Page 14 of Aftermath #1

14

T he minute Austin stepped foot inside his house, there was shouting from Jade and sobbing from Riley.

Austin had prepared himself on the ride over, though. He knew what was about to happen, so he took control. Walking in to the kitchen, he was spotted by Riley first, who threw herself at him.

"Are we really gonna move to Delano, Dad?" she cried.

"No. I promise." He hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head. "Now, go to your room while I talk to Mom."

"But—"

"Go," he commanded softly, and Riley slumped her shoulders and went upstairs to her room. Austin faced Jade next, wondering why they hadn't separated yet. It was clearly long overdue. "How long have you been thinking about divorce?" he asked bluntly. Because he couldn’t believe this was new. He'd only been home for less than a month. A marriage didn’t fall apart that quickly—not after fifteen years.

Jade swallowed, a flicker of regret flashing across her features. "The past year… I'm really sorry, Austin—"

"Don’t apologize." Austin didn’t want to hear it. "I should've seen it coming. God knows I see it now." He sat down at the table; Jade cautiously joined him. "But what's this crap about Delano?"

"I've been offered a job there," she admitted. "I want to take it."

Austin nodded, just wanting to get this over with. It was becoming abundantly clear to him that in order to heal, he needed to be by himself. Not counting his daughter.

"Riley stays with me."

Jade's eyes widened. "What? No!" she cried out. "I'm her mother; she should be with me."

A small and sinister smile made its way to Austin's face. "Wrong way to phrase it, Jade. She should be with you if you want her to. Not because you're her mother." Anger burned in his eyes. "How will you even deal with all this? You're just going to pack up the house, move to Delano, get settled in a new place, adjust to your new job, enroll Riley at a new school, and deal with the fact that she doesn’t want to be there?"

Jade glared at him. "Don’t drag this out. I want an easy divorce, and you being bitter won't help."

Austin couldn’t help but laugh. " Bitter ? Oh, Jade." He chuckled and shook his head. "You have it all wrong. You're under the impression that I want us to stay together." Jade suddenly looked shocked. "Truth be told, I honestly don’t give a fuck about you anymore." That was aimed to hurt, and it looked like it did. But his ex-wife-to-be fucking deserved it. The way she'd treated him since he came back home… "You manipulative little…" He trailed off, angrier than ever before.

"Austin," Jade choked out. "What are you doing? How can you say that to me—"

"Asks the woman who told me to get over a five-month long kidnapping without so much as a pat on the back." Austin raised a brow. "You've used that as an excuse to get out, haven't you?" Jade didn’t respond. But Austin didn’t need her to. She'd never been a good liar; he could see the truth written on her face. "God, you're fucking selfish." He didn’t want to think that about the woman he'd spent fifteen years being married to, but there it was. A few years of taking each other for granted and just going through the motions… Jade was right.

He was bitter. So was she.

"And my mom wonders why I resent you," Jade chuckled humorlessly through tears.

Austin stared at her long and hard, finding it difficult to stick with one emotion. Anger was the only one that persisted. Then there were fleeting moments of pity, sorrow, compassion, understanding, regret, and disappointment.

"If it's any consolation, I know I haven't been the best husband." He wanted to add that he'd at least stood by her side all these years, and up until he felt more drawn to Cam than Jade, it would've been true. But he didn’t want to lie to Jade, though the reason was Cam. If Austin claimed he'd been nothing but faithful, it would be like denying what he'd started with Cam. He couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that.

"I'm sorry I pushed you to leave the past in the past," she muttered, not sounding particularly sincere. "I did use it against you—thought you'd leave before I could."

Manipulative was right .

That was where the majority of Austin's bitterness stemmed from. He felt betrayed. He'd gone through hell, and Jade had used it as an excuse to get the fucking ball rolling.

"Riley stays with me," he repeated. Now he was eager to get this over with. Even if a divorce took at least six months to be finalized in the state of California, they could separate immediately. "We'll divide all the assets, and I won't demand child support." He made more money than Jade, so the idea was ridiculous. "She can stay with you every other weekend, and whenever she wants to see you, I'll make it happen."

"It's not right," Jade gritted out. "If anything, we should ask her." She almost looked smug.

It proved that Jade didn’t know her own daughter as well as she liked to think.

Riley was Daddy's girl. Through and through.

That night, Austin sat in the chair by the window in Riley's room after she'd cried herself to sleep. Despite the obvious resentment and hostility between Austin and Jade, they'd managed to cool off before they sat down like responsible adults and told Riley that Mom and Dad were getting divorced.

Riley had reacted like any other ten-year-old girl would; she'd been inconsolable. Mom and Dad were supposed to stay together—end of story. But, thankfully—depending on how you looked at it—she was old enough to know that some marriages didn’t work out. It was a harsh reality, but she wouldn’t be the first in her class to have divorced parents.

Spending time with her classmates had shown her both sides of the coin. There were parents who didn’t get along after a split; their homes weren’t as nice to be in—more fighting going on. There were parents who got along great; their kids grinned and said what it was like to have two birthdays, two rooms, and two Christmases. Then there were those friends of Riley's who had to deal with their parents remarrying…

Riley hadn't liked the idea of her parents finding new spouses.

Austin had been quick to divert, and he and Jade had then spent a long time explaining things as well as they could to a ten-year-old. It wasn’t her fault. Sometimes adults drifted apart. No, Mom and Dad didn’t hate each other. She could choose where she wanted to live. Mom and Dad would never hold any decision against her.

To Jade's credit, she'd hidden her disappointment very well when Riley said she didn’t want to leave Bakersfield. While Austin had given them some privacy and went to call his parents, Jade and Riley had made loose plans about fun stuff they could do whenever Riley came to Delano.

Now Riley was asleep, and Austin could see the blotchiness around her eyes and the tears that had soaked her pillow.

This was only the beginning of a new era, and Austin didn’t really know what to feel. For once, there was no anger, though. He was numb, but little sparks of relief flared up inside him every now and then. He was breaking free, something he'd done before. But in a very different setting.

"Gun" had become plural when the madman returned to get Austin and Tim, but just because he held two guns didn’t have to mean more of an upper hand. Because his focus was divided, and Austin prayed there would be at least one window of opportunity.

Austin and Tim didn’t need to speak; a single look was enough for both to understand that this was more than likely their last chance. If they didn’t put up a fight now, they might as well drop dead right here, right now. In fact, they were so consumed by this thought that they barely acknowledged that this was the first time they had seen each other. Austin just registered tall and wiry and dark. Whereas Austin would probably gain leverage in body impact, Tim had speed on his side.

"Let's go." The torturer walked backward up the narrow steps, aiming both guns at Austin and Tim, both of whom were cuffed behind their backs. "I hope you said goodbye to your buddies, because you won't see them again."

Austin didn’t allow the panic to pull him under. He gritted his teeth and climbed the stairs at the same slow pace their kidnapper moved. Austin knew he wouldn’t be able to fight worth a damn if he first had to suffer through another round of torture.

That left a couple opportunities: one when the password had to be punched in to open the door to the torture room, and one if the crazy man had plans to restrain them in said room. He wouldn’t be able to do that while keeping an eye on both Austin and Tim.

Tim seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he subtly nudged his shoulder to Austin's when they approached the top of the landing.

Meanwhile, Mr. Insane was focusing so intently that sweat began to trickle down his neck, appearing under the mask. "No funny business," he said, pushing the heavy door open.

Austin and Tim bided their time, not wanting this fight to happen mere inches away from a fall down the stairs. Their eyes were fixed on the man who had taken them from their families months prior.

This was it. They had to take this chance, or create it.

Perhaps their kidnapper was getting cocky, because this was a grave mistake. He clearly wasn’t aware of just how unafraid these guys had become of the prospect of getting shot. Tim and Austin had nothing to lose. Really, the crazy man should've brought them upstairs one by one.

When they reached the little vestibule with three other doors, Austin and Tim took a collective breath as they watched their target slowly reach out to the keypad, though he still kept his eyes on Austin and Tim.

But there was that one flicker of a second where the kidnapper had to make sure he'd punched in the correct code.

Gun or no gun, Austin and Tim charged.

Austin was crazed with fury and desperation as he rammed into the madman. He heard the shot that rang out, but he barely registered the bullet piercing his flesh, lodging deeply in his bicep. He barely felt the shocking pain that exploded and spread throughout his body, either.

The taste of possible freedom overrode any fear.

With his shoulder pressing forcefully into their kidnapper's collarbone, Austin slammed his forehead against the man's nose, causing him to stumble back. The trigger was pulled again, and Tim shouted a curse. But Tim wasn’t deterred, either. While Austin pinned the psycho and tried to harm him however possible, Tim struggled to get the guns, which wasn’t easy without use of his hands.

A third shot echoed painfully loud in the small space just as Austin managed to put all his body weight into a shove that broke the madman's arm against a doorframe. It bent in an odd way, a hoarse scream filling the air, and one gun dropped to the ground.

Before they could free their hands, Tim just kicked the gun aside and went to the other side to get the second gun.

"Justice will prevail!" the kidnapper screamed.

"Count on it," Austin growled, struggling to keep the man pinned to the wall. "You sick bastard." Fatigue and pain were quickly taking over, but he refused to surrender now. Through the closed door that led to the basement, they could hear the shouts of their fellow captives. "Jesus Christ." The man managed to knee Austin in the gut, though Tim defended him by ramming his shoulder into the kidnapper's throat. It was a good thing he was so freaking tall.

"Sam and Frank deserve to die." Mr. Crazy's voice was a choked breath.

"We're not them!" Tim shouted and finally managed to get control of the second gun. It was dropped to the floor, and without wasting time, he and Austin pulled their prey down to the ground. "Sit on him."

Austin did better than that. His ass hit the ground and he planted his elbow into the madman's upper back. Austin's arms burned, his hands aching to be free, but this had to do for now. The kidnapper was facing the floor, several feet away from his guns, and he had a sharp elbow keeping him in place.

So, while Austin made sure their captor couldn’t move, Tim moved around in search of the keys.

"This isn't over," the madman wheezed out.

"That’s for damn certain," Austin grunted. "You're still breathing."

"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!"