Chapter 36 Aiden
A few days had passed since the start of this chaos, and I woke up next to Evie, the quiet of the morning settling over us.
Not that she knew it.
I had come in late last night after working, only stopping in my room long enough to change before cracking open her door and slipping inside to fall into bed with her. She had barely stirred, moving enough to wrap herself around me.
The sun was already streaming in the windows and I reached for my phone, knocking over a little cat figure in the process.
“What the fuck,” I mumbled, reaching over and putting it back upright. I couldn’t place when Evie would have suddenly become obsessed with cats, but with her I could never keep up with the newest fascination. The little knickknacks around her room were evidence of that.
I opened my camera, smiling as I took a photo of me and a sleeping Evie.
She would be pissed. One because I snuck in without waking her up, and two because she would not be a fan of a photo of her drooling being in the world.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and eased off the bed, snagging my shirt from the floor and pulling it on. She stirred, rolling over, and I froze—waiting until her breathing evened before moving.
When I reached the living room, I hit send.
My mind wandered as I headed downstairs, knowing my life was changed forever whether Rook found out about us or not. I had a taste of what being with Evie was like now and I would never be the same.
Every thought of her clung to me—how her laugh had settled in my chest, how her gaze could pierce me from across a room. Could she really feel the same? Could I make her mine completely, so there’d be no turning back?
I stared at my phone, a photo of her from a few days ago staring back at me, and felt the pull tighten in my chest. I didn’t care if Rook found out or what anyone else thought. All that mattered was her—and making sure there was no choice left but me.
I stepped into the living room, clicking the photo closed as I saw Rook.
“What’s up?” I asked Rook as I headed to the other side of the huge couch. All of us were awake at random times. Sometimes we didn’t sleep, so being up this early was easy. Rook was the only one out here now.
“You working with us today?”
“I was planning on it.”
“All right, we have the run at eleven. For everything else, Anderson has disappeared again, but I’m wondering if we could get a better grasp on the Order and what any of that has to do with him or Evie in the meantime of hunting him down.”
“I can work with Evie and see what she can dig up. She’s been searching around old documents lately and something might connect.”
He ran a hand down his face. “It’s been going on too long. We need to catch up to them. Whoever the fuck them is.”
I should tell him what Evie had been doing.
He should know she had been digging into their parents’ lives, especially now that everything was beginning to look connected.
I looked at Rook, checking him over. Thanks to Regan, he was getting more sleep nowadays and slowing down a bit on his workload, but he was still overwhelmed.
He took on everything he could and I knew the moment I told him what was happening, he would take that task on, too.
A task that wasn’t his job and wasn’t more than a rabbit hole Evie wanted to go down to find closure—closure that Rook had already found for himself.
I hesitated. Telling him meant Evie could be safer, but it also meant any progress Evie and I had made would be gone.
Keeping Evie safe was always my priority, but now I had a new priority—keep Evie.
If I didn’t tell Rook everything, I would have to be by her side every second of the day.
“Aiden Hayes, if you don’t get up these damn stairs right now, I will be coming down there to drag you up,” Evie yelled from the loft in the foyer. “Or throwing the entire contents of your room down to you.”
Rook’s eyebrows jumped up. “You are really pissing Evie off a lot lately.”
“She hasn’t been happy with me watching over her shoulder so much,” I said, getting up and trying not to smile. “I don’t know what I did this morning already, but I guess I better go find out before my stuff is thrown over the railing.”
“Or she comes down here with that damn knife.”
“Very true.”
My smile grew the second I turned away from Rook. Nerves shot through me, but it wasn’t because of the angry woman I had to go face, it was her brother behind me who would dig that knife into me the second he found out what was happening.
I took the stairs two at a time, heading right toward Evie when I made it up. She started yelling at me, her phone held up in her hand, but I didn’t listen. Instead, I kept my pace and grabbed her waist, dragging her with me down the hall to my room.
I pushed it open, spinning us and slamming it shut behind us. Her back hit the frame, and I lifted her, pinning her between me and the wall.
“Problem?” I asked, our lips an inch apart now.
“A slight one. Care to tell me why I woke up to a photo on my phone of you in my bed, but I have no recollection of you being there? It’s a little more romantic if you let a girl know you’re in her bed.”
“No, I do not care to tell you,” I said, leaning in and capturing her lips with mine.
She melted into me, her body relaxing as I held her in place. Her lips were soft at first, each swipe of her tongue getting more demanding. Her nails bit into my shoulders, every aching touch making me want to continue.
But I had to stop.
“Get dressed.”
“Why?” she asked, pulling in fresh air until her chest pressed against me.
“We have work today.”
“It’s the weekend.”
“And Dimitri is moving cars today. We have to be there in case they get taken. We are getting closer to who is behind them being stolen.”
“I did my part by setting up the trackers before.”
“They caught on and are trying to throw us off.”
She rolled her eyes, wiggling her body against me in the most cruel way she could find.
“Are we really supposed to go about our day like normal all while hiding this?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, letting her feet drop to the floor. “Get ready. And we will be on the bike for hours so dress comfortably.”
She grinned, adjusting her shirt. “So my tank top that says Psycho? You got it.”
My stomach dropped for a second before she rolled her eyes.
“I’m kidding.”
I didn’t say anything, knowing damn well if she put that on again, I would have zero restraint. I was already holding on by a thread to not throw her on the bed and stay there all day.
Rook yelled from downstairs, needing us all to get to the garage and get ready.
I leaned down, grabbing a handful of hair and pulling her into me again, kissing her hard.
“Time to go. If you even think about wearing that top, I will change your clothes myself,” I hissed.
“That doesn’t sound too—”
My hand flew up, covering her mouth as her eyes went wide.
“I will put you in the ugliest, itchiest, most annoying clothes I can find and I know for a fact there is a box of ancient clothes in the attic that will fit you.”
“You wouldn’t. Those would be disgusting.”
“I would, and then I would make you ride with Mason.”
“You would be too jealous.”
I grinned, already knowing she was right. “Absolutely, and I would love every second of torture. I’ve dealt with it for years, it’s like flirting now.”
“Fine. I’m getting dressed, and I am not riding with anyone else.”
“What?” I asked with a grin before opening the door and checking the hallway. “Not wanting to torture me today?”
“Oh, I do, but I have better things planned for you.”
No one was there, so she stepped out, heading across the hall to her room. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she went.
Part of me wanted to scream that she was mine. The satisfaction of pulling her off anyone else’s bike, to make her off-limits to anyone else and have her all to myself.
Evie was my forever—I had always known that—but I never thought she could really be mine forever.
I knew if I wanted this to be real, Rook would have to find out soon, but watching Evie now, having the quiet moments to be with her, I wasn’t ready to risk that yet.
I couldn’t lose Evie before I even really had her.
Twenty minutes later I pulled into the garage to meet with everyone, surprised Evie hadn’t ridden over with me on my bike.
I had to start finding ways to get her completely obsessed with me.
And this didn’t exactly scream obsessed.
I rolled the bike to a stop at the bay door, hitting the kickstand down as Regan, Harper, and Evie pulled up in Regan’s car.
Evie didn’t even look my way, heading right to the open door with her back to me. Part of me was wondering if this was another game of hers or if I had somehow fucked up from an hour ago to now.
Harper and Regan flanked me, each one stopping on either side of me and my bike.
“What’s going on?” Regan asked, and I could hear the laughter in her tone.
“Yeah, up to anything interesting lately?”
I looked between both of them, the sly matching grins making my stomach drop.
“Oh fuck, did Evie tell you what happened?”
Their smiles grew, and I knew I screwed up.
“No,” Regan said with a grin. “But we suspected something did happen based on the things she said and now you confirmed it, so thank you.”
“Really, you made that so easy. I don’t even know what to say,” Harper said.
My head dropped, my shoulders slumping. “Fuck.”
“Aww, don’t worry,” Regan said, patting my shoulder. “I’m not going to be the one to tell Rook. I have to pick my battles and I’m currently trying to tone down the stalking—and buy a bakery—so this one is all yours.”
“And I feel like he doesn’t know me well enough to have me break it to him that his best friend is fucking around with his little sister behind his back.” Harper looked all too pleased at the information, but I knew she wouldn’t tell, even if she did know him better.
“Fuck, can we not talk about it like that,” I said, getting up and making Regan move from her post at my side. “She’s Evie. Evie. She’s more than Rook’s sister and you know it.”