by Jamie Knight
“What are you talking about?” I sat up straight. I had been leaning onto the bar, nursing my drink. I probably looked depressed.
“Clearly, something is bothering you, Aiden. You look sad, which is very new for you.”
“I don’t know, Darren. I’ve found myself in a very complicated situation, and I’m trying to figure out what to do next.”
“Do you want to tell me what the situation is? Maybe I could help.” He waved to the bartender, who immediately brought him a whiskey on the rocks.
I wasn’t sure what Darren could do, but it wouldn’t hurt to have an outside perspective.
“Do you remember that girl I was talking to the night the club opened?”
“Yeah, I do,” he chuckled. “Sorry if I ruined the vibe going on between you two. Sometimes I just put my foot in my mouth.”
“Trust me, you didn’t ruin anything.” No one could mess things up between Reagan and me as much as Reagan and myself. “Our whole relationship is kind of weird. We dated a little under ten years ago before she just dumped me for another guy, the only thing that explained it was a note she left. I thought I was done with her, but all that shit happened the other night, and I just found out she has a son.”
“She’s got a kid?” Darren asked. He raised his eyebrows as he took a sip of his drink. “That’s pretty serious. Does it have anything to do with you?”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “He’s the right age, I guess, but Reagan never contacted me about any kid. I didn’t think she was the type to do that, but I also thought she wouldn’t run off the way she did, so maybe I never really knew her.”
“Have you tried asking her?”
“She always dodges the question. I’m not sure I’m going to get a straight answer out of her.”
Without a straight answer from Reagan, there was no way for me to know. There could be so many reasons why she wasn’t just telling me. The biggest one was that Bobby was my kid, but she could also be avoiding having to tell me about that guy she left me for. I couldn’t pinpoint what was going on without more information.
“Maybe you could find out without Reagan’s help?”
“How?”
“You could hire a PI. They’d have access to certain files and contacts that you don’t. A PI could get you the answers you’re looking for.”
Hiring a private investigator had never crossed my mind. They’d be better at this stuff than I was, knowing where to look or who to ask. I had been hoping that I could just talk with Reagan, but that didn’t seem like it was going to be a possibility, and I really needed to know if Bobby was my son.
“Yeah, maybe that will work. I don’t know the first thing about finding a PI, though.”
Darren held up his finger while he took out his wallet. “I actually have the guy for you.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to me. “He actually owns an agency with his sister, so you might get one of them or a new PI that they’ve hired. Everyone that works there does top-notch work, so whoever you get will do a stand-up job.”
“Yeah?” I took the card from him, looking it over. “McWeaver, McWeaver, and Associates.”
If Darren was saying they were worth checking out, then I was more than happy to give these guys a try.
“They’re great, I promise.”
“I’ll give them a call.”
Maybe then I could finally have some peace of mind. If Bobby wasn’t mine, I could move on. It probably wouldn’t be the best idea to get involved with Reagan and her kid then. I’d always be thinking of that other guy she left me for.
But Bobby was a pretty great kid. I liked spending time with him at the diner, eating pancakes together. And if he was mine, I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. I had already missed so much.
There was no reason to speculate right then. Once I had my answers, then I figure out what to do. I just needed to give it all a little more time.
Chapter Eleven
Reagan
It had been a crazy couple of days. I managed to keep most of the details about the past week from Marnie. I couldn’t avoid telling her how the night at the club went since I’d already started that tale, but everything else I basically kept to myself. I was still working through it all in my mind. Bobby has asked a few questions about my friend who bought him the pancakes, but nothing too serious.
“Sleep well, baby. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I kissed him on the nose, and Bobby wrinkled it up before turning over in his bed to go to sleep. I got up and left him to his dreams.
Whenever I found myself alone, that when it was hardest to keep back thoughts of Aiden. Patients at the clinic and Bobby were great ways to keep my mind occupied. I spent as much time as I could busying myself, but there always came a moment when I had to leave work or put my son to bed.
Aiden still had that way of taking over my every waking thought. When we dated, I was consumed by our relationship. He was the only boy I ever loved.
“Oh boy, Reagan.”
I ran my hand down my face. It had been a long day, and a bath was exactly what I needed. I set out pajamas for me to wear after my bath. My bones were aching, and some steamy water would do the trick. Nursing was a lot of work, but I loved it.
I ran the water, getting it to the perfect temperature. Quickly, I undressed and slid myself into the bath. It felt so nice being surrounded by warm water. I made it into a bubble bath, so the suds had gotten up to my breasts and shoulders. Being along with my thoughts in the bathroom didn’t help because Aiden came creeping right back into my mind.
It had been a nice trip down memory lane these past few days. Yeah, the end of the relationship wasn’t pleasant, but Aiden and I had so many good times. He always knew how to make anything fun as long as we were together.
And then there was the sex. God, it was explosive. That night at the club was just a sliver of the passion we shared. Aiden would tie me up and take me almost every day. He learned so many new knots when we were together. He loved to show them off, trying a new one every time.
“Oh, Aiden,” I whispered to myself, running my hands over my suds covered body.
Another thing he loved was making me beg. One time, he tied me to my bed and kept getting super close to me but refused to touch me until he was satisfied with my pleas. It was the kind of torture he was fond of. I was a fan of it myself, not going to lie.
I was running my fingers over my collarbone. Aiden knew how to move between a delicate and rougher touch. My hands descended down my body. A rule of mine had been to never do this, touch myself while I thought about my ex-boyfriend, but it had been a weird couple of days.
I kind of wished Aiden was with me right then. Not necessarily because I wanted to be in a relationship again, I wasn’t even letting my thoughts get that far. Maybe it was one of those ‘one last times’ type deals. I wanted Aiden to tie me up and make me beg for him. I wanted him on top of me and inside of me, and that desire was making my head hurt.
My pussy throbbed with these thoughts flying through my head. I slid a finger inside myself, wanting to relieve the pressure. It felt so good thinking about Aiden touching me while I touched myself. The only better feeling would be if he was here in person, but I could take the second-best option for now.
I grabbed my breast with my other hand, massaging it while I moved my hand back and forth. Aiden used to throw me over his knee and spank me as part of our foreplay. He would call me a naughty girl and remind me that my ass was his. He would say all the things he could to set me on fire.
I kept going, adding another finger inside my pussy and then another. The water was sloshing around as I did my best to keep my entire body from slipping underneath the bubbles. With my thumb, I traced my clit, feeling the tight bud tense as my core clamped down.
“Fuck,” I cursed silently as I came. My body shuddered underneath the bubbly surface.
I grabbed onto the bathtub’s edge for some stability. As I came down, I could feel th
e tiredness descend into my bones and my mind. I’d been dealing with so much already, but maybe I’d convinced myself I was in control. With Aiden back in my life, that illusion faded away. Everything was slipping away from me.
Bobby was still young and looked up to me, but what was going to happen when he got older. I didn’t want my sweet boy to become distant. I could see that that had happened to his father. Was I to blame? So much could have happened between when I left and when I saw him in the club, but those were the last two points of contact I had regarding the old Aiden and this new version of him.
His mother said I would end up being an insignificant footnote in his life. If she was wrong, then I ran away for nothing.
I didn’t want to think of what could have been. All that would do was make me upset. We were in the present, and what I needed to do was find a solution to my current predicament. I had decided days ago to not involve Aiden in Bobby’s life, but what if that was the wrong decision? He was his father, and Bobby deserved to know his dad. The biggest issue was I didn’t know if his dad wanted to know him. Aiden could be holding onto residual resentment from when I left him and then finding out I kept a secret kid from his all these years, he might want to wash his hands of us entirely.
I slid down into the bath, submerging my head. Even though it was beyond temporary, a few moments of the peaceful quiet being underwater brings was precisely what I needed. Just a few moments of peace, and then I would figure everything out.
Chapter Twelve
Aiden
I called the private investigator Darren recommended. Everything sounded peachy on the phone. I didn’t go into too much detail on my end, but they gave me a rundown of their agency. I liked what they were offering, so we set up an in-person meeting that was happening at Club Taboo today. I asked Darren to join since he had dealt with them before. He would know more about how to proceed.
“Jesus Christ, Harris,” my friend said as he walked in. “I’ve never seen you act nervous before in my life. Everything’s going to be fine, trust me.”
Darren had been trying to calm me down ever since he got the particulars of my relationship with Reagan. And he had made some excellent points, but my mind always went irrational when it came to my former love. It didn’t matter how much sense he was making, I was going to find some way to twist it into a doomsday scenario.
We were at the club, waiting at the bar when Darren tapped my arm. “She’s here.”
I turned around to see a well-dressed woman enter the club. She was pretty short but had an authoritative air about her. Made sense. It was probably a necessity working in the private eye business.
“Hi, I’m Sarah McWeaver.” She stretched out her hand, and I shook it. “You called about needing a PI?”
“Yeah, I did. Thanks for coming. Why don’t you sit down?” I motioned for her to take a seat at the table.
“Hey, Sarah,” Darren greeted her.
“Hi, Darren.”
They seemed to be on friendly terms. I never got the details on the business Darren had with these people. His recommendation for them was more than enough. Plus, my curiosity could wait. At that moment, Reagan and Bobby were my main concerns.
“Right, so I didn’t go into too much detail on the phone, but the basics are that I need some information on someone, but I don’t want them to know that I’m digging because I’m worried they might start hiding things even more if they found out.”
Sarah nodded. “We pride ourselves on our discretion. I can assure you we won’t do anything unnecessary that could compromise the work we are doing for you.”
I nodded. They’d already gone through how their agency works while we were on the phone. It was time for me to get into the nitty-gritty of what I wanted.
“Okay, so I’d like you to look into this girl I used to date, Reagan White.”
“Can you tell me a little bit about her? When did you two date?”
“Almost ten years ago. We met at a grocery store. She was the cashier.”
It was a little corny, but we really loved the story of how we first met. I was in the store getting some candy before I was supposed to go home. I couldn’t say where I was coming from, but I remembered everything vividly from the moment I saw Reagan. She was this tall, ethereal, gorgeous girl who stood out in that store. I was a fucking mess trying to talk to her, cracking all kinds of bad jokes. But she laughed at all of them. She gave me her number, and it was a wrap from there.
“What about your relationship? What was it like?”
“I’d say it was good. Her mother really liked me, but when I brought her home to meet my friends and family, things didn’t really go so well. Most of my friends ended up ignoring her. There were a few who weren’t total dicks and actually treated Reagan like a human being. My dad didn’t have too much of an opinion, he just went along with whatever my mother said. Mom did not like Reagan. It was all because Reagan didn’t come from an ‘agreeable background.’ Her mom was a single mom, they didn’t have a lot of money. No private school education, vacations in the Alps, or trips to the French Riviera. Stuff I barely cared about but was considered of the utmost importance to the society I lived in.”
It was all so shallow. Reagan felt like one of the only real parts of my life. We were honest and open with one another
“I didn’t realize how much my mom didn’t like her until she threatened to take away my inheritance. She told me if I didn’t break up with that ‘grocery store hussy,’ I was as good as dead to her. I didn’t care.”
I was ready to walk away from that life. I barely liked it anyway. As long as I had Reagan, I could find a way.
“I had my bags packed, ready to go, but then I got this weird note from Reagan. It said that she had met someone else and wanted to be with whoever he was. She told me not to contact her because she was no longer in love with me.”
That note broke my heart.
“I realized my mom was right. Not about some of the quite horrible things she said about Reagan, but about the fact that she was bound to leave me. When Mom died, which was a few years back, she told me that she had done something terrible and wanted my forgiveness. She never said exactly what it was, I think she was still ashamed. I forgave her because I had no idea what she was talking about. It only started to make sense when I saw Reagan. I started to wonder if my mother did something all those years ago to cause Reagan to leave.”
Sarah was taking in everything I was telling her. She didn’t seem judgmental at all, which was quite calming. I hated talking about this time in my life, but if I was going to get past the bullshit, maybe it was time to get a little more conversational.
“It’s entirely possible that your theory is right. What would you like for me to uncover?”
“My biggest concern is Reagan’s son, Bobby. I’m starting to think he might be my son. I’ve tried getting an answer from her, but she always dodges the question and then leaves before she has to say more.”
“I can definitely look into that. Do you happen to have the note she wrote to you all those years ago? It’s fine if you don’t, but it might be helpful if I am able to see it.”
“I do, but it’s back in my home in New York. I can have my assistant fax you over a copy.”
I couldn’t tell why I kept that note for all those years. I wanted to tear it up and throw it away, but something stopped me. It seemed like maybe it was a good thing I kept it. It might end up being useful.
“Perfect. There are a few specific things I’m going to need for you to write down for me, but I am more than happy to take on this case. It’s a pretty straight forward one, so I think we’ll have a pretty high rate of success, but at the same time, I don’t like to get clients' hopes up because, with these types of things, anything can really happen. I can say that we’ll work hard and keep you up-to-date on everything that’s going on.”
That was all that I could really ask for. Hiring a PI wasn’t the last resort for me, but it was the start of me get
ting to the end of my rope.
I was going to get answers one way or another.
Chapter Thirteen
Aiden
Sarah, the PI, told me to wait at least a week before I should expect the first update. I did all I could to keep myself occupied. Club upkeep was the main thing on the agenda. However, I was meant to leave Aspen before this. I had planned to stay for a week after the club opened, making sure that the staff I put in place could take care of things. They were all more than capable, but since I had a reason to stay, I continued to monitor things. Even though the staff had expected me to leave, none of them skipped a single step regarding my indefinite stay. Things kept running smoothly, and I engaged my mind on finances.
I was sitting in my office, going over profits when my phone rang. It was Sarah.
“Hey, Sarah.”
“Hi, Aiden. I’m calling with a quick update. There’s not too much to report. We’re waiting on some documents. Once they’re faxed over to our office, I should have some substantial info to share with you. Until then, I don’t want to bog you down with the minutia of this stuff, so I’ll wait to meet up with you until anything significant crosses my table.”
“Thanks for the update, Sarah. It’s been good to hear from you.”
“No problem.” She hung up, and I slouched in my chair.
I knew they hadn’t been looking for a long time, but I was still a little down that they hadn’t found anything yet. I just needed to trust the process, and I was sure that Sarah would come back to me with some news.
****
I got a call from Sarah a few days later. It had been almost a week and a half since the PI last contacted me, but she finally had something for me. She was going to stop by the club to tell me her news. Good or bad, I needed to hear it. The waiting was what was driving me crazy, knowing that the answers were getting closer but now knowing how close.
