Hale woke up to darkness. He blinked a few times, willing his eyes to adjust, but they never did. It was only after a moment that he realized what the problem was—there was something over his eyes, blocking his sight.

“Austin?” he murmured. His jaw was lazy, and his tongue felt too large. He struggled to keep his head up. “A-Austin?”

There was no response. Hale heard someone breathing nearby, but he couldn’t tell if it was Austin or not. All he could remember was coming around the corner of the building, heading for the back, when…

When what? He couldn’t remember. There was a blockage in his memory, and no matter how hard he went up against it, he couldn’t overcome it. Something had to have happened—he wouldn’t have woken up with a blindfold over his eyes if he was alone—but he couldn’t remember what it was.

“Hale?” It wasn’t Austin’s voice, but Michael’s. Hale perked up, shaking as much of his drowsiness as he could. “Fuck, Hale, is that you?”

“Michael?” Hale asked. “Where are you?”

There were hands on his shoulders, and then the darkness went away. Michael lifted the blindfold, and Hale gazed up into his face. He didn’t think he’d ever been so happy to see his cousin.

“Hale, what the hell are you doing here?”

“I came to save you. You disappeared, and no one else was worried about it, so I came to find you.”

“Shit.” Michael frowned and glanced to the side. “It’s… not a good time. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“What’s going on?”

They were inside the warehouse, Hale realized. The place was drab, and the metal walls were starting to rust. There were a few battery operated lights strung up on support beams, but they cast more shadows than they did light. The boarded-up windows left the interior of the warehouse impossibly dark.

“You just… it wasn’t a good idea to find me. I’m flattered, but you’ve really gone and fucked things up now.”

“What’s going on, Michael?” Hale repeated, a bit more pointedly this time. “It’s not the first time you’ve disappeared out of nowhere, but it’s the first time you’ve been out of contact… and then I find you being held hostage by these people? Are they hurting you? I want to help you. We can get you out of this, whatever it is.”

“It’s… it’s a long story,” Michael said with a sigh. “Let me get you untied.”

“Untied?” Hale looked to the side. His wrists were bound behind his back, and he’d been tied to a chair. He’d been so lightheaded from whatever his captors had drugged him with, and so happy to see Michael alive and seemingly well, that he hadn’t even noticed. “Why did they tie me up?”

“Because you were snooping where you shouldn’t have been snooping.” Michael undid the first of the knots, releasing Hale’s hands. “It’s… I don’t really want to talk about it here.”

“Are you being held hostage?”

Michael sighed. “Yes. Sort of.”

“You don’t want to be here?” Hale clarified. “They’re holding you against your will?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m going to get you home.”

“You’d be better off going without me.” Michael undid the knots that held his legs to the chair. “I’ll be back in another week, okay? I just… need to suck it up until then.”

“No! If you don’t want to be here, then no one’s going to force you to stay. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s obviously not good, you obviously don’t want it, and I don’t care who’s threatening you—you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Your mom and dad are going to start worrying about you soon.”

“I doubt that,” Michael said softly. “I do shit like this all the time. I bet they don’t even notice I’m gone.”

“They do. They’re not worried yet, but they have noticed. You need to get home to them before they start worrying.”

A new voice joined the conversation. It was froggy from disuse. “You’re not going to convince him he’s wrong. I’ve tried. It always ends in me giving in.”

It was Austin.

“The twerp dragged you into this?” Michael asked. As soon as he was able, Hale twisted around in his chair to find Austin sitting behind him, bound. There was a blindfold over his eyes, and he’d been tied in all the same places Hale had been. “Or did you convince him to come along so you could get dirt on me?”

“Believe it or not, getting dirt on you is very low on my priority list.” Austin exhaled slowly. “I’m here because he begged me for help. He was worried sick about you, and even when I told him that you were off doing something selfish, he pestered me into coming along just in case. Looks like whatever you’re doing isn’t so selfish, is it?”

“Both of you need to stop talking and start getting out of here.” As soon as Michael was done with Hale, he moved on to untie Austin. “I don’t want you suffering because of me. As long as I do what I’m told, no one is going to get hurt. You need to leave before they hurt you for being here. Understand?”

“Absolutely not,” Hale said. He had no idea what was going on with Michael, but there was no way he was leaving him here to suffer. He hadn’t come all this way and risked his life to leave empty handed. “Once you come back with us, we can figure out what to do to keep you safe. You’re suffering and miserable here, and I’m not going to ignore that just because it’s the safer option. If I was concerned about safety, I would have never come looking for you.”

“I told him to do that numerous times,” Austin interjected. “He wouldn’t listen then, and he’s not going to listen now. You’re better off doing what he wants. There’ll be less argument that way.”

“Not if it means he’s going to be in danger,” Michael snapped back.

“I’m not going to be in danger. No one is. Once we get you out, we’re going to figure out how to make this all better.” Hale carefully got up from the chair he’d previously been tied to. He was still a little lightheaded, and the world spun. “Where are the guys holding you hostage?”

“They went to go grab something to eat. They’ll probably be gone for an hour—but don’t let that go to your head. They expect me to be here when they get back, and I’d rather not mess with them.”

“An hour is long enough that we’ll have time to get you back home,” Hale insisted. He looked Michael over, fists clenched with determination. He was almost finished untying Austin. Now that Austin’s hands were untied, he was helping the process along, struggling with one leg’s knot while Michael undid the other. “Family doesn’t leave family behind.”

“You never outgrew your annoying phase, did you?” Michael sighed. “I’m not going to get a word in edgewise, or get it through your head that it’s a bad idea, am I?”

“Nope.” Hale grinned.

Michael finished with his knot and looked up at Hale. He met his eyes. “I’m telling you now that this is a bad idea. If anything happens, you need to remember that you were the one pressuring me into going with you. Is that understood?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll do it. But I’m not going to be held responsible if and when shit goes south.”

“And as long as you tell me what the hell is going on once we get out of here, then we’re not going to have a problem,” Hale said. “You be transparent with me, and I’ll protect you. Deal?”

Michael snorted and shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Protect me?”

“Maybe I don’t, but I’m going to do my best.” Irritation tingled down Hale’s spine. “Now can we please stop talking and get going? I know you said an hour, but I really don’t want to be caught on the way out when they’re on the way in. I have a feeling that wouldn’t go very well.”

“For any of us,” Michael agreed.

“Both of you are insane,” Austin declared. He stood. “Are we getting out of here or what?”

“I guess we are.” Michael shot Hale a lingering look—something between frustration and fear. Hale knew that he had no idea what to expect from his cousin, or why it was that he was involved with such shady dealings, but the look in Michael’s eyes told him that Michael wasn’t a bad person. Whatever was happening here, Michael was doing it against his will. There was too much emotion in his eyes for him to be a cold, detached criminal. Hale didn’t believe for a single second that he was up to no good.

“We need to exit through the doors there.” Michael pointed toward a door by the metal loading bay doors. Hale assumed it was the one they’d been watching the day before—the one Michael had been brought in through. “It locks from the outside, but it’s always open on the inside.”

“Why would they leave you here unguarded?” Austin asked.

“Because they know that I wouldn’t think of leaving.” Michael’s voice was flat, but behind it, Hale thought he heard a note of desperation. Whatever things Michael’s kidnappers had told him had really gotten to him. “Sometimes you don’t need bars to keep a prisoner in check.”

Austin rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Shit. I can’t wait to hear all about the can of worms we just opened. But for now, Hale is right. We need to get going, and we need to do it now. Talking can come later. Right now, we need to prioritize escape.”

“Then let’s go.”

Michael led the way forward. Hale fell in line behind him, walking beside Austin. He crossed his arms over his chest not because he was upset, but because the warehouse was giving him the creeps. Their footsteps echoed through it. The space was wide open and empty, so sounds traveled and echoed. Had Michael been living here for the last three weeks? Hale didn’t see signs of heavy human activity, but he knew that he could be easily mistaken. In the shadows, it was easy to hide things. And besides, there was a chance that Michael was splitting his time between the warehouse and somewhere else. Hale had seen him delivered by car the other day. He’d been somewhere.

Michael pushed open the heavy door by the loading bay. It swung open without issue, revealing a twilit world. Hale had no idea how long he’d been out, but it was of little consequence. Uncle John wasn’t expecting him back at work for at least another week. He had time to get done everything he needed to get done, a fact which was more important than ever now that he had Michael’s problems to sort through.

“Did you walk?” Michael asked.

“No. We’re parked maybe a five minute walk away, hidden from the road. Come on. We’ll show you.” Austin took the lead, but before he did, Hale noticed his lingering gaze. He wasn’t happy with how the day had panned out—Hale saw it in his eyes. He was of the opinion that they should have left Michael behind.

It was tough shit. Now that Michael was rescued, if he didn’t want to be involved anymore, he didn’t have to be. Hale could take care of things on his own… but if that happened, he had to admit that he’d miss Austin’s company. After the night they’d spent together, Hale wasn’t sure he could move on that easily, and it made him feel stupid, because he knew not to expect anything. Austin was straight-ish. One day, he’d realize that he was making a mistake and that would be the end.

Maybe he’d already figured that out.

Hale tried not to let it get him down, but there was little else to think about as they headed through the forest and back toward the car. It had been undisturbed, and although things were tense, there was no confrontation on the way down the road, or even after they turned onto I-45. Every car they passed, Hale worried over, but no one followed them, and Michael didn’t seem worried.

Maybe everything would be okay.

But there were problems building beneath the surface—problems Hale knew were there, but that he couldn’t see clearly yet. One day, maybe soon, all of them would bubble up to the surface at once and threaten what he knew.

Until then, he had to keep moving.

Being heartbroken over something that hadn’t happened wouldn’t do him any good. With Michael now coming home, he needed to focus on what was most urgent—finding out what the fuck had happened, and making sure that it never happened again.