Stay With Me (A Wattpad Novel)

by Jessica Cunsolo

  He clenches his fists and I can tell he’s trying hard to stay calm. “Because you’re leaving,” he finishes for me.

  I’m suddenly desperate for him to not hate me. I don’t blame him for being mad—I understand, really. But when I got elbowed in the face, he and I went back to normal for a bit instead of being all tense and upset with each other. I really miss him, more than I thought I ever would.

  “I told you, Aiden. I really wish I didn’t have to, but I have no choice.”

  “But you do have a choice! It’s all your choice! It’s your life! You can’t just vanish and leave me with no way of ever seeing you or contacting you again.”

  “I’m just trying to protect you! Protect everyone!” I defend my decision, hating that we’re going to have this fight again.

  “It’s not your job to protect us.” His eyes are blazing, shoulders set with determination.

  “What do you want me to do, Aiden? Stay here knowing that I’m putting you in danger? People died last time! How could I live with myself if something happened to any of you because of me?”

  “I’m not asking you to put us in danger. We won’t be in danger. We’ll be careful, like we have been. You don’t have to do this alone anymore, Thea.” His voice softens, his eyes more vulnerable, slightly pleading. “I’m asking you to give us a chance. I know the risks, and I’m choosing to take them. Don’t leave. Don’t cut us off. Don’t give up on us.”

  I sigh, wishing on everything in the entire universe that my life was normal and I could just be with Aiden.

  I look away from him. “Aiden—I don’t—”

  “Come with me tomorrow,” he interrupts, gently taking hold of my chin and turning me to look at him. “I have a meeting with Vivienne Henfrey, and I want you there with me. You won’t be on camera, but off screen for support. I’m going to do it and then we’ll deal with the consequences together. All in, remember?”

  My whole body heats up, and all I can do is nod in reply.

  “Good,” he says softly. “Now let’s get some ice for your nose.”

  22

  Everyone else has already crashed, so we try to make as little noise as possible fixing up my face. Without even thinking about it, Aiden grabs my hand and leads me into his room, and I fall asleep in his arms, savoring every single moment with him.

  Hours later, I’m woken up by the sound of my phone ringing on the nightstand. I check the caller ID and with a heavy heart, I wiggle out of Aiden’s embrace without waking him up.

  “Hello?” I whisper as I pad into Aiden’s bathroom and close the door.

  “Thea. How is everything?” Agent Dylan, the man assigned to my case, asks me.

  “It’s all right, how about you? Anything on Tony?”

  If they just catch and arrest Tony, then that solves all my problems. I can stay here and be with Aiden and my friends and not have to constantly look over my shoulder. I can be a normal teenager.

  “Actually, yes. But not his location just yet,” he adds, as if knowing to make sure I don’t get my hopes up. “There have been a few developments in the case—and it’s information we think you deserve to know.”

  He then proceeds to tell me that Tony Derando isn’t Tony’s real name. His name is Anthony DeRosso. He’s been accused of and charged with multiple felonies, and has been accused of raping several women over the years in different states before he got married. Once he was married, he settled down in one place and stayed mostly under the radar except for some petty thefts and crimes, and had his daughter, Sabrina. Apparently, the experts at the FBI believe that Sabrina’s death pushed him completely over the edge. But information has come to light recently that tied him to some earlier crimes, and now they have a countrywide warrant out for his arrest. It’s bigger than me now; it’s about all the women he’s hurt in his life. Somehow, I find this comforting, knowing that it’s not just my life Tony’s ruined.

  “Why didn’t you guys tell me this before? I’m assuming you didn’t just find this out?” I ask him.

  “There’s new evidence—meaning the case is bigger, we have more resources now. We’ll find him,” Agent Dylan says.

  I resist the urge to laugh, instead rolling my eyes. Yes, I’m resting very assured. That’s why I’m popping sleeping pills like breath mints.

  “I’m just calling to check up on you,” he continues, “and to let you know that your relocation process may take a week or two longer than we initially thought.”

  I crack open the bathroom door and sneak a look at Aiden, who’s still sound asleep. He looks so peaceful, so young and innocent, but at the same time fearless and strong. At least I get more time with Aiden and my friends, even if it’s just a few weeks.

  But can I really just give him up? Can I really never talk to him again? Can I kid myself into thinking that I’m not missing something so vital to me? Will I be okay to live the rest of my life knowing that I’ll probably never be this happy again? Never talking to Aiden again is going to feel like I’m missing the air I need to make me whole.

  My eyes drink Aiden in, from his messy hair to his perfect jawline, covered in stubble, to his sculpted and powerful naked chest. Could I live with myself if something happened to him or my friends?

  I know how I feel, and I know what I need to do to keep people safe, but maybe some rules can be broken; maybe I won’t have to feel like I’m drowning.

  After I finish up in the bathroom, I crawl back into bed with Aiden.

  “Hey,” he says in a deep, sleepy voice.

  He shifts so that I can rest my head on his shoulder as he wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer.

  “Did your phone ring earlier?” he asks as I trace mindless patterns on his chest with my finger.

  “Yeah, it was Agent Dylan.”

  I tell him about Tony’s real name and about his past, but leave out any mention of my leaving.

  “It’s going to be okay, Thea,” he reassures me.

  I choose to not respond to that statement, instead checking the time on my phone.

  “Hey, it’s almost four o’clock. What time is the meeting with Vivienne?”

  Aiden sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “It’s at six. I guess we should get up and get something to eat now.”

  Aiden jumps in the shower, and I go to my room to do the same. Since Aiden’s room is right off of the living room/kitchen area, everyone turns to look at me as I leave his room in his oversized T-shirt and boxers, my clothes from last night crumpled in my hands.

  Annalisa sends me a knowing smirk. “Looks like someone made up.”

  I self-consciously fix my hair, as if that would make it look like less of a walk of shame. “I guess.” I blush, even though we were completely innocent last night.

  “Your face looks worse,” Noah, ever the gentleman, points out.

  Annalisa swats him on the arm in response.

  “Thanks for the observation, Noah,” I say as I walk up the stairs to shower and change.

  Mason didn’t look at me the entire time.

  When I’m ready I head back downstairs, and the atmosphere is tense. Aiden is on one side of the house and Mason’s on the other. Chase and Noah aren’t talking to each other, either, so it’s just an awkward atmosphere in general. Tonight is New Year’s Eve, too, and we’ll probably all be too mad at each other to properly celebrate.

  Mason is the first one to notice me. He stands up immediately from the kitchen island where he was eating with Chase.

  “Amelia. I’m so sorry. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you and I didn’t mean to hit you last night, I just—”

  “It’s okay, Mason,” I interrupt. “It’s not your fault, I basically walked into your elbow.”

  He comes closer to me, stopping a few feet away from me. Aiden turns his intense gaze on us, but he stays where he is.

  “I really am sorry, k-bear. Seeing your face like that kills me,” Mason says.

  “Geez, you guys are making me feel like such a pre
tty, pretty princess right now,” I joke.

  “No! That’s not what I meant, you’re still gorgeous,” he adds quickly, and I swear I hear Aiden clear his throat.

  “I know, Mason. It’s all right, really.”

  I already forgave Mason. If Aiden forgives him, that’s a different story. But I don’t blame him for my swollen and bruised face. His arm was swinging back and I walked into it in classic Amelia fashion. He didn’t try to hit me. He tried to hit Aiden, but again, that’s kind of for him and Aiden to sort out, and by the looks of it, they haven’t.

  “We should get going,” Aiden cuts in, standing up and looking at me expectantly. “We’ll stop and grab something to eat first since we have no food here.”

  “Yeah, we should go shopping,” Julian, who’s currently looking in the fridge, adds. “Might as well go now. Keep me company, Mason?”

  I’m assuming Julian is trying to get some one-on-one time with Mason so he can see what’s going on in his head, and talk some sense into him. Maybe he and Aiden will make up before dinner, and Chase and Noah will make up, and we can all start the new year as best friends again.

  Is that hoping for too much?

  23

  Since it’s winter, even though it’s only five o’clock, it’s already starting to get dark outside. I’m sitting in the passenger seat of Aiden’s car as he pulls out of the driveway, Julian’s truck right behind us since he’s heading the same way into town.

  “What do you want to eat?” Aiden asks me.

  To get to the main part of town from the beach house, you have to drive through about twenty minutes of deserted, hilly, open road. What restaurants do they have in town? They don’t have what I really want.

  “Will you and Mason ever make up?” I blurt out in response.

  Aiden doesn’t take his eyes off of the road. “I’ve never heard of that type of food. Is it Italian?”

  “Aiden! Come on.”

  I get that he’s pissed off at Mason, but they’ve been friends for so long, I’d hate for this to ruin it.

  “Maybe. Maybe not,” he answers calmly. “Do you like him?”

  What?

  “He’s my friend, of course I like him.”

  Aiden’s knuckles tighten on the steering wheel. “That’s not what I meant.”

  I sigh and turn my body to face him properly, putting my hand on his arm. “I like Mason as a friend. I love you, Aiden.”

  He looks at me, the expression in his eyes light but heavy at the same time. “But you’re still leaving.”

  “I have to. I don’t have a choice.”

  “But I’ll never hear from you again,” he says softly.

  “No. I won’t let that happen. You’re stuck with me, Aiden Parker.”

  The car jerks, but Aiden quickly recovers. “What? What do you mean?”

  I smile at him, hoping he sees the love and confidence in my eyes, hoping he knows how huge this is for me. “I can’t never talk to you again. FaceTime, phone calls, maybe even visits. I don’t care. I can’t just throw us away. I can’t never see your face again.” I hesitate at his silence, feeling stupid for making it sound like a huge revelation when it really isn’t. “I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but—”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? It’s a huge deal! I’d get to see you!” The expression on Aiden’s face fills my heart with so much joy and excitement. He smiles so big it reaches his eyes and transforms his whole face. “Are you sure it’s safe, though? I don’t want to put you in danger. If staying away from you is what will keep you safe, then I’m prepared to do that, even if it’s the last thing I want to do. Even if it’ll kill me.”

  “We’ll find a way,” I promise, not only to Aiden, but to myself. Maybe I’ll be losing all my friendships, but I’ll get to keep Aiden.

  Aiden laughs and hits the steering wheel with excitement. “Yes! I wish you told me while I wasn’t driving because I really want to grab you and kiss you right now.”

  I unbuckle my seat belt and lean over to give him a quick kiss. “When we get out for tacos, I promise.”

  He laughs. “Is that what you finally decided you want?”

  I sit back down and buckle up. “Been craving them since I woke up.”

  He looks at me, his beautiful smile never faltering. “Then tacos it—”

  I don’t hear the end of Aiden’s sentence, because there’s a sound of a horn honking at us from behind, like a warning.

  And then there’s metal hitting metal, the squealing of tires, more honking, glass shattering, my screams. I can barely see what’s happening, I can barely comprehend it. The world is spinning and spinning and there’s metal crunching and grating and I feel my skin being sliced again and again and again.

  The car stops moving but the world is still spinning. There’s a ringing in my ears and a pounding in my head and I’m so disoriented I can’t tell up from down or left from right. Distantly, my name is being called, demanding that I answer. The voice is angry. No, it’s scared, scared because I’m not answering. I groggily shake my head, the world slowly coming into focus.

  “Thea! You’re okay, you’re all right.” It’s Aiden, but he’s upside down?

  Oh wait, I’m upside down. I’m strapped into the seat, but the car is on its roof.

  “I’m going to cut your seat belt off, okay? I need you to not land on your head,” he instructs, more frightened than I’ve ever seen him in my life, but still managing to keep calm, his face set in determination.

  I make some type of noise in agreement. Will the pounding in my head ever stop?

  “It’s going to be okay,” he repeats, and even I know it sounds like he’s only trying to convince himself.

  “Put this foot there, and that one there, and your arms here and here,” he positions my limbs so that they’re all braced against something.

  “I’m going to try to catch you, but try to catch yourself as much as you can, okay?”

  “Umm-hmm,” I reply, my head starting to clear.

  How can he catch me? He’s lying on his back on the ground—or technically roof—with his lower body flat on the ground sticking out the window, and there’s barely any room in here.

  “Okay, one, two, three!” My seat belt is cut loose and I’m right-side up again.

  I don’t think it hurt, but then again everything kind of already hurts anyway.

  Aiden’s covered in blood, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from. Do I look like that? He backs out of his window and helps me follow until we’re outside. We lie down on the grass and try to catch our breath to calm our racing heart rates.

  “Are you okay, Thea?” His hand reaches for me, his fingers intertwining with mine.

  I roll my head over to look at him. Behind him, there’s a steep hill, a path of thin, broken trees and debris leading to the road. A car just hit us hard enough to push us into a ditch.

  “I think so,” I answer, squeezing his hand. “Are you?”

  Relief floods his face. “Now I am.”

  “Not for long.” A third deep, intimidating voice cuts in.

  A man in a black suit walks around from behind us. There’s a black SUV parked at the top of the hill, the same one that’s been parked outside our house for the last couple of days, except now the front end is totaled.

  Aiden sits up, the tenseness of his muscles telling me he’s on high alert, and he pulls me up with him to face the new threat—Harvey.

  “What do you want?” Aiden spits out, his demeanor completely different from how tender it was just moments ago. “Is this Andrew making good on his threats?”

  “Your father didn’t get where he is without getting his hands a little dirty, you know,” Harvey says, reaching into his suit jacket and pulling out a gun. My eyes go wide, and I’m too stunned to cry. Aiden stiffens, and I know even he can’t get us out of this one. We’re both injured, disoriented, tired, and weaponless, and this man is perfectly fine and has a gun.

  He’s going to kill us.
>
  “He warned you. All you had to do was either play along or keep your mouth shut.” The man points the gun at Aiden, and I scream.

  “This message is from your dad.” Harvey swivels so that the gun is now aimed at my chest. “Remember it for next time, Aiden.”

  I blink, but before I hear the shot, Aiden, from the ground, kicks Harvey in the kneecap and his leg buckles, making the shot go wide. From that opportunity, I quickly roll out of the way as Aiden tackles the man to the ground.

  He must be powered by adrenaline because he is way too strong for someone who’s covered in blood and was just in a car that flipped down a hill multiple times. They grapple for the gun and it slides out of Harvey’s hands.

  While they fight, I crawl over to where the gun went, feeling around for it in the leaves. Leaves crunch behind me and I whip around. It has to be more of Andrew’s thugs who’ve come to assist Harvey in killing me to send a message.

  Searching the ground with more fervor than before, I can barely think over the heavy pounding of my head and heart. Find the gun! Find the gun! Where is the goddamn gun?!

  Turning around again to face the new threat, I take a deep breath when Mason and Julian appear, one holding a large, heavy wrench, and the other a thick tire iron.

  They move quickly to help Aiden, but Harvey, who must have about a hundred pounds on Aiden, gets the upper hand. He drags Aiden up by wrapping his arm around his neck, and holds him against his chest. He pulls out a knife and presses it to Aiden’s neck, and my heart stops.

  Without looking away from the scene, my hand wraps around the object I need.

  “I wouldn’t move if I were you,” the man directs at Mason and Julian.

  He’s not facing me, he doesn’t think I’m a threat. Mason and Julian are the ones with the weapons, after all. They stop where they are, considering their options.

  “The cops are on their way,” Mason cautions. “Just drop the knife.”

  Harvey tilts his head at Mason. “I was told not to kill Aiden, but that I could if I had to. I guess I have to.”