“How much?” I asked, wondering if he’d be honest with me.
His shoulders turned in as he grumbled. “Eight grand. Almost every penny I had.”
“What? You were walking around with eight grand in your damn pocket?” He couldn’t have been that damn dumb.
He spun around, pegging me with a challenging stare. “I was headed to the bank! How the hell was I supposed to know I’d get jumped on my way there? People don’t do that shit where we come from. But here? This place is nothing like home. I walk around on high fucking alert everywhere I go.”
“So you’re letting one punk-ass person control your entire life? You’re stronger than that, Josh!” I yelled back at him.
He recoiled as if I’d slapped him. “I know what I am, Aiden. I don’t need you, or anyone else, reminding me of that. And it wasn’t just being mugged that gave me a bad taste for this place.”
I eyed him, waiting for him to expand on that. When he didn’t, I changed my tactics. “Do you have a job?”
He snorted. “Oh, I have a job all right.”
That was at least something. He’d for sure be able to cover his half of stuff. “Where are you working?”
His anger notched up again. “I have a job. Leave it at that.”
“Okay,” I said, backing off.
He gave me a surprised look. “What, you’re not going to grill me about it?”
I tilted my head as if thinking about it, but really, I knew pushing him too hard would result in another argument.
I didn’t want to argue with him anymore. I wanted him to tell me things because he wanted me to know them. Not because I was pushing him to do it.
Being friends meant that sometimes you just had to pull back until the other person was ready to talk. It damn sure didn’t give me license to harass him. Even if that was exactly what I wanted to do. “Nope. I figure you’ll tell me when you’re ready. Besides, so long as you have a job, we can cover the rent and stuff with no problem.”
He rubbed his palm along his jaw. “What makes you think I’ll move in here? I still have a lease at the other place.”
I’d known that, and I didn’t care. All he had to do was agree to share the apartment we stood in. I’d take care of the rest.
“It wouldn’t cost much to break the lease. Besides, this place puts you a hell of a lot closer to the campus. You can take on some classes and still work.”
Rocking back on his heels, he eyed me. “And what about you? How can you afford it?”
Time to lie again, I thought. “I work for a private investigator. Money comes when I’m given jobs, and the pay is good.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “Figures. Fine, I’ll move into your stupid, big apartment and try to go back to school. Happy?”
I rushed him, hauling him up from the floor in a bear hug. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to say no!”
“Put me down. You’re gonna break my freakin’ ribs, asshole,” Josh said, gasping as I heaved him up and down.
I set him back on the floor, and he took a half-hearted swing at me.
Dodging it, I said, “Come on. Let’s go get your stuff packed. We still have to go get furniture and shit today, ‘cause I’m not sleeping on the floor again tonight.”
Walking back to Josh’s apartment, I had a little extra bounce in my step. That was until Josh hit me with a question I hadn’t seen coming.
“Before you got here, where were you? I know you weren’t home because Mom would have said something,” he said.
My steps faltered slightly, but not enough to give away the fact that Josh had blindsided me. Scotland. Airen. Damn it. Would I ever not hurt thinking about her?
“Here and there,” I said, blowing off his question with a shrug.
Josh stayed quiet for a minute, but then he said, “You really aren’t gonna tell me? After nosing your way in my business? That’s cold, bro.”
“Scotland.” It popped out of me before I could stop it.
Josh came to a halt, tugging my arm. “No shit?”
Squinting against the sunlight, I could see the questions building up in his eyes. The city bustled around us. Cars rolled past as drivers honked at other drivers.
Somewhere in the distance, an ambulance siren wailed, and I found myself rubbing my chest over my heart.
Josh had no idea how much hurt I had inside of me. He had no idea what that one question made me feel.
“You know I have like a million things I’m gonna ask you right? Man, Scotland. I’d love to go to Scotland,” he rambled on as he let go of my arm and we continued walking side by side. “Do they wear kilts all the time? And are there really fairy hills, or whatever they call them?”
Pulling my thoughts from Airen, I gave Josh a weird look. “Fairy hills?”
“Yeah, bro! Don’t tell me you don’t know about the old stories they tell,” he said, huffing that I wasn’t as excited as he was about magical creatures based off myths.
“They don’t wear kilts all the time, Josh. And no, I didn’t get a chance to check out the countryside while I was there,” I answered as we came to a stop outside his apartment.
“What about the pubs? Did you go to one? How’s their beer?” he asked, firing off more questions I couldn’t answer.
The coffee shop came to mind instead. “I didn’t really have time to do all that.”
“No time?” he questioned with a voice straining an octave above normal.
I pushed him in the direction of the stairs to his apartment, “Hurry up and unlock the damn door before we’re both mugged.”
Josh’s eyes darted around. I felt bad for saying it, but it had at least halted his questions for the moment.
Once inside, Josh made his way back to his room as I made my way over to the small window that looked out to the street below.
What I wouldn’t have given to see Airen again and hold her one last time. To tell her… what exactly? That I was sorry and even though I wanted her more than I wanted my next breath, I couldn’t have her.
Closing my eyes, I leaned my head against the cold glass and sighed deeply.
“What about the way they talk? I’d love to go over there and learn how to talk like them.” Josh carried on our conversation from earlier, practically yelling it from his room so I’d hear him.
Pushing myself away from the window, I caught a glimpse of someone walking down the street. She looked a little lost with her hands shoved in her pockets. There was something familiar about her. Squeezing my eyes shut, I forced myself to step away from the window. Seeing Airen in other girls was the last straw. Even if the girl in question had the exact same color hair as her. I’d never move on if I kept doing that to myself.
The sounds coming from Josh’s room drew me down the hall to investigate. When I stuck my head inside, I saw his suitcases open on his bed. He was stuffing everything in them without even folding anything.
“Almost done,” he said, grabbing a handful of hangers from his closet and tossing them on top of his other clothes.
Two pair of shoes later, he had everything packed. All that would need to be moved was the bed.
“We can take a couple of trips and get that,” I said, nodding at the bed, “over to the new apartment.”
He waved off my plan, saying, “Not mine. It was here when I moved in.”
Unzipping a suitcase, Josh put it on the floor and stripped his bed down, tossing sheets, pillow, and the thin comforter he’d brought from home inside of it. “All set,” he said, fighting to push everything down so that he could close it.
TWO HOURS LATER, WE LEFT the furniture store, having given the delivery truck instructions to be at the new apartment in an hour. I’d paid a hefty chunk of money to ensure we’d have our furniture delivered before nightfall.
Not up for walking all the way back to the apartment, I asked the store manager to call us a cab.
“Probably would have been faster walking,” Josh mumbled beside me as the cab rolled slowly through the str
eets.
It seemed like every damn car in the city was out for a drive.
My fingers tapped a frustrated beat against my leg. We were only three blocks from the apartment and waiting made me fidgety. It wasn’t being in a car that bothered me. Being in a car that hadn’t moved for the last three minutes did.
Pulling out my wallet, I tossed a twenty over the seat and gestured for Josh to get out.
We made it one block before he started up again. “Say something in Scottish.”
“What the hell does that even mean? They speak English just like we do,” I said, elbowing him.
He rubbed his arm. “You know what I mean.”
I quirked my eyebrow at him. “What makes you think I can talk like them?”
He rolled his eyes at me in response. “Oh, come on. Just one sentence. I know you had to have picked up something while you were there.”
I chuckled, wondering if I did, would he let it go. “Aye, I picked up a thing or two, but I canna do it all the time. Ye ken?”
He hooted, startling a couple walking past us. “That was awesome!”
I side-eyed him. “And it’s the one and only time I’ll do it, so don’t ask again, ye wee numptie, or I’ll gie ye a good skelp.”
He grinned. “No worries, I… whoa, what do we have here?”
I went on instant alert as the direction of my gaze sought out what Josh was looking at.
On the top step of our apartment sat a girl with her chin tucked in as she hugged her arms against her chest tightly. Hearing our approaching footsteps, her head lifted and my heart stopped.
“Airen?” Her name came out as a whisper.
Slowly, she got to her feet as I made my way closer to her.
It had to be a dream. She couldn’t be standing within arm’s reach.
“Who’s that?” Josh asked, bumping his hand into my arm.
She came down the steps like an apparition. And I would have believed she was one, except Josh could see her too.
Her hand extended out to Josh. “Airen Campbell. You are?”
Josh’s lips pulled into a huge grin as he answered. “Halfway in love.”
She snorted, pulling her hand back as she said, “Seems a bit of an odd name.” Her eyes flicked over to me. “Hello, Aiden.”
I swallowed hard. “Airen,” I said, fighting the urge to pull her against me.
Josh cleared his throat. “She yours, Aiden?”
I growled in response, making Airen jump.
“I’ll take that as a yes. I’ll just go unlock the door and give you a minute to catch up,” he said, wiggling his hand for the keys.
I didn’t take my eyes off her as I handed them over.
Neither of us spoke until Josh was inside with the door closed behind him.
“I hope ye don’t mind me showing up like this,” she said, nervously biting her lip as she waited for me to answer.
“Why are you here?” I asked, sounding a little gruff from the overwhelming flood of emotion rolling inside of me.
She pulled in a deep breath, looked me square in the eye, and answered. “I came to say I was sorry for the way I acted at the hospital.”
I wavered in place. All she’d come for was an apology? “I don’t know what to say to that.”
She picked up her hand, reaching out as if to touch me, but stopped before she did. Her hand fell to her side as her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “I shouldna let ye leave without talking to ye. There’s a lot we haven’t said.”
I didn’t understand what would make her catch a flight across the ocean just to say she was sorry. “That’s a long trip just to apologize.”
She shoved her hands in her pockets and took a step back, glaring at me. “It was. Now I can see I was wrong. Good-bye, Aiden.”
My hand shot out, grabbing her sleeve as she turned to walk away. “You’d leave… just like that?”
She tugged free of my hold and spun on me with sparks snapping in her eyes. “Ye canna have it both ways, Aiden. I came to find ye, apologize to ye, and see where I stood in yer life!”
A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. She brushed it away with a quick swipe. “I made a mistake, and I’ll no be where I’m no wanted.”
When she tried to jerk away from me again, I yanked her against me, holding her close. “Who said it was a mistake?”
She pushed against my hold, but there was no way in hell I’d let her go. “Your face haunts me every damn night when I close my eyes. You pop up in my thoughts at the most random times, and I play hell to push your image away. I can’t go a single day without thinking about you. Do you think I’m just gonna let you walk away from me? Let you leave now that I have you back in my arms?”
She stopped struggling and bumped her head into my shoulder. “After ye left, I was so lost without ye. How did you become so important to me, Aiden?”
It was the same damn question I’d asked myself over and over again to the point of insanity.
“What are we supposed to do? I don’t know how not to want ye?” she sobbed, wrapping her arms around me.
Whatever notions I had about keeping my distance crumbled. My hands found her face and I tilted it up, staring down into the mossy green of her eyes. “Stay with me. Don’t leave.”
I caught her gasp with my lips, kissing both of us senseless as she swayed into me.
As selfish as it was, I wasn’t going to let her go. Not then. Not ever.
Her hands fisted into the collar of my jacket as she broke the kiss. “I’m no going anywhere, except inside. It’s freezing out here.”
I didn’t feel a thing as hot as my blood burned for her.
Reaching up, I took her hands in mine, noticing how cold she really was. “Before we go in, I need to ask something from you,”
She nodded. “Okay, what is it?”
Sighing, I laid it all out for her. “Josh is one of my best friends. One of six of them. You’ve met Ace and Eli, but there are more to our group. Josh and Mark. Neither of them knows about me… about who I work for or what I do. I haven’t told them, and I don’t plan to tell them.”
She blinked slowly. “Yer asking me to not say anything about something I don’t even know about?”
I nodded, attempting a smile for her. “I promised we’d talk about that, and we will. I won’t have any more secrets from you, but once you know…”
She brought her hand up along my chest, under my jacket, settling her palm over my heart. “I promise ye, Aiden. All yer secrets are safe with me.”
I hugged her tight, not wanting to let go for fear she’d disappear. “I’m counting on it, Airen.”
“Before we go in, I have something to ask of ye too,” she said, pulling back to look at me.
“What’s that?” I asked, tipping my forehead against hers and breathing in her scent. I’d missed every damn thing about her, and I wanted to immerse myself in her scent all at once.
“Kiss me again,” she whispered, placing her lips against mine.
It was a simple kiss, but one that rocked my entire world out from under me.
Airen had come for me. She’d put it all on the line to be with me, even knowing the danger my life could bring. All of my attempts to put her behind me and move on shattered when she’d taken a leap of faith and sought me out.
For that, I’d never let her go. She was the other half of me that I never knew existed. And there was nothing in the world I wanted more than her. If it took me the rest of my life, I’d show Airen just how much she meant to me.
After I tucked her under my arm, we made it up the first step when she stopped and put her hand on my shoulder. “I’d have fought tooth and nail for ye if you’d tried to keep me away.”
Pulling her hand up to my lips, I kissed the tips of her fingers, “I would have let you. I’m that crazy about you. I think… I think I’m falling in love with you, Airen. It scares me a little, but it excites me even more.”
She quirked her eyebrow at me. “I’ll have te let
Aunt Brenda know her tea worked then.” She chuckled and then said, “Cause as sure as the sun rises, I’ve fallen head over heels in love with ye as well.”
Before I could pull her down and kiss her, the sound of a truck pulling up alongside us broke us apart. The furniture guys were opening the back of the truck, ready to move everything inside.
“Looks like we’ll have a bed to sleep on tonight,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows at her.
“Who said anything about sleep?” She grinned from ear to ear when my face heated.
I wasn’t embarrassed. Not one damn bit. I was turned on, ready to scoop her off the steps and carry her to the room, bed or no bed.
“Excuse us,” the guy carrying one end of our new couch said as he waited for me to move.
Putting my hand on Airen’s hip, I ushered us up the stairs and held the door open for the couch to be brought in.
“My suitcase!” Airen said, slapping her hand to her forehead. “Let me just fetch it real quick.”
“I got it,” I said, catching her with a quick kiss to her lips and making my way down the stairs.
Tucked up against the side of the steps, hidden from view, was a single suitcase and a small overnight bag.
For as small as they were, they had some heft to them. Pulling the strap of the overnight bag onto my shoulder, I waited as the delivery drivers maneuvered the kitchen table up the stairs. Seeing it reminded me that there wasn’t a single thing in the fridge or cabinets.
I carried Airen’s bags back to my room, depositing them inside the closet, and made my way back to the living room where Josh and Airen had struck up a conversation.
“Here,” I said, handing over my bank card to Josh. “We need groceries. Do you mind going and getting a few things to hold us over until tomorrow?”
Josh took the card, looking between Airen and me. “I never woulda thought, but then again, who could have seen this coming? Be back in a little bit.” He smirked, shoving the card into his front pocket as he made his way out the door.
If Ever I Fall: Book 3 of The Six Series Page 23
