Second Chances by Andrea Speed, A.B. Gayle, Jessie Blackwood, Katisha Moreish, J.J. Levesque Page B

unlocked, he still – perhaps naively – expected this apartment to be bolted. But he was wrong again. As he put his hand on the knob, it opened with the least bit of force.
    Someone has been here. Who?
Vale was dead. Flynn? Could Flynn really have been released from the hospital of his own will and have come here? But if he had, why hadn’t he called him?
    Leaving the door open to ensure a quick flight if necessary, Aiden cautiously crept into the room. It was sparsely furnished. Flynn had mentioned that, but he hadn’t realized how little there actually would be.
    The room was dark and eerily silent. He expected at least some noise from other tenants, but there was nothing. “It’s after one in the morning, Aiden. Probably two. Of course no one’s awake,” he said softly to himself to break the silence. Nervous energy filled his body as he snuck around what barely passed as a living room. He was not cut out for this kind of work.
    A book left laying on a low table caught his eye and he picked it up. It had a bookmark in it peeking out slightly at the top. A photo of a woman and a man. Flynn’s parents. Who else could they be? Carefully putting the photo back into the book, he shut it and tucked it under his arm.
Remembrance of Things Past
would go with him, then. At least he could give that to Flynn when he next saw him.
    One quick search of the apartment produced very little Flynn would probably want to take. Aiden found a dufflebag and packed it with some clothes and set the book on top. It wasn’t much, but then, Flynn didn’t have a lot to begin with. Shouldering the bag, Aiden checked the apartment one last time, searching for something Flynn may have kept hidden. Finding nothing, he reluctantly shut the door behind him.
    “Find what you were looking for?”
    Aiden jumped and turned to look at Matthews, leaning calmly against the wall by the door. He clutched the straps of the bag tighter and nodded. “Flynn needed his things. I figured no one else would think about it.”
    “It wasn’t safe for you to come here.”
    “Well, I did and I’m still alive, aren’t I?”
    Matthews grunted again and turned Aiden, pointing him to the stairs. “We need to get back. It’s not safe to be here.”
    Aiden didn’t resist and quickly made his way back to the entrance. He was well aware of Matthews behind him and wondered vaguely if he was carrying a gun. He hadn’t seen one, but he probably was. “Did Dante give you the slip?”
    “Your damn mutt took off. I have no idea where he went.”
    “Probably home. He’s a smart dog.”
    “Well, I guess we’ll find out once we get there, won’t we?” Matthews grinned. “Thankfully at least one of you is smart.”
    Aiden didn’t like the way he looked, but he fell into step next to him. Minutes later they arrived and sure enough, Dante sat whimpering at the front door. He let out a yip of excitement when he saw Aiden and rushed him.
    “Easy boy. Let’s get to bed,” he said, pushing the dog down and letting himself in. Matthews took up a position just inside the door before Aiden locked it.
    Soon after Dante was settled on his cushion in the kitchen, Aiden made his way upstairs and got ready for a few short hours of sleep. Before he climbed into bed, he pulled out a shirt from Flynn’s bag. It smelled just like him.

5: Identity Theft

Flynn Archer
     
    ___________________________________________________
     
    Time & Place: Who knows?
     
    Flynn wondered if now he was finally going to discover what the fuck was going on.
    Waking up to discover you were in a hospital in some other part of the world was bad enough, and to find out your boyfriend somehow authorized this was slightly worse. He wished he could talk to Aiden (okay, not so much talk as chew him a new one), but he’d been relatively isolated since coming to. He hadn’t been in a coma long enough to be really weak, so he made a big stink, escaped from their restraints, and was basically just a hell