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The way Aidan explained the situation sounded oddly rote.Like he’d memorized the words and spat them out at the appropriate times. Hesupposed that wasn’t so strange since Aidan probably got asked the question alot.
“He’s not happy,” TJ said. “I don’t know what he’s tellingyou, but I’ve been around him a lot in the last year and a half and he’s notthe same.”
Aidan picked up his bag. “Well, that’s his choice. We’vealways been here. We didn’t change the plans we’ve been making for yearsbecause we want a little glory. He’s the one who walked away. Maybe he foundsomeone else. Maybe he can’t handle what it means to be in the kind ofrelationship we were in, but he’s gone and won’t be coming back. Not to us.”
“Would you let him?”
Aidan’s shoulders slumped. “No. Not anymore. He broke trustwith us, and we’re done. You do know everyone has asked us these questions,right? It gets to be a lot. How about I ask what you’re doing with Lou. She’s agood kid. She doesn’t deserve to be jerked around.”
Yup. That hurt. “First, she’s not a kid. Not anymore, butshe was in high school. She might have been super smart, but she was young andnaïve. I never meant to jerk her around. I love Lou. I always have. I had nobusiness messing around with Lou back then, and she went to college and ourpaths diverged.”
“But they came back together when she chucked it all to jointhe twins’ mad experiment.”
TJ had to tamp down his irritation. “It’s not anexperiment.”
“Forgive me if I’m bitter since that team is one of thereasons I lost my partner, but that’s not the point,” Aidan explained. “She’sbeen on the team for two years and you didn’t approach her. From what Iunderstand you recently rejected her. Again.”
Did everyone know about that? It had happened on asuper-classified op. Did anyone know the meaning of the word discretion? “Thatwas a mistake. I’m correcting it now. I’m in love with Lou, and the time isright. I’m going to convince her and marry her, and I hope everyone in thefamily will support me.”
Aidan gave him a once-over. “Are you sure this isn’t…”
“It’s not fucking trauma.” He was sick of this.“Look—support me. Don’t support me. I’m getting my girl.”
“And when your job takes you away from her when she needsyou?” Aidan asked.
“Then I quit my job. She’s more important than any career. Iquit and I come home and get on my uncle’s payroll and support her. Hell, I’llbe a great stay-at-home dad. I’ve done what I needed to do. Now it’s time to dowhat I want, and that’s to be with Lou.”
“All right. I’m glad to hear it,” Aidan replied with a nod.
A slow clap came from the doorway. Kala stood there. She wasdressed to go into the office, wearing black slacks and a button-down shemanaged to make look both badass and feminine. Her bright pink hair was in aneat bun. “Me, too. I guess I need a new nickname for you.”
“Other than Fucking TJ?” He knew what they called him. “Yes.How about Lou’s boyfriend. I’ll take that one.”
Kala chose to ignore that, turning to Aidan. “He okay? Hemight not mention it but there was a muscle in his left arm that was stilltwitching on the plane ride back. Should he go in for more tests? I don’t knowthat he would actually tell us everything that happened to him.”
“I told you,” he argued. “And the twitching seems to havestopped. I feel fine.”
Aidan settled his bag over his shoulder. “I’d still like todo blood work. Otherwise, I’m going to clear him for basic work. I don’t thinkhe should be on a team doing missions for a while.”
“He’s going to be here in Dallas for the forseeablefuture. I’ll make sure he takes it easy,” Kala assured him. “And Aidan, thankyou for coming by. I know it’s hard for you. If it helps at all, Tristan isbeing an asshole. And he misses you.”
“That doesn’t help. Not at all. But it’s beside the point.Carys and I will always be here when you need us. No matter what dumb shityou’re doing.” Aidan turned and walked away.
Kala frowned, a mulish expression. “It’s not dumb shit. It’ssuperhero shit. I’m very misunderstood.”
“He thinks the team is the reason Tristan left them,” TJexplained. “He’s bitter. I suppose I would be, too.”
Kala walked in, sitting down on Tasha’s bed. “Yeah, well, Ithink when Tris gets back from this secret mission of his, I’m going to holdhis ass down until he tells me what’s going on. I’m tired of this. I know mydad is, too. It was one thing when he thought Tris had cold feet and neededsome time. But there’s something else going on here.”
“I think Aidan was lying to me,” TJ admitted.
Kala sat up straighter. “About?”
“I asked him if he’d seen Tris recently and he told me no.I’m almost sure that was a lie.” He felt comfortable talking to Kala. She’d sooften been his partner in crime that it was easy to fall back into the groove.
“Something’s going on and I don’t like it,” Kala said.
“Then we should do something about it.” This was not a badplan. If he brought Lou in, she might feel closer to him. Having a mission oftheir own might work in his favor. “Have we asked Lou what she thinks?”
