16. Aiden #2
I tap my fingers against the table. “It makes you wonder about her story.” Maybe the others heard something about her, something I don’t know yet. “Why she’s here and what’s going on with her.”
“What a problem she poses, you mean,” Soren replies.
His knife skids across the table and he ducks his head to hide his expression.
Yup, sure, heard it before.
“What do we know? She’s working on her vet shit, no offense, Tase, but what brought her to Holly Brook?” I press.
“It’s her story to tell when she’s ready, and she's clearly not ready to tell it yet.” Tase shrugs again before spearing through a mass of beans and bringing them all to his lips.
“Except her presence is an issue. The sooner she leaves, the better it will be for us.”
A moment of silence trickles by after Soren’s remark.
“Well…” Tase trails off and hesitates, setting his full fork down. “She may not be leaving as soon as you’d want, Sor. She’s going to be doing a little bit of work for me. As a volunteer.”
“What?” Soren looks up and his beard bristles. “Are you out of your mind?”
“I’m very much in possession of my full faculties, thanks. I’ve got a new girl coming in tomorrow but that still leaves me in a deficit when it comes to help. Gilli is smart and well trained. She knows what she’s doing and she’s not shy.”
Soren scoffs, the sound low and disdainful. “No, shy she is not.”
“I don’t know how long she plans to stick around, but as long as she does, I’ll take advantage of it. She practically begged me to let her help. She needs something to keep her busy.”
Tase grabs his fork back up and stuffs his mouth full.
His cheeks are mottled. I’m willing to bet serious money he’s got the same thoughts rolling around in his head that I do. Ones involving various activities to keep Gilli busy and how she’d look on her knees with her mouth open.
Fuck, I’ve thought about it too much. Since we kissed, she’s occupied every available inch of space in my mind, and a lot of it I didn’t have to spare.
I’ve been aroused by women before, captivated by them. But I've never wanted one as much as I want her. Why? After only a few days?
I’m an idiot.
“I want her out ,” Soren snaps. “Things were easier without her. We don’t need a ward to watch over and protect, from herself as well as whatever ghosts and ghouls might’ve followed her.”
“What about your need for revenge?” I ask with dripping sweetness.
“I’ll get it another way. It’s the better option for everyone if we get her out of town and make sure she doesn’t want to come back. She’s got a life she left behind. It’s time she returns to it.”
Tase is the voice of reason. “You’re definitely not going to keep her away if she decides to stay. What are you going to do? Barricade the town against her?”
“If I have to.” Soren offers a small grin.
I don’t like the look of it. It means he’s planning something. Or hiding something.
“Sure, Paul Bunyan over here. He’ll chop down every tree and physically block her from coming back over the county line.” Tase laughs, shaking his head. “You've got a wild imagination. ”
“Tell me I’m wrong, though.” Soren’s brown eyes go bright. “You’ve seen how she works people up.”
“It’s not her fault,” Tase offers.
“Isn’t it? Did you feel like she gave you a choice yesterday? Or did she refuse to leave after you told her to go?” Soren waits for an answer, his eyes narrowed. When one isn’t forthcoming, he bobs his head once. “Yeah, like I thought.”
Tase snorts, glancing to the side. “I need the assistance.”
“Find someone else.”
“She’s just a girl, Soren. She’s twenty years old and scared out of her fucking mind about something. Scared enough to come here when she had no other options and stay even when you tried to run her off.”
Tase is using the same voice he used to break out when the obvious answer was right there and neither Soren nor I reached it. We were just a couple of dumbass kids.
Has anything really changed?
“How do we know she has no other options?” Soren asks, shaking more pepper onto his steak. “What about the trailer? I know her father still owns it. Why not go there?”
Good point. Why wouldn’t she go to the trailer? It’s her childhood home, right? Even if it’s a piece of shit tin can. It’s a terrible place to live, but home is home. With all its rough edges and peeling paint.
“Whatever her reasoning is, maybe if you were a little nicer to her, she’d tell you the truth,” Tase replies.
“It’s not in my nature to be nice to her.”
Tase has had enough. He sets his silverware down calmly but there is nothing serene about his expression.
“She’s never done anything to you. Nothing you’ve ever told me about, anyway.”
No, she hasn’t.
I remember her from the wedding, a silent and plump girl on the verge of womanhood and hunched over to better blend with the crowd. She stuck close to her sisters rather than talking with anyone.
Alistair’s family, my family, was loud and obnoxious and almost abrasive in their affection. It had to be a completely different experience for her, so I’d cut her slack.
Gilli has been a taciturn presence on the absolute outskirts of our lives. I understand why Soren would want to work out his issues on her, but there’s a time to draw the line.
I’ve learned it firsthand. Haven’t I? When to fold and when to keep fighting?
“Hey. You’re oddly quiet, Aiden.”
I blink at the sound of my name, looking up from the plate and realizing the conversation has gone on without me, and Soren’s concerned.
“Sorry. What did I miss?”
I finger my empty shot glass, the edges of my vision blurry. I’ve had enough .
“This idiotic prick thinks he might be able to drive your step-cousin out of town if he makes things harder on her at home. And he wants our help,” Tase explains like it’s the worst plan in the world.
Soren sniffs. “You make it sound primitive and churlish, dude.”
Tase leans forward, his fingers curled into fists. “Because it fucking is. Let it go, Soren. You’re missing the plot. You’ve got a rancid idea in your head and refuse to drop it.”
Tase is sick of us. It’s clear in the tense lines around his eyes and his high cheekbones. “You sound like a goddamn child.”
I’ve been there. So convinced that what I was doing was the right thing, I mentally and physically couldn’t stop to see the trees for the forest.
I kept hammering at the poor girl, kept pushing her and trying to get her to be the person I thought she should be. One who didn’t make me so uncomfortable with her existence .
I pushed until she slit her wrists and the paramedics nearly didn’t make it in time.
Soren was with me every step of the way, so he should understand what he’s asking of me with this.
The impossibility of his request.
“It’s not a game I’m willing to play again.” I slowly lift my gaze to meet his. “I know what happens to people when you bully them into a corner. It makes their existence a living freak show.”
Soren wilts a few inches before he regains control of himself. His gaze softens. “Shit. I’m sorry.” His nostrils flare. “Blame it on the booze. I wasn’t thinking.”
I flash him a half grin. “I figured.”
“Or maybe Aiden just wants her around to fuck her.” Tase offers it as a joke but something inside of me immediately sobers.
So what if I do?
I’ve never had to ask permission from my friends about who to sleep with before. Soren and I have even shared girls in the past, passing them back and forth between us until they go pliant and take us both at the same time.
Is it wrong of me to want more from Gilli if she’s game?
“You’ve never been interested in my sister before,” Soren says to me with a flash of teeth.
“Stepsister.” I’m compelled to correct him. “No blood relation. You’re my cousin. She is not.”
Tase sucks in a breath, volleying his attention between the two of us and waiting to see which one will come out on top. Like this is suddenly getting good.
“You know what, Aiden? If something happens between you two, then it happens.” Soren looks like he just spent a night sucking on a lemon as he holds his hands up in the air in surrender. “I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. Or stop you from doing anything you do want to do.”
“Screw your permission,” I say harshly .
“I’m not giving it. I'm trying to be an adult here.”
“You are the strangest adult specimen I’ve ever met. But sure, I will agree. I’m not going to help you run her out and I’m not going to force her to do anything. If it happens, it happens.”
Seems fair.
A lock clicks into place inside of me. I somehow needed to say it, or to hear him say it.
“I believe Gilli is a problem. For me, personally. I’m going to ignore her.” Soren finishes off the last bite of his potato. “She’ll get tired of the cold shoulder soon enough. Once summer comes and the tourists are out in force, then she’ll move on to another spot.”
“If she doesn’t?” I counter.
“We’ll deal with it then.”
Tase lifts a finger to signal Ellie and orders another round of liquor, sighing like he needs it to function with us present.
I’m pleasantly full and not in the mood for more, but if he’s buying, I won’t refuse.
“Things won’t be fun for her. The waiting game continues,” Soren mutters.
The drinks arrive and the three of us lift our glasses together in a clink. Soren downs his but I wait, meeting Tase’s gaze over the lip of his glass. He meets my eyes briefly before looking away first.
He’s got the same idea I have, I’m sure of it. The same desire to bed her.
Well . Well, well.
I’ve always been a fan of friendly competition. Let the best man win . And all before Soren gets his way and she runs.