Page 46 of Aftermath

"Found them!" Tim fished something out of their kidnapper's back pocket, which turned out to be the keys for the handcuffs. "I fucking found them!"

15

Cam rubbed his wrists, now free from the bandages, as he waited for Gale to start the group session. Due to his appointment at the hospital, he was early, but a few of the other guys were already here, too. Chase was one of them, and Cam had given him Remy's letter just to have it over with. He'd explained briefly that Remy had contacted him, wanting to get in touch with Chase, and that was that. Now, Chase was sitting on the other side of the waiting room outside Gale's office, staring quietly at the unopened envelope.

"Huntley's not coming?" Victor asked, probably 'cause Cam and Austin usually showed up together.

Cam shook his head no and drummed his fingers on his thigh. He didn’t feel like talking, so he didn’t. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about Austin's reason for not being here. 'Cause he sure as fuck was.

Austin hadn't shown up again on Saturday, nor on Sunday, nor on Monday. But they'd kept in touch through texts and calls, and Cam knew all about the separation and the divorce.

He couldn’t deny it; he was relieved for selfish reasons. Whenever Austin called him, ranting, bitching, yelling…just unloading, Cam was merely satisfied it was to him. Apparently, it was pretty frosty between Austin and Jade, though they maintained a united front for Riley's sake, and now they were rushing to move on from each other.

Jade was gonna move in with her parents in Delano for a while 'til she found her own place. First, she was gonna get settled in at her new job, which she started in three weeks, according to Austin. And today, she was having a girls' day with Riley. Austin had told him that they were gonna make copies of all their home movies, make scrapbooks of photos that didn’t have albums, and…some other shit. Meanwhile—the reason Austin had to cancel on today's group session—he was gonna look at an apartment not far from where Cam lived.

One reason for the rush, other than the fact that Austin and Jade wanted to get this over with, was that Riley started her new school year soon, and Austin wanted to be settled before then. So, he wasn’t picky—as long as Riley could have her own room. It was supposedly temporary, this apartment business, but Cam hadn't asked any further questions. He was just stoked Austin was looking at apartments near Cam's house.

Thinking ahead, he realized that meant a new school district for Riley, so that could also be a reason to hurry. Changing schools was never fun, but it would suck even more if it happened once the semester had already started.

As far as Cam knew, Riley's only demands were to stay in Bakersfield with her dad and that she would be relatively close to her old friends.

Just as Sean showed up and nodded in hello, Cam's phone vibrated with an incoming text from Austin.

Can I spend the night at your house? Tomorrow, too. Jade's turning the house into a showcase home for the Realtor's photographer, and my parents are picking up Riley in a few hours.

They really weren’t wasting time, Cam mused as he typed out a response.

It'll cost ya.

The reply was almost instant.

The Realtor or spending the night with you? I think I can manage.

Cam grinned to himself and pocketed the phone. He hoped he'd see Austin soon, like right after this session. They both had a lot to do today, but because Austin had to cancel now, he'd made an appointment with Gale for right after. Seeing each other in passing wouldn’t hurt.

Later today, Cam was driving over to the garage his brother owned. Having never been a big spender, he still had plenty of savings, but he missed getting his hands dirty. He missed the smell, and he missed the tinkering. It had always taken care of his fidgeting in the past. To see a car roll in, then locate the issue and fix it—yeah, he fucking yearned to go back. Especially with old cars, the vintage beauties. Not that they didn’t cater to others; it was a big garage, and Landon had a crew who knew a lot.

Whether it was big trucks with air-brake system failure after a cross-country drive, motorcycles in need of brake pad replacement, vintage cars where the ignition sometimes gave you trouble since yesterday's technology wasn’t as advanced, or tow service, Landon's guys could handle it. And Cam had his own nook in the large service bay where he took on problems that made the others throw in the towel.

For someone who lost his patience so quickly, he had it in abundance when it came to cars. Heunderstoodcars. There was logic in engines. It was black and white.

Once upon a time, Cam had studied theology for five years to understand religion, and he still hadn't gotten his fucking answers. His parents were religious to the point where they went to church on holidays, and Jules had grown up in a strict Catholic family, though no one could really tell even if they knew her. But Cam couldn’t see the big deal. He relied on science, straight answers, and logic. He had tried, though. No one could say he hadn't.

And if religion was bad, what could he say about psychology? Christ, he really hated coming here, though it was necessary. He might not understand how Gale helped, but she did nonetheless. After some sessions, he felt raw and turned inside out, but it kept him sane. The way past pain was through it. Bottling it up would destroy him.

"Did youse read the interview in yesterday's paper?" Lance asked. He'd been the last to arrive, and Cam knew this was his last session. He'd decided to move back to New York, back to Staten Island, and who could blame him? Lance had moved here for a job in construction two years ago; that probably wasn’t enough to outweigh the bad memories he now lived with.

After all that time in a basement that smelled of mildew, Lance had even become asthmatic.

Some of the guys murmured yes; they'd read the interview, but Cam tuned it out. He knew all too fucking well that Psycho's older brother and mother were throwing around kind words like propaganda. He didn’t need to read the details.

"The bitch said he was a straight-A student and a perfect son," Victor said, scoffing. "Perfect, my ass."

It was like this before every group session. The guys would gossip and curse about the interviews, and Cam and Austin would sit there in silence, trying to ignore it all. Actually, Chase was quiet, too. Cam's own theory about Chase's silence was that he felt guilty—for a stupid goddamn reason—'cause he hadn't seen the inside of that torture room. He wasn’t the only one who hadn't. Cam figured they should just see it as a small blessing, but, re-fucking-gardless, they'd been through hell, too.

Cam shook his head and looked down at the scars on his wrists. Blessing.There's some divine shit right there. Fucking religion.

"Yo, Cam." Lance jerked his chin. "Where's Austin?"

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