Chapter 7 Evie
I reclined in my office chair, forcing myself not to look up at Aiden. It was another late night at the garage, and once again, he was stuck watching over me.
While I was usually annoyed, I welcomed the company a bit more than normal tonight. It wasn’t that anything was wrong, but my imagination seemed to be running wild—shadows shifting, people hiding in the dark or just around the corner.
At least with Aiden here, I didn’t feel as nervous.
His gaze burned into my skin, a familiar weight I could never ignore. Every time he looked at me, it was the same—an electric awareness that made concentrating impossible. I didn’t need to glance up to know his blue eyes were on me, likely irritated, yet as intense as ever.
Instead of giving him any attention, I clicked further into the string of documents on my screen.
This was probably another set of dead-end files, like the others I’d spent countless hours on before.
I wasn’t sure this trail would lead anywhere, but I’d still follow it to the end.
I’d spent too many years chasing down clues about my parents, only to hit walls every time.
But with each new lead, I couldn’t help but hope.
We learned more about their downfall after Cameron was killed and we had full access to his computer, but it hadn’t told us anything about why my parents worked with him.
I’d spent too many late nights hidden here at the garage or in my room, determined to find more, all while hiding my investigation from everyone—Rook, Aiden, the rest of the pack. They never knew what I was doing and I never wanted them to.
Another ten minutes passed, click after click, page after page of nothing, and then I saw it. One word lit up my screen, and I stopped breathing.
My dad’s name.
Michael Emberson.
I’d hacked and downloaded the fifteen-year-old door logs after finding a stray cab receipt in my dad’s emails. I had gone through four other building logs in the area and hadn’t expected this one to be any different.
The door logs from the downtown Valeport skyscraper were laid out before me now. Day by day, they had recorded his entry.
It was a clue, but one I didn’t know what to do with. He had been at this building day after day for nearly two weeks and then his name disappeared again. That could mean nothing.
Or it could mean everything.
I searched who leased the offices in the building and there were none who would have anything to do with his work—no artists, no brokers, no accountants. Nothing he’d have a reason to go all the way to Valeport to see.
My dad’s name came across the screen again and again. Every time he swiped his badge in and out of the building, it had been recorded, and now I knew every moment he had stepped foot inside.
I could find plenty of businesses who had rented office space there, but I also knew many operated off the books, making further online searches pointless. The only way to get real answers was to see it for myself.
I glanced up to see Aiden focusing on his phone, leaving me less guilty for sitting here so long. I clicked my phone on to drop the door logs into it.
“Shit,” I mumbled at the blank screen. I had forgotten to charge it again.
“Does that mean you are almost done?” Aiden’s voice drifted in through the open door of my little office, the bored tone of his voice making me grit my teeth together.
“Have a hot date you need to get to?” I tried not to let the jealousy burning in my chest seep into my words, but it did anyway.
“Yeah, so get moving. You already ruined one date this week. Let’s not make it two.”
“Let’s make it five and then call it even for you making my boyfriend break up with me.”
“You act like I held him at gunpoint until he broke up with you. He got jealous you hang around a man he’s threatened by and couldn’t take it anymore.”
“He got mad about you not respecting boundaries between us,” I snapped.
Aiden leaned forward from his perch on the couch, watching me through the window as his blue eyes narrowed.
His muscles seemed to swell more as he leaned on them, the casual but predatory stance like he could pounce at any second.
“You want to talk about respecting boundaries? What about your fucking blackmail? Is that not crossing a boundary?”
I stiffened, clicking the mouse once to email myself the door logs. “What about you sticking your tongue into my mouth? Is that not crossing a boundary?”
His mouth snapped shut before he leaned back with a shake of his head. His face turned cold—a soldier falling back into line and not giving anything away.
Maybe it was wrong to blackmail him, but it was wrong of him to act like I didn’t exist outside of being Rook’s little sister. As if I couldn’t be more than that to him—to anyone.
Anger burned, the warmth flooding my veins at his detached coolness. Could he really feel so indifferent to the kiss?
I had done it in hopes he would suddenly open his eyes and realize how bad he needed me, but instead it seemed to push him further away—the wall he always kept between us only getting stronger.
Before I could actually snap back at him, the lights went out, plunging us into darkness.
“Fuck,” he said. “What did you do?”
“You are blaming me for the electricity going out?” I asked, not hiding my laugh.
“You hack into shit all the time. Who knows if you can go in and shut that off, too?”
“I hack into databases, networks, or websites. I’m not hacking my way into our own breaker boxes.”
“Who fucking knows with you? I would assume you are done now. We are leaving.”
My eyes darted around the dark garage, doing my best not to imagine all the nightmare scenarios my brain wouldn’t let go of.
“That would be a lot easier to do if I could see how to get out of here without falling on my ass,” I said, kicking my foot around to feel for the stack of motorcycle parts near the door.
He huffed, shifting around as he pulled out his phone and clicked on the flashlight, giving me enough light to see how to get out of the office without stumbling.
“You forgot to charge your phone again.” The words a statement more than a question.
“Great observation.” The door to my office shut behind me as I headed toward him and his bike. The garage door was open, letting the cool night air breeze in and making it clear we weren’t the only ones without power.
“Creepy,” I said, adjusting my bag around my shoulders for the ride home.
The blackmail seemed to hang in the air between us, but it was also easy to fall into our patterns.
We had spent so many days and nights here working together, time on the bike—for fun and for work.
I played that Aiden being my shadow was annoying, but it wasn’t, not truly.
I only hated him for not giving me more.
A part of me was embarrassed to admit Aiden was my best friend, too.
He was the first guy—outside of Rook—who I knew cared about me.
Maybe I let myself spiral in pity sometimes, but deep down I knew Aiden cared.
I even knew that if I asked him, he would have shut my ex down faster than I could blink at the bar the other night.
If I asked, he wouldn’t have let me be embarrassed—especially with his orders from Rook to keep me safe.
He had been there for every good and bad thing in my life, and while he could be cold and unshakable, he could also be warm, funny, and caring.
I knew he cared to some extent. I wanted him to care for me not like a little sister, but more as a full-grown woman—a large part of me worried it was too late.
Could you really change someone’s perception of you so much?
Aiden stepped up next to me, getting ready to swing onto the bike first, making the light from his phone flash across his features.
I didn’t know what type of torture this counted as.
I spent most of my days with one of the most attractive men I had ever seen, and he didn’t spend a second thinking about me, past being the annoying psycho little sister of his best friend that he had to watch over.
He swung onto the bike, and I didn’t hesitate to follow—gripping him first, then settling into my seat behind him.
My arms wrapped around him lightly, just enough so I could balance on the small seat.
None of it was new. It was a position we had been in a thousand times in a thousand different places and situations, but now I knew how his lips felt on mine.
I knew how demanding and desperate he could be with only a kiss and I wanted to know if that’s how he would be during sex.
Would he be demanding and quick to make me come or would it be a drawn-out delightfully painful orgasm?
One that I would be a mess on the floor begging for.
My thighs clenched, heat flooding me at the thought. I wanted to know that side of Aiden. The anger burned at knowing another girl would know, but I wouldn’t. It pissed me off more than I thought possible.
I clung to him more, wanting to keep him as mine, wanting to be the only thing he thought about day and night.
I wanted to be his obsession, and he saw me as a chore—a job to carry out.
We pulled into the driveway of the Fletcher Mansion less than ten minutes later. The bike idled up the drive, Aiden clicking open the garage door and pulling into his parking spot.
“I have something I need help with tomorrow,” I said, ripping off my helmet.
“I can’t. I have things to do all day.”
“Perfect. I don’t need you during the day. I need a ride to downtown Valeport later at night.”
He gave a small groan, pulling off his jacket. “I’m not a fucking taxi service, Evie. And I’m sure as hell not chauffeuring you to all your dates now, too. Call a cab or ride one of the bikes.”
“It’s not a date, and it’s not somewhere I want to go alone,” I said, moving my hands to my hips now.
He hit the garage door closed and headed inside. “And that’s my problem?” he asked with a snarl of his lip.
I kept following him, winding our way through the big house to our rooms down the same hallway.
“You mean besides following my brother’s orders, Ace?” I asked, throwing the nickname like an insult now. It landed perfectly and he sighed, his head falling back as he stared up at the ceiling. “It is when I need help and you have a permanent ‘I owe Evie’ tattooed on your head.”
“Permanent? I thought this was a one-time thing. I help you with something and you leave me alone about . . . all of it.” He tried to sound casual, but I could see the way his jaw tightened.
I leaned back on my door, smiling now. “I thought about it, and I think this is good for more than one thing. I mean, the pictures are pretty good. I think one even has your hand on my boob. That’s gotta count for at least two debts.”
“You know I don’t call you Psycho for nothing, right?
” he asked. The edge of his voice made me press back harder against my door.
I wasn’t scared of Aiden, but I did consider him one of my strongest opponents.
I knew he could unravel my plans faster than anyone else ever could—I just hadn’t left him any room to do it this time.
“I know. And I also know you are going to help me tomorrow because good old Ace will not risk my brother seeing those photos.”
I saw his jaw tick, his eyes glance down the hallway to make sure we were alone. It’s like I could see the torment of having his back to a wall and I loved it. It’s not like I wanted anything bad to happen to him. But when I was the one causing that torment? I would revel in it.
“What time tomorrow?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“Let’s do it after eight. I have a few things to do in the morning, and I’d rather not go when anyone is around.”
“Fine. Two things, Evie. You get two fucking things and then I am done with this game.”
“Fine, and until those two things are done, I suggest playing nice because you already know I won’t if you don’t.”
He shook his head and disappeared into his room, muttering under his breath. I turned, shutting myself in my room. It took less than five seconds before I let out a deep breath, leaning against the door as the weight of the day fell off my shoulders.
There was really only one thing out of this game I wanted, and I didn’t know when I would face the reality that it would be the one thing I would never get.