Every Shade by Nora Phoenix

2

Jace ran down his checklist one last time to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. Matthew had finished his book—finally, as it had taken him two days to write that last scene—and sent it off to the editor, so that meant Jace’s work of preparing the launch started. He’d gotten the two graphics from the designer for the social media posts, he’d found some fun games for the takeover Matthew had later that day, and he’d contacted the winners from the last giveaway. Yup, that was it.

Now if only Matthew would answer his message about the launch plan Jace had sent him, he could set that in motion and cross that off as well. He’d texted him two hours before, but still no response. It sometimes happened when Matthew was in his writing cave, as he called it, though he usually checked in for five minutes every hour. He wrote in sprints, and he made sure to contact Jace between sprints, if necessary.

Vague unrest tickled the back of Jace’s mind. It wasn’t like Matthew to take this long in responding. Was his power down again? He lived so off the grid that that was a regular occurrence, though he had bought a generator, so that wouldn’t keep him offline for long. And even if the cable was out, he had good signal there, and he’d be able to use his cell phone as a hotspot. So why wasn’t he responding?

Had Matthew messaged him earlier about being offline? Jace double-checked to make sure, even though he already knew the answer. He wouldn’t have forgotten something as important as that. If Matthew knew in advance he’d be offline, he always let Jace know. He’d become diligent at that, and in return, Jace always informed him about appointments as well so Matthew was aware if he was unavailable for a few hours.

Not that it happened often. Jace took his work seriously, and Matthew was his first priority. He’d given him a chance at becoming his PA when Jace had been completely new at it, and Jace had never forgotten it.

Matthew was his only author client, but Jace did work for three other people as their PA. He liked the variety of what he did, and working from home was the biggest plus ever. Hello, pajamas and sweat pants. And in the summer, the sweet relief of AC all day, as Maryland could get brutally hot and humid.

He quickly handled a request from one of his clients, a woman who ran a successful Etsy shop selling handmade signs, then checked in with his other clients. An hour later, Matthew still hadn’t replied, and the vague unrest grew into full-blown concern. Matthew had seemed off the day before. Distracted and forgetting things they’d already talked about. Was something going on with him? The previous message still showed as unread, but Jace messaged him again anyway.

HumblePA:Everything okay? Haven’t heard from you in a few hours.

Too distracted to work now,he made another cup of tea, his phone in hand. Nothing. This was so unlike Matthew. He called him, but it went straight to voicemail. That meant Matthew had his phone on Do Not Disturb. Had he forgotten to turn that off that morning? He hadn’t sent a good-morning message either. Matthew tended to work late and then sleep in, but he usually messaged Jace when he was up and at ‘em. Not today.

Jace checked the time. Past two already. Matthew would be up for at least four hours now. Why wasn’t he responding? Maybe others had heard from him? He fired off some quick messages to Matthew’s author friends. Half an hour later, they’d all replied…and no one had heard from him.

What should he do? His rational mind told him he was overly worried. Matthew was a grown-ass man at thirty-nine, more than capable to take care of himself. Except for the fact that he could be incredibly absentminded at times…forgetting important events unless Jace reminded him. Matthew called it hyper focus. He’d explained he could get so focused on writing that he literally forgot about everything else. Was that what was happening? Had he simply gotten sucked into writing?

That didn’t make sense. He’d just finished a book the day before. He always took off at least two days before starting a new one. Cleansing his head, Matthew called it—he’d do some much-needed chores, tidy and clean his office, and prepare himself mentally for the next book. Jace had learned a lot about Matthew and his work process in the last two years. Apparently, Matthew didn’t do much household work between those cleaning sprees. Jace shivered thinking about it.

If only he had a way to have someone check in on him. But Matthew had broken with his family, save his brother, and Jace only knew his nonauthor friends by name. He didn’t have contact information for them. Matthew was fiercely private, guarding his real identity with fervor to readers and his pen name to his neighbors. Few people knew both, but Jace was one of them.

Not that he’d ever share that information with anyone. He never even called him Avery, his real name. Always Matthew, just to prevent him from accidentally saying the wrong name. After all, their relationship was purely digital as they’d never met in person. Hell, Jace didn’t even know what Matthew looked like. Matthew never posted pics of himself online.

Oh, Jace had conjured up a picture in his mind of a tall man with burning blue eyes and blond hair, long enough that it would curl in his neck. Long, muscled legs and a smooth chest. Like a cowboy. His voice certainly sounded like it, all gravelly and sexy.

Jace had told Matthew he needed to start narrating his own audiobooks, but Matthew had instantly rejected that idea. Too bad. Jace was pretty sure that hearing Matthew read one of his own sex scenes would make him come handsfree. That man’s voice just did something to him…and his books were hella hot.

Jace kept halfheartedly trying to get work done, but when Matthew still hadn’t responded by dinner time, his worry increased tenfold. Maybe his phone had died? But then he still would’ve been able to email Jace. Maybe he’d lost power again? Jace bit his lip as he heated up leftover pizza he’d ordered the day before. Nothing about it made sense. Matthew was absentminded, but not careless. He would’ve made an effort to contact Jace if something had happened.

While eating his pizza, he Googled what Matthew’s nearest police station was. They had a sheriff where he lived. Should Jace call them to do a welfare check? It seemed so over the top. If they even took Jace seriously in the first place. Besides, he was risking Matthew’s privacy, and that wasn’t something Jace would ever jeopardize. No, he couldn’t contact outsiders. Not yet.

When bedtime came and Matthew still hadn’t answered, Jace’s stomach was all in knots. What should he do? He’d have to sleep on it. Wait till the morning. If Matthew was incommunicado for twenty-four hours, Jace would have a reason to act. Until then, he’d have to try his hardest to get some sleep.

It took long before he finally fell asleep, and when he did, he dreamed of blue eyes that pleaded with him for help. And when he woke up at six in the morning and his phone still didn’t show a text from Matthew, he straightened his shoulders. He’d have to do something. He wasn’t sure what, but somehow he knew Matthew needed him. And Jace wouldn’t let him down.