Chapter Eleven
My mouth drops open.
“I do hate you. I hate you for everything you did to me, Aiden,” I explode, no longer keeping my cool. I thought maybe I could play it off as if I was indifferent to being here, so I could escape easier…
But now? Now, he’s just making me angry.
“I’m doing allof this for you, Sara.” His voice is strained, and suddenly, I realize that I’m staring up at the face of a killer. Alone. And nobody knows where I am. I swallow hard and take a couple of steps away from him. That’s when I catch sight of the back door. This beautiful estate is secluded, but not that secluded. I could run somewhere. I could get help—or just a ride out of here.
Except my hands are still tied. I glance down at my wrists, and then back up at Aiden, whose eyes are boring into me.
“Can you take these off?”
He blinks. “You gonna run?”
“Where am I supposed to run to?” I spit back, lying through my teeth. Aiden used to always be able to tell when I wasn’t being truthful, but over the years I had gotten better at stretching the truth to survive. If he realizes I’m lying now, he doesn’t show it.
“I’ll show you the house now.” His tone is difficult to read as he approaches me. Whatever happened between us a few moments ago, when his hand was between my legs, is dead and gone—and the thought of him touching me makes me feel sick.
And kind of excited, but I push that away.
I should feel sick. He’s a murderer. He broke my heart. He left me.
“Here,” he grunts, pulling something from his pocket.
I eye the knife in his hand as he cuts through the plastic with ease. I wince and the zip ties fall to the floor. I’m finally free to rub the indents that have formed in my skin.
“I’m sorry if they were too tight,” he says carefully, eyeing me. He seems more tense suddenly, and I don’t know if it’s because he thinks I’m going to run or something else entirely.
“It’s going to take me a while to get over the fact you murdered someone,” I say flatly. “Even if he deserved it.” The last statement came out without my meaning it to, and I question my own sanity.
Ron’s death should bother me, right?
It doesn’t.
I swallow the feeling and fall in step behind Aiden as we wander through the house. I don’t look directly at the door that leads to a courtyard, but I make a note of its location. It’s not a clear exit, but might it lead to another? There has to be a way out of here. I need to get back to the girls, and I don’t get why Aiden doesn’t understand that. Except for the fact that he left me. So maybe he really doesn’t.
“This is the kitchen—our kitchen,” he adds as we step into a beautifully, luxurious grayscale kitchen. “I have a staff kitchen as well, but I figured we’d want our own space to cook together.”
I stare at him, blinking. “How did you get… How are you this…”
“Rich?” He laughs with ease, raising his eyebrows at me, as if I’m not a captive in this house. “I have my own business.”
Way to be elusive.
As much as I want to ask about it, I don’t. Why should I care if he’s making money? Why should I care what he did after he left? It doesn’t matter that I melt at his fucking touch. He ruined me. He broke me into a million pieces. I can’t forgive him for that. I won’t let myself. What if he does it again?
“I’m not the enemy, Sara. I never have been.”
My heart skips a beat as his gold-flecked, dark eyes hold mine the way they used to. Before everything went wrong. I swallow hard and look away from him.
“I’ll show you our room,” Aiden says, clearing his throat. His iron grip locks around my wrist, and I want to either slink away or jump his bones. The disparity between the two is staggering and torturous. I don’t feel okay at all. My numbness is morphing into anger and despair.
I don’t like that he’s trying to call this foreign place ours. He’s acting as if the last near-decade of being apart doesn’t exist between us. He thinks he’s a knight on a white horse, but all I see is the devil who broke my heart.
I allow him to lead me up the grand staircase, and I stare out the wall of windows at the moon. It’s still the middle of the night—or very early morning, I’m not sure which. But regardless, it’s dark outside. It’s the perfect cover to escape…
I just have to distract Aiden.
My lips press together as Aiden walks a few steps in front of me. His broad shoulders, taut with muscle and brawn, and his biceps, veins bulging with strength, make me feel like I’m staring at the back of a man I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, Aiden was always strong but slender. This Aiden hits the gym. My mouth grows dry as my eyes sweep up the back of his neck, his golden-brown locks cut shorter than ever before.
He could pass for military. Or something.
I find myself trying to come up with an idea of what he could’ve possibly done to afford a house like this. What was he even doing right before he disappeared? I don’t have an answer. He wasn’t rich though, and he wasn’t going to college. Did he just run off and join the military?
No way. He would’ve told me… But would he have?
“You look perplexed, Sara,” Aiden rumbles as he comes to a sudden stop outside of two double doors. I stare at the black wood and golden handles. I almost laugh. It feels tacky—and so like Aiden to choose something like this.
“I’m fine,” I mutter finally when his eyes don’t leave mine. “Show me.”
He breaks into a smile that makes my stomach flip flop.
“Okay.”
He reaches for the handle and pushes the door in, and I breathe out a sigh of relief. Aiden is still able to get under my skin—but I’m still strong enough to push him out.
And I have to get out of here. I can’t play Aiden’s game. I don’t want my heart broken again, either.
“Take it in, Sara. This is ours.” Aiden says the words in a strange, vibrant tone, and I don’t like it. I don’t like it because as I sweep my eyes over the beautiful room with a canopy king-sized bed and stone floors, I see everything I ever wanted.
How dare he. Hot tears well up in my eyes, but I don’t think he realizes that they’re not because I’m happy. No, I’m not fucking happy at all.
I’m pissed.
“Just like the magazines you used to look at.” Aiden drapes his arm around my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “I didn’t forget, Sara. I never forgot.”
“Mmm” is all I can manage to choke out. The heat from his touch leaves me with mixed emotions, but before I can even try to process them, he drops his arm. Aiden steps away from me, stripping out of his hoodie. Beneath it is a… dress shirt?
I raise my eyebrows at the sight. Aiden looks over at me, but he only smirks. He tosses the hoodie into a hamper and continues to strip down, removing the white dress shirt. Beneath it are layers of dark ink, covering his chiseled torso.
That’s new, too.
“You like it?” He runs his hands over his body, making his way to the V leading to his dark jeans.
I drown in the sight of him. What a masculine beauty veiled by a dark haze. I bet he’s fucked so many women. The thought is entirely unwanted, but I find myself pondering it. I have no idea who he is.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, his hands dropping to the button on his jeans. “You are not into tattoos?”
“No, they’re fine,” I say, my eyes dropping from his. “I have some, too.”
“Let me see.”
Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.
“Um…” My voice trails off as he unbuckles his belt and drops his jeans, leaving him standing there in only a pair of boxer briefs. It’s sickeningly alluring, tugging at my core and begging me to just give into the deep desires churning in my chest. All I ever wanted was to have Aiden.
But now that he’s here… It’s all in the wrong way.
“Show me your tattoos, Sara,” he growls, taking a step toward me. The moonlight illuminates his chest, and I stare at his pecs as he comes within a few feet of me. “You don’t have to get naked. Just show me.”
I force myself to hold his gaze as I lift my oversized T-shirt. “I have this one.” I give him a small glimpse of the roses and vines on my ribcage.
He grins. “Very fitting for you. Any others?”
I shake my head. “That’s it. I should’ve just said tattoo.” My voice trembles as the words tumble out, and I have this strong urge to fall apart in Aiden’s arms. That’s what I used to do. He held me for hours—and now he feels like the enemy.
“Let’s go to bed.” Aiden looks away from me, and I can’t tell if he’s upset or indifferent. Maybe he didn’t like the tattoo? Or maybe I’m not what he wanted me to be. I take a few steps toward the bed, and then I hesitate.
“It’s okay, Sara. I won’t touch you.”
I nod, eyeing the silky black sheets. They look warm and inviting, but as I catch the contrast of Aiden’s skin, I feel nervous. It’s been years. And I hate him.
“Come on.” He reaches out and grabs my hand. I start but don’t move. I don’t want him to know he scares the shit out of me. I want him to think that everything is just fucking fine.
“Sorry,” I mutter as I slide between the sheets, unable to hold back the sigh when I feel how soft they are. Still, I’m so tired, but I can’t stop thinking about back home. Does anyone know what’s happened? What will they think when they see that I’m gone?
“I’ve been waiting for this day,” Aiden whispers as I lie facing away from him. There’s enough space in the bed that I don’t have to touch him—and I don’t intend to. I could’ve asked for my own room, but then he might have kept watch over me all night long.
I don’t want that.
“Everything will be okay,” he continues when I’m still silent. I don’t know what to say to him. Nothing is okay, and it won’t be until I get the hell out of this house. So, I start to count as I inhale.
One, two, three, four, five….
And then I exhale.
One, two, three, four, five…
I focus on my breaths, ensuring that they’re long and deep. Aiden falls silent, but he stays true to his word. He doesn’t touch me. I can’t decide if that earns him a little of my respect or if it only serves to make me hate him more.
He’s not the good guy, and he won’t ever be.