Even in the dark, she could see his expression harden as he thought of the danger Sarah might be in.
“Aiden, who were those men? I heard them say they were your family.”
He snorted.
“So they claim.”
They drove for a few more minutes in silence and Sage wished she knew how to extract the information she wanted without having him shut down completely.
I just have to wait until he’s ready.
She hoped it wouldn’t take too much more time.
Despite the rashness of her decision to go with him, she felt no apprehension, even though she was behaving in the most opposite way normal for her. It was like she had saved all of her spontaneity for when she met him. God, it’s like he brings out something in me – like when we’re together, I feel like I’ve always been in his arms. How can this be real? Who starts to fall in love this quickly? This was crazy. Maybe she should just go home and think about this rationally – like a professional therapist would, she scoffed at herself. It was like the world had turned upside down. Two weeks ago, she had never even heard of this man and his family, now she was fleeing with him and his daughter.
Jennica’s words were still ringing in her ears as they drove through the night.
“What the hell do you mean, have Rebecca cancel your appointments indefinitely? Are you okay?” the psychiatrist demanded. “Where are you? I’m coming over!”
“No!” she said quickly. “No way! I – uh, I just have a family matter to attend to and I need the time.”
A dead silence followed and Sage pulled the phone away from her ear to see if she had dropped the call. She hadn’t.
“Jenn?”
“Does this have something to do with Aiden Van Hoyt or his daughter?”
Goosebumps exploded over Sage’s arms.
“What would make you ask that?” she asked, gasping in shock.
“Oh shit, Sage, what did you do?”
“Nothing,” she replied quickly. “Nothing. I told you, I just need some time. Don’t make a big deal out of nothing.”
“Honey, listen,” Jennica said, her tone razor sharp. “I saw Aiden Van Hoyt when he came in for his appointment. I almost canceled the rest of my day, so I could masturbate in my office with the image of his face between my legs. I get it. He’s beautiful. And I saw the little girl too. She’s cute. But cute enough to fuck up your career over? I would say no. Whatever it is you think you’re doing, stop it.”
“So you’ll tell Rebecca for me?”
Jennica exhaled so deeply, Sage thought she felt the blonde’s breath through the cell phone.
“Girl, you’re in over your head. I have a nose for this shit.”
“Thanks, Jenn. I’ll…I’ll be in touch.”
She disconnected the call, unsure if that was true or not.
Will I see Jennica again?
Sage turned her head to look at Audrey still asleep in the backseat.
They pulled into the parking lot adjacent to the psychiatric hospital and parked.
“I’ll be right back,” he told her, and she gaped at him dubiously.
“You’re just going to walk in there and check her out now? It’s six o’clock in the morning, Aiden!”
“So what?” he replied. “She’s here voluntarily. They can’t keep her here.”
“Aiden, that’s not necessarily true – ”
But he was already out of the car, heading toward the entranceway of the building and Sage shook her head.
He’s going to be back here in ten minutes, disappointed. Is it wrong that I hope they don’t release her?
She was instantly ashamed by the idea and her face blushed scarlet.
She tried to tell herself that she feared for her safety; after all, no one knew for certain who had killed Charles and Lisa Van Hoyt.
If Xander is free, does that mean that Sarah did it?
“Dr. Pierce?”
Sage whipped her head around to peer at Audrey.
“Hi sweetheart,” she murmured. “Go back to sleep. Everything is fine.”
“Are we running from Uncle Xander?” she whispered sleepily and Sage’s neck tensed.
“What do you know about that, Audrey?”
She shrugged.
“Those other men are like me and daddy. They talk without speaking too.”
Her lids were growing heavy but Sage didn’t want her to fall back asleep, not until she finished her thought.
“What do you mean they talk without speaking, Audrey? How can you hear them?”
She smiled sleepily.
“I told you, Dr. Pierce. Daddy and I have special powers. I think those men do too. I think they are daddy’s brothers.”
“Your dad has more than one brother?” she asked, turning her entire body to face Audrey head on. “How many brothers does he have?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, yawning and allowing her eyes to close fully.
“Honey, wait!” Sage cried out desperately. “What special powers do you and your daddy have? Can you show me?”
Groggily, she opened her eyes again and grinned.
“Okay,” she murmured. “I already told daddy that you know anyway.”
Sage watched, half-skeptically, half-terrified of what she was going to learn.
Suddenly, Audrey disappeared, and Aiden sat in her place, eyelids still drooping.
“Hello, Sage,” he said, and she gasped, drawing back in shock.
Audrey laughed in her own voice and fell back into her eight-year-old body, stretching out on the backseat like a cat.
“Can I go back to sleep?” she asked plaintively and Sage nodded, swallowing the lump of fear in her throat.
“Your daddy can do that too, Audrey?” she whispered.
“No,” she replied. “He can do something else, but he’s never shown me. He says he doesn’t use his powers anymore.”
Her words flowed into a garble and she was asleep, ending their conversation.
Did I just see that? Am I losing it?
Abruptly, the driver’s side door opened, and Aiden jumped in, his face twisted in anger.
“I have to come back tomorrow at noon,” he growled. “They won’t release her unless I speak with her doctor. Bureaucratic red tape.”
Sage could only stare at him, wondering if his face could become someone else’s, if he was even human.
“We have to find a hotel room,” he sighed. “I don’t want to go back to the house. I don’t know if the others will be back.”
“A hotel is good,” Sage choked, the thought of being among half a dozen men with supernatural powers dizzying to her.
Aiden pulled out of his space, glancing at his slumbering daughter.
“Did she wake up?” he asked.
Sage shook her head slowly.
“No,” she lied. She didn’t want him to know that she knew anything, not yet.
Not until she could figure out what to do with the information she had learned.
Chapter Twelve
Aiden could not sleep, and he spent the night online, searching for an escape plan.
If what Ryder said is true, it doesn’t matter where we go. Oculus is everywhere. I should have been looking over my shoulder this entire time, training myself like Xander and Ryder. Instead, I’ve been living a dull existence, oblivious to the fact that everything could blow up in my face on a dime. How could I have thought that my abilities wouldn’t come back to haunt me? What the fuck did Drake Conway do to us?
He was angry at everyone; Drake, Oculus, Xander, even the brothers he had just met. They had brought danger to his doorstep without any regard for Audrey.
His eyes flittered toward Sage who lay on the bed in one of the bedrooms of the suite they had at the hotel. Audrey slept soundly in the other room, the door closed so that his online investigation into Oculus didn’t disturb her.
I bet she’s regretting this little road trip now, isn’t she? Tomorrow, after I get Sarah, I’m taking her back t
o Bethesda where she belongs. She has a practice, a home, a life. I can’t involve her in this insanity anymore than I already have.
The knowledge that he had to let her go filled him with sadness, made his chest squeeze tightly. But he willed himself to push all emotions out of his mind. He had to do what was best for her, not himself.
He slid the chair away from the desk where he was seated and slipped onto the bed beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist.
Instantly, her body relaxed into him and he inhaled the softness at base of her neck, wanting to revel in their last moments of closeness.
Whatever happens with Oculus or my new-found family, I will likely never recapture whatever it is I have started with Sage, he knew.
“Can’t sleep?” she murmured, and he shook his head. “Me neither.”
She snuggled her curvaceous frame back as if trying to become one with him and he tightened his arm around her, his jaw locking. He considered telling her his plans to send her home, but he didn’t want an argument.
I am just going to spend one night holding her, the only night we’re getting because the damn fates are cruel, and always have been.
He knew that his moment of self-pity couldn’t last, but he couldn’t let go of the overwhelming sensation of longing for the life he felt he could have built with Sage.
“I know this has all been a whirlwind,” Sage whispered to him without turning her head. “But if there’s anything you want to tell me, I’m all ears.”
For a fleeting moment, the desire to spill the entire sordid story, including his family’s powers, almost overwhelmed him.
“Tomorrow,” he murmured. “Right now, I just want to be with you.”
He felt her sigh, although whether from disappointment or relief, he couldn’t be sure.
Tomorrow I will send her home where she’ll be safe. She doesn’t need to be a part of this.
He hoped that in time, Sage would learn to forgive him. But for right now, he needed to hold her, be with her one last time. And he was going to make these memories last a lifetime, for both of them…
________________________
“Just wait here,” Aiden instructed as he leapt from the BMW. “I won’t be long and then…”
He trailed off, not wanting to lie to Sage or Audrey who stared at him with huge, trusting eyes.
“I’ll be right back.”
He closed the door and hurried toward the main building for the second time in fourteen hours, hoping that the words he had spoken were true. When he had woken that morning, Sage was already up and dressed, ready to fight it out with him, as if she knew he had made up his mind to bring her back to her home first thing. He had lost that battle. Again. One thing he’d give her, she had the stubbornness of a fuckin’ mule.
As he walked back into the mental institute, he knew that if there was resistance, he’d have to find a lawyer to get Sarah out. He yanked open the glass door and headed toward reception.
To his surprise, the same nurse was on duty that had been there yesterday.
Her eyes widened when she saw him.
“Mr. Van Hoyt!” she gasped, her voice showing her surprise. “I wasn’t sure if you would return.”
“I said I would,” he commented dryly. “But I’m afraid I’m in a rush. I need to check my sister out immediately.”
She visibly swallowed.
“I understand. Let me page Dr. Anderly.”
Aiden’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“Dr. Cruthers is Sarah’s doctor,” he corrected but she was already on the phone, turning her body away as if to shield him from hearing the conversation.
Aiden was far too distracted to listen. Time was ticking and while he wasn’t sure precisely what he was up against, he could feel the darkness closing in around him like a shroud.
“Dr. Anderly will be with you in one moment,” the nurse told him, trying to smile but there was unmistakable fear in her face.
Aiden’s eyes narrowed, a spark of alarm running through him as he held her gaze.
“Where is Dr. Cruthers?” he asked, his firm jaw locking slightly. Her terse smile faltered.
“Dr. Anderly will be with you in one moment,” she repeated as if she was a parrot trained to say only specific phrases.
“I want to see my sister’s doctor,” Aiden insisted, but she darted her gaze away as if the answer he sought lay on the oddly pristine desk before her.
Sensing danger, Aiden whirled in the direction of the elevators.
I have to get to Sarah, he thought, his heartrate increasing as his long legs strode away from the nurse’s urgent calls to stop.
With each step he took, his stress level mounted as if he knew whatever waited for him in Sarah’s room would only create more problems.
“Mr. Van Hoyt!”
He glanced behind him to see her hurrying toward him and Aiden decided to forsake the elevator, turning instead for the stairwell to his left.
“Mr. Van Hoyt, wait!”
His athletic form flew up toward the third floor and as he threw open the door, he paused, trying to orient himself.
That way, his brain called out to him. Her room is at the end of that hallway.
Almost running, he willed himself not to attract attention as he moved, but he did not have the luxury of time, not anymore.
Throwing open the door to her room, he froze in his tracks.
“Hello, Aiden.”
Sarah cowered on her bed, legs drawn beneath her nightgown as she stared at him with terrified blue eyes.
“Aiden, run!” she screamed as the man at her side stepped toward him, but Aiden stood firm.
“I am not going anywhere without you, Sarah,” he told her firmly, closing the space between them. “Who are you?” he demanded, pinning a stare on the other man.
The old man smiled dimly, stepping forward to offer his hand.
“I am Dr. Anderly,” he replied. “I am Sarah’s primary doctor.”
“No,” Aiden replied slowly, ignoring his outstretched palm. “Dr. Cruthers is her doctor. I don’t know you are and I don’t want any trouble. I am just taking her out of here.”
His mossy eyes traveled to his sister’s face which filled with hope.
“I’m afraid that Dr. Cruthers is…indisposed,” Dr. Anderly commented but Aiden was already gesturing for his sister to get up. The sense of impending doom was growing in the pit of his stomach.
“Come on, Sarah,” he told her firmly but as she moved, Dr. Anderly blocked her way.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” he said, sighing. “You are both required to stay with us, Aiden.”
Fear prickled through him, but he held the older man’s eyes.
“Sorry,” he said flatly, moving toward his sister. “We have somewhere to be.”
He reached for Sarah’s hand, but the gun was in his face before they could make their escape.
“No, Aiden,” the doctor explained in a patient voice. “You are coming with me. Do as I say, and no one will get hurt.”
Suddenly, there was a scream in his head as Audrey yelled out for him.
Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!
The blood drained from his face as he backed away slightly, his arms raised.
“There is no need for this,” Aiden said sharply, his mind whirling. “Whatever you think you want from me, I promise I don’t have.”
“Aiden, you, me and Sarah all know that isn’t true, right Sarah?”
“I’m sorry, Aiden! They made me tell them about you!” she gasped, tears streaming down her gaunt cheeks.
He was filled with fury, not at Sarah but at her captors and himself. He wondered how he had been so oblivious to what was happening.
“Come along, Aiden,” the doctor said, pressing the steel of the gun against his face.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he snarled, but suddenly the butt of the gun smashed against his cheek.
Aiden saw stars as Sarah began to scream.
“It doesn�
�t need to get worse, Aiden but if you continue to struggle, I will kill Sarah,” Dr. Anderly told him matter-of-factly. Aiden believed him.
Audrey, what is happening? Are you hurt?
There was no answer and terror gripped his heart as he slowly shuffled toward the door, tasting blood inside his mouth.
There was nothing he could do, not inside the building.
I could create an earthquake but there are no guarantees that will work, and innocent people could die.
His mind again swept to the ice storm which had killed his classmate and bile rose to choke him as he walked.
Audrey, answer me! Answer me, dammit!
The barrel of the firearm wedged against his ribs and he heard Sarah whimpering behind him.
He gritted his teeth and walked, knowing that there was only one more way to ensure his and Sarah’s safety.
Swallowing, he closed his eyes and inhaled sharply.
Xander, are you there?
“I am right here, brother.”
Aiden’s eyes flew open and he blinked several times, thinking that he was hallucinating as his twin strode toward him.
“How – wh – “
“You think we were going to let you go that easily?” Xander snorted but his eyes were fixated on the scene beyond. “We’ve been following you, biding our time.”
“Xander!” Sarah screamed. “No!”
“Oh shit!” Dr. Anderly gasped, as he realized he was in over his head. There was nowhere for him to run and Aiden watched as his brother projected himself into the gunman’s body.
Aiden turned and grabbed Sarah’s arm as Dr. Anderly raised the gun to his own head.
“Don’t look!” he ordered Sarah. “Keep going.”
The gunshot reverberated through the corridors and screaming erupted as the siblings fled through the halls.
“Keep going!” he urged his sister who sobbed at his side.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I didn’t want to – “
“Shh!” he told her. “It’s not your fault, Sarah. None of this has been your fault, but we have to get outside, now!”
Alarm bells started to blare as announcements began screeching out of the PA over their heads.
Aiden did not turn to see if Xander was behind them, but he wasn’t worried; his brother could take care of himself.
HARD Series Box Set: Bad boys with powers Page 44
