Her Charming Secret

by Sam Ayers

  “Yes it is,” she said. “Are you stupid or what? You are an astrophysicist who works in business sector! What are you, Superman who wears glasses and becomes the modest Clark Kent who works for a newspaper? Aiden, you are a responsible person who loves his family and they are your priority, but that’s not exactly right. Did you ever think about yourself? When was the last time you did something for yourself? Not Aubrey or Ashton or even Alex! You! When did you do something crazy that you loved? If you never try, you’ll never know.”

  “I . . . I don’t know.” Aiden was at a loss for words.

  “Live your life! It’s about you. Aiden, I used to be a wild and a crazy child. I did everything that I loved. Jacob never stopped me. I lived my life the way I wanted; I still do. That’s the point. What will happen next? Marriage, kids . . . a family. More responsibility! And where do you stand?”

  Everything that Jo said did make sense. He was wasting his life. Right! Marriage and kids. What would happen next? His thoughts were disturbed when she spoke again.

  “Aiden Reid, if I were in your place I would be working as a real Astrophysicist. I wouldn’t be sitting in an office, attending meetings, signing files and drinking coffee all the time. We are different. Believe it or not, I wanted to be a cook once, but I can’t cook without burning.” She laughed. He smiled at her, too. “I wanted to fly, but that was impossible, too. I wanted to be a singer, but I couldn’t. That’s when I started writing, like Jacob. He was my inspiration. We used to sit in the same room and write all day without saying a word. He bought me a hat once, and surprisingly it gave me ideas. I don’t know how! When I wear that, I write like a crazy person. I call it my writer’s hat. Look, a simple thing like that makes me smile when I speak about it.”

  He was glad to hear about this. Aiden understood Jo better now. She was creative, courageous, opinionated, fun and optimist. He wasn’t like her, but wasn’t that a good thing? They could easily be together as they were different. Their ideas were different. Their way of viewing life was different. Everything was falling into place; after Jo came into his life; he was smiling more often, enjoying himself, and living his life.

  “I don’t know how I’ll be able to leave the company. Not right now, Jo. I need some more time,” he said.

  “Well, it’s up to you, always. Do the right thing, Aiden. Do what you love and remember one thing: I’ll always be by your side and support every single decision of yours.”

  He pulled her into an embrace just as the flight was announced. “Great! Time to board; let’s go.”

  She still didn’t have an idea about this location he had chosen. He had her boarding pass, too, but she found out as soon as they walked near the gate.

  “Cobden? Where is that?”

  “You don’t know? Didn’t you take geography when you were a kid?” He chuckled.

  “I did, but I think I forgot.” She grinned, running her hand through her hair.

  Cobden was a small community in the township of the Whitewater Region. Whitewater Region. It did ring a bell, and Jo realized that this place was popular for rafting and kayaking. The Whitewater Region was named after the famous whitewater on the Ottawa River. Aiden hired a cab that was taking them to Forester’s fall, where a road was built over the waterfall on McNaughton’s Creek. Whitewater rafting was the perfect adrenaline rush of rapid action in the fast-moving clear water. They were staying at the resort. Aiden had taken care of everything. Of course, why wouldn’t the perfectionist take care of everything perfectly?

  * * *

  They walked towards the resort slowly. The weather was lovely, much better than Tofino. Aiden felt lagged because of the exhausting journey. He just wanted to crash in his bed and wake up the next morning. Jo noticed that he got two keys at the reception, which made her curious.

  “Two rooms?” she asked, placing her bag on the floor.

  “Yeah, I booked it two days ago so . . .”

  That explained why he booked two rooms. She nodded without saying another word and started walking behind him. Just then, Aiden saw a familiar person standing in between a group of young ladies at the far end.

  “No way!” he whispered and moved towards that person. He was laughing and flirting with the girls. What a charmer he was!

  “Alex?”

  “Ah! Aido,” Alex smirked. “Excuse me, ladies. My cousin is here; I’ll see you later.” He walked towards Aiden and Jo. This surprise was getting bad; Jo never imagined that Aiden would have invited Alex. Wait! Two rooms? Yes, one must be for Alex.

  “Hey, dude!” Alex called. “I guess Ashton must have warned you.”

  “Yeah, and you know what? He told me to give you a little gift from him,” Aiden said loudly and threw a punch at Alex, who tripped and fell on the ground. Jo managed to push Aiden away and tried to help Alex.

  “Whoa, calm down, Aiden,” she said as she helped Alex up. “Are you alright?”

  “Never better,” he smirked as if nothing had happened and hugged her. “Wow! Don’t you look cute? Nice haircut.”

  She smiled and moved away. Aiden stood in front of Alex and demanded, “What the hell are you doing here? And what were you doing to Ashton? Answer me!”

  “Calm down, Aido. I am here to have some fun. Jo missed me a lot, so I decided to come here and join you guys!”

  Alex wasn’t the sort of person who felt ashamed or guilty. He was here to have fun and he would! He noticed Aiden carrying two keys in his hand. Taking one, he handed it to Jo.

  “Jo, it must have been a long journey, so go to your room and take rest. I don’t mind sharing a room with Aid. Come on, Aido, let’s go,” Alex called as he walked towards their room.

  Without saying another word, Aiden followed him. At that moment, Alex had no clue about their relationship, so he couldn’t share a room with Jo when he was around. He waved to Jo and walked away.

  “Alex Reid, you just ruined my perfect day,” Jo muttered and stormed towards her own room.

  The room was huge with a large bed. Aiden walked in to see Alex lying on the bed with his hands under his head. “You don’t have to worry about expenses, I paid my share. Need I say any more?”

  “Al, what the hell are you thinking?”

  “Oh, right now? I was wondering what we were having for dinner. I’m starving. Got on a flight early, and I—” Aiden cut him off by throwing a huge pillow at his face. He stormed out of the room shouting about morons without manners. Alex, true to his cousin’s words, followed him and, to his surprise, saw him walking into Jo’s room.

  What the heck is he doing in her room? Moving forward, he placed his ear on the door to hear something. Aiden was loud enough; he was apologizing and said that Alex shouldn’t have come here. “As if I’ll leave now!” Alex smirked and opened the door, walking in with a huge grin on his face.

  Jo smiled and asked him to take a seat, Alex was a good friend, and she didn’t want him to know what Aiden just said. “Alex, how was the flight?” she asked, changing the subject. Aiden got up from the bed and walked towards the window. He sighed as he looked out.

  “It was good, Jo. I’m not tired at all.” He smirked. Aiden groaned and glared at Alex. “You missed me too much, Aido? Don’t worry, I’m here now.” When Aiden didn’t reply, he continued, “Well, who wants to have dinner? I’m starving!”

  “Me too,” Jo replied. “I really want to eat something now. Aiden? Let’s go?” Without another word, the boys followed her. Alex charmed the hostess and managed to get a table outside near the swimming pool. It wasn’t much, but it was still beautiful. Jo ordered coffee before ordering the main dish. Alex, who was surprised to see this, sat there smirking. The boys ordered coke. And when the drinks arrived, both Alex and Aiden were surprised to see Jo swapping her coffee mug with Aiden’s coke. “Drink that and feel better,” she said, winking at him.

  Aiden’s face was red when he saw Alex laughing his head off. Without a word he drank the coffee. “Wow! Looks like she knows how to control your t
emper, huh?” Alex grinned, raising his eyebrows in a funny manner.

  “Be quiet, Alex! I’m still mad at you,” Aiden murmured. There was a light music playing and Jo recognized it and started humming lightly, grinning at Alex, who pouted and turned away.

  “You know what’s gonna happen tomorrow?” she asked Alex just as the waitress arrived to take their order. He gave her a big smile and placed the order. He ordered for Aiden as well, as he was lost in his thoughts, drinking his coffee.

  “I do, Jo,” he replied as he pulled out his phone and scrolled through something. “Here it is! Aiden booked the Full River High Adventure trip just for you two, but now that I’m here, I’ll be joining you. The package includes a Full River High Adventure rafting trip in a twelve-passenger raft, and what’s this? Two nights of camping? With two breakfasts and one lunch and, oh wait! One dinner? A day at the resort. And if it’s two days, we get a discount.”

  “Two days?” Jo raised her eyebrow. “And camping?”

  “It will be fun, Jo,” Alex smirked. Dinner was served and they were really enjoying the meal. Alex told Jo about his trip to Paris where Aubrey insisted on going to Disneyland and how they ended up spending almost two days enjoying themselves. They chatted animatedly about their vacations.

  “We will get the gear tomorrow,” Aiden spoke for the first time. “We start off with the camping, and then we camp.” Alex raised his eyebrow, pointing out how obvious it was to camp while camping. Ignoring him, Aiden continued, “Next would be the rafting, and I think we’d be back by noon. Not sure how it works.”

  “Have you guys done this before?” Jo asked as she sipped her drink. An evil grin formed on Alex’s face; she turned to look at Aiden, who was smirking, too.

  “You think we wouldn’t have done this before?” Alex laughed. Aiden joined him and gave him a high five. They told her that they were regulars; they travelled all over the world for extreme sports. She knew that she was in big trouble for agreeing to come here with Aiden. After finishing dinner, they stayed back for drinks. Aiden ordered coffee again. As it was getting late, Jo decided to go back to her room. Without realizing that Alex was still there, Aiden kissed her lightly. She kissed him back and walked away.

  “W-O-W!” came a voice behind him. With a huge grin on his face, Alex hugged his cousin and congratulated him. “When did this happen? You are dating! Yay! SUCCESS!”

  “Wait, what?” Aiden asked confused.

  “Aid! Bro, I introduced you guys. I knew that you loved her. See, I’m always right! Yes!” Alex shouted as he ran back to the room.

  “You are right, Player! You make a great cupid.” Aiden smiled. He knew that this wouldn’t have been a secret for long. Smiling, he walked towards his room only to get stopped by Jo, who had a huge grin on her face.

  “Gotcha!” She winked and pulled him into her room and closed the door behind him. No one, absolutely no one had a clue what was going to happen behind the door. An adventure had already begun. And in Aiden and Jo’s world, it had reached a whole different level.

  - Chapter 18 -

  Adventure Abound

  Jo’s phone buzzed loudly, waking her up in a shock. She turned the volume down, not wanting to wake Aiden up, but was surprised to see that he wasn’t there. Running her hand through her hair, she answered the phone.

  “Hello,” she said, sighing lightly.

  “Hello, Jo? Can you hear me?” Abigail yelled. Jo had to move the phone away from her ear a little.

  “Calm down, Abby; yeah, I can hear you clearly. Wassup?” she had called Abigail and told her about Aiden, which hadn’t surprised her at all.

  “Umm . . . Jo, something bad has happened. Richard called last night and demanded your location, your exact location. He visited Jacob’s place, too. And I think Jake might not have informed you of this, but he almost broke Richard’s nose.”

  “Whoa! When did this happen? And why the heck didn’t Jake call me?”

  “He is kinda pissed off. He was talking to his lawyer on the phone when I visited him. I think Richard is in big trouble. Don’t pick up his call, okay? We didn’t tell him where you are, or that Aiden is with you. If he tries to do something—”

  Jo cut her off, “To Aiden?” She sounded nervous as she thought about Richard.

  Abigail was anxious, “Try talking to him. Aiden will understand. If he doesn’t, then that’s his loss.” Abby cared deeply for her best friend, and she had already decided to talk to Alex about this. The Player always had a solution.

  Jo was deep in thought when she heard a knock on the door and Aiden walked in. “Good morning, Jo,” he said. “Sleep well?”

  She raised her hand, gesturing for him to wait for a minute and pointed towards her phone. “Sure, go on,” he replied and sat on the couch, checking his phone.

  “That’s okay. I think I’ll have a word with him later,” Jo said. “Right! Take care. Bye, Abby.” She cut the call and walked towards Aiden, who was texting someone. “Morning,” she said and kissed his cheek. Aiden threw his arm over her shoulder and hugged her. She noticed that the text looked weird; it wasn’t normal English.

  “What is that cava and bien, Aiden?” she asked curiously. He smiled to himself and shook his head. He had to teach her French soon.

  “This, my love, is French. Which you need to learn pretty soon.” He smirked. “‘Ça va’ here literally means ‘it goes’ but here I am using it with ‘Comment’, so it becomes ‘Comment ça va?’ which means ‘How’s it going?’” he said as he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers when he explained the French part. She fought back an urge to laugh at his gesture. “And ‘bien’ . . . well, that’s based on the text, which I can’t explain now.”

  “Are you keeping secrets from me?” she asked in mock-anger. He laughed out loud and kissed her brow.

  “I would love to tell you, but don’t you think we are running late?” He asked tapping his finger over his wristwatch. Jo noticed that this one was new. She had just seen the ad on TV and now it was on his wrist. “Is something bothering you?” he asked, grinning.

  “No, I’ve never seen you wear this one before. It looks new,” Jo replied, smiling timidly. She didn’t want him to think that she was noticing every small move he made, or anything that he didn’t want her to.

  “Oh! Yes, this is new. Alex presented it to me last night.” He smiled. “My examination results are out. I gave my exam for an M.Sc. in Astrophysics, and I passed. He was the one who checked my marks out and presented me a watch because I got through. I told him not to, but Alex and Adele love to buy me presents.”

  Jo was stunned, her mind was filled with questions now, and one by one she bombarded him with them. “When did you give your master’s? And when did you study for your master’s? You were there in office all the time, how did you manage to study and how come you—”

  He cut her off by placing his hand over her mouth. “Gosh! Aren’t you curious?”

  She just nodded and he removed his hand, pulling her forward. He smiled at her before pulling her hand in his. He kissed each one of her fingers slowly. Moving forward, he whispered in her ears, making a shiver run down her spine. “Some questions are better left unanswered.”

  “I guess you are right,” she replied and pulled his head back down, molding her lips to his. When he pulled away, she groaned lightly.

  “Patience, love. I don’t want you to miss breakfast, so why don’t you meet us at the restaurant when you are ready?” He placed a soft kiss on her temple and walked away.

  Jo wanted to talk to him about Richard, but she decided to wait, at least for a while. She knew that it would ruin everything. She showered as fast as she could, rushed out and put on her navy blue denim shorts and a black tee before going to meet the Reid boys. They were at the restaurant; Alex was eating pancakes, and Aiden was just drinking coffee. She walked towards them and laughed when Alex poured juice over his pancake and added maple syrup over it.

  “Eww! Gross, Alex!” she
cried and sat next to Aiden. Alex looked up and the piece of pancake just fell out of his mouth.

  “Those shorts should be made illegal, because they may lead to some kind of accident pretty soon,” Alex commented with a smirk on his face. She noticed that they were wearing water shorts and water shoes. Alex wore his killer red t-shirt, which was famous with girls. And Aiden wore a plain dark blue tee and, for the first time, his hair was messy.

  “You look pretty,” he whispered to her when she kept staring at him.

  “I heard that!” Aiden raised his eyebrow at Alex.

  “That’s not how you do it. Never compliment right away, wait for a while and then—”

  Aiden just got up and walked away, and Jo sat there laughing at Alex’s expression; he was so busy explaining that he let Aiden go. He told her about the upcoming rafting trip. Apparently, Aiden cancelled the second day of camping, as he had to be home soon, so they just had one day of camping. Aiden came back with a plate and placed it in front of Jo.

  “Eat!” He ordered as he poured some juice for her. He knew that she would skip breakfast, so he got her toast, scrambled eggs and hash browns.

  “You are the best boyfriend,” she whispered. Aiden smiled and ordered more coffee for himself.

  Alex couldn’t help but chuckle. “Jo, did your best boyfriend ever tell you about his secret life?” He raised his eyebrows in a funny way and made her laugh.

  “Of course he did. Nice gift, Player,” she said, looking at Alex as she helped herself to the toast. She turned towards Aiden and asked, “I want to give you a present too. What do you like?”

  “This trip is already a present, Jo. I loved every single minute. Thank you,” he said and kissed her cheek. Alex, who started lecturing Aiden about flirting, interrupted them again. He sure was a player!