18. Aiden
EIGHTEEN
AIDEN
No fucking way are we doing this again. I let her walk away without an explanation once. I’m not going to make that mistake again. And I’ve had just about enough of the lack of communication.
I know what I want. Lennox Kennedy. That hasn’t changed in the last decade.
“Where are you going?” Brooks moans as I step out into the hall.
The elevator dings, signaling Lennox’s departure. Dammit. “To talk to Lennox.”
“Yes,” Sara cheers.
I spin and offer her a smile. “Did she say anything about what happened with Ryder?”
Approaching the door, Sara eyes me ruefully. “Only that he asked her out on a date.”
Anger floods me, and I clench my fists at my sides.
Sara rushes forward and grasps my forearm, trying to hide a smile. “She didn’t say yes.”
I blow out a breath. I can’t get ahead of myself. Just because she didn’t say yes to him doesn’t mean she’ll say yes to me. But I have to try. “Wish me luck,” I mutter as I stride down the hall.
“You don’t need luck when you have a fancy peen,” she shouts as I head toward the stairwell.
My shoulders shake with laughter.
My brother picked a good one.
I take the stairs up to Lennox’s apartment to give myself time to think.
I contemplate popping into my place and grabbing a bottle of wine.
In the end, though, I figure that’s a bit presumptuous.
It’s possible she won’t even answer the door or that she’ll slam it in my face when I tell her the truth.
When I reach the top floor, I consider going to Gavin’s apartment instead, but before I can chicken out, I force myself to knock on Lennox’s door.
When she opens it, she’s in nothing but a robe. Her pink hair is up in a ponytail, and her face is wiped free of makeup.
It takes effort not to stumble back. The woman is absolutely gorgeous.
Blue eyes blink several times, and then she sighs and steps back so I can come inside. “You don’t listen well, Hockey Boy.”
As I step over the threshold, I can’t help but smirk. “I’ve been told that a time or two.”
I glance around the apartment, taking in all the changes she’s made since she moved in.
Sara and Lennox both have loud personalities, but their tastes couldn’t be more different.
When Sara lived here, she hung artwork with soothing sayings all over the place, and there was a candle on every surface. The place was cozy.
Now, there’s a bright pink glowing sign above the bedroom door that reads This Is Where The Fun Happens .
On the counter is a big jar filled with coins and labeled Here for a good time .
Purple and pink sequined pillows line the couch, and a shaggy white rug sits beneath a glass coffee table covered in magazines.
It’s like a room at a sorority house. Though I suppose my penthouse would probably look like a frat house if not for Jill’s presence.
In Cincinnati, I bought a beer bottle opener that hangs on the wall and when you pop the top off, it drops and makes its way through a maze. If the top makes it all the way to the end, it sings one of many Britney Spears songs. It was awesome.
Jill stopped me before I even got a nail in the wall to hang it. Now it’s in Daniel’s apartment. I should really get that back.
Lennox sets a small box on the counter. A box with a photo of a blond woman on it. “You really are dying your hair?”
Ignoring me, Lennox sashays to the kitchen. “Want a drink?”
As she pulls two wineglasses from the cabinet, I snatch the box off the counter and silently watch her, waiting for an answer.
She sighs. “I have to attend a family event this weekend. The pink has to go.” She sets the glasses on the counter, then turns back for the wine and bottle opener. I take both from her, pop the cork, and fill each glass halfway.
“Why are you still changing yourself for your family?”
With a tilt of her head, she hits me with a glare.
“Seriously? I understand that most people don’t get it, but you?
I didn’t think you’d changed that much.” She stalks over to the couch and slumps into it.
Then she tugs the chenille blanket thrown over the back down and covers her legs, hiding herself beneath it.
“I’m sorry,” I say, a lump forming in my throat, and settle into the oversized chair beside the couch. “That came out wrong. It’s just—you’re perfect, and I hate seeing you change yourself for them.”
“You need to stop saying stuff like that,” she whispers, wearing a pained expression.
I stare her down, unblinking and confused. I’m just being honest. “Why?”
“Why?” she mutters with a shake of her head. “The engaged man asks me why he has to stop being so sweet.” Her quiet words get progressively louder as she picks at the blanket. “I don’t know, Aiden. Maybe because I’m your wedding planner, and you’re marrying someone else.”
I scoot to the edge of my seat and slide a coaster closer. With my wineglass settled there, I run my palms down my thighs and focus fully on her. “I’m not.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’re not what?”
“I’m not marrying someone else. I ended the engagement.”
“Shit.” She covers her face with one hand and slumps into the cushion. “Please tell me you didn’t make a rash decision because of what happened tonight. This”—she motions between us with her pink-tipped finger—“can’t happen.”
“Why?”
“Why?” Shrieking, she hauls herself to her feet and paces.
“You can’t end your engagement because of an almost kiss.
You can’t…” She stops and tips her head back, slamming her eyes closed.
Then she spins and glares at me. “I needed this job. I told you I needed this job. You promised that you understood.”
I stand so I’m facing her, though I give her the space she so obviously needs. “Why do you need this job? Why are you dying your hair? What is going on, Lex? If you tell me, maybe I can help.”
She lets out an obnoxious squeak-snort sound. She clearly thinks I’m an idiot.
She’s not wrong, but I am also dedicated to fixing this. Fixing us. Fixing the issue that has her acting like a robot for her family.
“Fine, you want to hear what a disaster my life is? Want to hear what you signed up to deal with because you are a lunatic who ended his engagement and probably cost me my job?”
“Lex,” I plead, stepping closer and reaching for her.
She holds up her hand. “Nope. You asked. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
” She paces back to the couch and snatches up her wine.
“You know that my parents and I have never seen eye to eye. They’ve always wanted me to be the perfect wife for a banker or hedge fund brat or lawyer.
Definitely not an athlete, and certainly not you, Hockey Boy.
” She eyes me dismissively, mimicking the way her mother surely would.
“And while I was okay with never having their approval, because, let’s face it, I’m not one to conform.
I didn’t realize that I’d be cut off if I didn’t follow their rules. ”
My stomach sinks. “They cut you off?”
Eyes closed, she takes a sip of wine. “Not yet, but there’s a deadline.”
“A deadline?”
“My grandmother died last year,” she says softly, blinking back tears.
Dammit. I want to pull her against my chest and keep her there forever, comfort her and keep the world from hurting her. “I’m sorry, Lex. I didn’t know.”
Lennox was always close with her grandmother. She was the only person in her family who wanted her around just for her.
“Apparently, I can only access my trust if I’m married by the time I’m thirty. If I’m not, then my father becomes the trustee, and he’s made it clear that he’ll withhold it if I don’t marry someone of ‘Kennedy caliber.’”
“That’s bullshit,” I seethe. “You can’t marry a man you don’t love.”
Lennox eyes me. “Obviously, which is why I never intended to get married.”
The flippant way she spits out that fun fact is a punch to the gut, but I keep my face impassive. “So you’ll just lose everything?”
“Which is why I need this job. Even before my grandmother got sick, my father was frustrated with me for bouncing from one job to the next. It’s just”—she looks away from me, and when her blue eyes turn to mine, they look so lost—“I don’t want to settle.
I want to have a life worth living. Maybe that’s the spoiled brat in me, the privileged girl who had everything.
But I want to create a life that’s right for me. A kind of life that makes me worth it.”
The way she says the words—the heartbreak in them—is so familiar.
I hurt for her. Dark emotions linger inside me, loom over me, even on the best days, making me question my worth too.
But while I have hockey and an awesome family to bring light into the darkness, Lennox is struggling to find her calling, and clearly, her family is nowhere near as supportive as mine.
I stalk toward her and press my palm to her cheek. Without hesitation, I speak the words she needs to hear, the words I so often wish I’d hear. “You are worth everything, Lex.”
Her eyes fall shut as she lets out a heavy breath. “I think you may be one of the very few people who have ever believed that.”
“I don’t just believe it. I know it. Sara does too,” I urge, brushing my thumb over her cheek. When she opens her eyes and fixes them on me, I add, “And the girls, they all care about you.”
A hint of a smile tugs at her lips. “I’m so thankful for the people in my life now, but they’re all settled. They have careers or family.” She lowers her focus to a spot on my chest, her expression falling. “I’ve just got me.”
“Do you like this job?”
“I do. But then you had to go and screw it up.” There’s no malice behind her words. She just sounds sad.
Stroking her cheek, I give her a partial truth. “Jill was cheating on me. I was a mark. She didn’t want me, just my money.”
Lennox pulls back, her eyes going wide and her mouth falling open. “What?”
“That’s why she hasn’t been coming to appointments with me. I found out in the elevator after our first meeting.”