Chapter 30
AIDEN
I didn’t need caffeine this morning. I needed a fucking sedative.
I loved my parents more than anything, but their sudden appearance was unsettling.
And I didn’t want anything to upset my boyfriends or make them feel uncomfortable.
But my mum, once she got something fixed in her mind, was not one to veer from her path. Yes, I recognized myself in her.
My father respected my privacy when it came to my personal life, but my mum, not so much.
Even though I was dreading her inquisition, I knew it came from a place of love.
And that’s what I forced myself to focus on.
Jared and Alex were a part of my life now. I wanted badly for her to love them and to do what she did best—to make others feel at home, to bring them into her circle. Jared, of the three of us, needed that most of all.
“Have you always lived in Los Angeles?” my mum asked Jared.
“Yes. It’s kind of a crazy town to grow up in, but I managed.”
“Do you have family there?”
“Mamma—” I warned.
“It’s okay, Aiden.” Jared shook his head. “I don’t have any blood relatives that I know about. My mom passed when I was ten. She was a runaway and had lost touch with her family. And I never knew my dad.”
“I’m sorry, luv,” my mum whispered.
“It’s okay. Everything that happened shaped me into the man I am today. I never felt like I belonged anywhere, or to anyone, just to myself. I made my own way.”
“You have inner strength that no one can take away from you. I see it in your eyes. Determination.”
Jared smiled at her. “I suppose that’s true.”
“Of course it’s true,” I replied. “Jared started out acting in TV shows and movies when he was eighteen, then he put himself through film school by working two jobs. He’s built an amazing life.”
Jared blushed and waved me off.
“Stop being modest, my love. He’s a generous philanthropist. And a wonderful person: funny, kind, sensitive. I could go on.”
“Aiden—” Jared made a slashing motion on his throat.
“What about you, Alex?” My mother asked. “You live in L.A. with Jared?”
Alex nodded. “I do. It’s quite different from London, where I was born and raised.”
“Like Aiden.”
“That’s right. My parents were in the military; they worked for the home office. Now they’re retired and living in sunny Spain. But I have a sister who still resides in London. She’s got a bakery called Flour Power, it’s near Aiden’s firm.”
“I’ll have to visit her shop sometime.” My mom’s face brightened. “Aiden told me about your work. Have you always been a bodyguard?”
“I started out in the military. I retired four years ago.”
“Alex won the Commemorative Medal for bravery. He’s a national hero,” I proudly declared.
“Thank you for your service,” my father replied softly.
It was Alex’s turn to nod and blush.
Alex was so goddamn adorable, it was all I could do not to lean over and kiss him. He was the same as Jared, always humble and without any need for attention.
Unlike yours truly…
“He’s also funny, kind, sensitive,” I repeated and winked at him. He shook his head in response.
I glanced over at my mum, and she had that mischievous twinkle in her eye.
She was having fun learning about my men, listening to me go on about them. I never gushed about anyone, unless it was related to a case, and then it was merely professional pride.
I suspected she was also enjoying being right about me finding love.
I was prepared to hear her say “I told you so” every week from here on out for the rest of my life.
“Isn’t it dangerous work? I mean, Aiden told me about that woman and the poison, and the stalker emails. It’s so scary.”
“Juliana—” my dad interrupted.
He got a raised eyebrow from my mum in return.
“I swear, she was a journalist in another life,” he quipped, and Alex and Jared laughed.
“I’m interested in other people, what’s wrong with that?” she stated.
My dad just sighed and reached for his cuppa.
He usually let mum carry the brunt of social conversations. He used to tell me that he talked so much at work, by the end of the day he had no words left.
Funny, how we were both in the same profession and yet I never had that problem.
Alex took a sip of his tea. “It can be dangerous. But most of the time it’s long hours and a lot of waiting around.
Now that Jared and Aiden and I are in a relationship though, things will change.
I’m no longer Jared’s primary security. And I can run the company from anywhere.
While I love being out in the field, where the action is, it’s time for a different kind of adventure. ”
Alex turned to me and gave me a smile that had my face heating.
“How did you and your husband meet?” Jared asked my mum.
Mum’s face lit up no matter how many times she’d told the story.
“Neville came into my mother’s restaurant in Knightsbridge, where I was working as a waitress part-time.
I was a university student, twenty years old.
And on a beautiful June day, in walked this tall, handsome, redheaded man, in a very fine gray suit.
Neville had the most intense eyes I’d ever seen in my life— not quite green, but not quite brown.
So captivating that I couldn’t look anywhere else.
And I knew. Oh, my heart knew.” She patted her chest. “Until he spoke to me. After I took his order, he tells me I’m the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, and he asks me out.
But not to go to dinner or the movies, no. To come back to his place.”
My dad coughed and his face turned red. “No idea what she’s talking about.”
“Neville was full of himself back then. After he asks me to go back to his place, then he says, ‘By the way, I’m Neville Barstock. I work as a barrister at Longfield and Smith. And you are?’ I said to him, ‘I am not available is what I am,’ then I stomped off to the kitchen.”
My mother flicked her hair dramatically over her shoulder. I swear, she could star in one of Jared’s movies.
“Then what happened?” Jared asked, leaning forward.
“I returned with his food and my Nonno, my grandfather. I told him what Neville had said to me. Then Nonno kicked Neville out of the restaurant.”
My dad shook his head. “That’s not what happened. I left. Well, after Nonno threatened to cut off my balls.”
Alex let out a bark of laughter.
“But Neville returned again the next day. Again, my grandfather showed him the door. But Neville returned the day after that. And the next day. Until finally, a month later, I say to him, ‘What is it you want? Why do you keep coming back?’ He says, ‘I’m going to marry you. But first, I want to take you on a proper date. Will you go out with me?’ And, after another month of him asking, I said yes. And here we are.”
“That’s so romantic,” Jared sighed and glanced at me. “I expect no less from you.”
“You want to come back to my place?” I quipped and waggled my eyebrows.
Jared threw his napkin at me.
“Now for the really good stuff. What was Aiden like growing up?” Alex asked with a smirk.
Oh fuck.
Jared clapped his hands. “Oh yes, we want details. I bet he was a handful.”
“He was a holy terror. Even now, at thirty-nine, he is the same. But I knew, when Aiden was five years old, that he was going to be a barrister like his papà. He was always arguing with me about everything. If I told him to do something, it never went unchallenged,” Mum replied.
“Do you want to see pictures? I have many. Come, sit near me.”
My mum pulled out her mobile and started swiping as Alex and Jared got up and huddled around her.
“I don’t think they need to see all that,” I grumbled.
“You’re so cute in your school uniform, in that navy jacket and cap with your curly red hair,” Jared gushed.
“Two of your front teeth are missing in that picture,” Alex commented.
Oh God.
Mum nodded. “Yes, he was six. I could hardly understand a word he said for a month until they grew back.”
Alex and Jared laughed at that comment.
I glanced at my father, and he smiled at me. As strange as it probably was for my parents to meet two men in my life, things were off to a good start.
It wasn’t awkward like I had feared.
But that was my parents: always welcoming, loving, and accepting. I was extraordinarily grateful that all they wanted was for my happiness.
Jana and Lisette appeared at that moment with our breakfast and distracted my mother’s photo dump.
Jared and Alex returned to sit on either side of me. Mum got into a conversation with Lisette about dinner preparations while the rest of us ate our full English.
Then my phone buzzed.
Lairin: He caved. Ten-million-dollar settlement offer from Seuter’s lawyers. We have until the end of day to respond, see attached.
This was a major win for Jared, but I was not going to accept the first offer. I would have conditions, and every one of them was going to be met.
Aiden: I’ll write my counter proposal and send to you ASAP.
“Good news,” I announced and turned to Jared. “Seuter has agreed to settle the lawsuit. I’ve got to prepare a counter proposal with your input and send it off to his lawyers.”
“Just like that? It’s done?” Jared replied.
I could see the relief, and the concern, in his eyes.
“Haley’s admission probably pushed him over the edge. Are you all right, my love?” I asked as I held his hand, the slight tremble making my protective instincts take over.
Alex placed his arm around Jared’s shoulders.
“I’m good. This is what we wanted. It’s just, even though it was stressful thinking about laying everything out on the record, I wanted to face him. To show him that I wasn’t afraid anymore.”
“One of the stipulations of my counter proposal will be his acknowledgment of wrongdoing.”
“And if he refuses to do that?”
“There’s the possibility that he will face criminal charges for the harassment and the attempt on your life. If Haley testifies against him.”
My dad looked at me and then Jared. “Now that the case is over, you are no longer his client.”
“That’s true,” Jared’s face brightened. “And I can finally leave the past where it is and focus on the present.”
I squeezed his hand tightly and, with my other hand, took Alex’s.
“And the future.”