Page 17 of Aftermath

"Christ, James." That was Lance again. "I can't—I can't fucking stop it. I can't stop the bleeding."

James had only been the first guy to leave in a body bag. He had taken out the sharp razor blades from the plastic handle and dragged them along the insides of his forearms and then swallowed the blades.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Austin's question brought Cam back to the present.

Cam shook his head no and swallowed hard. He needed to get rid of Austin before he embarrassed himself some more. Last night had been more than enough. "Look, I'm gonna get ready—"

"Yeah, no, of course." Austin stood up. "We'll talk later?"

"Sure thing."

When they were standing by the door, they said goodbye and Austin walked toward his Mercedes. "Wait—just one thing," Austin said, opening the door to his car. He tapped the top as if he was hesitant to speak. "Did you say something earlier about, uh, about a rule you'd break?"

Cam blinked slowly as he tried to catch up with Austin's thoughts. It hit him, and he bit back a laugh. Leaning against the doorframe, he folded his arms across his chest, feeling a smirk tug at the corners of his mouth.

"You really wanna bring that up, buddy?" He reached up and scratched his neck. This was fun. No, fuck that. This was fucking hilarious. Austin was uncomfortable, and he wasn’t even looking Cam in the eye. Eye contact was usually Cam's problem. "Maybe it's best you run on home to the wifey. All right?"

"Or maybe you should answer my fucking question, Cam," Austin snapped irritably.

"Oh-ho!" Cam laughed. Christ, he wished he could read Austin's mind right now. Closing the door behind himself, he walked down the two steps and approached. "What do youreallywanna know?" Standing on the other side of the open car door, Cam flashed a wicked grin.

"I want to know what you meant," Austin replied imploringly. "Same goes for what you said about the position you're usually in."

This was getting good. Almost too good. "It means I'm usually on top, Austin." Cam rested his forearms on the door. "And the rule?" He chuckled. "I was just fucking with you. Give it a rest."

Austin arched a brow behind his glasses. His confidence was back. "And who are you usually on top of?"

"What the fuck, man?" Cam cracked up again, took a step backward, and widened his arms. "Are you seriously asking me that? What do you want from me, huh?"

"An answer."

Cam was starting to wonder if he'd missed something. What had been on Austin's mind lately? 'Cause this was new. "I'm usually on top of whoever I'm banging—that what you wanted to hear?" He decided to lay it all out there. "Men, women, whatever. There. You got your answer." With a shake of his head, he turned around and walked inside.

He didn’t give a shit what people thought about his sexuality—usually. He couldn’t imagine Austin having any issues, but if he did? Fuck, Camwouldcare.

Son of a bitch, this wasn’t gonna be a good day. He could feel it.

7

"Come on, Huntley!" Maybe Angelo looked like a Brazilian underwear model, but he was thedevil. "Give me ten more!" He grabbed on to Austin's knees. "Come on!"

"Fuck you," Austin grunted and did another sit-up. His T-shirt and shorts were soaked in sweat, and it had only been half an hour. It was fucking embarrassing. When he got home, maybe he'd even go into Jade's secret ice cream stash at the back of the freezer.

"Not while you're my client." Angelo winked.

Austin collapsed down on the floor and stared up at Angelo with wide eyes.

Seriously?

Perhaps there was a damn sign on Austin's forehead that read,"I may or may not have thought about a cock today that wasn’t my own."

"Jesus," he panted, sweat burning in his eyes. He grabbed the towel near his head and wiped it down his face. "I think I'm done." And not just for today.

Austin was a damn mess, inside and out. His body was aching from the brief workout, and his mind…there were no words. Instead of thinking about what Cam had said this morning, he was just pissed. He grew angry for nothing. Angry for not being able to do twenty-five sit-ups without gasping for air, angry for his physical reaction to Cam earlier, angry at Jade for not understanding him, angry at himself for the same reason, angry at his boss for telling him not to come back yet, and angry for…basically everything and everyone—not counting his daughter.

That was probably the only aspect of his life that hadn't changed. Being a father came naturally to him, and he had slipped right back into the daddy role when returning home. Maybe because Riley was easygoing and didn’t demand much. She loved to swim, loved to watch movies, loved to draw, and loved to eat.

Today they'd just hung out by the pool, Austin throwing her around or doing laps, and when Riley had wanted to paint, they'd gone up and settled on the terrace. Austin had read some more about Asperger's on his laptop; he'd also started four books, none of which had captured his attention. Meanwhile, Riley had been happily drawing and coloring at the table, and then they'd gone out for Mexican for lunch. Easy. So damneasy. But the rest of his life? No.

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