Chapter 36
“ C alm down.” Eden takes hold of my hands and forces me to focus. “Explain what happened.” Her eyes look all wild and scared while she waits for me to tell her what's got me so mad.
“Ruckus and Freya,” I explain trying to find that fuckin’ calm. I promised myself I was done being angry and sad around her. She’s suffered far too much of it already.
“What about them?” Eden is clearly as clueless to all this as I was.
“Apparently, he fucked her five years ago and now he’s in love with her.” I drag my hand through my hair just so I have something to do with it. I should have punched him again before I left.
“And you're mad about that?” She stares back at me like my reaction confuses her.
“Yes, Eden, I’m mad about it. Did you not hear what I said?” I grip the kitchen counter and breathe through my nostrils. I hear her start to laugh and I spin my head, waiting to hear what's so fuckin’ hilarious.
“I’m sorry but you, of all people, can’t seriously be mad about this.”
“What part of the story did you not hear?” I ask her, wondering why she’s still smiling.
“This explains why he’s disappeared the last few days. If he’s in love with her he’ll be pretty cut up about the fact she left with Cam.” She looks as if she’s feeling sorry for him.
“Eden, he fucked my little sister,” I tell her again, in case she missed my fuckin’ point.
“And do you not fuck your own president’s sister, every night? Aaron, I don’t think you're really in the position to?—”
“That’s different, we’re different.” My finger points between us. “I know how I feel about you. I love you, I always have. Ruckus is…well, he’s Ruckus .” I scrub my hand over my face and growl into it. “He’s my best friend, and yeah, I’m close with Raze, but, it’s just…It’s fuckin’ different.” I can’t explain it but she’s looking at me as if she expects me to.
“How?” She looks so calm and fuckin’ patient, it’s a quality of hers that I love but right now, I want her to agree with me.
“Don’t get all smart, Eden.”
“I’m not, I’m just wondering how this is any different to you and me.”
“Because…’cause…” Grrrrr, I hate not having an answer for her. “I don’t fuckin’ know.” I sit down at the table and close my eyes.
“So, did you ask Ruckus why she left?” She eventually takes a seat beside me.
“No, I hit him…Twice,” I admit, watching how she shakes her head. “You need to talk to him, let him explain.”
“The last thing I want is an explanation. I don’t want to think about the two of them together.” I shake my head.
“Aaron, I get that Freya’s special to you, especially now, but Ruckus is a good guy, and he’s your best friend for a reason.”
“Yeah, well, the spot just reopened.” I tilt my head to look at her and manage a smile.
“I’ll bet if you had to choose any man to take care of her, it would be him.” Her hand strokes my back soothingly
“Ruckus has no idea how to treat a woman, let alone love one. I trusted him. When he said he’d take care of her, I thought he was doing a nice thing.”
I’m so mad at myself for not seeing what all that bullshit was.
“Come on, Eden, you know what he’s like. He even fucked that nerdy friend of yours.”
“Hey!” she warns me with a nudge of her elbow. “Maybe, Ruckus has just been scared.” Her suggestion turns me into the one who's laughing.
“Ruckus, scared? Not a chance.”
“You know what I mean. You Soul men will walk into a fight unarmed and blindfolded, but you're not the best at facing up to your feelings. Maybe he was scared of hurting you, or scared of falling in love. Maybe, all those other women have just been a distraction. It was him who went back to that show and got her,” she points out.
I hear what she’s saying and, like always, it makes sense. I can’t believe I didn’t see all this before. All those nights they would have spent together while I thought he was doing me a favour. That cut up look he had on his face when she left with Cam. How did I not piece it all together?
I guess because he’s my best friend.
“You really think he loves her?” I look up at my wife and see that she’s smiling.
“I think you need to speak to him and let him explain,” she tells me.
“You must be sick of this.” I put my arm around her and drag her closer. “I’ve not exactly given you the best start to married life.” I rely too much on the fact that Eden accepts me for who I am.
“You’ve been through a lot and, as we know, life isn’t always smiles and rainbows. I got a feeling things are about to look up though.” She kisses my cheek and stands back up, busying herself around the kitchen with that sweet little smile still on her face.
I watch her for a few moments, trying to figure out what’s different about her.
“Did ya change your hair?” I ask, standing up and moving toward her.
“No.” She shakes her head, trying really hard not to let that smile grow any wider.
“Use a different moisturiser?” I pinch her cheek and watch the color flush to it.
“Get off.” She swats me away and laughs.
“There’s somethin’ different about you.” I frown curiously while I wait for her answer and her lips twitch while she keeps me in suspense.
“Well, there is one little thing.” She pulls a white stick out from her back pocket and holds it out in front of me.
“What?” I snatch it from her hand so I can take a look at it. “Are you…are we…?”
“We’re gonna have a baby.” She bursts into tears and laughter at the same time and I kiss her so hard she has to force me away so she can catch her next breath.
“How long have you known?” I stare at her in shock.
“I found out about five minutes before you stormed through the door,” she explains. “I’ve been late for a few days and I felt a little queasy while I ate breakfast so I went to the pharmacy and picked up this test.” She takes the stick back from me and places it on the counter.
“Are you happy?”
“Not about the fact you went to the pharmacy by yourself, but this…Eden, you got my kid in there.” I rest both my hands on either side of her stomach and look down at it. “I can’t wait to tell Ruc…” I cut myself off when I realise that asshole ain’t my best friend, anymore.
“Aaron, get out of here. Go speak to your friend.” Eden glances toward the door and I quickly kiss her again, this time much softer, then I drop to my knees and kiss her stomach.
“Let’s hope your uncle Ruck has a good explanation. I’d like for you to meet him.” I smile up at my beautiful, pregnant wife because suddenly nothing else in the whole fuckin’ world seems to matter.
“Being pregnant looks good on you,” I tell her as I get back up, and head out the door.
Ruckus is exactly where I guessed he would be. Sitting on the end of the bar, drinking a coffee and looking real sorry for himself.
“Do you really love her?” The question comes out before I can make it all the way over to him, and suddenly the conversation we should be having in private becomes everyone here’s business.
Ruck lifts his head and before he even attempts to answer me, I see it.
I see the pain of being separated from that person who owns your fuckin’ heart and I see the fatigue from endless overthinking.
“I really love her.” He nods his head.
“You sure? Because if she’s just a pretty face and some fu?—-“
“Wrath, I’ve loved her since I first set eyes on her.” It sounds as if he’s admitting that to himself for the first time and I recognize the pain in his voice. The whole ride here, I’ve thought about what I would have done if Raze had said I couldn’t be with Eden.
There ain’t nothing, not even him, who I would’ve let stop me from being with the woman I love.
“Then why the fuck are you sitting there looking all weak and wounded?” I march toward him and drag him up by his cut.
“Get on your bike, ride to Arizona and bring my sister home,” I tell him, watching the sorrow in his eyes fade into something that tells me he won’t be coming back without her.
“I was about to, I was just figurin’ how I was gonna convince her to come back here while you were so… Are you not mad anymore?” he checks.
“Oh, I’m mad. I’m fuckin’ furious, but that shouldn’t stop the two of you being together. Get the fuck outta here.” I shove him toward the door and instead of heading out of it, he rushes back at me, wrapping his huge arms around me and squeezing.
“You ain’t gonna regret puttin’ ya faith in me.” He makes me a glaring promise before heading out the door, and I feel a smile tug on my lips as I straighten out my cut.
I ignore all the shocked faces and head back to the bar to join Raze.
“So… Ruckus and your sister.” Raze laughs. “Guess now you know how it feels.”
“Yeah, about that. Turns out, I knocked up yours.” I look up at him and grin.
“You're lucky she’s got a ring in her finger.” He grips my shoulder real tight. “Congratulations,” he tells me, wearing a smile of his own, as he leaves me to think more on the fact that I’m gonna be someone's father.
Eden was right, things are looking up, and from now on I’m gonna be looking up with ‘em.
It’s what Willow would want and what Eden, and my kid, deserve.