Then we will make it.
Tapping my pen on my desk, I check the clock. Only five minutes left, then I can go home and find Aiden. It has been enough time between us to think about some things, review our actions, and come up with ways to improve this relationship. We should be able to have a conversation that won’t involve someone being physically harmed this time, meaning me.
Five o’clock hits, and I race out of work and head back to Aiden’s home. I know that he’s back from his trip from Canada. He left a note on one of the roses, saying he would be going out of town and be back the next day.
I walk into the house already knowing he’s not in our bedroom. There’s only one place he would be, which is his office. Two guards are posted out in front of his door. I find that weird because he doesn’t usually have them standing in front of his office. His office is the one area that he doesn’t like to be guarded unless needed. So, whatever meeting he has, it must be important. The door opens, and out comes Grace with her head down and Aiden following right behind her. He grabs her and whispers something in her ear. She stands there like a statue while listening to him, and only moves once he is finished speaking to her. The guards take her in their hands, walking her in the opposite direction. The door they are going to leads them to another part of the house. Aiden told me that this house has a lot of different parts. He said that there are even secret areas in the house that some people don’t know about. Only his guards and he would know for safety reasons if anything were to happen.
I watch the guards walk her and find it strange that I found her coming out of his office. I don’t usually see her a lot, and if I do, she is moving quickly to clean what needs to be cleaned. I never catch her around his office. I wonder what they had to talk about. I’ll have to make a mental note to meet up with her and check on her. I want to make sure she’s doing okay.
Aiden’s just about to turn back into his office when he spots me walking towards him. I take a deep breath, feeling like it’s been so long since I’ve seen him, and I can’t lie—I’ve missed him like crazy, and I still love him.
He stuffs his hands in his pockets and comes to me. Once we’re in front of each other, we stand there, looking at one another. I’m itching to reach out to him and close the distance between us. I can tell that he wants to do the same thing in his eyes, but neither of us knows if we should.
When I see that this isn’t going anywhere, waiting to see who will make the first move, I decide to take the lead. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Tears form in my eyes, blinding me from seeing him clearly. I choke, trying to push through and get the next words out of my mouth. He quickly reaches for me, wrapping me in his arms.
“Shh, I’m sorry. It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be okay,” he says, but his voice is muffled with his face in my hair.
I continue to break down, and he picks me up, carrying me into his office. He sits down on the couch with me in his lap. He puts his hands on the sides of my face and tilts my head back to look up at him.
“You know I love you, right?” His eyes move back in forth, looking into mine as he wipes away my tears.
I kiss him on the lips, showing him with my actions that I still love and want him. He responds, deepening the kiss and pulling me closer to him. I don’t mean to moan, but it feels like it’s been so long since we’ve been together.
I pull back, knowing that we can’t take things further until we have talked. Our heads touch, giving us a chance to catch our breath. My eyes are closed tight, because this is harder than I thought.
“I want you to know that I love you too.” I pull away and grab his face like he did mine. “But we have to talk and clear up some things between us.”
He sits back, giving me his undivided attention, and waves his hand for me to speak first.
“First, I want to tell you that I’m not leaving you. I told you that I love you, and I meant that. But we are moving too fast.” I feel him tense under my hand. I rub my thumb over his cheek, trying to calm him down. “Wait, wait, I’m not finished. Can you listen to everything first before you jump to getting upset, please?” He nods his head and relaxes. I take a deep breath to calm my racing heart. “Whether you like it, or not this is true. We are moving too fast, and I think we need to slow down. I’m not saying that we can’t be together or anything. I just want to slow down.”
“No.”
This conversation is already beginning to feel pointless. Any hope I had is gone now hearing him tell me no.
“We’ve already talked about this whole ‘moving fast’. We shouldn’t be worried about what other people are saying. I like your mother, but you are a grown woman living your own life.” He points at himself and then at me as he speaks. “This between us feels right, and we are just going with the flow. Your mother isn’t always going to agree with everything that you do. All she can do is let you live your life, love you, and be there for you when you need her.”
Now I am confused because he makes a great point. I hear what my mother is saying, and I also hear what Aiden is saying, and both make sense.
“Edith, don’t allow others to get into our relationship. This has to be you and me together, us against the world. I’m not letting you go, and you aren’t letting me go. I love you, and you love me, that’s all that should matter. How fast we are moving in our relationship shouldn’t.”
Listening to him, I think I’ve made my decision, but there’s just one more thing I need us to talk about first to make it final.
“Don’t ever hit me again.”
His face drops as he slides me off his lap. He stands up and walks back and forth in front of the fire. “I didn’t mean to hit you. I know that I shouldn’t have put my hands on you. But I thought you were leaving, so I got angry.”
I stand up and walk over to him. I’m getting upset, because his anger doesn’t give him the right to put his hands on me. He needs to learn how to control his emotions, or we will never work out.
“I may be naïve about a lot of things, but hitting a woman isn’t one of them. You don’t ever put your hands on me if we’re going to continue this relationship. If you do it again, you will put me in a position where I have no choice but to leave you.” Saying the last part was challenging for me, because I don’t know how he’s going to act. However, I know I need to stand my ground on this. He needs to know that I’m serious. I don’t want to be with someone who can’t control their anger.
He wraps me in his arms and puts his forehead on mine. “I understand. I promise to never put my hands on you again.”
“I’m serious. You need to control yourself.”
“I understand,” he whispers.
“Why do you get so angry like that? What triggers it?”
I’m surprised I didn’t see this when I first met him. He hides it so well, which scares me. I’m wondering what other things he might be hiding from me that I don’t know about yet.
His voice cracks as he speaks. “When people leave me like you were going to do, it triggers something in me. It reminds me of my mother, who died and left me here with my father.”
I have never seen Aiden so broken, and a tear escapes my eyes. I nod, understanding where he’s coming from. Losing the ones I loved made me feel alone too. The only difference between us is that I had Nancy and my mother, so I didn’t feel completely alone. Aiden only had his father, but it doesn’t sound like they were really close.
“I get it, Aiden. I promise I’m not going anywhere. I am yours. But you can’t put your hands on me if we are going to make it. Find a way to work on your anger, okay?” I kiss him on the lips.
“Yes, I will do whatever it takes.”
I look into his eyes, searching for something that lets me know he’s serious. I know he loves me, and he’s promised not to hurt me again. Except I have this feeling that this will happened again.
Sighing, I wave off whatever I’m feeling. “Okay,” I say.
He presses h
is lips to mine, and all that built-up tension between us comes pouring out into our kiss.
I wrap my arms around him, bringing him closer to me. This man has my heart, and I want us to work.
Please work.
He reaches for the zipper on my dress and pulls it down.
“I’ve missed you,” he tells me.
“I’ve missed you too.”
He takes off my dress and unbuttons his shirt, taking it off. He kisses my shoulder and works his way up to my neck. “I promise I won’t do it again. You have my word. Just don’t ever leave me.”
I kiss him back and help him finish getting both of us undressed.
Time will tell if what he’s said is true. Until then, I’ll continue to stand by him and fight for us together.
I know that Aiden and I talked things through, but lately, I’ve been cautious around him. Part of me doesn’t trust that this is over, and that something like last time will happen again when I least expect it. At the same time, I feel that I need to stop being so cautious and trust that he understood and will keep his promise to me.
He’s been making a huge effort in showing me that he’s working on himself by getting a counselor to help him with his anger, which helps put me at ease knowing that he is getting some help.
I haven’t told my mom or Nancy what Aiden did to me, because I already know that it will be a problem. They will want me to leave him right away, and I just can’t do that. Not when he’s putting so much effort in to become a better person. I at least have to give him a fair chance. So, I keep it to myself, and only share the good things that have been happening between us to them.
My mother still isn’t happy that I’m going to continue to live with him after she advised me not to. She still feels that there is something off about Aiden, but I keep trying to tell her all the good he is doing and how happy he makes me, hoping that it will help make her feel better about him.
As for Nancy, she’s happy that I’m happy. That is all she’s ever wanted for me, and that’s all I have ever wanted for myself.
To just be happy and in love.
“I HAVE BEEN MISSING OUR dinners together,” Nancy tells us.
We’re over at my mother’s house, catching up on what’s going on in each other’s lives.
“I know, I miss them too. We would always do this before we graduated from college. I miss those days,” I confess.
My mother gets up, taking all our plates with her. “I will have to agree with that, ladies. I miss having you both here eating me out of a house,” she laughs.
“Um, Mrs. Elena, I don’t remember that part. Maybe that was Edith who did that,” Nancy teases, sticking her tongue out at me.
“No, Mom, don’t listen to her. I never ate all the food in the house, and you know that. That was all Nancy,” I point out.
Nancy and I start play fighting, going back and forth on who would sneak out in the middle of the night to go into the kitchen. My mom calls our names trying to grab our attention, but we are so focused on proving who is right that we don’t hear her.
“Ladies,” Mom yells, clapping her hands together. Both of us turn and look at her. “I was only teasing, and I know that both of you ate me out of a house. I caught you guys one night when you didn’t know I was watching you,” she points at me. “Your father was always with me when we would catch you, too,” she laughs.
“Dang it, I knew we weren’t getting away with nothing back then. I tried to tell you that,” Nancy says to me.
My mother starts cracking up even harder, and she has to hold onto the counter to keep from falling to the ground. Nancy and I give each other raised eyebrows, for we don’t know what just happened here.
“I got you both; you should see your faces,” she roars. She slaps her hand on the counter, laughing so hard.
She set us up to find out the truth, and Nancy opened her mouth and told my mom the truth.
Nancy puts her head down on the table. “I fell for it again, didn’t I?”
“Yup,” I say, popping my lips. “You told her the truth while I kept my mouth shut, not saying a word.”
Mom comes over and sits down, looking at us, while still laughing.
“Oh, come on. I was bound to catch you in your lie.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t have to be the one to confirm it for you. You’re too good at doing that, Mrs. Elena, too good,” Nancy grumbles.
“I know!” Mom beams. She slaps her hands on the table. “All right, now give me an update. How are things going with you two?”
“Mm, so I haven’t told you guys, but Alex and I broke up,” Nancy says. “It was getting to be that time where we needed to end things. I’m starting to want something real, you know. No more playing around with different men all the time. I want something like Edith and Aiden. Now, that’s true love, right there.”
I smile and tell her thank you, glad that she looks up to my relationship enough to want to change her life around. But if only she knew what was going on in my relationship, she wouldn’t put Aiden and me on such a high pedestal. We are not a good example, and I don’t want my best friend to ever end up in a relationship like mine. That would break my heart.
“No, you need a guy who loves and respects you,” I encourage. “You have been through so much, Nancy.”
“I know, that’s why I said that I want someone like your man. The way Aiden looks at you and treats you like a queen. I crave that,” she explains.
I grow quiet and nod. If I keep going, something will slip out of my mouth, exposing my relationship. As much as she may want to have a relationship like mine, I’m going to pray she never gets it.
I feel eyes on me and look up to see my mother studying me. I look back at Nancy, refusing to meet my mother’s eyes again, but I can still feel her looking at me.
“Nancy, what was wrong with Alex?” Mom questions.
“Well, I asked him if he wanted to be in a serious relationship one day. He told me that it was the furthest thing on his mind.” Listening to her, I can tell that it hurts her to talk about him. I never thought that she had feelings for him in that way. I’m used to Nancy being with so many different men for only a certain amount of time before she is on to the next. But I should have known she had feelings for Alex. She stayed with him longer than four months and started to invite him to things trying to include him in her life. I return from my thoughts to continue listening to her. “So, I dumped him. I told him that I wanted something different. I wanted to experience real love, and get married and have kids one day. But it wasn’t going to be with him.”
Mom gets up from her seat and gives Nancy a big hug. “I am so proud of you. I was wondering when this day would happen, and it is finally here. You keep wanting something better for yourself, and never settle for less. You deserve the best, keep your standards high, sweetie.” She kisses Nancy on the head and goes back to her seat, pinning her eyes on me. “So, what has been going on with you, Edith? You seem off.”
My mom usually always calls me sweetie, except this time. This time she calls me by my name in a tone that lets me know she isn’t too pleased with me.
“Oh, um, nothing, Mom. I’ve been working a lot lately. Getting ready for this new launch for Crypto. My boss put me on this project to show off my skills, so these next couple of months are going to be stressful, but I know I can do it,” I gush. I try my best to make it seem like nothing is wrong, yet I feel like my mother can see through me.
“Mm, sounds good,” she says.
Nancy chimes in at the perfect time.
“Um, I feel like I am missing something here. Is there something going on?” She looks at my mother, trying to get answers, and my mother looks at me.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Mom says to Nancy while she stills looks at me. Then Mom directs the question at me. “Is there something going on, Edith?”
“No, I think that’s all,” I say calmly. “Nancy, is there anything you want to say?”
She shakes her head, a
nd before Nancy can say something, my phone rings.
“Excuse me. I have to take this.”
I go outside on the porch.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“It’s getting late. Where are you?” Aiden asks on the phone.
“Remember, I told you I would be having dinner with my mother and Nancy. We finished up eating, and now we’re talking.”
“When were you going to call me and tell me that you were going to be staying later?” he hisses.
I looked at the time on my phone, and it wasn’t that late. It was only getting close to ten o’clock.
“Aiden, I don’t see what the problem is. It’s not even that late,” I state. “I would have called you when I was coming home.”
“And what time would that have been, midnight?”
I take my phone from my ear and look at it while Aiden keeps talking. He’s talking to me in the same tone as last time, and last time he hit me. I don’t want that to happen again.
“Okay, I’m coming home now. Can you please calm down?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“Call you on the way home.”
I tell him goodnight and hang up.
“Is everything okay?”
I turn around.
“Mom, I didn’t know you were behind me.” I come back inside.
“I came out to check up on you.” She moves out of my way as she studies me.
“All is good. Aiden was calling to check on me.”
She crosses her arms. “He didn’t sound happy on the phone.”
“No, he was fine. He was just worried about me. I don’t usually stay out this late.”
My mom tilts her head to the side and raises her eyebrows at me. I ignore her question and go look for Nancy, who’s gathering her things to leave.
“Hey, you guys, I’m going to head out. Have to get up for work tomorrow,” she says, making her way over to hug us goodbye.
Roses Are Red (Edith's Fatal Love Trilogy Book 1) Page 13
