I pull him into my arms and force his head down onto my shoulder, rubbing his back and rocking him like I would a child who’s been hurt. This poor man has lived the last twenty years believing that escaping his abuser is the reason his family died. That if he’d stayed, and let his father keep hurting him, that his family would still be here. My heart is in my stomach and tears spill down my cheeks while Aiden releases a shuddering breath.
There is one thing from what he said that strikes me as odd, though, causing a full body shudder to roll through me. And it’s nagging me so much that I need to ask him about it. I grab him by the shoulders and push him up so I can look him in the eyes.
“Aiden, are you telling me that this was your parents’ house?”
He raises an eyebrow at me and then has a look around. “Uh, yeah?”
Sothat’swhat Connor was trying to say about Aiden’s house having so many bad memories attached to it. This is the house that Aiden lived in with his family.
And Connor doesn’t even know the worst of it. How Aiden can stand living here is beyond me. Knowing what I know now, five minutes after he told me about it, has me wanting to run out of here screaming because this place is giving me the creeps. I’m not normally one to put much stock into the vibe or feeling of a place, but I think in this instance I’m going to follow my gut.
I stand up abruptly, grabbing onto Aiden’s hand as I do. “Get up,” I say, already dragging him toward the stairs. “We need to pack you a bag. We’re going to stay at my place. This place feels all wrong now.”
“I… what?” Aiden drags his feet, forcing me to stop just shy of the stairs. “What do you mean? I can’t just leave.”
“Ugh. Of course you can.” I start dragging him again. “Frankly, I can’t believe you’ve lived in this house as long as you have. I may not be entirely sure how I feel about you, but I can’t get you out of my head. It might be nothing or it might be everything, but whatever it is I feel, I can’t sit here imagining how your asshole of a father hurt you here. It’s too much. So we need to go.”
He stumbles along behind me as I drag him to his room. “What about Martin? What if he comes back to your place?”
“Come on. I’m sure you’re not afraid of him. I’m not even afraid of him, really. He surprised me outside my building more than he scared me. I’m worried that he could get me kicked out of my apartment. But I can deal with that tomorrow. Tonight, we’re getting out of this house.
“I’m not saying it’s the next Amityville or anything, but I’m not sitting around waiting for green slime to come down the walls to find out for sure. And I’m really not interested in seeing a red-eyed pig man watching us through the windows.”
“You realize they didn’t actually die in this house, right? It’s not like this place is haunted or something.” He’s chuckling a little. At least my irrational fear is good for something.
“For such a smart guy, I find it odd that you can’t feel the weird juju, or mojo, or vibes, or whatever it is, that this place has. Why have you stayed here? I would have sold this place as soon as my name was on the papers. I bet if you tried to dig a pool you’d discover a secret cemetery under your property.” I’m throwing clothes at him from his drawers, mostly jeans and t-shirts, letting him grab his own boxers. I don’t need any more reminders of what he’s got going on under his pants. We’re in the middle of an evacuation here, we don’t have time for that.
“Are you saying my house has a poltergeist?” He snickers.
“No, I’m not saying that, exactly. I’m saying this house is giving me a bad feeling and I want to leave. And I want you to come with me. So let’s get moving, buster. Time is money.”
Time is money? What am I even saying? This place must really creep me out if I’m busting out weird stuff like that.
“Nah, I’m pretty sure you’ve been likening my house to haunted houses in horror movies. What’s next? You going to worry about possessed dolls coming to life and running around here?” He laughs, a deep belly laugh.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I tell him, stuffing clothes into a suitcase that I dragged from the closet. “Something like that is much more likely to happen at my place, considering I’m the one who lives directly above a creepy doll store.”
Aiden shakes his head and laughs, but at least he also goes into the bathroom to gather up some toiletries. Good. Looks like he’s not going to put up too much of a fight about this little sleepover arrangement.
“You’re going to thank me for this when neither of us winds up spewing pea soup vomit with our heads rotating all the way around,” I yell toward the hallway. “I hear that stuff is a bitch to get out of the carpet.”
“You know,” he says, coming back into the bedroom and throwing a Dopp kit into the open suitcase, “something tells me you may watch too many horror movies. Just a thought.”
“Horror movies?” I look at him and ask, putting what I hope is a puzzled look on my face. “Oh, you mean the educational cautionary tales of the occult that I like to watch late at night, in the dark, by myself?”
Aiden barks out a laugh and bends to zip up his suitcase. “Yeah right. Next you’re going to tell me you sleep with a creepy doll from the store below your apartment.”
“Oh no.” I shake my head. “Uh Uh. No way. I know better. Remember what you said about possessed dolls coming to life? You think I’d invite something like that into my bed? Yeah. I’ll pass thanks.”
He chuckles while shaking his head at me. “Come on, scaredy cat,” he says, picking up his suitcase in one hand and lacing his fingers through mine with the other. “You can tell me the rest of what you’ve learned from your ‘educational tales’ when we get to your place.”
Taking Aiden to my place is probably not the best idea I’ve ever had, but I can’t bring myself to care. He’s taken up residence in my head, maybe even in my heart, and I want to see where this goes.
Chapter 38
Aiden - Don’t be a Stupid Fucking Asshole
“See? Isn’t that nice? Now, aren’t you glad we took my car instead of yours?” Rhea asks, a smug look on her face. I almost don’t want to answer. I’m too busy sinking into the plush, heated leather seats of her Jeep, letting the warmth soak into my back and soothe aches I didn’t even know I had.
