AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What do you think happened? It’s Jake. He did what Jake does best—fucked up. He asked to be dropped off here, so here you go.” Aiden lightly shoved Jake into his father’s arms and turned to walk away. I felt completely uncomfortable, so I followed his lead.
“Aiden, wait,” Samuel said, calling out to his son. “We should talk.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Son—”
“Have a good night, Samuel,” Aiden said coldly.
I felt the sting from his words as Samuel took a step back. My heart slightly cracked as I watched Samuel shatter within his own eyes. I wanted to give him comfort, but I knew Aiden deserved my gentleness at that moment. Samuel wasn’t my concern—his son was.
The two of us got into my car and drove away. The ride was silent, and I wasn’t exactly sure where we were heading. Aiden hadn’t spoken a word, and his hands were still in fists as he stared with a stern look out the passenger window. His right foot tapped aggressively against the floor mat.
I pulled the car over to the side of the road and placed it in park before I turned to Aiden. “Talk to me.”
“I don’t have anything to say.”
“You didn’t have anything to say to your father, which is understandable. But it’s me, Aiden. You can tell me everything.”
“I sure couldn’t for the past five years,” he snapped. Then his shoulders lowered, and he cussed under his breath. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to say that.”
“Maybe you did, and that’s okay.” I placed my hand against his shoulder and turned him toward me. “You’re allowed to be mad at me, too, Aiden. You can say anything to me—even the hard stuff that might hurt me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” His blue eyes looked so heartbroken. “You’re the last person I’d ever want to hurt.”
“Tell me the hard parts, and I’ll help you through them.”
“Seeing Jake didn’t bother me. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard and irritating, but that was Jake just being Jake. He’d been that way my whole life. But facing my father? The one who wasn’t supposed to be a hot mess? The one who I’d looked up to my whole life and just learned that he lied to me for five years straight? That’s the hardest part. Because now it feels as if I’m staring straight into the eyes of a man I never knew.”
“You should feel the same way about me, though. I went along with the plan your father made up. I’m the one who actually went through with it. I—”
“Hailee, I know this might be hard for you to understand, but I spent the past five years trying to be mad at you. I’ve spent over a thousand-plus days trying to be angry with you. I even showed up here trying to ride that hatred roller coaster, and it doesn’t work. It will never work. Do you know why I came back to town? Why I decided to stay in Leeks for the holiday season?”
“Why?”
“It was you,” he confessed. “I came back for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we were kids, you told me that if I’m ever in Hollywood and like I’m losing myself, I should come back and find you. For quite some time now, I’ve felt lost so… I came back.”
“To find me?”
“To find you.”
My heart would belong to that man for the rest of my forevers.
“Aiden?”
“Yes?”
I bit my bottom lip. “Do you want to see my apartment?”
His whole demeanor shifted with that one sentence. He narrowed his eyes as a sly grin found his mouth. “Is that… an invite to come see your interior design, or is it an invite to come take off your clothes?”
I turned the keys in the ignition and started the car. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
36
