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“Fuck,” I cursed silently as I came. My body shuddered underneath the bubbly surface.
I grabbed onto the bathtub’s edge for some stability. As I came down, I could feel the tiredness descend into my bones and my mind. I’d been dealing with so much already, but maybe I’d convinced myself I was in control. With Aiden back in my life, that illusion faded away. Everything was slipping away from me.
Bobby was still young and looked up to me, but what was going to happen when he got older. I didn’t want my sweet boy to become distant. I could see that that had happened to his father. Was I to blame? So much could have happened between when I left and when I saw him in the club, but those were the last two points of contact I had regarding the old Aiden and this new version of him.
His mother said I would end up being an insignificant footnote in his life. If she was wrong, then I ran away for nothing.
I didn’t want to think of what could have been. All that would do was make me upset. We were in the present, and what I needed to do was find a solution to my current predicament. I had decided days ago to not involve Aiden in Bobby’s life, but what if that was the wrong decision? He was his father, and Bobby deserved to know his dad. The biggest issue was I didn’t know if his dad wanted to know him. Aiden could be holding onto residual resentment from when I left him and then finding out I kept a secret kid from his all these years, he might want to wash his hands of us entirely.
I slid down into the bath, submerging my head. Even though it was beyond temporary, a few moments of the peaceful quiet being underwater brings was precisely what I needed. Just a few moments of peace, and then I would figure everything out.Chapter Twelve - AidenI called the private investigator Darren recommended. Everything sounded peachy on the phone. I didn’t go into too much detail on my end, but they gave me a rundown of their agency. I liked what they were offering, so we set up an in-person meeting that was happening at Club Taboo today. I asked Darren to join since he had dealt with them before. He would know more about how to proceed.
“Jesus Christ, Harris,” my friend said as he walked in. “I’ve never seen you act nervous before in my life. Everything’s going to be fine, trust me.”
Darren had been trying to calm me down ever since he got the particulars of my relationship with Reagan. And he had made some excellent points, but my mind always went irrational when it came to my former love. It didn’t matter how much sense he was making, I was going to find some way to twist it into a doomsday scenario.
We were at the club, waiting at the bar when Darren tapped my arm. “She’s here.”
I turned around to see a well-dressed woman enter the club. She was pretty short but had an authoritative air about her. Made sense. It was probably a necessity working in the private eye business.
“Hi, I’m Sarah McWeaver.” She stretched out her hand, and I shook it. “You called about needing a PI?”
“Yeah, I did. Thanks for coming. Why don’t you sit down?” I motioned for her to take a seat at the table.
“Hey, Sarah,” Darren greeted her.
“Hi, Darren.”
They seemed to be on friendly terms. I never got the details on the business Darren had with these people. His recommendation for them was more than enough. Plus, my curiosity could wait. At that moment, Reagan and Bobby were my main concerns.
“Right, so I didn’t go into too much detail on the phone, but the basics are that I need some information on someone, but I don’t want them to know that I’m digging because I’m worried they might start hiding things even more if they found out.”
Sarah nodded. “We pride ourselves on our discretion. I can assure you we won’t do anything unnecessary that could compromise the work we are doing for you.”
I nodded. They’d already gone through how their agency works while we were on the phone. It was time for me to get into the nitty-gritty of what I wanted.
“Okay, so I’d like you to look into this girl I used to date, Reagan White.”
“Can you tell me a little bit about her? When did you two date?”
“Almost ten years ago. We met at a grocery store. She was the cashier.”
It was a little corny, but we really loved the story of how we first met. I was in the store getting some candy before I was supposed to go home. I couldn’t say where I was coming from, but I remembered everything vividly from the moment I saw Reagan. She was this tall, ethereal, gorgeous girl who stood out in that store. I was a fucking mess trying to talk to her, cracking all kinds of bad jokes. But she laughed at all of them. She gave me her number, and it was a wrap from there.
