Saturday couldn't have arrived soon enough. Like all the other days of the week, I came home on Friday night exhausted and weak, falling into bed right away. However, I made sure to turn off all my alarms for the morning, allowing my body the rest it desperately needed. I couldn't possibly find any other reason to wake up early, and sleep would do me plenty of benefits. In the middle of the night, my eyes fluttered open, but I shut them tight again, blindly taking off the clothes I had been wearing. Feeling the claustrophobia waive off me, I turned over and fell asleep again, confident that nothing could wake me up any more till the morning came.
Saturday morning, I treated myself to a bath with a glass of wine to give me company, and then I put on my cutest dress to go out of the house and eat a nice breakfast. I could eat my sorrows away, and I had the money for it. I spent the day watching movies and eating insane amounts of carbs, falling asleep sometime in the late afternoon. I woke by just around dusk if the sky outside was any indication. Feeling the need to do something with all my energy, I headed to the kitchen first, taking the effort and time to make a luxurious creamy pasta. I had music playing in the marvellous and amazing speaker system that went through the whole house, dancing and celebrating the end of a terrible week. Even when the sauce and pasta were ready separately, I found the need to cook more, and I found myself looking up ingredients to make some fudgy brownies.
In the middle of mixing the batter, I heard some commotion on the other side of the door. Maybe he has guests over. This was the first I was ever hearing of him having people over. His home was usually a very private place. In the two months that I had been here, I hadn't even seen a single date come in, or anyone who could be deemed a friend.
I stopped the whisking when I heard a rather loud sound, almost like thunder. The sky outside hadn't been cloudy at all, but I still wanted to check. Before I could even get out of the kitchen, I heard another loud sound, unmistakably of glass shattering. Jesus, what the hell was Aiden doing? The third noise was a loud, gut-wrenching and almost heartbreaking scream, and that was the sound that set me into action. Turning off all the heat in the kitchen I rushed towards Aiden's apartment and ringing the bell.
There was another sound of glass smashing and I wondered if stepping in was a good idea at all. But the fears would have to wait till she would know Aiden was safe and okay.
What if he was getting kidnapped? I should have known his bank details. At least a contact in his family... Where on earth was I going to pay the ransom from? Multimillionaires like Aiden don't come cheap, and I had an inkling that the number would be too big to even fathom.
Oh, shut up Thea. As if anyone would call his neighbour for ransom instead of the family.
Right. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to take comfort in that or panic even harder, but I kept buzzing the bell, hoping my stupidity didn't get me killed. When the door opened, I didn't know if I wanted to be relieved or scared that Aiden showed up, looking haggard and in the worst shape I'd ever seen him.
"What the fuck do you want?" His acrid tone was taking my attention away from his red eyes and puffy face, now making me scared for different reasons.
"I just... I heard noises. I thought something was-" My eyes went over his strained shirt, having endured some form of abuse, the top buttons conspicuously absent, and his pants that were creased, very unlike his usual state, falling over his foot, "Oh my god you're bleeding!" There was blood pooling where Aiden stood, and I could only guess that Aiden had stepped on some shard of glass, causing all that blood to ooze out of his foot.
"You're smarter than you look." I tried not to dwell too much on his comment, whatever was happening, I could figure it out later. For now, the blood was important.
"You're going to sit down while I figure out what the fuck the right first aid step is, okay?" I brushed past him to his living room, stopping at the threshold. Yep, we couldn't move a damn step here without hurting further. I marched back out, "Change of plans. You're going to be sitting at my house while I figure out first aid."
I rushed across the hallway to open the door, looking back to see Aiden still standing at his doorway.
"Move!" I pulled his arm along with me, probably staining the floor of the hallway with crimson too. We could worry about covering up a crime scene later.
"Stupid fucker. If you can't get your anger issues in check, get yourself in therapy." I muttered, pushing him onto a chair and propping his foot on the table so I could see the wound better. Much to my luck, the shard of glass was visible but small and hadn't penetrated very deep. I could fix it. "What stupid fucking business is important enough to cause this harm?" My grumbling and muttering weren't really reaching him as he sat there limp, and I ran to the kitchen to retrieve my first aid kit. I was lucky the order I had placed for bagels this morning came with a water bottle, which I opened quickly to clean the wound. At least the water would be clean and away from infections.
"What the fuck happened?" I asked him as I tried to pull the glass out. My nails were too small, and the item refused to fit between my fingers. With a sigh of frustration, I ran to my room, rummaging through the drawers and finding my trusty tweezers.
"What are you doing with that?" He grumbled when I went down on my knees again, making me roll my eyes.
"You're as dumb as you look." I quipped before tweezing the glass out, relieved that the wound wasn't very deep and would heal on its own without a lot of medical intervention required. I washed off the blood with the water and cleaned the area with antiseptic, making him wince as I pressed the cotton on the wound.
"Sorry," I muttered, "I'll try being gentle."
"It's alright. Do what you must." He gritted his teeth, bracing for the next time he would feel the antiseptic touch his skin. Fucking men and their stupid fucking need to appear strong. I pressed on harder, eliciting a yelp from him and he reached forward to squeeze my hand in pain.
"That was unnecessary, sorry." I bit my lip, immediately realizing that I was the bad guy here. The poor man was already in pain, and here I was causing him even more suffering. Taking care to be gentler this time, I finished cleaning the wound and put some antiseptic cream over it. It was hard doing it with only one hand, but Aiden hadn't let go of me for a moment and I was not ready for him to break that bubble yet.
"Can you hold that end for me?" I handed him one edge of the gauze, which he held between two fingers and while I wrapped up his wound, I wondered how in the midst of all this I could find his fucking fingers sexy and attractive and hot. God, that one night of making out with him had really done a number on me, huh? How on earth do you get over something like that?
"Uh-Aiden, I-uh-I need both my hands to tie it up." I eyed his grip on my arm, his fingers instantly relaxing and letting me wiggle out. Snipping the extra bits, I stood up, handing the half remaining bottle of water to Aiden, "Hydrate yourself."
As he sipped on the water, I stood there, hands on my hips, wondering how I would get all of this mess cleaned up. There was water and blood over the floor, which was honestly, not that bad to clean. It would just take a mop to figure this shit out. But the rug... would definitely need more intense cleaning, maybe even replacement. Fuck.
"I'll get this cleaned and see if Josie can come over to help with your house. You can rest in my room till then." I walked off to the small cabinet in the hallway storing the cleaning supplies. Grabbing the mop and a bucket, I made my way back to the living room, where Aiden was now lying on the sofa, a hand over his head like he was some kind of a fucking model. In better circumstances, I would have really appreciated the look. Now... I just wanted to keep him far away from me, how did he end up sleeping in my house again?
I sighed. Thea's life was a downhill track on very smooth wheels.
"My phone..." he patted his pockets, unable to locate it. He sat up straight, "I need my phone."
"The world won't stop spinning if you don't have your phone on you every second, Steele. Just lie down." I had barely managed to take the water and blood off the floor, and I wasn't going to let him walk on it and manage to get his dressing dirty.
"I need to call-" the moment he set his foot on the ground he hissed in pain, making me roll my eyes. Fishing my phone from my pockets, I held it out for him, "Do you remember the number you want to contact?"
He nodded. Leaving the device to him, I took the cleaning material away and drained the water out, keeping them back in their designated spaces. When I came back, Aiden was on his feet again, standing only on the heel of his right foot. "I have to go home now." He said mechanically, "Thank you for... fixing this."
"Are you going to tell me what happened?" I asked, leaning against the wall, feeling exhausted again. Fuck. This wasn't how my relaxing evening was supposed to go. Why couldn't I have a drama-free day in my life?
"I got a call from my sister," he rubbed his forehead, "My dad... he..." I didn't want to jump to the wrong conclusions and say anything out of turn, but the way Aiden was trembling and his eyes had tears in them, I didn't wait for him to finish his sentence, crossing the distance between us and wrapping my arms around his neck.
Poor man.
He looked up to his father so much. Losing someone that close must be devastating. I couldn't even imagine the pain and heartache he would have gone through, and the broken TV in his living room made a lot more sense now.
Aiden stiffened for a second, before letting go in my arms. I rubbed his neck and his hair in what I hoped were movements of comfort, the other hand gently stroking his back. He took a minute, standing there and just taking it before completely breaking down, pressing me closer to him till I was certain you couldn't sneak in a paper between us. As he broke down in my arms, I wondered if there was anything I could do to make him whole again. My mind drew a blank. How do you comfort someone whose entire world had been turned upside down?
For now, all I could do was hold him tight and try to piece him together bit by bit, broken shard by shard. His first sob came moments later, and once he started, he was a trembling pile, held together just barely by a thread. I gently guided us to the sofa again, where I sat down and encouraged him to sit next to me. Instead, he surprised me by sitting down on the ground next to me and putting his head on my thighs, continuing to cry. My heart broke at the sight. Aiden Steele, the fucking legend was down on his knees and crying. And no amount of money in the world would fix what he just lost.
Without thinking, I bent over to press a kiss on his cheek, hoping I could press all my care and love and concern in those small seconds that my lips were on his skin. I continued to run my fingers through his hair as he held my legs and cried silently.
My phone rang, breaking the quietness of the moment. Trying not to cause any discomfort to Aiden, I reached forward and grabbed the device, glowing with an unknown number on it.
"Is this for you?" I pointed the screen at him. He nodded, still resting on me as he answered the call.
"Yes, Penny. No. I'll drive. It's fine." There was a long pause while the woman on the other end, whom I could only assume was his sister Penelope, spoke quickly and too loudly for a phone to be pressed to someone's ear.
"I'm not a child. I'll be there in an hour or something." He disconnected the line before sitting up straight.
"You're going to your family home?" I confirmed and he only nodded, using my knee and the table in front of him as support to get up.
"You're in no shape to drive. Nor am I letting you in that house again till it's clean." I stood up with him, hoping I could come up with a quick solution before Aiden lost his mind. Before he could protest, I said, "You're going to go to my room and you're going to clean yourself up, okay? I'll get you clothes from your home and call a cab till then, okay?"
"Oh, you won't get hurt by the glass all over the floor?" I wasn't sure how to react to his usual snarky self in between fits of sadness.
"I'll be careful." I defended, "Don't put the wound underwater."
He hobbled over in the direction of my room without much argument, and I proceeded to wear my shoes before tiptoeing over to his apartment. I didn't want to clean more blood than necessary, and I desperately didn't want Aiden's blood all over my apartment. What a crime scene that would be?
The pathway to his room was harder than I anticipated, but with a little bit of floating in the air and walking between very delicate spaces of glass I could find. No one could have predicted my first time in Aiden's bedroom would have panned out like this. Shaking the thought out of my head, I headed into his wardrobe, sliding open doors and drawers to figure out something for him to wear. He didn't seem like the type to enjoy informal wear, but he was going home... Fuck it, I'll just grab everything. I danced back to my apartment the same way I had gone, mildly relieved that the soles of my feet were lacking any glass or blood. Mission successful.
In my room, I heard the shower turn off just as I entered. I stepped into my dressing room, careful to keep my back facing the bathroom door in case I saw something unexpected. I had barely been able to digest him without a shirt, seeing him without the pants would only be tempting the devil. And I had, by no means, wanted to play a losing game.
I heard the door unlock behind me. Forcing my eyes to remain straight ahead, I laid out the clothes on the dressing table, "I brought you all things I thought you wanted to wear, and if something is missing, you can let me know. I'll go back."
I had brought him a black polo and denims, and a black suit with a white shirt, some standard attire. I had the good sense to also grab underwear and socks. "Your shoes are kept in the living room whenever you're ready." Bringing all of it here had been a chore, but I had been successful which pleased me. Leaving him to do his business, I was heading out of the room when he called my name softly.
I turned my head sideways to indicate I was listening, still not fully turning around. I really didn't want to see anything and push myself off a cliff. While the situation was completely twisted, I needed to preserve my heart. Being tender with Aiden was not helping my case, but what choice did I have? The knife had been lodged, how bad would a little twist make it?
"Thank you."
"I'll call your cab now. Address?"
"I can drive." He said voice pressed.
"I'm not accepting arguments, Aiden." I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see it. "Address?"
"My family needs our privacy, Thea. I'm not taking a cab." He said sternly.
"Fine." I shrugged. "Get dressed then." I came out to the living room as he did his business, wondering just how different two worlds could get. In the end, he emerged from the room wearing his suit, just as I had predicted. He stood in the doorway for a moment, before saying, "When you heard that noise... you shouldn't have come."
"Thank god I did or you would have seriously injured yourself." I stood up, walking over to him.
"I could have hurt you." He shook his head.
I wanted to say that he already has, but now was not the time to rip him a new one. Right now, he needed compassion, and I would drain myself dry of it if I could help him.
"You wouldn't." Unthinkingly, I pressed my palm to his cheek. Maybe my mind played tricks on me, or maybe he did actually lean into my touch, but in any case, I was confident that no matter how enraged Aiden was, he would never hurt anyone intentionally.
"You're not Superwoman." He had a wry smile come on his face, which broke my heart even further.
"I am strong though. You can hurt me, but it won't stop me from trying to help you."
"I would discuss with you how strength and resilience aren't the same things, but another time. I must go now." His words struck a nerve, making me step back, bringing me back to reality. He had to leave.
I stood by the door, watching him retrieve his car and house keys from his home. He handed me the house keys so I could call Josie over to clean it up before getting in the elevator waiting for him. I wanted to say something, words were at the tip of my tongue, even if I knew this was possibly the worst time to say anything on my mind.
Instead, I just said, "Drive safe."
Aiden looked up, his eyes still laced with red taking a pause before stepping out of the elevator, "Come with me."
This chapter was so sad and soft omg
On a lighter note, the next chapter is CH 26: A SERIES OF CONFESSIONS. There are 4 confessions in the chapter, can you guess what those are?
See you on Wednesday :)
Ciao!