Page 52 of Five Minute Man
Brandon looked up slowly and met his eyes. “Why did you do it, Uncle Adam?”
The look on the kid’s face sent a wave of dread through Adam’s unsettled stomach, but he steeled his emotions, needing information. His nephew obviously knew more than he did about what had gone down.
“Do what, exactly?”
Was that his voice? Either he was slurring his words or his brain wasn’t translating the signals properly.
Brandon’s next words had bile rising in the back of his throat.
“I thought you really liked Holly.”
Holly!She couldn’t have anything to do with this, could she? He was supposed to go over to her place last night. He had been looking forward to it all day.Shit!If he felt like this, what kind of shape was she in this morning?
But wait ... That didn’t make any sense. If he had made it over to her place, he wouldn’t behere, and he wouldn’t have woken up alone. Though, given the way his day had started, that was probably a good thing.
He clamped his eyes shut and scrubbed his face with his hands.Remember!he commanded himself. It was as though his brain was a blackboard and someone had just wiped it clean. All that remained were a few blurry white patches where the chalk had been.
While he couldn’t recall any specifics, he knew in his gut that wherever he had been, whatever he had done, it hadn’t been with Holly.
Butwhyhadn’t he been with Holly?
“I do care about Holly,” Adam said, trying to remember where he had left his phone. He had to call her and ... say what exactly?Hi, Holly, it’s Adam. Do you have any idea what I did last night? Why I’m here at my place, feeling like roadkill, instead of waking up in bliss beside you?
He had finally found someone he wanted to be with, someone who had seemed just as happy to be with him. The last thing he needed was her questioning her choice to spend time with his sorry ass. Maybe his phone held some clue. He could at least look at the text and call log. Maybe that would trigger something to help him make some sense of this.
“You sure have a funny way of showing it.”
The hair on the back of his neck rose and prickled, another wave of dread and cold sweat washing over him. Adam didn’t know if it was purely physical, or a reaction to Brandon’s words and the tone he had used. Despite their closeness, Brandon had never addressed him with such disrespect.
“Excuse me?”
“It just doesn’t seem right. While Holly’s laying in a hospital, you’re out with your ex? Not cool, Uncle Adam.”
Several things happened in quick succession. Adam’s heart stopped beating for a couple seconds, then restarted by pounding painfully hard and fast against the walls of his chest. Then the contents of his stomach decided they didn’t want to remain where they were, after all.
Adam barely made it to the bathroom in time. Then, after retching violently, his legs betrayed him and he ended up hanging on to the toilet to keep himself from face-planting into the tiled floor.
The next thing he knew, Brandon was leaning over him, pressing a cold, wet towel to a really sore spot on his temple. The disappointment on the kid’s face was now mixed with genuine concern.
“Hang on, Uncle Adam. I’m going to call for an ambulance.”
Adam grabbed Brandon’s arm with surprising strength. “No ambulance,” Adam said through clenched teeth as his body started to shake uncontrollably. “Tell me what happened.”
Brandon blinked and studied his face. “You mean, you really don’t remember?”
“Can’t remember shit,” Adam said, forcing himself to take deep breaths, knowing whatever it was, it wasbad. “Just tell me what happened to Holly. Why is she in the hospital? Is she all right?”
For the first time, Brandon seemed uncertain. “Okay, but let’s get you to the couch first.”
Moving in any fashion was not in the least bit appealing, but Adam used every last ounce of willpower he had. With Brandon’s help and a steel will not to vomit all over his favorite nephew, Adam managed to make it to the couch. By the time he got there, he was covered in sweat and feeling as weak as a pup. He sank down into the cushions and wiped his face with the cool cloth.
“Okay. Start talking.”
“There was a fire at Holly’s yesterday,” Brandon began, taking the chair adjacent to the couch to remain close. “I was doing my volunteer shift down at the fire company when the call came in around three or so. Someone reported hearing an explosion and seeing smoke.”
“Christ,” Adam swore. “Anexplosion? You mean, like a gas leak or something?”
“Or something,” Brandon said grimly. “It happened in one of the smaller outbuildings. A tool shed or something. The fire chief is working with the police. Nothing official yet, but the chief said it looked like a clear case of arson. He found evidence of an accelerant at the scene.”
