Tormented (Evolution Series Book 2) (2 page)

“And here I thought you knew everything,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. I could tell Aiden was still worried as hell about what I had done back in Thailand.

Within seconds, Anna’s expression changed from the shock of the two of us popping in unannounced to compassion. She hurried towards me and gave me a comforting embrace. “It’s okay, honey. You’re safe now.” She released me, but still kept an arm around my waist as she turned to Aiden. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”

“I know.” Aiden gave a slight smile.

For the first time since I acquired the ability to hear his thoughts, I couldn’t hear a thing. That wasn’t supposed to happen with Aiden and me. We were always somehow able to connect to each other’s minds; we were on the same frequency. I started to panic, wondering if I was somehow going to turn back into being just a normal human, but was cut short when Anna gave a little laugh.

“Jade, there is no possibility of you ever turning back into a ‘normal human’ when you never were.” Anna stopped to have a few more giggles before continuing. “You see, honey, Aiden almost always shuts down the barriers to his mind whenever he’s around us.” Reaching up, Anna ruffled Aiden’s hair. “Apparently, there are some things a son wants to keep secret from his mother.”

I was sure my face flushed bright red as I thought about all of Aiden’s and my private moments, lying on an open platter—or open mind in my case—available for anyone to pry into the most intimate details of our lives.

Anna laughed again. “Don’t worry, honey. There are also many things a mother doesn’t want to know about her son’s life.”

Aiden’s face turned a shade redder than normal. “Nice to know you haven’t forgotten how to embarrass me.” He leaned down to give his mum a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, it’s a mother’s prerogative to embarrass her children every once in a while.” Responding to my thoughts, Anna said, “I guess it’s going to take a while for you to get used to me being his mother instead of his sister, isn’t it?”

Until a couple of months ago, I had thought Anna was Aiden’s sister, as that was their cover story. No one would have believed that Anna was really his mother, when she only looked a few years older. That was one of the best perks to our immortality. Our bodies would never deteriorate. We would be what society sees as perfection for the rest of eternity.

“Yeah, it’s a little hard to believe,” I acknowledged. “I mean, I do believe that you’re really his mum, but…”

“To look at us and believe is another story,” Anna finished. “But just remember, to everyone else, I’m just Aiden’s older sister. Okay?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone the truth. Your secret is safe with me.” I goofily zippered my lips shut.

“Geez, I almost forgot how silly you are sometimes,” Anna said with a laugh.

“You can be at times. But we still love you anyway.” Aiden pulled me into his arms and planted a big kiss on my lips, which of course embarrassed the hell out of me.

Anna laughed. “You’ve got to stop thinking of me as his mum. I’m still the same person I was when you didn’t seem to care about kissing him in front of me.”

My face flushed yet again. “God, I really need to learn how to block you guys out of my thoughts before I die from embarrassment.”

“And now you know why I put my shield up whenever I’m around them,” Aiden said with a grin.

“You have got to teach me,” I begged. Anna and Aiden both laughed. But I was serious, and unfortunately they both knew it.
Aargh
! I needed to change the subject quickly. “So where exactly are we?” I asked Anna. Even though I was the one who had brought Aiden and me there, I really had no idea where I was. When I transported us, I had only thought about bringing us to Anna, not to any specific location.

“We’re in Bath in England. It was our home before we moved to Australia.” Aiden’s eyes lit up with excitement as he looked around the room. He was obviously thrilled to be home.

We were standing in what seemed to be their library. The walls were adorned with floor-to-ceiling shelves, which must have held thousands of books. Some were new, but most looked as if they were over a hundred years old. A luxurious burgundy velvet reading sofa at the far end of the room faced a pair of elegant
french
doors.

“Come on. Check out the view from this room.” Aiden grabbed my hand, dragging me over to the
french
doors. “And you thought the view from our place in Australia was good.” He was grinning from ear to ear, waiting eagerly for me to step out onto the balcony with him.

“I highly doubt anything could be as beautiful as your…” I trailed off as I stepped out onto the balcony, where I let out a small gasp as I took in the sheer beauty of what I was seeing.

Below, perfectly manicured lawns led to a lake that looked as big as the ocean. “This is truly
amaz
—” I cut myself off when I turned to look at Aiden. “You live in a castle?” I asked in disbelief as I took in the remainder of his “home” behind where he stood. The place seemed to go on forever.

“I thought you were rich, but this…?” I was in shock. I never really thought anyone except royalty grew up in castles.

Aiden laughed. “This is England. There are castles galore around here, not only for royalty. And besides, it’s been in our family for centuries.”

When most people said that, they meant that it had been passed down through the generations. But Aiden meant that his home had been with his mum and dad for centuries. I wondered just how old Anna and David were.

“That’s a story for another day.” Anna stepped onto the balcony. “Right now, I’m sure you would rather get settled in before dinner.” She looked down at her watch. “Which should be ready in about forty-five minutes.”

I had almost forgotten the time difference between Thailand and England. Barely an hour ago, I had been in
Baha
Baha
, picking up lunch, when the terrorist or whatever the hell he was stormed in and almost killed all those innocent people. Standing with Aiden and Anna on the balcony of a castle in England made what had happened earlier that day feel like a lifetime ago.

Aiden led me out of the library and through a maze of corridors that were more like really long, wide rooms. Eventually, we reached a massive pair of wooden doors.

“Here we are,” Aiden said, pushing them open.

I almost died. I thought his room would be in typical castle-like style—
stone walls
, four poster bed surrounded by furniture that had been made back in King Arthur’s day. But no… Yes, his room
was
huge, but it was a mush of ultra-modern with only a touch of castle-like features. For instance, his bed was solid timber and looked bigger than any king size I’d ever seen. But the place had modern trimmings, like the gigantic LED TV that came down from a secret
hidey hole
in the ceiling, about a
metre
past the foot of his bed.

There was a lounge area at one end of the room, complete with a mini-fridge. Behind the sofa were two sets of
french
doors, opening to what I presumed was a balcony. And at the far end of the room was another door, which I guessed was his closet. His room was bigger than our entire villa back in Thailand.

“Holy crap” was all I could think to say.

“Pretty cool, huh?” He picked me up and within a split
second,
I was lying on the gigantic bed with Aiden’s body on top of me. Usually, I would have some sort of warning that he was about to bounce me somewhere, but with Aiden wanting to keep his mind blocks up around his mum, I had absolutely no idea.

“We can’t,” I managed to whisper as Aiden nuzzled my neck, his hands moving up underneath my shirt. “They’ll know.” Aiden could block his thoughts from his parents, but I couldn’t.

He propped himself up on one elbow. “I think this is one of the things that Anna was talking about when she said there are some things a mother doesn’t want to know about her son.”

“So you don’t think she will be listening?” I asked, hoping to God that was true.

He ran a finger over my lips, down my neck, between my breasts, until he reached my pants, sending quivers of excitement rushing through my body. Leaning forward until his lips hovered just above mine, Aiden whispered in his oh-so-sexy bedroom voice, “Nope.” And that was all the convincing I needed.

Just as our lips met, there were two quick taps on his bedroom door before it was flung open, and some man I had never seen before entered holding a pile of neatly folded fluffy white towels.

“Oh, my God!” I pushed Aiden off with more force than I knew I had.

Without so much as a glance in our direction, the man headed straight towards the door to what I had presumed was the closet.

As Aiden got up from the floor beside the bed, he gave a small laugh whilst shaking his head. “That’s just Bernard, the butler.” He flopped down on the bed beside me.

“You have a butler?” The words came out before I had a chance to think about it. Of course he had a butler. They lived in a castle, for Christ’s sake.

“Uh huh,” Aiden replied as if it were no big deal.

“And his name is seriously Bernard?” I asked, thinking what a perfect name for a butler.

Bernard returned with his head down, moving quickly towards the bedroom door. I hoped to God that he would get out as quickly as possible.

“Bernard,” Aiden called.

Bernard immediately stopped and looked in our direction for the first time. “Yes, master?”

“I want you to meet someone,” Aiden said, putting his arm around me.

“Are you serious? You couldn’t wait ‘till I wasn’t lying in bed to do the introductions?”
I said silently to Aiden.

“I could… but it wouldn’t be as much fun,”
Aiden teased before continuing his introductions. “This is Jade. I’m sure Anna and David have told you about her.”

“Yes, master, they have.” Bernard walked a couple of steps towards us. “Welcome, Jade. If there is anything I can get for you to make your stay here more enjoyable, please don’t hesitate to ask.” He gave a slight bow before retreating from the room.

“Yes, master?” I repeated. I had never heard anything like it. And I hadn’t thought that Aiden would be the type of person who would have someone call him “master,” even if it was his butler.

Aiden laughed.

“What?” I gave him a little push, making sure that I didn’t inflict the same force I had when I had thrown him off the bed.

“That’s just a joke he likes playing on new people and my friends from my old school.” Aiden wrapped his arms around me, squeezing tightly. “And you should know me better than that by now. I would never ask anyone to call me ‘master.’” He chuckled. “So where were we?” He started pulling me down on the bed with him.

“
Nuh
huh!” I gently pushed him off me. “I’m not doing anything with you in this room until you get a lock put on that door!”

“I don’t think he will be back anytime soon.” Aiden grabbed my hand, trying to coerce me back to the bed.

“Not until those doors have locks on them!” I reiterated. “Now, am I right in thinking that you have a bathroom past those doors?” I pointed at the doors where Bernard had carried the towels.

“Yeah. And now we have fresh towels in there, too.” Aiden snickered.