Chapter 25 Aiden
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
AIDEN
I’m not sure I even breathe as I drive over to Jamie’s mother’s. I don’t know her. I barely know any of them. Still, as I reach the Victorian-style home the address tells me is hers, I don’t give a shit about anything other than getting Sawyer and Katya out of this mess.
I’ve done a lot of dumbass shit. A lot of illegal dumbass shit.
But this has to be at the top.
They’re going to fucking kill me. I don’t even care. They can kill me after. Sawyer can have the pleasure himself. All I care about is getting him back safely.
I knock again, more frantic each time my hand hits the door. Finally it swings open and Jamie glares at me. “What’s going on?” He looks beyond me. “Where’s Sawyer?”
I take a deep breath. “It’s an emergency. I need help.”
“What’s going on?” Hunter opens the door wider. “Where’s Sawyer?”
“I fucked up,” I breathe.
Murder lights up Hunter’s eyes. “Where’s Sawyer?”
“Come in.” Jamie steps between us, letting me in. I’m pacing. I feel erratic. I’m going to pass out.
“Dinner will be done—oh, hello.” A White woman with dark hair pulled into a bun wipes her hands on her apron. “Who’s this?”
“Mom this is Aiden. He’s Sawyer’s . . . boyfriend?”
I’m not his anything, but I don’t have time to explain. “Yea.” My eyes slide to Hunter, then I take her hand as she offers me a warm smile.
“Where’s Sawyer?” she asks, and my stomach churns.
My eyes slide to his friends then back to her. “He’s not feeling well. I um, I wanted to come. I hope that’s okay?”
“Oh, of course, sweetie. I can send leftovers for him for when he feels better.” She smiles at me. It’s warmth I don’t deserve right now. “Food’s almost done.”
“We’re going to go outside for a moment, okay?” Noah and Mark come into the living room.
Noah frowns. “What’s going on?” he asks.
“Let’s go outside.” I follow Jamie toward the back door, and I feel like I’m going to vibrate out of my skin.
What if he kills him?
What if he kills her?
To hurt me, Ivan would do anything.
We walk out onto the deck, and I feel four sets of eyes on me.
Everything tumbles out of me.
Every. Single. Thing.
Mark and Hunter’s faces grow more purple, more pissed with every word that leaves my lips. Noah’s hand is covering his mouth and Jamie’s eyes pierce me. “Holy shit,” I hear Mark whisper.
Hunter lunges for me, but Jamie and Mark grab him back as he struggles to get to me. “You fucking asshole. I knew it! I knew there was something fucked up about you! I told him not to trust you!”
“I know!” I scream. “You don’t think I know that?! I know! It’s fucked up and I don’t know how to fix it.”
Hunter slips from their grip, wrapping his hand around my throat and backing me into the railing. “You take your pathetic ass to that fucking house and get my best friend back!”
“Jamie.” Noah glares. “Kick his ass.”
“What?” He shakes his head. “Hunter’s got it.”
“Avenge our friend.” Noah pushes him toward me. “He’s going to kick your ass. These tattoos . . .” He points to Jamie’s arm. “He got them in prison!”
“Noah,” Jamie says.
“Every day he wakes up ready to snap!”
“I love my life.” Jamie blinks at him. “It’s pretty great, actually.”
“Baby, you’re not helping. We’re trying to beat Aiden up and you’re being adorable.”
Mark places a hand on Hunter’s stomach, gently pushing him away from me. “Let him talk.” He watches his boyfriend for a moment until Hunter’s fingers ease up. Honestly, he can kill me after.
“If he’s hurt, even a little, I’ll fucking kill you.”
I swallow, rubbing my throat as he lets go.
“This is a lot,” Jamie says. “Why are you even here? What are we going to do?”
I press my palms into my eyes. I’m unraveling. I’ve never felt this lost before.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I try to breathe through the rush of emotion. It’s killing me. My eyes meet Jamie’s. “I don’t know. I just need help. I need to get him back.” I draw in a ragged breath. “I can’t lose him.”
“Call the police.”
I bark out a laugh. I don’t mean to. “Believe me, it’s not that simple. If the police show up at that house, Ivan will kill everyone in there before they can step through the door.”
There’s still something I haven’t told them and I don’t know . . . this part is still fucking me up.
Ivan’s son.
There’s no similarity between them at all. I see none of him in Sawyer the way I see him in Koda. “Ivan is Sawyer’s real father.” I look up and see them all glare at me.
“What?” Hunter asks.
“I thought I was looking for this stupid statue. I didn’t give a shit.
It’s a fucking statue. No one would get hurt.
” I swallow. “I didn’t understand why Sawyer was involved, but yeah.
He is. His mother was married to Ivan. He’s Jane’s father too.
Their mother left when she found out she was pregnant with him.
Changed their names. She was probably afraid she was pregnant with a boy.
” I shake my head. “She knew Ivan would break him.” It’s the reason Koda is the way he is—fucked in the head.
I wonder where he is right now and why he wasn’t with Ivan.
“He beats Koda. He beats all of us and takes the things we love and uses them against us.” I lift my shirt and turn around and show them.
They’re healing but still angry and red, the bruises morphing from purples to greens.
“He did this to me and Sawyer helped me. He took care of me after.”
All I had to do was find that statue.
And I fucked that up for a bright-eyed boy who showed me what it’s like to be loved for the first time in my life.
“That house, those people in it . . .” I shrug.
“They’re going to kill me when I step in there.
I don’t even care. I just need to get him back, and I won’t ask you to help me.
I’m ready to die. I don’t want to ask that of any of you.
I just wanted to tell you this happened.
Where he is. That I won’t stop until he’s safe. ”
I didn’t know why I felt like I had to come here, but I think I know now.
I didn’t want to be alone.
I’m scared.
“Did Ivan make you date him?” Hunter asks.
“God no.” I shake my head. “Never!”
“Wait, hold on.” Mark steps between us. “Why are we acting like that’s worse than what’s actually happening?” he says, looking at Hunter. “In the grand scheme of things, fake dating someone doesn’t seem so bad. I mean, especially if they were blackmailed and had no choice.”
“Really? Right now?” Hunter glowers at Mark then fixes that look on me. “We’re going to that house and getting him back.”
“Whoa, wait.” Mark shakes his head. “You’re not going in there alone with him.”
Noah looks at Jamie. “I’m going to see if your mother needs help.” He looks at me. “I need a breather.” Jamie nods, kissing him as he walks back inside.
“I’m getting my friend back.” Hunter glares.
“We need to think about this,” Jamie says. “Honestly, we don’t know what the hell is in that house. We need help. This is beyond anything we’re prepared to deal with.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing. I just know I need help. We were getting ready to come here when everything happened.”
“Okay, but I’m confused,” Mark says. “If she’s safe, and they won’t hurt her because she’s a girl or whatever, why not just let Ivan take care of her?” They all look at him. “I’m just saying, if she’s safe, why bother?”
I take a deep breath. “Because last year I told him I was done. We got into some trouble, and someone was killed. I didn’t do it.
I just saw it happen. That was something I wasn’t prepared for, even if they were a bad person like Ivan.
I don’t hurt people. It fucked me up and I told Ivan I was done.
I mean, I’m a piece of shit, and my sister is better off without me .
. .” I take a breath. “For the first time in my life I stood up to him, and he told me he’d kill her if I ran. ”
“What!? Do you think he’d do that?” Mark asks.
I nod. “He said if I didn’t follow them to New York, he would kill her and no one would find her body, and I believed him.
I’m no killer, but Ivan? He’s a killer.” And he has Sawyer.
“He treats his kids like they’re his property.
That’s all she is to him, and I wouldn’t put it past him to get bored with his things.
He doesn’t love her, but he loves hurting me, and he knows she’s the only person I give a fuck about. ”
“Until Sawyer,” Jamie says.
I look at them all. My eyes burn. I try so hard to hold it in. The reality is finally sinking in. “I’m so scared they’ll hurt him. I’m scared,” I admit, choking a sob. “I’m so fucking scared.”
Everything is so fucked.
There’s no way to fix this, but I don’t care about anything except that Katya and Sawyer are safe.
“Fuck.” Hunter scrubs a hand through his beard then rests his hands behind his head, looking as numb as I do. “This is insane.”
I don’t know what I need right now, but whatever it is I don’t want to be alone.
“We need to go get them,” Mark says.
“Get them? Are you high?” Hunter snaps.
“Not nearly enough,” Jamie sighs.
“What are we going to do? Huh? Break in there and politely ask for him back?” Hunter asks.
“Hey.” The back door opens. A Latino man pokes his head through the sliding door. “Whoa. Who died?”
“What do you want, Xavi?” Jamie sighs.
“Mom sent me. We uh, we have a visitor.” He grins then nervously passes his eyes to Jamie. “Someone is going to be mad.” He grins wider.
“What?! What could it possibly be now?” Jamie asks.
“Devlin’s here! Can you believe it? It’s been about a year. He was passing through and wanted to stop by.” Xavi goes back into the house.
Hunter’s head snaps to Jamie, who looks like he’s been punched in the nuts. “Jamie—”
“No. We haven’t seen him in years. Why the hell is he even here?” Jamie rolls his eyes then looks at Hunter. “I didn’t know he still came over! He hasn’t been here since I’ve been coming.”
“It’s been a little over a year since I last saw him. You know him, he’s all over the place. He’s busy.”