He’s playful, like Conner.”

  Too highly strung now to even crack a smile, Lee nodded. “So what’s the message?”

  “Nothing much,” Severo admitted, “at least, like I said, not that I could tell, but I asked Stefan to leave in case I’m wrong and he got upset. Whether it’s Stefan’s age or temperament, his emotions can cause things to happen. You’ve probably heard the term poltergeist?”

  “Yeah, the ghosts—or spirits—that knock stuff over and scare people.” Severo shrugged as he leant against the porch rail. “Kind of. I don’t know as much as I wish I did about spirits, but I think poltergeists are probably spirits of younger people who’ve died and therefore they have less control of their emotions. Not emotionally mature, I guess, and their spirits are no different. But I could be completely wrong.” AFTERMATH

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  Lee considered it for a minute. “No, that sounds about right. Stefan was—is—you know what I mean. He was never going to be able to function at an adult level, not emotionally or cognitively.”

  “Good to know. Now, getting back on track. Sorry for veering off, I tend to do that sometimes.” Severo closed his eyes. “I didn’t get words, just images. It was dark, there was something on the walls.” Frowning, Severo was silent and Lee wished he could see what Severo had seen. So far he didn’t have a clue and he was leaning towards this all being something Stefan had only imagined. “There’s something about the walls, they aren’t…rock?

  Maybe that’s what I’m seeing, because it’s distorted, not smooth and flat. Then there’s this big rock? I mean, really big, like it’s a mountain or—”

  “Mystic Rock,” Lee and Darren said, glancing at each other as soon as the words left their mouth.

  Severo opened his eyes and promptly slapped a hand to his forehead. “Of course! Why didn’t I recognise it? I went there once years ago and wanted to trip all the kids who ran up that sucker while I was panting and stopping every thirty feet.”

  “What is Mystic Rock?” Laine asked. “I’m feeling ignorant here.”

  “It’s one of those Texas treasures you really ought to see.” Lee had loved going there as a kid. He would have been one of the ones Severo wanted to trip since Lee had jogged up the incline of the over four-hundred-foot tall chunk of rock. “The Rock is a huge granite dome rising above ground, something like four hundred and twenty feet high. We lived right down the road from Mystic Rock State Natural Area. It was an awesome place to go as a kid.”

  “And there are caves,” Darren pointed out thoughtfully. His eyes lit up and he bounced on his toes. “Caves have rough walls! And Stefan had his favourite of the caves in Mystic Rock!”

  Darren bounced again, as if made buoyant by hope. He looked so young, so much like the boy he was when Lee first met him that Lee’s heart ached with the knowledge of what Darren had suffered over the past two years. Lee wanted to pull Darren close and kiss him, taste the flavour of hope on Darren’s tongue—or whatever emotion it was that made him look like that. Lee restrained himself only because he knew Severo would make some crack about them being at it again.

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  “I’ll have to drag Laine down there to see it. Maybe we’ll take a three day weekend and stay in Carrvelle. I love that town. There’s some awesome German restaurants there.” Severo was nearly as springy as Darren, Lee noted, and he also noticed the way the harsh planes of Laine’s face softened and his icy silver irises warmed until they looked molten as he watched Severo. Laine looked utterly smitten.

  Lee knew how Laine felt.

  * * * *

  “I’m going with you and that’s all there is to it. You won’t know which cave was Stefan’s favourite.” And if Stefan communicated to Lee which one it was, Darren was going to scream. He and Lee had been at this for over an hour now, Lee wanting Darren to remain in McKinton while Lee headed back to Jackson. Mystic Rock, to be accurate. Lee said he wanted to make sure Darren was safe, but Darren couldn’t shake the fear that Lee would leave and not come back.

  “I might be able to. I used to run through just about every cave there.” Darren crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Lee. “So? Like I said, you don’t know which one Stefan liked best.”

  Lee looked exasperated as he flopped down on the couch beside Darren. “Dar, if someone killed Stefan, he might be watching for you. For all this person knows—if there is a person—Stefan told you everything about him before he died. You were Stefan’s best friend, everyone knew it. That is why I am afraid to take you with me.”

  “That’s crap and you know it,” Darren muttered, seething at Lee using the same argument again when it hadn’t worked the first time. Or second. Or third. “Everyone in Jackson knows you’re Stefan’s brother. The same argument applies to you, yet you think I should be fine being left behind like the little woman while you go out and play the part of the big strong man. I am not doing it. If you don’t want to take me, I’ll hitch if that’s what I have to do.”

  Lee narrowed his eyes as his features blanked. “You will not hitchhike. Ever. Again.” Darren could be stubborn when necessary. Ninety nine percent of the time he didn’t think it was, but when that one percent rolled around… “Either you give me a ride to Mystic Rock or someone else will.” That sounded so bratty Darren flushed with shame. He AFTERMATH

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  uncrossed his arms and slumped deeper into the couch. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so obnoxious about it, but I have to go and I can’t seem to get you to understand that. I’d love to go with you, but if I can’t, maybe I can buy a bus ticket or something. I won’t promise not to hitchhike if I have to, but I will promise to hitch only as a last resort, okay? And there’s one really go—”

  “You can come with me,” Lee muttered.

  “What?” Darren had heard him, but Lee didn’t sound happy about giving in at all.

  While Darren didn’t expect his lover to be doing cartwheels about it Darren would at least like Lee to not make the offer sound like he thought it was the worst possible thing in the world.

  Lee sighed and that impassive expression Darren hated to see on Lee’s face disappeared. Now Lee just looked tired and so gorgeous Darren wanted to shove him down on the couch and have Lee every way he could.

  “I think we should avoid Jackson completely, cut through Carrvelle instead. Someone might still recognise you but it’s less likely than if we go through our hometown.”

  “Whatever you want to do, Lee. I trust you.” It’d be nice if Lee trusted him as well, but it didn’t seem as if he did, not the way Darren wanted him to.

  Lee opened his arms and Darren took it for the offer it was. He edged onto Lee’s lap and snuggled in. “And I trust you, Dar. The problem is, I don’t know if I can keep you safe. I don’t know what we might possibly be walking into. Probably nothing dangerous, but you never know.”

  “We’ll both be fine, we will.” Darren would do whatever he could to make sure of it.

  “Now, let me call Virginia and then you and I have a couple of kinks to explore.” AFTERMATH

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  Chapter Eleven

  Lee smirked, he knew he did, but couldn’t help it as Darren squirmed in his seat.

  Darren winked at him and drummed his fingers on the dash, tapping out the rhythm to a song playing on the radio.

  Last night he and Darren had decided their kinks could wait. They’d both been too desperate for each other to spend time playing. Lee had fucked Darren from behind, both of them kneeling on the cushions with Darren’s torso draped over the back of the couch. Darren had come all over the flower print material and when Lee was done shaking and moaning, he’d slid to the floor in a boneless heap. He hadn’t stayed boneless for long, though, and Darren had rolled Lee onto his side, hitched up Lee’s leg and rode Lee until they both climaxed again.

  Then Lee had taken Darren again, waking his lover up by sliding his cock into Darren’s ass in one long slow stroke. That time Lee held off coming until Darren’s second orgasm, which was why his lover was shifting around in his seat.

  “I’d give you a hard time for looking so pleased with yourself, but…” Darren waggled his eyebrows. “I’m feeling pretty full of myself—well, maybe I should say full of you, because I swear I can still feel that big cock of yours inside me.”

  “I plan on burying it in your tight little ass again as soon as we get home,” Lee said then shot Darren a startled look.

  Darren beamed at him like Lee was every good thing in the world. “I like it, you thinking of Mrs Hawkins’ place as home. I hope you want to stay there a while.” A little ball of anxiety Lee hadn’t known existed unfurled and dissipated in his chest. “I want to stay with you for however long you’ll have me, Dar. It’s not Mrs Hawkins’ place that feels like home, it’s being with you.” It felt so right Lee couldn’t imagine giving it up, not when he knew he’d already lost his heart to the man—and he thought, if he was lucky, Darren might be at least a little in love with him as well.

  “That’s…that’s how I feel, too—about you, I mean. I want to be with you. I was just afraid to tell you. I thought it’d scare you away.” AFTERMATH

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  Lee snorted, wishing he could look at Darren for more than a second or two at a time.

  There were just too many suicidal deer out this way though. He’d barely managed to avoid hitting the last one that had sprinted out in front of the car.

  “I don’t think anything can scare me away. I didn’t even consider leaving town after the motel debacle because I knew I wanted something more than just a night with you.” Lee wanted a lifetime—and longer, even, if it was possible for them both to hang around after they died. Why not wish for an eternity together?

  “You don’t mind if we stay in McKinton then? I’ve kind of gotten used to it there.” Lee couldn’t have missed the wistful tone in Darren’s voice if he’d tried. Darren had more than got used to the town, he loved it there and that was good enough reason for Lee to settle in McKinton as well. “No, I like McKinton just fine.”

  “Good. There’s not much in the way of work, but…”

  “I’ll figure something out,” Lee assured. “I have enough money that I don’t have to work, but I won’t be able to sit around and do nothing. Maybe I can start working on the house, or help the contractors if that’s the way the owners go with converting it to an elderly activity centre.” Lee spotted the turn they needed to take. “We’re almost there.” The line to get in was short considering the time of the year. Lee pressed the button to roll down the driver’s side window as he pulled up when it was their turn and paid the entrance fee. The blond guy handed Lee his change and some papers before sending them off with a perky, “Y’all enjoy yourselves!”

  Lee put the window up and glanced at the papers, a map and information sheet. “Do we need these?”

  “No.” Darren took the papers and Lee drove around until he found a parking spot several minutes later.

  He shut the car off and unbuckled then caught Darren’s wrist as he reached for his seatbelt. “Stay with me. If you see anything suspicious, tell me.” Darren looked at him seriously and nodded. “I will.” Lee let him go and Darren unfastened his seatbelt. They grabbed their jackets from the back seat then got out of the car, putting their jackets on once they were outside. Lee wished he could hold Darren’s hand but settled for walking beside him, their hands brushing occasionally as they headed towards Mystic Rock.

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  Darren pointed to a fissure running down the side of the mound of rock. “That’s the cave the public is allowed to go in. We’re going to a different one.”

  “I don’t think I’d be able to fit in that cave,” Lee said. “It was a tight squeeze in places when I was a kid and I’m bigger now. Is the cave you and Stefan found bigger?”

  “Not much.” Darren stopped and studied Lee. “You should be able to go part of the way at least but there’s this one narrow passage that I’m not sure even I will fit through now.”

  Lee didn’t like the idea of Darren being out of his sight in the caves. “Maybe we should leave. There’s no guarantee we’ll find anything anyway, and I’d rather not risk you getting hurt. Stefan may get better with the communication thing and—” Darren shook his head and Lee could see the determination in the way Darren held himself, his shoulders going back as he stretched his long body to his full height. “No, I want to do this. I’ll be careful and there’s no drops or anything, not much climbing up—you know Stefan couldn’t have stood that. If the passage I need to get through looks too narrow for me to fit through then we’ll leave, but at least let’s try first.”

  “All right, but I’m going with you as far as I can.” Lee gestured for Darren to lead the way. Fifteen minutes later, their cheeks chapped from the cold wind that slapped at them, Darren stopped and pointed to a boulder at the base of Mystic Rock. “It’s behind there, unless it’s been sealed off.”

  Lee walked over to the boulder and frowned when he saw the small fissure it hid. “I don’t know if I can even get in.”

  “The cave widens as soon as you clear the opening. Go in feet first—watch.” Darren eased past him and squatted then sat on his butt. He grabbed the edges of the opening then began scooting inside as he talked. “Just do it like this, then once you have your legs in, kind of twist—” Darren let go of the opening and manoeuvred his torso until one shoulder was on the ground and his other was close to the top of the fissure. “Then you squat as you go in and…”

  Darren slipped into the cave. He stuck a hand out and waved. “Gonna have to crawl for several feet, but it opens up a little further in. You coming?” Tight spaces didn’t bother Lee but he couldn’t keep from feeling anxious about this cave.

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  “I’m going to get my flashlight out then start moving back so you can try.” Darren’s hand disappeared as he went further into the cave.

  Lee took a steadying breath then sat down and started working his wave in after Darren. He felt a moment of panic when his shoulders were caught in the opening. “In or out,” Lee muttered. A slight twist and his shoulders cleared the entrance although not without a few scrapes. Lee squatted in the cave and shielded his eyes when Darren shone the flashlight in them.

  “Sorry. These little things are really bright.” Darren aimed the mini-Maglite at the ground.

  “No kidding. Lead the way, Dar.”

  Lee’s palms and knees were aching by the time they reached the part of the cave where they could do more than crawl. After a few feet of walking folded nearly in half the cave widened enough for them to stand.

  “It’s not much further until the part where I think you’re not going to fit. See up here?” Lee looked over Darren’s shoulder to where the flashlight lit what looked like a solid wall with a dark seam in the middle of it. “That’s an opening? Looks like a cave wall to me.” Darren chuckled and started moving forward. “It looks that way but it isn’t. That’s actually where two walls converge, one behind the other. There’s a gap between them, though. Once I get past that there’s about five minutes of crawling, a short climb up—not straight up, but an incline that’s rocky enough to make it difficult. After that there’s a small cave. It’ll take me at most fifteen minutes to get there.” Lee did the math in his head, giving Darren ten minutes to check the cave over once he reached it. “If you’re not back in forty minutes—” Darren stopped in front of the seam and turned to Lee. “I’ll be back, don’t worry.” How can I not? Lee pulled Darren to him and crushed his lips to Darren’s, drinking in his lover’s moan. “Be careful.” Lee brushed one more kiss over Darren’s lips then released him and stepped back.

  “I will. Knowing you’ll be here waiting is an extra incentive for me to be careful.”

  * * * *

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  Either he had got bigger or this space had got smaller. Darren grunted and wriggled, easing in an inch or two further.

  “Dar, just forget it.”

  Lee sounded worried, but Darren couldn’t give up yet, not when Lee had spent almost two years looking for proof Stefan’s death either was or wasn’t accidental. There might not be anything in the little cave he and Stefan used to play in, but Darren had to at least check—

  and he couldn’t quite shake the feeling there was some kind of clue there.

  “I can do this,” Darren bit out. He rotated his left shoulder then practically popped through the narrow crevice. “God, that sucked!” He’d probably just skinned half his back.

  “Forty minutes,” Lee called out, “starting now.” Darren ignored his stinging back and started moving. By the time he reached the cave, Darren was scraped and bruised all over, having fallen twice making his way up the rocky incline. But he had made it. Shining the flashlight around, he didn’t see anything unusual, just rock, rock, and more rock, no sign of anyone having been there at all.

  He walked over to the far wall and reached up until he felt the ridge where the cave wall bulged, forming a small shelf. Stefan had been the same height as Darren but had a longer reach. Darren stood on his toes and felt along the shelf. His fingers brushed over something definitely not rock. Stretching up as much as he could, Darren closed his hand over the object and knew at once what it was. He took it down and shined the flashlight on his closed hand, opening it slowly.

  Bits of gold and silver gleamed in the light where the patina on the ring hadn’t yet covered the metal completely. Cold to his bones, Darren stared at the men’s Jackson High school ring decorated with a symbolic list of its owner’s accomplishments. As Darren read the inscription inside, he wondered if the man the ring belonged to had added murder to the list.