Touch And Go - Aiden Bates Page 0,19

at first, so I stared harder, concentrated deeper.

Ben couldn’t have chucked me over the edge of the river. There was no way. First of all, he was my brother. Even if that familial bond hadn’t stopped him, he wasn’t brave enough—or stupid enough—to throw someone off a bridge with traffic passing by, even at night…was he?

He’d left home when I was only eight. When Mom and Dad were alive, he’d visited plenty, but since the accident four years ago, there wasn’t really any reason for us to see each other anymore. That was more on his side though—I’d always wanted a closer relationship with him, but I got a clear sense he didn’t want to get any closer to me, his closest relative who also happened to be gay.

As a log floated by, a flashback hit me. I was aware the water was rushing up to meet me. My arms pinwheeled, and I stumbled back, gasped for air as a car horn blared and broke me out of the memory. I almost fell back onto the road.

I pushed my back against the pole of the burned-out streetlight and struggled to breathe. Panic. Chest tight. Hands digging in my pockets, desperate for something to hold onto. My fingers curled around the business card, and I dug the edges under my fingernails to give myself a sensation to focus on. I counted my breaths and laced the cardboard through my fingers then folded the corners like origami until I was calm again. Calm, and downright exhausted.

Shit. I needed to go home.

My apartment building was a block from the bridge, and my feet suddenly had no problem taking me there. But my hands were shaking when I reached for my keys, and I stopped at the front door of the building. Without a reason, I dashed into nearby bushes and crouched, waiting and watching…for what, I had no idea. Suspicious activity? It was the middle of the night, and the entire building was dark.

Jelly Belly, a neighborhood cat, yowled behind me and then rubbed against my hip. I hissed at her to be quiet. She must have taken offense because she flashed her butt at me and took off into the alley that ran beside the building.

Oh. Good idea.

I followed her with my new, weird crouch-crawl technique and hummed James Bond music in my head as I flattened myself against the wall. I was half being silly, but the other half of me thought it was smart to stick to the shadows and scout out the joint for signs of danger. I stood in the shadows at the back of the building and craned my neck to look up through the fire escape toward my bedroom window. The blinds were shut. Nothing to worry about.

Jelly Belly laced between my ankles and started purring, and I took that as an all-clear sign. But even cute tortoiseshell cats like Jelly could prove to be deceitful. For all I knew, she could have been working for the bad guys.

I crouch-crawled to the front door and opened it as quietly as I could, quickly shut it before Jelly Belly could sneak in behind me and listened for anything in the building. Aside from Jelly’s irritated yowl, the place was silent. The stairs creaked under my lightest steps, and my chest tightened as I reached my floor.

It was dark. My hands shook so badly I had to steady my bad wrist with my good hand to get the key in the lock. As I opened the door, I braced myself for the worst, but I was still shocked by what I saw.

My apartment was a wreck. Coffee table upended. Favorite mug smashed against the floor. Couch shredded. Bookshelf toppled on top of a pile of torn apart paperbacks. I gasped and clutched my chest when I spotted my computers crushed under the weight of my broken desk. I rushed forward, a half-formed thought about saving the hard drives trying to bypass the images my mind couldn’t process, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me and a sharp click popped in my ear. My breath caught when cold metal pressed against my temple, and I reflexively threw my hands up in surrender.

“Where is it?” a man’s voice was deep and resonant.

“Wh-what?” Mine was barely a whisper.

“Don’t play stupid, you fuck. Where’s my money?” He shoved the gun harder against my head and my knees went weak. I screwed my eyes shut and focused on my breathing. He poked