of him, standing just outside of the door frame of their office, too scared to go in when Theo was in this state.

Two phones were tossed on the desk in front of Joe.
"Do you have anything to say to me?" His voice was void of any other emotion but pure rage.
Joe looked at the phones, completely dumbfounded, before looking back up at his husband with wide eyes. "What is this about?" His question sounded utterly innocent. William was confused too.
"Don't take me for a fool, Joe. Fucking answer me. Look at these phones then look me in the eye and tell me why you did it."
This time, Joe seemed to have understood in a flash what this was about. His expression changed to one of guilt as he looked to the side, then down as he licked over his lips.
"I'm waiting." Theo pressed when the other man remained silent, looking too ashamed even to look up.
William's heart was in his throat because Theo had been yelling with that deep voice of his so loud that it filled the entire floor. He was shaking but he didn't want to leave since whatever this was involved him too because his phone was right there.
"How did you know?" Joe had the audacity to ask.
"Does that even matter right now?" He yelled, furious.
There was a few moments of silence.
"...I'm sorry." Joe said at last.
"I don't want a fucking apology, Joe. I want a reason." Theo said through gritted teeth. It was obvious he was trying to suppress a complete burst.
"I don't look at it, baby. I just put them there because I want to know where to find you if anything happens again. But I swear I don't look at it at all in our normal days. The last time you disappeared I was losing my mind trying to find you. It feels like I've spent my entire life constantly trying to find you when you disappear and I just... can't live with that anxiety anymore. Since I've put them there, I haven't had a reason to look at it at all. It's just a backup. It's just a backup, baby, I swear."
William didn't know what they were talking about but if he were to put 2 and 2 together, Joe was probably tracking Theo's phone but then why...
"Why do it to William's phone?" Theo asked out loud the question he was too afraid to even think of. If Joe had put a tracker in his phone... no, he didn't want to think about it. That would be a lot to process.
William's eyes were glued on Joe as the man looked at him for a few seconds with such a pained expression that it broke his heart. He had never seen Joe wearing such raw emotions on his face before.
The man looked away, hands coming to the surface of the table to grip the two phones. "Because I can't take chances anymore. Because, I don't know when he will end up in a club that's too dangerous for him again. Because I don't know where his friend will end up taking him and I want to be prepared if anything ever happens to him." Joe looked back up at him again. "I'm sorry I put trackers in your phones but I really don't look at the locations. I just want them there for safety." He sounded drained of energy. Like Theo held so much power over him that he was ashamed of even looking up at the man standing tall in front of him while he was seated. And Theo had an authoritative voice when he wanted to use it for intimidation but William had never seen him use it on Joe before.

"And that solves what, exactly? You were worried? You needed backup? Safety? That's all excuses. You could've asked. We probably would've agreed, or not. But you should have asked." Theo punched his fist on the desk in 3 loud thumps as he said the last 3 words while his voice became louder. All of them made William flinch and for his heart to beat faster against his ribcage. He could feel it in his back now. It hurt whenever it beat like this.
"I know. I know, it's all my fault. But baby please calm down. You're,... William is a bit shaken." Joe probably changes his sentence from 'you're scaring William' to that last second to not make Theo feel too bad about it.
He didn't know what to feel about what Joe had done but as an empath, he felt a little for him. But he knew he never consented to getting tracked and it wasn't okay to do so without his knowing.
Theo's head whipped at him with those raging eyes, making William cower into himself a bit. Not because he was scared of Theo, but because he was embarrassed he couldn't handle even this much.
Yanking the phones off the desk, he walked to William, gave him his phone. "I had the trackers removed." and walked to the elevator.
"Where are you going?" Joe asked after him, worried.
"None of your fucking business." He said, marching out.