Page 1 of Aftermath

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3 AM

Unable to sleep, Austin left the bed, slid on his new black-framed glasses, and trudged downstairs. It was August, and that meant the AC was working around the clock, but Austin still preferred the fresh air outside.

That could be considered ironic because Bakersfield topped many lists of cities where it was too polluted and dirty. But after having spent five months in a basement against his will, nothing was going to stop him from being outdoors.

Wearing only his sleep pants, he pushed open the patio door and slumped down in one of the chairs. Immediately he regretted not grabbing a glass of bourbon first, but he was too lazy to bother now. Instead he sat silently, absently massaging his bandaged wrists, and stared out at the backyard, only illuminated by the lights in the large swimming pool.

His wife's words were still wreaking havoc inside of him, and he suspected that was one of the reasons he couldn’t sleep.

"We have to leave this behind us now, Austin. It's in the past. I miss you, and I want you back."

Jade, Austin's wife of fifteen years, wasn’t a cruel woman; he wouldn’t have stayed married to her if that were the case. But to say something like that… How did you simply leave a five-month long kidnapping behind you? How did you move on? How did you ignore a time in your life where you didn’t know if you'd even live to see tomorrow?

He often tried to talk to her about it, but she wouldn’t hear him out. She kept repeating her words about leaving the past in the past.

Scrubbing a hand over his jaw, he groaned and then rubbed his shoulder—the one that was still bothering him. It had been about a month now since he and another six men had returned to freedom, and he'd been poked and prodded by too many doctors to count.

His eyes were still sensitive to direct sunlight. His body was slowly healing after being beaten and broken in captivity. He had constant headaches, which only got worse with the new glasses he had to get used to. The dull ache in his ribs annoyed him. Scars now decorated his body, and he'd lost too much weight too quickly, so every meal now came with protein shake supplements along with the pain medication he'd been prescribed. There was also a physical therapist involved, as well as a psychologist specializing in trauma.

Yeah, let's just move on.

Austin snorted quietly to himself and leaned his head back, struggling with his anger.

Anger was new. He'd always been a quiet man, content to be content, and had never been demanding. But now? Christ, he was constantly on the verge of lashing out, especially when one of his headaches began to pound. During a few questionings by the police, and one particularly gruesome interview by a news reporter, Austin had stormed out before he could either do serious damage to furniture or rearrange a few faces.

Questions bothered him, because he didn’t have concrete answers, so maybe his wife's request was good. Perhaps he could just let this die; he'd move on and pretend everything was all right.

I hear Santa's real, too.

"Daddy?"

Austin's head snapped around; he'd clearly been too deep into his thoughts to hear the patio door opening. "What're you doing up, baby girl?" he asked, clearing his throat. He waved her forward, his heart giving an extra thump at the sight of his ten-year-old. In captivity, he had missed her so much. Her hazel eyes, light brown hair, and heart-shaped face reminded him of what was worth fighting for.

"Can't sleep." Riley shrugged and padded over to him, hopping up to sit on her father's lap.

He was usually "Dad," but after coming back home, Riley had reverted to the little girl she once was in need of comfort. But you wouldn’t find Austin complaining. He held his girl close and kissed the top of her head.

"Do Ihaveto go to Nana and Pops' tomorrow?" she asked sullenly.

Austin cracked a small smile, although there really wasn’t any humor in the situation. Riley adored Austin's parents—secretly a lot more than Gramma and Gramps on Jade's side—but nowadays, Riley was reluctant to leave his side.

It was a good thing it was summer break. Austin had a feeling it wouldn’t have been easy to ship off Riley to school every morning.

"You know I won't be home, anyway," he murmured. "You'll have fun with Nana and Pops. I heard they're taking you to the zoo." He stifled a yawn, too tired for words, but knew his mind wouldn’t let him fall asleep.

Another reason Austin couldn’t sleep was his odd need to check in with Cam—the man he'd been thrown into a cage-like cell with all those months ago. After spending most of that time together, they'd formed a bond he didn’t understand, but it was there nonetheless. In fact, it felt wrong not to see him every day now. Since they'd been returned to freedom, they'd only seen each other in passing, and Cam had called him yesterday and told him,"Get your ass to my house."

To an outsider, Cameron Nash was standoffish and almost appeared threatening. He looked like a bad boy, talked like he didn’t give a rat's ass, and walked like someone you didn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Not like he owned the world, but…more like,"I fucking dare you to take one step closer."But Austin knew better. He knew it was a shield Cam put up to defend himself.

"But you'll be home by dinner, right?" Riley's soft voice brought Austin back once more.

"I promise." He gave her a squeeze.

Later, when he'd convinced Riley to go back to bed, Austin found himself dozing off in the chair on the patio, and the flashbacks and bad dreams followed quickly.

After paying for the gas, Austin returned to his wife's Rover, eager to continue his day off. It had only been interrupted because Jade was going shopping later, and she hated having to stop for gas. Since Riley wanted ice cream, Austin had offered to step out for a bit to fill up the car and buy strawberry popsicles.

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