Chapter 22 AIDEN #2
“We’re just having a disagreement,” I grunt, locking Katie’s arms at her side.
A fatal mistake that I realise the second I do it.
I’ve gone and triggered her fight-or-flight response.
Her eyes narrow, and she lets out a primal scream before turning her head and clamping down on my arm.
“Fuckin’ hell!” Blood trickles down my arm as Katie’s teeth sink deeper into my flesh.
“Don’t!” I warn Keith, desperately trying to pry Katie’s jaws off my arm. “Just close the door behind you; she’ll be grand once she calms down.”
Keith lingers for another moment, seeing the chunk of fabric Katie ripped away and spit out on the floor, exposing the raw wound. He hesitates, then nods and slowly backs out of the room, closing the door behind him.
She kicks air, forcing me back against the wall, her writhing body still clamped in my arms. “We really need to work on our communication skills.”
“Fuck you!”
“Yes, let’s go back to that.” I dodge the back of her head as she continues to thrash. “I’m all for trying new things, bug, but I’ve just learned biting is a hard no for me.”
“You lied to me!” She roars like a mountain lion.
“I fabricated one truth to protect you!” I shout back, struggling to maintain my grip on her. I could easily overpower her and beat her to a bloody pulp, if she were a man, she’d be gurgling blood right now. Alas, I have to resort to restraining my little fireball.
“What happened? What did those bastards do to me?” She makes another attempt to break my nose with the back of her head.
“I’ll tell you when you stop acting like a gremlin I fed after midnight!
” She makes one last attempt to break free before she finally succumbs to exhaustion, her body going limp in my arms. I slide down the wall to the floor, still holding onto her.
“I didn’t lie to you. I told you what happened.
They drugged you; they tried to rape you… ”
“What did you do, Aiden?” Her eyes are like glass. “Full disclosure.”
“You’re not going to like what you hear,” I warn her.
She arches an eyebrow, her voice barely above whisper.
“They’re not missing; they’re dead, aren’t they?”
I nod. “Yes, bug. They’re dead.”
“Tell me, Aiden. I have a right to know.” I’m expecting to see upset in her glare; instead, I see rage. She doesn’t seem upset at all at my admission, more pissed off that I kept the truth from her.
I have to think about it. Really think about it.
The information I give her, she can easily bring to the gardaí and have me hung.
Not literally, of course, though, I doubt Moore would be opposed to the idea.
I mean, it’s not like I’m sharing an embarrassing secret, like I’m a secret cross-dresser and love to be pegged up the arse—Judge Richardson.
“If I tell you,” I pause, internally struggling to weigh the potential consequences, “there is no going back. I don’t mean that you can never unhear the information; I mean, I will never let you go. Do you understand that?”
She freezes, trying to figure out if my words are a threat or a plea for her understanding. Her eyes dart back and forth, searching my face for the answer she seeks.
“If I tell you and you run, I will find you,” I continue.
“I won’t stop until I track you down and haul your arse back to where you belong.
This is not a game, and I won’t tolerate betrayal or deceit.
Make sure that you want to know, because once you do, you’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not. ”
“You’ll kill me?”
“No.” I pluck her lower lip gently between my thumb and forefinger. “I could never hurt you.” But that doesn’t mean that I’m averse to abducting you.
“You killed those men?”
I give her a look; I’m not answering shit until she knows what she’s getting herself into.
She said she loved me, but that was before she knew the truth. Now, she has a choice to make—whether to stay and accept the darkness within me, or, well, there’s no walking away from this. She’ll just have to hate me for the rest of her life.
“Why me?” She stares at me for the longest time. “Hypothetically speaking,” Oh, we’re doing this now. “Why would you kill those men for me?”
I smirk, knowing what she’s asking. Now I know what she was searching my face for. “Full disclosure?”
She nods in response.
“It wasn’t love at first sight, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
There is a twinge of disappointment in her eyes, but she quickly masks it with curiosity. “Then why?”
“Hypothetically speaking,” I continue, “I like what I do—love what I do. I will always aim to put down men like that. I can sniff a predator a mile away, and that’s exactly what those two arseholes were.
” I run my tongue over my teeth and continue, “Truth be told, I didn’t give you another thought after you left Dandelions.
” I tell her about seeing her on the camera’s, tell her everything she already knew, and only when I get to the part I filled in with the bouncers, I disclose a variation of the truth, leaving out the gory details.
“You didn’t just fight them off, bug, you had them rattled.
You were still semi-conscious when I found you, still fighting.
I’m not easily impressed, but that,” I lock eyes with her, “was something else. You’ve got a fire in you, bug, a strength I didn’t expect.
” I pause for a moment, letting my words sink in before adding, “Then I saw you in my clothes the next morning.”
“And that’s when you knew you loved me?” she quips.
I snort, earning a slap across the chest. “That’s when I knew I wanted to sleep with you.”
“Charming.”
I shrug.
“So, you don’t love me, you just really admire me.” Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes.
“I didn’t love you then; I never said that I don’t love you now.”
Her head snaps up, her eyes searching mine. “You do?”
“I knew I loved you the day you fell apart in my arms and spit in my face.”
“That was an accident!” She blushes to her roots, her eyes drop to the bleeding bite mark on my arm. “Sorry about that.”
Her delicate hand settles on my jaw as she leans in closer. “You killed those men.” It doesn’t come out accusatory, she’s simply stating facts. In other words, agreeing to the terms I set.
“Yes.”
She pauses for a moment, her hand trembling against my skin. Dark eyes fall to my lips, a smirk forming at the corner of her mouth. “I don’t need to know the details, but I hope it fucking hurt.”
I lean in closer, our lips almost touching. “Believe me, it did.”
“Good.”
“Do you still love me, bug?” I need to know. I need to see if she looks at me the same way or if she only sees a monster staring back at her.
She looks into my eyes, her expression softening. “Unfortunately.” Her gaze shifts to our surroundings. Katie looks like she’s had her fill of Dublin and other people for one night. “Will they be found?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?” she presses.
I nod, my grip on her hand tightening. “I’ve taken care of everything. They won’t be able to trace it back to us.”
Relief washes over her face as she exhales deeply. Resting her head on my shoulder, she mumbles, “Keith is going to think I’m a psychopath.”
“He already thinks that of me; you’re grand.” I’m done with work today. Done with paperwork and drunks and the never-ending noise of the city. I just want to wash away the stress and crawl into bed next to this beautiful, unhinged woman. “Let’s go home.”
“I thought you had a lot of work to catch up on.”
“I’ll bring it home and start on it in the morning.” Pushing up from the floor, I stretch my arms above my head, feeling the sting from the chunk she took from my arm. It’s only then that I notice blood staining her lips. “You’re fucking feral.”
“I told you before about restraints; you only have yourself to blame.” She shrugs, following me into the adjoining room, where I hand her a helmet and leather jacket. “I’m not going on that bike; I have my car; I’ll drive myself.”
Shoving the helmet into her hands, I raise an eyebrow. “You just took a chunk out of my arm. You’re going on the bike.”
“No, I’m not.”
And we’re fighting again. Fine. Tossing the helmets into my bag, I throw her over my shoulder, and carry her out of my office.
Every bouncer in the club makes a point of looking everywhere but at us as we make our way to the car park.
Ignoring their stares, I place Katie on the back of my motorcycle and fasten her helmet securely.
“You might want to hold on,” I say with a smirk as I rev the engine.
“You’re such an arsehole!” She gripes, tugging on her dress, attempting to keep herself covered.
“The leathers would have helped with that.” Pulling her arms around my waist, I feel her body tense up. “You might want to lean into me, bug.”
I hear her squeal as I accelerate, and we zoom off into the distance, leaving the Orion behind us.