Seasons (17 page)

Aden reaches for me pulling me into him and burying his face in my cleavage. I’m very careful as I straddle him not to touch any of his wounds. I wrap my arms around his neck and let him remove my bra and tease me. I rock gently, rubbing against him, and he groans into my chest. Teasing him earns me a nip on my right breast. I can’t help the moan that escapes from my mouth when his teeth graze my nipple.

It has only been a week, but I missed this. I continue to tease, rubbing against him with my panties still separating us. When he has had enough, he pushes the red lace to the side and slips a finger inside me to test the waters. “Perfect,” he says with a smile before he lifts me just enough to impale me on him. I cry out and grab the towel rack behind him. Using the towel rack for support, I let loose and ride him like it has been years instead of just a week.

I’m just at the edge of the cliff when I grip the bar of the towel rack tightly, and it comes right off the wall in my hands. I stumble back and Aden reaches out to catch me before I fall off him. Both his hands and my body are slick with sweat from our romp and I slip through his fingers. I land on my ass on the floor hard—still holding the bar in my hand. We look at each other in shock for a moment, before we both burst into hysterics. After a full five minutes of trying to put the rack back on the wall, unsuccessfully, I might add, all while laughing our asses off, we decide to forget about it and skip to the bath. I wash Aden carefully while his bad leg rests out of the water on the ledge of the tub covered in plastic.

*   *   *

Two days later at the store, Trevor seemed down. I had him rolling on the ground laughing when I recounted my bathroom tryst for him. He later confided that he was upset because things weren’t going well with Adam lately.

“Thank you for that, I needed a good laugh. I just don’t know what is going on with Adam and me,” he whines. “Things were going great, but lately, he picks fights all the time, and he seems closed off from me all of a sudden. I’m afraid he’s met someone else.”

“Stop being a drama queen, queen,” I tease him. “Have you tried to talk to Adam? Asking him straight out what’s going on?”

“No, but even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. He has been brushing me off. Something is going on, I just know it.”

“Well, I love Adam, and I don’t see him cheating. If I trust him, and I don’t really trust anyone, then you should feel safe trusting him. My advice stands—try to talk to him, Trev. You won’t know unless you ask.”

A customer coming into the store interrupts our conversation. We are busy the rest of the afternoon. A few hours later, I’m folding the stacks when a customer startles me by tapping me on the shoulder. I turn around, and I’m looking at a broad chest connected to two fully tattooed arms. I look up into emerald green eyes towering over me.

After a beat, I find my voice. “Hi, can I help you find something?”

“I think I found it,” he replies staring into my eyes.

The green eyes in front of me seem to entrance me. I snap out of it when he holds up a pair of black slacks. “Can you just see if they have these in a thirty-four, thirty-four in the back? They don’t have my size on the display.”

“Sure.” I smile and take the pants out of his hand scurrying to the back to look for his size. “Whoa, what was that?” I mutter to myself while I search through the back for the correct size pants. I bring the pants out to the front and find Trevor talking to Mr. Green Eyes.

I hand the pants over to the customer. “Thanks, Brynn?” he says fingering my nametag.

“You’re welcome. Trevor can help you if there is anything else you need.” I smile warmly at him before calling over to Trevor to let him know I’m going to go on break.

When I come back from break, the green-eyed, tattooed hunk is gone. We close an hour later. On the way out to our cars, Trevor starts in, “So that guy with the tattoos this afternoon? Wowsa! He was smoking hot!”

“Oh? I didn’t pay much attention.”

“Well, then you must be blind! He was hard to miss. He had to be two hundred pounds of a whole lot of sexy. He even made me look short and I’m six foot.”

“So, are you going to talk to Adam tonight?” I attempt to change the subject.

“He asked about you.”

“Who?”

“The McHottie customer today, that’s who!”

“Oh?”

“Oh, my ass! You can’t play innocent with me. You were totally affected by him. I saw you scurry out of the store on break like you couldn’t get away from him fast enough.”

“Oh, please! I was not! I was starving and it was break time.” I scoff.

“I see, what’d you eat?”

“What?”

“Brynn, what did you eat on break?”

“Um…I ate…a pretzel.”

“Oh, my God, you’re lying to me!”

“Okay, so he was hot! What of it? I have a boyfriend, I’m not dead! What did you say to him?” I question.

“He wanted to know your story. I told him you have a boyfriend. But that you are slutty and would probably bang him in one of the changing rooms real quick. He said he’d be back tomorrow. Hope you’re ready.”

I punch Trevor in the shoulder and glare at him. “You are such an asshole.”

“Relax.” He laughs. “I told him you have a boyfriend, and then he left after I rang him up.”

“You’re so not funny.” I continue to glare at him.

“You love me.”

“Lucky for you! I’ll see you tomorrow, jackass,” I say as I get into my car. I start my car and roll down the window to yell out, “Talk to Adam!” Trevor waves his hand at me as he slides into his car.

*   *   *

A month and a half later, we’re well into our semester at school. Aden is back to his old self. His skin shows only a pink outline of where the abrasions from the accident were. His cast just came off and he’s getting around much better now.

Occasionally, we get together during the week, but more often, we see each other on the weekends. Somewhere in the back of my brain, there is a nagging part saying maybe I’m keeping Aden an arm’s length away. I have yet to bring him to meet Mom and Hank. It isn’t that I don’t want him to meet them. It’s just that it hasn’t been a priority. The couple of weekends I have gone home, Aden has gone home to Iowa to see his own family or was busy working.

After a weekend of shopping and chick flicks with Mom, I return to my apartment Sunday evening and find Aden outside my door.

“Well, this is a nice surprise.” I smile and Aden looks up at me from where he’s sitting in the hall. Something about him looks off and my smile fades as I try to figure out why. He gets up stumbling just a bit and then walks over to me.

“I missed you.”

“Aden, are you drunk?” I ask watching him closely.

“Yes.”

“Oh. Okay, what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you to get back. I needed to see you.”

“Let’s go inside,” I offer. I unlock the door and go into the apartment with Aden in tow. He’s slightly unsteady on his feet. “Babe, why are you drunk on a Sunday evening?”

“I was watching football with the guys.”

“I see. How did you get here?”

“Cab,” he says, plopping down on my couch. “Do you have any beer?”

I grab two beers out of the fridge and hand one to Aden as I sit on the couch. “So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

“I have court tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot that’s tomorrow. Well, you have nothing to worry about. You have witnesses that saw you get hit by that jackass.”

“Yeah,” he says solemnly taking a slug of his beer.

I take a long pull of my own beer. It seems I have some catching up to do to be on the same level I’m dealing with here. We sit in the quiet and drink our beers. After a few minutes, I get up and grab a bottle of whiskey off the top of the fridge and two shot glasses out of the cabinet. I place everything on the coffee table and then pour two shots. Handing one to Aden I say, “Salud,” before we both down our shots.

I slam my glass on the table and chase it with my beer. “Well, I feel better, how about you?”

He looks over at me with sad eyes.

“What is it?” I implore him to tell me what is really bothering him.

“I’m not good enough for you.”

A laugh bubbles up and out of my throat. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re good and sweet and smart.”

“Well, I am fabulous,” I tease. “But I don’t see how that means you’re not good enough for me. You’re all of those things, too.”

“You took care of me when I was in the accident,” he slurs, showing me just how drunk he is.

“You needed me.” I shrug.

Aden slumps back into the couch. “You deserve better,” he whispers before he passes out on my couch. I know he’s drunk, but the booze-induced revelation of his has put a boulder in the pit of my stomach. Why does he think he isn’t good enough for me all of a sudden?

My alarm wakes me up the next morning, and I stumble out to the living room to wake up Aden. There is no Aden, but I smell coffee. I wander into the kitchen and find a note by a freshly brewed pot.

Brynn,

Had to run home to get ready. I’ll see you there if you can make it.

Love,

Aden

*   *   *

I have never skipped a class in my life, but I decide this is as good a reason as any to miss my first one. I’m sure Aden could use the moral support in court today. The motorcyclist who was riding with him and then hit him is claiming it was his fault. Fortunately, everyone else who saw the accident is behind Aden. There was an investigation and today the case will go to court.

After coffee and a shower, I pull my hair back in a sleek bun and shimmy into a conservative black dress. I slide into black flats and grab a mug of coffee to go on the way out. I park in the huge parking lot of the courthouse. After security has rummaged through my purse, run a metal detection wand over me, and decided I’m not a threat, they let me through. The courthouse is buzzing. I decide to sneak into the bathroom before going to look for Aden.

When I come out of the bathroom stall, I’m looking down in my purse and almost run into someone. I look up just in time to avoid impact. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” I apologize.

The girl, who is about my age, is dressed in a bright blue dress and hooker heels. She looks like she’s going to the clubs rather than a courthouse. I notice she has what looks like healing skin from a wound the length of her arm. She gives me a snotty look and continues into the bathroom stall. I brush it off, wash my hands, and go in search of Aden.

The corridor of the courthouse is long. There are huge doors leading to each courtroom. Outside of each is a bench and chairs. Aden is sitting with his friend Brad and an older gentleman, whom I believe to be the attorney his parents hired. Aden and Brad often ride together, so I’m assuming Brad was there when the accident happened. I walk over and Aden smiles when he sees me. He stands and pulls me into a hug, kissing the top of my head. I love when he kisses the top of my head. “Hey, I’m glad you made it,” he says into my hair.

“Of course.” I smile up at him. “You clean up well.”

Aden is in perfectly pressed black slacks and a button up light blue shirt that matches his eyes with a grey, black, and blue tie.

The huge door a few feet away opens and an older, overweight security man comes out to call the case in.

“Thanks,” Aden winks at me. He takes my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze before we head into the courtroom. I have a seat near Brad while Aden and his attorney have a seat at the front. I notice there is a scruffy guy seated opposite them with his own attorney. That must be the one that hit Aden.

The door to the courtroom bangs open and the girl from the bathroom slinks in. She takes a seat near Brad and me. Aden looks back at me with an odd expression I don’t recognize before he looks back to the front toward the judge’s bench. Maybe he’s nervous about the outcome?

After being announced, the judge walks out and has a seat. He explains that there will be witness testimonies on each side to determine liability for the damages done in the accident. There are insurance representatives present, also. This is nothing like a trial on TV. Instead, the judge reads the statements of each defendant. Many people are called up to the stand to testify their account of what happened. I tune most of it out and think about the class I’m missing. Then I hear the judge call a ‘Ms. Dani Patterson’ to the stand. The short haired brunette in the skank outfit from the bathroom is sworn in and has a seat. This gets my attention. How is she involved?

“Ms. Patterson, you were present the night of the accident?”

I listen intently to her answer. “Yes, I was on the back of the bike,” she answers.

“Can you confirm which bike you were a passenger on, please?”

“I was riding with Aden Riley.” She confirms my fear.

What the fuck? Well, that explains the healing skin on her arm. Why would he not have mentioned that? I rack my brain. Did he mention it? No, I would definitely remember any mention of a girl on the back of his bike! If it were just a friend riding with him, he would’ve just told me. My heart sinks at the realization. Aden’s confession from the night before comes flooding back.
I’m not good enough for you. You deserve better.
His drunken confessions bounce around in my head. He knew. He knew I would find out today. That was the nervous look he shot me when she walked in. Son of a bitch!