Chapter 16
JACKSON
Aiden was late. Frowning, I checked my watch. He’d insisted on me meeting him here instead of me picking him up from a friend’s house. I’d tried not to think of this friend as a red flag. Tried not to think of what Aiden could be doing with him or what they had been doing that made him late.
Dammit. I’d never been insecure before. Was this because of my anxiety over my impotency, or was this all Aiden?
A date with my stepson. Well, fuck me sideways. I swiped a hand down my face. If I could sink my cock into him, I could do this, but somehow a date seemed far more intimate than swapping spit with him. A date said, “I cared. I wanted to get to know you. I wanted to spend some time with you.”
And I did.
He could be vapid but he was entertaining and funny. He made me crack up, and the way he looked at me made me feel ten feet tall.
When he entered the lobby where I waited with our tickets, my mood plummeted.
He wasn’t alone. A guy with light brown hair and a long nose who looked like he had cash and class was with him.
The familiar jealousy I felt when Aiden was with someone else rose within me.
They were standing way too close for my comfort.
Aiden was laughing at something the guy said. I hated anyone else making my Aiden laugh like that. What the hell was so funny?
As if he’d felt me watching him, Aiden swiveled around and spotted me.
He turned back to his friend, pointed me out, and they hugged.
The guy headed for the concession stands while Aiden ran over to me.
He wore baggy pants that rode low on his hips and a shirt that gave a peep show of his belly each time he moved.
He’d complemented the outfit with strappy heels so thin I was in awe at how easily he walked in them.
“Hey!”
“You’re late,” I said.
“Sorry. My cab didn’t show, so I had to ask someone for a lift.”
I frowned. “Tomorrow, we’re getting you a new car.”
“But my car’s in the shop.”
“You need something more reliable than that pile of junk.”
“So you admit you’ve been having me drive around in a pile of junk?”
“Before, you were just my stepson.”
I walked off, and he hurried to catch up with me. “And what am I to you now?”
“Mine.”
He slipped his arm through mine. My breath hitched, but then I calmed down. So what if we were walking arm in arm? If anyone knew us, they wouldn’t think it was weird.
We took a spot in the back row. It’d been a long time since I’d been out to the movies.
In fact, I’d lived pretty much a hermit existence since being off active duty.
Hell, I hadn’t felt so alive until this boy reminded me what it was like to feel, to want something, to crave it so badly I’d destroy my life just to have it.
Even if it might end up being bad for me.
“Did you want snacks?” I asked Aiden.
“Not now. During intermission. Is that okay?”
“Sure. Whatever you want.”
He smiled and kissed me quickly on the cheek. The cheek where the skin was gnarly and scarred. He didn’t flinch, didn’t even seem to notice the skin wasn’t smooth.
I swallowed. His mother had been different. I’d seen the repulsion in her eyes the first time she saw my face. I couldn’t unsee it. No wonder I couldn’t get hard for her again. She’d been loathed to touch me all this time, but since we returned, she’d been more attentive.
Something felt off.
“Shh, the movie’s starting.” Aiden was full of excitement, shuffling closer to me, taking my arm, and resting his head on my shoulder.
He was so sweet. When he wasn’t being a piranha.
I liked that about him, that he wouldn’t allow himself to be a pushover.
It made me feel better about us that I wasn’t taking advantage of him.
Aiden had chosen the movie, an action flick set in a notorious city where police were corrupt and supervillains ran rampant.
The cinematography was fantastic, with flashy visuals of car chases, shoot-outs, and explosions that had the audience gasping.
The sound system made it feel as though you were actually there in the middle of all of it, with bullets flying past or cars smashing into one another.
At the first explosion, I stiffened, waiting for a flashback of what I’d been through in the Marines. Nothing.
“Jackson?” Aiden said softly. “Are you okay? Do you want to go? Sorry. I wasn’t thinking when I chose this movie.”
I squeezed his hand, touched that he’d asked. “No, it’s fine.” I had to learn to live with explosions without freaking out.
He kept my hand firmly in his, and I sensed him watching me every time an explosion of gunfire happened on the screen as though checking if I was still okay.
When it was intermission, Aiden got up. “I’ll get the snacks,” he said.
“What? No, I’ll pay.”
“Nope. It’s my treat. I have money, you know. I have a job.”
“But—”
He leaned forward and planted his lips on mine. Did he not care that someone might know us?
Tongue-tied, I watched him leave. I was too hard to get up and follow him, so I remained seated. The minutes ticked by until the lights lowered once more, and the movie restarted. Still no Aiden.
Where was he?
I loathed getting up, since the theater was packed, but when another ten minutes passed with no sign of him, I went to search for him.
I checked the concession stand and asked around if they had seen him.
The photograph of him in my wallet came in handy.
A security guard mentioned he’d seen Aiden enter the bathroom with some guy.
The bathroom was empty. Worried, I hurried along the corridor. In a corner, I spotted an emergency stairwell and slipped through the door.
Muffled sounds of two people talking drifted upward. I glanced down the stairs, and my heart lurched.
A large man had Aiden against the wall, an arm planted over Aiden’s chest. Aiden was trying to fend off the man’s hand tugging at the waistband of his pants.
“Don’t do this, you asshole!” he cried. “I said no.”
“You’re such a fucking cocktease. You stood me up that day, remember? Promised me a good time, then bailed on me. Well, I’m taking—”
He never even saw me coming. I hammered my fist into the man’s skull, and he staggered back. He missed a step and tumbled down the stairs.
“Jackson!” Aiden wrapped his arms around me.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He nodded and pulled at my arm. “Let’s go back.”
“I need to teach that prick a lesson.”
The man groaned, rolling over. He made enough sound for me to be unsatisfied he wasn’t dead.
“He’s not worth it. It’s my stupid fault for thinking I could explain to him. I didn’t know he would haul me into the stairwell.”
I rubbed his arms. “Are you sure you’re fine?”
“I am now. Let’s just go back to the movie.”
But the night was ruined. He didn’t eat much of the popcorn I bought for us, though he downed the drink. The movie lost its excitement; his laughter turned forced and too sharp. I was relieved when the credits rolled on the screen.
In the car, he huddled into himself and stared out the window. How to get through to him? I should have killed that guy for touching him.
I turned the ignition on and adjusted the A/C but didn’t take the car out of park.
“Deni.” I reached for his hand, but he pulled it away and curled it up in a fist on his thigh. “Don’t shut me out. Talk to me. Did he hurt you?”
He shook his head. “It’s my fault.”
“What do you mean?”
“The way I was before, sleeping around, leading guys on and dropping them. It’s karma.”
“What the fuck, Aiden?” I shoved back my seat and hauled his lithe frame over the console and into my lap. “No one has the right to assault you. No one, and if anyone does, I’ll fucking kill them.”
With a sob, he threw his arms around me. Shudders raced through his body.
“You let me know if anyone gives you a tough time. You hear me, sweet boy?”
He nodded. “Okay. Does this mean you’re not upset at me?”
“Why would I be? If anything, I’m upset that I contributed to you feeling the way you do tonight. Those things I’ve said to and about you in the past were awful. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
He chuckled. “I was pretty awful to you too, so I think we’ll have to spend the rest of our time making it up to each other. Let’s go home.”
“Not until I get a kiss.”
He sniffled and planted his lips on mine in a soft, gentle kiss that ended with a sigh. I kissed his forehead. He scrambled back over to his seat.
On the way back home, I kept his hand in mine. I couldn’t bear the thought of him being an inch apart from me. When I pulled up in the driveway, a heavy feeling sank into my chest.
Now back to pretending.
“I know you hate this as much as I do,” he said softly. “It’s okay. I’ll be patient.”
“I’ll come to you later tonight when she’s sleeping.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. We’ll be spending more time together, Aiden. Get used to it, baby.”
He smiled. “You have so many nicknames for me.”
“Yeah, get used to that too. There’s one for every occasion, when you’re my sissy boy, my little boy, or my sweet little baby.”