I squirmed around in my bed, unable to sleep. The things that were said between Aiden and Bryan earlier left me unable to sleep. The possibility that Aiden had taken a life, made shivers run down my spine. Not giving it a second thought, I got up, making sure Jason was still sleeping, and walked out the door. The sight of blood on the floor made me want to throw up on the spot.
I reached Aiden's front door and knocked on the door once, hoping he was awake. It's been fifteen minutes since you saw him, he's awake. Seconds later the door opened and I came face to face with a very shirtless Aiden, a bloody shirt in his hand.
He looked clearly caught off guard, a frown on his face. Before I could comprehend what I was doing, I hugged his bare torso, hiding my face in his chest. He locked his hands around me, one of them going to my hair, rubbing it soothingly. "What's wrong, baby?" he asked and the use of that nickname instantly made my heart flutter.
"I want to talk to you, but first I wanted to make sure you were okay" I shyly said, making him sigh. "I'm alright, we can have that talk if you want to. Let me just grab a shirt" he said and went to his room. When he came back I looked at him, questioningly when he shut his front door after walking out. "Jason" he said and I hid my face in my hands. I can't believe I forgot about my own brother. He noticed and reassured me immediately. "It was a long day, don't blame yourself" he gave me a small smile which I didn't reciprocate.
We walked into my house, going to my room. I closed the door behind us, sitting on the edge of my bed. He sat on the floor, his back resting against my nightstand, and I was sure he sensed my discomfort. The only light source in the room was a small lamp, making his bruises more evident.
Realizing we had no idea how to approach what happened, we agreed I'd ask anything I wanted to know and he'd answer. You know kind of like twenty questions only more depressing.
"Why did you call Bryan Axel?" I started off easy. "Cause that's his name. Axel Wright" he replied, not satisfying me. "And why did he introduce himself as Bryan to me?"
"He was in deep shit in New York, so when he fled he changed his name to be safe" he said. Ah, so they met in Brooklyn. "We used to be really close at some point" "he explained before I asked.
"What made you get to...this point" I asked, referring to what I witnessed earlier. "That's a long story" he said. "I've got time" I responded and he nodded. "Axel had- has a brother. I used to be friends with him and we were all kind of living under the same circumstances if you get what I'm saying" he paused to collect his thoughts and I nodded.
"At some point, he messed up a job he had to take care of, something that made the boss quite mad. And since it wasn't the first time he had messed up, he knew he was in deep shit." I frowned, urging him to go on. I felt like I was reading some sort of mystery novel, only this time it was real.
"One night he heard the boss talking on the phone with someone and telling him that he was going to kick one of us out. Me or Elijah. I knew he wouldn't dare touch me, he loved the cash I was getting him. So that's when he came up with the plan to fake his death" he said and I was left fried.
"Wait, but if he was getting kicked out, he basically had the solution right in front of him. Why fake his death?" I asked, not able to connect the dots in my head. "They don't just let you leave after you've seen how things work in there. If they're done with you, you're dead." he explained and a shiver ran from the back of my neck to the bottom of my spine. I clenched the sheet in my hand, the thought of Aiden getting killed was running in circles through my head, tormenting me.
"Don't start clenching the sheets now, love, I haven't even given you a reason to, yet." he winked at me, making me look down at my legs to hide my blushing. "You were saying..." I changed the subject.
"Right" he looked away from my hands, rubbing the back of his neck. "So we came up with this scenario that he got in a car crash and even had a funeral for his family." he continued.
That's wrong in more ways than I can think of! His poor parents think their child is dead" I said, not realizing I had actually voiced my thoughts.
"So Bry- Axel doesn't know he's alive?" I asked. "No. Elijah thought that if any of his family members knew he was alive they'd try to visit him and that would cause trouble for both sides" he said, and I was shocked by the fact that he spoke about this as if it was normal, there was no uneasiness in his voice.
"Earlier, you told Br- Axel, that you could call his brother if he really didn't believe you. Why is it okay for you to be in contact with him and not his family? " I asked. "The only reason he gave me that number was so that I could warn him if something went wrong. I still don't know where he went and if that number still exists."
I pinched the bridge of my nose, resting back against the wall and bringing my knees to my chest for comfort. "Okay, but why does Axel think you killed his brother?" the question still remained unanswered.
"Remember when I told you it was me or him?" he paused, waiting for my nod. "When Elijah 'died', everyone thought I had something to do with it, cause if he was out of the way, my spot would be secured since the boss couldn't afford to lose two members." he responded. "That's why Cole called you a murderer" I concluded. "Pretty much" he agreed.
Before I could speak, I heard the sound of keys coming from the front door. My eyes instantly widened. I went to the hallway, motioning for Aiden to be quiet. "Cole?" I called out. "I'm home" he said, closing the door behind him. I ran back to my room, locking the door.
I turned to Aiden. "You-" "-I know the drill" he cut me off, shaking his head. He opened the window and got ready to jump out when I remembered about his injuries. "Wait" I whispered, making him turn around. "You're hurt, I don't think it's a good idea for you to do that" I said.
A knock on the door cut our conversation short. "Evelyn? Can I come in?" Cole said. I grabbed the closest towel I found laying around -on the floor may I add- and wrapped it around my hair as quickly as possible to make it seem believable that I was in the shower. While I was going that, Aiden hid under the bed.
Once I was satisfied I opened the door. "Hey, you're back" I said, trying to hide the fact that I almost had a heart attack. "Why was the door locked?" he asked, looking around my room. Please don't see him, please don't see him "I was naked dumbass, I took a shower" I said, playing it cool.
"You took a shower and left the window open? Are you trying to catch pneumonia?" he said, while walking across my room to shut the window. "I forgot it" I came up with an excuse. He closed it and then looked around awkwardly. "The window's closed, you can go now" I chuckled, and heard as well.
"Actually, that's not the reason I came here" he said and I instantly started asking the universe what I had done wrong to deserve what was happening. "No?" I replied. "No. I wanted to talk to you" he said and I sighed. "Cole, it's almost two in the morning, do you really think this is the right time to do this?" I said, hoping he'd find my statement reasonable.
"You're right, it's late. I'll let you go to bed" he said and walked out. "Goodnight" he said. "Night Cole" I closed the door behind him, locking it once again and letting out a sigh.
"Is he gone?" Aiden's head popped out from under the bed, making me jump. "Yeah, he's gone" I said , plumping down on the bed. "So what were you saying?" he asked, taking a seat next to me. "I mean Cole went to his room and it's late so he'll probably fall asleep sooner or later. Why don't you just stay for a while and leave later when we're sure he's asleep?" I suggested.
He thought about it for a second and then smirked. "I think you're enjoying my company a little too much" he said, trapping me in the corner between my bed and the wall. "You wish" I did my best to say, trying to hide the fact that I clearly was.
He came closer, his face inches away from mine. "So you wouldn't mind if I kissed you, you know for my own pleasure of course" he said, smirking. "N-Nope" I said, finding it nearly impossible to avoid looking at his lips. "Of course not. Better question. Would you mind if I didn't kiss you?" he said and I struggled to respond as his lips were barely touching mine. "Guess we'll find out" he whispered, moving away from me and sitting on the other edge of the bed.
I thought I did a good job at hiding my frustration, but judging by the look on his face, I wasn't. A few seconds went by and I decided I wasn't able to hide my desperateness anymore, his injuries only made him harder to resist, and I cursed myself for finding that attractive. "For God's sake just kiss me already" I said, surprising myself.
He smirked. "Gladly" he said, closing the gap between us in a split second. A gasp left my lips the minute he touched them, making a groan erupt from the back of his throat. His hand got tangled in my hair and he pulled me closer by the neck, deepening the kiss. Shyly, I put my hands on his shirt, gripping it between my fingers.
His hand let go of my hair, going to my face, instead. Gently, he pushed me back on my pillow, laying on top of me. His kisses were gentle, but enough to start a feeling in my lower abdomen that I couldn't put my finger on. Catching him off guard, I gripped the back of his head, pulling him closer to me to deepen the kiss.
He did exactly that, slipping his tongue in my mouth as his hands went to my thighs, spreading them and wrapping them around his waist. His hands roamed all over my body from my legs to my waist, my hair, and finally my arms. Taking hold of them, he pinned them over my head, placing small kisses on my wrists.
Smiling, he pecked my lips before moving to my neck, leaving hot, open-mouthed kisses all over. I felt my body's temperature rising as he went on, and I couldn't believe I was doing all this with my childhood friend.
A small moan escaped my lips, just when he gave a small bite to my neck. Suddenly, he got away from me, getting up from the bed and running his hands through his hair. "What's wrong?" I weakly asked.
"I don't know if I'll be able to control myself if we keep this up" he said, making my cheeks heat up. "Right" I muttered, playing with the bottom of my shirt. I avoided his gaze, the feeling of embarrassment torturing me. What if I did something wrong and he doesn't want to tell me? What if she's better than me and now he regrets this?
"Stop overanalyzing it in your brain" he said, sitting in front of me and taking my hands in his own. "You did nothing wrong, love. I just don't want to rush things." he said, giving me a reassuring smile before kissing my forehead.
"I should probably get going, you need to rest" he said, but I grabbed his arm before he left the bed. He looked at me, questioningly. "Lay with me for a while?" I suggested and he smiled, nodding his head. "Of course"
Time went by quickly and before I knew it I was falling asleep in his arms. Carefully, he laid me on my pillow instead of his chest, tucking me in under the blanket. He placed a kiss on my forehead and then another on my cheek. "Sweet dreams, Eve" was the last thing I heard before drifting off to sleep, and I realized I wanted to fall asleep to it every night.