“Get the fuck out,” Mateo snapped.
The door slammed shut and I blew out a breath. I put down my rolling pin and leaned against the counter, my mind spinning.
“That guy is nuts,” Nick said. “I don’t like him. We should call someone and report this.”
“He knew I was dating Austin too,” Matthew said. “I think he’s been stalking us, Nick.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. The very idea of someone watching any of us like that scared the hell out of me.
Matthew’s hand slid across my back, and he gave me a gentle rub.
“I don’t know what to think,” I said.
“There’s no way he’s a real debt collector,” Levi said.
“Not at all,” Mateo agreed. “I don’t like any of this.”
“If he’s not a real debt collector, then who is he?” Nick asked. “Who would be trying to go after our—er—the Whynot family?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I don’t like it.At all.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Nick
Everyone was worried about my favorite bastard, and it was starting to be far too much. I was tired of seeing Evie and Matthew spiral, wondering if Austin was going to be okay. And after the scare in the bakery yesterday with Phil, I was over it.
We’d all seen this coming. Like a motherfucking storm brewing.
Matthew said Austin finally hit the burnout wall. For the last two days, the man hadn’t left his house. Today was day three, and I refused to let him wallow. We’d had that magical day of sex, and it was like it had broken him or something.
But now, he wasn’t responding to texts either.
I’d had enough.
Out of everyone in his life, I was confident I was the one who could pull him out of this. At the end of the day, I could piss him off enough to get him out of bed. Not that pissing him off was my goal, but . . . something had to give. Plus, we needed him alive and well to help handle thePhilsituation. We’d reported everything to the police, but they hadn’t been any help. Nothing had really happened, so they couldn’t take action, even with the threats of stalking.
I pulled into his driveway, stuck between fuming that Austin was being a dick and worrying that he actually wasn’t okay. I just didn’t get him and why he wasn’t asking for help. Why wouldn’t he lean on us?
My phone rattled in my pocket and I groaned, seeing that it was one of my builders. Whatever it was, it could wait.
I got out and went to the front door. I turned the knob, not even surprised to find that it was open. Everyone in Whynot was entirely too trusting about their neighbors, in my opinion, but whatever.
When I stepped inside, my stomach twisted.
It was dark. Quiet. The walls bled with sadness. My chest squeezed as it hit me that I was intruding, but . . . I had to know if he was okay.
It was a mess in here, too. I knew Austin wasn’t normally like this. I decided to grab a trash bag from the kitchen, then crept down the hallway until I came to his bedroom door. I knocked on the frame.
Austin’s head lifted in surprise. “Nick? What the fuck? Who the fuck even let you into my house?”
“No one. Your door was unlocked,” I said.
“So you just walked right in?”
Yes, dumbass, I’ve come to rescue you.I didn’t say that, though. I thought about it. But it wasn’t going to help.
He was trying to sound mean, but it was hard to take him seriously when he’d yet to get up from his bed. His room was a complete mess, and he looked sick. I wanted to give him shit about looking like a sickly Victorian child, but instead, I stooped over and started gathering up pieces of trash.
