Page 2 of Aftermath

It was Saturday, and with the thermometer showing 89 degrees, it was a record-breaking day for early February. It meant Pool Day for the Huntleys. Well, at least for Austin and Riley. Jade didn’t go near the pool until the weather had heated up the water a bit more.

Before Austin could close the car door behind himself, there was suddenly a hand shooting up. The stranger acted while Austin was in shock, and soon a cloth covered his nose and mouth. During a brief struggle, he inhaled sickeningly sweet vapors of something chemical through a gasp, which caused numbness to set in and his vision to blur. Only a few seconds later, he was unconscious.

When he woke up, not for the first time, he was dazed, nauseated, cuffed, confused, and he was enveloped in darkness.Thatwas a first. The few times he'd woken up before, that meaty hand had reappeared and covered his mouth and nose again with the same cloth, and Austin hadn't been strong enough to fight. And it hadn't been dark. But now…

He looked around himself, panic creeping up his spine, but he saw nothing. Not even his hands that he could feel cuffed together in front of him. It was pitch-black, and as his senses slowly returned to him, he gagged at the smell of sweat, urine, and vomit.

"He-hello?" he croaked as a furious headache settled in. Judging by how his voice carried, he guessed he was in a small space.

Then there was a response. "Not your lucky day, man."

Fear shot through Austin, and he automatically pulled his legs closer to his body and raised his arms in case a fight was coming. He was definitely not alone in this small…wherever he was.

"Where am I?" Austin demanded in a rasp.

This time, the man spoke softer. "No idea."

2

After his shower, Cam paced in his living room, still only wearing the towel around his narrow hips. He hadn't shaved yet, which he'd told himself to do today, but he had more important things on his mind. Austin was late, and it made Cam annoyed asfuck.

Sitting down on the edge of his bed, his knee started to bounce, and he tapped the pad of his thumb along the fingertips on his right hand. Then he did the left twice. His silvery gray eyes slid to the clock above the flat screen, and he scowled.

I'm gonna punch him in the fucking face.

Cam grew impatient quickly, although he'd probably passed impatient the minute it was noon. Reaching over to the low coffee table, he snatched up his pack of smokes and a lighter, then lit one up and took a deep, calming drag. Meanwhile, he looked down and touched his thumb to the remaining four fingers on his right hand. Just the tips. Over and over. While he breathed deeply through his nose.

It helped him to handle stress—something to focus on.

As had become common now, every window in the entire house—not that it was big; just a two-bedroom, one-story home—was open, and the lamps were timed to switch on at sunset. Landon, his older brother, had bought him a bunch of those timers.

Another thing that had changed was that he now slept in the living room. His bed had replaced the couch. It was more open and spacious than his bedroom down the hall.

He was lucky his family had pitched in to pay the bills—mortgage and utilities—while Cam was…elsewhere. They said renting it out would be like not believing Cam was still alive.

Tomorrow was his thirty-fourth birthday, and he dreaded having the house filled with family and coworkers. He wouldn’t call them friends, 'cause he shied away from those. But there were four other guys working in his brother's garage, Cam not included, and they'd be here, too.

He'd thought about inviting Austin, but then he'd changed his mind. Austin would probably bring his wife and kid, and that meant more people crowding him. Plus, he'd already met Jade once and that was enough.

So not going down that path.

He was adamant about seeing Austin today, though, 'cause it had been too long. Austin had shut down around the same time they started giving their statements to the police, and now Cam was gonna intervene.

Checking the time again, he pushed back his dark hair that was in serious need of a cut, and he nodded to himself.Fifteen minutes. Austin was fifteen minutes late. That motherfucker.

Thankfully, as Cam stubbed out his smoke in an ashtray, the doorbell rang, and he was off the bed in a flash. He secured the towel around his hips and went to the door, nearly ripping it open.

"Don’t you own a fucking watch?" he asked irritably.

Austin raised a brow over his glasses. Those were new, by the way. Cam hadn't seen them before, and he…he liked them. They kinda made Austin look all authoritative—

"Want me to leave again?" There was a dare in Austin's dry tone.

Cam glared and left the small hallway, counting on Austin to follow. Crossing the living room, he walked out the door that led to the small backyard. There was no grass; Cam hated mowing the lawn. When he'd bought this house a few years ago, he and his brother had taken a couple weekends to pave the area around the kidney-shaped pool with flat stones and build a wooden patio. The pool took up most of the space, and it brought back memories of some of the things he and Austin had talked about missing when…

Cam shook his head, not wanting to think about it. Instead he sat down in a chair and waited for Austin to join him. There was a cooler with beers between two chairs, and depending on how long Austin stayed, there were two steaks in the fridge, soaking in marinade.

There was also an umbrella to shield them from the worst of the sun.

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