by Kasey Krane
I gulped, trying to find my words but my hands shook.
“I couldn’t be in this town any longer,” I replied in a weak voice.
He furrowed his brows and I could see he was confused.
“What?”
“I wanted a career. I wanted to get away from my parents. I couldn’t live around their oppressive ways, with their rules. I just wanted to be by myself and have my own life.”
Aidan took another step towards me. He was close enough that I recognized his cologne. He still smelled the same, and that almost brought a tear to my eyes.
“You wanted to get away from your parents so you left town instead of coming to me? When you knew I would protect you? You knew I wouldn’t let anyone come close to you and I would’ve kept you safe.” He gritted his teeth and he spoke in a deep threatening voice.
I wasn’t prepared for this. I made it up as I went along and it was pretty obvious by now that he wasn’t buying my excuses.
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I slipped it out to see a text message from Aldo.
He had texted me the previous night too—wanting to find out exactly when and where I was meeting Aidan today.
I looked up at Aidan who had turned away from me. He stood with his back turned to me. His thick muscular arms were crossed over his chest. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was fuming with rage.
I had never seen him this pissed off with me before and I knew I deserved it.
I deserved every bit of his fury. I deceived him. I kept the truth from him. I was still lying to him.
Now that I was in his presence—I could feel the full force of my self hatred.
I checked the text quickly.
I trust the meeting is going well. Finish it up quickly. One of my guys is waiting for you at your apartment.
I slid the phone back in my pocket and waited for Aidan to turn around. He shook his head.
The idea of one of Aldo’s men waiting for me at my place sent chills down my spine. They kept close tabs on me. They weren’t going to give me any wiggle room. I had to report to them immediately after meeting Aidan. I felt even more sick now.
But there was no backing away from this.
I had to keep the secret from Aidan.
I had to protect my mother.
I had to give Aldo Baron what he needed.
“I just thought we could be civil with each other again. For old time’s sake, but apparently not,” I said.
Aidan looked over his shoulder at me while I held my chin up in defiance.
“You have my number. I’m open to meeting and talking again if that’s what you want, but I’m done apologizing to you for the past. We were young and stupid, we made mistakes. I hoped you would be over them by now.” I tried to be firm, even though every inch of my body shuddered.
Aidan’s eyes narrowed at me in surprise. He wasn’t expecting me to retaliate. I didn’t know how I managed that speech. It sucked every ounce of energy from me. I was disgusted with myself for talking this way to him.
He didn’t deserve it.
However, I needed to do something to catch his attention. Make him want to keep seeing me so I could get the information Aldo wanted.
Aidan said nothing as I walked away from him, however, I felt his burning gaze on me. I hoped my plan didn’t backfire. I hoped I hadn’t just made him more mad at me.
I wished I could tell him how much I missed him and that maybe in another life, we could be a real family.
But not in this one.
Five
Aidan
Leah just walked away from me, leaving me standing there by my car, like she just didn’t give a fuck anymore.
I was taken aback because this was not the girl I knew. This was not the girl I had fallen head over heels for five years ago. The Leah I knew was kind and caring. She loved me. Or at least, I thought she did.
Whatever reason she had to leave—must have been a big one, because it seemed like she still wasn’t over it.
It seemed like she didn’t care whether or not we saw each other again.
I watched her walk to the end of the street and I decided to follow her. I needed to find out what was going on with her. Where she was staying. What she was up to.
Something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my bones.
Even though she tried to pretend like she didn’t care, and that she didn’t want to revisit the past—I felt there was something on her mind she wasn’t telling me about.
More importantly, she lied to me about her real reason for leaving.
I kept my distance as I walked after her. She looked over her shoulders a couple of times, but we were in a busy neighborhood now and she didn’t see me.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
In the past five years, she had become more beautiful. If that was even possible.
Her red hair was shorter now, but still as thick and shiny. She still had the curves that drove me crazy. Her tight jeans sat deliciously low on her hips, making her ass look like a million dollars. And those big green eyes. I was a sucker for the way she looked at me. For the freckles splattered across her nose and cheeks.
Leah Michaels had always been sweet enough to eat, and now, she looked even sweeter.
She was headed in the direction of some serviced apartments, which I clocked were close to the hospital. I figured she wasn’t lying about her mother dying, and a part of me started to soften.
Maybe she was just going through the trauma of being close to losing a parent. Maybe that’s what made her act strange.
She weaved around the cars in the parking lot of the building and I stood back, watching her as she walked towards the steps.
But then a guy got out of a car parked up front, stopping her in her tracks.
I clenched my jaws tightly, pissed off already that this asshole walked up to her like he knew her. I was jealous, even though she probably didn’t care. It had been five years. Maybe she had a whole family now that I didn’t know about.
And then, he looked around to see if anyone was watching them.
I recognized him.
He was one of the Baron guys.
What the fuck was Leah doing talking to a Baron guy?
I waited a few moments, burning up in fury as I watched them talk.
She leaned away from him while he stood close to her. I waited for something to happen—like for her to run away. Scream for help.
Was he threatening her?
Was he a stranger to her?
It didn’t look like it.
They were deep in conversation, while she kept her eyes lowered to the ground.
It didn’t seem like they were in a…relationship.
Leah’s body language appeared defensive. Like she was afraid of him, but not afraid enough to run away. So they knew each other? This wasn’t the first time they met.
My mind was running a mile a minute, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
Was Leah working as a mole for the Barons? Was that why she wanted to talk to me again after all these years? Or was that the reason why she left town in the first place? Had they driven her out?
But five years ago—we had no beef with the Barons.
It didn’t make sense.
Was the story about her mother a lie? Was she working for them and I was her new case?
Or did they have something on her they were using against her? To make her work for them?
Every possible scenario ran through my mind, but I still couldn’t decide what was really going on.
The man grabbed Leah’s arm and even then, she didn’t try to get away from him. They turned as they spoke and I couldn’t tell if he was threatening her. What was being said?
If I got any closer, they would have seen me.
Fuck!
Then it was over. The Baron guy got back in his car and Leah ran up the steps into the building. Like she couldn’t get away fast enough from him.
He drove away.
I waited
another fifteen minutes, but she didn’t emerge from the building. I wrestled with the idea of texting her. Demanding to know exactly what was going on. Whatever she was up to—she was busted.
But I didn’t text her.
That would have been stupid of me.
I needed to wait and see how this played out. Whatever she had planned for me, I wasn’t going to fall for it.
But now the glass wall was shattered. I knew she had an ulterior motive for being here. For lying to me. She wanted something from me. She was working with the Barons—willingly or not.
I couldn’t trust her anymore.
No matter how much I wanted to fuck her again. One last time—I knew she was playing a game.
For all these years, I had clung to the memory of a woman who was back in my life to use me.
I could feel the fury coursing through my veins.
I would find a way to make her pay.
Six
Leah
The meeting with Aidan was hard on me. I could sense he was suspicious, but I hoped he would want to see me again. That he would want to keep talking. That was what the Barons wanted—for Aidan to keep talking to me until he gave me some vital information they could use in this war between the two families.
I didn’t know what kind of information I was supposed to collect. I didn’t know what they would use the information for. At this point—it was just a matter of survival for me.
And I hated the fact that I was on a journey of deceiving Aidan again. But I felt like I had no choice. No matter which way I looked at it, I was screwed.
The guy who met me outside my apartment made that much clear to me.
I tried to explain to him how I was trying my best to break down Aidan’s barriers and get him to trust me again. That maybe the plan might not even work since he despised me now. But the Barons were impatient. They wanted quick results. He threatened me and warned me that if I didn’t have something to give them fast enough, then my mother didn’t have long to live.
He said they already came up with plans on how to kidnap her from the hospital and make her death long and painful.
Back in my apartment, I allowed myself to cry again.
I did this for the sake of my mother. The same mother who had rejected me, sent me away, forced me into a situation where I had no choice but to give up my baby. And now I had to save her from a gruesome death. I had to betray the only man who had ever cared for me.
I hoped Aidan wouldn’t contact me again. I hoped he would just forget about me.
But he didn’t.
When I stepped out of the shower, I saw another text from him.
Meet me at the bar in an hour
A part of me was relieved. Aidan was still open to seeing me again. Did I still have a hold on him? Did he still want me the way he did when we first met?
Or was this a trap? Did he want me to pay for how I’d hurt him?
I got dressed and left the apartment.
I was going to see him at the bar we used to hang out in five years ago. I tried to push away happy memories of our nights out together. How we used to spend hours talking and laughing. The first time I got up on the table and danced. How I would ride on his bike, clinging to him as he took me back to his place and made love to me in his bed.
Those nights with him were the happiest moments of my life. Back when I thought I still had a chance of a future with him.
Now, a night with him was going to be one of manipulation and deceit.
I wondered if he knew it too.
I saw him the moment I walked into the bar. He was at the table in the corner where we used to sit.
I wanted him, the way I always wanted him. Nothing had changed.
I felt a connection with him the moment we met. He was strong and safe. Sexy and handsome. He could have any girl he wanted, but he had chosen me. I still couldn’t understand why.
I had never belonged in his world and I still didn’t. The irony was that now I found myself tangled up right in the center of it.
He scanned me up and down as I walked up to him.
I was wearing a short dress and his eyes were on my legs, then on my hips, then my breasts. I glowed under his gaze.
He was the only man I appreciated this gaze from. The way he undressed me with his eyes turned me on.
I couldn’t believe I still loved that. I still wanted him to look at me like that. I had goosebumps on my skin.
“I ordered you a beer,” he said, tipping his head towards the bottle on the table. He already had one in his hand.
I picked mine up and drank. I really needed it.
“I was glad to hear from you again. I hoped we could talk.”
“I’m confused about what you want to talk to me about. All these years later. You didn’t bother to call me when you disappeared. Where did you go?”
I sat in the chair across from him.
The music was as loud as usual. The bar was crowded with people who were drinking and smoking heavily. I was comforted by the familiar atmosphere.
“To the other side of the country,” I lied.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I was just a two hour train ride from here.
“And are you going to tell me why you left? Without the bullshit this time?” he asked.
I looked him in the eyes. I wanted him to think I was being truthful in what I said.
“My parents made me go. They threatened to cut me off from their lives if I didn’t. They threatened eternal damnation. I had to leave. I had no choice. I didn’t want to tell you anything because I thought it would be easier that way. Rip it off like a Band-Aid.”
Well…it was partially true. My parents did threaten me with all that.
However, I had left out the part where they also threatened to force me to have an abortion if I stayed in town and kept seeing Aidan.
I knew that the only chance for my baby to survive was if I left. At least that way, I could give it up for adoption and know it was being looked after by a loving home.
Aidan lifted his bottle to his lips and took a deep gulp of his beer. I couldn’t tell if he believed me this time. He watched me closely—like he waited for me to slip up.
“Your parents threatened you with eternal damnation and you just did what they said?”
My cheeks flushed with guilt. He would figure out I was lying. My knuckles turned white because of how tightly I gripped the bottle.
“I never realized how naive you were,” he added.
He bought it.
“Yes, I was naive. I see that now,” I admitted.
“You could have stayed if you really wanted to,” he continued. “You could have come to me with their threats.”
“And what would you have done? Got my parents beaten up for what they were doing to me? I didn’t want that.”
“So you’re saying you left because you were trying to protect your family from me? From my brutality?” he asked.
His voice was raised and gruff. I knew I had to hold my own. Aidan had the ability to get under my skin. But I had the ability to win an argument against him. I wasn’t sure if he allowed other women to talk to him like this.
“I did what I thought was the best thing to do to keep the peace. I figured that if I left, my parents would be satisfied and you would be free of me,” I replied.
Aidan smirked and shook his head bitterly.
“No, Leah. What you really wanted was to be free of me.”
I said nothing, just stared at him.
It was hard to argue with that.
By leaving this place—I was trying to be free of everything.
The truth was, I would never be free of him. I would never be free of the baby we made together. I thought about his beautiful face every day.
“You chose your parents’ religious beliefs over me,” he continued.
“I am not them. I left because I knew I could never live in this town with you while they were still around. And I also knew you would neve
r leave. Your family is the most important thing to you. I couldn’t force you away from that. I didn’t want to,” I said.
Aidan was silent for a while after that, and I began to think that maybe he saw it as a favor now. That I had done him a favor by leaving. By making it an easy decision for him to just forget about me and move on.
He would never have to think about me again.
“You’re right about one thing, Leah. If you confessed to me what your parents made you do, I would have made sure they answered to me for it. I would have made sure they regretted every decision they ever made in their lives.” He spoke in a deep threatening voice that unsettled me.
I stood up with a jerk, banging the bottle down on the table.
“I’m not going to sit here and listen to you threatening my family. This is not why I came to talk to you. I know my parents made mistakes. I know they forced me to do something that I will always regret, but you can’t…threaten them. My father is dead. My mother is dying. Don’t you have any compassion?” I yelled over the loud music.
Aidan stood up too, reminding me how much taller and bigger he was than me.
“No. I don’t have any compassion for people who work against me,” he snarled, sending a chill down my spine.
If Aidan found out I was working with Aldo Baron, I knew my life would be over. He wouldn’t spare me.
I tried to gather myself and not let him see how afraid I was, or how weak I felt around him. I was in a constant state of battle between my attraction for Aidan and my fear of him. I wasn’t sure which one was winning at this point.
I made to leave, but Aidan grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him.
I fell on his chest. His touch made me breathless.
Five years later—this was the first time we touched. The first time we were this close and I could feel his hot breath on my face. I was afraid he would see right through me.
“Did you ever give a fuck about me, Leah Michaels?” he asked in a deeper voice.