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“Yeah, I do,” Noah says, looking up from his phone. “But maybe I should stay at your house too. I have nineteen missed calls from my mother and don’t feel like dying tonight.”
We smile at Noah despite the tense circumstances and the exhaustion that’s beginning to set in.
“Tough break, kid. Judy’s one tough woman when she’s angry.” Vince chuckles before looking at Mason and me. “Do you kids need a ride home?”
I shake my head no. “I drove here,” I inform him, leaving out the part that I have absolutely zero intention of leaving.
Mason looks at me suspiciously, as if he can read my mind. “I’ll catch a ride with Amelia.”
“Okay, then, you guys get home safe. Try not to worry, everything will be taken care of.”
We say good-bye to everyone and when they’re out of earshot, I turn to Mason.
“You know I’m not leaving any time soon right?”
He rolls his eyes at me and plants his butt firmly in the uncomfortable chair in the waiting area. “Of course I know that. I just messaged my dad and told him that I’m hitching a ride with you once this is all sorted out.”
I take a seat beside him and slouch back, tired.
Aiden has always been there for me; he’s always helped me out whenever I needed it, even if I didn’t ask him; even when I pissed him off or antagonized him.
Like when he got Ethan Moore to take down the video of me that Ethan had posted on the internet. Or when he put up with all my attitude and tutored me in calculus, helping me pull up my failing grade. Or when Kaitlyn and Ryan trashed my car and he brought me to Charlotte’s to sleep while he dealt with the tow truck, the mechanic, and all the repairs, refusing to accept any money. Or like how he won four thousand dollars racing Ryan at the Tracks and gave it to me to spend however I wanted. That’s only naming a few; he’s done so much and cares so deeply for his family and friends.
Aiden’s such a good person with such a genuinely kind soul; I can’t bear the thought of just leaving him in jail. I know he told us all to go home and stop worrying, but I can’t leave comfortably knowing that he’s here. I feel like I’d be abandoning him in a way, especially after he just found out the real truth about me, and wasn’t scared away.
He opened up to me, something that I know is extremely hard for him to do, and I betrayed him. I was lying to him the entire time while he was always completely honest and transparent with me. He was so incredibly hurt in the moment when he found out that my entire identity is a lie. Just the memory of the look on his face when he found out what a huge hypocrite I am—the look of complete disbelief and betrayal—still breaks my heart.
He knows my name isn’t Amelia—he found the shoebox that holds reminders of my past lives; he found out that I am a lying piece of garbage. But he understood. He’s not mad at me and he kissed me. He said that he’s all in—so I’m not going anywhere until he’s released.
“What do you think he’s thinking about?” I ask Mason, trying to distract myself.
“Probably his brothers,” he answers honestly.
“You’re probably right. He loves Jason and Jackson more than anything.”
“Do you think Ryan found out about his dad?”
“I don’t know. But I’m one hundred percent certain that this is only going to make the hatred Ryan holds for Aiden so much stronger.”
“You don’t think—” Mason pauses, thinking through his words. “You don’t think Ryan had something to do with this?”
Mason and I look at each other intently for a second, letting the suggestion sink in, before shaking our heads to dismiss that notion.
“No way,” I tell him. “Why would Ryan kill his own father then bring the body to Aiden’s house just to frame him? Even he’s not that psychotic.”
“You’re right. Ryan is crazy, but not murder-my-own-dad-just-to-frame-my-archnemesis crazy.”
I laugh half-heartedly with him, glad that Mason decided to wait here with me. There’s got to be an explanation for what happened. And none of us will stop until we know who really killed Greg.
