Abuse, I can take.
But Aiden’s words all but floor me.
He pulls back a fraction. “That’s something we’ll have to work on.” His lips brush my forehead as he speaks. “Now, get comfortable and meet me downstairs when you’re ready,” he says, giving me a reassuring smile before leaving the room.
What the hell just happened?
It takes me a few minutes to get changed and pretend I didn’t turn into a sobbing mess in front of a man I barely know. I wouldn’t be surprised if I never heard from him again. I’m shocked he’s still here and didn’t run out of the house as soon as he saw my breakdown.
He’s not in the sitting room or the kitchen when I come down; instead, I find him in the extension, browsing my bookshelves.
“You have a lot of porn on these shelves,” he jokes, causingme to laugh despite feeling like a pile of dog shit.
“I could say the same about your phone,” I counter with a smirk. “It’s not all smut, look,” I point to the Lord of the Rings, The Witcher, and Harry Potter books on the shelf.
“Ah, yes, but look at this,” he gestures towards my Sarah J. Mass shelves. “That is essentially monster porn,” he says, making a point of tipping A Court of Silver Flames off the shelf and flipping through it.
“I’m not even sorry about that, batboys for the win!”
Aiden slams the book with a chuckle and puts it back on the shelf. He then crouches down, pulling me with him to the floor. “You seem to have a thing for serial killers as well,” he mumbles, pointing to my collection of true crime novels.
“I find them fascinating. The darker the story, the better. It’s like peeking into the twisted minds of those who walk among us.”
His head bobs up and down as he scans the titles, his eyes lingering on each spine. “You’re just full of surprises,” he says with a smirk. “I never would have guessed you had such a morbid interest. It’s refreshing to meet someone who appreciates the macabre like I do.”
I’m not sure what motivates me to ask; I’m either too exhausted to maintain “appropriate conversation” or still dazed from my breakdown. “Did you shoot that garda?”
He freezes, his head snapping in my direction. “I did,” he nods. “Rubber bullets, Katie; I didn’t shoot to kill.”
“Why did you do it?”
He pauses briefly before answering. “The man partly responsible for Éabha’s imprisonment was a dirty garda.” He bites his lip, wondering if he should continue. “There was an elaborate set-up to catch him, and, like rats that are trapped,he panicked and drew a gun. Nick’s wife was pregnant at the time; Joe had his gun on the dirty garda, and I wasn’t perceived as a threat to him.”
“Why not?”
“Because he thought I was the man that I’m rumoured to be.” Aiden pushes himself to his full height and then offers me his hand. “I had a feeling I’d need to bail Joe and Nick out of a sticky situation, so I loaded my gun with rubber bullets, and when the rat started getting an itchy trigger finger, I shot Nick.”
“You saved his life,” Light bulb. “That’s why the charges were dropped.”
“Exactly.” He offers me a wolfish grin and walks with me to the sitting room, only to stop dead and say, “I think your guinea pig is having a seizure.”
I look into the cage and laugh. “He’s popcorning.”
“He’s what now?”
“He’s popcorning,” I repeat, chuckling at the sight of Oreo excitedly hopping around in its cage. “It means he’s happy and excited.”
Aiden gives the cage another sideways glance before he heads to the couch, pressing his back against the pillows. I take a seat on the opposite side and earn a glare.
“What?”
He reaches over and grabs my legs, dragging me down beside him. He tugs the blanket over me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. Two cups of tea sit on the coffee table in front of us, steam slowly rising from the cups.
He turns on Netflix and starts scrolling through the different options.
“What are we watching?” His arm tightens aroundme, and I’m pulled onto his lap.
All of my anxieties flare up as I feel the weight of his body against mine. I shift, so only half of my weight is resting on him. “A horror?” I try to move in a way that doesn’t look obvious. “Something gory.”
