Chapter 32 Aiden
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
AIDEN
I don’t want to do this.
But I have to.
I walk into the gym and find who I’m looking for. Cam’s golden eyes flit to me, narrow to slits, then he pretends to be busy.
Great.
Sawyer told me they filled in Bo and Cam on what had happened between Ivan, us, and the farmhouse. It’s one of the reasons I haven’t been back to the gym since. I can’t put it off any longer.
I walk up to the desk and see the woman standing next to him. She looks between us then shakes her head. I think her name is Sam. She’s the owner if I remember. I wait for him to acknowledge me, and I see how hard he’s trying to fight it.
“Cam?” He keeps typing, eyes furiously locked on the computer. “Camden?”
Sam clears her throat. “Camden?”
“Yes, Samantha? Can I help you?” Cam ignores me.
“Okay, enough.” She laughs. “Stop ignoring him, he looks pathetic.”
“Thank you,” I say flatly.
Cam’s shoulders sag as he turns back to her. “Can I talk to this stranger who I barely know? Please.”
“Yeah.” She shakes her head, going back to her work.
Cam walks around the desk, and I follow him through the gym to a tiny room that looks like an employee break room. Cam leans against a table, folding his arms and looking at me. “What?”
“Look, I—”
“You could have gotten my friends killed,” he snaps. “You lied to them and tried to steal shit from Sawyer. Lied to him!”
“I know, I—”
“And you lied to me.” He glares, but I see the break in his eyes, and know I hurt him.
“I know, okay? I know.” I tell Cam everything then. From last year when we moved. To Katya. The abuse. The threats against our lives, and how at first I thought I had no other choice. I’ve never known any other choice.
Until Sawyer.
And he’s the best choice I ever made.
“It’s not an excuse, and I really wanted to tell you everything. But I was afraid. I um . . . I didn’t want to put you in danger.” Cam’s still glaring at the wall. Muscles bunched in his arms. Jaw hard. Dammit.
I am so going to regret this.
I take a deep breath. “I didn’t want my best friend to get hurt.”
Cam’s head slowly swivels to me. “What did you just say?”
I close my eyes, gritting my teeth. “I didn’t want my best friend to get hurt.”
His mouth parts and he points to his chest. “That’s me?” He points to his chest. I nod shortly. “I’m your best friend?!”
“Yeah, I—”
He grabs me, squeezing me hard.
I struggle out of his grip. “Cam, I can’t breathe!”
“Breathe through the power of friendship. I’m not letting go.” He squeezes tighter. “I told you one day I would hug you and it’d be magical.”
“Cam, I’m going to tickle your ribs.”
His arms drop instantly. “Mean! Very best friendlike. I love it.” He grins. “Is that it? No more secrets?”
“I swear there’s nothing else. I promise.”
He thinks for a moment. “Okay, well. I accept your apology.”
“I didn’t apologize.”
“Through the power of friendship, you did.”
“Well, is it too early to ask a favor?” Cam’s brows rise. “In the name of best friendship.”
He thinks for a moment. “It depends.”
I tell him the plan I have. I don’t have much time. Hunter is hanging out with Sawyer for me later so I can do this. “I just don’t know how to cook, what khao soi is, or where to get the things to even make it.”
Cam loops his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, best friend. We’ll romance Sawyer’s pants off.”
“This is so fucking dumb.”
Jamie sighs, nodding. I look at my phone propped up on the table while I spread rose petals. Seriously, how the fuck is this romantic? It’s a mess. “Yeah, it is, but unfortunately for us, our men are suckers for romance.”
“Believe me, Sawyer is going to strip his pants off the moment he sees this.” Noah cuts into the frame, sitting on Jamie’s lap. “Where are the rest of them?”
I look down at the pathetic sprinkle of roses. “Do you know how expensive roses are?!”
“Yes,” Jamie deadpans. Noah glares at him. “You could have bought fake ones.”
“The fake ones looked stupid.” And I didn’t want it to look cheap. Though I am broke as hell, but still, I wanted to make this nice for him. Although I’ve kind of already fucked up.
I itch so fucking bad.
“Are you wearing the underwear?” Noah asks.
“Noah, I don’t want to talk about the underwear right now.”
Taking a breath I finish up. Hunter will be dropping Sawyer off any minute. Thankfully Koda is taking Katya tonight, and spending time with her before he leaves with Kenji.
Moving into The Charm Box.
Good fucking luck.
The Charm Box is a notable night club a couple of hours from here, owned by the Morozov family. I don’t know how, why, or what the hell is going on with Koda and Kenji, but I know that if the Morozov family are involved, I want no fucking part in it.
He looks happy, though.
Not that I care. I don’t.
I scratch my ass again and wish to hell I hadn’t tried on that lingerie Noah bought me. How was I supposed to know I was allergic to certain kinds of fabric?! Horrible. It was fucking stupid. I shouldn’t have worn it. I want to peel my skin off. “How did dinner come out?”
“Cam and Bo came over to help me. I don’t know if you guys know this, but I didn’t have a kitchen in my fucking car.
” I’ve lived the last few years on raw fruit and vegetables or prepackaged meals that were easily microwavable.
I ate what was accessible. Koda used to bring me food too.
I don’t know shit about cooking. “Oh my fucking god!” I itch again.
This is a problem. Everything is so sore.
“Why are you itching? You might want to get that checked out,” Noah says, and I ignore him.
“Well, Noah, as it turns out I am fucking allergic to whatever that lingerie you had me buy was made out of. The food looks like shit. The sad amount of rose petals on the floor are stupid. And my balls itch like you wouldn’t fucking believe.
This is awful.” I don’t understand why Sawyer wants me.
He could have a man that does all this shit flawlessly.
“Want some advice?” I hear Jamie say.
I look over at my phone and take a breath. I know Sawyer loves me, but I’m just waiting for him to come to his senses.
It will happen. Why wouldn’t he leave me? He’s fucking perfect, and beautiful, and sexy, and so fucking talented, and I—
“Aiden?”
“Huh? Um, yeah. Sure.”
Jamie smiles sadly at me. “You could be the worst at all this and he’s still going to love you. In fact, he might love you a little more because of it.”
“Listen to Jamie. It doesn’t matter how bad it is, it’s the thought that counts.” Noah agrees. “Trust me.”
Jamie glares at him. “The fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“What? I thought you were speaking from experience.” Jamie just stares. “You weren’t? Oh. Um. I mean, of course you weren’t, because you’re amazing at every single thing you do.” Noah kisses his cheek. “Love you.”
I hear footsteps on the stairs. “Shit, I have to go.”
“Make sure you cradle his—” I hang up the phone.
The door opens and Sawyer steps through, freshly showered by the state of his damp hair. He’s been at the gym for a while with his friend. He looks around the room, at the sparsely scattered rose petals and candles lit on the table with my sad attempt at making khao soi.
Dishes are piled in the sink. There were so many fucking components to make this, but last week, when I brought up the idea of doing something nice for Sawyer to his friends, Hunter had insisted I make this.
I have no idea why. I had a hard time finding half the ingredients.
Luckily, Cam and Bo helped me find a small Asian Mart and I found everything I was missing.
Cam loves to cook, so he’s the reason this is even edible.
When I told Hunter I didn’t think I’d be able to make it, he insisted I try. Whatever. Maybe it’s Sawyer’s favorite. “Is that khao soi?” He takes in the petals on the floor. “Rose petals?”
“I would have gotten more, but they’re expensive.”
Sawyer smiles softly, looking at the table. My fingers twitch to scratch my balls, but I’m biting the inside of my cheek to stop myself. “Did you make all this from scratch?”
“For um, the most part. I bought the pickled cabbage and chili flakes from a market. I um . . . there are some other things I didn’t know how to make from scratch, but I had help.”
“From who?”
“Cam. He came over and helped me.”
“And the rose petals?”
“Noah’s idea. And Jamie’s.”
“You had my friends help?”
“I mean, yeah.” Fuck, I should have done this on my own. How pathetic is it that I needed help? “I mean, I should have done it alone.”
Sawyer loops his arms around my waist. “You asked my friends to help you. That’s sweet. This . . .” He swallows. “Let’s eat, yeah?” He clears his throat.
I watch Sawyer across the table, silently using his chopsticks to place condiments into his stew. I take a bite of the chewy noodles. I was worried about them getting soggy while I waited, but they’re perfect. The broth is extremely rich and full of flavor. It’s delicious.
Thanks, Cam.
He takes a bite of chicken and looks at me, then sips some of the broth. Honestly, while Cam had a huge hand in helping me, I feel proud. “Jesus, Aiden.” He shakes his head, taking another bite. “This is crazy.”
“It’s not a great first attempt at romance.”
“What do you mean? It’s perfect,” he says softly, eating without looking at me. I sense something’s wrong.
“What’s wrong?”
He sets his chopsticks down and takes a drink of water. “My mother used to make this all the time. It was my favorite.” He grabs a piece of cabbage, eating it with a piece of chicken and shaking his head. “It’s amazing.”
“Can I assume it doesn’t taste like hers?”