Chapter 2
MILA
“Is that Aiden?” the man asks.
“What is his favorite color?” I find myself asking before I can stop myself.
He heard me call Aiden’s name. He may not be Tobias who Aiden is talking about, but some phony guy trying to get me to come with him.
“Green,” he replies.
“Lucky guess,” I mutter to myself, trying to come up with another question. “When is his birthday? Full date… down to the month, day, and year.”
“Do you want me to say where he was born as well?”
My eyes widen.
“Mila, give the phone to the man standing in front of you. I need to talk to him,” Aiden interrupts us. “Come on, be a good girl for me and hand over the phone.”
“What is his birthday?” I ask once again, my grip tightening on the phone.
“Mila,” Aiden growls.
“June fifth, and he was born in—”
A ringing in my ears forms as he says it all correctly. He would not be able to guess that right the first time… so he must really know who Aiden is.
“Can I talk to Aiden now?”
“Give him the phone, little one,” Aiden encourages me.
“How about you put it on speakerphone so you can hear everything we say? Then you’ll realize that I know him and I’m not going to harm you,” he suggests. “Do you think you can do that?”
I pull the phone away from my ear and put it on speakerphone.
“Aiden,” the man says. “You’re on speakerphone in the coffee shop.”
“Tobias, thank you for helping me out with this. Mila is afraid of flying. That’s why I asked if you could drive her here. I need her to get here so she can rest properly,” Aiden says.
My cheeks flush as he tells him the reason. Not everyone needs to know that I don’t like flying.
Tobias looks at me with a small smile on his face. “Gotcha. We’ll drive a couple of hours today and stop for the night. Then we’ll drive some more tomorrow. Maybe the rest of the way depending how Mila is feeling and looking.”
I immediately touch my face. Do I look bad?
“Don’t do too much. I’ll pay you for the gas, any food you get, and the hotel,” Aiden says. “Just let me know how much it costs when you get here.”
“W-wait!” I yell.
Everyone’s eyes fall on us, and I look down at my lap. Shit. I completely forgot that we are in the coffee shop.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, keeping my head down.
“It’s okay,” he murmurs. “Can you look at me?”
I don’t. I’ve embarrassed both of us.
“Mila, look at me,” he commands, and I find myself lifting my head slightly.
Tobias is now squatting down in front of me. I search his face, trying to see if he is angry at me, but I don’t detect anything.
“I’m not angry at you, and I’m not embarrassed that you yelled. You are okay,” he says calmly. “Everything is pretty overwhelming right now, huh?”
Tears prick the back of my eyes, and I quickly blink them back. I do not need to cry in front of him and everyone else in the shop. What will they think of him? He has done nothing wrong to me.
“Mila, I want you to listen to Tobias right now. He’s going to drive you home so you can pack.
Then you’ll head to his hotel room so he can grab his things.
He is going to keep you safe the whole time,” Aiden explains.
“But I need you to listen to him so that nothing bad happens. Can you do that for me?”
I nod.
“Words,” Tobias says.
“Yes, I can.” But I don’t want to. I don’t want to go with Tobias to the lodge. It would be better for me to just stay here and not bother Aiden.
“I don’t want you to think like that,” Aiden says out of the blue. “I know you, Mila. You are coming here, and that is the end of the discussion. I don’t need what happened to occur again.”
Tobias tilts his head at the last sentence. I can see the questions forming in his eyes.
“I need you to come here so I can make sure you are okay and taking care of yourself before you go back to work,” he explains.
I flinch at the mention of work. If only he knew that I wasn’t going back to any job. I’ll just have to make sure to find one before I leave the lodge.
“If you need anything, you call me or you tell Tobias. He’s a good person and will help you with anything you need,” Aiden says. “I’ve got to go now.”
“Ai—” He hangs up before I can say anything.
“Do you want to finish your drink before we go?” Tobias asks.
I look over at my drink. The thought of finishing it off makes me queasy.
“No,” I whisper.
“Then let’s go to your apartment to grab your things,” he says. “Where did you park your car?”
“I didn’t.”
The corner of his eyes crinkle. “You didn’t? Then how did you get here?”
“I walked,” I say as if it’s obvious.
“Do you live far away?”
Shaking my head, I stand up and walk to the door. “Just around the block.”
My body feels like it weighs one hundred tons with each step I take. Why do I feel so heavy?
“Are you okay? You don’t look too good.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, rolling my eyes. I know I don’t look good.
“I’ll be driving the whole time. Do you want to take your car or rent something?”
“I can drive,” I tell him. “I’m an excellent driver. You can ask Aiden if you want.”
He shakes his head. “No matter how good you are, you aren’t going to drive for this trip. You look absolutely exhausted, and I want you to rest the whole time.”
I wave my hand in the air, dismissing what he said. “Really, I’m okay. I don’t need to rest much. Just let me know when you are tired and I can drive.”
Tobias grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing me to stop and look at him.
“You’re not going to be driving this trip. You say you don’t need much rest, but we both know that’s a lie.” He gives me a pointed look. “You look absolutely exhausted. When was your last vacation?”
I pull my head out of his grip and look away. “I don’t know you.”
He sighs. “You may not know me, but I already care for you and am protective. I heard from Aiden that you were working sixty-hour weeks. Did you ever have time off?”
I keep my mouth shut and start walking again.
“Mila,” he says my name gently as he matches my pace. “I’m not going to get you in trouble, but I want to know. Do you need me to talk to your boss about giving you fewer hours and time off?”
“I have two weeks. Three if I need more time off. I’m okay,” I snap at him before stopping in my tracks and running my hands over my face. “I’m sorry. Can we not talk about this?”
“Is everything okay?”
Is everything okay? No, it’s not. It hasn’t been in a very long time.
“Mila?” he calls my name hesitantly. “Are you okay?”
Sucking in a breath, I look away from him. I don’t want him to see the tears threatening to spill down my face. He doesn’t need to know that I’m far from okay.
“Everything is fine,” I mumble and start walking again. “Everything is okay.”
We walk in silence the rest of the way to my apartment.
“It’s messy,” I tell him before unlocking it.
With the hours I worked, I never really had time to clean up my space, and the little time that I did have I slept. I look around to see clothes on the floor, dangling from the back of the chair, and some stuffed in the corner of the room.
“I meant to do laundry this weekend, but things happened, and I haven’t been home in a couple of days.” I rub the back of my neck as I turn to Tobias.
I never had to worry about someone walking into my apartment. When Aiden came to visit me five years ago, I had spent half the day cleaning it so he didn’t know.
“And please don’t tell Aiden.” I sigh. “Please.”
Tobias looks at me and tilts his head to the side. “Why don’t you want him to know?”
“Because it looks like I haven’t been taking care of myself,” I point out.
“Have you?” He asks.
I open and close my mouth several times before deciding to shrug.
He narrows his eyes. “Mila. Answer the question.”
“In some ways I have,” I offer.
Tobias doesn’t look convinced, and I start fidgeting with my hands.
“Well, I’m going to grab some clothes quickly, then we can be on our way.” I point in the direction behind me as I take a step back.
“Do you need any help?” he asks.
I furiously shake my head. “Oh no! I’ll be good. It’s going to take me just a couple of minutes. I don’t need a lot since Aiden has a washer and dryer.”
He didn’t mention my needing to bring two weeks’ worth of clothes.
“Do you think I need to bring any work clothes?” I ask before I can stop myself. “Wait, don’t answer that. I’ll pack some just in case he needs help with something.”
“If you pack work clothes, Aiden isn’t going to be happy. You bringing it up isn’t making me happy either.” His voice drops an octave. “Just pack some comfy clothes, and if you forget anything, we have a shop up there.”
Nodding, I walk to my room before turning around. “You can sit on that chair there. I’ll only be a couple of minutes.”
Before he can say anything, I walk into my room and start stuffing everything I need into a duffel bag. Is this going to be enough? Aiden said it was going to start snowing soon which means I’ll need layers. I don’t have snow boots, but hopefully that won’t matter too much.
Zipping the bag closed, I look at Billie—my elephant stuffed animal—sitting on my bed before shaking my head.
“I’ll be back,” I whisper.
It’s going to be two hard weeks without Billie, but it’s for the better. Everyone tells me I shouldn’t be attached to a stuffed animal, but I can’t help it. I’ve had her for so long and we’ve been through so much together. She has too many tear stains to just get rid of her.
I walk out of my room and stand in the now very clean living room.
“I couldn’t help myself.” Tobias looks at me sheepishly.
“I wanted to help you out to relieve some of the stress in your life. Some of them I folded and put on the couch, the ones I think are clean, and the ones that are dirty are in your hamper. We can bring those if you want and do the laundry at the lodge.”
“I don’t have that much money to spend there.” I look away from him. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“It’s free to use for anyone who is staying at the lodge. If you don’t want to use the public ones, then you can use mine that’s in my cabin. I won’t charge you,” he says.
Furiously shaking my head, I take a step back. “I couldn’t do that.”
“Why not?” He takes a step closer to me. “I’m offering it to you. You can use anything of mine, Little One.”
My brain short circuits hearing him call me Little One. How long has it been since someone has called me that who wasn’t Aiden?
“I want you to use mine. You don’t have to worry about anything. You can do as many loads of laundry as you want.”
“Tobias,” I mumble.
“Just think about it. If you don’t want to use mine, then you don’t have to, but why don’t we bring them along just in case you want to?” He pushes a little.
“Fine.” I sigh.
“Do you have everything you need?” he asks as he looks around. “Do you need to clean out the fridge?”
“No, I don’t.”
He searches my face for several seconds, and I just stare at him. “Okay, then. Do you have a stuffy you want to bring?”