Ayden's Secret

by Cara North

  “Why?” Charlie wanted to know.

  “Because she wasn’t you! Shit.” Ayden was yelling at her, but it was real and raw, and it was the truth. He put his hands on his hips, took a short quick breath and spoke softer. “Look. I can’t explain it other than the fact you have been the only woman in my life for the past eleven years that wasn’t related to me. On some level, I have always wanted you. I just couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do anything about it. But now…”

  “I believe you.” Charlie had heard enough. This wasn’t his plan, and she was sure Jana was just a one night stand. He didn’t care for her, and that’s all she wanted to hear about the woman who was going to kill her. “I just had to know how you felt about her.”

  “I need you to know how I feel about you.” Ayden stepped toward her.

  “I know how you feel about me.” Charlie closed the space between them and wrapped her arms around him. Life was too complicated these days. Once they got back to North Carolina, things would slow down and then they could process everything. Evelyn was right. The dream of Ayden and the reality were two different things, but she still wanted him. Knowing he wanted her made the thought of losing him unbearable.

  The entire family had dinner together in the large country kitchen. Lacy had outdone herself. The baby played, the women chatted, and the men watched television and grunted. Joshua and Evelyn stayed in Noel’s room across the hall. Ayden had arranged to have his house there cleaned. It was as much planning as he could manage with the incident still fresh in his mind.

  * * *

  Ayden awoke with Charlie in his arms in their usual fashion only reversed so her bandaged wrist would be elevated. He looked her over slowly. Sleeping peacefully in his arms she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. The bruising from the crash would go away in a few days. Her hair would grow back, but Charlie would be there in his arms from this day forward. It would be a while before he could let her out of his reach.

  Charlie opened her eyes at his kiss. Ayden pulled her in tight and continued to sip slow kisses from her lips. He slid his rough fingers up her bald head and rolled her to her back.

  “It’s very soft and fuzzy.” Ayden nipped her ear.

  “You can’t possibly be attracted to me right now,” Charlie whispered, though the man’s body was telling her otherwise.

  “Why? Your girlie parts not working?” Ayden brushed a hand over her breast.

  Charlie giggled. She loved Ayden in the morning. It didn’t matter if she was bald, if she was bruised. He was pure heat, and as long as her girlie parts were working, he didn’t care about anything else. “You’re such an animal in the mornings.”

  “Is this too soon for you?” Ayden looked at her seriously. He didn’t want to rush her. He just wanted to make love to her again. To feel their bodies as one, to know she was his and his alone, to know she was safe. After Evelyn told him last night she felt ugly, he wanted her to know she was the most amazing thing he had seen in his life.

  “Oh I think it’s way too late for me, cowboy.” Charlie pulled him back to her lips. He had that look in his eye, her look. The look that told her he thought she was beautiful and not because of her face, hair or body, but because she was his.

  “I love you,” Ayden whispered against her cheek. He regretted not telling her sooner.

  “I know.” Charlie held back the tears. Evelyn was right. Having his heart was a gift.

  A knock rapped on the door. “Wolf, you ready to hit the road?”

  “Joshua.” Charlie giggled.

  “Damn Dog.” Ayden growled into her neck then to the door, “Thirty minutes.”

  “No. You get up. We can do this at home.” Charlie pushed at his chest with her good hand. “We’ll be right there, Joshua.”

  “Fifteen minutes.” Ayden licked her neck.

  “Bad Wolf.” Charlie scowled in jest.

  “Five?” He slipped down her body and drew on a nipple through her top.

  Charlie licked her lips. “You think he’s still at the door?”

  “Thirty minutes, Big Dog.” Ayden shouted toward the door.

  “You’re so bad.” Charlie ran her hands through his hair. God she missed her hair, but it would grow back.

  * * *

  It was a very long drive back to North Carolina. Joshua and Ayden rotated driving shifts. Evelyn slept through most of the trip and stopped every five miles it seemed for a bathroom break when she was awake. Ayden squeezed into the back seat to be next to Charlie rather than sitting up front like Evelyn had offered him. He made constant effort to look at her wrist and check her bandages. It was silly really. Both of the men fretted like mothers over the women.

  Finally, they were home. Ayden kissed Evelyn on the cheek and thanked Joshua for the ride home. At the door, Charlie felt exhausted and relieved, like she was finally home.

  “I can’t wait to get my new truck.” Ayden opened the door to his home. “God it’s good to be home.”

  “You can say that again.” Charlie stepped in behind him. “You hungry, baby?”

  “Baby?” Ayden shot up a brow. She was calling him baby?

  “Sweetheart?” Charlie opened the refrigerator.

  “Hmmm.” Ayden contemplated it. “You can call me whatever you want to.”

  “Good. So you want something to eat or not?” Charlie looked over the refrigerator door at the huge mountain of man she would now call baby in addition to cowboy on a regular basis. “Baby?”

  “Do we have any tea in there?” Ayden smiled and grabbed their bags heading for the stairs.

  “No, but I’ll make some.” Charlie stood and headed to the cupboards. She gathered the supplies and noticed the sugar canister was practically empty. “Ayden?”

  Coming back to the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. “Yes, darlin’?”

  “Where’s the sugar?” Charlie smiled. She was exhausted and so was he, but he still cuddled her sensually, kissing her neck.

  “I bought some before we left.” Ayden reached for the sugar making Charlie look like she had four arms from his position. “That’s strange. Come on.”

  Ayden headed for the stairs with Charlie right behind him. “Where are we going?”

  “To see who took our sugar.” Ayden unlocked the office door. This was a huge secret, and he didn’t want to hide anything from Charlie anymore. She needed unlimited access to his life. To know she was safe in this house. He hadn’t modified the house in Tennessee because no one knew it existed, other than family.

  Charlie walked into the room and stopped short. It was more than an office. It was like the bat cave, a secret place where a security guard or spy would feel at home. She didn’t have a chance to ask questions. He began explaining immediately.

  “I have a security system set up so when I’m gone the cameras activate on motion sensors recording when someone is in the kitchen, living room, dining room, and so on. No bedrooms though, fear not.” Ayden took a seat at the desk and pulled up something on the monitor then motioned for her to come sit with him. Charlie stumbled over and stood. He pulled her into his lap. “Now, let’s see about our sugar.”

  They watched Evelyn come into the house, disappear upstairs, and then come back down an hour later. Ayden knew she was snooping, assumed she was checking into Charlie. He shook his head. A break in the time then Evelyn and Joshua returned. Ayden almost vomited when he saw his little sister and her husband no doubt making out on his counter.

  Charlie covered his eyes and watched with her jaw dropped. Ayden pulled her hand down and hit keys with lightning speed to stop the recording. He was so upset that it just fast forwarded, and Charlie consumed by the sight realized what happened to the sugar before he stopped the tape.

  “WOW,” she said in amazement.

  “I might be sick.” Ayden grabbed his stomach.

  “Oh, Ayden, they were just having some fun.” Charlie gulped and knew she was blushing. She knew he was traumatized, but she w
asn’t related to either of them and hell aside from her and Ayden she hadn’t seen sex since her senior year in high school. Joshua was impressive, not as impressive as Ayden, but impressive nonetheless. “At least we know what happened to the sugar.”

  “We do?” His face was green with sickness.

  “Evelyn kicked it over.” Charlie bit her top lip holding back a laugh.

  “I’m going to kill Joshua. I can’t believe he came into my home and had sex with my little sister in my kitchen.” He tone was rough and violent.

  “I hate to burst your sister’s innocent bubble, baby, but she led him here. You can tell because she’s wearing…”

  “Lalalalalala.” Ayden stuffed his fingers in his ears and tuned her out.

  Charlie began laughing. “Okay. Okay.” She pulled his hands away. “This is a very interesting space you got here.”

  “I know. It took me a long time to set it up.” Ayden relaxed in the chair again. “I’ll show you how to use everything, so if you leave after me for work or something, you can set the tapes. I don’t like traditional alarm systems because someone has to come in and set it up. That means they know where everything is.”

  “And that means they know how to get past it. I understand.” Charlie stroked his hair.

  “I can shave it all off if you want me to. I thought about it anyways, but I didn’t want you to think I did it out of sympathy.” He closed his eyes and enjoyed her touches. “You’re too strong for sympathy, and I didn’t want you to kick my ass or unleash your vehemence on me.”

  “No, I don’t want you to shave it off. I like playing with it. I’ll get a good wig for the wedding.”

  “You don’t have to. You’re beautiful just the way you are.” He spoke in a sleepy relaxed voice.

  “Let’s go to bed, cowboy. We have a long weekend ahead of us still.” Charlie kissed his nose and stood.

  Ayden followed her lead and was grateful for the sanctuary of his own bed, his own room, and Charlie in it with him. The week had been too full of revelations and scary situations. “Everything locked up downstairs?”

  “Yes.” Charlie liked that he trusted her completely now. “But the light’s on. I’ll…”

  “I got it.” Ayden headed for the kitchen.

  * * *

  Charlie slipped into the bathroom and started a bath. She crossed the hall to grab a pair of pajamas. Next week she would go to the doctor and make sure, everything was all right. The test had to be an error. Ayden was at the top of the stairs when she started back to his room.

  “You’ll have to help me,” Charlie announced and disappeared into the bedroom.

  Ayden slowly walked down the hall, into his room and into his bathroom. The image of her lying in the tub froze him. Flashbacks poured in, and he was helpless against them.

  “Ayden?” Charlie realized he was in the doorway. He looked… scared? “What is it?”

  “Sit up, Charlie, please.” Ayden strangled out. She sat up and he relaxed an ounce. He felt the sweat roll down his back. It was that simple, that easy to fear again. Nothing had shaken him like this since he was a child. It was the fear of being helpless, unable to save his dad, unable to save Charlie, yet he had.

  “Ayden, are you all right?” Charlie sat up and reached out to him. “Come here.”

  His feet pushed forward, and he took her hand. “I’m sorry I just…”

  “Get in here with me.” Charlie pulled him closer. “Come on, we’ll both fit.”

  “I don’t…”

  “Ayden Wolf, get your ass in here now!” Charlie’s hands were trembling. He was freaked out by her, and she knew why. He had that same look in his eye that he had when she was tied into the tub in Tennessee.

  Ayden jumped at her demand. He didn’t take his shorts or shirt off. He just stepped into the tub with her.

  “Now sit down here and hold me,” Charlie demanded.

  Ayden sat in the tub and realized he had all of his clothes on. It was just so unlike Charlie to lose her temper and she seemed scared, so he wanted to comfort her immediately.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was trying to relax.” Charlie slid to his lap. “I hate to see that look in your eye. It scares me.”

  Ayden could have taken the macho road and played it off. Instead, he took the man’s road and told her the truth. “I was scared to death when I saw you. It was just like the dream only in the dream you were just like Michael. And I was too late.”

  “But you weren’t too late, Ayden. You saved me.”

  “I didn’t think you were alive. I couldn’t move. I didn’t take you downstairs. I could have killed you by not…”

  “Shhhh.” Charlie placed her hand over his mouth. “I’m alive, and I’m safe. We can always look back and see what we should have done. The challenge is to look at what we can do now.”

  “What can I do now?” Ayden kissed her temple.

  “You can start by getting undressed. Then you can wash my hair.” Charlie hugged him tight. Then remembered she didn’t have any hair to wash. “Well, my back or something.”

  “I keep reaching out for ghost curls, but they’ll be back soon enough.” Ayden palmed her head.

  Her big bad Wolf had quite a soft spot for her. She felt just as responsible for her fate due to her inability to stay conscious. Her doctor in Vegas just medicated her. Charlie wanted to face her demons and conquer them. She had faced her demon all right, and now he was dead. She had passed out of course, but she could forgive herself for that. Ayden had to forgive himself for being so in love with her that it crippled him. Her one moment of lucidity was seeing his fear and feeling his pain.

  “Ayden, you’re not responsible for what happened to me.” Charlie turned to face him placing both of her legs on either side of his and sitting on his lap. He scooted them to the center of the tub so both sets of long legs were more comfortable. “Ayden?”

  “I need time with that,” he said quietly.

  “Okay.” She hugged him tight and rested her head on his shoulder. She could accept he needed time. She needed time.

  * * *

  Charlie let Ayden sleep in this morning. He was snoring and drooling. She knew he needed the sound sleep, and he didn’t get it often. In the office, she figured out how to record Evelyn and Joshua’s little rendezvous onto a tape. She imagined they would want it for future reference, especially if they ever house sit again. Charlie tucked the tape in her bag. She had plans to present it at an opportune time.

  The flight to New York would be leaving in four hours, and though Evelyn hated flying, Charlie had talked her into it by pointing out it would be her first time on a plane, and she had an anxiety disorder. The mere prospect of looking like a chicken had Evelyn agreeing in no time. Evelyn had reminded everyone she was a Marine and had spent three years in Okinawa, and she didn’t get there by boat. She just didn’t like flying.

  The four arrived in New York and were greeted by Ethan. He took them directly to the rehearsal. Stephanie ran to Charlie on sight leaving Malcolm and his grandfather standing at the altar. They were late for rehearsal, but how hard could it be to walk down an aisle?

  “Charlie!” Stephanie almost knocked her over with the bear hug.

  “Hey. Um, you may want to finish…”

  “Oh, I know what I’m doing up there.” Stephanie waved it away. She was just so glad Charlie was safe and at her wedding, like she promised. It meant so much that she still came after everything that had happened to her. Besides, she knew what Ethan had done to her apartment. “Okay, everyone let’s wrap this up and go eat.”

  Stephanie held onto Charlie’s arm and realized she had a man to contend with. “Ayden, you’ve had her all week. Can I have a moment?”

  “No.” Ayden hovered over them.

  “Baby, why don’t you give this to Malcolm? Tell him to read the inscription to the guys and the guys only.” Charlie pulled the tape from her purse and kissed Ayden. He reluctantly took the wrapped gift and headed toward the
circle of men. “He’s a little over protective right now.”

  “I don’t blame him.” Stephanie went serious in the moment. “I am so glad you’re here. It means so much to us.”

  “Don’t get all mushy. I’m out of waterproof mascara.” Charlie hugged her again. “You’re going to be such a beautiful bride.”

  “Did you cut your hair?’ Stephanie smiled and looked at her. She didn’t know all the details of the Tennessee disaster. She didn’t want to know. Charlie just looked different.

  “It’s a wig. I’m bald underneath.” Charlie feigned a smile.

  “What?” Stephanie’s face twisted and she looked pained. “They said you weren’t hurt. Joshua said you were…”

  “I’m fine. Look, don’t worry about me, honey. I’m fine. Hair grows back.” Charlie held onto her hand. For so long she had been alone in the world. Now she had friends. Now she had a family. They all cared about her. This story could wait until after Stephanie’s wedding; that was for sure. Stephanie smiled a weak smile but accepted it.

  Across the church Ayden handed Malcolm the package. “This is from Charlie. She wants you to read what she wrote out loud to us.”

  “Oh, that’s so sweet of her,” Malcolm said sincerely. Opening the card, he read aloud, “Malcolm, I know now how insufferable older siblings can be. This gift is a piece of insurance. Tell Joshua if you ever decide to have sex with his little sister in his kitchen while he’s out of town, you will…”

  “What the?” Joshua snatched the gift from his hand and mumbled the rest of the note to him self. “Son of a bitch. You have it on tape?”

  Malcolm smacked Joshua on the arm. “You’re in a church. Have what on tape?”

  “Joshua and Evelyn.” Ayden smiled. The Big Dog was as red as his wife’s hair. Charlie had no qualms in vindicating him and in a big way.

  “Yes!” Ethan snatched the tape. “Now it’s my turn.”