A Step Two Close

  I closed my eyes wondering if I should say yes. In the end, I felt I had to. I felt I owed it to her to explain everything, and I also felt I owed her an explanation. “Okay, fine. When would you like me to come over?”

  I heard her suck in a breath. “How about tonight? I’ll cook us a new curry recipe I picked up the other day. I’ll also grab us a nice bottle of something.”

  I bit my lip wondering if Hunter will be there. “Is Hunter going to be there?”

  “No. Neither is Mason.” There was a sadness in her voice, and it made me feel bad. I had done all of this. I had broken up a family.

  “Okay, I’ll be there. What time?” I instinctively looked at my watch and saw it was almost four.

  “Say around seven? Just let yourself in when you’re ready. I’ll be here.”

  “Okay, see you then.”

  We both hung up, leaving me to face Christian. He was looking at me as if to say well come on then?

  “My mum’s invited me round to dinner at seven tonight.”

  Christian shook his head violently and got up out of his seat. “Oh no, sweet cheeks. There’s no way in hell you should be going over there. Are you mad?”

  I looked up at him with a frown. “It’s only for dinner. She wants to make amends.”

  “Yeah, with her fist.” I cringed and he noticed. “Sorry, babes, but surely you can see how suspicious all of this is? She found out you had sex with her husband and out the blue, two weeks later, she’s inviting you round for dinner. The woman who used to beat you.” He came over grabbing my arm and showing me my scar. “The woman who did this to you.”

  I looked up into Christian’s eyes and saw the desperation in them. He cared for me. I could see that. He wanted me to be safe, but I had to do this. What was the worst she could possibly do to me?

  “I have to go and see what she says. If she pulls another one of her stunts, I’ll never set foot in that house again. Now that I’m not living there anymore, I can fight back. I will fight back. If she dares to hit me, she will be in for the shock of her life, Christian. I’m tired of sitting down and taking it. I’m tired of nodding my head and being polite because that’s what’s expected of me. If she wants to play that game, then I’m going to pull those gloves on and take my stand. I promise you that, Christian.”

  Christian huffed and sat down beside me. “I don’t fucking like this. I know she’s your mother, but she’s a fucking evil, twisted, psychopath, Ayden. She’s never been nice to you, so why now?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s been nice to me ever since this.” I pointed to my arm and shrugged again. “Maybe she feels bad.”

  Christian snorted then saw my reaction. “Sorry, babes. I just think pigs may fly as far as your mother suddenly changing her tune is concerned. I really hope that’s not the case.” He placed a hand on mine. “For your sake.”

  I smiled and looked at the time again. “I suppose I better start getting ready. I haven’t had a shower since yesterday.”

  Christian screwed his nose up. “I was wondering what that smell was.”

  I hit him with one of his sofa cushions. “Hey, cut it out.”

  He started laughing, and I made my way to the shower. I needed to at least try to make an effort—despite not having an ounce of it left in me.

  As I was showering, all I could think about was Hunter. What was Hunter doing? Where was he now? Was he thinking about me? Was he missing me? Those thoughts just seemed to swirl around in my head until my heart ached, and my body yearned to be with him. I hurt like never before. I knew all of this wasn’t anyone’s fault; it was merely a fucked up coincidence. But, Hunter was right. I did conceal it. I did hide it from him. And, I did betray his trust. It was no wonder he hadn’t called or texted me. How could I blame him?

  I did miss him, though. I missed the little ding on my phone every time he texted me. His text messages were always either sweet or rude, but, no matter what, they would always send my heart fluttering.

  When it got close to the time to leave, I called a cab and gathered my bag; I was ready to go. Christian stood up and looked at me. “You look stunning in that dress. Dresses have always suited you.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.”

  He then grabbed my hand. “Promise me you’ll text me half an hour after you get there and every half an hour after that. If I don’t hear back from you, I will be taking action.”

  I shook my head. “Christian, don’t be sil—”

  He shook my hand. “Promise me, Ayden. Please. For me.”

  I sighed and looked into his sincere puppy dog eyes. I could never say no to those eyes. “Okay. Whatever you say, big fella.”

  Christian smiled triumphantly. “Good. Text me when you arrive and every half an hour after, Ayden. I promise I will do something if you don’t.”

  I saluted him. “Yes, sir!”

  He grabbed my cheek and pinched it a little. “You cheeky mare.”

  I grabbed his cheek, too. “My adorable lummox!”

  We both started laughing, and then the taxi started beeping outside, announcing its arrival. “Well, I had better go. I’ll see you later tonight.”

  Christian hugged me. “Okay. You take care, and remember—take no shit from her. You owe her nothing, Ayden. You’re not living under her roof anymore.”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  I was soon out the door of the flat and racing down the stairs towards the waiting taxi. I rounded off the address to him and sat back as the flurries of butterflies entered my stomach. I was about to go home after two weeks away. A home that was filled with so many good and bad memories that I was wondering if I could ever cope.

  As we stopped at the gates, my heart rate picked up. I paid the taxi driver, got out of the car, and sent a text to Christian.

  Me: I am here now. Will send you text in thirty.

  Christian: Okay. Good luck, sweet cheeks. I’ll be waiting for you. xxx

  I smiled and placed my phone back in my handbag. I checked the time knowing that I would need to text Christian in exactly half an hour. It was seven now, so that was easy to remember.

  I was planning on ringing the doorbell, but it felt strange. It was then I remembered that my mother told me just to let myself in. I dug around my purse and did just that. All was quiet. The only thing outside was my mother’s Mercedes.

  As I got to the door, I knocked out of politeness and put my key in the lock. When I pushed at the door, I braced myself for a blow to the head or my wild mother wielding a knife. None of it came. Instead, I was met by a completely transformed woman standing in the hallway—smiling at me.

  “Ayden, how lovely to see you.” She wiped her hands on the apron she wore and came rushing in for a hug. I stiffened, but I tried my best to hug her back.

  When she pulled away, she looked at me. “You look like you’ve lost weight. Come, we need to remedy that.” She motioned for me to follow her, and, before I did, I briefly looked up the stairs towards Hunter’s room. I knew he wasn’t there, but it still didn’t stop the ache in my heart. I really did miss him.

  As we neared the kitchen, I could smell the curry. “Wow! That smells delicious.”

  My mother smiled. “It’s Chicken Jafrezi. I just thought I would try something different for a change.”

  I sat down at the breakfast bar and Mum poured me some wine. “Well, I can’t wait to try it.” I held up my glass. “Thank you.”

  My mum lifted her glass up too, and we clinked them together. Never had I ever done something so simple as that with her in all my nineteen years.

  “So, how have you been? Really, I mean?”

  She was asking me?

  I sighed. “I’m in a bad place to tell you the truth. I know Hunter and I did wrong by starting a relationship behind your backs, but I really did try to fight it. When we were on holiday together, I told Hunter I loved him, and he eventually said it back. It was then we knew we had to say something to you. In fact, we were planning on doing just th
at the night when you two came back from your honeymoon.” I waited for her to shout at me—maybe even throw the glass of wine in my face—but, instead, she remained calm. She even looked sympathetic.

  “I must be honest with you. I would have liked for you to have told me sooner. It was very unpleasant finding out that way. The whole experience was very unpleasant. But, you’re hurting too... just like we all are.”

  I saw her sad eyes and grimaced. “Do you mind me asking what’s happening between you and Mason now?”

  She sighed. “We haven’t spoken since. Something like that is hard to get over. We’re both going to need some time apart to adjust. I really don’t know at this stage.”

  I bit my lip, wondering whether to ask, but then I thought to hell with it. “Have you seen Hunter?”

  She shook her head. “No. He left soon after you did, and I haven’t heard from him since. He hasn’t even collected all of his things yet.”

  I closed my eyes. “I’m so sorry about all of this. It’s just so hard to explain. The coincidence is just unreal. I swear to you that I never knew. You remembered my reaction that day when I met them. Now, you know why.” I put my head down a little. “I suppose you hate me.”

  She shook her head. “No, of course not. I haven’t been very observant of you, Ayden, and for that, I’m sorry.” She sighed and then went back to stirring her sauce.

  We chatted about nothing major for a few minutes after, and once it got to half past seven, I texted Christian.

  Me: Going surprisingly well. Will text you at eight. xx

  I put my phone in my bag, and about ten minutes later, the dinner was ready. “Go take a seat in the dining room. I’ll bring it all in.”

  I dutifully did as asked and made my way inside. About five minutes later, my mum came in with two plates of food. She laid mine down and sat down with hers.

  “Thank you. It looks delicious.”

  She smiled. “I hope you like it.” She had a glint in her eye as she took her first bite.

  I smiled, picked up my fork, and took my first bite. It was good, but then my mother’s cooking always was. When she looked at me expectantly, I smiled. “This is really good, Mum. You should keep this on your recipe card.”

  She chuckled a little. “Oh, I will.”

  We then slipped into conversation about random things like the summer, my school, and how things were going for her at work. It was surprisingly comfortable. Everything was surprising me tonight.

  As always though, you should never let your guard down when there’s cause to be suspicious. Things turned pretty strange when I was halfway through my meal. For some reason, I kept clearing my throat.

  “Is everything okay, dear?” my mother asked, sweetly.

  I lifted my hand to my throat and winced. “I don’t know. My throat’s really dry all of a sudden.”

  My mother looked worried. “Oh, dear. Would you like some water?”

  I nodded—wincing as it seemed to get worse. “Yes, please.”

  My mother got up and left me, but pretty soon, my heart starting beating wildly in my chest. I was feeling dizzy and weak. So, so weak.

  What was wrong with me?

  “Here’s your water, dear.”

  I groaned. “Thank you.” I tried picking the water up, but it slipped through my hands as I collapsed on the floor.

  My mother got up and hovered over me. “Oh dear, you have got yourself in a bit of a pickle, haven’t you? It seems that life has just been too unkind for you, and you couldn’t cope anymore.” She tapped my shoulder. “There, there, dear. I’ll tell everyone that this is what you wanted. You were distraught after Hunter left you and you broke up your mother and her husband’s marriage. Everyone will understand.” I watched in a blur as she got up to clean the table. “I’ll leave yours here, so they know it was all your doing. Goodbye, sweet daughter of mine. I hope you rot in hell!”

  I didn’t realise it at first, but I had my hand held out to her—wordlessly asking her to help me. I didn’t know why, but she was the only one who could. I was dying. I could feel it. Every nerve in my body was shutting down, and I knew that my life would end soon.

  My mother wanted me dead.

  My mother killed me.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Hunter

  Two weeks had gone by, and I thought I would have felt better by this point.

  I didn’t.

  I felt like fucking shit.

  I never knew a time would come when I would meet the right girl. You know... the one that you wanted to be with even away from all the sex. I wanted AJ with a passion. I wanted her all the fucking time, but the closeness of her was what I craved the most. I longed to be near her. I needed to be near her. She had a pure heart, which was a cure for my diseased one. There was no denying that she was going to be mine. Of course she was going to be mine. There was no other way.

  But, then, my world came crashing down. All it took was a note through the door and a blow by fucking blow description of the conversation my dad and AJ had at the gates on his wedding day. I was fucking there. I watched them! I even asked AJ what it was all about, and she just looked me dead in the eye and lied to me. It was some shit about her accepting my dad into the family. What fucking bullshit.

  Yet, here I was on day fucking fifteen, still wishing and yearning to be with her. I spent my time at the penthouse as my dad decided to move to a hotel until, hopefully, things settled down a bit.

  Yeah... fat fucking chance.

  I was trying to get over her. I really was. I even invited a girl round and tried to get it up. No fucking use. AJ had bewitched me. She made sure of that the day she met me. The only thing left to do was drown my sorrows.

  So that was what I did most nights. Women were no fucking use, so why not alcohol? Pathetic excuse, I know, but it worked. For a little while anyway.

  I was sitting on the sofa watching The Breakfast Club. I loved that fucking film. I was at the part where Bender was asking Vernon if Barry Manilow knew that he had raided his wardrobe when my phone started ringing.

  I looked down, disappointed when it wasn’t from my AJ. Fuck knows why because I still wouldn’t have spoken with her. I just missed her voice. I missed her... period.

  The caller was Beth, my dad’s new secretary. At first I was going to ignore it, but something told me to answer it.

  “Mr. Davenport, I’m so sorry to disturb you at such a late hour.”

  I pinched my nose, ready for the shit about some crisis at work with one of our clients. “Don’t worry, Beth, what is it?”

  She sighed and sounded a little out of sorts. “I really didn’t know whether to call you, but the gentleman sounded so insistent. He called the office, but as you know the phone calls come to me after hours. I was told by your father to only call if there was an emergency.”

  I was getting frustrated now. “Okay, Beth, just spit it out.”

  “His name is Christian Baker. He sounded a little crazy to be honest. He kept saying that you had to go round to the Pearson residence. Something about a matter of life or death. He mentioned the name Ayden and left his number. He wasn’t making any sense. He was babbling. That’s why I thought I had better call you.”

  My heart rate picked up a notch. Was something wrong with AJ? “Okay, give me his number, Beth.” She read out the number to me, and I wrote it down. By the time I hung up, I was already dialling and gathering my keys to leave.

  After one ring, Christian answered. “Please tell me this is Hunter?”

  I closed my eyes. “Yes, this is he. What the fuck is going on?”

  Suddenly, Christian started crying. Out of nowhere, he just started sobbing over the phone to me. “It’s Ayden. She’s gone round to her mother’s house.”

  I frowned, shaking my head. “So, what the fuck has that got to do with me?”

  “Her mother is a fucking psychopath, Hunter. Didn’t you see that cut on Ayden’s arm?”

  My eyes widened, and I felt sick.
“Her mother did that to her?”

  “Yes!” he screeched. “She did it that night at the party. No doubt she gave you some lame excuse as to how she got it. If you noticed any other scars on her, then they are most likely from her mother, too.”

  I ran my fingers through my hair as I called the lift. “Fuck! Why didn’t she tell me?!”

  Christian sighed. “Partly because she’s ashamed, but also because she thinks she deserves it. She thinks she killed her father, Hunter. That’s what she’s been brought up on her whole life. Her mother has beaten and bruised her so badly that she thinks she is the cause of her father’s death. You and I know that it’s not true, but Ayden has had that thought drilled into her ever since her sixth birthday.” He sighed again just as my lift doors opened. “You have to come over here. I asked her to text me every half hour to make sure she was okay. She texted me at seven and was supposed to text me again twenty minutes ago. I heard nothing, so I made my way over to the house. I told her... I gave her specific instructions that if she didn’t respond in time, then I would take action. No one’s answering the door. Something’s wrong. Something is most definitely wrong. Please say you can come over? You still have the key to get into the house, right?”

  I got in the lift and pressed the basement floor button. “Yes. I’m on my way.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  My mouth felt like it was on fire. So dry. Need water. Need water. I tried opening my eyes, but the light was hurting them. I had no other choice but to squeeze them shut again.

  Where was I?

  My body seemed to want me to sleep, but my mind was fighting to wake up. Just wake the fuck up already!

  I tried opening my eyes again, and that time I was able to see a window where the light was coming through. I strained some more to see, but everywhere hurt. I groaned out loud.

  “Ayden, thank fuck!”

  I turned toward the voice and saw Christian sitting on a chair next to my bed.

  Wait—I was in bed? How did that happen? “Where am I?” My voice was a little croaky. It felt like my throat was on fire.