by Sarah Bailey
“Yes, well, Susan made one statement to the press and that’s it. No one else has heard a peep out of her,” my uncle said.
“Can you blame her? Her husband and son were killed… kind of violently if you ask me.”
Tristan’s shocked expression flittered across my vision again. I wrapped my hand around the arm of my chair, trying not to let my expression betray my inner turmoil. I had to forget about this. I had to keep it off my mind. It was so fucking hard.
My heart felt tight. I was not going to freak out in front of them. Shit. I wished Aiden was here. I just needed him to hold me and tell me it was going to be okay. He’d get me through this. I needed him so fucking much.
“Quite… I’ve been wondering if it was the same person who murdered your parents.”
I shuddered, unable to stop myself. Little did he know how on the nose that was. Now, I really did need Aiden. I had all sorts of awful images in my head and I felt like my whole entire world was about to come crashing down around me. Gripping the chair arm tighter, I took a steadying breath.
“Does it matter who killed them? I thought you hated the Shaws.”
“I do… I did.”
“Is this all you wanted to talk to me about? I’ve got a lot to catch up on.”
What I actually needed was to go into the ladies and call Aiden before I completely lost my mind. The sooner I could get Uncle Charlie and Ed out of here, the better.
“No. Ed and I have something important to discuss with you.”
I looked between them. What the hell was this? I wasn’t sure I could deal with it all at that moment. I felt sick to my stomach. All I could think about was all the death I’d seen. The room started to spin. I couldn’t think straight. See straight.
Dead.
Dead.
I abruptly stood up. Both of them looked up at me, frowning.
“Um… excuse me, I’ll be back in a minute.”
Before either of them could say anything, I walked out of the room, past a confused looking John and dashed into the ladies. I put my hands on the counter, trying to breathe whilst panic set in all around me. I could see their faces. My dad. My mum. Frazier. Tristan. All staring at me. I was going crazy again. Completely fucking batshit crazy.
I slid down onto the floor, turning so my back was to the sinks and fumbled with my phone in my pocket. I managed to unlock it and dial Aiden’s number, hoping he’d pick up. I couldn’t breathe. I held my chest as I put the phone to my ear, trying desperately to suck in air.
“Princess?”
“I…I… help me.”
I took a shuddering breath, feeling my heart pounding out of control in my chest. I could hear my blood rushing in my ears. What the fuck was happening to me?
“What’s wrong? Did someone do something to you?”
“N…No… I… I… can’t breathe.”
“Where are you?”
I could hardly get my words out. The four faces were staring at me, unblinking. Why the hell were they there? What was going on? My chest felt so tight. I didn’t know what to do or say.
“Avery, are you still there?”
“Y…yes.”
“I’m going to need you to put your head between your legs and just breathe, okay?”
I shifted, putting my knees up as I bent over them. I tried to take a deep breath, but it wasn’t working. My lungs burnt.
“Breathe, princess. Just breathe.”
I took a shuddering breath, trying to focus on Aiden’s voice.
“That’s it, and another.”
I did as he said, breathing in and out.
“Good girl. Keep breathing.”
I took five more breaths, feeling the panic begin to subside. My heart rate started to slow. I could no longer see their faces.
“Aiden,” I whimpered.
Coming to work had been a stupid idea. I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t ready. How could I face the world when all I could think about was how I’d killed another person? When all I could see was death.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I was talking to Uncle Charlie and Ed and I just felt so sick and weird. And I saw them again… but this time Frazier and Tristan were there too.”
“You saw your parents again?”
“Yes.”
There was a long pause. I hadn’t hallucinated them in months. This didn’t bode well. I was deteriorating all over again. I could feel it.
“Okay, I’m going to come get you.”
“What? No, you can’t.”
“Avery, you’re having hallucinations again. Do you really think I’m just going to leave you there alone?”
“But you can’t come to the office, you know that.”
He sighed.
“Do you think I give a shit if anyone finds out you’re my wife? I don’t. Not any longer. I’m fucking done with this now. No more lies. No more secrets. I’m coming to get you and that’s the end of the fucking discussion.”
“But Aiden…”
“No. Do not argue with me. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Do not fucking get John to drive you home. Wait in your office. Do as I say or I won’t be fucking responsible for my actions. Do you hear me?”
I swallowed.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Good.”
He hung up on me. I raised my head, my hand dropping to my side. What the hell? I had no idea what had gotten into Aiden.
There was a knock at the bathroom door, followed by a muffled, “Avery, are you still in there?”
I got to my feet, slipping my phone in my pocket. I looked at my face in the mirror. I looked like a fucking ghost. Shit. I had twenty minutes to work out what I was going to say when Aiden got here. How I was going to explain this?
I pinched my cheeks, trying to bring back colour into them, but it was useless. Trudging towards the door, I opened it. John was waiting there, a concerned look on his face.
“Are you okay?”
I shook my head, coming out of the room and standing with him in the hallway.
“What’s wrong?”
I rubbed my head, looking down at the floor.
“I think I had a panic attack and now Aiden is on his way here and I don’t know what to do.”
“Well shit.”
I couldn’t bring myself to laugh at that. This had turned into an absolute mess.
“He said he doesn’t care if they find out we’re married.”
He put a hand on my arm, giving it a squeeze.
“I can’t leave, he’ll get really mad,” I continued. “I have to deal with Ed and Uncle Charlie. I don’t know what to say to them. They want to talk to me about something, but I don’t know what it is. What do I do? If Aiden turns up here, he’ll completely ruin everything we’ve worked so hard for.”
He released my arm and gave me a sympathetic look.
“You can’t stop him, you know.”
I nodded. When Aiden decided on a course of action, he just did it. The consequences be damned. He wasn’t thinking straight because I was involved. The ramifications of them discovering we were together were potentially huge
Was he doing this because I’d retreated into myself for over two weeks? Did he think I was going to go back into that state? Or was he worried I’d completely fall apart like I did last time I hallucinated my parents?
Either way, I’d worried him enough for him to say fuck it to everything else. I felt like kicking myself, but there was no point. I’d needed Aiden. No one else would’ve got me to calm down. I knew that.
“I suppose I better go face the music.”
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
“No, but I don’t have a choice. When Aiden gets here, everything’s going to hell anyway.”
He shrugged.
“Maybe it won’t be so bad.”
“You know Uncle Charlie isn’t that stupid. He’s going to p
ut two and two together and then where will we be? He’ll know what…”
I stopped. John didn’t know about my parents. Didn’t know Aiden had taken me captive. I couldn’t reveal that no matter what. Even if John knew about what we did to Frazier and Tristan, it didn’t matter. No one could know how Aiden and I met. No one.
John cocked his head to the side as if urging me to go on.
“It’s just not going to end well.”
I sighed. Time was ticking down and I couldn’t continue wasting it with John. I gave him a smile before turning away and walking back to my office. He didn’t call after me.
Ed and my uncle were still seated in front of my desk. They both looked at me with concerned expressions. I put my hands up as I sat back at my desk.
“Before you ask, I’m okay. I haven’t been feeling right since I got the flu, but I’ll go see a doctor or something if it carries on.”
My uncle nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah… Now, what did you want to talk to me about?”
The two of them looked at each other for a moment. I felt a sense of trepidation at their eager glances. I looked at the clock on the wall. Too much time had passed. Far too much. Any second my whole life would come crashing down.
Uncle Charlie turned to me, about to open his mouth when my office door was flung open. Ed and my uncle twisted around at the noise. I gripped the arms of my chair. Aiden stood there, his grey eyes dark and stormy. My heart thumped erratically in my chest at the sight of him.
He walked into the room with so much self-assurance, I let out a small squeak of surprise. Hell. My husband looked so deadly in that moment.
“Aiden…?” Uncle Charlie said, standing up and looking between the two of us.
Aiden completely ignored them, striding around my desk, taking my hand and tugging me to my feet. I stared up at him as he dropped my hand only to cup my face with both of his. His eyes searched mine for several moments. My breath caught in my throat. His fear and concern bled into me.
“What is going on?” I heard my uncle ask.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from my husband. He commanded my full attention. My beautiful tattooed god. Every inch the man who stood up for me and protected me through thick and thin. As if I could ever look away.
Neither of us spoke, just staring at each other as if we were silently communicating.
Are you okay? Tell me you’re okay, princess, Aiden asked me with his eyes.
Yes. I’m okay now you’re here, I responded without words.
His grey eyes softened. I wanted to melt into him. To have him hold me and soothe away all my pain. He was all I ever needed.
He dropped his hands from my face, slipping one of his into his pocket. He grasped my hand and slipped my wedding ring back on my finger. I stared down at it and his own hand which held mine. Both our rings glinted in the harsh light of the overhead lamps.
He’d just made a declaration to my family.
I was his.
Legally Aiden’s girl.
His wife.
Mrs Avery Charlotte Lockhart.
Chapter Fourteen
Aiden
I knew I had to face the consequences of coming down here and showing her fucking family she was mine. I was just so fucking tired of everything. Tired of living a lifetime of lies and secrets. Tired of hiding in the shadows. After what went down with Tristan and Frazier, especially Avery’s reaction, I was fucking done. All of this had only brought us more misery. I couldn’t fucking stand her pain. So now, I was fucking well doing something about it.
I turned to Chuck and her cousin, Ed. Chuck looked like he’d seen a fucking ghost and Ed had a frown on his face.
“I wasn’t lying when I told you Avery is married to me,” was the first thing out of my mouth.
Chuck spluttered, put his hand on his mouth and sat down abruptly. Silence descended over the room. Avery’s hand in mine tightened. I could feel her trembling next to me.
I watched her cousin carefully. I had my fucking suspicions about him. There was curiosity in his expression as well as surprise.
“When?” Chuck asked, dropping his hand from his face.
“What, when did I start seeing your niece? Months ago. When did we get married? A week before her birthday.”
“And you kept this a fucking secret from me this entire time? What the fuck is going on in that head of yours?”
I shrugged. There were a lot of reasons why we hadn’t told Chuck. Mostly because I didn’t want him to suspect it was me who’d killed his brother.
He stood up, pacing away with his hand in his hair.
“Christ, Aiden. After every-fucking-thing I’ve done to try help you after all the shit with Mitch, this is what you do? You go behind my back and get married to my fucking niece. To his fucking daughter. Have you completely lost your fucking mind?”
He turned back to me, his eyes blazing with fury.
“Tell me right fucking now, when did this fucking happen and how? I will not tolerate any more shit from either of you. You’re going to tell me the fucking truth.”
Avery flinched at my side, her fingers digging into mine. I looked down at her. Her doe eyes were wide, almost as if she’d never seen her uncle so incensed before.
“The truth?” I asked.
“Yes, the fucking truth.”
Avery looked up at me, shaking her head. Her eyes pleading with me not to tell him anything. Not to reveal the one thing which could bring everything crashing down around us.
“It started the night Mitchell died.”
Avery almost caved in on herself. I turned to Chuck, who was about to open his mouth, but I put a hand up. The real truth of that night was going to remain between Avery and me.
“I had nothing to do with that shit. I was walking past the building when she ran out in tears. I was there because of that shit you asked me to do with those dealers. Anyway, she ran into me and I recognised her. I felt kind of shit about leaving her there in tears so I told her who I was and asked if she wanted to talk about it.”
I looked over at Avery. She regarded me with an almost neutral expression, but her doe eyes told me she hadn’t expected me to come up with some bullshit story about how we met. I’d become rather adept at thinking on my feet. I had to when dealing with the Daniels and their bullshit.
“I tried to take her home, but she didn’t want to go, so I did the only other thing I could. I brought her back to mine and let her tell me about her argument with Mitchell. So when you called me the next day, she was asleep on my sofa. That’s why the police couldn’t find her because when I told her about Mitchell and Kathleen, she was a fucking mess. She begged me not to tell anyone where she was. So yes, we lied to everyone including the police.”
“You’re telling me she was with you the entire time?”
I turned back to Chuck.
“Yes. And trust me, I didn’t mean for any of it to happen. It just did. I didn’t take advantage of your niece, so you can stop looking at me like I’m some fucking scumbag who started screwing a girl who was in clear emotional distress. I’m not that fucked up.”
Chuck’s expression cleared a little. He ran a hand through his hair.
“Why didn’t you tell me when she came back? Hmm?”
“She didn’t want to tell anyone because of how it would look.”
Chuck paced away, clearly agitated. I wasn’t sure he’d bought what I’d told him.
“Is this true, Avery?” he asked, not looking at either of us.
“Yes,” she said, her voice a little unsteady.
He was silent, his back to us. Ed was still seated, watching all of us with trepidation. Time felt like it wasn’t passing. We were all just stuck there, waiting for someone to say something.
And then the last person any of us were expecting strolled into the room with his hands in his pockets. He eyed the scene for all of ten seconds.
“Well, this is quite the party.”
My fist clenched. Avery let out a quiet moan of pain so I loosened my grip on her hand a little. What the actual fuck was he doing here?
“Rick?” Chuck said.
“Charles, long time no see, old friend.”
Holy mother of all fucks. This fucking man knew no fucking bounds. Walking in here like he owned the fucking place.
“What are you doing here?”
Avery wrapped her other hand around my arm, giving it a squeeze. I was not fucking prepared for this shit today. Not one bit.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
“No, I’m fucking not.”
I was practically shaking with rage. How fucking dare he turn up here. How fucking dare he come to my fucking wife’s office. I told him to stay away from us. I warned him.
“I’m here to meet my daughter in law,” Rick said, his voice as smooth as fucking butter.
“You knew about this?” Chuck asked.
“Now, now, Charles, did you think I wouldn’t keep an eye on my own son’s activities?”
“Does everyone fucking know about this shit except me?”
“I didn’t know,” Ed piped up.
Chuck turned and gave him a death stare. Ed shrank back in his seat.
“Did I interrupt something?” Rick asked.
His expression told me he knew full well he’d walked into a shit storm. Chuck put a hand up.
“No, no, Ed and I were just leaving.”
He turned, walked over to me and gave me a warning look.
“You and I are not done. I’m not buying this shit from you and her,” he told me in a low voice.
Then he turned, aimed a finger at Ed and pointed at the door before he walked out. Ed got up and hurried away after him, leaving Avery and me alone with my scumbag sperm donor.
He quietly closed the door behind them. Turning to us, he didn’t bother plastering a smile on his face.
“I warned you, but y’all hell bent on throwing caution to the wind now.”
“I didn’t fucking well ask for your opinion. What the fuck are you doing here?”
Avery let go of my hand and curled into my side instead. I wrapped an arm around her, but my gaze stayed on Rick.