“Aiden is just my friend and he has nothing to do with this.”
“Yes, he does. He’s the third person in our relationship, since he comes here to visit you every other weekend. I was standing outside your apartment when you told your roommate that you’d talked it over with Aiden and you thought it was best that we break up, but you were going to wait until after my birthday. Maybe next time you’ll close your window when you’re talking crap about somebody.”
Summer stared at him unable to believe that she’d dated the guy standing before her. The guy she’d thought of as a friend before they started dating. She thought about the signs she’d ignored. Recently, he’d been acting possessive and would do crazy things like show up to her girls’ nights or pop up at a study group if another guy was present.
She’d already stopped staying at his place because she got tired of waking up and finding him watching her intently. It was even creepier when he’d pop up places and not make his presence known. Luckily, she was observant, so she often spotted him. She even caught him texting her guy friends on her phone one day, when he forgot to erase a few of the messages he’d sent.
“Jake, what did you do,” she said as a statement rather than a question. She already knew what he’d done. Even though she didn’t remember what happened, it wasn’t consensual. She’d been sexually assaulted by a guy who’d claimed to care about her, and even worse, he seemed to be satisfied that he’d finally had sex with her in such a horrific way.
“Don’t give me that look. When you begged me to have sex, did you think I wouldn’t do it just because I knew you wanted to break up with me? No chance, angel face, I’ve been waiting two years for this moment.”
Instead of staying in his apartment and allowing the situation to get any worse, she grabbed her purse off the floor and rushed out of there. She didn’t stop running until she’d gotten to her apartment. It may have been five o’clock in the morning, but when she walked in, her roommate was up and on her computer.
“Oh, my God, Summer, I was so worried about you. You never spend the night at Jake’s place.”
She’d only lived with her roommate for a couple of months, but they’d gotten pretty close. “Christine, what happened last night?”
“At the bar?”
“Yes.”
“Well, after I came back from the bathroom, Jake’s friends told me you both had left. I tried your phone several times and you didn’t answer, so I finally left and went home.”
Summer opened her purse and spotted the missed calls on her phone. “So I left with Jake before one in the morning?”
“Yes,”
“What about the drink Jake brought for us? Do you remember what it was?”
“Um, I’m not sure. Something with tequila in it, I think. I know you and I don’t go to bars too much, but after one glass of wine and one drink, you seemed to be feeling pretty good. I didn’t think you’d leave me at the bar with Jake’s friends, though.”
One. Two. Three. Four. Five... Summer began counting in her mind as she tried to calm her rapid heartbeat. “Chris, I didn’t willingly leave with Jake.”
Summer was still counting in her mind as Christine’s eyes raked over her from head to toe, no doubt realizing how disheveled her clothing and hair appeared.
“Summer, what are you saying?” Christine rushed to Summer’s side. “Did Jake force himself on you? Do you need me to drive you to the hospital? Do we need to call the police? What happened, Summer?”
“Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three.” She began counting out loud as Christine threw questions at her that she didn’t know how to answer. Summer walked into her bedroom to change into jogging pants and a T-shirt, but Christine continued asking her what had happened when she returned. Summer absentmindedly touched the locket around her neck as she thought about what she needed to do.
“I need to go see Aiden. I need to go now.” She rushed out the door, ignoring her roommate’s plea for her to stay. As soon as she got into her car, she called Aiden’s cell and got his voicemail. She called three more times with no answer and assumed he was still sleeping. It didn’t matter that she had a three-hour drive ahead of her. The only person who could help her make sense of the situation was Aiden. The only person who could help her was Aiden.
Chapter 14
She came to see you, but you weren’t there for her. Words that he wished weren’t true haunted his state of mind the more Summer talked.
“During that drive to your campus apartment, I tried my best not to let my anger consume me. But it was useless. I was so angry, and not just at Jake. I was angry because I felt like I’d ignored the signs of what type of person he truly was.”
“Don’t do that,” Aiden said, reminding himself to breathe. “You can’t blame yourself for what he did.”
“I don’t blame myself now, but in order for you to truly understand, I need to tell you how I felt back then. Eight years ago, I did blame myself because I felt like I’d spent my life being able to spot people who had a hidden agenda, and somewhere along the line I’d missed the signals with Jake. Until it was too late.”
With all the strength he had, he continued to look her in the eyes as she continued her detailed account of what had happened. His anger level had been at an all-time high the entire time Summer spoke about what happened the morning she awoke in Jake’s room.
It wasn’t just the fact that he was dealing with his own guilt that made him angry. It was the fact that every time he’d driven to her school and seen her with Jake, he’d known something was off about the guy. But at the time, Aiden had been trying to fight his own attraction for Summer, so he’d chalked up some of his feelings to jealousy.
“Can I ask you something?”
Unlike previous times they’d tried to discuss this topic, her eyes didn’t seem guarded today. “You can ask me anything.”
Just ask her, Aiden. You have to ask her. “That night with Jake...” His voice trailed off.
“Just ask me,” she said when he didn’t continue.
He held her gaze, trying to muster up the courage to ask his question. “That night with Jake...were you a virgin before that night?”
Summer didn’t answer his question. She didn’t have to. The tears falling down her cheeks were all the answer he needed. All these years, he’d suspected it, but he’d never asked her eight years ago. Looking back, he wasn’t even sure he could have handled her response.
“I was.” She finally broke their eye contact. “It wasn’t really anything I’d thought about, so when Jake brought up the subject after one month of dating, I told him that I was saving myself for marriage. Looking back, I think I did that because I knew I didn’t want to have sex with him.” Her voice cracked slightly. “I knew he wasn’t the person I wanted to lose my virginity to, but he took my decision away from me and stole what was never intended to be his.”
Aiden leaned over and wiped the tears under her eyes. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.” He’d explained what had happened as many times as she’d listen, but he had to explain it again.
“The week before you drove down to my school, I’d learned that I’d been chosen as one of five students to intern at Palmer Lane and spend two weeks in London. I know I’ve told you this before, but there’s no excuse for me not telling you about the opportunity. I’d been meaning to tell you when I’d visited you that weekend, but we’d gotten into a fight about your relationship with Jake and when I’d left your apartment, I realized that the real person at fault was me. I was the one who hadn’t told you how I felt about you until it was too late. I promised myself that day I left that I’d give you some space and time to make your own decisions. You and I had always been so close...our lives so intertwined.”
“I heard everything you were trying to tell me that day,” Summer said, running her han
d over his. “It hadn’t been too late and when you’d walked into my apartment that day and kissed me with so much passion and promise, the mere thought about finally being together after all those years had caused so much emotion to swell in my heart. Looking back, I think it’s because I wanted a relationship with you just as much. But I had to end my relationship with Jake first.” Her hand stopped moving over his as she glanced back out to the water.
“Ending our relationship wasn’t the only thing Jake heard that night he eavesdropped outside my living room window.” Her tears had slowed, but her eyes were still filled with haunted memories of a situation that neither of them could change. “When my roommate went to the bathroom, I touched the locket you gave me, like I always do. I’m sure you’ve seen me rub it many times, even while we’ve been sitting on the dock. Occasionally I’ll even talk aloud, which is what I was doing the day Jake had heard me. He and I had gotten into arguments about my relationship with you in the past, just like you and I had about him. When I held the locket that day, I told myself that in my heart I knew you were the only one for me. I knew you were the only man I’d ever truly wanted to be with.”
Aiden dropped his head, trying to stop the hurt and regret that crawled throughout his body and inched through his heart. “I’m so sorry,” Aiden said softly. “I’m sorry that I got your calls at the airport and didn’t answer. Even though my phone service didn’t work in London, I’d received your urgent emails to call you and I chose to ignore them.”
“Aiden, I understand what you were doing. Like you said, we were so wrapped up in each other’s lives and we’d never gone more than two weeks without seeing one another. If you think about how many hours, months and years we’ve spent together, it made sense that we would eventually need a break as our feelings grew stronger. Especially when we couldn’t seem to figure it out back then.”
Aiden dragged his fingers over his face, pissed that he could have handled things much differently. “There hasn’t been a day I haven’t regretted pushing you away and not being there for you at a time when you needed me the most.”
“You’d planned on distancing yourself for two weeks. I’m the one who distanced myself from our friendship, which ended up lasting for years.” Summer placed her head on his shoulder as they both looked out at the lake. “I finally told my sisters what happened. Not everything, but most of it.”
Aiden wrapped an arm around Summer and gently pulled her closer to him. “I’m glad you told them. And thank you for telling me the rest, too.”
“You’re welcome.” Summer scooted closer to him on the dock. “You were right. Talking to those close to me about this is what I really needed to start healing the piece of my heart that still held on to what happened. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not still angry about it, but that situation doesn’t define me any more than the issues I have with my mother do.” She lifted her head to look at him.
“My situation doesn’t define you, either, Aiden. I know you’re an amazing man. I think we can both agree that the deeper our friendship grew and the more we realized we were much more than friends, the harder it got for us to just be us. There is so much of me I see in you, and so much of you I see in me, that we’d blurred the lines between friends and lovers in a way that had consumed every part of us. Now we’re older. Wiser. And I now understand what I’d failed to understand all those years ago.”
Aiden studied her eyes, failing to keep his own emotions at bay. She was right. He couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t look in the mirror at himself and instead of seeing his own reflection, saw a combination of his and hers. “What do you understand now that you didn’t then?”
Her eyes briefly dropped to his lips. “It may have taken me years, but now I finally understand that the makeup of the long-lasting relationships that we read about in books or see in movies is that the couple builds a solid foundation. Whether it be a foundation that’s built after they fall for one another, or one that was built before they even began to fall—like ours—the fact that a good foundation is needed is the core of their success. We have the ingredients needed for a strong relationship, and we always have had that.”
As Aiden sat on that dock with Summer, he realized that this was the first time in eight years that neither one of them was hiding from the truth. They may have felt broken at times, but never defeated. “Are you saying that you’re ready for us to actually enter a relationship? And I’m not talking about the type of relationship where I can’t kiss you in public or around your family. I’m talking about the type of relationship in which I get to claim you as mine and me as yours.”
She smiled as she leaned into him a little more. “I’m game if you are.”
“Baby, I’ve been game for decades,” he said, before he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. The kiss quickly deepened into something so much sweeter than it had before. This kiss felt unrestricted, free of regret from the past.
There was so much more Aiden wanted to tell Summer. So many more emotions he needed to release. However, he knew they needed time because too much had been discussed today.
When he felt like she was ready, he’d tell her what was in his heart. Summer wasn’t just his friend. She wasn’t just the woman who was now his girlfriend. She was the woman he was deeply and unconditionally in love with. She was the woman who’d stolen his heart so long ago, he didn’t remember a time when it wasn’t hers.
Chapter 15
“Summer, everything looks amazing,” Aaliyah said, as she glanced around the loft that was staged for a boudoir photo shoot. Everything was coming along beautifully, and with the furniture in place and the lingerie on the racks, it was actually starting to look like a real lingerie boutique.
“It really does,” Nicole added. “I can’t wait for the photo shoot tomorrow. I’m anxious to see Aiden in action.”
“Me, too,” Summer said before turning to Danni. “Did we get a final tally of how many models will be arriving?”
“We’ll have five models in total, each representing a different ethnic group.”
“Fantastic.” The women all agreed to meet back at the shop tomorrow morning. Summer walked the women out and locked the door before glancing at the clock. Aiden was due to arrive at the boutique in thirty minutes to set up his camera equipment and make sure everything was in place to shoot photos for his exhibit.
Tomorrow would also give the ladies a chance to see how well they worked together and to iron out any procedures before they started to announce that Bare Sophistication would also have a boudoir studio.
She dimmed the lights on the first level of the shop and walked back toward the stairs leading to the loft. When she was almost to the first step, the most recent lingerie set that Winter had shipped over was hanging on the rack. The deep purple and black set was one of Summer’s favorites. The satin and lace combination on the bodice was breathtaking, and the matching boy shorts added to the overall look. Summer planned on recommending that customers pair it with sheer black thigh highs and heels of their choice.
Too bad I can’t wear this for Aiden. Ever since they’d gotten back from Michigan a few days ago, he’d kept things pretty PG-13. When Summer had asked why, he’d claimed that after such an emotional talk—not to mention one of the hottest experiences of her life—he wanted to make sure she was ready. Well, she had news for him. She was more than ready, and waiting was no longer a word she wanted in her vocabulary.
“This is why they invented sexy toys,” she said to herself. She’d never been into toys, but she still had ten days in Aiden’s home. If she was going to get through it in one sex-deprived piece, she’d have to do something to relieve the ache she constantly felt when around him.
She placed the lingerie back on the rack and froze. Looking at the seductive piece before glancing down at the black heels she’d chosen to wear today, she suddenly had a plan
. She just hoped it worked. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and texted Aiden that she was leaving a spare key to the shop under the outside welcome mat.
She grabbed the lingerie off the rack and raced up the stairs. Aiden may be fine with kissing until they were blue in the face, but as wonderful as his lips felt on hers, she wanted more. She needed more.
* * *
Aiden glanced at the text message again. “Why can’t she just open the door?” he asked aloud as he took the key from under the mat and let himself in.
“Summer?” he yelled after locking the front door back up. She must be upstairs. He took the stairs two at a time, careful not to shake his camera bag too much. Once he arrived on the second floor, he glanced around at all the progress Summer and her friends had made. The boudoir studio looked amazing. The lavish ivory couch and cream chair complemented the elegant ivory and cream bedding on the massive mahogany bed wonderfully. There was no doubt that all the extra furniture Summer purchased would look wonderful in the boudoir photos that he would take tomorrow, as well as the boudoir photos Aaliyah would take once Bare Sophistication opened for business.
He sat his bag on the floor, noting that the lights were really low in the loft, just as they had been downstairs. The bathroom door was closed, so he assumed she was in there.
He knocked on the door. “Summer, I’ll just start setting up.”
“Sounds good,” she said from the other side of the door. “I’ll be right out.”
As Aiden walked over to the mirrors and began taking out his camera equipment, he admired more of the studio. He was so proud of everything Summer had accomplished so far, and he couldn’t wait to see the enjoyment on her face the day of the grand opening.
The door to the bathroom opened as he was setting up the last of his equipment. “Perfect timing,” Aiden said, zipping his camera bag. “Do you have an agenda for tomorrow?”
Waiting for Summer Page 14
