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“Things are good now,” I said, kicking a rock hard enough that it went tumbling over the edge of the cliff. “In a lot of different ways.”
I looked away from one breathtaking view and into another, losing myself in Austin’s hazel gaze.
“I told him you were back in town. He said he wants to have dinner with us.”
Austin’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Oh? That sounds good.”
“Good,” I said. I kissed him, enjoying the scratch of stubble against my skin. An orchestra of birds sang around us, and the sun beamed down through a thin layer of brushstroke clouds. The kiss deepened, and my heart swelled. I’d only dated three guys after my fall, all of them from out of town and none of them ever making me feel this blissed-out, this complete.
Part of me was shouting to pump the brakes. Austin and I had been through shit that I couldn’t even remember, and I had to make fucking sure that history didn’t repeat itself. But how could I do that when our history was a mystery to me?
The other part of me—the one currently in control—was throwing all caution to the wind (which also happened to be where that part of me wanted to toss our clothes). So what if I couldn’t remember the years we shared together? I could still feel them, an invisible foundation that would only get stronger over time.
I started to kiss him a little deeper, probing my tongue a little further, moving my hands a little lower. The trail had been empty for the entire way, so I didn’t really worry about anyone walking up on us, and judging by the way Austin’s growing cock came out from the leg of his shorts, he didn’t seem to care either.
I licked my grinning lips and stroked him, enjoying the difference between the firm shaft and the soft skin.
“Looks like it’s time for lunch,” I teased, bending down and kissing his tip.
Austin smirked and pulled his shorts a little higher, revealing more of himself. “Hope you like sausage.”
“Fuck yeah I do.” I got off the rock and onto my knees so I could have a better angle.
Austin’s phone fell from his pocket and onto the ground next to me. I was too focused on kissing Austin’s thighs and rubbing his calves to pick it up. He leaned over and grabbed it, making a “hmm” noise that caught my attention. I looked up from his legs and watched as his face went from pretty neutral to “holy shit what the fuck am I reading.” His eyes got wide, and his jaw started to drop. I cocked my head and stopped stroking him for a second.
“What happened?”
Austin reread whatever message he managed to receive through the bad reception.
“What?” I asked again, standing up.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Austin, what the hell happened?”
He started to call someone, hand over his mouth, the phone ringing for a second before the call dropped. I wanted to grab his shoulders and shake him.
“Darien from my office messaged me,” Austin said, trying the call again, getting up and moving around the outcropping in search of a better signal. “He’s saying they found a body.”
“A body? In Blue Creek?” I immediately went through a mental list of all my friends and loved ones, dreading the possibility of hearing one of their names to my next question. “Who is it?”
Austin ran a hand through his short dark hair, the call continuing to drop, his anxiety spreading to me. “Hank. They think they found Hank’s body.”
“Oh… shit.”
17
Austin Romero
The drive back to Blue Creek took an hour and a half, faster than the two it had taken to get to the cabin. Charlie drove while I made call after call, trying to piece together as much as I could. The news came as a shock to everyone, and it was all still fresh, so not everyone had the information I needed. To top it all off, the cops seemed to have been strong-arming their way into it. I called two people, both employees of Honey and Wood, who told me they were explicitly warned by the police not to talk to me about Hank. They weren’t given any reason, just the warning.
Only one person spoke to him and gave him any solid information: Domino, the person who found Hank’s body. The call had been very brief, getting cut off when Domino got called into an interview with a cop. He was able to tell me where he found Hank (by the lake in his backyard) and that drugs seemed to be involved. He sounded like he had some questions and even mentioned how weird it all seemed, but I couldn’t get him to elaborate before we had to hang up.
It’s the reason why I told Charlie to take us straight to the police station. I wanted to catch Domino before he left, and I also wanted to see if the police department was really going to stonewall Stonewall or if they were going to play nice.
