20. Caden
Ican’t believe Flint’s reaction and Pike’s lack of reaction to the devastating news we received about Aspen. Just looking at her face, I realized there was so much more to the story than what we heard, and I’m determined to hear it.
“Aspen?” I knock on her closed bedroom door gently. “It’s me, Caden.”
“I want to be alone.” Her voice is raspy and barely recognizable.
“No, you don’t.” I open the door, uninvited, and find her curled up on the queen bed in a ball, sniffling. Standing at the threshold, I wait for her to order me away, but when she doesn’t, I venture closer, shutting the bedroom door in my wake. “Aspen…”
“Really, Caden, if you’re here to tell me I’m fired, I already figured it out,” she sniffs without turning. “Just give me a few minutes to get my stuff together.”
“I’m not here to tell you that you’re fired.” I sit on the side of the bed. My hand reaches out to touch her hip and gently turns her toward me. Hastily, she wipes her face, peering up with sad eyes.
“I don’t want Lily to see me like this,” she mumbles, and my love for her doubles.
Even now, she’s only thinking about Lily. There’s no way she’s some kind of fraudster. I don’t care what that credit report says.
“Lily is making cookies with Zoe. You won’t see her until she’s bloated and full of sugar,” I reassure her. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
Aspen bites on that luscious lower lip, and I have an urge to kiss her, but I don’t. Instead, I lie beside her, stretching out to the length of her body, and pull her against me. She shakes but hides it well as I pull her tighter.
“Aspen, it’s all right,” I tell her softly. “You can tell me what’s going on.”
“I wanted to tell you so many times,” she moans quietly. “I wasn’t trying to hide it, but you’ve all been under so much stress.”
A rap on the door silences her.
“I don’t want to see Lily,” she mumbles in a panic.
I untangle myself from her and rise to answer the door, determined to give my lover the few minutes of peace that she needs. But to my amazement, Pike and Flint stand on the other side of the door.
“Can we come in?” Flint asks.
“That depends,” I reply protectively. “Are you going to behave yourselves?”
Flint exhales as Pike appears mortified by my question.
“Of course!” Pike agrees.
“You were right. We didn’t listen to what she had to say.”
“Wait here. I’ll see if Aspen wants to see you,” I tell them, ready to close the door in their faces.
“Let them in, Caden,” she calls from the bed.
As they shuffle inside, I again close and lock the door, just in case Lily gets ambitious and ventures upstairs. Aspen sits up and hugs a giant pink throw pillow to her chest.
“Are you okay?” Flint asks, hurrying toward her.
The concern is genuine, but I’m still a little annoyed with him for the way he handled matters downstairs.
“It’s fine. I’m sorry, guys. There should have been a point when I told you about my credit.”
Pike takes the armchair next to the bed, his blue eyes inquisitive as he listens, but I reclaim my spot at her side, stroking her hair comfortingly as Flint perches at the edge of the bed.
“Tell us now,” Flint urges. “How did it come to this? What happened?”
Aspen sucks in air and closes her eyes as if she’s trying to figure out where to start.
“I was engaged once,” she begins. “I think I alluded to that before.”
We all bob our heads in unison.
“His name was Sean, and he was twelve years older, a real charming guy. He had a successful company and swept me off my feet right from the start…”
Flint and I look at one another, suddenly sensing where this is going.
“I never had much money,” she goes on. “I was in school, though, studying to be a teacher. My credit was good, and I worked full-time during college, so I never took out student loans or anything?—”
“Oh, that bastard,” Pike mumbles.
Aspen looks at him sadly. “I didn’t find out he had used my identity until long after I had caught him cheating and left. By then, he had fully disappeared, and I had no way of tracking him down. The police were less than helpful. All I could do was work with the creditors to pay back the outstanding balances in the tens of thousands or file for bankruptcy. I had to drop out of school to pay them back.”
Her last words crack, and she drops her head as fresh tears form in her eyes. “I’ve been drowning for the last five years with no life raft.”
“That’s not true,” I say, brushing a stray strand of hair away from her face. “We’re your life raft. You should have told us right away.”
“I know that now,” she sniffled. “But you’ve already done so much for me. I’ve paid down a sizeable chunk of my debts with my paychecks already.”
“They’re not your debts,” Pike fumes. “They’re his!”
I kiss her cheek softly. “Pike’s right. You have nothing to be ashamed of. An asshole fucked you over.”
Flint’s hands reach for her bare legs comfortingly. “And you don’t need to worry about any of your debts. I just reached out to my accountant. She’s dealing with every outstanding account as we speak.”
Aspen’s lips form an O of shock. “What? Flint, I’ll pay you back. Every penny. I know it will take time, but?—”
I capture her protests with my lips, silencing her. When I pull away, I stare at her pensively. “I think I speak for all of us when I say you don’t owe us anything, Aspen.”
The relief on her face is tangible, and she cups my neck, drawing me to her, our lips crushing together again. I return her embrace eagerly and exhale inwardly.
For a moment, I’d thought we’d lost her. I’m not willing to let her go anywhere.