by R. A. Smyth
However, something in my gut tells me we are all, in some shape or form, on the same page.
Certainly, from my chat earlier with Preston and Barrett, they seem to be on the same page as me.
I’m just going to have to trust this gut feeling I have that Aiden and Tyler have my back, even if it does go against my father’s orders.
Choosing to trust my instinct, I introduce everyone to each other. “This is Aiden and Tyler,” I explain to Preston and Barrett, hesitating only slightly, sensing both Aiden and Tyler tense behind me.
Before either of them can tell me to shut up, I quickly add on, “They work for my father.”
There is a moment of silence where both boys behind me glare furiously at me while Preston takes them both in, from their worn jeans and vest tops to their numerous tattoos prominently on display. They clearly weren’t out in Crescentwood when they realised I was awol.
Preston's face hardens even more than I thought possible as he cocks his gun and points it over my head, straight into Aiden’s face, snarling at the two men behind me. “Who the fuck are you people, and what are you doing in our town?”
“We aren’t telling you shit, dickhead. Given the state we just found Sophie in, you two are the ones that have some explaining to do,” Aiden fires back.
“Excuse me!” I interject, “The state you found me in? I wasn’t in any sort of state!” Jeez, they make it sound like they found me beaten and bruised or fucking hysterical. I had basically sorted the situation with Preston and Barrett before these fuckwits showed up to ‘save the day’.
Not that they know that, I guess.
“You were tied to a chair, love,” Ty tries to placate me, frowning at the redness still visible on my wrists, “We may not be from the upper fucking crust of society, but we know how to treat women, and it isn’t by fucking tying them up and threatening information out of them!” He growls, turning to glare again at Preston and Barrett.
All I can do is roll my eyes. I was tied up and sitting on a chair, not tied to a chair. There’s a difference. Besides, based on my father’s attitudes and the way he talks to his men, I seriously doubt they grew up learning how to treat women with the decency and respect they deserve, not that I have time to point that out right now.
Barrett, at least, has the grace to look embarrassed by their actions, but Preston, the asshole that he is, just shrugs. “Well if you all didn’t just barge into this town thinking you could do whatever the fuck you wanted, then we wouldn’t have had to go to such lengths.” He has a fuck you smile on his face, trying to rile up the guys behind me.
“She has nothing to do with whatever you think is going on. Leave her out of it. If you lay a fucking finger on her again I’ll cut it off, shove it down your throat and watch you choke on it,” Aiden threatens in a dark voice that I’ve never heard him use before, showing that he means business and sending shivers of fear up my spine.
No, wait, not shivers of fear. Excitement. Shivers of excitement. Jeez, I’m clearly more messed up in the head than I thought I was.
Even Tyler’s eyebrows raise subtly at the threat in Aiden’s tone. He is clearly as surprised as I am. “Now, we’re taking her home, before her father starts asking questions that, believe me, you don’t want him asking.”
With that, Aiden and Tyler head towards the door, ignoring the guns still pointed at them. They don’t get far before Preston steps in their path, blocking their way again.
“I don’t fucking think so. I want to know what business you have with my father. I know if you’re associated with him then you’re as corrupt as he is, and I’m not going to sit back and let that scumbag get away with his shit anymore.”
Aiden steps up to Preston so they are only inches apart, the two of them staring at one another for a long minute before Aiden responds, “I have no idea what Robert is doing with your father. Hell, I don’t even know who your father is. So, whatever problem you have with him, I suggest you take that up with him and leave the rest of us out of it. Now, like I said, the three of us are leaving,” he finishes, shoving past Preston and out the door.
Not seeing that I have much choice, I move to follow Aiden, with Tyler close behind me, but Barrett lightly grabs my arm. Turning back to look at him, he’s staring at me, all confused. “You’re really going to leave with these thugs? After what you just told us about your father?”
“Yeah, I am,” I confirm, “They may work for my father, but they have been covering for me for months now, protecting me from him. While they may seem a bit rough around the edges, I trust them a hell of a lot more than either of you.” I catch the hurt that flashes across his face, but what does he expect after what he went along with today? I know he believes what I told them earlier, but what they did, what they have been doing since I arrived, is not okay. Having said my piece, I turn and walk out the door, not looking back as I follow Aiden and Tyler towards their car.
Chapter 31
I‘ve barely settled myself into the front passenger seat of the car before Aiden is firing questions at me. “What the hell happened today? What did they do to you? What did they say? What did you say?”
The questions come out in rapid-fire, tumbling over one another, giving me no chance to answer any of them as he starts the engine and does a U-turn before starting us down a narrow lane overgrown with trees and shrubbery.
Ignoring his questions, I ask one of my own that has been bothering me since they showed up. “How did you know where I was?” I demand, glaring daggers into the side of Aiden’s head, watching him grind his teeth, refusing to answer me. Instead, it's Tyler who responds, leaning forward between the two front passenger seats.
“We, emm, may have put a tracking device on you, just so we could keep an eye on you,” he justifies, giving me a ‘what can you do’ look and a nonchalant shrug, clearly not feeling the slightest bit guilty about that invasion of privacy.
“You what?! What the hell is wrong with you people?” I’ve seriously had e-fucking-nough of testosterone-driven assholes who think they can do whatever the hell they want.
I had just about gotten used to their stalking, but this further invasion of my privacy? To be honest, I should have expected it. It’s a smart thing to have done.
“Yeah ok, not our finest moment, but you already know your father has ordered us to follow you. How else do you expect us to know where you are at all times?”
“I figured Oliver was informing you and my father every time I left the house?”
“He is. He lets us know anytime you ask him for a lift, and your father has told him to keep him updated on your whereabouts. We didn’t want to rely on information from your father or Oliver though,” Tyler explains. “Clearly, that worked in our favour today seeing as you decided to up and leave school early,” he finishes, giving me a stern glare, letting me know he’s not happy with me. Screw him. If he had had the morning I had, he would have left too.
“What happened today?” He asks softly after a moment's silence.
“It’s absolutely none of your goddamn business what happened today,” I snap back, getting defensive and not wanting to relive this shitty day.
Aiden, who has been silently stewing in the front seat while he drives us back towards Crescentwood, isn’t happy with that answer though, snapping out, “What the hell were you thinking leaving school early? Not only would your father be pissed if he found out, but it left you vulnerable to those assholes.
“Don’t think we haven’t noticed that no one here seems to like you all that much; hell, they’re all out to get you. So why the hell would you walk down an empty road all alone, just asking for something bad to happen to you?”
He grinds his teeth and his hands clench tightly around the steering wheel, causing his knuckles to whiten with the pressure.
Sighing heavily, I have to agree with what he says - not that I’m going to tell him that - but he is right. It was stupid on my part to leave school. I just couldn’t be there anymore, after w
hat happened this morning, but I should have known Preston and Barrett weren’t just going to let me run off and wallow.
“I get it. I fucked up. It won’t happen again.” I concede without sharing any details of my shitty day. In an attempt to change the conversation, I ask, “What are we going to tell my father?” Hoping that my gut feeling about these two is right and they will back up my story to Robert.
“I don’t know. We should stick as close to the truth as possible though.” Thinking about it a bit more before giving me an actual answer, Aiden eventually expands, “You need to tell your father you left with Preston and Barrett to go hang out or something, and we will just say that we followed you but couldn’t get close enough to see anything. Vague, but plausible, and will satisfy your father, for now.”
I just nod my agreement before turning to look out the window, watching the trees fly by.
The three of us sit in silence for several moments. I can feel the tension coming off Aiden all the way on my side of the car, increasing with every second that he sits and stews, not knowing what happened today.
It only takes another few minutes before he loses control and snaps out at me, “Tell us what happened today!” It’s no longer phrased as a question, his anger getting the better of him.
“Please,” Ty adds placatingly, giving a pointed look to Aiden.
“We just need to know they didn’t hurt or threaten you.”
“They didn’t,” I assure them, hesitating over telling them what happened. If I tell them what Preston and Barrett know, and Aiden and Tyler tell my father, then I could be putting both of their lives at risk. Preston is already on my father's ‘to be aware of’ list, thanks to Charles.
I don’t know how much I can trust Aiden and Tyler. They have protected me so far, but how far will that protection extend? At what point will their loyalty to my father win out against whatever feelings they have for me? Besides, just because they do feel some need to look out for me, doesn’t mean the same courtesy would extend to Preston and Barrett either.
God, all of this is giving me a headache.
My hand has been fiddling with a hole in the material of my seat while I mull all of this over, poking at it and making it bigger.
In an uncharacteristic gesture of comfort, Aiden reaches across the centre-console and grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze before resting it on my knee, keeping his hand on top of my own.
“We aren’t going to go running to your father with whatever it is you have to tell us,” He promises softly.
“Why?” I question, shaking my head. As much as I want to believe they will stand by me, I just don’t understand why they would defy my father like that.
“It’s complicated. We will try and explain it to you, but it’s too long of a story to go into today. Can you just trust us?” He asks, giving my hand another squeeze.
I want to trust them.
I take a long moment to mull it over, neither of them pushing me to make a decision while I think about everything I have learned about them over the last few weeks, and my gut feeling that I can trust these two unlikely allies.
Finally, I make the decision to open up and tell them the truth.
“Preston is suspicious of Robert. Robert is in business with Preston’s father, Charles, and, I don’t really know, but I’m guessing Preston doesn’t like, or doesn’t trust, his Dad. Whatever it is, he seems to know that my father is up to something unsavory. And he thinks, or well he thought, I was in on whatever my father is doing.”
“That’s why the kids at school don’t like you? That rich piece of shit turned them against you?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I confirm what he says, “Yeah. The two of them rule the school.”
“What happened today,” Tyler enquires, realising I deliberately skipped over the events in school this morning.
Shaking my head, trying to push past the pain as I remember the betrayal I faced at school today, I finally answer their question. “Shit got bad at school and I bailed early. Preston and Barrett found me walking back to the mansion and…kidnapped me.
“Took me to their little hideaway, or whatever the hell that was back there,” I explain, waving behind me to indicate the clearing in the back-ass of nowhere that we just left, “and questioned me about Robert.”
“What did you tell them?” Aiden asks in a harsh voice causing me to glare at him. What the hell? He just told me to blindly trust him and now he wants to know if I’ve been going around divulging information about my father, as though he’s trying to protect him.
“He didn’t mean it like that,” Ty reassures, giving Aiden yet another pointed look to shut the fuck up. “We just need to know what they know, so we can decide how best to handle the situation. I promise you, your father will know nothing about any of this.” He assures, looking me in the eye so I can be sure of the truth of what he says.
“I didn’t tell them anything…much. Nothing of significance about my father anyway. I needed them to finally believe I wasn’t involved in my father’s plans; that I wasn’t who they think I am.” I try to explain, “I only told them my own story. Told them where I’m from and how I ended up here. That’s it.”
“Why did you tell them who we were?” Asks Aiden, not snapping at me in his usual anger, but instead sounding genuinely curious.
Shaking my head, I don’t even know how to answer that. I don’t know why I told Preston and Barrett who they were, but I do know they seem to have the same agenda as I have – to find out what my father is up to.
“There’s something up with Charles. My father’s association with him seems to have triggered whatever their issue is with me. I think they just want to find out what’s going on as much as I do, they just had a shitty way of going about it.”
Not knowing what else to say, and the air heavy with everything that has been said already, the three of us drive in silence the rest of the way to the mansion, each of us caught up in our own thoughts.
Once again, they drop me off just out of sight of the gates. I don’t immediately get out though.
“Even though I totally had the situation handled, I do appreciate both of you coming to find me today,” I tell them with a small smile, looking first at Aiden before swinging my gaze to Tyler. “You had no idea what you were walking into, and yet you didn’t hesitate. No one has ever done anything like that for me.”
Glancing away, I quietly mutter, “I don’t think anyone else would ever have put themselves at risk for me like that.”
Leaning in between the two front seats so he can gently grab my chin between his thumb and forefinger, Tyler turns my head so he’s looking into my eyes, “It was nothing, love,” he says softly with a gentle smile at the corner of his mouth, stroking his thumb over the angle of my jaw, having no idea just how much his words and soft touches are affecting me.
“Now go on in and have a drink or get off to your vibrator or whatever you chicks do to unwind,” he adds, totally ruining the moment, but causing a bark of laughter to burst from me before I shake my head and get out of the car, giving them a short wave before I turn the corner and approach the gates. Once again the car idles by the side of the road until the gates are securely closed behind me.
I hurry up the drive and into the house, not slowing down until I’m safely tucked away in my bedroom, with the door locked. I can’t handle anything else right now, least of all my father drilling me about today’s activities.
Finally, alone, I lean my back against my bedroom door, closing my eyes, and taking a deep breath, giving in to the mounting headache building behind my eyes.
After a few moments, the pain begins to ease a little and I dump my school bag and make my way into the bathroom for a long hot shower.
Stepping into the shower, I let the hot water flow over my tense muscles and wash away the shit-show that was today. I put on a brave face at the time, because I’m used to putting up a strong front when shit hits the fan, but in all honesty, today shook me up more th
an I’d ever let on. Yeah, everything turned out fine, but I’m not used to being kidnapped, threatened, and having guns pointed at me, and now my adrenaline has run out and my hands and legs are starting to shake. I can barely hold myself up any longer.
By the time I get out of the shower, I’m dead on my feet, unable to do anything other than wrap a towel around my body before I collapse onto the bed. My eyes are closed before my head even hits the pillow.
I sleep all the way through to the following morning, only waking up when Thomas knocks on my door to remind me about school. Pleading sickness, he leaves me alone, promising to bring me up some soup later in the day.
I now have the whole day to develop a game plan and work out what I’m going to do with Preston and Barrett, as well as Aiden and Tyler.
First on my agenda is to find the tracking devices Aiden and Tyler have hidden in my belongings. I tear my room apart going through every piece of jewellery and item of clothing I own, trying to find the damn devices.
Eventually, I discover them placed into the inner lining of all of my shoes. The tracking devices are small, flat discs that I wouldn’t have felt when wearing the shoes. Very smart.
I can’t help but wonder how the hell they managed to sneak into my room to plant the devices. Did my father let them into my room?
By the time I’m done retrieving every tracking device, one in each pair of shoes, I have twenty-seven of them in total. It also makes me painfully aware of how many shoes I own. Which is insane since I’ve never worn most of them, living mostly in my Converse.
Now that I have them, I don’t know what to do with them. I spend the rest of the morning staring at the little plastic bag I put them in, mulling over some ideas.
Suddenly, a hilariously cruel idea comes to mind that I know would totally piss the two of them off. I can’t hold back the mischievous grin that spreads across my face. We might be on good terms, but that doesn’t mean I’m okay with the fact they snuck into my room and planted tracking devices without my permission, or at least telling me that they had done it. For that reason, I feel totally justified in what I’m about to do.