Stay With Me (A Wattpad Novel)

by Jessica Cunsolo

  “Since we all agreed to wake up at the ungodly hour of seven to exchange Secret Santa presents, I figured waking everyone up would go over better if we had some hot chocolate and coffee already made.”

  I laugh as I take my mug of hot chocolate off the tray and take a sip.

  “This is so weird. You’re a grinch the other 364 days of the year, but you’re nice on Christmas.”

  “I am not a grinch.” He looks into his coffee and adds quietly, “Plus, the twins love waking up on Christmas morning and drinking hot chocolate with those little marshmallows.”

  I try not to swoon, but I’m sure it’s written all over my face. “You’re such a good big brother.”

  He ignores my incredibly correct statement and drinks his coffee. “That’s my favorite sweater, you know.” He nods at the sweater I’m wearing.

  I smile cheekily at him. “Good thing it’s on your favorite person.”

  He raises an amused eyebrow and grins knowingly. “I wouldn’t let Noah borrow my sweaters.”

  I fake indignation and play hit him, and we both laugh.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s in that box or are you going to let me die of curiosity?”

  He laughs and moves the tray off the bed, replacing it with the small box wrapped in Christmas paper.

  “I know we all agreed to do Secret Santa instead of everyone getting everyone a present, but I still wanted to get you something even though I didn’t pick your name.”

  My heart skips a few beats and I discreetly pinch myself to stop from crying. It takes everything I have to stop myself from tackling him and kissing him until New Year’s. I rest my mug on the floor and gently take the surprisingly well-wrapped present in my hands.

  I raise my eyes to his, only to find him already studying me. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

  “Just open it.”

  It’s a flat, red box, just a bit bigger than my hand, and I eye his stoic face before opening the lid.

  It’s a necklace, but not a normal, dainty, diamond kind of necklace. The chain is a regular, long, plain chain, and hanging from it is an object. It’s long and skinny and looks wooden, with some ornate golden designs at the top and bottom, and some numbers burned into it. It looks vintage, and it’s truly beautiful.

  “It’s beautiful, Aiden. Definitely one of a kind. Thank you.”

  I hold it up to examine it, and it has some weight to it, but not so much that it would bother me.

  “May I?” He holds out his hand and I place the necklace in it.

  “See these two things right here?” He points to the top of the wooden part where some gold decoration sticks out slightly. “You have to press them at the same time.”

  He does, and there’s a very slight click.

  “That was the blade unlocking.”

  Blade?!

  He pulls on the new silver thing sticking out of the long side of the wood, and like he said, a blade swings out. I blink at him. Aiden seriously got me a pocketknife disguised as a beautiful necklace. I laugh. It’s a carefree, honest laugh that has Aiden looking confused.

  “Why are you laughing?” he frowns.

  “This is probably the most useful and thoughtful gift I’ve ever gotten. I love it.”

  He smiles, looking slightly relieved but hiding it well.

  “With everything going on, I wanted to make sure you’re always safe and never left helpless, especially since I can’t always be around. I know you’re not helpless and can kick some ass, but I thought it would be better if you had something on you at all times.”

  Taking the necklace back from him, I close the blade. It’s not a large blade and it’s not like I could kill anyone with it, but I could do some serious damage if Tony snuck up on me.

  “I honestly love it. It’s such an ‘Aiden’ gift.” I laugh.

  This is just like Aiden, always looking out for the people he cares about and wanting them to be safe. I’m so lucky to have him in my life, even if it’s just for a short while. I’ll get to wear this necklace when I’m in whatever town I’m shipped off to, and always remember this moment with Aiden. I’ll always be able to remember him and how he made me feel like I was floating.

  “I was going to get you a Taser disguised as lipstick,” he tells me, “but knowing how clumsy you are, I figured that might lead to some pretty bad accidents. At least with this you have to consciously unlock the blade first.”

  “I would not accidentally tase myself!”

  “Better safe than sorry,” he teases.

  I run my hand along the handle of the pocketknife. “What do these numbers engraved in the handle mean?”

  He shifts and sheepishly rubs the back of his neck with his hand.

  “They’re the coordinates of the school,” he admits.

  “The school?”

  “Yeah, where we first met.”

  I think my jaw hits the floor as I stare at him.

  Now I know he’s uncomfortable, because he starts rambling. “I figured there wouldn’t be any harm in the coordinates. If anyone who shouldn’t know what those numbers mean gets too close to you, it’d be too late for them anyway. And I wanted the necklace to remind you of me, of all your friends, since that’s where we all met and—”

  I’m really glad he put his coffee down, because I save him from his rambling by doing what I wanted to do earlier and tackle him, kissing him with everything I have. He kisses me back just as passionately, pulling me close to him until I can barely catch my breath.

  “Oh wait!” I pull back from him. “Stay right here, don’t move!”

  I put the necklace on his dresser and race out of his room, leaving him looking thoroughly confused.

  I pass by Charlotte, Noah, the twins, and Annalisa in the kitchen, drinking the coffee and hot chocolate Aiden had made.

  “Merry Christmas!” I say to them as I head toward the stairs.

  They repeat the greeting back to me as they notice where I’m coming from.

  “Pulling a walk of shame this morning, huh?” Noah says with a smirk.

  “It’s not a shame if it’s from Aiden’s room,” I shoot back as I head up the stairs.

  There’s a small envelope with Aiden’s name on it in my bag, and I grab it before heading back to his room. I ignore Noah’s remarks as I enter the room again and close the door.

  He had changed into fresh clothes while I was gone, and just laughs when I point out that he moved even though I told him not to.

  “I didn’t get you for Secret Santa either,” I tell him, “but I saw this and wanted to give it to you.”

  I hand him the envelope and take a seat on the bed again as he opens it.

  “Oh wow,” he says as he holds the ticket in his hand. “This is amazing!”

  I got him a ticket to one of those racetracks where they let you drive a car like a Lamborghini or Ferrari around a course at top speed.

  I smile and bite my lip. “I thought you’d have some fun. I know you prefer your races illegal, but this might be cool too,” I joke, and he smiles warmly at me, an emotion in his eyes that makes my heart squeeze.

  “I love it. You didn’t have to do this, but thank you.”

  He puts the envelope down on the dresser beside my necklace and holds out his arms. I practically scramble off the bed and jump into them.

  I barely kiss him before there’s banging on the door.

  “Hey!” I hear Noah’s voice. “Hurry up in there! We want to open presents!”

  “Guess we should go before the children get antsy,” he says, even though neither of us makes a move to pull apart.

  “I am not a child!” comes Noah’s voice from behind the door. “But I still want presents!”

  We laugh as we pull apart and head into the living room, where everyone is gathered with the present from their Secret Santa.

  As I sit down with Aiden and grab the gift with my name on it, I look around at all my friends and their happy faces. The twins are jumping all over e
ach other to show Aiden what Santa left for them, and Aiden manages to look genuinely surprised. He even tells them he’s jealous that the boys got video games and all he got was some chocolate and a tub of protein powder, and tells them it must be because they were extra good this year. Julian, Chase, and Mason are already devouring some of the snacks left in their stockings. Annalisa and Charlotte are reading the uses of each face mask, and Noah is complaining that his real stocking must be hidden somewhere because there’s no way he could’ve gotten coal.

  This may not be the most conventional holiday, and we might be away from home, but I already know that this is my favorite Christmas ever.

  15

  It’s Friday night, and we all go to the carnival that the locals have been talking about. It’s a pretty big event, with people from towns all over showing up to have a good time. There are a bunch of rides that, to be honest, look pretty rickety, but are holding their own, a bunch of games and stands, and seemingly more food trucks than there are people. The rain even stopped for the night, letting us enjoy the night wearing just sweaters.

  “Congratulations! You’re the winner!” the man at the makeshift stand tells Aiden as Annalisa and I pout since we were also competing.

  “This game is rigged anyway,” Annalisa mumbles as Julian hands her purse and jacket back.

  “Amelia has two fingers taped together and she didn’t do too bad.” Julian motions to my dislocated finger, earning him a glare from his girlfriend.

  “You get to pick anything on the top shelf.” The game attendant waves at the line of medium-sized stuffed animals.

  Aiden looks at me. “Pick whatever you want.”

  I beam at him and turn to the game attendant. “I’ll have the dark-blue dragon, please.”

  I thank him when he hands it to me and clutch it to my chest as I turn to my friends.

  “There’s a whole collection of cute bears and dogs, but you go for the dragon,” Aiden says.

  “Dragons are badass.” I defend my choice as we walk to the food trucks where the others are supposed to be. “Plus, it kinda reminds me of you, Aiden. I think I’ll name him AJ, for Aiden Junior.”

  “How do I remind you of a stuffed dragon?”

  “Because you’re scary and fierce like a dragon, but on the inside you’re cute and cuddly like this plush toy,” I tell him as I hug AJ to my chest, resisting the urge to pinch Aiden’s cheeks.

  “I am not cute and cuddly,” Aiden grumbles, but a small smile escapes anyway.

  We laugh at him as we reach the picnic table Mason and Jason are sitting at, eating giant pretzels and arguing about something that’s most likely trivial.

  “Where’s Jackson and everyone else?” Aiden asks.

  “I don’t know, we haven’t seen them in a while. They went off to go on rides and stuff,” Jason says as he wipes his mouth on his sleeve.

  Aiden scowls at him but is interrupted from saying anything when there’s an outburst from a crowd not too far from us.

  “What’s going on over there?” Annalisa asks as she sits down at the table and steals a piece of Mason’s pretzel.

  “Remember the mayor running for governor whose commercials we keep seeing? Mayor Kessler? It’s him and a bunch of reporters,” Mason explains. “Apparently, there’s this whole controversy about his platform being based on being a family man and loving children, but he’s having an affair or something. Vivienne Henfrey, the reporter from Channel Five News, especially hates him.”

  We all turn to look at Mason like he just announced that he’s pregnant with the child of Satan.

  “Why do you know that?” Julian asks what we’re all thinking as Aiden goes back to studying the mayor.

  Mason shrugs. “Jason and I are just sitting here, eating our food truck samplings. It’s not my fault the drama is happening right in front of me and I happen to overhear it.”

  I follow Aiden’s gaze as he looks over at the crowd. From what I can tell, the mayor is actually a pretty good-looking guy, with an easy smile that could effortlessly charm the pants off of potential voters. He seems very well put together, talking to carnival goers while also trying to disarm the reporters throwing accusations at him.

  “What are you guys looking at?” Chase asks as he and Jackson join the group, taking a seat at the picnic table with us.

  Mason fills him in quickly, but the conversation turns to Chase and Jackson’s narrow escape from being hit in the face with puke on one of the rides.

  “Some of the puke got on Noah and Charlotte, though! It was soooooo funny!” Jackson laughs, blissfully remembering the incident.

  “Of course that’s something that would happen to Noah.” I laugh, feeling bad for them but also seeing the humor in the situation. “Where are they now?”

  Chase breaks off a piece of Mason’s giant pretzel, earning him a glare from his friend. “They walked back to the house to change.”

  Charlotte must not have been happy about getting puked on, but at least she was with Noah, who I’m certain made her feel better about the situation by cracking stupid jokes.

  “Did you guys win any prizes at the games?” Jackson asks Aiden, but he doesn’t hear. His eyes are laser focused on Mayor Kessler with an intensity that only Aiden can make look threatening.

  I answer Jackson for him, and the conversation moves along, no one quite noticing that Aiden’s calculating eyes are narrowed on the mayor.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask Aiden softly as the conversation goes on around us.

  He doesn’t answer me, almost like he’s zoned out of everything that’s happening around us, and all he sees is the mayor. I don’t even know if he’s actually seeing the mayor, or if he’s been transported somewhere else in his mind. That’s how intense his gaze is; it’s almost scaring me.

  “Aiden—”

  I’m cut off when he suddenly gets up and strides toward the mayor like he’s on a mission, a palpable hate heavy in the air. I stand up, too, taking a couple steps to follow, but not going after him, instinctively knowing that this is something he wants to do alone. Everyone else notices, too, all conversation stopping as we watch Aiden, the muscles in his back tensed and his hands clenched into fists, with curiosity and alarm, holding our breath for whatever is about to happen.

  Aiden doesn’t slow as he steps around people and ends up right in front of the mayor. Aiden has a big presence; people just can’t help but feel drawn to him, so it’s not a surprise when the mayor stops talking to a reporter and looks right at him.

  Mayor Kessler says something to Aiden that I can’t hear, but I swear there’s a flash of recognition in his eyes before Aiden does something that sends a shock through the whole crowd.

  He raises his arm and throws a right hook that would make any boxer proud, sending the mayor sprawling to the ground.

  There’s an audible, collective gasp in the air as people realize what just happened, then rush to the mayor’s aid as reporters turn on Aiden.

  I hear my friends swearing and Jason’s gasp of alarm in the background, and already know they’re getting up, getting ready to disappear before men in suits descend on us. The mayor looks up at Aiden as Aiden calmly shakes his hand out, sends him one last glare, and turns around to casually walk back to me. I’m sure my eyes are bulging out of my face and my jaw is almost to the ground, but I shake it off long enough to grab his arm and haul ass out of the carnival before we’re arrested for assaulting a political figure.

  We walked to the carnival, which ends up working in our favor since we need to get out of here ASAP, and don’t have time to sit in traffic trying to get out of the parking lot. We make it home in record time and go around to the back of the house instead of going inside. Other than our friends, no one else followed us.

  Aiden didn’t say anything on the walk, and no one asked him, since we were too concerned with getting back home. He sits down on the back-porch couch leisurely, like it’s any other day, and we all stand around him, completely perplexed and wait
ing for answers.

  When he doesn’t volunteer an explanation, Annalisa says what everyone else is thinking. “Aiden, what the hell! Why did you just punch the mayor?!”

  “Because he deserved it.”

  “But you don’t even know him,” I add.

  “Exactly.”

  His cold response takes me aback. What the hell does exactly mean?

  “Do you mind expanding?” Annalisa asks, crossing her arms and sitting down on the couch across from him.

  Aiden looks at her, eyes slightly narrowed as if she’s bothering him, and then his eyes flick over to his brothers. Jason and Jackson have personalities that can fill a room, but right now they look small and scared, concern for their brother plastered all over their faces.

  “Are you … are you going to get in trouble?” Jason forces out, reminding me of just how young he is.

  Aiden opens his mouth to say something but then closes it again, as if reconsidering, and his harsh expression softens.

  “I’ll be fine. I promise,” he finally tells him, strategically leaving Jason’s question unanswered.

  Will the mayor press charges? Does he even know who Aiden is?

  Aiden stands up. “It’s late, time for bed, guys. Come on, Jason, Jackson, let’s get you ready for bed. Good night everyone.”

  He ushers the twins into the house without a second glance.

  I look at everyone else and then look back at Aiden’s receding figure, knowing that something is definitely wrong with him. But does he want to talk to me about it? Or does he want to handle it on his own? Maybe I’ll give him some time to himself with the twins. No one else is ready to go inside yet, but I feel itchy to check up on Aiden, so I say good night and leave them outside on the back porch. After getting ready for bed as fast as I can, I slip down the stairs and head over to Aiden’s room. A quick glance out the sliding door shows Mason, Annalisa, Julian, and Chase still haven’t moved from when we left them. I knock on Aiden’s door and wait for him to hopefully answer and talk to me, instead of closing off like he used to do. When he opens the door, he doesn’t seem surprised at all. He opens it wider and steps aside to let me in.