Desire Me If You Can Chapter 40

Grayson stood motionless, pricking up his ears and focusing his entire attention on his surroundings. It felt like a significant amount of time had passed, but he sensed nothing.

Did I mishear it?

Just as he was about to brush it off as nothing, he heard the sound again. There was no way he could have been mistaken twice. After twitching his ears briefly, Grayson scanned his surroundings with a scowl.

The residential area was filled with rows of identical houses separated by a road; nothing stood out as unusual. He had to focus once more to pinpoint the direction of the noise. Taking the sound that followed after a brief pause as his cue, he began to walk. The next time he heard it, it was clearer than before.

“Help me.”

As the distance closed, the destination became clear. Grayson stopped in front of one of the similar-looking houses and glanced around.

“Please, help…!”

The child shouted again, as if having heard Grayson’s footsteps. This time, he was certain. Without hesitation, he opened the side gate and stepped inside. He could feel the dry grass crunching beneath his feet. It had turned brown and withered, leaving clear traces that it hadn’t been cared for in quite a while.

“Help me, help me!”

The child’s voice grew more desperate. Grayson pressed his ear against the wall and waited for a moment, but the house remained silent, as if no one were home. The child must have known that, which was why they were screaming so frantically.

Having reached that conclusion, Grayson looked down at the lower level from where the sound originated. There was a large cellar door. The sound was muffled by the closed door, but he could hear it clearly—likely because it was perforated somewhere, perhaps to allow for ventilation. Grayson knelt on one knee on the ground and leaned his ear against the door.

“Is someone there?”

At Grayson’s question, the voice from inside shouted back with an even higher pitch.

“Yes, yes! I’m here! Please, help me, let me out, I beg you!”

The tear-choked voice was hoarse from how much the child must have been screaming.

“Oh, dear…”

Grayson let out an empathetic sound and asked again.

“What’s your name? Why are you in there? What happened?”

The child sniffled before answering.

“I-I’m Santiano. My dad… he said I have to be in here because I’m a bad kid…”

The rest of the sentence dissolved into sobs. Grayson nodded as if he understood.

“I see. Alright, I’ll help you.”

This was an action he had often performed in the past. Helping others—what a wonderful and altruistic act it was. Grayson was always prepared to help those in need and was happy to do so when the opportunity arose. Just as he had been taught to do since he was very young. This time was no different.

He opened one side of the double doors. On the floor of the cellar, which seemed unfathomably deep, stood a little boy who didn’t even reach Grayson’s knees, looking up at him with a face full of tension. In Santiano’s expression—as he stood on tiptoe and stretched his arms out as far as he could, hoping for a miracle—there was a wealth of expectation and hope. He believed that he would finally be able to escape this dark, terrifying cellar, that this brilliantly radiant adult man would save him, and that his nightmarish days would finally come to an end.

However.

“…Oh?”

Suddenly, Grayson jumped into the cellar. The door he had thrown open slammed shut with a dull thud, and the space was once again swallowed by darkness. Santiano had no idea what had just happened. He stood there, blinking blankly, until a faint beam of light filtered through the gap in the double doors, illuminating the man’s flamboyant face. Only then did Santiano realize that instead of getting him out, the man had entered this horrific space with him.

“Wh-what are you doing? You’re supposed to get me out!”

Santiano shouted in panic. Watching the child’s confused face, Grayson tilted his head as if puzzled.

“Why? You’re currently being punished, aren’t you?”

“…What?”

When Santiano asked back, still unable to comprehend, Grayson added in a soothing tone:

“You shouldn’t run away while you’re being punished. That’s what bad kids do.”

Santiano couldn’t understand what on earth this meant.

What is this guy talking about right now?

Grayson spoke in a thoughtful voice to the child, whose face had turned pale and drained of all color.

“But Santiano, it’s okay now. Don’t worry.”

He slowly reached out a hand. As the child flinched and backed away, Grayson smiled brightly with his hand suspended in mid-air and said:

“I’ll stay here with you.”

Hope vanished completely from the child’s face, replaced by shock and terror.

∞ ∞ ∞

Once things were somewhat settled, they gathered in one spot to head back. After Ezra, who had taken the final photo, returned the phone, the guys who had been waiting there rubbed their trapezius muscles and let out a collective sigh.

“Dane Striker, as always. Once he shows up, the women go crazy.”

At someone’s comment, the others chimed in, chatting away.

“Is it just the women? Even the guys were trying to take photos with him earlier.”

“Why don’t you do a campaign with Dane as the model? Putting sexy photos like that on it would be incredibly effective!”

“Like a public service announcement, you mean?”

“Then a fire prevention campaign would be perfect!”

“How about something like this? Comforting people. I heard there are services like that these days; we could run it on a fire station level. If Dane were to go, the reaction would be explosive, don’t you think?”

“Oh, that’s good too. What do you think, Dane? Isn’t that a great idea?”

The excited guys waited for Dane’s reaction. Dane, who hadn’t said a word until then, opened his mouth lethargically with dull eyes.

“I hate volunteer work more than anything else in the world.”

With that, all discussion was terminated. The fact that he had taken photos and signed autographs earlier must have been because he was “on the job.” Dane drew a strict line between work and private life; had he not been on duty, he certainly would have ignored the request regardless of who asked or why.

Yaaawn, Dane opened his mouth wide and let out a massive yawn. Seeing him like that, Diandre whispered in a low voice:

“Did that guy go out and party hard again last night?”

Another guy nodded.

“Highly likely. Dane always goes to the club on his days off.”

“He sure is diligent—in that regard, anyway.”

“Alright, alright, that’s enough. Let’s go back, it’s getting too late.”

Ezra said, tapping the side of the truck. Dane climbed into the vehicle first, and the rest followed, snickering as they hopped in. It wasn’t until just before the truck pulled away that they realized one person was missing.

“Huh? What is it? Something feels off.”

At someone’s remark, Diandre reacted immediately.

“Isn’t Miller missing?”

Everyone realized the fact at the same moment and looked around in panic. No matter how many times they checked, Grayson was nowhere to be seen.

“Dammit, hell!”

“Miller, Grayson Miller!”

“Where is he? Let’s go back, come out now!”

“Miller!”

“Grayson Miller! Damn it!”

Cursing, they hopped back out of the truck and shouted his name to find Grayson, but there was no response.

“Fuck, that asshole!”

Diandre kicked the truck’s tire, unable to contain his temper. Although not quite as heated as Diandre, who was panting with rage, the others didn’t feel too great either.