Page 3

Aiden

I clicked through the images on my screen. McKenzie Bishop was easy to take photos of and I’d had an assignment on movement so these would work beautifully. My stomach still felt jumbled up in knots, twisting tighter and tighter, the more I thought about being anywhere close to Joe.

The second I’d gotten the message from him, guilt had flooded me. I knew what he looked like naked, what he looked like when he was aroused and pleasuring himself. I knew the sounds he made when he came.

My eyes slammed closed as I tried to erase the images dancing through my mind. That wasn’t my focus. That I hadn’t even been able to look at him when I’d gotten to the park made it all the more clear that watching the video had been a huge mistake. An invasion of privacy. Though, was it private if it was online?

I shook my head, focusing again on adjusting the lighting in the shot of McKenzie chasing another little girl around the playground. Her pigtails trailed behind her, and she had so much life in her eyes. Kids had it so easy. Not a care in the world. She didn’t have to worry about life outside of playdates, elementary school, and if she’d eat her chicken nuggets for dinner.

I sent the image to my photo printer. It came off clear on matte paper. The real reason Teresa tolerated me spending so much time around her house and her brother was because I gave her so many pictures like this of her daughter. It was a small perk, I guessed.

The paper was heavy in my hands that shook as I realized in order to hand it to the little girl’s mother, I’d have to see Joe. I really needed to get over it. There was no way I could avoid him for the rest of my life because I’d found his porn page. Nope.

“What do you have there?”

I jumped, almost dropping the photograph as I turned to look at my mom. She leaned in the doorway of my bedroom, and I debated one more time just how practical it had been to choose to live at home. Nathan had stayed in a dorm through most of his college experience, but I’d learned a few things from watching him. The first being that dorm living was another expense I didn’t need. The second was being away from home increased the temptation to party. While I still had a tendency to, it wasn’t at the frequency my brother and his friends had.

“I went to the park today. Met up with Joe.”

Mom nodded before sliding into the room. She looked over my shoulder at the picture.

“And who is this? Does he have a kid I wasn’t aware of? ”

Mom knew all of Nathan’s friends better than that. “Not his. McKenzie is his niece.”

She sighed, taking the photo from my hands and studying it.

“You have such a gift for this, Aiden. I have no idea where it came from. All the family photos I took of you boys as kids are a mess and your father doesn’t have an artistic bone in his body.”

I laughed, taking the photo back and placing it inside of a folder for safekeeping. Joe had mentioned going back to the house, and I’d chickened out of it, but maybe now that I was delivering something to his sister, it wouldn’t be so bad. There would be a buffer there to keep me from doing something stupid.

“I don’t know. There’s just something about seeing the world through a lens. You capture life in such a unique way...” I trailed off, knowing that I sounded like a sap.

Mom grabbed my arm and gave it a squeeze. “Regardless, I’m glad we bought you that first camera and that you’re doing something with it.”

Something squeezed in my chest. Pride? Maybe. Mom didn’t talk like this with Nathan, and that was probably a little screwed up. Then again, out of the two of us, I’d caused her a lot less trouble.

The evening had cooled down significantly, and I pulled my jacket around myself more tightly as I walked down the sidewalk. One perk of living in a place like Seattle was that most places were easy to get to by walking or taking the bus. I’d been in no hurry to learn how to drive. The drivers on the road scared the living shit out of me, anyway. I was content to live the life of a passenger. Regardless, Mom still made me get my license for emergencies.

When the Bishop house came into view, my heart jumped into my throat, suffocating me and slowing my progress. Maybe Joe had gone back out and he wouldn’t even be there. I could hand the photo to Teresa and leave, not having to worry about seeing him at all.

But luck was not on my side. No. Joe was sitting on the front stoop, phone in hand as he scrolled absently. He hadn’t noticed my approach and part of me wanted to keep walking and continue to be a coward.

Still, luck wanted to poke fun at me. The second I stood in front of the house, Joe looked up and gave me a toothy grin.

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing here?”

A sheepish smile spread across my face as I held up the folder. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to edit those photos. This is the best one, and I think your sister is going to love it.”

My breath caught as Joe stood and strode toward me. His long legs ate up the pavement. I wasn’t short; my brother and I both come in at just over six feet, but it never ceased to amaze me how quickly Joe moved. He was about the same height as me.

“Well, let’s see it.” He pulled the folder from my fingers and, like an idiot, I just sort of stood there staring at him. The folder opened, and he gasped.

“Fucking shit, dude. How are you so damn good at this? Teresa is going to go nuts.” He snapped the folder closed and pressed it into my chest. I quickly grabbed it before damaging the photo inside or dropping it.

We walked up the steps to the front door, and he led me inside. The blast of warm air was welcome, and we kicked off our shoes as we made our way deeper into the house.

“Hey, Joe. Can you bring me the rags from the laundry... oh, hi, Aiden,” Teresa’s voice cut off, and she gave me a smile as she looked at her brother. He shrugged, opening the fridge and pulling out two bottles of beer. He popped off the caps and handed me one. It wasn’t strange, but Teresa rolled her eyes. “Well, even if you have a friend here, I need the rags from the laundry room. Can you get them for me, please?”

Joe took a swig of his beer before disappearing down the hall and leaving me in the kitchen with his sister. The cold bottle in my hand did nothing to calm my nerves. To think I thought it would be better to just talk to Teresa. What was stopping me from saying, ‘ I’ve watched your brother jerk off on the internet ?’

The awkward silence stretched on until Joe came back, setting a stack of neatly folded navy-blue rags on the counter. “Aiden met me at the park today. He brought you a present.”

Now I had both of them watching me again. I wanted to squirm, crawl into a hole, and hide, but I still handed her the folder .

The second the smile spread across Teresa’s face, half my anxiety eased.

“Really? I feel so spoiled. Photographers are so damn expensive, and I felt like I was missing out on getting so many nice shots of my baby growing up. Thank you.”

Her eyes watered as her fingers trailed across the image of her daughter’s smiling face.

“I should be thanking you. Half of these I get to use for school projects, so we both win in the end.”

Teresa left the room to find a frame for the photo, leaving me alone with her brother. A swarm of insects took up flight beneath the surface of my skin, but I let him lead me to the door that took us down to the basement. My throat closed off because I knew what happened down there now. The mystery was gone. It wasn’t just the place where Joe went to sleep.

“Joe...”

“I’ve got to show you this light I bought. I thought maybe it would help...”

“Help with what?” The question came out on a squeak, and we halted halfway down the stairs. The sudden lack of movement had me crashing into Joe’s back and almost sending us tumbling to the bottom.